On the third play of the game, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell called a unique play that didn’t end up working.
Quarterback Josh Dobbs ended up fumbling after cornerback Kareem Jackson speared him, forcing the fumble. The play itself was a gutsy call that has been criticized for not working.
That’s the frustrating thing with play calls. They get criticized when they don’t work and praised when they do. What doesn’t get dissected nearly enough is what the play was designed to do and if the execution is to blame rather than the play call itself.
That’s what we are going to do here. What was the play designed to do and how was the execution?
The play
The play itself is a simple one.
T.J. Hockenson motions under center making Dobbs the tailback and they run a modified toss sweep.
Christian Darrisaw and Alexander Mattison pull to be the lead blockers, but the Broncos get penetration, forcing a Dobbs cutback and Jackson ends up spearing Dobbs to force the fumble.
If Dobbs is able to follow his lead blockers, it looks to be a well designed play.
What went wrong?
On the line of scrimmage, Risner ends up downblocking with Garrett Bradbury and he climbs to the second level to block linebacker Alex Singleton. Unfortunately, Risner doesn’t get to the second level quick enough and Singleton forces Dobbs back to the inside, which ends in him fumbling.
This was one of the concerns with prioritizing Risner over Cleveland, as the latter has significantly more athleticism and likely is able to climb to the second level and make that block.
Was it a good call?
That’s the million dollar question.
Creative play callers sometimes get too big for their britches and, in other words, too cute with their play calls. I don’t believe this is one of those instances.
The play call itself was set to work but the execution wasn’t up to par. That is why looking at the film is such an important element here.
The other aspect at play is this could be a setup down the line. When teams see the Vikings move to this formation, they will immediately think toss sweep with Dobbs. Now, the Vikings can have a different play call out of this formation, maybe a throwback screen with the defense crashing to the other side.
Sometimes, play callers do this as a setup for down-the-line and that’s good business practice. O’Connell did the right thing (or if you prefer not the wrong thing) calling this play and that will come into focus down the line when they run the counter to this play.
