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Scouting The Vikings

Kevin Greene

By Kevin Greene,
in Carolina Panthers

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Vikesfan Newbie

Vikesfan

Posted
Posted

First, lets talk defense. Clearly, this is the Vikings strength.
I've attached the following video which is an excellent look into our scheme. Don't worry about its focus on Harrison Smith. Much of the video talks about how Zimmer uses his personnel. 

 

Defensive Ends:
A strength of the defense. Vikings play a gap control scheme that is imperative that our DEs perform a very important task. They are charged with Making contact with their blocker and moving them back. Our DEs do not go upfield like a lot of other teams do. What you will notice is that we tend to pinch more than most teams. As result we give up extreme sack numbers in exchange for keeping the QB in the pocket. The best of the Bunch is Griffen who is as strong as he is quick. He used to be our Gunner on punt coverage (lol). The guy to worry about though is Danielle Hunter. The kid is 21 years old and is a physical freak. At 6'5 250. He has much to learn but he has all the tools and has looked good so far. Last year he was 2nd in rookie sacks despite not starting a game and this year he already has a couple of sacks and a TD. Your RT (who we cut) is going to have his hands full with Robinson and Hunter.

DT: Floyd should be a top tier 3 technique but the guy can't stay healthy. His step off the snap is disruptive but it is clear that something is not right. He missed last game with a knee injury and has been complaining about pain since last season. On the other side of him is Linval Joseph. Prior to his injury last season, no one was playing the 0 tech like he was (including your Jewel of a young guy Short). Put on the film of Vikes vs. Rams and you see a NT with 13 tackles!!! After that you have Tom Johnson who is a pass rusher and Shamar Stephens who is a 7th rounder who was hurt last season but has shown flashes of being a decent player. Biggest issue with this group and the Dline as a whole is our rush defense. We are just average at best at stopping the run. We are pretty good at stopping rushing QBs but big backs give us trouble.

 

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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The secret is to contain Fran Tarkenton from running. Keep an eye on Ahmad Rashad out wide but don't sleep on Sammy White. Chuck Foreman is a workhorse in the backfield. Gary Anderson is pretty good on field goals too.

When they're on defense, make sure you double John Randle but watch out for Alan Page.  Jack Del Rio is a monster in the middle and Carl Lee is great in coverage.

Hope that helps.

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panthers55 Grand Master

panthers55

Posted
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I really like Linval Joseph. He was a beast at ECU and has turned into a great defender.  The problem for the Vikings is they don't have the horses to keep up with our offense.  

I.laughed when I read that the Vikings defense is good at stopping rushing quarterbacks but not big backs. How are they at stopping rushing quarterbacks who are bigger than most big running backs.

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Vikesfan Newbie

Vikesfan

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LBs. 
Our Three linebackers are Barr, Kendricks and Greenway as starters. We tend to face 11 personnel (3 Wrs and a TE) so we run a lot of Nickle. Greenway is on his way out and this is his last season. He's not great in pass coverage but he is solid in run support. The real stars in the Corps are Barr and Kendricks. Both have their technical issues with misteps on playaction and counters. However, Barr may be the best overall LB in Football (All respect to the great Luke). Luke is as good in pass coverage and amazing in closing and run support. However, Barr add one aspect that Luke might be average in and thats pass rushing. From what I have seen is that Luke is a good blitzer but not an Elite one. I would trade Barr for Luke in a heartbeat however. Kendricks at this point is a decent young LB. Makes good plays but can also get caught up in the wash. He is having a better season that Barr however. Both Barr and Kendricks can spy and will be important to stopping Cam.

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TheSpecialJuan Grand Master

TheSpecialJuan

Posted
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24 minutes ago, Vikesfan said:

First, lets talk defense. Clearly, this is the Vikings strength.
I've attached the following video which is an excellent look into our scheme. Don't worry about its focus on Harrison Smith. Much of the video talks about how Zimmer uses his personnel. 

 

Defensive Ends:
A strength of the defense. Vikings play a gap control scheme that is imperative that our DEs perform a very important task. They are charged with Making contact with their blocker and moving them back. Our DEs do not go upfield like a lot of other teams do. What you will notice is that we tend to pinch more than most teams. As result we give up extreme sack numbers in exchange for keeping the QB in the pocket. The best of the Bunch is Griffen who is as strong as he is quick. He used to be our Gunner on punt coverage (lol). The guy to worry about though is Danielle Hunter. The kid is 21 years old and is a physical freak. At 6'5 250. He has much to learn but he has all the tools and has looked good so far. Last year he was 2nd in rookie sacks despite not starting a game and this year he already has a couple of sacks and a TD. Your RT (who we cut) is going to have his hands full with Robinson and Hunter.

DT: Floyd should be a top tier 3 technique but the guy can't stay healthy. His step off the snap is disruptive but it is clear that something is not right. He missed last game with a knee injury and has been complaining about pain since last season. On the other side of him is Linval Joseph. Prior to his injury last season, no one was playing the 0 tech like he was (including your Jewel of a young guy Short). Put on the film of Vikes vs. Rams and you see a NT with 13 tackles!!! After that you have Tom Johnson who is a pass rusher and Shamar Stephens who is a 7th rounder who was hurt last season but has shown flashes of being a decent player. Biggest issue with this group and the Dline as a whole is our rush defense. We are just average at best at stopping the run. We are pretty good at stopping rushing QBs but big backs give us trouble.

 

impressive

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wud35 Newbie

wud35

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13 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

The secret is to contain Fran Tarkenton from running. Keep an eye on Ahmad Rashad out wide but don't sleep on Sammy White. Chuck Foreman is a workhorse in the backfield. Gary Anderson is pretty good on field goals too.

When they're on defense, make sure you double John Randle but watch out for Alan Page.  Jack Del Rio is a monster in the middle and Carl Lee is great in coverage.

Hope that helps.

The memories you give me. 

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rico6 Grand Master

rico6

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tbf, our defense as a whole can't afford to let Luke blitz in comparison to other blitzing MLBs, I'm sure theres a statistic out there that would show that amongst the league's MLBs that Luke's blitzing\sack differential would be amongst the best in the league.

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Vikesfan Newbie

Vikesfan

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10 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

I really like Linval Joseph. He was a beast at ECU and has turned into a great defender.  The problem for the Vikings is they don't have the horses to keep up with our offense.  

I.laughed when I read that the Vikings defense is good at stopping rushing quarterbacks but not big backs. How are they at stopping rushing quarterbacks who are bigger than most big running backs.

We will see. However, I remember giving it to you guys pretty good in 2014. Lots have changed since then.

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