Minnesota’s Defensive Personnel and Simulated Pressures Are A Perfect Combination

Diguse makes contending with Brian Flores’ defense difficult. His defense disguises coverages and pressures, and both start along the front.

One of the key differences between last year’s extremely blitz-happy defense (48.8% blitz rate) and this year’s group (38.8% blitz rate) is its ability to generate pressure with four pass rushers. The 2024 defensive front boasts several strong individual pass rushers, unlike last season’s Danielle Hunter and the Funky Bunch. While Flores can deploy his four-down linemen as rushers and run traditional coverages behind it effectively, he’s also done a great job utilizing simulated pressures this season.

A simulated pressure is when a non-traditional pass-rusher, like a linebacker or defensive back, blitzes in place of a traditional pass-rusher along the front. Unlike a blitz, defined as five or more pass rushers, a simulated pressure rushes four from unorthodox alignments. That's why the Vikings prioritize versatility in this defense. To maximize the leverage of these simulated pressures, Flores needed to find off-ball players who can rush the passer at a high level and pass rushers with the ability and aptitude to drop into coverage.

Per MatchQuarters.com, Minnesota’s defense runs simulated pressures at a 28.9% rate, the seventh highest in the league and well above the league average (19.5%). One of the reasons they are so effective within Flores’ scheme is how interwoven those calls are into his league-high blitz rate. The threat of the blitz and the threat of the individuals involved make these bluffs all the more effective.

His players' versatility ensures that the opportunity cost of sending a safety on a blitz to replace an edge rusher, for example, is negligible.

While they are nominally edge rushers, Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner have great athleticism and coverage ability to drop into the flats or into hook zones over the middle. Jonathan Greenard and Pat Jones II can also do so at times. Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr., Harrison Smith, and Josh Metellus are all weaponized around the line of scrimmage as pass-rushing threats while being good coverage players who can drop to various depths.

However, these players’ ability post-snap is not nearly as important as the confusion the group can present to opposing offenses pre-snap. Sending four rushers from unconventional places can cause the quarterback to hesitate and occasionally compromise the offensive line's protection rules.

For example, if a quarterback is doing the math at the line of scrimmage in a five-man protection and sees six defenders in the box, his “hot” indicator may be whether or not the overhang safety blitzes. He may alert to his hot route behind the blitz, hoping to get the ball out quickly to take advantage of the vacated zone and avoid a would-be free-rusher.

If that safety blitzes, the quarterback assumes he will be hot. But if two players eject from the line of scrimmage, including the edge rusher to the safety’s side, the quarterback must come off his first read. There isn’t actually pressure coming; it is just simulated.

Additionally, in that same scenario, the offensive line may elect to fully or half-slide to that side, thus wasting resources on a blitz that never arrives. Flores’ defense has manipulated the offensive line in this way to generate one-on-ones away from the slide side.

Flores deploys these simulated pressures most often on third downs and consistently on second-and-long. Contrary to common assumption, Flores sends most of his true blitzes on first and second down. Despite showing plenty of pressure by crowding the line of scrimmage on third down, the Vikings drop out into a four-man or even three-man rush more often than not.

Against the Tennessee Titans, the Vikings only sent a blitz 28% of the time and simulated pressure 33% of the time. All but one of Minnesota’s blitzes came on first or second down, with the only third-down blitz resulting in a 33-yard completion. Alternatively, the Vikings simulated pressure on five of 13 Tennessee third downs, resulting in two sacks and only one completion.

Influenced by Flores’ suggestions, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has put together one of the most versatile, positionless defensive fronts in football. The personnel now matches what Flores wants to do from a play-calling standpoint, and that combination has driven one of the best defenses in the NFL.