Vikings' defense has improved with young players and veteran leaders

With a mix of veterans and youth, Minnesota's defense has made vast improvement over last year's unit.

Everson Griffen leads the Vikings with three sacks after dropping Matthew Stafford on Sunday. (US Presswire)

The Vikings' defense was ranked 21^st in the league (26th against the pass and 11^th against the rush) in 2011. In just four games, they've improved to No. 9 overall (14^th against the pass and 8^th against the rush. Why so quick a turnaround?

The unit has changed personnel -- the secondary has three new starters (CBs Chris Cook and Antoine Winfield and S Harrison Smith); Jasper Brinkley has replaced E.J. Henderson at middle linebacker; and Letroy Guion is the starting nose tackle in place of Remi Ayodele. Add increased contributions from DL Everson Griffen and growth by young safeties Mistral Raymond and Jamarca Sanford, and the improvement isn't entirely surprising.

But coach Leslie Frazier says it is even more than younger players.

“I think some of it was the mentality,” Frazier said. “But also, [defensive coordinator] Alan [Williams] getting a groove for our players and getting a better understanding and feel for how to utilize some of our players. But for sure, our players are also taking some ownership in some of the things we were trying to do and really wanting to set the tone as a defense about how we play. It’s been great to see.”

Frazier has often said that the leadership on the team has bought into what they are trying to achieve since OTAs started in the spring, through the summer preseason and to now. There are veterans sprinkled throughout the defense (Winfield, LB Chad Greenway and linemen Kevin Williams and Jared Allen), and their buy-in has been crucial.

"It’s very important,” Winfield said. “The younger guys look up to us, they respect us. But the good thing is we have a great group of older guys that work hard and the younger guys feed off that. They can see us working hard, so they continue to try to work at their craft.”

It can certainly be tough for older veterans to accept a team getting younger, and Allen said this summer that rebuilding really wasn’t part of his vocabulary. He spoke often in terms of the younger players having to learn the job and learn to play consistently, and he likes what the defense is doing.

“Honestly, we just kept it simple,” Allen said. “We have been playing forward football and physical football. Really harping on the basics and fundamentals of what we do and creating that identity. Nothing special, nothing spectacular -- and just playing solid fundamental football.”

The coaches and veterans are preaching solid fundamentals, and the younger players appear to be listening.

“Of course they’re listening,” Winfield said. “We’re getting good eye contact, a lot of feedback. It’s working so far."

For more Vikings news and notes, follow Joe Oberle on Twitter @CBSVikings.