The Easy-to-Miss Beauty Behind The Vikings’ Dazzling Pick 6
For the most part, the focus on the Vikings’ pick 6 from Week 1 was on edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel. After all, the pass rusher plucked a pass out of the sky before bringing it back to the house.
Well done, Mr. Van Ginkel.
What’s not as easy to see, perhaps, is how the team as a whole was successfully responding to the challenge that the New York Giants were presenting. Brian Flores is leading a well-coached team, a reality that showed up in the clip of Van Ginkel bringing a Daniel Jones pass back for a score. Jumping into a quick analysis of the replay demonstrates as much.
The Vikings’ Pick 6 & The Brian Flores Brilliance
Start off with a simple reality about football that’s easy to miss: the sport does not begin with the snap of the ball. Rather, that specific play begins.
See the difference?
The distinction is subtle and may appear inconsequential but it’s crucial to remember. Before the ball gets snapped, each side of the ball — the offense and the defense — is gleaning information. What does the personnel look like? Where are the other team’s key players lined up? What’s likely based on down and distance? All of these questions (among many others) are swirling in the minds of coaches and players.
Consider, for instance, the play under consideration: the one where Jones tries to throw a quick pass as a way of undermining what appears to be a six-man blitz. The solution to the problem the Vikings’ defense is showing ends up being a major gaffe. Go ahead and re-watch the moment:
Very naturally, the eye drifts toward #43. And, to be sure, there’s good reason. Van Ginkel slows up on his pass rush, recognizing that Jones is getting rid of the ball quickly. He intercepts the ball at point-blank range, something that’s incredibly difficult to do. How did he know it was going to be a quick pass? Lucky guess? One assumes that a bit of guessing went into it, but looking at the play more broadly suggests that some combination of a player’s film work, physical abilities, and coaching factored in.
Consider another way of watching the play, one courtesy of NFL Next Gen Stats. Look at their clip, complete with small circles that have numbers to represent the players:
A very basic fact that shouldn’t be missed: the Vikings are showing the threat of six blitzers but New York only has five blockers. Jones is doing this math before the play. What’s the solution? A coach commonly teaches that an unblocked rusher becomes the problem of the QB; in essence, Jones needs to do some addition and subtraction before the play. If he can determine that he doesn’t have enough blockers to handle the rushers, Jones needs to get rid of the ball before an unblocked defender can get home for the sack.
Part of the problem that Jones runs into is that the Vikings aren’t sending six. Even worse, Van Ginkel guesses right, slowing down to get his mitts on the pigskin.
Something else is occurring, though. Watch the play and the Next Gen Stats clip again; keep your eyes on Ivan Pace Jr. Where does he go? The linebacker immediately sprints over to the bubble screen. How did he know he needed to do so?
Again, do some math before the play begins.
On that side of the field, the Giants have four potential pass catchers versus just three defensive backs. In theory, that’s the solution for the Giants. Yes, the blockers aren’t plentiful enough to handle six rushers, but that’s not going to matter if the ball can get out of Jones’ hands quickly enough to set up the bubble screen.
There will be a ball carrier and then three Giants blockers to pick off what appears to be just three Vikings defenders. The +1 math — at least according to the pre-snap judgment — appears to favor New York.
The issue is merely that Pace has deceived Jones. He’s not a sixth rusher; instead, he’s a fourth defender to help neutralize the bubble screen. All of the sudden, the Vikings’ defense has an unblocked tackler to account for the receiver who is supposed to get the ball.
Ivan Pace, apparently, has been well coached and has a strong understanding of the defense. He showed a threat but then understood where Minnesota was showing a weakness. He backs off his threat — that he’ll blitz — to instead go over to address the defense’s weakness — the numbers shortage along the outside.
Brian Flores is an excellent coach who is leading an excellent defense. The players deserve a pile of credit for the work they do on the field; after all, they’re the ones who bring the scheme to life with real play on Sundays.
Don’t forget, though, that Flores has done a very nice job of preparing his men to shine on Sundays, something that becomes evident when we watch both of Van Ginkel and Pace on that play.
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