#492: Minnesota Vikings DEFENSE FEASTS on Joe Flacco and Indianapolis Colts

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Something that we need to focus on following the Minnesota
Vikings twenty one to thirteen victory over the Indianapolis Colts
was the Minnesota Vikings defense because they've been struggling as
of late. Thirty one points put up by the Detroit Lions,

(00:29):
thirty points put up by the Los Angeles Rams, and
Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford could practically do whatever they
wanted during those course of the games, and this was
a big bounce back game for them, because when you're
facing off against Joe Flacco, you cannot let him torch

(00:50):
you or else we are in full collapse mode. And
what was so scary about the Colts game was that
the opening drive the culture driving right down the field
without any issues whatsoever. There was no resistance by the
Minnesota Vikings defense on the first possession, and I'm sure

(01:12):
every Minnesota Vikings fan was thinking the same thing, here
we go again. But fortunately for the Minnesota Vikings defense,
Joe Flacco and Jonathan Taylor had an issue during a
handoff which the Minnesota Vikings defense played no part in.

(01:33):
It's not like the defensive tackle blew the center back
into Joe Flacco or one of the linebackers got in
and disrupted Jonathan Taylor. No, they just dropped the handoff
and the football does what the football does, and it
squirts around, and it looked like Harrison Smith was gonna
jump on the football. Somehow, Gruger Hill came away with

(01:56):
the football. So that was a big break for the
Vikings because they go down and score, and it doesn't
necessarily mean it's gonna be an omen for the rest
of the football game. Just think what twenty seventeen, twenty
eighteen Minnesota Vikings versus the Philadelphia Eagles NFC Championship game case.
Keenum leads a Minnesota Viking touchdown drive right away, we're

(02:19):
thinking Super Bowl. Vikings get the ball back, still up
seven to zero, We're going to the Super Bowl. They're
gonna lead it into their touchdown case. Keeum throws a
pick six. So it doesn't necessarily mean anything moving forward,
but certainly not a good start if Joe Flacco is
gonna march the Colts right down the field and score

(02:41):
a touchdown. However, they got lucky and the Minnesota Vikings
defense bounced back immediately following that drive. Just some statistics
in this ballgame. Joe Flacco sixteen for twenty seven one
hundred and I'll share the screen with that. My UTWO
watchers one hundred and seventy nine yards, zero touchdowns, one pick,

(03:07):
three sacks for twenty yards, which was a massive improvement
over the game against the Los Angeles Rams, because remember
the Rams had three offensive linemen injured in that game,
and they specifically did things to avoid taking sacks, like
getting rid of the ball early, quick screens, things like that,

(03:28):
so that Matthew Stafford didn't take sacks. But they didn't
do that the entire game. The Minnesota Vikings pass rush
was non existent and Matthew Stafford had all day to throw,
so the fact that they got three sacks on Joe
Flacco was a good sign. And QBR fourteen point six

(03:49):
passer rating of sixty three point seven. Jonathan Taylor, the
horse that makes the Colts offense, goes thirteen carries for
forty eight yards. Their best receiverd Alec Pierce three catches
forty one yards, Michael Petman one catch, fourteen yards. So
the Colts offense really didn't do anything for them in

(04:12):
this game, and you got to credit the Minnesota Vikings
defense for making it tough on them. And then there
are some fun statistics that people are posting the X
and I'll just share those with you as well, just
because it gives good context on how the Minnesota Vikings
defense played. The Colts average minus point three five EPA

(04:37):
per play on offense tonight, their worst mark of the season. Now,
I don't honestly know what epa per play means EPA.
I'm not sure what that means. However, I do know
that it's a good thing that the Minnesota Vikings were doing.
If the Colts offense has minus zero point three to

(04:59):
five EPA per play, and it's fascinating that it is
minus zero point three to five epa per play because
of what they did on that first drive. They were
marched right down the field, so for it to turn
that badly after a good opening drive just shows how

(05:21):
dominant the Minnesota Vikings defense was in this ballgame. And
then here's another stat. Colts didn't take one single snap
in the red zone tonight, so it just shows that
the Minnesota Vikings defense crushed them and the Colts could
not move the football down the field. Something I also

(05:43):
wanted to address was the two stinkers the Vikings defense
had against the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, because
when you play seventeen games, you are allowed stinkers. And
I have some examples of teams that have historical defenses

(06:06):
having stinkers, and it happens. You're not gonna be lights
out every single week of the season. So I'm just
gonna defend the Minnesota Vikings defense a little bit here
and tell you that stinkers during the course of a
seventeen game season, with offensive coordinators, last head coaches, slash

(06:28):
play callers like Sean McVeigh and Ben Johnson, two of
the brightest minds in the NFL, you're allowed to have
stinkers against those kinds of teams. So I'm just gonna
show you the nineteen eighty five Bears, Okay, historical team.
Week one, they didn't give up twenty eight points against
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but look at that, so win win, win, win, win,

(06:50):
win win. Zero points, three points, zero points, ten points,
nine points, seven points, ten points, nineteen points. All these
points given up by the Bears defense just an annihilation.
I mean, they gave up twenty eight in Week one,
twenty four in Week three, but their offense put a
butt enough points to win, but then they had a
big stinker and the fourth to final week of the season,

(07:11):
they gave up thirty six points to the Miami Dolphins.
I guess, and that's Dan Marino, I would assume. So
even the greatest defense of all time had a stinker
and gave up a lot of points to the Miami
Dolphins on December two of nineteen eighty five. So it happens, Okay.

(07:34):
Another example the Baltimore Ravens two thousand and one defense.
This is the year Trent Dilfer won the Super Bowl
as the Ravens quarterback ray Lewis ed Reid, all those boys.
Let's take a look at their season because this is
another historical defense. They gave up twenty seven points to

(07:57):
the Cleveland Browns November eighteenth. They gave up thirty one
points to the Green Bay Packers October fourteenth. They gave
up twenty four points of the Browns on October twenty fourth.
That's not terrible. So a couple of games where they
weren't as amazing as you would think that the Baltimore

(08:19):
Ravens defense would be, and they gave up six points
to the Bears, seven points of the Titans, ten points
to the Steelers, ten points to the Titans, twenty one
points of the Jaguars, zero points of the Bengals. So
there is well, bless me, thank you very much. So

(08:42):
my point being is that even though the Minnesota Vikings
defense struggled in two straight games after being lights out
sensational forcing CJ. Straw, Brock Purty, Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers,
those guys struggled and couldn't do anything against the Vikings defense.
My point being is that you're allowed stinkers, and stinkers

(09:05):
happen to the greatest defenses of all time. So the
big arching point is that the Minnesota Vikings need the
defense to carry them to however far they are going
to go, because the last thing that we want is
Sam Donald getting into a shootout with a Matthew Stafford

(09:28):
with a Jared Goff in the playoffs, because who's ultimately
going to win that matchup? Most likely the odds would
point towards a Jared Goffer Matthew Stafford because eventually Sam
Donald isn't going to continue that trend of being lights
out throughout that football game. The Vikings are going to
rely on their defense if they are going to win

(09:50):
playoff games. So the fact that they got back on track.
I know it's the Colts, I know it's Joe Flacco,
but the fact that they got back on track is
a good sign. And the fact that they had two
stinkers isn't necessarily as bad a sign as we think
because the examples I used, it happens happens to every

(10:12):
single football team, even the greatest defenses of all time.
So thank you for watching this episode and I hope
this case made your day brighter.