Coaches focus on improving pass defense
Vikings coaches focused on improving pass defense during the bye week; the team's secondary through 11 games ranks in the bottom half of the league in yardage (20th), big plays (22nd) and touchdowns (23rd).
"We spent a lot of time with it," coach Mike Zimmer said Wednesday. "Spent a lot of time in the last couple of days on fundamentals, reteaching the things that we feel are important going forward in these last five ballgames."
Everything from player technique to coaching scheme was under the microscope, per Zimmer. The solution ahead of Monday night's challenge in Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, according to cornerback Xavier Rhodes, isn't that far away.
"We just got to finish," said Rhodes, who has five deflections and no interceptions this season. "That's the key.''
''That's our biggest thing is just finishing the coverage. You watch film, you watch our games, we're in coverage. We're just not finishing, not batting the ball, not picking the ball off."
Wilson — 5-0 against the Vikings in his NFL career — is one of the most proficient deep throwers in the league, which is not the ideal setup for a Vikings secondary needing to rebound.
Wilson has thrown three of the NFL's seven unlikeliest completions in 2019, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Contested passes have not fallen the Vikings' way very often this season.
"We miss the ball in the air, the receiver ends up catching it," Rhodes said. "Or we tip the ball and the receiver still ends up catching it. It's stuff like that, to the point we just knock it down. Don't tip it in the air. Be aggressive with the receiver, dive for the ball, do whatever you can.
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-coaches-focus-on-improving-pass-defense/565548212/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
well something definetely needs to change / be corrected, if our passing D was top 5 in the league we probably would be 10-1
Ok, so how do you teach finding the ball at the last second? How do you teach finishing the coverage as Rhodes stated? I am hopeful that something changes in coverage but not optimistic. Zimmers approach of just reteaching the fundamentals seems a bit hollow at this point of the season.
@"Magnus10" said: Ok, so how do you teach finding the ball at the last second? How do you teach finishing the coverage as Rhodes stated? I am hopeful that something changes in coverage but not optimistic. Zimmers approach of just reteaching the fundamentals seems a bit hollow at this point of the season.If thats the sole solve, then yes I would agree. But I dont think thats the case. I'll bet a lot of teams use the bye week to hone technique, get rid of bad habits that inevitably develop over the course of a season. Especially by week 11 of a season.
Lets hope Mike, Edwards, Gray, Patterson are also evaluating their play-calling and everything else contributing to a less than stellar D performance - given the draft capital on that side of the ball.
Frankly, I agree with many here that lack of DL pressure is also causing all those high picks in the back end of the D to look ordinary vs extraordinary.
The only cavalry on the way this season is existing players getting better and better play calling too.
Just turn your head around and look for the damn ball!
Finishing is the problem with Waynes, he's always in good position but can't ever knock the pass away. Rhodes just gets burned
Rhodes lost a step ... and he is lost because he gets flagged for interference more now.
I don’t see his play improving.
@"Mattyman" said: Is it technique, scheme or personnel?
All of the above.
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