“When they get their hands on him… get him on the ground and try to get the Rams’ offense behind schedule”
Following a 9-3 finish to secure their second straight playoff trip, the L.A. Rams will host a rematch with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night. Besides the Lions, the Rams are the only team to defeat Minnesota this season, and they likely want redemption for missing out on the conference’s top seed in the regular season finale.
Before LA hosts their first playoff game since the 2022 NFC Championship, I spoke with Christopher Gates from the Daily Norseman to get his thoughts on Sam Darnold, Brian Flores’ defense and how best to defend Justin Jefferson.
Q – Sam Darnold has been the NFL’s best story this season, but had a dreadful game in Detroit, completing 44% of his passes in the 31-9 loss. How does Darnold get back on track against the Rams?
A – I think a lot of it will have to do with how well Kevin O’Connell can adjust to what the Rams might want to do defensively. Detroit continued to send a ton of pressure at Darnold, and the Vikings continued calling plays with longer developing routes that didn’t give him a whole lot of chances. The Vikings need to find some sort of quicker, shorter passing game if the Rams attempt to emulate that strategy on Monday, and if they don’t it could be another long day for Darnold and the offense. It’s a bit puzzling why the Vikings don’t already have a solid quick game, given that they have so many players who are so good after the catch. Their game plan in nearly every game this year has been to try to hit chunk plays, and when those plays get taken away they struggle. If they can’t make adjustments this week, they’ll likely struggle again.
Q – Lions cornerback Amik Robertson shadowed Justin Jefferson on 35 of his 43 routes in Week 18 with the All-Pro hauling in just 3 receptions for 54 yards on 7 targets. Obviously, man-to-man won’t work against Jefferson every week, and LA gave up 115 yards on 8 catches in the first meeting. How was Robertson so effective in coverage and what is the Rams’ best strategy in limiting JJ’s damage in the passing game?
A – Again, Robertson’s “effectiveness” in coverage had a lot to do with the pressure that Detroit was bringing. On film, you can see Jefferson getting open quite frequently, but by the time it happened, Darnold was either running for his life or having to throw the ball away. I don’t think anything that Detroit did on the back end was anything spectacular, but getting pressure on the quarterback is the great equalizer. (Oh, and Roberston held a lot, but you didn’t hear that from me.) If—and I hate to keep beating this horse—the Vikings can make the necessary adjustments to keep Darnold upright, there should be different results. The Rams will likely have to bracket Jefferson with a couple of players, but at that point you run the risk of having to single cover Jordan Addison (who had been on a real tear before last week’s game) and T.J. Hockenson, who didn’t play in the first game between these two teams.
Q – Last time we spoke, you said Kevin O’Connell is one of the best play callers in the NFL which is hard to argue against since he is likely to win Coach of the Year next month. Could you share what has made KOC’s coaching job so special in 2024?
A – I think that O’Connell has gotten his players to so thoroughly buy into the mindset that they’re never truly out of a game. They know that no matter what happens, O’Connell is going to have faith in them to get the job done. He’s been a great motivator during his time with the Vikings, and his ability to get the most out of his players has never been more apparent than this season, with Darnold being the primary example. Sure, Darnold has had a couple of bad games this season, and he picked the worst possible time to play what might have been his worst one, but O’Connell has put him in a position to be successful more often than not. He’s been a big part of what’s made the Vikings’ “competitive rebuild” possible, which was an idea that a lot of people scoffed at when he and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah were placed in charge of the team during the 2022 offseason. The arrow is definitely pointing upward with O’Connell at the helm in Minnesota.
Q – When these teams faced off in Week 8, Matthew Stafford threw 4 touchdown passes to mark his best game of the season to that point. After watching the tape, how was Stafford able to pick apart Brian Flores’ defense so efficiently and what are some other weaknesses in his scheme that LA’s offense could exploit?
A – The biggest issue that the Vikings had the last time these two teams played was that they got pressure on Stafford, but they consistently failed to get him on the ground. When Stafford was the quarterback in Detroit, he was prone to getting sacked frequently, but now that he’s been in the league for what seems like forever he’s gotten much better at avoiding those sacks. One of the big keys for the Vikings in this one will be keeping Stafford better contained when they rush, and when they get their hands on him, to get him on the ground and try to get the Rams’ offense behind schedule. They’ll also have to do a better job of slowing down Kyren Williams, which will also help to keep the Rams’ offense out of a rhythm.
Q – The Vikings are 1.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook. What is your prediction for Monday’s game and what must Minnesota do to advance to the Divisional Round?
A – The last time Sam Darnold put together as awful a game as he did last week was when he threw three interceptions against Jacksonville. After that, he went on a pretty serious tear that saw him lead the Vikings to the point where they had an opportunity at the #1 seed in the NFC and home-field advantage. I can’t see him throwing up another clunker in this one, at least not based on the evidence that we’ve seen so far this season. The Rams are definitely going to be a tough out, but I firmly believe that the Vikings have the ability to go on the road and get the job done on Monday. I don’t think it’s going to be a blowout by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that the Vikings will get the victory and move on to the Divisional Round
