More From Pro Football Focus On The Vikings' Pass Protection

It’s very easy to blame the O-line when you watch Favre on his back, but i think it is more telling that the receivers weren’t getting open or running accurate routes. Well, hopefully w/ a young QB who can keep defenses honest (what Musgrave wants) AP and a short passing game, the Vikings can stand to take a major leap forward this year

Since the Vikings will have a more mobile QB, then it stands to reason that the sack rate will go down. But the results are what are most important. We can place blame on receivers and backs all we want. But sometimes we just have to realize that a WR or RB are not going to be good blockers. We only hope they can get in the way long enough.

The offensive line is paid to block. Unfortunately these stats do not show what happened on 3rd downs. I believe the Vikings third down efficiency on offense was not very good last year. So when the line blocks well is just as important.

The problem with the Vikings line is not the scheme. It is the age of the players on the left side and Herrera. We can only reasonably HOPE that they regain some form from previous years. I just do not see it going very well and I see the downward spiral from these players continuing. It is inevitable for football players who reach their age and have played that many years.

All I know is the offense stunk last year and the line was one of the main reasons. I do know that they did not run block that well too. Sure AP gained a lot of yards but he should be close to 2,000 yards each and every year with his talent.

So between pass blocking and run blocking and the age and recent injuries, this line is not heading in the right direction.

I can only HOPE!

i think there is something missing in this analysis. i’d say what is missing is the amount of time the qb took from the snap until he actually threw the ball. it seemed to me that favre was tossing the ball pretty darn quickly, pretty darn frequently. that might have been a function of the play calling or favre just knowing the beat down was going to arrive any millisecond.

in either case, i think that the defenses blitzed him a fair amount (the vikes ranked 12th in the league in that catagory). and, favre was not very nimble and we didn’t exactly have many deep threat receivers on the team. also, i think that teams know that the way to get favre to throw ints is to get some pressure on him.

i was surprised that they didn’t call more screen pass plays or designed roll outs to avoid such quick pressure. screen plays get the ball into a playmakers hands in a hurry where he could be in open space and not have to bust threw the line. when they did run them, they seemed to work fine. and designed roll outs at least get the qb out of the pocket and cut the field in half, they buy the qb some time and let him get crafty. that hardly happened, but when it did, it seemed to work.

i get the point about the lack of playmaker ability of the receivers, but i think the problem was the result of combined forces…playcalling, quick trigger, lack of qb mobility and general overall o-line suck factor. i think the pff rankings would be different if they had the ability to calculate “time to pass release” and factored that into their pass protection equations. the vikings had one of the lowest qb rankings and passing yards in the league. i find it hard to believe that the lame pass protection that i witnessed didn’t have something to do with it.

A lot of the comments above covered the important ground but I want to emphasis something. Favre was really, really good at unloading the ball with lightning speed, and if he had to hold onto it for longer than was wise, it was because he was waiting for receivers to get open. Favre didn’t need much of an opening either, to zing the ball out to a receiver, the man took my breath away (and not in a good way) on a regular basis with some of the needles he threaded. But he could do it. That’s what he did.

The Vikings’ receivers brought a lot of issues to the passing game last year. It was more than just being slow-ish or route running. It was holding on to the ball once Favre got it to them. I’d really like to see what PFF could come up with on receivers who dropped balls (or just failed to catch the ball that hits them on the shoulder pads) and see where the Viking wide outs ranked last year.

We had a whole lot of ‘BLAME FAVRE’ going on last year, but I think at least as much of any blame to the “skill” positions (as if being a linemen doesn’t require skill) goes to the receivers.

i’m not going to look too deep into this, strictly b/c this looks completely flawed right off the bat…

Indy is #1 — ok, i guess i can get on board with that.

but wait, Seatlle is #2…?? how does that work out?? sure, they rank 1st in Pressure Per Play, but then they rank 30th and 24th in the other criteria. using common sense, i don’t see how you can argue they rank 2nd overall in pass protection, especially considering Detroit is #4 when they rank 7th, 6th and 1st. and all this is under the assumption that the criteria is even valid to begin with…a lot of it just seems arbitrary to me.

nothing against PFF, i understand they put a lot of work into this, but i couldn’t get on board with other ‘advanced’ stats they do, and i can’t get on board with this either. what matters is production in the clutch when it counts and being able to win games. example: Big Ben isn’t the best QB in the league, but everyone knows he gets the job done when it counts — three SB appearances in six years (and two wins) tells me all i need to know. and Pittsburgh ranks dead last in PFF’s pass protection rankings?? really?? i don’t get it…