Brian Flores' Vikings defense excelled in one key area that completely Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs on Sunday and it's very sustainable

The Vikings were tremendous in generating pressure fast on Sunday afternoon, and logged 15 quick pressures against the Lions, which was a 35.7% rate. That in itself was the highest since the Buffalo Bills did so in Week 12 of 2022.

Not only were they getting pressure quickly, but they attacked Gibbs. He allowed seven pressures with six of them quick pressures. Those crossfire blitzes were incredibly impactful in a variety of ways for the Vikings, and it essentially took him out of the passing game, while also neutralizing him in teh run game.

"It was a mixture," said head coach Kevin O'Connell about using the blitz against Jared Goff. "It was a lot of showing pressure, and varying up the looks from there, showing man to man and playing some other things out of it.

"Flo did a really good job mixing it up, but it wasn’t always scheme. It was a lot of guys defeating blocks, getting knocked back, trying to stop the run early."

When you continue to attack the running backs in blitz pickup, it wears them down physically, especially with how Eric Wilson and Blake Cashman were attacking violently downhill. If you have the running back in the protection plan, it eliminates them as a weapon in the passing game, and when they can't block well, it takes them off the field quickly.

Flores taking Gibbs out of the game was huge in getting the Vikings the win, and it made an impact on much more than just the passing game.

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