Marcus Davenport Unlocked Minnesota's Pass Rush Against the Panthers

On Sunday, Marcus Davenport played his first full game with the Minnesota Vikings. He helped their defense hold Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers to only six points on offense while sacking Young five times in a 21-13 win.

Davenport had been dealing with an ankle injury and had only played six snaps this season before this game. The Vikings brought him in this offseason to help supplement the edge rushing room with Za'Darius Smith on his way out the door. With Davenport out, Minnesota's pass rush was largely ineffective outside of Danielle Hunter for the first three weeks. The team only had one sack, shared by Harrison Phillips and Ivan Pace, besides Hunter's five.

That changed against the Panthers, and Davenport's impact was a big part of the impressive performance on defense. He recorded a sack, won on a rush that flushed Young towards D.J. Wonnum for another sack, and also recorded a tackle for loss in the game.

Let's go to the tape to see what Davenport added to help propel the Vikings to victory:

Interior Pass Rush

Through three games, the Vikings had struggled mightily to get interior pressure (pressure numbers per PFF). Harrison Phillips had forced seven pressures so far this year. But the other interior players, Dean Lowry, Jonathan Bullard, Jaquelin Roy, and Khyiris Tonga, have combined for just two total pressures on 130 snaps. None of those players possess the quickness to threaten interior offensive linemen, and it leads to a lot of bull rushes that take too long to develop.

On the play below, watch No. 90 Jonathan Bullard rush against the Los Angeles Chargers' RG. He has a lot of space, but settles for a basic bull rush. That fails to compress the pocket quickly, and gives Herbert the time to throw a curl route for a strong gain:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Bynum-misses-tackle.mp4]

Because of this lack of production from the IDL, the Vikings regularly tried to rush edge rushers on the inside, including Patrick Jones II and Andre Carter II. Jones only has four pressures on the season in 82 opportunities, and Carter got three mostly unblocked pressures against the Chargers. But he is very raw and has not shown much ability to defeat opposing blocks.

Here is one of Carter's spin moves (lined up against the RG) that shows how raw the undrafted rookie still is:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Herbert-stays-on-his-spot-to-deliver-a-pass.mp4]

Against the Panthers, Davenport showed a much more effective spin move against Carolina's LG, Chandler Zavala, on the play below. Compared to Carter above, who gets too far upfield, allows his opponent to get his hands on him, and basically spins into the block, Davenport attacked the guard. However, he didn't get the same level of depth, and, most importantly, spun while his opponent was trying to deliver a punch. That left Zavala reeling, and Davenport was in Young's face at the top of his drop.

Marcus couldn't quite finish the sack, but Wonnum cleaned it up, forcing a punt:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-spin-creates-Wonnum-sack.mp4]

That wasn't the only time Davenport won on the interior. He used his lateral quickness and a swim move to beat Zavala on the play below and ended up basically untouched.

The play below did not turn into a sack because Young was able to get the ball out at the top of his drop:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-interior-win.mp4]

Stunt execution

The Flores defense makes heavy use of stunts along the defensive line. To date, the Vikings had not been a particularly effective stunting team. On his sack Sunday, Davenport showed the quickness and explosion that is needed to succeed on stunts.

On the play below, the Vikings are running a "You" stunt to the left side, with Wonnum crashing and Davenport looping. When Davenport disengages from the initial block to loop, you can see quick acceleration that allows him to chase down Young for a sack.

This is impressive athleticism from an NFL player:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-sack-on-stunt.mp4]

Contrast this to a stunt from Andre Carter on the Chargers' third-and-17 conversion. Carter is sluggish to close the space between himself and Herbert, and it lets Herbert get off an accurate throw to convert:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Herbert-3rd-and-17-conversion.mp4]

Run defense on the edge

So far I've exclusively shown plays with Davenport on the inside, which is where he will best contribute as pass rusher on third downs. However, on base downs, Davenport plays on the edge. He's a powerful edge player with heavy hands, and that helps the team in run defense. The Vikings have been quite good in run defense this year, allowing just 3.5 yards/attempt on the ground. That number drops to 2.1 yards/attempt if you exclude their abysmal Week 2 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and they allowed just 2.7 yards/attempt to the Panthers.

Davenport contributed to that success with a TFL, on the play below. On it, the opposing TE, Tommy Tremble, lined up to the right side of the screen, is tasked with blocking Davenport by kicking him out and trying to open a lane between himself and the other TE. Davenport completely shuts the run down by launching Tremble into the TE next to him, shedding the block, and giving the RB nowhere to go, finishing with a TFL:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-dominates-TE-in-run-game.mp4]

Davenport's quickness also showed up in the run game. The play below is outside zone, and the Panthers have tasked LT Ikem Ekwonu with reach-blocking Davenport. On reach blocks, coaches often teach linemen to let opposing defenders cross their face, which is what Davenport does on this play. The thought process from the offensive perspective is that the RB will be able to outrun the backfield penetration. But Davenport is so quick that he gets in the backfield before Chuba Hubbard could get past him, forcing Hubbard to spin back into Patrick Jones, who was closing in from the other side of the line:

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-runthrough-to-create-TFL.mp4]

Play recognition

Davenport also showed nice feel for the game after missing time. On the screen play below, he sniffs out the screen pretty much as soon as he gets blocked. The Vikings are running a simulated pressure, so Wonnum and Hicks drop out at the snap. But Davenport is supposed to have a true rush on this play. However, he feels something off with the RG's block, and backs off in the direction of the screen. This is a strong veteran move. Linemen block differently on screens than on true pass sets, and it takes experience to recognize the difference.

Davenport follows the block to where the screen is thrown. While he doesn't make the tackle, his outside position forces the runner back inside where other defenders rally to tackle.

[video width=1920" height="1080" mp4="https://zonecoverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Davenport-screen-recognition.mp4]

conclusion

Marcus Davenport showed a number of positive traits in his first real action as part of the Minnesota Vikings. As a pass rusher, he provided much needed pressure on the interior throughout the game and showed the ability to execute stunts at a high level. Against the run, he defeated TE blocks, held his gap, and showed the burst to make plays in the backfield. Mentally, he was on point, snuffing out a screen play.

Overall, Davenport was a large part of Minnesota's defensive effort that held the Panthers to six points on offense, sacked Bryce Young five times, collected eight tackles for loss, and kept the Panthers to only 3.4 yards per play. Hopefully Davenport will continue to stay healthy for the rest of the season, and help drive the Vikings to a similar level of success that they saw in this game.