Kevin O’Connell’s own words from training camp come to fruition vs. Lions, and it resulted in an explosive play
It’s a nice wrinkle Kevin O’Connell added to the offense.
Sunday’s Minnesota Vikings game against the Detroit Lions was huge for many reasons, as they got a 27-24 win on the road, and it also marked head coach Kevin O’Connell‘s first win at Ford Field.
There were two reasons why the Vikings ended up getting the win: the success of J.J. McCarthy in key leverage situations and Brian Flores’ defense attacking the Lions. Within the context of McCarthy’s success, it was how O’Connell maximized him with play calling that elevated the offense to a new level.
I’ve praised O’Connell’s play calling over the course of his tenure, and he’s getting better as time goes on. During training camp, he talked about a potential area of growth, and that has started to come to fruition.
Kevin O’Connell started using Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason on the field together
There were quite a few plays on Sunday that stood out, but one of the biggest was a swing pass that ended up counting as a run play, and it worked so well because Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason were in the backfield at the same time.
It’s a simple play, but there is beauty in the details. With the fake handoff to Mason, the linebackers get sucked in, and Jones springs into space for a 31-yard chunk play. The idea of using both players at the same time is something that O’Connell mentioned at the beginning of training camp
“Aaron Jones can run in between the tackles, he can catch the ball, he can block in protection. He can line up anywhere in the formation. Jordan Mason has proven already to be well ahead of new players in the system from a protection standpoint,” said O’Connell. “And clearly, he’s got the body type to be a physical presence. So, I really see those guys playing off of each other, where we can keep them both fresh, keep them both in attack mode when they’re in there.
“Maybe we activate some two back groupings where we’ve got Jordan and Aaron in the game at the same time. There’s a lot of things schematically that we’re going to try and then, as we get towards the season, what gives us advantages?”
With Jones having missed four full games, we haven’t gotten to see much of this. Now that O’Connell can use both players regularly, seeing the unique angles that O’Connell uses to attack will be fascinating to watch, and it could elevate the Vikings’ offense to a different level.