ORCHARD PARK - Buffalo’s offensive line is about to get the kind of test that can make a veteran lineman grin and a quarterback sweat.
Spencer Brown sounded almost eager on Thursday when asked about preparing for Minnesota’s pressure-heavy defense. That’s a dangerous kind of optimism when the Bills are headed to U.S. Bank Stadium on Monday night to face Brian Flores’ blitz-happy Vikings.
“It’s challenging, but at the same time it’s pretty fun,” Brown said. “I watched their game two weeks ago on the flight (home from Las Vegas). Just watching it, I was really looking forward to this week and seeing what they do on the field.”
The challenge is obvious. Minnesota has built the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense, giving up just 13.3 points per game. The Vikings have allowed 93 points through seven games, their fewest at this stage since 1986, and their 10 points allowed in the fourth quarter are the fewest in the league through seven games since the 2019 New England Patriots gave up just seven.
The engine behind all of it is Flores’ relentless pressure package. Minnesota is blitzing on 71% of plays, a staggering number that dwarfs everyone else in the league.
Carolina is next at 42.6%, while Buffalo ranks 10th at 34.4%, though that figure jumped after last week’s game against third-string Baltimore quarterback Joe Fagnano. Before that, the Bills were around 29%.
Josh Allen knows exactly what’s coming.
“It’s not even how much they blitz; it’s how productive they are when they do blitz,” said Josh Allen. “They bring it from both sides, they’ll blitz the middle, they’ll drop guys that you think are coming.
It’s a very in-tune defense. Those guys are very smart, they’re playing so well together.
It’s hard to game plan for a team like this because there’s not any weaknesses.”
The numbers back that up. Over the last two weeks, Minnesota blitzed Daniel Jones on 85.2% of his dropbacks and came after Jared Goff on 79.3%, according to Sumer Sports charting. That pressure has helped the Vikings lead the league in sack percentage at 10.5% and pressure rate at 45.8%.
Joe Brady said there’s only so much a practice week can do against a defense like this.
“Whatever you practice, it’s not going to look like it, it’s not going to be at the tempo and the speed and the physicality that it is in game, right?” coach Joe Brady said. “They’re obviously an elite defense, and they make you work the entire game and that’s why they’re No. 1 in the league right now.
“You’ve got to trust your rules, trust your technique, the communication has to be elite. You’re on the road, it’s always going to be hard. They obviously do an outstanding job to make it stressful on you on every single play.”
For Buffalo, the matchup may come down to how well the line holds up and how Allen handles the heat. He has already seen plenty of it this season, getting blitzed on 33.2% of his dropbacks. He’s responded with a 66.7% completion rate, 8.6 yards per attempt and three touchdown passes, though he has also thrown two interceptions and taken four sacks.
And then there’s the part that makes Flores’ approach risky: Allen can turn chaos into chunk gains. On passing plays, he has scrambled 19 times for 204 yards, fourth-most in the league, and his 11 runs of 10 yards or more by a quarterback are the best in the NFL.
Still, Flores has shown no hesitation against mobile quarterbacks. He blitzed Caleb Williams on 76.1% of his dropbacks in Week 2, Malik Willis on 60% in Week 4 and Tyler Shough on 61%.
Brown said what makes Minnesota so tough is not one dominant edge rusher but the way the whole group works together. He pointed to players such as Dallas Turner, Andrew Van Ginkel, Jalen Redmond and Blake Cashman as part of a scheme that forces the entire line to stay alert, with tight ends and backs often asked to help.
“I don’t think they have guys who are going to be all-world beaters … they don’t have those guys, but when you play a team where they all just play super well together, that’s probably a more dangerous team than just playing against All-Pros or future Hall of Famers,” Brown said. “You get guys who just play for each other and play hard and they’re in the right spots, it’s a challenge. I look forward to it.”
Allen sees it the same way.
“Fun to watch from a football perspective. But it’s hard to watch from the opposing quarterback perspective, where it’s like we’re trying to figure this out,” Allen said.
“You have to be on top of it. I’ve got to be make sure that our protection rules are where they need to be.
Have a plan going into it and if that plan’s not true, we need to adjust in game. It definitely presents a lot of challenges for an offensive scheme the way that they’re doing it.”
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