Film review: Vikings leaning on Sam Darnold in the red zone, and he’s producing

Running the ball has long been the surefire way to be a good red-zone offense in the NFL.

But the Vikings have ripped off a 4-0 start turning convention on its head.

The bulk of quarterback Sam Darnold’s league-leading 11 touchdown passes have come in the red zone, or inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, where space is condensed, throwing lanes are crowded, and winning teams find a way to score six points instead of settling for three points.

No quarterback has thrown more than Darnold’s eight touchdown passes down there, and only Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has attempted more red-zone passes than Darnold’s 25. Equally impressive is Darnold’s red-zone completion percentage (18-for-25, 72%) that also ranks second in the NFL.

Some of Darnold’s throws require ultimate precision passing, but the Vikings are also winning with creative play designs like that one that sprung tight end Josh Oliver wide open for a score during Sunday’s win at Green Bay.

The NFL’s other leading red-zone offenses in Buffalo, Detroit and Washington are dominating on the ground. The Vikings are leaning on Darnold in lieu of a power running game.

“Sam’s done a great job of really kind of understanding the intent of the plays,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said Tuesday. “Red zone really just ends up being more schemed ... than kind of running your core plays. You have plays that you work in the red zone through the offseason, but a lot of times there’s tweaks.”

“I thought he’s done a really good job of preparation ahead of that and understanding kind of what we’re trying to get,” Phillips added. “There’s been a combination of things. He’s made the plays off schedule, and he’s also made throws in rhythm working through progressions. ... Ultimately, that’s what good red-zone teams can do is score in a variety of ways, and he’s been a part of those.”

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Coaching and scheme only get so much credit. Justin Jefferson’s 14-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter at Lambeau Field was all receiver and arm talent. Darnold looped a pass over the shoulder of Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon with perfect touch met by a one-armed grab from Jefferson and a 28-0 lead.

“That was a huge play in the game for Sam,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “For Sam on quick-game timing to assess that it was more of a quarters look, [and] that he can then still throw the one-on-one. It was going to be contested. We got to give Justin some [opportunities] to do that.”

Phillips said: “You can take everyone else off the field. “He throws a great ball to Justin. Justin makes a great catch with one hand off his pads — [would] love to take credit for the scheme there, but really it was Justin has a one-on-one out there and we had the right route on for him and [Darnold] gave him a chance to make a play on it and he did.”

The Vikings led 7-0 and got back-to-back penalties on Packers defensive backs, putting them at the 1-yard line. Running back Aaron Jones was stuffed on a pitch left out of heavy personnel: three tight ends and fullback C.J. Ham.

In the video below, you’ll see the next play — the score to Oliver. O’Connell keeps the same personnel on the field but calls a play-action pass out of the same exact alignment as the play before. The Vikings even have an identical motion by Ham on both the failed run and the play-action pass. Making the pass play identical to the run play helps sell the play-action handoff and freeze former Vikings and current Packers linebacker Eric Wilson (No. 45), who is caught looking when Oliver is left wide open.

Jordan Addison announced his return with a slick 29-yard touchdown on a stop-and-go route that shook the Packers defensive back. Later in the second quarter, Addison took a jet sweep handoff and put another move on Nixon, the Packers corner, to score his second touchdown.

Addison’s quickness helped soothe the Vikings’ short-yardage woes; his 7-yard touchdown run was the team’s first rushing touchdown since the first quarter of the Week 1 win at New York.

Because the Vikings haven’t been able to run the ball at the goal line, the burden has largely fallen on Darnold.

The Vikings attempted four runs inside the Packers 5-yard line. None of them gained positive yardage. They ranged from the 1-yard loss by Jones that you’ll see in the video below to a holding call on right tackle Brian O’Neill, another run stop on Jones, and the failed fourth-down sweep attempt by receiver Jalen Nailor at the end.

“Obviously would’ve liked to punch the ball in at the end there,” Phillips said. “A couple times we felt like we might’ve had opportunities, but give credit to them. They did a nice job. It’s a tighter area. The safeties are showing up faster, all those types of things. Wish we could’ve given them a better opportunity to punch it in down there, but overall I think there’s things we can coach and improve on and there’s calls we can help them out more and give them a better opportunity, maybe better angles to make the blocks.”

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