2024 Season - Things the Vikes Need to Improve

What went wrong

Darrisaw’s injury

The Vikings have been mostly healthy across the roster this season but against the Rams disaster struck. At the end of the first half, a Rams player fell on Darrisaw’s knee, injuring his ACL and MCL. O’Connell announced on Monday that he will need surgery and will be out for the season.

Darrisaw ranks 10th overall by PFF among tackles, which is remarkable when you consider the caliber of defensive ends that he has faced this year. He also rates as the eighth best run blocker.

There is no easy solution to replacing Darrisaw. It will take schematic adjustments along with someone stepping up for the offense to survive his loss.

Penalties

The Vikings rank fifth in the NFL in total penalties and several against the Rams were crushing. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Rams were stopped on third-and-7 at their own 49-yard line but Byron Murphy Jr. was called for holding. The Rams moved the ball to the Minnesota 6-yard line after that and the Vikings got another third-down stop but Stephon Gilmore was called for pass interference. The Rams scored a touchdown two plays later.

In the fourth quarter the Rams had second-and-11 from the Minnesota 27-yard line and threw an incomplete pass but Murphy Jr. was hit with an interference penalty that set up a first down at the Vikings 16-yard line. They scored a touchdown three plays later.

The referees came into question a number of times in the game, particularly on the Murphy Jr. holding penalty and a missed obvious facemask on the Vikings final drive. Darnold was clearly taken down in the end zone by his facemask but no flag followed. While it was pointed out that the Vikings win probability was low at that point, Darnold did lead a similar game-tying drive in 2021. While with Carolina, Darnold trailed by the same score 28-20 with two minutes to go against the Vikings and ended up forcing overtime with a touchdown pass and 2-point conversion. A chance at a similar drive was robbed from the Vikings.

Rams targeting Gilmore

Overall, the signing of Stephon Gilmore has been a game changer for the Vikings defense. On Thursday, however, he had his toughest outing of the year. The Rams targeted him eight times, completed six passes for 98 yards including 31 after catch and a touchdown.

The Vikings have to assess why the Lions and Rams were both able to expose the secondary after opponents struggled so much over the first five weeks.

Replacing Cashman

One player doesn’t make an entire defense but Cashman’s absence has been felt on multiple levels. First, the adjustments at the line of scrimmage did not appear to be the same as in previous weeks. Part of that could have been the Rams playing with tempo but Cashman’s ability to make checks prior to the snap was causing havoc for opposing QBs.

As far as the actual performance of the fill-ins, Ivan Pace Jr. graded a 43.2 in coverage, allowing 4-for-4 passing his way including a touchdown. He also had a penalty. Josh Metellus had a 43.1 overall grade, his worst in two years. Kamu Grugier-Hill played just six snaps.

O’Connell said he was “positive” about Cashman’s chances to return vs. the Colts. That could be a huge boost to the struggling defense.

Run blocking

The Rams defensive line did not give the Vikings many opportunities to stay ahead of the sticks on the ground. Aaron Jones only averaged 3.1 yards per carry and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the O-line run blocking grades. Brian O’Neill was above average but nobody else scored above 70 for the Vikings. While Bradbury and Ingram were better in pass protection, they only graded 52.7 and 50.3, respectively, as run blockers. Out of Jones’s 58 yards, 36 had to come after contact.

Overall the Vikings run blocking has been good this year, grading as fourth best in the NFL. Without Christian Darrisaw, that could be a tough mark to maintain.

Non-existent backup RBs

No other running back took a carry against the Rams. On the season, Ty Chandler only has 44 carries and 14 of those came against the Jets when Jones got injured. The fact that Jones had to take the entire workload just four days after playing 46 snaps versus the Lions (and coming off a hamstring injury). Cam Akers, acquired via trade from the Texans, also did not see the field.

“Cam's going to play a role for sure within our offense,” O’Connell said. “I think we've got a ton of confidence in Aaron Jones and just how the game played out, I think when we get a few more snaps, get a little bit more volume to our offense, I think absolutely Cam's going to play a role.”

Dallas Turner had the same number of pressures as Patrick Jones (in 40 fewer snaps)

Early in the season Patrick Jones was a huge part of the pass rush, racking up 5.0 sacks. But he has been taken out of the equation recently, failing to register a QB hurry in three straight weeks. Meanwhile, first-round pick Dallas Turner remained on the sideline, playing just three snaps.

Here’s what O’Connell said about Turner’s usage:

“It'll still be something where it'll keep progressing for Dallas [Turner], he's doing everything from a standpoint of his preparation and growth on a daily basis that we're asking of him. And I think then you'll see more and more of Dallas and I'm very, very excited about having him as part of our team. And that'll be something these next 10 plus games, I think he's going to make a big-time impact for us.”

Lack of interior pressure

Stafford getting rid of the ball on average at 2.5 seconds caused issues for the Vikings pass rushers across the board but the lack of inside pressure has been a six-year trend. Phillips registered three hurries and the only other player with a QB hurry up the middle was Jerry Tillery with one. Could this be an issue to address at the trade deadline? Is there anyone available? Needing to send five rushers on every play or use deception up front on every play is tough to sustain.

What went wrong

Turnovers and sacks

It’s hard to rack up 415 yards and gain 29 first downs and still score only 21 points. Two missed field goals played a role in the shortage of points but it was largely caused by big drive-killing mistakes. Here’s a few examples:

— The Vikings gained 60 yards on 11 plays to open the game before Darnold threw a ball into traffic that was picked off in the end zone to end a scoring opportunity.

— After converting a third-and-16 on a throw to Jordan Addison, they had the ball at the Indy 47-yard line, but Darnold got strip sacked and the ball was returned for a touchdown.

— Down 7-0 at the end of the first half, the Vikings drive was stalled by a 12-yard sack that pushed them from inside the Indy 10-yard line to third-and-20 on the 21-yard line. The drive ended with a missed field goal.

— Following back-to-back touchdown drives to start the second half, Darnold didn’t see an open Addison and failed to get the ball to Jefferson downfield, resulting in an interception that kept the door open for Indy.

— With 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter and up 14-10, the Vikings had another shot at closing the game out but Darnold took an 8-yard sack moving them back from the Indy 40-yard line to mid-field.

Center, left guard pass blocking

Overall it was a good game for the Vikings in pass protection with Darnold only under duress on 13 drop-backs vs. 26 from a clean pocket. But Blake Brandel and Garrett Bradbury combined to allow seven pressures between them. After a great start to the season, Brandel has had some tough matchups the last two weeks, combining for nine pressures vs. the Rams and Colts.

Bradbury had the lowlight of the night when he got run over by Grover Stewart. However, upon further review, he stepped on the foot of guard Ed Ingram, which caused him to fall and result in the Stewart strip sack. Still, Bradbury is grading out as the 27th ranked pass blocker at center this year (out of 30).

The screen game

Where did the screen game go? The last few weeks the Vikings have struggled mightily to get back on track on their passes behind the line of scrimmage. Against the Colts they attempted eight screens and gained six yards. One of them asked Addison to block, which was unsuccessful and several others worked so poorly that Darnold had to throw the ball in the dirt.

On the season, Darnold is only averaging 4.8 yards per attempt on throws behind the line of scrimmage. That needs to improve to get him easier gains.

Kicker, long snapper injuries

The Vikings came out of the game healthy except on special teams. Will Reichard missed two kicks while he was clearly struggling with an injury to his quad. He is being evaluated. Asked if he will miss time, O’Connell said:

“We’re still working through it, but it's looking that way. I don't want to get too far out in front of things before I know exactly the route we're going to go, but definitely something that we're considering right now.”

Long snapper Andrew DePaola suffered a hand injury that will require surgery and keep him out for multiple weeks. The Vikings will very likely need to bring in a kicker and long snapper to fill the roles. Both players have been incredibly reliable this year and now there is uncertainty at the position.

Referees, again

For the third time in the last four weeks, Darnold has taken a hit to the head that did not draw a flag. O’Connell’s frustration was clear when he spoke on Monday.

“It's part of my conversation, especially recently,” he said. “In the 90-minute meetings leading into games, I'll continue to seek as much clarity so that I know how to coach our team and our players. I know what the rule is. I know what the language of the rule is. And my opinion of what took place last night on that play, or maybe a play previously 10 days before, really does not matter. I'm learning that very quickly.”