Panthers vs. Vikings: Breaking Down Minnesota's Game Plan

The Minnesota Vikings return to the gridiron on Sunday to take on another struggling team from the NFC, the Carolina Panthers.

Both teams’ seasons are headed in the wrong direction. The Vikings have dropped their last two outings, both to divisional foes, while the Panthers have failed to win a game since Week 5.

Carolina has lost in a variety of ways too. It took both the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons four quarters to knock them off, both losses in low-scoring games. On the other hand, the Panthers were torn to shreds by both the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles, giving up a combined 83 points in those two games. Nothing is going right in Carolina at the moment.

With the Panthers at the plate and the New York Jets on deck, the Vikings have two relatively winnable games to build positive momentum into the season's end.

Beating a struggling Carolina team is step No. 1. This is how they can emerge victorious:

No turnovers

With the struggles of both teams’ offenses and the potential for inclement weather, a low-scoring game can be expected.

For the Vikings, not turning the ball over offensively is of the utmost importance. A single interception drastically shifted the Green Bay game and would do so again on Sunday. Minnesota hasn’t lost a fumble since Matt Asiata let one slip against the Packers in Week 5, so more of the same is needed from the team’s ball-carriers.

	Rank
Yds per drive	28
Pts per drive	29
TDs per drive	32
TOs per drive	16

Without coughing the ball up, the Vikings should have success offensively. The Carolina defense has been a sieve for most of the season. The one thing it has done with some success is turn opposing team’s over, which says a lot about the task at hand for Minnesota on Sunday.

One player shoulders the biggest burden when it comes to taking care of the football, and that’s Teddy Bridgewater.

Drill down the footwork

Lapses in footwork became an even bigger issue than they already had been in Bridgewater’s poor showing against the Packers. Poor footwork was the main culprit behind his lone interception.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Bridgewater is trying to deliver the ball well down the field to a corner route. He releases the ball too late, but he also does it with brutal footwork. His left foot lands almost straight across from his right foot, leaving his arm to generate almost all of the power that’s needed for this throw. He lacks the outright arm talent to make up for poor footwork like this, and he paid for it.

Carolina’s defense may be down in 2014, but defensive end Charles Johnson and defensive tackle Kawann Short are capable of providing consistent pressure.

Responding to that pressure appropriately is the key for Bridgewater. In the above example, he fails to properly step into his throw because he feels interior pressure, even though he does have room to step forward. In truth, the rookie was affected by pressure, sometimes real and sometimes perceived, throughout the game on Sunday.

He will climb the pocket and slide from pressure effectively like he has all season. Pocket management is not necessarily the problem.

Being more precise with his footwork when he actually delivers is objective No. 1. If that happens, Bridgewater will be able to keep passes from sailing, sharpen up his ball placement and lessen the occurrence of floated passes into tight coverage.

Find soft spots against Cover 2

Expect the Panthers to utilize zone coverage frequently, specifically Cover 2.

There are a few reasons why they may opt to do so. With the injuries and poor play that plagues Minnesota’s offensive line, Carolina will believe its front four can get pressure without the aid of blitzes. Dropping more numbers into coverage has been a successful tactic for Minnesota’s recent opponents too, especially Chicago.

The coverage fits Carolina’s personnel well too. Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly has the athleticism to cover lots of ground in the middle of the field. The team doesn’t boast the best defensive backs either, and Cover 2 is notoriously forgiving for cornerbacks.

For Minnesota, the key is finding the soft spots against zone coverage. They do exist.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Throws into downfield windows require eye discipline to keep defenders from keying on throws, which Bridgewater is capable of. They also require a little velocity, which goes back to the footwork to generate the necessary power.

Attacking the coverage between the linebackers is also a possibility, especially with the tight ends at Minnesota’s disposal.

Route-runners winning off the line of scrimmage is also important. On the outside, the Panthers will be aggressive with cornerbacks and try to funnel receivers inside. If Minnesota receivers can release outside the cornerbacks with some deceptive route running, that adds stress on Carolina’s safeties, who certainly aren’t having the best of seasons.

Checkdowns will always be available when Carolina drops into passive zones like a Cover 2, but Bridgewater and the Vikings will need to strike between or over the top of coverage in order to move the ball down the field consistently.

Stay with Banyard

One positive development from Minnesota’s loss to Green Bay came in the backfield. Joe Banyard was given his first significant share of playing time, and he rewarded the Vikings with a number of fine plays.

Banyard was on the field for 30 of Minnesota’s 69 offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He had only gotten eight snaps all season prior to last Sunday.

He ran with decisiveness and power, finding success between the tackles and on the perimeter. Even better, he contributed as a receiver out of the backfield, making multiple difficult catches underneath and scrapping for yardage after the catch.

For these reasons, he remains a fine option for the Vikings moving forward. Mainstay No. 2 back Matt Asiata’s injury status for Sunday remains unclear. As of Wednesday, Mike Zimmer had nothing new to share regarding Asiata, per VikingUpdate.com:

"

Mike Zimmer declined to comment about whether Matt Asiata (concussion) will practice today. Doesn't want to talk injuries yet. #Vikings

— VikingUpdate.com (@VikingUpdate) November 26, 2014"

Even if he passes concussion tests and is cleared, Banyard has earned a share of the snaps.

Ben Tate is unlikely to feature either, after not getting a single snap against the Packers. That may be due to his unfamiliarity with the offense at this point or may be due to Tate’s limited value at this point in his career. Either way, Banyard deserves a longer look as a backfield option and should get it.

Collapse on Cam

The weakest link in the Carolina offense is the offensive line. Cam Newton has been sacked 3.1 times per game, leaving the Panthers ranked No. 30 by that measure, according to TeamRankings.com.

Making matters worse for Carolina, frequent rotation of OL pieces leaves them with little continuity to rely upon. Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer gives some info that should have Minnesota’s defense drooling this week:

"

The Panthers will start their 7th different offensive line in as many games this week vs. Vikings

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) November 24, 2014"

Much more than it is against an average NFL offense, the ticket to shutting down Newton and the Panthers is pressure. Their offensive line is hardly stiff enough to keep that from happening either.

When under pressure, Newton’s accuracy percentage ranks No. 20 out of 28 qualifying quarterbacks at Pro Football Focus. Despite all his physical tools, Newton has been battered and bruised by the poor play of his offensive line, and that has clearly affected his performance over the last handful of games.

Finding ways to pressure Newton means staying the course for the Vikings.

The numbers won’t show it, but Everson Griffen has been his disruptive self the last two weeks. Fine quarterback play has negated that. With the matchups given against Carolina, Griffen, Robison and Floyd should be able to generate consistent pressure on Newton.

Blanket Benjamin

Newton’s favorite target is rookie receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who has gotten 25 percent of throws his way and has half of Carolina’s touchdown catches.

At 6’5” and 240 pounds, Benjamin might be another matchup nightmare for the Vikings. Adjustments can be made to keep a Chicago-like outcome from happening for Josh Robinson or Captain Munnerlyn, both of whom fall well short of matching his height.

Benjamin is still a raw receiver who can be affected by aggressive coverage. Contacting him early in routes can slow him down more effectively than it did to Brandon Marshall or Alshon Jeffery. From Matt Waldman’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio (purchase required) comes this appropriate description of Benjamin’s weaknesses:

"

Benjamin’s athleticism as a wide receiver has some weaknesses that limit what he can do well. [Jimmy] Graham is a more agile athlete with better quickness than Benjamin, who has a slow first step and has more than occasional difficulty making airborne adjustments to attack the football.

Lack of quickness and difficulty changing direction makes it difficult for Benjamin to sell routes, execute breaks, or defeat press coverage. Florida State protected Benjamin from tight man coverage with alignments where he was 3-5 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

"

His threat as a deep receiver depends solely on his size to win the ball in the air, so Minnesota can afford to be aggressive with him, especially when Xavier Rhodes plays him.

Minnesota defensive backs should also key in on Benjamin’s tells as a route-runner and the lack of precision he utilizes. Atlanta did so against Benjamin and forced a game-changing interception as a result.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

This is a slant route, but the way Benjamin rounded it off, nobody would know it. That lack of sharpness at his breaks gives quick-reacting cornerbacks the chance to break on the football.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The CB plants and drives on it in a hurry, diagnosing Benjamin’s route because of the poor footwork. Not all these keys will lead directly to turnovers, but they will help defensive backs close down space quickly on Benjamin, giving themselves a chance to compete for the football.

Carolina will force-feed Benjamin, especially in the red zone. The Vikings must take advantage of his weaknesses as a young receiver to limit his effectiveness.

Wrap and finish

In the Vikings’ self-scouting of their own defense over the last three weeks, they should have found a common theme. The unit’s play has been riddled with missed tackles.

Over the entire season, Minnesota has been an average defense in terms of tackling. Per Pro Football Focus, they have missed 83 tackles this season, leaving them near the middle of the pack at No. 17. League average is 81.8 missed tackles.

The trend is heading in the wrong direction for the Vikings, though. Over the last three games, the defense has missed 11, 12 and nine tackles, respectively. It averaged 6.3 missed tackles per game in the season’s first eight outings.

Missed tackles can be remedied by getting back to the basics. Tacklers have been trying to do too much on numerous occasions over the last few weeks, either trying to deliver big hits in disadvantageous situations or trying to strip out the ball before the runner has been corralled by more than one defender.

USA TODAY Sports

Anthony Barr is the defense’s most frequent offender. He has missed a team-high 22 tackles in 2014. No other defender is in double digits. The rookie needs to break down in space more effectively and keep his eyes up, driving through the runner.

The onus falls on others too, because the entire defense has struggled with tackling in recent weeks.

Jonathan Stewart is Carolina’s most elusive runner. He has forced an incredible 38 missed tackles on 102 offensive touches. If he plays a big role for the Panthers on Sunday, getting multiple defenders to him and finishing with technically sound tackles is important for Minnesota to have success defensively.

With improved execution of these important aspects of Sunday’s game, the Vikings can get back into the win column against a team they should expect to beat.

Statistics via ESPN.com unless noted otherwise.