Vikings' defensive line rotation has early success

While the Vikings made sweeping changes on defense after hiring coach Mike Zimmer in January, no position group experienced more turnover than the defensive line.

Longtime Vikings standouts Jared Allen and Kevin Williams were not re-signed, and the team instead paid big bucks to keep defensive end Everson Griffen and lure free-agent nose tackle Linval Joseph from the New York Giants to the Twin Cities. The Vikings also inked a pair of veteran backups and spent two draft picks on defensive line prospects.

"We've overhauled a lot of things with this football team," Zimmer said. "We want to have a rotation system [on the defensive line]. We want to be able to play a lot of guys. It's not only good for us now. It's good for us in the fourth quarter. And it's good for young, developing guys."

Much of the attention both inside and outside of Winter Park leading up to Sunday's 34-6 season-opening victory at St. Louis was placed on a Rams defensive line that boasted four former first-round draft picks, including All-Pro end Robert Quinn. But it was the Vikings front four — though it's technically a deeper unit that will roll six to eight deep on most weeks — that made a bigger dent in the outcome of the game.

The Vikings racked up five sacks in the blowout, four of them coming from defensive linemen, and they held the Rams to only 3.3 yards per carry with the Rams' longest gain on the ground being seven yards. The defensive line recorded 20 total quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and Rams quarterbacks Shaun Hill and Austin Davis were hit on half of them.

During the fourth quarter, the defensive linemen, each with different pass-rushing styles and maneuvers, could have applied for permanent residency in the St. Louis backfield.

"Any team is going to get frustrated," said Griffen, who recorded sacks on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter. "Yeah, you can tell, and that's when you put the foot in their throat, and keep on beating them and keep on getting him down to win the game. It's all about finishing."

Six Vikings defensive linemen played at least 29 of the team's 67 defensive snaps against the Rams. Starting defensive ends Brian Robison and Griffen played 49 and 47, respectively, and starting tackles Sharrif Floyd and Joseph each played at least 55 percent of the snaps.

Defensive tackle Tom Johnson and defensive end Corey Wootton, the pair of veterans who signed in the offseason to take on important reserve roles, played 33 and 29 snaps, respectively.

Rookie nose tackle Shamar Stephen played 17 defensive snaps, usually spelling Joseph, and defensive end Scott Crichton, a third-round pick, played eight.

"It's been great. I thought our D-line coaches did a good job of getting our rotation right," Wootton said. "It allowed starters to be fresh and the backups could give them a different look. We were fresh going into that fourth quarter and you see guys like Griff and B-Rob, they were fresh there."

The practice is something that Zimmer picked up on during his early days in Dallas, when Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, who gave Zimmer his first NFL coaching gig, utilized a deep rotation on the defensive line. Zimmer took that philosophy with him to Atlanta, then Cincinnati and Minnesota.

"It's good because players get better. When they play, they get better as they progress, the more time they get in there," Zimmer said. "I just think overall it's better for our football program and for us to continue to get to where we want to get to."

Setting aside those snaps for promising youngsters paid off for Zimmer and the Bengals.

Defensive end Michael Johnson played 365 defensive snaps in his rookie year in 2009 and later developed into a double-digit-sack player. Defensive tackle Geno Atkins was on the field for 356 snaps for his rookie year in 2010, then blossomed into an All-Pro player. Defensive end Wallace Gilberry bounced around the league after going undrafted but the Bengals gave him a chance — and 316 defensive snaps — in 2012. He now starts for them.

It remains to be seen if the Vikings will reap similar long-term benefits with draft picks such as Stephen, Crichton and Anthony Barr — who at times moved from his starting strongside linebacker spot to line up as a defensive end — but Zimmer's rotation certainly paid dividends Sunday.

"It was great," Robison said. "I think it allowed us to feel fresher at the end of the game. Bottom line is that yeah, the competitive side of me wants to be out there every play. But I think the way we rolled, the defense [Sunday] was great for us. And it's going to be great for us in the long run."