Randy Moss Offers Tactical Advice for Vikings Offense
The NFL’s second-most prolific wide receiver in history believes his former team must fix its ground game.
Randy Moss Offers Tactical Advice for Vikings Offense
That’s the word from Randy Moss this week, who offered a bit of advice to the Minnesota Vikings: run the football more efficiently.
Among a range of topics, Moss opined on Minnesota’s offense heading into 2024 — the regular season is about seven weeks away — and called for rushing improvement.
“It’s a different era; you have to really understand how the game has changed. To be honest with you, if Kevin O’Connell is able to scheme up some runs to be able to take some pressure off whoever Sam Darnold, he has, I think the passing game is going to be elite,” Moss told Kay Adams.
Last season, Minnesota employed Alexander Mattison at RB1, a player since released in favor of Aaron Jones, who defected from the Green Bay Packers in March and joined the Vikings via free agency. Mattison signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Moss added, “If you don’t have a running game, a running game that defenses will respect to open up the whole offense, that’s what I’m looking at and see what the Vikings can do.”
Barring injury or a bizarre trade, Minnesota will roll into the 2024 season with the aforementioned Jones as RB1, Ty Chandler at RB2, and possibly Cam Akers at RB3. Other tailbacks like Kene Nwangwu, DeWayne McBride, and Myles Gaskin will vie for final roster spots.
In 2022, Minnesota ranked 27th in the NFL per rushing DVOA. It was O’Connell’s first season, Dalvin Cook had noticeably slowed down a bit, and the Vikings were afforded grace in Year No. 1 with a new regime. The franchise focused on improvement in 2023 and promptly finished 27th — also known as sixth-worst — in the NFL once again per rushing DVOA.
Now, the front office and coaching staff bank on Jones as the elixir, a soon-to-be 30-year-old with documented evidence of production from seven seasons in Green Bay. And if Jones falters, Chandler will be waiting with younger legs and a hungry mindset.
Generally speaking, Moss is correct. Whenever Mike Zimmer left the organization after the 2021 campaign, Minnesota would probably never return to a “run-first” offense, but few predicted a total nosedive via rushing efficiency. Running the football is vital to close out games when a team is ahead or to simply gain first downs.
Under O’Connell, at least so far, Minnesota has struggled to run the football and doesn’t even run the rock at an average clip. The Vikings have run the ball the third least leaguewide in back-to-back seasons.
So, maybe Moss — who should know football rather well — is on to something.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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