When Brian Flores May Feel Tempted to Give the HC and QB1 an Earful
With a touch beyond a minute left in the opening half, the Vikings regained possession of the football.
Brian Flores was calling a great game, regularly hitting Lamar Jackson while corralling a talented Ravens team to just 6 points. The issue is that J.J. McCarthy failed to drain the clock, leaving precious time for Lamar Jackson to do something that special quarterbacks do: chew up yards in a hurry before putting points on the board. The Vikings and Ravens went into the half at 10-9 instead of 10-6.
Brian Flores, J.J. McCarthy, & The First-Half Failure
In a lot of ways, the problem rests with Kevin O’Connell.
The three plays were all passes. Complete the passes and things are fine. Fail to do so and Baltimore gets to see their MVP and All Pro passer get back onto the field since each incompletion stops the clock. In theory, McCarthy could have been better, but don’t forget that we’re still talking about a 22-year-old quarterback in just his fourth career start. Oh, and the Vikings only handed the ball off to the running backs thirteen times despite Aaron Jones (5.2 YPC average) and Jordan Mason (6.25 YPC average) proving efficient on the ground.
So, there’s somewhat of a balance that needs to arrive in the end-of-half moment. McCarthy can execute better; O’Connell can do (much) better calling plays.
Best case involves Minnesota being able to secure a stranglehold of the game. At 10-6, the Vikings could have pushed the score up to 17-6 prior to the half. That 11-point lead could have swelled even further since Minnesota was going to get the ball to begin the second half. Being greedy makes a pile of sense; at this stage, there’s no need to play scared.
And yet there’s another reality that’s also at play: the ongoing desire to stifle Mr. Jackson.
At worst, Lamar Jackson is a top-five NFL quarterback. Patrick Mahomes is the top passer. Joe Burrow and Josh Allen deserve to be in the conversation, but Jackson has a claim on being better than both. Defending him becomes a whole lot easier when he isn’t allowed to leave the bench.
J.J. McCarthy is Brian Flores’s best friend when the quarterback extends drives. Doing so means Jackson sits on the sidelines. He won’t be able to break free unless the Ravens’ defense can force the Vikings’ offense off the field.
McCarthy, in other words, has a vitally-important (though indirect) impact on the defense. Jackson should have never been given the chance to step onto the field before the half. Failing to keep Jackson on the bench allowed Baltimore to steal 3 more points.
At the end of the game, the score showed 27 points for Baltimore alongside 19 points for Minnesota. The added field goal didn’t make the difference, at least in the most basic sense of the point discrepancy between the two teams. One still does wonder, however, about the approach. There’s a fine line between confident aggression and foolhardy recklessness.
Best guess is that Coach Flores is taking the issue in stride, focusing his attention on his defense since he’s a professional who has repeatedly demonstrated strong leadership.
Nevertheless, the reality: Minnesota did wrong by its defense and defensive coordinator. Some frustration on that side of the ball would be fully justified.
Next up for the Vikings is a Week 11 fight against the Chicago Bears. Pulling off the win would mean getting up to .500 while being 3-0 in the NFC North.
Coach Flores would be very reasonable were he to have a conversation with Minnesota’s HC and QB1 about finding a way to sustain drives to keep Caleb Williams off the field.
