Brian Flores came back to calling defense with a vengeance in 2023. After a year as a senior defensive assistant under former Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin, Flores remodeled his already aggressive philosophy and doubled down on pressure.
One of Flores's major pivots was a move away from standard defensive structures. “All-Up” and double-mug alignments became frequent alignments in Minnesota. Double-mug means two off-ball defenders are aligned in a respective gap on the line of scrimmage. The goal was to apply maximum pressure on opposing quarterbacks and offensive lines while protecting an immature secondary.
In ‘23, Flores blitzed on 44% of those mugged presentations. NFL opposition didn’t know how to handle these “exotic” looks, and the Vikings finished the year eleventh in DVOA. In three years, no one has run more double-mugged alignments than the Vikings, and it isn't even close.
One of the main issues in year one (‘23) was the predictability of the pressures Flores called. On early downs, the Vikings had a 63% Blitz Rate, which shrunk to 43% on 3rd Downs. For as aggressive as Flores was, he also carried the most Drop-8 coverages in the league.
Teams were also finding ways to protect themselves and attack downfield against the all-up alignments. Flores, with a better roster up front, created an even stronger defense, backed by pressure. In 2024, the Vikings would finish in the top five in DVOA, led by the league's #1 rushing defense.
All-up alignments don’t mean all-up blitzing. Flores in year one had a 6+ Blitz Rate of 44%. In ‘24, that dropped to a third of his all-up play calls. Last year, that number was almost halved (18%). Each year, Flores has increased the nuance and diversity of his system to stay ahead of the ever-evolving NFL landscape.
One way Flores stayed ahead of his opponents was by blitzing at around a 50% rate on every down. Essentially, offensive coordinators had to deal with a “coin flip,” guessing whether the Vikings would blitz.
The nuance came in how Flores pressured. On first down, Flores used mostly five-man pressures. On 2nd Down, especially in a passing situation, the Vikings shifted to a third of their pressures being simulated. Opponents were in constant flux in ‘25, not knowing when or how the Vikings would apply pressure.
The Vikings’ double-mug usage is the primary mechanism by which Flores applies pressure to his opponents. Other teams like the Broncos and Ravens used double-mugs at volume, but neither used them on early downs unless it was an obvious passing down.
Minnesota had 80 snaps of double-mug alignments on 1st or 2nd Down. To put that into perspective, Baltimore only ran 78 total in ‘25! These alignments are a central feature of the Flores defensive philosophy, and he ran more all-up alignments on early downs than on 3rd Down.
Presenting double-mug alignments on early downs forces the offense into max protection and limits an offense’s ability to run play-action. The current NFL offensive meta leans heavily on early-down play-action. Minnesota counters this by gapping out the front and stacking verticals.
The scheme favors the Vikings because of the number of people on the line of scrimmage. Paired with vision-breaking zone coverage, the defense suppresses the main mechanisms an offense uses to move the ball: the run game and intermediate throws.
Most of these pressure attacks involve 11 personnel packages, where 83% of all double-mug presentations appear. The blitz rate is also extremely high at 72%. Opposing offenses didn’t have an answer. Interestingly, the Jaguars, whose defensive coordinator, Anthony Campanile, worked under Flores, led the league in early down double-mug EPA. Again, this is a feature of the system, not a “bug.”
To live in this kind of alignment, especially bringing all that heat, the secondary has to play a specialized kind of coverage. During Flores’ time in Pittsburgh, he met with Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, the godfather of Hot Blitzes. A typical Hot blitz sends six defenders and has a specialized vision-based Cover 3 behind it.
During his tenure with the Dolphins, Flores was already becoming known for his “Bengals Hawk” pressure, which terrorized opposing quarterbacks. In Minnesota, Flores runs Hot Blitzes, but he updated his “Hawk” coverage to complement his all-out pressures.
What was once a 3rd-down call has now become a major source of pressure on every down. The all-up alignment gaps out the front, and Flores can use different presentations depending on the game plan or scenario. The addition of simulated pressures, along with other designs, keeps opposing coordinators on their heels.
This article will break down how “Hawk” coverage functions against different formations and illustrate how the “simple” pressure can wreck an opposition’s play. The double-mug alignment is only the beginning; the pressure is designed to cut off throwing lanes as the secondary triggers off vision, a main feature in Hot coverage.
Let’s dive into the tape!
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Unlock the full breakdown below to see how to install this pressure package, handle early-down protection checks against 11 personnel, and teach “cap” defenders to trigger on the quarterback’s eyes without giving up vertical seams.
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