Miami Dolphins: 3 sneaky keys to pull the upset over the Vikings
By Matt Serniak
The Vikings will run play-action bootlegs over and over and over and over and over again.
If you’re Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings, you run play-action bootlegs a thousand times a game. It’s what you do. Not sure if those commercials still air but you know what they are.
Kevin O’Connell was brought in to take the offense of the Minnesota Vikings to new levels and hit marks they simply didn’t hit with Mike Zimmer. I watched the London game two weeks ago and guess what? The offense looks exactly the same as it always has.
Run the ball with Dalvin Cook a few times whose only goal is to set up play-action, specifically play-action bootleg passes in an effort to hit Justin Jefferson for a chunk play. It’s almost as if this is the movie Replicant with Jean Claude Van Dam and Michael Rooker(surprisingly decent movie, find it and watch it) where the front office wanted to get rid of Zimmer because they wanted a new, fun, and young offensive guy but just made sure that O’Connell ran the same exact plays as they always have.
That’s not to say that this style of offense hasn’t worked this year for the Vikings. They rank 10th in total offense with 361 yards a game with 259 yards coming from the pass.
I know it’s cool and always in vogue to dump on Kirk Cousins but the guy produces numbers. The knock is that he never does it when it matters and that is true. But this isn’t a primetime game or a playoff game. That means this is the perfect game for Cousins to play very well.
Miami needs to knock Cousins off his spot. Kind of like at the beginning of the year when we said the Miami Dolphins were going to run a bunch of play-action bootlegs but we found out everyone in the world knew it was coming and they had a backside end stay home and go upfield towards the quarterback never going for the running back. That’s what the Dolphin’s backside pursuit whoever it is, has to do. Who cares if Dalvin Cook is getting a handoff? They need to trust the other guys on defense and worry about Cousins keeping it.
Make Cousins have to dump it to the fullback or backup tight end. Kirk is the easiest sack in the game. The guy loves getting half a finger on him and falling over like a drunk in a stadium chair. Phillips, Ogbah, Van Ginkel, and Ingram need to be aware of this very single play.