Vikings Film Room: How nuance in route running makes a difference
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The Minnesota Vikings found a way to score three touchdowns through the air. Most of that was due to quarterback Kirk Cousins having himself a great day. He made a lot of great decisions on the day and excelled in pushing the ball down the field to both Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen.
On the game-winning touchdown, Cousins made the proper read, but it was the nuance of Thielen’s route running that took it to another level.
This is a two-man concept with both Thielen and Jefferson running deep crossing routes and K.J. Osborn to the flat on a split-zone action.
Jefferson commands a lot of attention, as he had torched the Patriots multiple times throughout the evening, so it makes sense why the far-side safety ended up following him instead of staying home.
Why he ended up staying home is due to the nuance exuded in Thielen’s route running. He makes the savvy move by running behind the safety. Why does this matter? Because he doesn’t cross the safety’s face and goes behind him, said safety doesn’t travel with him like the coverage is designed for.
Little things like this go mostly unnoticed on the game broadcast, but it makes such a huge difference in generating big plays.
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