Eric Kendricks vs. the Chiefs (10 total tackles, 1 sack)

1-10-KC 39 (Q3, 13:32) C.West left guard to KC 42 for 3 yards (T.Newman, L.Joseph).

Here’s another play that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet for Kendricks but is one where he greatly contributes to the success of the Vikings’ defense. On this play, the Chiefs are running Power. Unlike the previous zone plays, Power is a man (or “gap”) blocking scheme where each offensive player is assigned to block a specific player. Power is a classic man blocking play, run by every team in the NFL. It features a guard pulling to the play side to block the playside DE and the run is designed to go off tackle. As such, on this play LT Stephenson is designated to block Kendricks. At the beginning of this article, there’s an article linked to Kendricks’ preseason performance against the Bucs, where it’s noted that Kendricks sometimes struggles when trying to take on offensive linemen one-on-one because of his smaller size. On this play, however, that simply isn’t the case. He unquestionably wins his battle, and forces the play to go elsewhere. Because LBs are smaller than offensive linemen, they really can’t go heads up against them. All other things equal, they will always lose simply because they’re up against more mass. The way a linebacker can beat an offensive lineman is with good leverage and also by “picking a side” and attacking one shoulder of a lineman rather than going straight on against him. Kendricks does both on this play, as he gets lower than his opponent and drives against his outside shoulder. As such, Kendricks is able to fight Stephenson to a stalemate, which is a win for Kendricks. The LT is supposed to be moving Kendricks out of the hole so West can run through it, but instead Kendricks helped plug the hole up. The lack of room to run forces West to cut the run back to the other side, where he runs into another wall of bodies and gets taken down for a gain of just three.

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2-7-MIN 46 (Q3, 11:44) (Shotgun) A.Smith pass incomplete short right to C.Conley (E.Kendricks).

On this play, Kendricks is part of a pass breakup. The Vikings are running Cover 1, with a single deep safety, man coverage underneath, and a LB (Kendricks) in a “Robber” zone underneath. It’s Kendricks’ responsibility to help cover any in breaking routes, like the slant that Chris Conley runs on this play. Here, he drops back, watches Smith’s eyes, and drives on the ball, hitting Conley and sandwiching the WR between himself and CB Terrance Newman. Newman gets a hit on the ball and knocks it loose, but this wouldn’t have been possible without Kendricks, whose hit spun Conley around.

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1-10-KC 34 (Q3, 8:07) (Shotgun) C.West up the middle to KC 42 for 8 yards (E.Kendricks).

This play is another read option, but Kendricks is not as impressive on this play as he was on the first one. Here, I think his read on the play is slow and it allows West to pick up 8 yards on first down, which is a successful play for the Chiefs. It’s notable that Kendricks is a responsible for a different gap on this play, and it’s his job to cover this cutback. As such, he should attack the play more in this scenario. He lets West get two full steps before he begins moving towards the ball, and those two steps allow West to gather speed which lets him get the 8 yards on this play. If Kendricks had recognized the run earlier, the play could have been stopped for a shorter gain.

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2-4-MIN 10 (Q3, 5:46) (Shotgun) C.West up the middle to MIN 7 for 3 yards (L.Joseph, E.Kendricks).

On this play, the Vikings stopped West a yard short of the first down, which was important because the Vikings then stuffed two consecutive runs to force a turnover on downs. Joseph and Kendricks share the tackle, and both do a good job on the play. Joseph holds his ground against Morse, and then sheds the center to get his big arms around the RB. Kendricks meanwhile, shows some nimble footwork to meet the RB near the hole. The Chiefs are running a man scheme here again, and they have the RG pull. They also have Stephenson block down on the second level, moving to the second level to engage Anthony Barr. Theoretically, the pulling guard should be the one blocking Kendricks to clear the hole. However, his plans get messed with on the play because DT Floyd had great burst off the snap, getting into the backfield immediately. Floyd kind of got himself hooked around LG Grubbs, but his flash in the backfield was enough to distract the RG, who went after Floyd to prevent a potential TFL. This left Kendricks unblocked, and he did a good job of avoiding getting tangled up and then getting himself back in on the tackle.

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1-10-KC 20 (Q3, 4:43) K.Davis left tackle to KC 23 for 3 yards (D.Hunter).

For some reason, the scorers didn’t credit Kendricks with a tackle here but he deserves one. This time, it’s Power again from the Chiefs, with a TE (Travis Kelce) pulling as well to create another lead blocker for Davis. So, RG Fulton pulls to block Hunter and Kelce is the lead blocker in the hole, so he’s supposed to block Kendricks. Immediately after the snap, there is something Kendricks does to entice the RB to run in his direction. Besides the pulling blockers, the rest of the line is blocking down, so Kendricks flows in that direction. This creates the illusion of an open hole for the RB, because Kendricks appears to be attacking a gap that he isn’t actually trying to defend. Conscious of the pulling players, Kendricks pops back out and is right in the hole, where Davis has already committed running to. Eric’s work isn’t over, however, as he still has Kelce to deal with. Once again, we see the very important principles of leverage and attacking one shoulder come into play. Kendricks gets lower than Kelce and chooses to go after his inside shoulder. Once engaged, Kendricks’ lower leverage allows him to drive Kelce upwards and also turns him around a little bit, which knocks Kelce off balance and allows Kendricks to shed the block and help make the tackle.

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2-7-KC 23 (Q3, 4:07) A.Smith pass short left to D.Harris to KC 29 for 6 yards (E.Kendricks).

On this play, the Chiefs come out in a 3 TE set, which creates somewhat interesting coverage responsibilities for the Vikings. With two TEs tight to the line of scrimmage at the top of the screen, the Vikings have kind of a couple of rules. Chad Greenway, who is on the line of scrimmage at the snap, has the first breaking route to the outside, which is a TE flat route. Kendricks has the first in breaking route, which doesn’t end up happening. CB Xavier Rhodes has coverage on the deeper route. That route is run by Harris, and it’s an out route short of the sticks. Rhodes doesn’t get there in time to stop the completion, and misses the tackle, but Kendricks is there to clean it up. The play was ruled forward progress, so even though Harris lost the ball before he went down it wasn’t a fumble on the field. This set up a 3rd and 1 for the Chiefs.

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3-1-KC 29 (Q3, 3:20) K.Davis left guard to KC 29 for no gain (E.Kendricks).

Kendricks’ tackle to set up 3rd and 1 was important, because if you noticed, it means that with this play he was responsible for all three tackles to force a punt on this drive (even though he wasn’t credited for the first one). That’s pretty impressive. On a play like this, LBs need to attack the hole because you can’t let the RB get past the line of scrimmage. Kendricks sees run and immediately moves forward and a step to his left. This slight step to the left is important, because the person responsible for blocking him on this play is Mitch Morse. Morse has a combo block he’s supposed to come off, but because Kendricks moved away from him, he can’t get a hand on Kendricks until the LB is already behind him. Then, there’s another important distraction that Kendricks shakes off. The Chiefs are faking an end around to De’Anthony Thomas, with the hopes that the interior LBs will bite and give Davis some running room. Kendricks, however, realizes that there should be backside contain on this play and that going after Thomas isn’t his responsibility. Therefore, he attacks Davis and tackles him for no gain.

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1-10-MIN 33 (Q3, :21) (Shotgun) A.Smith pass short middle to D.Harris to MIN 24 for 9 yards (E.Kendricks).

Here we get to see Kendricks in man coverage, and he doesn’t do a great job. He gets tricked by Harris, who slightly sets up to make an outside cut before cutting to the inside. Kendricks, who had his hips opened towards the near sideline, gets crossed over. One positive is that Kendricks doesn’t commit holding on this play, because that is a common penalty in situations like this. Instead, Kendricks focuses on getting himself turned in the correct direction and making a play on the ball. He does a good job of recovering, but is not able to knock the ball away and allows a catch, but he also makes the tackle to prevent yards after the catch, so it’s not all bad.

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