Adrian Fedkiw
Doug Pederson didn’t give Halapoulivaati Vaitai as much help in terms of chip blocking and double teams during the Philadelphia Eagles’ 21-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, but his play-calling took a lot of pressure off of him.
Vaitai wasn’t atrocious, he wasn’t terrible, he was actually sort of OK.
Big V played with a wider base and was more balanced instead of being too narrow and upright. He was able to drop anchor several times against Vikings defensive ends Danielle Hunter and Brian Robison due to better knee bend. This was after Ryan Kerrigan had Big V on skates for most of the afternoon in the 27-20 loss against the Washington Redskins. His feet were quicker on his kick and lateral slides as well.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson helped Vaitai out on just five of the 28 Carson Wentz dropbacks. That number was way down from the 18 against the Redskins. Pederson, however, offset the lack of support with a lot of wide receiver screens, play-action bootlegs and quick three-step drops. Vaitai didn’t have to hold his blocks long when matched up 1-on-1.
Pederson also ran off the right side of the line more than he did against Washington. He ran the ball to Vaitai’s side nine of the 25 times Philadelphia toted the rock (I didn’t count Wentz’s kneel-down). And the Eagles had success because right guard Brandon Brooks and Vaitai double teamed on a couple down blocks to open up alleys for the running backs to run through. The Eagles also ran the ball 10 times up the middle and six times off the left side.
Let’s delve into it a little further and go possession by possession.
Vaitai settled down after committing a false start and failing on a cut block. Pederson called a pair of quick three-step drops and a run off the left edge.
Brent Celek played 48 percent (28) of the snaps Sunday after seeing just 25 percent the week prior and had a great chip on Robison to help Big V on the second possession. You can also see some of the wider base and balance I referenced earlier. The hand placement from Vaitai is good and he was able to drop anchor.
Here’s some of the play-calling help I described on the third series, a three-step drop and play-action boot leg. The first attempt to run off the right side was the fumbled exchange between Wentz and Darren Sproles.
The fourth drive was more of the same. Vaitai still isn’t getting much help with the chipping, but on this series we see more three-step drops, wide receiver screens, play-action boot legs and a pop pass to the tight end. The ball is coming out quickly. Big V also missed badly again on a cut block, Pederson might want to scrap that.
Vaitai got matched up with Hunter on this possession after dealing with Robison over his first three. Hunter is the better pass rusher of the two and fared better than Robison did, although Big V held his own. Hunter is quicker, more athletic and explosive.
There’s not much to say about the sixth sequence, the fifth was Josh Huff’s kickoff return for a touchdown. I highlighted one play, which was a quick flip over to Celek along the right boundary. Vaitai maneuvered to the second level and had the position on Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks, but failed to maintain his block before trying to help out Zach Ertz.
The Eagles were able to put up three points before the end of the half on their seventh series. When the time was winding down and Wentz was taking shots into the end zone, Pederson gave Vaitai double-team help with Ertz. Obviously for the routes into the end zone to develop, Wentz needed more time in the pocket. You’ll also notice on the first play one of the occurrences of Brooks and Vaitai doubling in run blocking.
Again on this eighth drive, we see more of what I brought up earlier, a wider base to maintain balance and not overextend, quicker feet on his kick slide and solid hand placement. He dropped anchor on two of the plays I highlighted and steered Robison past the pocket on the other.
The Eagles ran the ball a ton on their next series being up by 15 with 13:21 left in the fourth. Aided by a muffed punt, Philadelphia maintained possession until there was 6:10 remaining. This was the last drive to evaluate Vaitai because Ryan Mathews fumbled on the first play of the next trek and Wentz’s kneel-down ended the game on the final possession.