Vikings put a wall around quarterback Sam Darnold and the Packers couldn’t knock it down
MINNEAPOLIS – Believe it or not, the Minnesota Vikings had concerns about the Green Bay Packers getting to quarterback Sam Darnold.
Yes, the same Sam Darnold who completed 33 of 43 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns with one interception while carrying the Vikings to a 27-25 victory over the Packers on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
It didn't appear that the Vikings even gave the Packers defense a second thought the way it piled up 441 yards, but a big part of their strategy to beat their NFC North rival was to put up a wall around Darnold.
“When a team ‘max’ protects as much as they did, they’re scared of something or they see something they have to defend against,” end Rashan Gary said. “If a team comes out with ‘max’ protections, it’s respect to our pass rush, how we’ve been doing.
“But regardless of what they’re doing, you’ve got to find a way to win.”
The Packers have been getting after quarterbacks better than they had earlier in the year and came in ranked seventh in the NFL in sacks per pass play and tops in the NFC North. They had 16 sacks in their previous four games before coming up with just one against the Vikings.
If given enough time, the Vikings are so confident Darnold will find star receiver Justin Jefferson and his talented colleagues that they are happy to keep in a back and a tight end or two to slow the pass rush, which is what they did.
It helped Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell to know that defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley doesn’t blitz much and likely wasn’t going to send one or two additional rushers to get after Darnold. He certainly invited him to, but Hafley had to play a lot of zone coverage to protect his beat-up secondary.
Hafley was especially hit hard when safety Zayne Anderson suffered a concussion on special teams late in the first quarter and was unable to return. As a result, rookie Javon Bullard had to play safety instead of slot corner and Keisean Nixon had to move from outside to the slot.
Bullard, returning from a sprained ankle, didn’t look 100% and not having Nixon outside made it harder for Hafley to blitz since his top corner wasn’t available to play man coverage on the perimeter. At the end of the first half, he also lost his best inside pass rusher, Devonte Wyatt, to a concussion, further depleting a unit that was without linebacker Quay Walker and safety Evan Williams.
Still, the Packers often seemed to be within grasp of Darnold as he held the ball waiting for someone to come open, only to see him step aside and fire the ball to one of his receivers.
“I felt like the first half we got after him and the second half it was a different ballgame,” defensive tackle Karl Brooks said. “There were a lot of seven-man protections with just four rushing. We were fighting and clawing just to get back, just to get some pressure.”
The Vikings regularly employed 5-foot-11, 250-pound fullback C.J. Ham and 5-10, 217-pound back Cam Akers to help double an edge rusher or pick up an inside rusher, so they could keep Darnold from getting hit.
Tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Johnny Mundt would block until they were sure the rush was handled and then release.
“That’s a double on two guys, so one guy has got to win,” Brooks said. “That’s how we look at it.”
A few times, Hafley blitzed linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, the Packers’ rising star on defense, but the Vikings were ready for it.
“Every time I went up there (to rush), they just slid the protection to my side,” Cooper said.
After keeping the Vikings in check in the first half, the Packers couldn’t get off the field in the third quarter. Minnesota ran off a nine-play 70-yard touchdown drive to open the half that ended when Darnold hit receiver Jordan Addison for an 18-yard touchdown.
Darnold had so much time, he was able to allow Addison to sell an out move on Bullard, step up and then throw a strike over Bullard’s head into the end zone.
“The timing, the sell of it, we were trying to give Sam a chance to read a couple of other eligibles, T.J., Justin being (the others),” O’Connell said. “(Sam) climbed up in the pocket right about the time we got a nice little rhythm kind of set right there.”
After the Packers cut the Vikings’ lead to 20-10 in the third quarter, the Vikings marched down the field again, this time 70 yards on eight plays. The defense looked gassed and, when the Packers loaded up to stop running back Aaron Jones, Darnold successfully attacked the perimeter.
“Definitely frustrating,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “You know, that's just the nature of football. He did a really good job of getting the ball out with screens and the short passes or whatever.
“We definitely got to be better there, get our hands up and all that kind of stuff. Credit to them. They made the plays.”
When the offense found a little bit of a groove in the fourth quarter, the defense stiffened, but after the Packers closed to within 27-25, Darnold had the answers to put the game away.
Two bootleg fakes that took advantage of the Packers’ aggressiveness resulted in first downs and the Vikings were able to run out the clock.
The Packers had opportunities during the game to change their fortunes, but they always were a step away.
If cornerback Eric Stokes had picked off Darnold’s overthrow that sailed through his hands early in the fourth quarter, the Packers might have had more time to engineer a comeback.
If end Arron Mosby had hit Darnold a half-second earlier, the play might have been ruled a fumble instead of an incomplete pass and the Packers would have at the ball at the Minnesota 28, down 27-18, with just over 6 minutes left.
But this was Darnold’s day, and the Vikings did everything they could to make sure the Packers didn’t get to him.
“Kudos to him, getting away from the pressure, things like that,” Gary said. “And that's what makes him a good quarterback.
“But you know, at the end of the day, to get us where we want to go, you’ve got to be critical in our performance, and we’ve got to find a way to get him down.”