Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell explains questionable decision to move away from the running game after early success
The running game has been a point of contention with the Minnesota Vikings. Head coach Kevin O'Connell hasn't been the most patient with the running game over the course of his tenure as the Vikings' head coach and play caller. The Vikings came out of the gate strong with 14 points in their first two […]
The running game has been a point of contention with the Minnesota Vikings. Head coach Kevin O'Connell hasn't been the most patient with the running game over the course of his tenure as the Vikings' head coach and play caller.
The Vikings came out of the gate strong with 14 points in their first two drives. The offense was clicking and balanced, as quarterback Sam Darnold was firing the ball down the field with confidence.
The running game was a heavy part of the first two drives but it went away as the game went on and the Vikings ended up losing the game 30-20.
Kevin O'Connell explains the absence of the run game
It was odd that the Vikings seemed to abandon the running game after the first two drives and O'Connell explained the decision.
"I felt like they started to give us a give some problems along the line of scrimmage, as far as, could we get a couple and maybe pop one or two longer ones, that kind of resets the whole day. They were doing a lot of things, coverage wise, to try to keep a roof on to not let the big plays happen, where Sam was able to kind of check the ball down to some guys, put the ball in play. We got the screen game going a little bit in the second half, and then we just didn't sustain enough, and we weren't on the field enough. I mean, 50 plays again. You know, when it's a game like this, and their offense is making some plays and sustaining drives and kind of eating a lot of clock, it can feel like an awfully short game to you as an offense when you're either scoring or going backwards, either self inflicted or sacks. So we've got to just try to find a way to mitigate that run the ball a little bit more efficiently two nine (2.9 ypc) to carry whatever it was is not going to get it done for us with an intent on running the football and building our offense around that, and we got to do a better job at it."
There are some interesting pieces of information in what O'Connell said. First, the Rams changed their approach to stopping the Vikings' offense. What they did worked really well, as the Vikings only scored six points the rest of the game, with three of those coming directly after a Byron Murphy Jr. interception.
The rushing game splits are quite stark from the first two drives versus the rest of the game.
- First two drives: 9 carries, 41 yards (4.55 YPC)
- Rest of the game: 13 carries, 23 yards (1.77 YPC)
That isn't a recipe for success but it wasn't as if the entirety of the offense was thriving. They gained just 276 yards on the day and couldn't sustain much of anything in the final three quarters. The Rams defense was excellent throughout the game and earned the win, but O'Connell continuing to stray away from the running game has been a theme throughout his tenure and will be worth keeping an eye on.
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