The Two-Play Sequence That Sealed The Vikings' Win Against the Dolphins

Eric Wilson collided with an official, Chris Bell barely stepped out of bounds before a long TD reception, Ivan Pace’s fingertips barely brushed a punt, and Blake Cashman barely got a finger on Ollie Gordon II, yet somehow the most controversial play in the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 4 game against the Miami Dolphins, at least on very poisoned corners of the internet, was their final passing attempt, where TJ Hockenson was wide open and slid down at the 2.

This piece will be about that play, but other than this sentence, it will not discuss whether sliding was the obvious choice or how legalized gambling is ruining online discourse. Instead, we’ll focus on exactly how Hockenson got so wide open, and how the Vikings set up the play with a seed much earlier in the game.

The Minnesota Vikings have not had a good start to the season on offense, to put it mildly. However, this two-play sequence was a stroke of genius from HC Kevin O’Connell. The first play, a second-quarter quick throw to RB Aaron Jones in the flat, helped set up an FG, and the second allowed the offense to kneel the game out. How can play calls that were 38:05 of gametime and 53 offensive plays apart play off of each other? Let’s explore.

Q2, 10:12 - 3rd and 2 at the MIN 26

The Vikings are on their fourth drive, but this is only their second 3rd-and-short. Pre-game, they had clearly identified throws to the flat or maybe No. 3 CB Chris Johnson specifically as an issue, because on their first 3rd-and-short opportunity, they ran a version of Sprint Right Option to Jordan Addison for a first down.

This time, the Vikings run a concept I refer to as “RB fast to flat.” That quick description tells you exactly what the play is — the RB aborts a run fake and instead quickly runs a route to the flat, hopefully catching the defense off guard. This play is called “Roll” in Kyle Shanahan’s playbook.

The Vikings set up under center. This setup is nice because, given the down and distance, the run is still a valid option, and the Dolphins will have to respect any play fake. 

As the Vikings line up, they start with WR Jordan Addison to the left of the formation before motioning him into a bunch with WR Jauan Jennings and TE TJ Hockenson. This forces the Dolphins to respond, and they rotate their safeties from Middle of Field Open (MOFO) to Middle of Field Closed (MOFC) coverage. Even though no one follows Addison in motion, this rotation also appears to trigger a coverage check to man coverage.

The additional player near the line of scrimmage helps the Dolphins pass off any potential switch routes by the bunch and also has the benefit of adding a player to the box, strengthening their position against the run. 

But it plays right into the Vikings’ hands. 

Barring a defensive lineman dropping, the Dolphins only have three potential coverage players to the right of C Blake Brandel. The Vikings plan to release Jones that way, which means No. 10 LB Jake Rodriguez, directly over the center, would have to get outside to cover Jones. However, to do so, he would have to run through Johnson, No 4. CB Jason Marshall, No. 16 S Michael Taaffe. 

Previously, Taaffe could possibly have come from depth to make a play, but now he’s creating additional traffic for Rodriguez to work through as he goes outside. S Dante Trader is too far back to make a play after rotating.

Formationally, the Vikings have already made it difficult for the Dolphins to defend the flat. However, if they had run traditional routes, the Dolphins may not have gotten fooled. In this case, it looks like the Dolphins are running man coverage with Lock and Level rules, so immediate vertical stems by the bunch may have taken away the defenders, but that would have given Rodriguez room to run to the flat. 

Even if the Dolphins had approached it differently, zone defenses will typically defend bunches with roles similar to “Box” (author’s note: Box is technically a quarters call so it wouldn’t apply here but the idea is pretty similar for Cover 3). If this were zone, generally the roles would be:

All three of Marshall, Johnson, Taaffe will have their eyes on the player they’re covering in man, but because they have to read the bunch this play would also work effectively against zone.

What happens when all three step to the left? The three DBs follow.

For his part, Rodriguez has Jones in man coverage, but he is keying run/pass based off of the guards. If the line moves forward, or a guard pulls, Rodriguez has to step forward to take on a potential run block. Because of this, Rodriguez takes a false step before seeing his man responsibility, Jones, who ran that way immediately at the snap. Jones is faster to the flat than anyone else.

Look at how much of an advantage Jones has on every defender.

This type of play is prevalent across the NFL, and a favorite of offensive coaching influencers. Some of the best offenses use it frequently, such as the Bills, the Lions, and… the 2025 Minnesota Vikings?

Q4, 2:07 - 3rd and 5 at the MIA 10