This Vikings game feels like it’s going to be another nail biter. While the Broncos’ pass blocking has improved this yr, the WR’s do not seem to be getting open nearly as often as we’d like. It’s led to Russ hanging onto the ball, but he made some great Runs and flicks against Buffalo to get the W. Without a stretch the field TE, it seems like we’re limited to begin with down the field.
Also, I haven’t felt too comfortable the past 1.5 yrs with Russ when Defenses have brought extra rushers. Last year it felt like on every big 3rd Down, Defenses would just bring Bomb blitzes and we’d never make the right OL checks to account for that. That same weakness reared its ugly head Monday night on that 2nd & 5 on the final drive, but thankfully, Russ got us out of that. How do you think we’ll fare against a Flores-led Vikings D that brings the most blitzes this yr in the league?
Some quick stats:
The Vikings have blitzed on 49% of their plays this season (1st), have produced 33 hurries (8.2%), 24 QB knockdowns (6.8%), 27 sacks (12th in the league), 84 pressures (22.4%).
The Patriots lead the league in hurries with 44 (11.4%) and Panthers are last with 13 hurries (4.7%). The Bills lead the league in with 42 QB knockdowns (12.8%) and the Cardinals are last with 10 knockdowns (3.3%).
Just because they have a high blitz rate, the data provided shows that the Vikings are somewhere in the middle for everything else which means blitzing isn’t always effective.
We’ll be fine…