Vikings Film Room: Major change on offense vs. Titans brings mixed results, could be a mistake
The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tennessee Titans by a score of 23-13 in a game that shouldn't have been that close. The big story for the Vikings was the benching of Ed Ingram. This was a big move by the Vikings. They sat Ingram who didn't start for the first time in his career that he […]
The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tennessee Titans by a score of 23-13 in a game that shouldn't have been that close.
The big story for the Vikings was the benching of Ed Ingram. This was a big move by the Vikings. They sat Ingram who didn't start for the first time in his career that he was active on gameday. Fans had been clamoring for it for upward of a year and they got their wish on Sunday.
Risner getting the nod was to hopefully solve the perceived issues the Vikings had at right guard, but it didn't turn out as good as you would have liked. Let's dive into the film.
Dalton Risner struggles
The results were not what they were hoping. His Pro Football Focus numbers were overall worse than Ingram's.
Risner:
- Overall grade: 50.0
- Pass blocking grade: 55.3
- Run blocking grade: 47.9
Ingram:
- Overall grade: 54.0
- Pass blocking grade: 49.1
- Run blocking grade: 58.1
The idea of making the switch was that he would be immediately better and that just wasn't the case. If you believe that the PFF grades are correct (which I have disagreed with often), Risner was a significant downgrade in run blocking while only being better by a smaller margin in pass blocking.
Let's take a look at some plays from Risner.
It didn't take long for Risner to make an impact on the game.
The first Vikings' offensive snap saw Risner get immediately pushed back by Jeffery Simmons. He couldn't even get his hands on Simmons before he was in Darnold's grill. This is something that has been an issue with Ingram at times, but you cannot have this happen, especially when pass blocking is your forte.
His biggest flaw is the sheer lack of oomph. There isn't any real pushback. One of his run-blocking reps was a draw play, but his set is incredibly frustrating.
Take a look at left guard Blake Brandel (64). He moves slightly forward with a short set to sell the idea of quick game with the draw play. The goal is to catch them off-guard, but Risner plays this very poorly. He lets Simmons push him into the backfield while using a standard pass set and the play gets blown up pretty quickly. These plays are the norm with Risner, as he doesn't generate any push in the running game
Here are two more examples of just that.
Sigh
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This zone play gets blown up by T'Vondre Sweat because Risner doesn't get any push on him. Sweat just pushes him away and gets the tackle for loss on Cam Akers. It's a down block where all he needs to do is get inside leverage on the shoulder and push him out of the way, or at the very least generate enough movement for a cutback lane. He fails to do any of it and it's a major reason why the Vikings ended up struggling to run the ball with a 2.5 yard average.
The next one is just as worrisome, especially since it's against former Vikings defensive lineman James Lynch, who has struggled his entire career.
He generates zero push and Lynch ends up helping to make the tackle. It's a major problem for the Vikings, who need the running game to succeed with consistency on offense. Risner's been consistent with his struggles in the passing game and it's come to fruition in a big way.
Is this a big issue long-term? I think it's definitely something that could come to pass down the line. Ingram's run blocking has been a huge factor in the success of this team. The inconsistencies as a pass blocker are the catalyst for the change, but Risner still got beaten a few times and was worse per PFF grades than Ingram's last four games.
Is it the right move? That remains to be seen, but O'Connell said some nice things about Risner's performance on Sunday.
"I think Dalton did some good things. Like I said, it's, it's one thing to get back in there and be working your way back from his injury to his window, being open to them, getting a chance to be out there. But it was, like I said, a really good front.
"I thought he battled. I thought he showed some of that veteran kind of moxie to kind of win some downs that were some hard downs. And then I think there's some things he'll continue, just with the speed and physicality of it, you know, find his groove. So I was really happy with the way Dalton stepped in and with the poise of the veteran that we're kind of looking for. And like I said, I was also really happy with the way Ed handled the week, and he was ready to go if need be."
Time will tell what ends up happening here, but the initial results aren't what we would have hoped.
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