Vikings’ win over Packers taught us multiple things on film from Justin Jefferson’s involvement to Dallas Turner’s breakout
There are a lot of interesting things from the all-22 film for the Minnesota Vikings, both positive and negative.
The Minnesota Vikings‘ 29-point barrage to beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon will go down in the history books. As head coach Kevin O’Connell said, it’s a game that will stick with you for a long time.
Within the context of that win, the film revealed a lot of different things, from the Kyler Murray injury to Brian Flores’ defense allowing chunk plays early to the unit tightening up in the second half and putting up 29 unanswered points.
What can we learn from the game? After taking a look at the film, there are a few takeaways, including a multitude of both positives and negatives.
Getting the ball to Justin Jefferson in creative ways
One thing that stood out last year was the Vikings did not do enough to get the ball into Justin Jefferson’s hands. From J.J. McCarthy‘s 28% rate of uncatchable passes going Jefferson’s way to uncharacteristic drops by the superstar wide receiver, it was a year to forget. Jefferson still reached 1,000 yards, but Minnesota didn’t do enough to just get him the football.
On Sunday, they did a lot to get him involved. Jefferson had four catches around the line of scrimmage: two screens and two play-action bootlegs where the Vikings got him in the flat and let him run. Those elements are going to be huge in getting him involved, building chemistry, and then working on getting him the ball deeper down the field, including the 39-yard touchdown from Carson Wentz on the offsides broken play.
Getting him the ball is the No. 1 priority, and O’Connell has already done a good job working on that.
Making motion matter
Over the course of O’Connell’s tenure as the Vikings’ head coach and play caller, Minnesota has used a lot of motion, but it has not been as impactful as you would like. Sometimes the motion felt like it was there and didn’t have a lot of impact.
On Sunday, the motion felt more impactful. It was for intent rather than window dressing. One of the biggest plays where it emphasized that was late in the game where running back Jordan Mason busted off a 28-yard run to get inside the 10-yard line. Wide receiver Jordan Addison went in jet motion at the snap, and it completely moved one of the linebackers out of the frame, allowing Mason to go over to the left side and take it upfield.
Little details like that matter, and it hasn’t always felt like the Vikings have made the most of those opportunities. It certainly seems like they are taking it seriously this season.
Cross dog blitzes maximizing quick pressure
One of the favorites of Brian Flores on defense is the cross dog blitz. Linebacker Eric Wilson lines up over left guard, and linebacker Blake Cashman lines up over right guard or vice versa. Wilson crosses the center, bringing the left guard with him, and then Cashman takes a couple steps forward and loops around into the hole exposed by the left guard. It’s a creative blitz to get quick pressure and maximize impact because it goes straight ahead rather than trying to loop around an offensive tackle.
The big thing here is simple: getting quick pressure. Cashman had seven pressures under 2.5 seconds, which is what NextGenStats deems a quick pressure. You can’t ask for better than what Cashman was able to do on Sunday, and it is something that has been repeatable throughout his tenure in Minnesota.
Jalen Redmond is still great
It was not a flashy game for defensive tackle Jalen Redmond. He didn’t record a sack, nor did he have a half dozen plus pressures as a couple of his teammates did, but it was how he went about his business that is going to make things feel a lot better for this Vikings defense.
Caleb Banks only played 16 snaps on Sunday, and quite frankly, he didn’t look very good. The pad level is still a major concern, and he was getting pushed around a little too much for your liking as the 18th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Banks is likely not going to play a ton this season, but they’re going to rotate him in and get him experience. Sometimes the best medicine is just taking licks. You learn a little faster when you fail rather than trying to learn on your own.
One play that stood out from Redmond was an outside zone play where he grabbed a hold of the offensive guard, stood him up, and executed the peek shed, where he basically moved the lineman around so he could see what the running back was doing. When the running back cut across his face, Redmond threw the offensive lineman off and got the tackle. It’s an incredibly impressive play and one you don’t see often because it is difficult to take that kind of control of an offensive lineman. Redmond is turning into one of the game’s best interior defensive linemen, and that continued to be a factor Sunday. The best part? It feels very repeatable.
Dallas Turner’s dominance
Dallas Turner‘s impact on Sunday was significant. NextGenStats had him with 10 pressures, seven of which were quick, which is significant because he struggled to do so last season. He got a sack and was a menace all game long. You can make an argument that some of his pressures were mainly due to the offensive linemen miscommunicating, including his sack where he got a free release with Zach Bako-Bewele not being able to get off his spot quick enough to block Turner.
However, on the first defensive snap of the game, he blew offensive tackle Jordan Morgan right into the backfield and got a hit on quarterback Jordan Love. That’s the kind of impact we’re hoping to see, and it only took a few seconds to get there.
Why slants are still a problem
When you are as aggressive as the Vikings, you’re going to give up chunk plays. It is just the cost of doing business. The idea is that you give up a couple chunks, but it comes back in the wash because your pressure packages are going to be impactful more often than not.
Unfortunately, one play that has stood the test of time in beating Flores’ defense has been the slant. It happened against the Steelers last year with wide receiver DK Metcalf, and it happened again with Green Bay wide receiver Christian Watson, both of whom are X-receivers. The main reason it was impactful: poor angles. Safety Josh Metellus took a poor one, as it appeared he and cornerback James Pierre didn’t read the coverage adjustment correctly. Safety Theo Jackson took another poor angle in trying to attack the football as well. Jackson was also a big culprit on the Metcalf touchdown by taking a different poor angle.
The Vikings are going to have to fix how they approach some of these angles on the field because this is something that can be repeated for opposing offenses.
