Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes suggested after Saturday’s loss to the Packers that he and others in the secondary went against the team’s game plan for covering wide receiver Jordy Nelson until the coaching staff ordered them to stop before the second half of the game got underway.
An ESPN report dialed back the amount of time that the defensive backs were freelancing to one series, something Rhodes and cornerback Terence Newman also did on Monday when they said the change from the plan was due to “miscommunication” rather than a choice to intentionally break from what coach Mike Zimmer wanted them to do.
Zimmer said Monday that he spoke to Rhodes and that he doesn’t believe “that’s what he meant to say” about what happened early in the game because “it was one series.” Zimmer also said that late changes made by the coaching staff might have led to the aforementioned miscommunication.
“We changed a couple calls later in the week,” Zimmer said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I probably wasn’t specific enough in the things I was asking them to do.”
That’s different than what Zimmer had to say after the game and everyone’s on the same page now, which is a pretty good indication that the Vikings would like to put this story to rest as they turn their attention to Week 17 and the offseason.
