Vikings Rewind: Jerick McKinnon's 55-yard run

The situation: Up 14-7 with 13:07 left in the second quarter, the Vikings start their third offensive series at their own 8. They hand the ball off to rookie running back Jerick McKinnon.

The reason: The Vikings are pinned deep in their own end zone and need some room to work with. They design a draw play in this situation, hoping it'll do the trick.

The result: McKinnon breaks off a career-long 55-yard run on his first carry to the Falcons 37 to put the Vikings in scoring position.

"I was messing with him a little bit," fullback Jerome Felton said. "I was wondering when I was going to see it, so it's good to finally see. It's all good to talk about his speed and everything else, but you've got to show it on Sundays. And he did that."

How it happened:

The Vikings are lined up in an offset "I" formation, with Felton lined up to the right of rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, in a 21 personnel (two backs and one tight end). It'd be considered "strong right" because of Felton's alignment and tight end Rhett Ellison also lined up on the right side of the line of scrimmage. With McKinnon (circled in yellow) in the backfield, the Falcons stack the box with six near the line of scrimmage. They're sensing run with the Vikings personnel.

They're fooled. Well, at least initially they're tricked. Bridgewater immediately sets his feet after receiving the snap and looks to wide receiver Greg Jennings (circled in yellow), who has about eight yards of separation from safety Dwight Lowery (circled in red) in the slot. Bridgewater pump fakes to Jennings, causing the Falcons to believe it's a pass play.

"You want to fool the defense and have the linebackers think we're about to pass the ball with the defensive line going to their pass rush techniques," Felton said. "That usually opens up a big hole."

Here's another angle on how great the blocking was all around on that play by the offensive line, Ellison and Felton. McKinnon wisely opts to cut left, with two unblocked defenders to his right and Jennings and wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson to his left.

What goes unnoticed on this play is McKinnon's patience before he even receives the hand off.

"We talked about it all week just being patient and letting the quarterback bring the ball to him," Felton said. "He did a good job of that and that allows them to get in their pass rush stuff with the linebackers thinking it's pass. That was important to have patience there and you can see he's really developed as a runner Sunday."

After McKinnon cuts left, his eyes must've lit up from all the open space he had. Jennings had a nice block on Lowery to allow McKinnon to bounce outside, then Patterson (circled in yellow) also had a good block down field to allow for more yards on the explosive play.

Felton's block was definitely the most notable on that play, allowing McKinnon to play off the fullback. That first carry set up a breakout performance for McKinnon, who had 18 carries for 135 yards. In the first three games, the rookie had just five carries for seven yards.