Vikings run defense folds again in key stretch of loss to Rams

Death by a thousand cuts is the summary of this Vikings defense, but the cuts are made deeper by the attack of the Rams who, after Sunday’s loss, are now the fourth to run for more than 150 yards against head coach Mike Zimmer’s side this season.

“They have a unique scheme, where they use the receiver, the extra person in there, to go a bit [left or right] “And our guys were just jumping on them instead of playing what they were supposed to play. So they ended up getting some big wounds in there,” Zimmer said.

Running or passing, the Vikings defense fell under Zimmer as injuries, especially at the defensive end, and failed team decisions and development, especially at the center backs, continued to burden them. The past six weeks have seen a significant decline.

Since Justin Herbert founded the Charger last month, the Vikings allow 393.8 yards and 25.6 points per game. The Defenders kept their count stats lower against the Rams – 356 yards and 23 points – but just barely against a tense, under-thrown Matthew Stafford.

Meanwhile, the Rams running back from Sonny Michele trotted the field effortlessly at times while gaining 131 yards on 27 buggies. The Vikings have two games against the Packers and Bears to prevent the current 4.7 yards allowed per carry from being the franchise’s worst defense since 2003.

“We know [run defense] “It’s something we have to fix, and we knew that was something we had to slow down in the game if we wanted to win up front,” said Patrick Peterson.

1. The rams escaped with the match in the second half. After the Vikings settled on a field goal, and drew within 20-13, the Rams took the field after throwing three interceptions in the past five runs. Then they ran 48 of 75 yards for the next touchdown.

Sheldon Richardson, a veteran of defensive tackle with the shortened Vikings, played 61 of his 70 shots on Sunday. Maybe that wasn’t enough. The Rams immediately went to his replacement, third-round rookie Patrick Jones (No. 93), on his first play for this major mover.

Rams’ correct handling of Rob Hafenstein (#79) makes this 10-yard run by Michelle happen with his right arm extended. Hafenstein pushes Jones to the right, helps form the tight end of Tyler Higby for the block, and pivots to linebacker Eric Kendricks (No. 54). With Havenstein shutting down the Kendricks, and Higbee hanging Jones outside, there’s an alley.

Nose tackle Michael Pierce (#58) was blocked by Rams right guard Austin Corbett (#63). Nobody defeats the Vikings defense block, which is 10 yards for Michelle.

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2. Sean McVeigh, the Rams coach, outperformed the Vikings by mismatch mode. The Vikings’ worst days against racing came this season against a few young minds in the game like Brown’s Kevin Stefansky, Kyle Shanahan and McVeigh at 49ers. However, their worst day was a 247-yard dash by the Ravens, veteran coordinator Greg Roman and quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Against the Rams, the Vikings defense was kept with five defensive backs in the pool to match a three-player attack. Those lighter fronts struggled to hold on as Mackenzie Alexander, playing through a rib injury, was brought into battle. The Zimmer occasionally grappled with a triple-safety nickel look, putting the Novice Camryn Bynum deep and moving Harrison Smith into the slot, where he is closer to the action.

“They put the players in positions, and our guys are in positions where they don’t necessarily feel comfortable,” said linebacker Anthony Barr. “We had the nickels on the run fit a lot, and then sometimes we missed a gap. We weren’t in our gaps, we weren’t in the right places, so they outperformed us in the running game.”

In this second and seventh play below, note that Richardson (left defensive end) is back in the game after Michele played 10 yards only twice earlier. This next run was prepared by Michel (#25) with the above scheme. A configuration of three receptors brings Alexander (#24) to the field, and intense alignment keeps him close.

Receiver Van Jefferson Rams (No. 12) operates a jet sweep, which takes Kendrix (No. 54) and Bar (No. 55) from their position as they move left toward Jefferson. Ben Skowronek’s ram receiver (#18) pulls from right to left as a lead blocker.

Two other components important to this play: left-footing rams AJ Jackson (#68), an uncut rookie and injury substitution, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (#94) knocks laterally to widen the track. Jackson can do this as a second blocker on Tomlinson, as Higbee (#89) and future Cooper Kupp (#10) double defensive end DJ Wonnum (#98). After an initial push on Wonnum, Kupp slips behind Higbee and pulls as a second bullet blocker.

The flexible play design has two Alexander block receivers. It’s 11 yards.

“Things they probably do a little bit better than the others is that Cobb is going to hit the defensive end like the tight end,” Zimmer said. “He’ll turn him around and bring him up to full-back. He’s a great player. Like I said during the week, he does a lot of dirty work. He’s not just a receiver.”

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3. That drive ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Odell Beckham Jr., who beat Cameron Dantzler in a one-on-one position. Dantzler ran into some trouble in the red this month, if you remember the Lions’ winning December 5 relegation followed by more second-half blunders against the Steelers.

This time around, the Rams seem to be plotting Dantzler into a solo stand against Beckham. Kupp (#10) attracts a lot of Vikings attention as he aligns in a group formation on the open side of the field (ball on the right tick mark). This is also the only play that Harrison Hand substituted Alexander in the slot, with Alexander looking shaky for a while.

Dantzler (#27) keeps his outside lever until Beckham rigs an inside move at the top of the track. Dantzler is reeling inside, and Beckham is out to score. Stafford keeps his eyes left, runs across the finish zone and throws right in about 3.2 seconds.