Vikings Take a Mug Shot
And we’re back!
I hope everyone has been having a wonderful holiday season so far. We’re entering the home stretch of the NFL season when Saturday games start populating the calendar and an onslaught of college football bowl games start happening daily. It really is a wonderful time of the year.
We also start getting a slew of Thursday Night Football games with interesting match-ups. Last week was Cowboys-Saints and Week 14’s tilt was between the Steelers and Vikings that was pure distilled chaos.
Reactions to Thursday Night Football games - or really any prime time match-up - can get blown out of proportion due to the spotlight being cast on them. Something Chase Claypool learned very harshly this past Thursday. But today I wanted to focus more on the defensive looks that Mike Zimmer and the Vikings defense presented to the Steelers offense in passing situations (which are typically categorized as 2nd & 7+ and 3rd/4th & 3+).
Zimmer’s pressure packages are amongst my favorite things to watch when I peruse games throughout the week. He has an understanding of the weaknesses of the protection plans of offenses and attempts to break them. Or at least test them like a Velociraptor testing the weak parts of its holding pen.
With the Steelers having a revamped offensive line in 2021 featuring two rookie starters - Kendrick Green at Center and Dan Moore, Jr. at Left Tackle - as well as an immobile QB behind center in Ben Roethlisberger. I’m sure Zimmer and the Vikings defensive coaches were licking their lips putting together their passing down gameplan this week.
How did Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense handle the heat? Let’s take a gander, shall we?
TO ZE FILM!
After the Steelers gained a 1st down with their first set of downs, they faced three straight passing situations of 2nd & 19, 3rd & 19 and then 4th & 4.
2nd & 19, not typically a down and distance to expect pressure on as an offense as most NFL defenses would rather play a soft coverage and rally to tackle on any underneath throws.
But Mike Zimmer showed early he had other plans on the day:
The Steelers come out in a 2x2 formation with a Pistol set in the backfield. Pistol - where the QB is in a shotgun alignment and the RB is behind him as opposed to next to the QB - is usually used as a way to hide the RB’s alignment for tendency purposes and/or to get to more typical under center runs and play-action looks. The Steelers likely do it since Roethlisberger doesn’t like to play from under center.
The other thing to note is the Steelers aligned their two WRs into the boundary on the play. Which isn’t atypical but isn’t exactly common, either. And you can see Vikings Safety Harrison Smith glancing around pre-snap making sure that’s exactly how the Steelers were aligned.
The Steelers utilize a flash fake to Najee Harris but are in a standard 6-man protection. Center Green points #54 Eric Kendricks to set the protection and is going the correct way. This means that the Steelers OL will have the 4 “down” defensive linemen and Kendricks for protection, RB Najee Harris’ protection responsibilities will consist of any other off-ball defenders if they were to come on a blitz.
I’ll mark it here for convenience. OL responsibilities will be in yellow and the RB’s will be in red:
This isn’t a crazy pressure or anything (the fireworks factory comes later). But more that the Vikings were showing a 2-high look on a typical “soft coverage” down:
And going against a typical tendency can lull the offense to sleep when they are expecting one thing and you bring another. In this case Anthony Barr down the chute with man coverage elsewhere (Kendricks has Harris in man coverage and when Harris blocks he adds-on to the blitz). You can also see how Harris’ eyes weren’t exactly expecting a blitz to come, which created the pressure on Roethlisberger and led to an incompletion on the play.
On the very next play. The Vikings show a staple of Zimmer defenses: a “Double Mug” look with LBs standing in both A-gaps and Harrison Smith hanging off of the edge:
The Vikings end up bailing out their look into a Tampa 2 coverage (watch how much ground Smith and Kendricks cover from the line of scrimmage). And even though they end up with a 2-high coverage and don’t bring a single extra body. You can see how much effort and mental energy the Steelers offense has to use to sort out to determine who is exactly blocking who.
Harris walks up the OL to confirm the point. Roethlisberger points at Smith because he is signaling to WR Diontae Johnson that if Smith were to come on a blitz, he would have to adjust his route to run a “Hot” route. Typically a Slant or Quick Out to get the ball out of Roethlisberger’s hands quickly.
Why the point and Hot routes are necessary is because of how a typical protection is structured. There could potentially be 4 defenders rushing the QB on the right-hand side with only 3 blockers (RG+RT+RB) to pick them up. This is a tool in the toolbox for offenses to have an answer. Although the Vikings bail out of this look, this is just one iteration that they can bring (and will be very relevant later in the game).
On the next snap on 4th & 4. The Vikings again show their Double Mug look. This time against the Steelers 2x2 formation:
Again the Vikings bail out of the look, but this time run 2 Man for their coverage. Likely betting that Roethlisberger can’t make a difficult throw and/or won’t scramble. With the Steelers using a silent count (drink for a substack name drop!), Roethlisberger uses a false step for his cadence. This is the silent version of going on two, and you can see how it undresses the Vikings defense with the Safeties flying out to get back to their two-high coverage. Vikings only bring 4, so no protection was needed from Harris and he is able to release on his route. Which in turn clears out a lane for Roethlisberger to scramble for the 1st down.
On the next Steelers drive the Steelers face a 2nd & 12. And again the Vikings show a Double Mug look against the Steelers 3x1 formation:
Again, the Vikings don’t bring pressure, like an older brother saying “I’m not hitting you… I’m not hitting you… I’m not hitting you”. And again it forces the Steelers offense to communicate on the road and have a plan in case the Vikings do bring something. Because this sure smells like something is coming!
There’s the point again from Roethlisberger to Johnson in case Smith comes on a blitz. This time the Vikings don’t play 2 Tampa or 2 Man, but a version of Match Quarters that forces Roethlisberger to hold on to the ball in attempt to read out the coverage. So that aggressive pre-snap look above turns into this:
A soft shell with the Vikings only bring 4 defenders to rush the passer. Just the threat of the blitz makes the offense have to work and read the defense out both pre-and-post-snap. Harris also has to double-check and play his rules before he can release on a route. It’s mentally taxing!
On 3rd & 18 on the very next snap. Guess what. More Double Mug:
Vikings end up playing Man Coverage again with Kendricks flying out to be the “Hole” defender and potentially jump into any throwing lanes.
We have already seen glimpses of the Steelers protection plan, and again they are sound here with the OL half-sliding their 6-man protection to the left (away from the RB as is the standard rule) and Harris staying in to potentially block Barr. Like Kendricks in the very first clip, Barr is Green Dogging (adding-on) since he is assuming that Harris is staying in protection. Mucking up the pocket instead of waiting for Harris to release. Like trading a pawn for a pawn in chess.
Not a ton of blitzes out of those looks so far, right? The Steelers have a feel for what the Vikings are doing. There haven’t been any free runners and they feel nice and comfortable with their protection plan. Just like you reading this substack right now, dear reader, they’ve been lulled to sleep.
Mike Zimmer must have felt this way as well. Because on the next passing down (this one is 3rd & 7) in the 2nd quarter. Zimmer shoots his shot:
Remember those points that Roethlisberger was making to his X WR (Johnson before) when they were in 3x1 formations? Well, this Vikings blitz is exactly why you do it.
With the OL half-sliding (here the Center+RG+RT) to the right to take the two DL as well as Kendricks. That leaves the LG+LT to take the two down DL on their side (just think the defenders in the three-point stances) and Harris to take Barr in the A-gap. By standard rule Smith will be unaccounted for and a Hot throw is an answer for the offense:
So pre-snap, the offense has everything accounted for. Kendricks bails out (look how he’s looking to get underneath a potential Hot throw, too). The issue is that even though Roethlisberger gives the point to Claypool, Roethlisberger doesn’t look for a throw to that side and Claypool doesn’t adjust his route whatsoever. They honestly just went through the motions of having an answer to a potential blitz but since the Vikings haven’t brought any pressures from this look so far, it was kind of a “ya ya we got it they’re not coming” response from the Steelers.
But Barr and Smith did come. With Smith running completely free because the Steelers didn’t have numbers to account for him and Roethlisberger/Claypool not being aware post-snap.
So after a quarter of bluffing and feigning and making the Steelers offense work and expend mental energy. The Vikings test those rules and snap them into a million pieces. The Velociraptors testing the fences.
Really remember that last blitz. Because the next time the Steelers face a 3rd down in the 1st half, they attempted to adjust how they pick it up. Again the Steelers are in a 3x1 formation, and this time they tried to hide their protection point. Watch the OL communicate before the snap about where they are working without giving a clear protection point for the Vikings to work off of:
Now what went wrong? With standard 6-man protections having their half-slide work away from the RB’s side, the Steelers attempted to adjust by working their slide to the RB’s side. Trying to find an answer for the blitz that broke them before that doesn’t require a Hot throw.
The problem is that Barr and Smith don’t blitz. But Kendricks and #24 Mackensie Alexander do. And not only do Barr and Smith don’t blitz but the DE on the right hand side drops into coverage as well. So there are essentially 3 blockers blocking nothing but air with 5 defenders rushing the passer:
Even if Harris went to the correct guy at the snap of the ball (I think he got confused about the protection point). This blitz would have still resulted in a free runner for the Vikings defense.
Just another great pressure playing off of earlier looks. And staying one page ahead of the offense on a very important down & distance. There’s a reason Vikings defenses always end up performing very well on 3rd down year-after-year!
Adjustments happen between every series for NFL teams. The best coaches are the ones that are able to take out the fat from their gameplans and hone in on answers for what the other side of the ball is showing them.
Halftime is also an adjustment period for units. And after seeing their QB get walloped for a couple of plays in the first half, the Steelers decided they were done trying to sort these pressures out and kept 7 blockers in to wad up the Double Mug:
The Steelers are again in a 3x1 formation, but this time have their TE in a off-ball alignment as part of the protection responsibilities. The Steelers offensive line is full-sliding to the right and Harris is working across to help the TE on his block with a DE.
The Vikings, again, are in a Double Mug look with Smith dancing around off the edge. But they don’t end up bringing anybody on a blitz, instead only rushing 4. It’s actually very funny watching Kendricks and Barr point back and forth to one another pre-snap. Acting like they are blitzing based off the Center’s point but knowing they will be dropping into coverage no matter what.
So, the Steelers are in a “safe” full slide protection vs. a 4-man rush. Not ideal because you are wasting potential eligible receivers in protection against a likely soft coverage. How does a free runner towards Roethlisberger happen?
Well, RG Trai Turner didn’t seem to get the memo and stepped to his left and not towards #90 Sheldon Richardson. Completely busting on the play.
Again, even when not bringing blitzes, showing these looks just forces offensive players to have to really work mentally on every single snap. Football is an exhausting sport physical, now these players have to think, too. It’s not very fun for players to be guessing on important downs when the most important thing in sports is to play fast. And having a scheme that stresses the opponent leads to advantages for players.
Blitzing Boogaloo