Vikings DC Ed Donatell on Floundering Pass Defense: 'We'll Work Out of This'
The Vikings surrendered more than 400 yards for the fifth consecutive week in Sunday's loss to the Lions. They allowed Jared Goff to throw for 330 yards, making him the fourth quarterback to reach that mark against them in the last five games — and Dak Prescott would've gotten there if the Vikings had kept that game competitive. Minnesota now ranks dead last in the NFL in yards allowed per game and passing yards allowed per game.
Unsurprisingly, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is public enemy No. 1 among Vikings fans at the moment. His unit is making things remarkably easy on opposing passing games, which is the primary reason why it's difficult for many people to take the 10-3 Vikings seriously as Super Bowl contenders with the postseason rapidly approaching.
Donatell had his weekly press conference with local reporters on Wednesday morning and it was an interesting one, to say the least. Two days earlier, head coach Kevin O'Connell was asked directly if he was considering stripping Donatell of play calling duties (he isn't, at least for now). Both immediately following the game in Detroit and one day later after watching the tape, O'Connell made it clear that the Vikings' defense needs to make adjustments and fix its issues.
It's safe to say Donatell is aware of how poorly things are going. He's feeling the pressure, not from fans but from O'Connell and other higher-ups in the Vikings' building. But despite the recent numbers, Donatell made one thing clear: he still believes in this defense, and specifically, the scheme he implemented in Minnesota this offseason after a decade working alongside Vic Fangio.
"I think it’s really more execution (than scheme)," Donatell said when asked which of the two is causing the defense to struggle this much. "Just get tighter (coverage) and so forth. We have a good mixture of schemes."
The Fangio-Donatell defense, which has been adopted by numerous other teams across the league, is designed to limit explosive plays and keep everything in front of the secondary. Almost every play starts out with two deep safeties, and the Vikings' defense then rotates into its actual look in an attempt to create confusion for the quarterback.
"One thing we’d like to get done is we want to win the first second of the down to make it hard for the quarterback to see the pass scheme oriented," Donatell said. "That’s a work in progress right now and we’re not accomplishing it, but it doesn’t mean there’s not a great opportunity coming."
The goal is to muddy things up for the QB and force them to lead long drives with runs and short passes. At some point, in theory, they'll make a mistake that could lead to a turnover. The defense is also designed to stiffen in the red zone, which has worked for the Vikings at times.
When they've had defensive success this year, it's been with sacks, takeaways — the Vikings are tied for eighth with 20 of them — and a defense that steps up on third down, in the red zone, and at the end of close games.
"It's disguise," Donatell said. "And it's unveiling sameness and likeness looks to slow down the quarterback. When you do that with the coverage and rush, you have the picture you want. Again, we have a vision out there. We know what it looks like. We're just not quite there every week. Let's not lose sight that these guys have made a lot of plays. We've got a lot of interceptions, we've got a good amount of sacks, we have guys that have made some great clutch plays, OK? So let's shore up this area, work through it, embrace it, that kind of thing. That's where we are.
"(This) is in no way the standard that we want to play at or the effect we want to have on a quarterback. We want to make it harder. It's not hard enough. As long as you're working at it, taking a hard look at yourself, you'll get there."
One thing that's happening far too often to the Vikings that is never supposed to happen in this system? Deep passes. They've been burned by explosive plays through the air all season, dating back to a coverage bust against the Eagles in Week 2. The Lions scored from 41 and 48 yards out on Sunday, the first of which was another busted coverage.
"Really, over the last month I would say, we’re giving up a lot of passing yards," Donatell said. "That’ll never be the standard for this organization. It's too many and we’re working on that and we want to bring that down, because we really think it can help our team. ... Last week, we had two balls go over our head deep. That can’t happen. That’s way against the vision and the standard of what we’re looking for, so what do you do? You take a hard look at yourself, your positioning, you scout yourself and look at what you can do to rectify that."
The Vikings' secondary is clearly having a tough time in coverage. They've cycled through four different outside cornerbacks opposite Patrick Peterson and were without star safety Harrison Smith in Detroit, but those are hardly excuses for the level of play they've put on tape. Interestingly, they continue to give significant cushion to opposing receivers, even though that approach hasn't worked.
Donatell said he'd like to see tighter coverage, but also said that the defensive backs are doing what they're coached to do. That could be an area where adjustments are needed.
Coverage on the back end goes hand in hand with the pass rush up front. If the Vikings are able to generate more pressure, that makes things easier on the secondary. If the secondary can hold up for a little longer, that gives the pass rush more time to get home. Led by Za'Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter, the Vikings were among the league leaders with 26 sacks through nine games, but they have just four over the past four outings — and three of those came against the Patriots.
"Sometimes people will chip the rushers and overload to certain people," Donatell said. "Our pass rush people do a great job changing up looks and so forth. Za’Darius was working through some health issues. He’s now healthy and it’s part of the equation."
A big thing that's been heavily criticized is the Vikings' low blitz percentage. Donatell's preference is to rush four players and devote everyone else to coverage. That works when the four-man rush is having success. When it isn't, quarterbacks have all day to sit in the pocket and find an open target. Blitzing isn't a perfect answer — the Vikings blitzed a bit more against the Lions, to no avail — but more aggressiveness is something O'Connell said he wants to see moving forward.
"We like our four-man rush, and they have been so close so many times," Donatell said. "We get a lot of hurries from this group. But it's just that extra little thing, if you can hold the coverage just a little bit longer, a lot of those rushes will work with four. But then we've added some five, you've seen some changeup the last few weeks and so forth, and we'll continue to have a combination of both."
What's concerning is that Donatell didn't seem to take full accountability for the Vikings' defensive struggles. That was clear when he blamed execution, not scheme, for what's happened over the last month. It's also Week 15, which means excuses about players adjusting to the scheme are hard to take seriously.
"We’re still learning some of our players and their strengths and working through injuries," Donatell said. "All of those things kind of change the balance of that."
On Hunter, who hasn't been quite as dominant in a 3-4 defense this season as he was in Mike Zimmer's 4-3, Donatell said he thinks "he’s getting more comfortable every week."
"You know, it can take a whole year, and it’s different to every individual, the standing up and playing in our base is a little new to him still. But really, when it comes to third downs and actual rush, we’re pleased with what he’s getting done."
Hunter has been in this scheme since it was installed this spring. Saying "it's a little new to him still" doesn't hold up at this point in the season.
There were also a few head-turning plays against the Lions where Hunter or Smith dropped into coverage, which takes them away from what they do best. Donatell doesn't see a problem there.
"When you look at 3-4 defense, there are times where they’ll drop, whereas if they were just a 4-3 end, they’d maybe drop in some replacement zones," he said. "The numbers would maybe come out kind of similar. We’re pleased with that number. We don’t over-drop those guys.”
Ultimately, Donatell's message was that the Vikings need to figure this thing out. They're not going to make drastic changes to the defense they've been working on since April, but they need to make adjustments and find ways to improve the players' communication and execution. Leading the NFL in yards allowed isn't something that sits well with anyone.
"I don't feel good about that," Donatell said. "What you want to do is contribute to help your team win. We did that ten times, where it was good enough. But we want, for this organization, for these fans, they're kind of used to having a (shutdown) defense over the years. So that's what we're working for. That's what the vision is. What do you do when you don't have it? Heck, you've got to roll your sleeves up and get to work, and that's what we're doing. Do it in harmony and do it together and bring everybody's energy, that's what you do. Hey, I can't guarantee it in five days, six days, seven days, but eventually, we'll be there. Because we know what we're doing and how to do it."
Donatell is confident that the Vikings will get there. He believes they have the scheme and the coaches and the players to be much better than what they've shown in recent weeks. But the reality of the situation is that with four weeks to go in the regular season, the clock is ticking.
Saturday's game against the Colts is a great place to start. Indianapolis ranks 32nd in offensive DVOA this season, and 37-year-old QB Matt Ryan has as many touchdown passes as interceptions.
"It's a race to get it to look like we want to," Donatell said. "They feel that urgency. They want to feel that from our teaching and our approach. But also, we've got to stay even-keeled so we can be sharp with our processes, and you want to have people out there playing free and certain when the game starts.
"Our guys are engaged. These guys work really hard for us. As a staff and players together, we’ll work through this. We always have. We always do. This is a part of it that you want to embrace as a coach, of looking at people, and how do you bring them together to work out of this? This will be good for everybody in here to see. We’ll work out of this. There’s no question that we’ll come out of this."
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