ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Are you ready, Quinn?
Uh-huh.
Mike? Yeah.
Joe? Okay.
It’s. It’s. It’s a Flores’ Blitz!
According to one statistician, nobody blitzes more than the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Pro Football Reference says the Vikings are blitzing on 49 percent of the snaps – down from nearly 58 percent through six games.
“I bet more than that,’’ said Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.
And it’s not just volume, but the creativity.
“They’re an exotic defense,’’ said Broncos’ right guard Quinn Meinerz. “They bring a lot of pressures. It doesn’t matter, they bring it from everywhere.’’
Flores was the Miami Dolphins’ head coach for three seasons. He has a reputation for the exotic. In a 2020 game at Empower Field at Mile High, Flores had his entire Dolphins’ defensive line stand up at the snap. And it wasn’t because of social distancing during the COVID season. The strategy didn’t work. Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay each ran for more than 80 yards and the 3-6 Broncos beat the 6-3 Dolphins, 20-13.
The heavy blitz attacks, though, present all kinds of problems for an offense, starting with practice.
“It’s hard, first, to get the scout team defense to simulate something as unique as what they’re doing,’’ Lombardi said. “So there’s a lot of frustration out there trying to get guys lined up the right way on defense and give you the right clues.’’
One good thing is Broncos’ head coach and play caller can condense his plays on a smaller play sheet Sunday night if he chooses.
“Every play you have to be ready for six guys rushing, seven guys rushing,’’ Lombardi said. “And so it does limit your playbook quite a bit because there’s a lot of plays that are just dead a large portion of the time against this defense. In some ways it makes it easier in that you have less to select from. You’re not on Amazon trying to figure out the whole world what it is you want.
How to beat the Vikings’ blitz?
“We were joking this week it’s good we’re playing at home,’’ said right tackle Mike McGlinchey. “Minnesota’s a pretty tough place to play. Coach Flo likes to dial it up. They try to do their best to test your hots. They try to do their best to test your protection schemes. They really like to create chaos out there.
“I think if we can stay poised and calm and communicate through the chaos and know where the ball is supposed to go, we know where the hots are, I think we can have success. Communication between the five of us is going to be key between us and Russ. It’s something we’ve been working on all week and are preparing for well, I think. I really like the plan we put in place. And I think we’re going to be ready for it.”
It does help that in Russell Wilson, the Broncos have a quarterback who can “beat pressure, that’s for sure,’’ McGlinchey said before the statement could be finished.
Wilson gets sacked a lot – tied for third in the NFL with 30 -- but he also frequently scrambles free from the rush and make a big play.
“No doubt. I’ve seen a lot of that over the years and I’ve certainly seen it this year, too,” McGlinchey said.
“We just have to be locked into the numbers,’’ Meinerz said. “We know who the defensive linemen are, we know who the linebackers are. It’s good to be playing a team like that at home to have good communication. That’s the key to success when you’re playing a defense like this. We have to all be on the same page with communication. Who are the big guys, and who are the linebackers.”
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