Harrison Smith's Greatness, Offensive Line Optimism, and Other Vikings-Steelers Takeaways
The Vikings saved their season — and perhaps Mike Zimmer's job — with a much-needed 36-28 victory over the Steelers on Thursday night.
A dominant first 40 minutes of football that saw them get out to a 29-0 lead turned into yet another nail-biter as they narrowly avoided being on the wrong end of the biggest regular season comeback in NFL history. The main story of the game, beyond the dramatic ending, was Dalvin Cook's brilliant 200-yard, 2-touchdown performance just 11 days after suffering a serious shoulder injury.
Having had a few days to reflect on the win, let's run through several other things we learned about the Vikings on TNF that will be relevant to the four-game closing stretch of their season, which starts with another primetime showdown in Chicago next Monday.
Harrison Smith is incredibly important to the Vikings' defense and continues to build his case as a potential HOFer
Smith was easily the Vikings' defensive MVP in this game, showing all of the skills and smarts that have made him one of the game's best safeties for a decade now. He finished with five tackles, one sack, the game-winning pass breakup, and had a forced fumble overturned, but even that impressive stat line undersells his impact. Smith was all over the field both before and after plays, making things difficult for the Steelers' offense with his pre-snap disguises.
It's so valuable for Mike Zimmer and the Vikings' defense to have a safety like Smith who can do it all: cover a deep half of the field, play man coverage in the slot, stop the run from the box, blitz off the edge, etc. And what makes him so great is that he's able to mask what he's doing with perfectly-timed movement that confuses quarterbacks, receivers, and blockers. Add in his leadership and influence within the secondary, and you understand why Smith is a team captain despite not being the most vocal player.
"Harry, he’s the commander," Patrick Peterson said. "He's the commander by not even saying much. He can just look at you, because first of all, he don't have a very loud voice. He don’t come across very boisterous. Even in a game, you've got 60,000 people, and Harry's still talking like he's right next to you. I'm like, 'Harry, we're in a football game right now.' But his eyes, and his demeanor, and just his ability to impact the game the way he did last night, it's special. He means a lot to this defense. He means a lot to this organization. It just goes to show, us old guys can still play."
Smith, Anthony Barr, and Eric Kendricks — the three remaining mainstays of dominant Zimmer-era defenses with Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen out — were integral in the Vikings' incredible start to this game. And when the Vikings nearly blew it, Smith stepped up and made a phenomenal play to preserve the victory.
He turns 33 in February, but Smith is still playing at a very high level, ranking as a top-ten safety in the league by PFF grading. His intelligence and instincts figure to allow him to play another four or five seasons even as his physical abilities decline, which means he could very much be on a Hall of Fame path. Smith's sack on Thursday gave him 16.5 for his career to go with 29 interceptions. Only eight other players have recorded at least 16 sacks and 29 picks in the Super Bowl era: four are in the Hall of Fame, while two more — Ronde Barber and LeRoy Butler — are semifinalists this year. Hitman Harry could be HOF Harry in a decade or so if he keeps producing.
Things are looking up for the Vikings' much-maligned offensive line
Cook was fantastic on Thursday, but plenty of credit must go to the offensive line as well. They were opening up huge holes left and right, as evidenced by 110 of Cook's 205 rushing yards coming before initial contact (per PFF). They also gave Cousins plenty of time in the passing game, particularly early on.
The weak link right now is at left tackle; Oli Udoh has struggled mightily in two games since being moved from right guard, where penalties and inconsistency were already issues for him. Rashod Hill wouldn't be a much better option, so the Vikings will just have to hope Christian Darrisaw can return against the Bears after missing two straight with an ankle injury. At the other tackle spot, Brian O'Neill continues to shine as the unit's best player. He's made that contract extension look good this season. Darrisaw, Brian O'Neill, and left guard Ezra Cleveland — who is really coming into his own and playing well of late — are the Vikings' three foundational pieces up front.
The big development is that it appears the Vikings may have found something with Garrett Bradbury and Mason Cole playing alongside each other. Bradbury has played his two best games of the season since being reinserted into the lineup at center following his COVID stint that turned into a full-on benching for Cole. The 2019 first-rounder, justifiably written off as a bust before this mini spurt, has four games left to try and convince the Vikings they should pick up his fifth-year option this offseason. And Cole, who Rick Spielman acquired for a sixth-round pick, has continued to play really well since moving from center to right guard two games ago, earning the highest PFF grade on the entire team against Pittsburgh.
If the interior trio can keep this up, the Vikings might just have a pretty darn good O-line 1 through 5 once Darrisaw returns. When was the last time you could say that?
Cornerback help is a big need for the Vikings this offseason
Both sides of the ball contributed to the Vikings' nearly-disastrous late-game collapse, but the cornerback group was the primary culprit.
The entire Steelers rally was sparked, in part, by a foolish taunting penalty committed by Kris Boyd with the Vikings up 29-0. The backup corner, in the game because Bashaud Breeland was dealing with an illness, made a great play on a screen pass and threw James Washington to the ground for a two-yard loss. That should've set up a third-and-12 on the edge of field goal range. But when Boyd stood over Washington, yelling and flexing — an easy call for the officials, whether you agree with the taunting emphasis this season or not — it gave Pittsburgh a first down that quickly turned into their first points. Several veteran Vikings, including Barr, were not too pleased with Boyd in that moment.
But Boyd — who later gave up a big gain to Diontae Johnson — wasn't alone. Cameron Dantzler committed a pass interference that set up the Steelers' next touchdown. Peterson has easily been their most consistent CB this season, but he was beaten on the third TD and whiffed on a tackle that gave the Steelers their shot to the end zone on the game's final play. Mackensie Alexander missed a couple tackles from the slot.
And then there's Breeland, who has had a mostly awful season with some positive moments mixed in. He picked off Ben Roethlisberger in the third quarter, but then things went downhill. Breeland got burnt and fell down on the Steelers' last touchdown, committed a huge PI on their final drive by not getting his head turned around, and was generally picked on all night, easily leading the Vikings with 102 yards allowed in coverage (according to PFF).
Mike Zimmer, a former defensive backs coach, wasn't too pleased with the technique and effort from his corners, specifically citing some alignment mistakes.
"The thing I’m disappointed with the corners is, you know, a guy got a cut [tight] split and they line up head up on the guy and give him a chance to get there," he said. "The guy is supposed to be on top of the receiver, [but] they’re running hip to hip with him. Those kind of things are really disappointing. Allowing 50-50 balls, and what ended up happening is what happened. So that’s disappointing to me. We got guys in wide splits and we’re lined up head up on them instead of being inside. We didn’t tackle a couple of times on the perimeter. The ball got outside the corners a couple times on the perimeter in the run game. I thought Boyd competed really well. He had the one poor penalty. He did a nice job on things like tackling, but if he’s on top of that receiver, that ball is not thrown or has to be a back-shoulder fade, which is much, much tougher. And I don’t think Dantzler played very good in the red zone."
Cornerback play has been an issue all season and will likely be at the top of the Vikings' list of needs heading into free agency and the draft this spring. Peterson is 31 years old. He, Breeland, and Alexander signed one-year deals and thus are pending free agents. Dantzler is the Vikings' only young piece to build around, as Boyd and Harrison Hand are unlikely to be more than depth options and special teamers. Jeff Gladney ruining his career with domestic violence sent the Vikings' long-term plans at corner off-track, and it wouldn't be surprising to see them use another first-round pick at the position in 2022 despite Mike Hughes and Gladney not panning out. All you can do is keep taking swings.
Quick hits
- I touched on it earlier, but that was a vintage Zimmer defense for the first two-thirds of the game. They stopped the run on early downs, covered well, and got after the quarterback with creative pressure packages. Coincidentally, it was the first time all season that Michael Pierce, Dalvin Tomlinson, Anthony Barr, and Eric Kendricks have all played together, not to mention Peterson and Smith on the back end as well. If they can find that performance again, this team can get to the playoffs.
- Speaking of Pierce, he was awesome on Thursday. He commanded double-teams in the run game and recorded three pressures and a strip-sack on just 17 pass-rushing snaps. His lengthy absence this season hurt a lot. Also, fellow defensive tackle Armon Watts and converted DT to DE Sheldon Richardson deserve praise as well. Each finished with at least three pressures and a sack. Watts looks like a future starter in this league, while Richardson's recent play at DE has been a godsend for the Hunter- and Griffen-less Vikings.
- Justin Jefferson came close to a huge night. He managed 7/79/1 on 15 targets, but he and Cousins just weren't quite on the same page for much of the night. There were a few catchable balls that Jefferson couldn't come down with and a couple throws Cousins probably would like to have back. It doesn't seem like anything to worry about for the young superstar who is second in the NFL in receiving yards.
- Staying on the topic of wide receivers, K.J. Osborn just continues to prove how reliable he's become in his second season. He stepped into the starting lineup for Adam Thielen and the Vikings didn't miss a beat. Osborn caught a big 13-yard pass on a third-and-10 in the second quarter, then made one of the plays of the game on a 62-yard touchdown that gave the Vikings some breathing room. He'll be counted on again if Thielen can't return from his high-ankle sprain to play in Chicago, and Osborn looks like an important long-term piece of the offense as well.
- Blake Brandel played a season-high 17 snaps as an extra offensive lineman and made some great blocks in the run game. The Vikings' decision to go with their heavy personnel worked well, and Brandel drew praise from Zimmer for his play.
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