Why DeFilippo came to the Vikings, and how his offense will look
When the Vikings first turned their attention to John DeFilippo during their offensive coordinator search, they knew they might have some hurdles to clear before landing him.
Word of the Vikings’ interest in DeFilippo leaked out during Super Bowl week, while the 40-year-old was in the Twin Cities preparing for the game as the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach. DeFilippo, who grew up in the Philadelphia area, was in no rush to leave the Eagles, and had earned some interest from the Colts after Josh McDaniels backed out of their head coaching job.
The Eagles won the Super Bowl in Minneapolis, of course, and Philadelphia granted the Vikings permission to talk to DeFilippo several days before his contract expired. And by the time general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer flew to Philadelphia to interview DeFilippo after the Eagles’ parade, the coach had done enough research to know he was going to take the job if it was offered.
“When you go and take a chance on a situation, there’s three things you want to look at: Stable ownership, stable front office, stable head coach,. This place was 3-for-3,” DeFilippo said in an interview in his office. “You know when you’re making a life decision like that, and leaving a place where you’re from, a place where you’re comfortable, you just won the Super Bowl and you have arguably — if he didn’t get hurt — the MVP of the league last season and the Super Bowl MVP , and you’re really happy in your role … I didn’t know Frank was going to get the head job in Indianapolis. I think, the more people get to know me, I’m not some egomaniac where I need to be an offensive coordinator. To make that decision, my wife and I sat down, and I said, ‘Honey, this place has stable ownership, a stable front office and is stable at the head coaching position.’ Once we talked about that, it made the decision much, much easier. I had faith they were going to go out and do what’s best for this football team at the quarterback position. If I didn’t feel that, there was no way I would have taken this job.”
http://www.startribune.com/why-john-defilippo-came-to-the-vikings-and-how-his-offense-will-look-2/484465921/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
“The best red zone teams do two things,” DeFilippo said. “No. 1, they run the football. They have success running the football. So right now, when you come out to our practice, you’re going to see us throwing the football more than we’re going to , because we have to work on that timing. It’s so unique down there; we’ve got to get that timing down. I told our O-line the other day, ‘Hang in there with me, fellas,’ because I would be shocked if we don’t have more rushing attempts inside the 20 than we do passing attempts. I just told them to hang in there with me. “No. 2, when you find out what the quarterback does good down there and what he feels comfortable with, you find different ways to do those things, over and over again, so now the quarterback feels comfortable cutting the ball loose into a tight window. The receivers have confidence in faith throws, of crossing the corners and safeties’ faces, knowing the ball’s going to be there on time, facemask or higher. Those are the two things we’re going to do to help him: Tighten up the package a little bit, and obviously, we need to have success running the football down there. Those are two things we can do to help him out.”
DeFilippo offered an immersive look at his red zone philosophy in this video produced by the Eagles’ in-house media network last year, and some of his core principles (throwing the ball high, targeting the back of the end zone, etc.) figure to carry over to the Vikings.
@"purplefaithful" said: DeFilippo offered an immersive look at his red zone philosophy in this video produced by the Eagles’ in-house media network last year, and some of his core principles (throwing the ball high, targeting the back of the end zone, etc.) figure to carry over to the Vikings.
Wow. Yeah, I'd say Flip knows his football!
One of the more impressive things here is how well he communicates. He's extraordinarily fluent and intelligible. If you've ever heard Norv Turner try to explain something, you know that's not a given with these guys.
Sounds like what I'll be doing with our high school offense this year. 'cept I don't have Dalvin Cook (although our QB can sling it pretty good).
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