Brian Flores has the key to stopping Jalen Hurts, and it plays right into the Vikings’ hands
Brian Flores has the key to stopping Jalen Hurts.
Make no mistake about it, the Minnesota Vikings will have a difficult time against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon.
The Vikings sit at 3-2, with a game four days after Sunday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. The game this Sunday begins a crucial stretch for the Vikings, as they will find out who they are over the next few weeks.
The first test is facing a talented Eagles offense that has seen its fair share of struggles, and Brian Flores has just the key to stop them.
Brian Flores’ defense is the worst nightmare for Jalen Hurts
One of the biggest struggles that Jalen Hurts has as a quarterback is playing against zone coverage. He thrives against man coverage more than anything, especially when teams blitz him. Out of 34 qualifying quarterbacks per TruMedia:
- Vs. Man: 13th in EPA/play
- Vs. Zone: 28th in EPA/play
Things get a little more dicey when you break down the nuances.
| Coverage | Dropbacks | EPA/play | Success Rate | YPA | Air Yards |
| Zone w/blitz | 36 | -0.32 | 36.11% | 4.69 | 3.11 |
| Zone no blitz | 117 | -0.04 | 39.32% | 7.25 | 7.17 |
| Man w/blitz | 35 | 0.26 | 57.14% | 8.58 | 8.94 |
| Man no blitz | 21 | 0.04 | 38.10% | 5.15 | 8.95 |
It’s quite simple: Hurts shreds man coverage, and especially does so against the blitz. It helps that the Eagles have great wide receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith to exploit man coverage. It’s harder to win against zone because Brown and Smith do a better job attacking people than space, and it makes it much easier for Hurts to see in open space. He struggles mightily to see things develop, especially when pressured.
When you look at the Vikings, they attack quarterbacks frequently. They rank first in EPA/dropback when they run zone at -0.33, and 12th in man coverage at -0.01. It looks significantly more impressive when you see how well they run zone coverage.
| Coverage | Opp. Dropbacks | EPA/play | Completion Percentage | YPA | Sacks |
| Zone w/blitz | 44 | -0.57 | 54.1% | 4.6 | 4 |
| Zone no blitz | 76 | -0.19 | 75.0% | 8.6 | 7 |
| Man w/blitz | 16 | 0.19 | 56.3% | 3.4 | 0 |
| Man no blitz | 22 | -0.19 | 58.8% | 3.7 | 2 |
The Vikings thrive in attacking quarterbacks with zone coverage and sending at least five players. The interesting aspect of this entire thing is their yards per attempt allowed. It’s incredibly low overall at 5.9 YPA, but lower in man coverage with a small sample size, and still less than five when running a blitz and playing zone behind it, which is nearly identical to what Hurts does against a zone blitz.
On top of that, the Vikings play the most two-high coverage in the league and love to have players drop back into coverage, with the likes of Dallas Turner playing on and off the ball. Luckily for Flores, the Eagles struggle against that type of approach, mainly due to Hurts struggling to see the field. They love to show multiple pass rushers on the line of scrimmage and get pressure that way, especially with the versatile pieces up front.
The way the Vikings like to play defense is exactly the kryptonite of this Eagles’ offense, and they can thrive in taking advantage. Flores will have fun on Sunday afternoon.
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