Vikings film review: Strong DT play helped stunt Packers' start before Aaron Rodgers injury

On a day when Pat and Kevin of 'Williams Wall' fame were honorary captains for the Vikings, current defensive tackles Linval Joseph and Tom Johnson paid homage with their own play.

The duo's play started the disruption of the Packers' zone runs while Mike Zimmer kept the Vikings in the smaller, nickel personnel (five defensive backs) for all 66 snaps.

Even with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, the Packers gained 25 yards on eight plays before his injury. Green Bay's run was particularly ineffective against the Vikings defense as Rodgers handed off for gains of 0, 1, 1 and 5 yards.

Look no further than the play of the Vikings' front, which defensive end Everson Griffen explains takes collective pride in "attention to detail."

"I trust on you to cover your gap. I'm going to cover my gap. That's how it works," Griffen said. "I trust in Tom [Johnson] when he's playing 3-technique that he's going to be in the B gap. Or if he gets a power scoop, he's going to flatten them out. He trusts me when a tight end comes in to try to cut me off, I'm going to pressure the inside shoulder and be in the C gap. And we trust [Linval Joseph] that he's going to set the wall in the middle like he always does. We trust the 5-technique, he's going to press him on the backside when he get the alley hinge or any type of reach over there. It all works together."

Neither Packers quarterback got help from running the ball, which gained Green Bay just two first downs and 3.0 yards per carry.

"Overall, it was a solid, fundamental defensive front," Zimmer said.

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On the second snap, the Packers look to take advantage of the Vikings' aggressive rush with a draw play. Joseph (98), Harrison Smith and Eric Kendricks read, react and converge on Ty Montgomery for no gain.

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"Looks like a Cover-1 style coverage with the linebackers banjo-ing [like a switch in basketball] the running back," Hatman said. "The coverage gets Harrison Smith to insert over Kendricks, who aligns in the backfield. Smith and Kendricks insert aggressively. Joseph gets the double based on being the 1-technique. He does a great job to lock out the left guard, get his vision in the backfield and time his shed from the block to tackle the ball. Great team defense, but Joseph really stands out. He shows what amounts to 2-gap technique, which is harder to execute and does a good job."

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"It may have been drawn up [for Johnson] to attack the B gap with Bakhtiari widening Griffen," Hatman said. "With Tom Johnson quickly resetting the line of scrimmage versus the left guard's reach block, Ripkowski [fullback] adjusts and takes it outside, trying to pin Griffen in. Jones [running back] peeks outside, but Smith had set the edge and forces Jones back inside to the teeth of the defense. Kudos to Johnson on this one."

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On this first-and-10, Johnson knifes through the line again to help stall this Jones run for 1 yard.

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Make no mistake, the Vikings were plenty aggressive when Rodgers was in the game. Linebacker Anthony Barr appeared to be a key on Rodgers' scrambles, spying the quarterback on the opening third down and later ditching his coverage immediately to hit Rodgers once he left the pocket. But when quarterback Brett Hundley entered, Zimmer called three of the Vikings' only four blitzes within Hundley's first nine dropbacks.

They worked, netting two sacks and a QB hit, including this third-and-5 below.

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