EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. —A blistering wind knocked around the sail on the longship outside of the Vikings Winter Park headquarters on Monday, but no one has jumped ship.
There's no mutiny, no position groups going rogue, or mass dissention between Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer and players in the defensive backs position group.
After Saturday's 38-25 loss to the Packers, Zimmer and Xavier Rhodes were asked why Rhodes didn't shadow Jordy Nelson for the whole game.
During the Packers first possession, Rhodes lined up at right cornerback, and Trae Waynes lined up at left cornerback. The Packers lined up Nelson on the right side of their formations opposite Newman five times and put Nelson inside on one play.
Nelson was targeted once by Aaron Rodgers and caught a pass for 15 yards on an inward route against Newman before the Vikings eventually forced a punt.
"We changed a couple calls later in the week," Zimmer said Monday. "I probably wasn't specific enough in the things I was asking them to do. The one thing about it is Xavier and Terence, these guys are as good as people as there is in the world. They're going to do their best every single time. They come out and they work every single day, they study. They're really good kids. I could've been more specific."
Zimmer said there are variations — checks and call — within a coverage that are implemented throughout the course of a game.
"There might be three variations of it based on their formations or based on their alignments or which player is where," Zimmer said. "So a lot of times, that happens."
Zimmer told Rhodes and Newman that he wanted Rhodes on Nelson.
"It was just a miscommunication for the first series," Rhodes said. "We handled it after the first series, and that was about it."
The next time Green Bay took the field, the Packers lined him up inside on all five snaps that included him motioning from left to right before one snap. Nelson's 21-yard touchdown came with him lined up on the left inside, more of where a tight end would be.
"If you look at the tape, I'm sure you guys probably haven't, but if he lined up at number two, [Xavier is] not going to go in and play nickel," Munnerlyn said. "I'm the nickel back, so I have to cover him, or if he lines up at number three, [Xavier is] not going to play linebacker and cover him. Things got blown out of proportion a whole lot like we were refusing to listen to our coach, which wasn't true at all.
"They were missing Randall Cobb," Munnerlyn added, "so they put Jordy in some of the spots that Cobb was in sometimes and moved him around a lot to try to get him open and go after matchups a little bit."
The Packers put Nelson on the outside right during one play of their third possession, and Rhodes followed. The other three plays he was in the slot, near a tight end and wide left.
Newman said he was surprised by the amount of attention the coverage plan received.
"I didn't know there was an issue," Newman said. "I got a question on the way out and honestly didn't even know where it came from, so I didn't know there was something about us doing our own thing, making our own calls and whatnot. None of that ever happened.
"This whole thing is blown way out of proportion to be honest with you," Newman added. "For me, we're putting it on a situation, me and Xavier, and taking away the whole thing that this team has been working for, so I'd like to get that clear. This thing is not what people think. It's a simple communication. It got fixed. There's no issues. We're all on the same page, so those things can be done."
Newman said the Vikings lost because "we got beat by a team that played better than us."
Zimmer credited the scheme used by Green Bay.
"We've had a couple things these last two weeks where teams have done a good job scheming some of the things," Zimmer said. "We may have to change up a little bit more than what we have been, and that happens."
"The game plan was kind of hard because they moved him around," Newman said. "You can't really just put a guy and abandon the whole defense when they put him in the slot or at number three. … We got beat by a team that played better than us. We made a lot of mistakes, but there's no issues. I promise you."
The Vikings rank second in yards allowed per game (314.3), 16th in rushing yards allowed per game (101.9), fourth in passing yards allowed per game (212.5) and eighth in points allowed per game (19.8).
