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Ed Donatel was fired after one season as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator. Head coach Kevin O’Connell announced the move Thursday night, just four days after the Giants lost 31-24 in the wildcard round of the playoffs.
“Today I informed Ed Donatel that I am going in a different direction as defensive coordinator for 2023. It was a difficult decision as I have tremendous respect for Ed as a person and as a coach. , I believe it’s the right move,” the future of our football team,” O’Connell said in a statement.
“I think you’ll like the way we’re playing,” Donatel told the media four days before the playoff elimination. As a result, the Minnesota defense gave up 431 yards of offense. This includes 267 yards in the first half when he held the ball for nearly 11 minutes on the Giants’ second quarter scoring drive.
His numbers during the regular season were no better, allowing nine times over 400 yards and finishing 31st in yards allowed (388.7 yards per game).
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Donatel’s defensive scheme was criticized throughout the season. That means giving quarterbacks enough time to torch the Vikings defense and receivers to score 224 first downs, the best in the NFL. 4 pass his rush.
“We like the rush of four and they’re very close on many occasions. There’s a lot of rushing from this group,” Donatel said in mid-December. If you can keep it a little longer, it’s just a little bit, and a lot of those rushes work at 4.”
This scheme and the players who run it produced just 38 sacks, ranking 21st in the NFL. The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks. More importantly, how the sacks decreased as the season progressed. In his eight games, the Vikings recorded 25 sacks and added just 13 sacks in his last nine games.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said after the game, “I think Ed was trying to do as much as he could this year. We put in the defense and the plan that we laid out together and hopefully it will come to pass.” I was there,” he said. The season ended on Sunday. “He has an absolute tailspin and his commitment to making some adjustments and improving has been there all season, week after week.”
Rush defense ranked 20th overall, but ranked 10th worst with 4.5 yards per carry.
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