
While doing some reporting for my feature on Datone Jones that ran in Wednesday's paper, I had an interesting conversation with defensive line coach Andre Patterson about his process for teaching linemen the ways he wants them to play.
Patterson, a longtime confidant of coach Mike Zimmer, oversees one of the league's best defensive lines. His thinking has helped form a central tenet of Zimmer's defensive approach over their years together, and on a staff with a number of assistants who are insightful, engaging interviews, Patterson stands out.
I thought I'd take a few minutes this morning to offer a brief primer on the Vikings' approach to defensive line play, and what they're trying to teach a player like Jones as he seeks to reboot his career.
You've probably heard Zimmer talk about how Vikings defensive linemen play the run on their way to the quarterback; in other words, the Vikings aren't teaching their linemen to cruise around blockers as quickly as possible in an effort to get into the quarterback. The styles of players like Jared Allen and Kevin Williams are long gone. Instead, you'll hear Zimmer and Patterson stressing the importance of playing blocks first, taking shorter routes to the QB and using strength to collapse offensive lines, rather than simply breezing past them and leaving linebackers exposed.
"Most coaches try to tell you, 'Use loops. Flip your hips. Try to use the space to your advantage; try to get wide to make your offensive lineman come out and get you,'" defensive tackle Tom Johnson said in this feature I did last December when I was at ESPN. "[Patterson] actually teaches the exact opposite of what you've been told to do a lot — which, in film, if you watch us do it, it looks a lot quicker. You eliminate those [extra] steps. He tells us to go attack the man where you want to be at instead of trying to go around him."
Patterson believes efficiency of movement and sound technique are vital to giving defensive lines the advantage back over offensive lines, which generally have to drill fundamentals and create cohesion to make up for their athletic deficit against defensive lines.
So how does this work in practicality for a player like Jones, who only had nine sacks in four years after the Packers took him in the first round? For one, he's back up around 295 pounds, after shedding weight to play linebacker for the Packers. Jones has always impressed scouts and coaches with his pure strength, and in the Vikings' scheme, that trait can be put to good use if it's applied properly.
He had played five-technique defensive end in a 3-4 scheme at UCLA, which put him in some similar situations to what he'll do as a three-technique tackle in Minnesota. That, Patterson said, created a template for his work with Jones.