How the Minnesota Vikings are making Justin Jefferson UNSTOPPABLE! | Part 1 of Vikings vs Browns

How the Minnesota Vikings are making Justin Jefferson UNSTOPPABLE! | Part 1 of Vikings vs Browns

Welcome back to the Eye in the Sky. And I think I speak for all Viking fans when I say this. I had no idea what was at stake in this week five matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns. After all, it’s just a game. You’re either three and two or two and three until I looked into the numbers and figured out that a team that starts 3-2 has a 28% greater chance of making the postseason than a team that starts 2 and three. Having known that going into the game, I’d have been even more worried about being down seven starters, three of which are on your offensive line. And oh, by the way, number four, Christian Darasaw came out when he exceeded his pitch count going into the fourth quarter. And then you look and go, man, we were minus two in the take given that game. And teams that are minus two only win 16.1% of the time. So, how did the Vikings overcome all of this? Well, your quarterback and your receiver finally have developed have developed a rapport. Justin Jefferson, Carson Wentz, the two of them, I think, had their best game of the season. You had a brilliantly designed running game, which for the most part was executed very well. Then you sprinkle in a trick play and then you get bad boy Jordan on some lastminute heroics right before the game ends. Combine all that together that makes for a win that in hindsight couldn’t be one of the most critical of the season. But I want to dig into the film and show you exactly what I mean with this with with what I see out of WZ and Justin Jefferson and just how well this running game was designed when you have an offensive line with three backups starting. I mean, you have Brandell, a guy never played center, starting at center. Joe Huber, an undrafted rookie free agent making his first start at left guard. Justin School moves out the right tackle where he’s a little bit more comfortable, but the to put those guys in a position to succeed is not an easy thing to do. So, let’s dig into the film and just let this thing just enjoy this victory. Now, if you enjoy this type of content, please give it a thumbs up, click the subscribe button. Greatly helps the channel. Now, let’s get into the film. Let’s start with some great play design and Justin Jefferson. Two of the highlights that I wanted to point out. Now, there’s there’s a lot to this play and I want to cover it as much as I can. The main point is this is that the Vikings knew by the personnel that they put on the field. In this case, you have two tight ends right here and then two wide receivers. I think that’s Addison and right there is Jefferson and one running back. that they were going to get a base front out of the Cleveland Browns. By base front or base defense, that means you have one, two, three, four defensive linemen and three linebackers. Okay? So, they’re in a fourman front and over front. Name’s not really important, but the concept of it is. And what’s so important about this concept is that any motion by a wide receiver to a slot formation, the defense will not run the corner. they will bump. Okay, that’s important. Why? Because once Jordan Jefferson starts making his way into the back field, you’ll notice the corner didn’t run. He has to stay. That’s designed by the defense. So now with Justin Jefferson in the back field in the wide receiver, you have the possibility of getting two people out to the flat on this side of the field. What does that mean? Well, that means that the only guys left to defend it because they are in an overfront and because they don’t run their corners is you have a one corner and the next guy in is a linebacker. So, just by personnel and design, they get the mismatch. So, as soon as this football is snapped, you get a real nice little play fake right here. You get this running back the working hard that takes the eyes of the linebacker on this side because this is the guy that you’re isolating again, right? Jerome Baker, the linebacker, getting him in space against Justin Jefferson. That’s the mismatch. A designed mismatch. Coaches spend hours upon hours trying to ensure they can get a mismatch with this move on the inside. Now, you you pause it here. What do you have? Well, you basically, it looks good. No matter how you look at it, you’ve got a receiver screaming up the field. Now, what’s key is this corner. Whether or not he’s going to drop and play like a quarter look or if he’s going to work himself to the flat. Either way, they’re in a tough spot. But you have Justin Jefferson right here working his way out to the flat. And the next defender inside is this guy, a linebacker. There’s your mismatch. There’s your completion. There is your chunk play. And as this play goes on, you see the corner getting deep because if he jumps this flat route right away, Naylor is going to be wide open. So the corner does a smart thing. He plays this thing deep and then goes to short. Pass is already complete to Jefferson, gets the first down, turns it up field, and adds some additional yards. Now, I included the end zone view on this play just because of how quickly this thing develops and just how well it works. Remember, because it’s an overfront and they don’t run corners, this guy, the linebacker, is the next guy out to the flat. They already have Jaylen Naylor on the outside. And when this ball snapped, look at this. Baker’s got his eyeballs where in the back field. He’s watching this. He does not see Justin Jefferson. How that happens, I don’t know. But linebackers aren’t used to looking at receivers. Now, he’s already beat by alignment. Watch this. He plants his foot. This is a horrible feeling. He’s like, I’m already already outflanked. Great decision by Wentz. Get rid of the football quickly and gets upfield. So again, the Vikings putting in base defense or putting in 12 personnel against to get that base defense on the field knowing they’re going to get that over front. This play was going to work. So brilliant design, very well executed. I mentioned earlier about Carson Wentz and Justin Jefferson being on the same page. This is the exact play that I was talking about and seeing it from the booth. I I was really amazed at how these two guys have a rapport now. They just they just know. Now, in this case, third down situation. You have three wide receivers. Cleveland’s out there in their nickel. They’re giving you, you know, kind of a two high safety kind of look with the linebacker walked up. So you may get may get him blitzing, but they’re going to have to figure out how they’re going to flare control on the back, but you’re basically getting man-to-man across the board with this safety lurking underneath. He’s going to take away any any crosser in the middle of the field. Now, what the Vikings end up giving them is something completely different. They’re giving them a stack on the front side, and you’re getting a what you call a sail route. This receiver here is going to run up and then run a seven. Meanwhile, Justin Jefferson is going to run right up field next to him and then run out. And it works brilliantly because both receivers as you get to the top of the of this spot right here, you have the the lurking safety here in the middle of the field, there’s nobody to the outside. So, you have two opportunities here. You have a deep seven route and the short seven route. But look at Carson Wentz. He is already throwing that football. And look at Justin Jefferson right here. He is not even looking back. He is only beginning his break. And that football is already in the air. So on its way. Jefferson breaks. DB has you have no chance in stopping this. The ball is there too fast. You have no time to close and try to break this pass up. An absolute masterclass in timing, the perfect route against the perfect coverage. And WZ is throwing the football before JJ’s even into his break. Another example of just great play design and execution. Okay, again, the Vikings are in a three wide receiver set right here. We have the fourman front line up with Hawinson who’s way up here on the outside. And ultimately what’s going to happen is that the Vikings are going to take advantage of this guy, the rookie linebacker Swessinger. And look at how this whole thing gets set up. So first you put the tight end out wide motion them in wide to see if you’re getting man or if you’re getting some kind of zone. So in this case right here, the Vikings know that they’re getting some kind of zone. You have a fourman front, three two linebackers in in the nickel in the in the safety right here in the box. Now, the next part of this is brilliant. Remember what I said? They’re trying to take advantage of this guy right here. Well, how do they do it? You get the motion with the wide receiver. Now, the ball’s snapped. What they’re doing is they’re running the play fake with the running back up on the inside knowing that this linebacker has to defend the run and then they’re going to get behind him. How? Because of this route. What you have on the front side is you have a flat route which is going to in turn pull out this flat defender and then you have Justin Jefferson running a slant right behind him. And the guy that has to get there is this underneath linebacker. He has to get all the way over there. But because of the inside run fake, he’s pulled into the mix. He has no chance of getting out there. Watch this. Boom. JJ stops right there. You got the alley right here in between these two linebackers. Brilliant throw. Quick throw. Right on time. JJ’s able to catch that football and move the chain. So again, by personnel and alignment, they know man or zone. They know the front and then they are able to move guys around, get the exact guy that you want to look at the wrong thing and take advantage of it. This goes into the pile of you just can’t cover JJ one-on-one. And we all know that, you know, Greg Newsome right here, he had a rough day. And one of the advantages that this type of scheme that Schwarz plays is that, you know, which corner is going to be on what side. You know that Denzel Ward is going to be on the right side of the defense most of the time and that Greg Newsome is going to be down here at the bottom. So, if you keep Justin Jefferson on the left side of the offense, he’s going to be matched up with with uh um Greg Newsome most of the time. That’s a one-on-one that the Vikings can win. So, not sure exactly what kind of coverage they’re playing here, whether it’s some kind of zone or some kind of man, but basically what you’re getting is corners, deep thirds, you have a deep middle defender here, and then uh Delpit right here is kind of playing a hybrid. It’s hard. It’s really kind of hard to tell. But what is obvious is just the speed with of Justin Jefferson and how he just can close the gap on a corner. I mean, you got a big cushion right here by um by the the cornerback in this case, Greg Newsome. Run fake up top. And you see as Wce gets to the top of his drop, he’s already looking this way. Now, at this point right here, Newsome doesn’t know which way JJ’s going to go. But just just watch this the way he breaks down. He puts this right foot in the ground and that causes Newsome to do the speed turn, but that ball is already in the air. It’s high and outside and with the catch radius that Justin Jefferson has, he’s not going to come down with it. Let’s watch this thing one more time. Play fake. Once is the top of his drop. He already knows right now where he’s going to go with that football and he’s going to throw that thing right here because Jefferson has Newsome’s hips turned. The only thing that Newsome can do is speed turn this way and all the way around. And that’s going to buy Jefferson enough time to get to the sideline. Look at this speed turns. Football is already in the air. Now from this point it becomes a foot race. Who’s going to win? Is it going to be Jefferson here or the corner? The corner already with him flipping his hips, he has absolutely no chance. Jefferson to sideline, goes up, goes gets it. Great catch, great throw. This is what I mean that Carson Wentz and Jefferson when they see these one-on- ons, man, they’re really starting to take advantage of them. All right, a lot going on in this play as well. Start out Hawinson on the outside again to see if it’s man or zone. If the safety goes out there to cover the tight end, then you’re getting some type of man-to-man. If you see the defense just bump, then you know it’s going to be some kind of zone. So, you bring Hawinson in, you get the bump. All right, you got a corner, nickel, safety, linebacker. We got that. Now, on this route, couple of things occur. And I want first to talk about what’s going on on the top. You’re going to get up top a quick curl route and then a wheel route by the line by the running back, excuse me. This is important because this is the concept that Addison runs to win this football game. But before that, we’re going to talk about Jefferson. And I think this is a perfect example of of Carson Wentz finally throwing that 50/50 ball to Justin Jefferson. And with JJ, it’s more like a 7030 ball than it is a 50/50. But this is going to be your basic Tampa two. You got middle open here. Tampa two coverage. All that means is this inside defender. In this case, it’s the safety Grant Delpit. He is the deep middle defender. Okay? And whenever as this ball snap, you get to this point right here and you see the receiver Justin Jefferson behind the deep middle defender. You can see Delpit starting to settle because he’s concerned about this in route coming in here from the outside receiver. That leaves a big area open where right here in the middle of the field. Now WZ is under some stress, some duress. He gets his football up just over the back shoulder. JJ goes up and gets it like nobody else in the league. And we get a great you get a great view of this from the end zone just in where this football is placed. Okay, Hawinson comes in. You get a free release from the back. So you have one extra lineman here. But at this point, Jefferson’s covered. But he knows Jefferson has the speed to get behind him. And when this ball’s thrown, watch where he places it. This ball is on the back shoulder of Justin Jefferson right there. And that means this safety has to miss him or else it’s going to be a pass interference penny. So he throws it over the back shoulder, but look at how high Joseph Jefferson gets over this defensive back. How do you defend this? and then comes down and continues to run. Just brilliant knowing expecting to get Tampa, too. And not running a tight end up the scene. No, we’ll let the tight end block. We’re going to run JJ up the seam and we’re going to hit him for a big one. This perhaps the most important reception for Justin Jefferson all day. This is that fourth quarter drive where Carson Wentz goes nine for nine for 71 yards. It’s a 80 yard drive in total in 2 minutes and 40 seconds. We talked earlier about this this type of overfront and how they lock the corners, right? So on this side, you know, you’re going to get Denzel Ward over here. You’re going to get Greg Newsome. So the Vikings knew, right, that Greg News that I’m sorry, that Denzel Ward was going to be over here. As we get to right before the pre- snap, look what Lent look at WZ is seeing. Middle close single high. Both corners are rolled up and pressed. Doesn’t matter if it’s man, doesn’t matter if it’s zone. Wentz knows that with press, he might get this back shoulder fade. If he beats him immediately on the move, then it might just be a straight fade. But if this corner back stays with him, then you know it’s going to be back shoulder. And th this is absolutely brilliant when you need it at most. Look at WZ is already throwing this football. And look at the relationship right here. Okay, Denzel Ward is in as good a position as a defensive back can be, right? He’s widening Justin Jefferson. He’s actually up on top of him a little bit, so he’s not going to get run by, but this ball is thrown perfectly. Wentz already has a defender in his face. Look at this. Got a defensive lineman, Malik Collins, who by the way is become is one of the better pass rushing interior tackles in the league, I think, right now. But Wentz pressure in his face already getting rid of this football thrown to the back shoulder. Look at that accuracy. Ward can’t do anything about this. It’s just a perfect throw. Perfect timing. There’s absolutely nothing that he can do. He even gets his head whipped around as soon as he sees JJ turn his head. Look at Ward’s already right at this point starting to look back with the ball in the air. But this again, this is what makes Justin Jefferson so special is regardless if you do that, you throw that football where it needs to be, there it is, 21 yards when you needed it most. One of the most important plays of the day. And I think after these plays, you realize just how much Wentz and JJ are in a groove right now. And finally, here it is, the pass to Addison, which again, execution is brilliant, but it’s the play call. Okay, in this situation, you’ll see Jordan Addison down here at the bottom. Okay, you’re getting a quarters look up top, middle open, right? Corner is already off. So, you’re looking at quarters over here and a cloud look on the bottom. And what the Vikings do, what Addison does is he knows this is covered two, but he’s he’s he’s taking off and running a go route from so far inside the hash marks that he’s going to widen this thing first and then peel it up the field. And this is going to put Denzel Warden in a bind because he he’s not getting his body outside and trying to contain it. He loses leverage. So right here, Addison gets outside and they know they know with this look because of this out route running here by the tight end, this corner has to break on this pass. Okay, so if this is a quick out, he’s got to break in. Now they got him right where they want him. This deep safety is way inside toward the hash mark because of the reduced splits. And now what do you have? You have this gigantic area right here, which is right where that football goes. Wentz knows right where he’s going to go with it to the shoulder. And I think the coolest part of this whole thing is look at this. Coach O’Connell. There’s nothing better as a coach to anticipate what you’re going to get and call the perfect play. Actually get the defense you’re looking for and then to have your guys go out and execute it brilliantly. and and this play just what a way what a way to cap off this entire game. Again, start out with the reduced split to pull this safety in. Okay, Addison gets wide. That little move right there to just get this corner to settle a little bit just to create some air. Ball’s already on its way. Back shoulder touchdown. You win the football game. Just brilliant execution. Great job by Addison. But this is what I’m talking about when the game plan was so huge in this entire

When design meets execution this is what happens! In this video I show the viewer HOW IMPORTANT game planning is and what happens when it is executed. This combination makes a player like Justin Jefferson unstoppable! Enjoy watching this unfold……

Minnesota Vikings Regular Season 2025

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CHAPTERS

00:00-02:07 Intro
02:08-6:18 Jets at RB
06:19-08:25 VS Man to Man
08:26-10:31 Play Design
10:32-13:13 Owning Newsome
13:14-16:06 Murdering Tampa 2
16:07-18:33 Mossing Ward
18:34-20:53 Addison TD