Send Out a Search Party for the Vikings Pressure
Ted Schwerzler
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It’s not at all a surprise to anyone that the Minnesota Vikings defense is bad. Mike Zimmer had an awful unit last year, and it’s arguable that Ed Donatell has been even worse in orchestrating the group. That said, the front is where this unit was supposed to make a difference and that has gone completely ghost as well. We may need to send out a search party to get that Vikings pressure back for the defense.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”1200935″ player=”26281″ title=”WATCH%203%20ideal%20Zach%20Wilson%20trade%20scenarios%20from%20the%20New%20York%20Jets” duration=”88″ description=”The quarterback was benched ahead of New York’s Week 12 outing against the Chicago Bears after putting up a stinker of a performance in the team’s previous game.Still only 23, it was somewhat of a surprise that the Jets opted to bench Wilson. Sure the former No. 2 pick has not looked the part of a starter, but sitting him doesn’t display much confidence that the BYU product can be the long-term solution in Jersey.” uploaddate=”2022-12-05″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/snapshot/1200877_sd_1670278101.jpg” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/streaming/1200877/1200877.m3u8″ width=”16″ height=”9″]
Through the early weeks of the NFL season, Za’Darius Smith raced out to some of the best sack numbers in the league. When the New England Patriots came to town on Thanksgiving night, there was hope that Smith could get it going again and jump back up into the Matthew Judon range. Danielle Hunter had worked in tandem with Smith and also begun to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Then they both started getting shut out.
If there is one thing that Donatell should know by now, it’s that expecting his secondary to hang with talented wide receivers isn’t going to happen. Beyond Patrick Peterson and Cam Dantzler, there’s a ton of uncertainty, and neither of the top options represent anything close to a shutdown corner. The best bet for Minnesota against an opposing passing game is to put pressure on the quarterback and get safety help over the top.
On Sunday against the Detroit Lions, star safety Harrison Smith was on the bench after being ruled out. Emerging rookie cornerback Akayleb Evans was recently placed on injured reserve for his concussion, and scrap heap pickup Duke Shelley was again going to be relied upon for depth.
How did Donatell take pressure off of them? Well, he didn’t.
For the second straight week, Minnesota’s pass rush generated zero sacks. Despite employing both Smith and Hunter, no one got to Jared Goff or Mike White in the past eight quarters. While it’s one thing that neither of the studs brought the quarterback to the ground, it’s truly mind-numbing that the pass rush couldn’t have been schemed in a better way to get home.
Ultimately, Donatell’s defense gave up nearly 500 yards to the Lions and Detroit was able to keep Minnesota constantly on their heels. For a team that has performed well in one-score games, they need their coordinator to find a way to scheme enough resistance that make the points matter.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes weekly for Twins Daily. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.