Dealing with shell coverages and a quarterback who leads the league in turnovers means O’Connell is finding ways to adapt to new defenses while staying aggressive on offense.
Kevin O’Connell is both in words and deeds an aggressive offensive play-caller. His preferred style of offense is equal parts gusto and bravado. One can only imagine the plays he drew up in backyard football as a kid.
The Vikings coach faces a fascinating juxtaposition. He craves a vertical passing game that inherently requires some risk. His quarterback has a proclivity for turnovers. And opposing defenses are crafting schemes to neutralize the best wide receiver in the sport by clogging up the deep part of the field.
So, Justin Jefferson, what is the right answer in this situation?
“I never want Sam to force a ball into double teams or triple teams,” he said. “But if he ever had to, that is always an option for him.”
That line drew laughs from reporters, but it speaks to the complexity of O’Connell’s challenge in navigating Sam Darnold’s turnover issues while finding the right balance between patience and aggressiveness.
One statistic from Sunday’s 12-7 victory over the Jaguars went largely unnoticed because Darnold’s three interceptions served as an eclipse to all other details: 43.
The Vikings had 43 rushes, the highest total in O’Connell’s three seasons as head coach and play-caller.
His decision to call a pass (which resulted in a Darnold sack) instead of a run on third-and-1 late with an opportunity to ice the game was a case of being overly aggressive. That one made me scream at the TV, given Darnold’s struggles and the fact that their running game had been successful.
O’Connell often mentions his preference to be aggressive as a play-caller, regardless of circumstance, but he explained his reasoning for leaning more on the run in general that game during his weekly interview with KFAN’s Paul Allen.
“There’s a layer sometimes where in my mind I’m trying to have some growth as the head coach,” O’Connell said. “Not just the play-caller, not just the egomaniac of wanting to score points and constantly show everybody how smart we are. There was a mode that I think you have to go into sometimes to ensure a victory.”
The Jaguars hit the Vikings with a completely different schematic approach than they had shown in previous games. They conceded the line of scrimmage in exchange for trying to eliminate deep passes to Jefferson and Jordan Addison by sticking to a split safety alignment.
As the football cliché goes, O’Connell took what the defense gave him.
“If teams just want to cover us deep and allow us to take everything short and allow the run game to explode, that’s what we have to do,” Jefferson said. “We can’t get greedy and try to force passes into those shell coverages.”
Greediness wasn’t the problem. The Vikings pieced together four possessions that lasted at least 12 plays and racked up more than 42 minutes in time of possession, which is basically unheard of.
The problem was that Darnold short-circuited scoring chances with interceptions that were the result of either poor decisions, slippage in fundamentals or a combination of factors.
His 10 interceptions and 13 turnovers overall are both an NFL-high. O’Connell continues to express confidence in Darnold, but he’s walking a tightrope as a play-caller, especially if other teams adopt Jacksonville’s blueprint and employ a heavy dose of shell coverage.
Both Jefferson and O’Connell acknowledged the difficulties in relying on drives that last 12, 14, 16 plays on a consistent basis. It’s wonderful in theory, but too many negative things can happen to bank on that approach consistently.
O’Connell preaches the importance of “explosives” and Jefferson is at his best when he stretches defenses.
The challenge for O’Connell is to find new ways to get Jefferson and Addison downfield opportunities against schemes designed to limit them without making things overly complicated for his quarterback.
“It doesn’t really matter how defenses play other teams,” Jefferson said. “When we step foot on that field, the whole defense changes.”
Jefferson mentioned making changes “on the fly” to account for schemes they hadn’t seen during prep work. This is the puzzle that O’Connell must solve: Shell coverages and a quarterback who leads the league in turnovers. As youngsters say, it’s complicated.