A year ago, the Vikings were 0-3 with a big-play problem on defense.
Now they’re 3-0 and locking down the deep ball.
The Vikings just dispatched the league’s two most efficient long ball throwers of last season — the Texans’ C.J. Stroud and the 49ers’ Brock Purdy — while holding them to 3 of 8 for 87 yards and an interception on passes that traveled at least 20 yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus. Nobody had better passer ratings on deep balls last year than Stroud (142.5) and Purdy (134.7).
Yet neither quarterback could push the ball downfield at U.S. Bank Stadium, where the Vikings sent waves of pass rushers and shapeshifting coverages. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores said Tuesday that he had never seen an offense get flagged four straight plays for pre-snap penalties like the Texans had in the second quarter.
Flores credited the fans. But it’s the Vikings’ morphing defense that forces offensive players to talk to each other over deafening crowd noise. Blockers like Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil are forced to decipher which Vikings defender is rushing or dropping into coverage all while staying in rhythm with his fellow offensive linemen on a silent snap count. Texans second-year center Juice Scruggs appeared to struggle keeping the pace. Houston was flagged five times for false starts.
“We know it’s going to be loud for the offense,” Flores said. “That allows us to disguise and move and give the offense some pre-snap looks we think will be hard for them [and] that will force communication in a place that’s hard to communicate.”
On passes thrown beyond 20 yards, the Vikings defense has allowed just 4 of 9 passing for 112 yards and an interception. By this time last year, they’d given up touchdown passes of 25-plus yards in each of their first three games against the Buccaneers, Eagles and Chargers.
New players and a second year under Flores have made a marked difference.