Vikings' defense is built for modern-day NFL, drawing comparisons to all-time greats

[purplefaithful]

The Vikings are stopping teams on third down 72.8 percent of the time this season — the highest rate since the 1998 Oakland Raiders (73.3 percent). They’ve allowed only 40 third-down conversions for the season, an average of 3.3 a game.
“That’s absurd,” Cosell said. “The number 40, to me, in 12 games, that blew me away. I don’t think they get their due. I think people recognize Mike Zimmer’s a good defensive coach, but I don’t think they say, ‘Wow, this defense is unbelievably great.’ ”
Which, considering how many cues the Vikings take from their coach, might be how they want it.
“That’s our goal, is to be the best,” linebacker Anthony Barr said. “We haven’t always been that. Each week presents a unique challenge, and you’re going to fail sometimes. But I think we’re successful more often than not.”
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[Guest]

The Vikings, Cosell said, are in a sub package — using a personnel group other than their 4-3 base defense — about 79 percent of the time, which is the second-highest ratio in the league behind New England’s 80 percent.
For much of this season, they have used Terence Newman as their nickel cornerback in normal down-and-distance situations, trusting the 39-year-old’s ability in run support, and turned to second-year man Mackensie Alexander at the nickel in obvious passing situations.
Zimmer has never been a heavy blitzer, on the order of Rex Ryan or Dick LeBeau, but the Vikings’ excellence lies in their flexible personnel that allows them to keep opponents guessing about which players will come after the quarterback and which ones will drop into coverage.
“They’re a defense for today’s NFL,” Cosell said. “What do you need when you play nickel? You need edge pass rushers: They’ve got two of them. You need speed at linebacker: They’ve got [Eric] Kendricks and Barr, who both play with speed and range. They’ve got a matchup corner in [Xavier] Rhodes, so when they choose to match him up against an opposing receiver — which they don’t do every single week — but when they choose to, he can do that. They have a multidimensional safety in Harrison Smith, who can play the back end, he can play in the box, he can blitz, he can match up to tight ends man-to-man.
“If you’re talking about today’s NFL, your sub- package defense becomes critically important. They have, essentially, every element you would look for in a sub-package nickel defense.”

[Guest]

When asked this week what separates the best defenses from the ones that are merely good, Zimmer said: “Probably the biggest thing is winning the game in the fourth quarter — being able to take over the game. You think about the teams that can get constant pressure on the quarterback, I guess that would be it.”
Doing it in the playoffs would give the group its imprimatur.
“We always think we can do better,” Barr said. “I think it’s sometimes human nature to get complacent and pat yourself on the back, but we haven’t really accomplished too much yet.”