Week 1 - Packers @ Vikings Support Group

The Minnesota Vikings chose to invest heavily at the safety position this offseason, extending the franchise tag to Anthony Harris at over $11 million while continuing to pay Harrison Smith over $10 million annually. Even head coach Mike Zimmer has confessed that there are more important defensive positions than safety, but the Vikings had two of the best. Both Harris and Smith finished graded in the top three at their position last year, per Pro Football Focus. The thinking went that a strong safety tandem could mask the steep learning curve of a young cornerback room with no starters over the age of 23.

The Week 1 results, though, would indicate an inverse effect. The Vikings safeties tried their hardest to help Minnesota’s defense, attempting various blitzes to establish pass rush and cheating to one side in order to help inexperienced corners, but Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers anticipated their every move and carved up Minnesota for 364 yards, four touchdowns and no picks. Harris, specifically, was given the lowest PFF grade in his NFL career, a 34.9 that ranked fifth-lowest out of all qualified safeties.

“Very frustrating,” said Smith, who still finished with the 15th-highest safety grade through Sunday’s games. “Not only third down, which we were not good on, but first and second down, giving up first downs on those downs and not getting into the third-and-mediums, the third-and-longs when you have the advantage is kind of how we lived. We would bow up down in the red zone, which is a good thing, but you’re not going to win a lot of games where that’s all you’re doing. You’ve got to get them stopped on first and second down, get into third-and-mediums, third-and-longs and win those downs.”

The Vikings hardly put a finger on Rodgers, but that wasn’t for lack of trying. To supplement their inexperienced front four they tried using Smith as a blitzing weapon, but Smith could only generate one pressure with no sacks. As a team, they blitzed 20 times, but Rodgers completed 60% of his passes facing blitz and converted nine first downs.

As for Smith, his day started out well with a successful run blitz on the first play of the game as he wrapped up Aaron Jones for just a 2-yard gain. The remainder of the first half — and essentially, the rest of the game — the Packers moved the ball at will, rushing it effectively at 4.9 yards per carry, while Rodgers showcased his ability to avoid pressure by releasing the ball quickly while avoiding interceptable passes like the one he threw to Harris in Week 16 last year.

This 3rd and 5 late in the first quarter was a microcosm for the game. Rodgers faced double-A-gap pressure, plus the threat of Smith off the edge. The Vikings ended up bringing five rushers, but Rodgers hit Davante Adams, his favorite target, for an easy completion against Holton Hill, who graded as PFF’s worst corner in football through Sunday’s games.



Anthony Barr said after the game the Vikings got more “tentative” with blitzing as the game went on because of Rodgers’ ability to get the ball out. The Packers quarterback averaged 2.25 seconds to release, per PFF, the seventh-fastest mark in the league. When he released the ball in under 2.5 seconds, Rodgers was 26 of 31 with two touchdowns.

“He got the ball out a lot … most of the time the ball was out in two-and-a-half seconds,” Zimmer said the day after the game. “They quick-counted us one time on third down, caught is in a couple man-coverage things where they read pick routes. There were some of those situations, too. But he was getting the ball out pretty quick a lot of times, unless he got out of the pocket or unless it was maximum protection.”

Give a hat tip to Rodgers, who exploited the Vikings’ secondary the way many expected. Leave a rookie corner one-on-one? He’ll throw at him. Provide help for the rookie corner? Throw to the open spot. Blitz Rodgers to get the ball out faster? He has an outlet ready.

This was a tough game to break in a new-look cornerback group, and it often came at the safeties’ expense. Their ability to freelance in the old defense was enabled by the corners’ ability to hold down their own assignments. Until the current group can be trusted, it might mean more two-deep safeties and less roaming in the box.

Zimmer, likewise, must quickly learn what he can and cannot do with this defense. Some of the old tricks may not be as effective.