Film review: Blake Cashman, Harrison Phillips and Vikings run defense look up to task against Detroit

The Vikings’ path to the NFC’s No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs has to involve slowing down the locomotive freight train that is the Detroit Lions offense.

Lions coordinator and expected future NFL head coach Ben Johnson’s group is putting up a league-high 33.3 points per game. They so far have masked an injury-plagued defense with a hyperactive offense, losing once in the last 14 games. In that loss to Buffalo on Dec. 15, the Bills built a quick 14-0 lead, forced Detroit to abandon the run, and outlasted Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s five touchdown passes in a 48-42 win at Ford Field that really wasn’t a one-score game until the final 12 seconds.

Abandoning the run isn’t something Detroit does very often. The Lions average a league-high 28 carries by running backs each week. And even without the injured David Montgomery, young phenom Jahmyr Gibbs is coming off back-to-back 100-yard games. He also had 160 yards from scrimmage and two scores against the Vikings in Detroit’s 31-29 win at U.S. Bank Stadium on Oct. 20.

The Vikings run defense, which ranks No. 2 in the NFL, looked up to the challenge during Sunday’s win over the Packers. Running back Josh Jacobs often had to work for 69 yards on 17 carries, getting hit at the line of scrimmage on 10 attempts (59%), according to Sports Info Solutions. The Vikings missed just two tackles. It was the second-highest rate that Jacobs was hit at the line behind only Week 13 vs. Miami.

“Our guys did a good job of setting edges and defeating blocks, and he still found some room there on a couple runs,” defensive coordinator Brian Flores said Tuesday. “But overall, we felt like we did a solid job defending the run game. He’s a very good back. They’ve got a very good run scheme. Like we said, we were going to have to play really good team defense to limit it a little bit, and I thought we did that good enough to win the game.”

There are areas that Vikings defenders are focused on fixing, such as a couple third-down runs out of the shotgun that caught them for 20 combined yards. But linebacker Blake Cashman and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips played particularly well, while Flores got solid contributions from others like linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.

Pace returned from a four-game absence to a limited but impactful role that could grow this week.

“Thought he played well,” Flores said. “First play of the game, he goes in there, puts a good hit on the guard. He’s disruptive in the backfield, thought he tackled well. I think he had something like [21] plays there ... just to get him going, get his feet wet. We’re going to need him, certainly going to need him this week.”

Defensive tackle Jalen Redmond also returned from a concussion that caused him to miss a game. He also made an immediate impact for an interior defensive line crew, including Redmond, Phillips, Jonathan Bullard, and Jerry Tillery, that continues to make effort plays not seen from every defensive line.

One of the key parts of Redmond’s ascension is his fit at nose tackle, where Phillips — the 28-year-old team captain — has been able to take some more plays off as the season progresses. Phillips has started all 16 games, but he is playing 16% less (or about 180 snaps fewer) than he did last year when he was overworked.

“He was disruptive, made a couple plays in the backfield,” Flores said of Redmond. “He was stout in those snaps. He’s got quickness that showed up. He’s definitely doing some good things for us.”

While playing less than 50% for the second time in the last three weeks, Phillips was excellent against the Packers in 31 defensive snaps (49%).

Tillery made the key hustle play in the first quarter when he chased down Jacobs from the back side of the formation to force the fumble that safety Camryn Bynum recovered.

One big difference on Sunday will be Cashman, who was the Vikings' leading tackler when he went down with turf toe just before the Week 7 loss to Detroit.

This time, Cashman is playing and playing well. He led the Vikings with 11 tackles against the Packers, including 1.5 sacks and an impact that went beyond the box score.

“Natural leadership,” Flores said of Cashman. “A way of bringing people together. He’s very smart. He knows how to communicate with the various people ... whether it’s D-line, whether it’s an edge guy, whether it’s a safety, whether it’s a corner. So, his position is one that he’s involved with coverage, involved with the run game, he’s involved with some of the pass rush. ... He’s been a key member of the defense and will continue to be that.”

Cashman is also a leading mind for a shapeshifting defense that prides itself on confusing quarterbacks and offensive line protection plans. The Lions offense also likes to trick opponents from time to time.

But the Vikings linebacker said this time of year isn’t about subterfuge.

“That’s the thing with the season,” Cashman said. “All the film is out there for the most part. But what it comes down to late in the year is play style [physicality] and execution. Because everything is in. Every team, their identity is formed. It all comes down to play style and execution.”

Meaning: Just stop Jahmyr Gibbs.

To get exclusive analysis on the Vikings in your inbox every Friday, sign up for the free Access Vikings newsletter. Email your Vikings questions to accessvikings@startribune.com.