Ed Donatell was fired after one season as defensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings. Head coach Kevin O’Connell introduced the transfer Thursday night time, simply 4 days after a 31-24 loss to the Giants within the wild card spherical of the playoffs.
“Right this moment I knowledgeable Ed Donatell that we are going to be getting into a distinct path at defensive coordinator in 2023. Whereas this was a tough choice due to the large respect I’ve for Ed as an individual and coach, I consider it’s the proper transfer for the way forward for our soccer crew,” O’Connell mentioned in an announcement.
4 days earlier than the playoff loss, Donatell met with the media and mentioned “I believe you are going to like the way in which we play.” The end result was Minnesota’s protection giving up 431 yards of offense, together with 267 within the first half, which noticed the Giants maintain the ball for almost 11 minutes in a scoring second quarter.
The common season numbers weren’t any higher, permitting over 400 yards 9 instances and ending 31st in passing yards (388.7 per sport).
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Donatell’s defensive scheme has been criticized all season, specifically the sunshine coverages and four-man move rush that usually offers the quarterbacks and receivers loads of room to pile up yards and torch the Vikings protection for an NFL with 224 first downs.
“We like our four-man rush and so they’ve been so shut so many instances. We’ve got a whole lot of rush from this group,” Donatell mentioned in mid-December. “And it is simply that little further factor in case you can maintain protection just a bit bit longer, a whole lot of these rushes are going to work with 4.”
That scheme and the gamers working it produced simply 38 sacks, 21st within the NFL. The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks. What’s extra telling is how the sacks have gone down because the season has gone on. The Vikings had 25 sacks by way of eight video games and have added simply 13 extra during the last 9 video games.
“I believe Ed tried to do one of the best he might this yr in all areas, putting in the protection and the scheme that we sort of put collectively and hopefully it involves life,” head coach Kevin O’Connell mentioned minutes later after the match. the season ended on Sunday. “He is labored from the bottom up and his dedication to attempt to make some changes and get higher has been there each week all through the season.”
The push protection ranked 20th general, however was tied for 10th worst at four.5 yards per carry.