The Vikings Stat that’s a Delight to Kevin O’Connell
Pay attention when a coach repeats himself; good chance something important is being emphasized.
After a 24-23 victory over the Raiders, Kevin O’Connell met with the Minnesota media. While doing so, the coach pointed toward a certain Vikings stat is his opening preamble. Sure, there was praise for the QBs — Sam Darnold had the word “efficient” thrown at him while J.J. McCarthy saw “unbelievable” get sent in his direction — but it was the run game that got a lot of love.
The Praiseworthy Vikings Stat: 6.5 Yards per Carry
Make no mistake: Kevin O’Connell wants to run the ball effectively.
Yes, Minnesota is going to continue being a pass-first team. Yes, sometimes the head coach is too impatient with the run. And yes, sometimes onlookers could be fooled into believing the run isn’t a priority. But, to be sure, moving the ball on the ground would be a welcome development in Minnesota.
Against the Raiders. Minnesota turned 22 carries into 142 yards and a touchdown. Crunch the numbers and that’s a 6.5 yards-per-carry average. O’Connell made sure to mention it — twice — during his initial thoughts.
“Offensively, some really good execution in the pass game; ran for 6.5 a carry on the night. Thought the guys really took a lot of the things we’re working on the practice field and brought it out here and made it come to life,” O’Connell said.
Not too long afterwards, O’Connell had this to say: “No sacks, 6.5 a carry, hopefully the quarterbacks are in there starting their post-game talking about the o-line.”
Consider what the rushing stats look like:
| Player | Carries | Yards | Touchdowns |
| Nwangwu, Kene | 5 | 52 | 1 |
| Chandler, Ty | 7 | 33 | 0 |
| Gaskin, Myles | 5 | 22 | 0 |
| McCarthy, J.J. | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| McBride, DeWayne | 3 | 17 | 0 |
Obviously, the average sees a major boost from Kene Nwangwu’s excellent touchdown run. So far, Nwangwu hasn’t been able to solidify a role on offense with any consistency, but that doesn’t mean the man lacks talent. He’s a sensationally fast runner, as his touchdown demonstrates. Once he gets past the initial round of defenders, Nwangwu isn’t going to get caught.
Go ahead and take another look at the long touchdown run:
Playing quarterback becomes a lot easier when a team is capable of doing that. The runner explodes through what the defense would refer to as the B-gap. Look at how the o-line and receivers seal off the Raiders’ defenders. Coaches can sometimes be found telling their players to “run to bums” — a pithy saying that’s meant to highlight how effective blocks involve the blocker inserting himself in between the runner and defender. On the touchdown, Nwangwu can do so with ease since it’s so well blocked.
Keep in mind, too, that Aaron Jones didn’t play. The former Packer got onboarded for a single season deal sitting at $7 million. He’s nearing his 30th birthday and doesn’t have a ton to prove, so he was wisely kept on the sideline for the preseason tilt. Even without the RB1, Minnesota found a way to be effective on the ground.
Last season, Minnesota came in at 28th in the NFL by rushing the ball just 393 times. Picking up 1,553 rushing yards put them down at 29th and scoring just 7 rushing touchdowns put them in a tie for last place.
Saturday’s game was just one strong example, but it’s a step in the right direction. Running the ball well will make life easier for whoever is under center, so some ongoing success in this area will continue making Coach O’Connell a happy man.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
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