Pondering Purple Peculiarities Week 1: Aaron gets Rodgered

So which parts of the Vikings’ drubbing of the Packers should they be looking to carry over and which might need correction in order to avoid regression?

The easiest place to start is with pressure on Kirk Cousins. Per PFF, the Packers pressured Cousins on 42.4% of his dropbacks and the veteran QB posted an extremely impressive 10.5 yards per pass attempt — a number largely driven by the 64-yard completion. Last year Cousins was pressured on 33.7% of throws and gained just 5.1 yards per attempt. The highest mark of his career under duress is 6.8 (2015 and 2018), meaning that the Vikings need to protect him better or there will be problems in the long run.

The pressure particularly came from the middle, where right guard Ed Ingram allowed five pressures and center Garrett Bradbury gave up four. Pass rush over the center might be a difficult issue to resolve at this stage but O’Connell is looking for his rookie guard to learn from the experience of facing off with a quality Packers pass rush.

“I thought he battled,” O’Connell said of Ingram. “I thought he was physical on the run game and every snap is new at this level for Ed [Ingram], so he's learning, he’s adding tools to his toolbox on a play-to-play basis. I thought he really ascended as the game went on, and then ultimately, there’s a lot to correct, clean up – technique, fundamentals.”

There were good signs along the offensive line that are likely to carry over, namely Christian Darrisaw. The 2021 first-round pick, who had a noticeably strong training camp, gave up zero pressures in “true pass set” situations where the O-line was not assisted by play-action or screens. Likewise left guard Ezra Cleveland posted a clean slate against the toughest rushes. He has improved in each of his first two seasons and is aiming to solidify himself as a key part of the line this year. Week 1 appears to be a step in that direction.

Through the air, Cousins completed 23 of 32 passes at 8.7 yards per attempt. When throwing to Justin Jefferson he hit nine passes for 184 yards. When targeting anyone not named Jefferson, he completed 14 passes at 4.2 yards per attempt.

Not that it takes much explanation of why those numbers aren’t sustainable but consider this: Jefferson made up 66% of the total passing yards on Sunday. Last year Cooper Kupp had an historic season and made up 39.8% of Los Angeles’s total passing attack.

Also zero of Jefferson’s targets were into the coverage of star corner Jaire Alexander. The Vikings simply can’t expect the opponent’s best player to be nowhere near Jefferson for the rest of the year.

One of the places the football may go in the future is in the direction of tight end Irv Smith Jr., who did not catch a pass on two targets and only played 19 snaps. He was coming back from thumb surgery that kept him out of the majority of training camp. As he continues to ramp up we should expect more opportunities for Cousins to get him the ball.

“Irv’s gonna have a major role for us,” O’Connell said. “Even on some plays that maybe Justin was targeted or Adam was targeted yesterday, Irv’s out there as a featured part of the play… and he will continue to show up throughout the season. I’ve got so much confidence in him and excited about his continued growth.”

On the defensive side the Vikings gave up 6.2 yards per carry, which wasn’t a big concern considering the struggles of Green Bay’s passing game but could crop up down the road. And while it felt like Rodgers was under duress for most of the day, some of that was self inflicted and PFF’s data only counted 11 drop backs of 38 in which Rodgers was pressured (28.9%). Rodgers was stunningly poor when pressured, completing just two passes for 15 yards.

“The longer we play our defense, the more film you’re going to see, the longer you can break it down, anticipate it better,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said. “I feel like me personally and a lot of other players that play say you’re better as the season goes on. You have more reps to see this is a run play or a pass play based on this, this key I’m getting. You can kind of anticipate plays a little better.”

So as the Vikings get an extra day to prepare for the Eagles, they have plenty to be pleased about and a few things to shore up on both sides of the ball in order to repeat their performance. And it appears the team fully understands which parts can be sustained week to week and which cannot.

Kirk Cousins played very well on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

The main thing you notice about Cousins was his quick decision-making. His familiarity with the offense was really impressive and his relationship with head coach Kevin O’Connell was evident. O’Connell calling the plays directly to Cousins is a good thing. I believe it is a big difference as far as a quarterback and coach communicating on the same level. Good communication can help strengthen the relationship between the quarterback and the head coach.

I had an opportunity to watch the game, and you could see how good Cousins performed. He has always been an accurate thrower, but his decision-making and how quickly he worked through his progressions were really sound. You could see him going through his progressions in real-time. If the first read was not there, he was going to the second or third option instead of checking down.

What was pretty unique was how comfortable he looked in this new offense. He hadn’t run O’Connell’s offense before and looked to be in full command. The offense O’Connell runs has a lot of similar concepts to what he ran the last few years with Gary and Klint Kubiak, but there are still plenty of differences. They are running more out of 11 personnel and using more motion than last year.

The Vikings are in good shape with Cousins playing this well.

7. Do Packers Miss Davante Adams?
“Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense did not look the same without Davante Adams. Rodgers was sacked 4 times, threw an interception, had a fumble and threw for under 200 yards.”— Rick Spielman

8. Vikings Beat Up Aaron Rodgers, Packers
“I saw a Vikings defense that was hungry and ferocious. Aaron got some of the hardest hits that maybe he’s gotten in his career. They disrupted the Packers’ offense—pretty much the whole game. I mean, they really never got in a rhythm. They kept Aaron moving around, hitting him. He was not able to find any big plays downfield.” — Brett Favre

9. Eagles Could Exceed High Expectations
“The Philadelphia Eagles, with Jalen Hurts as the leader, may exceed the already high expectations.” — Marty Mornhinweg

10. Hurts Force Feeds A.J. Brown
“Jalen Hurts really focused on getting A.J. Brown the ball. Although, in the process, DeVonta Smith had zero catches on only 4 targets. Hurts continues to make plays with his feet — keeping drives alive. Can he stay healthy doing this through the entire season? Last year, he was the leading rusher for Philadelphia.” — Rick Spielman