The Minnesota Vikings have not had a great offensive line for the better part of a decade. This group might change all of that.
Yes, the offensive line is now good. Really good in fact.
If you talk to fans, you won’t get that sentiment and it makes sense. Offensive line is a position that lives off of reputation because it’s harder to understand the nuance of their play is difficult to see on the broadcast.
When you go and look at the all-22 film, you can see that the Vikings unit is playing well. Yes, that includes Ed Ingram.
Despite what you see on Twitter, Ed Ingram is playing well this season. The pressure numbers are relatively high at 17, but his consistency play-to-play in pass blocking is improving. He currently ranks 18th out of 78 qualifying guards per Pro Football Focus, including a run-blocking grade of 74.8.
In order to truly understand how well Ingram is playing, looking at the all-22 film is the best way to do it. Here are eight plays from Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs that show how well he’s playing.
Great hands
Ingram’s preferred method of handling defenders is to punch with a knockout type blow. It gets them off-balance easily and allows him to win the rep. This isn’t one of those plays and it shows some real growth.
With Chris Jones in front of him, Ingram doesn’t allow his hands to engage and fights them off with his own. This is a really smart way to play this and it forces Jones to try and win without his hands, which isn’t easy to do.
Anchor
This is a tough play to call a win, but it is for Ingram.
Yes, Ingram gets pushed back into the quarterbacks’ lap, but it’s how it happens where you can classify it as a win.
Ingram gets pushed back, but gets Jones stood up and loses slowly, something you are always trying to do as an offensive lineman. He anchors well enough to prevent the sack but it doesn’t matter all too much, as the blitz forces Cousins to throw the ball earlier than he wanted to
Powerful punch/looking for work
Ingram always does a good job looking for something to do. His tape at LSU was littered with plays like that.
This is exactly that. He gets the initial hit on Jones and passes him off successfully to Garrett Bradbury. Once that is done, he takes a second to assess what’s going on around him and then goes to provide help to Brian O’Neill. Those plays are really good to see, especially when the good from his college film has carried over.
Using momentum to your advantage
Ingram handles the blitz really well here. Leo Chenal starts running right at Ingram, but veers into the A gap. How Ingram handles that is going to help the future at the position.
He uses Chenal’s momentum to his advantage and pushes him outside of Cousins’ frame. That creates a gap to move up. Cousins doesn’t take it and throws the ball instead. The future quarterback for the Vikings can take paths like this and create outside of structure.
Reach block
This is a great example of a reach block and one that is necessary to be successful in the running game.
Ingram starts on the inside shoulder but gets to the outside shoulder easily and seals Akers’s rush lane. This isn’t the easiest block to make for a bigger guard and Ingram uses his quickness to get in position.
Clean pocket
The Vikings offensive line has gotten a bad rap over the last few years and for good reason. They have been a really poor unit outside of a standout or two, but this year is different.
The above play is exactly why it’s different. They formed a clean pocket more often than not for Cousins and Ingram kept looking for work and found it by helping O’Neill.
Handling stunts
Stunts have given the Vikings fits over the last few seasons, especially with Ingram. However, they have improved greatly over the last two weeks.
Here, Ingram and O’Neill pass off the stunt easily. Ingram blocks the tackle over just long enough before he takes on Karlaftis and gets him out of the way.
Keeping his eyes forward
When you are the player that ends up the extra blocker, it’s on you to keep your eyes up and find work to do. Luckily, that is exactly what Ingram is good at.
He keeps his eyes up and helps both Bradbury and O’Neill. This was a solid game from Ingram and his ability to stay aware and keep his head up has helped him improve greatly.
