September 22, 2024 • 39 mins
Welcome to the Vikings Postgame Report. The Minnesota Vikings improved to 3-0 after a dominant performance at U.S. Bank Stadium over the Houston Texans. The Vikings once again capitalized on an early interception, this time by Kamu Grugier-Hill on the second play of the game and Justin Jefferson turned it into six points six plays later. Cam Bynum also grabbed another interception early in the 4th Quarter that led to a 2-yard touchdown by Johnny Mundt. Defensively, the Vikings recorded 2 interceptions, 5 sacks, 8 pass deflections, and 8 QB hits. Former Texan Jonathan Greenard led the team with 3 sacks. Offensively, Sam Darnold once again was efficient and effective. Darnold finished with 181 yards passing, 4 passing touchdowns, and a QBR of 128.9. The 4 passing touchdowns went to Justin Jefferson, Aaron Jones, Jalen Nailor, and Johnny Mundt. Aaron Jones ran for 102 yards, had 148 combined yards, and his receiving touchdown on the day. Will Reichard also was perfect in the kicking game once again, including a 58-yard field goal in the 4th Quarter. The Vikings shift their sights to Green Bay next week in pursuit of another victory. Paul Allen and Pete Bercich break it all down, including: the defense making C.J. Stroud uncomfortable, Jonathan Greenard's 3-sack game, Sam Darnold taking advantage of key mismatches, and the importance of winning the turnover battle. Plus, both Kevin O'Connell and Sam Darnold's press conferences are included in this edition of the Vikings Postgame Report.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yo, what's going on? It's your play by play voice
Paul Allen with the analyst Pete Bersich from us Bank
Stadium for the Vikings postgame report. Your Minnesota Vikings have
started three to oho for the first time since twenty sixteen.
And they didn't just beat the Houston Texans today who
were undefeated, they smashed them. The final score was thirty
four to seven. There's a lot too unpacked, but let's
(00:37):
let the analyst analyze thirty four to seven against CJ.
Stroud into what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, Well, I mean, I think first of all, you
got to give a tip of the cap to the
defense to be able to take a guy like CJ.
Stroud off of his game. Again, he faced a very
good defense a week ago in the Chicago Bears and
they were still He's still very efficient. But to get
him to throw his first two inner options of the
season right, one off a tip ball, you know, and
(01:03):
the other one it just I believe it was buying
them that got the other one.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Just a great day of just keeping.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
And we've seen it two weeks in a row now
that quarterbacks just can't get into a rhythm, they can't
feel comfortable, and when you need someone to make a play,
you've got Jonathan Gernard, you got Andrew van Ginkel, You've
got Cashman, You've got all these other these guys just
making plays when they need to make them. Josh Mattelis
so defensively, have been extremely impressed. And our identity is
being aggressive. Our identity is getting after the quarterback. We
(01:33):
did it all the way to the end. We had
backups in there. You know when Jalen Redman is sacking
the quarterback, you know that you're putting pressure on this
quarterback when that guy's on block. So they stuck to
who they were and they came up thirty four to seven. Now, offensively,
what I love the most really was our ability to
run the football and that big explosive run by Aaron
(01:53):
Jones to set us up for the last touchdown, just
four minute drill. Everybody in the stadium knew you were
running it, and you still were not only to move
the chains, but be explosive.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right and the season.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Throughout the season, you're gonna need to have balance, and
I think this offense has more balance now than it's
had in years, maybe you know, since maybe the Dalvin
Cook days, where you can either run or throw the football.
So we're seeing all that emerge, and you know, you win.
You win the turnover battle, you win the penalty battle.
I mean, this is what happens.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I was chatting with elite football mind TJ. Abbott before
the game, who was celebrating his birthday, and he reminded
me CJ. Stroud had gone two hundred and sixty six
consecutive passes without throwing an interception. He threw three against
Arizona last year. He threw two today. And in calling
the game, there were myriad times we'd see CJ go
(02:47):
back and he would look like, say right, and he'd
be like, well, I saw that I filmed fifteen times
this week, but it's not the same, right, And then
he would get hit and then he like would duck
and I mean that's the off that's the offense. Rookie
of the year from last year. This Vikings defense just confused,
pretty much wired a wire.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, it's it's he who hesitates in this game is
dead right, I mean, and we saw that with Daniel
Jones week one. He never never got out, never got
in a rhythm, never looked comfortable. We were able to
do that last week and then this week you come
in again. I think the best quarterback we faced so
far this year.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
And c J. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, brock Perty is a good quarterback, but
c J. Stroud with his ability to avoid blitz is
to get free to extend plays to all those things
that I was worried about middle of the field and
take that away was was huge. We knew the Texans
were gonna have a hard time running the football, right,
being without Joe Mixon. But you know, they got nothing
(03:46):
on the ground, and even with Diggs and Collins and
Tank Dell who all. You know, they got their catches
and they did they did some things. They got they
got some yards, but we kept them out of the
end zone. Right, It's the big thing.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And the Vikings finished with five sacks for a third
consecutive week. Five sacks against Danny Dimes, five against Perty
and five today on c J. Stroud. Jonathan Garnard the
former Texan. He was drafted by the Texans in the
third round in twenty twenty, first season with the Vikings
after four with Houston. I mean, seriously, how great must
that feel to have three sacks against your former team?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean, I can't even imagine, and he catches Pat
Jones for the lead on this team, and you know
in one game, So right, Grenard had one going into
this game, and I don't think the numbers necessarily reflected
the impact that he's had as a pass rusher getting
a quarterback to step up in the pocket, other than
making other things happen. But today, you know, he was
one on one with Cade Stover, which you know is
(04:44):
not how the Texans drew that up.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
You do not block a guy like.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Jonathan Garnard one on one with the tight end when
you're doing a five to seven step drop, and you know,
Garnard just just ran them over like a freight train.
So he was just where he needed to be at
the right time. And the ability for our guys up
front the run line games, we knew that was a
weakness of their offensive line. They didn't do a great
job of passing those things off. So a lot of TFLs,
(05:12):
a lot of things happening on the other side of
the line of scrimmage, and we got to keep that
going because the Packers have found a way to run
the football right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And Green Bay is the next opponent. By the way
next week from lambeau Field. They beat the Titans thirty
to fourteen. You're gonna hear from Vikings head coach Kevin
O'Connell shortly and also quarterback Sam Darnold. Sam finished seventeen
of twenty eight point eight one, four touchdowns, zero picks.
So Sam on the season has thrown eight touchdowns against
the two picks, and this is just the second time
(05:42):
in his career he's had a four touchdown game. The
last was twenty nineteen with the Jets against Washington. Kevin
O'Connell was the offensive coordinator for the Washington team that year.
What do you think? What do you think of Donald
so far? Or shall I say? What are you just loving?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
What I'm loving? Is this confidence? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And you know Donald, I think his comfort zone is
throwing the ball short into the outside, which is the
hardest throat to making football. But his ability to just
step up and deliver something down the middle of the field.
He had a few of those today in the red zone.
The arm strength of setting his feet super quickly and
just putting a lot of zip on the football, and
(06:20):
like the touchdown of Johnny Unt, I mean that was
an absolute laser beam the throat to Naylor number three
read and with just another laser beam in there, and
Jalen Naylor came up with it. So his confidence and
then his ability to attack the middle of a defense
pall is what I think has impressed me the most.
I think that's where Donald needed to grow. He needed
to add that, add that to his repertoire. And you know,
(06:41):
with the guys that we have, the receivers we have,
that's where you're going to have to attack if they
want to try to do some creative things defensively to
stop justin Jefferson, that middle of the field is going
to be open and he's able to take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Let's hear from Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell following
a thirty four seven victory over the Houston Texans.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Awful empty in here. That's good. That means they're talking
to the guys they should be talking to. Okay, I
want to start out. I'm always going to do this
because this place is special. This building was special today.
I thought our fans were phenomenal. For budget reasons, we
can't give every single one of our fans a game ball,
but they certainly deserve it and really really appreciate the
(07:27):
energy from the jump five fall starts by the Texans today.
They're part of the formula here at US Bank Stadium.
They deserve to be able to show up and hopefully
enjoy what they see on the field for three and
a half hours every up. We get so very very
excited about what our fans bring to this building on
a weekend and week out. Basis knew this was going
(07:48):
to be a tough, physical team to really two weeks
in a row of you know, the standard of tough
and physicality, and we knew kind of obviously early on
it was going to be that way. But just so
so proud of our defense. Want to highlight a lot
of guys on our defense, but as a whole, just
felt like, you know, the pre snap and post snap
(08:10):
was pretty effective all day long. Flow called the phenomenal game,
the scheme, understanding of what we're trying to get done
by our players on the field, the tackling, keeping the
chunks off the tape. For the most part, they got
some kind of looser plays there in the second half,
but so proud of our guys, I mean, comus stepping
in and getting that early interception was huge. And then
(08:31):
I thought Jonathan Grenard was absolutely fantastic, Excuse me, fantastic
all day long. JG's been huge for us all year
with pressure production, but I know all of us are
great to see him ring the bell three times right
there with three sacks. Offensively, I thought Sam Darnold was
really really good all day long, smart, really decisive, took
(08:53):
care of the football accurate, We were good on third down.
We hit some chunks when we needed to expose ourselves
to negative football outside of some of the self inflicted
things that I've got to get cleaned up to keep
us traveling forward throughout our possessions. And then I thought,
Aaron Jones, you know, to get over one hundred and
really one forty eight all purpose, affecting the game in
(09:16):
so many ways. Just really proud of where our group's at.
Jets was. You know, Jets was really solid all day long.
Had some you know, critical play that nobody will ever
know about, blocking the corner on the kind of double
pass we called. If he doesn't block that, we don't
draw the penalty and then we're not punching it in there.
So he's doing the things that everybody knows justin Jefferson
(09:37):
for but he's doing. He's going above and beyond to execute,
even when his number is not called, Will record with
the fifty eight yarder. Total complete win. Proud of our team.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
On to the next.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
What does it say about Ryan Flores and your defense
that you've done this to two excellent teams the last
and excellent offense is the last two weeks.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah, we have a lot of respect for everybody. We
We know any Sunday in the NFL, you're gonna line
up against teams that can be explosive, teams that can,
you know, try to come at you and dominate the
line of scrimmage. Our guys are answering the challenge. It's
a collective group effort with total scheme ownership flow. Like
I said, you know has been calling really really good games.
(10:18):
Balance keeping us balanced while keeping our opponents off balanced
is the best way I can describe it. And you know,
staying aggressive who we want to be. And then really
two weeks in a row of really on both sides
offense and defensively, that play style showing up like some
of those short yardage conversions we had offensively, and you know, defensively, defensively,
(10:41):
the physicality. I saw you.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
Challenge this team to prepare, you know, to not go
with the ups and downs in the NFL. Is that
going to be this team's identity, that you guys just
coming and ready to play like this.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah. I just I think we had you know, it
was a physical game last week. That's always going to be.
You know, when you kind of really play these two
games back to back, you really ask yourself, you know,
and I asked our football team early in the week.
Are we willing to do the things that we thought
it would take to win the game? Are we willing
to kind of prove some early season discipline of handling
(11:14):
some success handling a physical football game, finding a way
to prepare and showing up and doing it again. I
think it's a good benchmark early here for our team
to develop some real confidence in the process through our
coaching staff, how we deliver the game plans and then
how we execute it, and then getting a chance to
talk to him every Saturday night before these games and
(11:34):
provide the ultimate clarity of they should have confidence and
if we do these things, which many of them we
did today, we should have a great chance to win
the football game post nab and stuff.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
You've talked about defense affecting.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
As the team.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Yeah, you know, that's that's one of those things CJ is.
I told him after the game. You know, I think
he's one of the best quarterbacks in our league. I
think he's going to be for a very long time.
I'm huge fan of CJ. Really always have been. But
you could just feel kind of the the uh you know,
just the the back and forth of what each snap
(12:11):
and the stress of each snap and the potential based
upon the looks that they were getting what that was
kind of doing. There's a little bit of kind of
mental attrition that takes place where every snap you just
don't really get a lot of plays where you can
just call a play, snap the ball and and and
you know, just go. And they still made some plays
and that's a super talented group. I think that's as
(12:32):
good of a group of three receivers as you'll find
in this league. And uh, you know, like I said,
the crowd was huge because those snap you know pre
snap penalties, you know, forcing them to go backwards kept
them out of some manageable third downs early and helped
give us some momentum for sure.
Speaker 9 (12:49):
Sam, I'm guessing he checked out fine after that one
play that he came out.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Yeah, I think, you know, he he got rolled up
a little bit on the penalty. They're kind of low
on him. He checked checked out and came back in
the game. We'll definitely, you know, he'll go through an
evaluation just to just to kind of rule anything out.
But I was proud of Sam coming back in the
game and helping take us downfield when.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
He did come back in. I don't know if you
heard it during in the midst of all, but the
fans were reacted very positively. Yeah, And I'm curious if
you heard that, notice it in the moment or like
what that felt like for you.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Yes, I did, and it was you know it regardless
of how I felt about it. I know Sam, you know,
probably very much appreciated. That just goes right along with
tipping my cap to our fans and what they're all about.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. I think
we got the best fans in the National Football League,
not particularly close.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Kevin.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
How does that, I guess emphasize things or amplify things
for a defense when you.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Have that kind of noise.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Yeah, it's just it stresses communication and your tools to
deal with whatever you're looking at from the eleven guys
across the line of scrimmage. We're not just standing there,
and if we are standing there, more than likely we're
standing all at the line of scrimm And it requires communication,
It requires all eleven being on the same page, snap
after snap after snap, and we have not talked about
what happens when the ball does get snapped yet. So
(14:11):
I think it's a combination of a lot of things.
Really proud of Flow, having an absolute blast coaching with them,
putting game plans together every week, and really, you know,
kind of propelling this team that we thought we had.
You know, I told our guys last night, I'm not
all that concerned about who or what is said about
(14:31):
our team. We keep doing what we're doing. There will
be plenty of things to be talked about having to
do with these guys that they deserve it, because this
is the players making this come to life, and I'm
just so proud of them right now. But divisional challenge,
we got to be ready to handle, just like we
did a week ago. We got to be able to
do the exact same thing and ready to go try
to win a football game in the division on the road,
(14:51):
which is very, very difficult to do.
Speaker 8 (14:53):
I stood out most about the way that Sam kind
of progressed and a lot on a lot of those
red zone.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yeah, you know, I think looking at looking at the
touchdowns that he that he threw that he threw today,
you know, Justin's is really an example some off schedule.
Great job by him not getting pushed out early on
in the game and working back. You guys have seen
us work that drill many times in practice, and Sam's
athletic ability to create off schedule is a huge weapon
(15:22):
in the red zone. And that doesn't mean you know,
running the quarterback or you know RPOs. That means drop
back and progressing rhythm and find a way to get
up and out and attack the defense and touchdown number
one right there. Obviously. The one that really kind of
sticks out to me is I'm you know, I'm trying
to figure out. I normally can remember these things, but
(15:44):
when you throw four of them, sometimes they're hard to remember.
But the two that really stick out to me are
the speedy. The speedy touchdown that's a total reset on
the backside of a formation of feet, eyes, ball location,
a single beauty and then Johnny Muntz is the exact opposite,
you know, play where he's getting us to the right
play to start, and then understanding how we've kind of
(16:07):
talked about the motion, how it might affect the defense.
There could be little slivers of space within the zone coverage,
and he knife his first progression right into Johnny, which
I thought was a great catch in traffic, and we
knew it would kind of be like that. You get
down there tight against a team that's gonna you know
that predominantly plays a lot of man down there, but
you know, when you got the weapons we do, and
(16:28):
people know that Sam's gonna be surgical accurate with his accuracy,
You're gonna get some zone covers with a lot of
bodies in there, and you've got to be disciplined and
detail to be accurate away from defenders. So you know,
the full full kind of spectrum there of different aspects
of what Sam's you know, showing on a day in
a day out basis, and just really proud of him
another day for you know, really good quarterback play.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Kevin, Is this the kind of running game that you've
been wanting for a while.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Yeah, that's a physical you know front. They they were
activating a lot of you know, things that you know,
quite honestly remind you a little bit of our defense
when they're starting to activate corners and safeties and double
edge pressure. And I thought our guys handled it, and
and just kept playing the next play, playing the next play,
and then Aaron pops the the long one and and
and it kind of that's how games like this against
(17:17):
good defenses, physical defenses are gonna be. And I just
thought we stayed after it. Some negatives in there, but
you know that's you know, you're not gonna throw it
a hundred times, you're gonna try to be balanced. And
I thought our guys really, you know, kind of maintained
that next snap kind of mentality with our run game.
And then you know, we hit some we hit some
nice chunks when he needed we needed to, especially to
(17:40):
kind of flip the field. Screen game came to life
again for some plays. So uh, just really proud of overall.
It's it's not going to be you know, it's not
necessarily gonna be a box score that jumps out at people.
And but there was some really good football on that
tape today. I can't wait to watch it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Kind of last year, you seemed, I guess, particularly bothered
by not.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Winning at home when you guys very much.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
So why was that such a big deal for you?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
I think just you know that, knowing what, knowing the
potential we have if we can get off to good starts,
if we can protect the football force some turnovers have
our fans feel the momentum of their role on third down.
It just kind of feels like a little bit of
a title wave of momentum energy, and our players feed
(18:24):
off of it. And I just think when when fans
are willing to show up and have the type of
performance that they had, we like rewarding that, we like,
you know, allowing them to, you know, have a very
enjoyable Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
For giving up thirty points to three games. Yep, as
an offensive guys, they had a little mind blowing three games.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
In the season. Yeah, you know, as the head coach
of this team, it's you know, playing against this you
know that outfit over there and last week and you know,
I think the you know, our Week one opponent had
some success today. So really, what I'm trying to stress
to our team is we must respect and understand who
we're playing every single week, because I think every team
(19:04):
in this league is capable of playing at a really
high level, and if you don't play at a high level,
none of that matters the opponent, the circumstances of the game.
We're going to continue to coach these guys up incredibly hard.
We're going to demand a level of you know, performance
that our guys are responding to that they're pushing it further.
(19:25):
They want more, they want more scheme, they want more
ownership of being able to drive this thing forward. This
thing is really about the players in that locker room.
Our jobs as coaches just can continue to provide them
with the toolboxes they need to go perform all eleven
at once. Whatever phase we're in. Thought special teams. I
thought defense for sure, and offensively as efficient as we
(19:48):
were and putting the ball in the end zone, compromentary football,
sudden change with the early turnover, seven points, and I
was proud of that drive coming out of the half
to put seven on the board right there too. To
try to make sure we can and continue holding onto
that momentum.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
When Aaron's touchdown catch. Was that designed that way for
Jada and clear out for him or to just developed
that way?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Yeah, No, it was designed. You know, we kind of
went on a speed, you know, or very quick cadence
really kind of moving a couple guys around in the
formation with Justin in the backfield and then Aaron kind
of assuming Justin's role. How quick can you get aligned?
How quick can you snap the ball? Be legal? Details
you know are in it, and actually really wasn't something
(20:28):
that you know, I was particularly gonna call at that
area of the field. That just kind of had an
idea that we'd get some man coverage and wanted to
kind of have a kind of a ball out type
play to mitigate the rush and have a chance for
Aaron to come flying across there if they were able
to match Justin out the front of the formation. So
sometimes there's simple plays and it's just who's where. Other times,
(20:49):
you know, there's there's a lot that goes into it,
just in the formations and the shifts and and ultimately
the quarterback's ability to command the ship and run it all.
And Sam's doing all those things right now.
Speaker 9 (20:59):
At halftime, they uh, they showed Justin kind of like
doing gripping his hand and putting his glove on and office.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Is he having any issue? Yeah, justin Jefferson, I'm not aware.
I'm not aware of anything in that regard, but I'll
definitely keep you guys posted throughout the week if anything
else comes up.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
How much fun do you feel like Flow is having?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Yeah, he's uh, he's he's definitely having some fun. The
players are, you know. I've been trying to spend a
little bit more time with that that unit this year,
either on Saturday mornings or you know, throughout the week.
We got a bunch of great, great guys on that
side of the ball, smart, tough, love football. New additions
(21:37):
like JG and Blake and Shack and and Van gink
and and just and then the guys that are I'm
hoping they don't get tired of me the Harrison Smith
Mattel is buying them phillips, you know, because I'm having
an absolute blast coaching this team, and I think we're
made of the right stuff and we just got to
keep proving it because that's what this league is all about.
(21:58):
As as great as this feels for our team to
start out three and zero and beat some really good
football teams and win at home every week is going
to be a challenge. How disciplined can we be to
you know, have the best possible Wednesday practice. We can
this coming Wednesday and then worry about Thursday next. And
it sounds like a cliche, but you know, if your
(22:19):
players are willing to commit to that process and demand
it of each other, you know we're gonna We're gonna
be okay. All right.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So the Minnesota Vikings now are twenty and oh with
O'Connell at the helm when they win or push, the
take give battle, and I mean, you played the game
and you coached it, and you know we've called together
for quite some time. We know the importance of taks
and Gibbs turnovers. But to be twenty and oh when
you win or push, I mean, that's a heck of
(22:49):
a mark right there.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
It is, And you don't have to go any further
back than a year ago at this exact time. The
way we started last year and the number of turnovers
that we had going through the first three games, it's
it's the complete, really reversal of that. And these are
the results. So we want to make this. We sometimes
want to make this game complicated, and then at its
core it really isn't. And that's one of the core
(23:11):
things that that matters. It's possessions, right and our ability
to turn offenses over. But then again, in the same time,
outside of cj Ham's fumble, you know on opening Day,
we've been good since then and hopefully this offense will
continue that. I mean Aaron Jones again, and what a
difference maker. I think Blake Brandell as a blocker and
(23:34):
just a huge body in the way he and Bradberry
are working together on double teams and those things in
the running game. But Aaron Jones, and you know, almost
one hundred and fifty total yards today has just been
so impressive. I think he's rubbing off on Ty Chandler
and his running style. So Aaron Jones was an unbelievably
(23:55):
good get in the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Jones finished with one hundred and forty eight total yards.
He had five catches for forty six yards and his
first receiving touchdown for the Vikings, and he ran for
one oh two and today was the one hundred regular
season game in the career of Aaron Jones. Before we
hear from Sam Darnold, just chew on this for a moment.
(24:17):
The Vikings are three and oh and are you know
they're they're I don't want to say the talk of
the league, but when you blow out the Texans a
week after beating the NFC team that just went to
the Super Bowl, nationally and locally, everybody's going to be
throwing Baucaesia way and I'm sure O'Connell and or Flores
we'll talk about that this week. But but here's the
thing on which to chew. Jordan Addison's coming back very soon.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Hockinson is on the horizon. Dalton Reisner is also on
the horizon. Just chew on that, analyst, right, And so
you you have, you're just adding so much more talent
and route running ability.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And I think that's something that's impressed me about Jalen
Naylor is how how he's mature and his route running.
You know, he's able to stay healthy. And then to
throw Addison in the mix, right, and Jordan Addison, being
as as good of a rout runner as he is,
is going to give Donald even more options. And then
we talked about the middle of the field and what's
better for a quarterback in the middle of the field
than a TJ.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Hockinson.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Right, So all those things, all those things are yeah
there you talk about positives on the horizon. Yeah, I
mean that's that's something that this team to play as
well as it has been without all of its talent,
with all the bullets and it's gun proverbially is unbelievably impressive.
And the coaching job offensively, defensively, special teams are doing
(25:39):
the little things right, you know. It's it's just so impressive.
These guys are taking pride in their work and it
shows on the field, and that's kind of something that's
been missing. I think it's just that that that killer
attitude of when you have the lead to just be
able to run the ball and finally put a game away.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It's just starting.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I'm starting to see that upfront, especially with that offensive line.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I love it and I am glad you said that
because the Minnesota Moving Company was getting a lot of praise.
During the broadcast on KFA and Today, Christian Darra saw
Blake Brendel, Garrett Bradberry at Ingram and Brian O'Neil. The
right tackle David Questenberry had to come in for a
few plays and he represented well too. But here's the point.
And I know it's a team game, so pass protection
(26:22):
is not only unto the offensive line. You need backs
who can pick up tight ends, a quarterback who doesn't
hold it too long, the whole thing. But you can't
dispute however it's happening, and the offensive line will give
most of the shine here. Game one, we talked about
Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and cave On Thibodeau all week.
All right, Lawrence gets a sack right out of the gate,
(26:44):
welcome to the twenty twenty four season. Well, then he
got shout out. The rest of the game, Thibodeaux and
Burns had a combined one tackle. Thibodeaux had zero. The
next week, you're running play action out of the end
zone with O'Neill singled up against Nick Bosa, and it works.
And then you get Aaron Jones picking up bred Warner.
You get Brad Berry, I think, picking up Javon Hargrave
(27:07):
long enough for Donald.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To go ninety seven. Very good pass rusher as.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, right ninety seven to Jefferson. Then today former Viking
Daniel Hunter eighty seven and a half sacks, when he
was here, third most in the history of the team,
behind John Randall and Chris Dolman. On the other side,
the defensive rookie of the Year last year, Will Anderson,
Derek Barnett, the former Eagle, who's full of fire, and
yet you held them at bay. Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, let me let me lay this stat on you.
A week ago, the Chicago Bears threw the ball forty
two times. Caleb Williams was pressured thirty six come on
of those forty two attempts, thirty six out of forty two.
And we saw Donald today being able to go on
two to three extend plays. I mean this offensive all number.
(27:53):
You know they had the credit. Got to give credit
where credit's due. And you're right, Paul, though, those five
guys up front are really doing a great job. They're
scheming things the right way. Protections are good, they're executing
those protections. You're not seeing the mistakes, you know, like
when when again, when we see someone like Jonathan Gernard
just beat Cad Stover one on one with a tight end,
(28:13):
who was a rookie. I mean, that's a mistake. That
can't have drawn that up that way.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
We're not seeing that on our side of the ball,
so you know, and Tunsil.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Let just let somebody go.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Remember Laromie Tunseel. Yeah, just inside.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
A lot of issues at the interior with them with
those guys hand again, you see it on film. Their
offensive line. They ran the ball well, they run the
zone very well. They had over two hundred yards on
the ground against the Indieapolis Colts. But they don't they
don't handle the stunts well. The guys like Shaq Mason,
the right guard, Juice Scrugs coming back, they struggled today
in getting a beat on these defensive linemen who were
(28:48):
moving all over the place and.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
We were just a step ahead of them.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And very very impressive win for the Minnesota you know,
jahad Ward getting in there and jumping a snap and
getting a pressure.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I mean it's it's.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like all these free agents that we brought in, all
these guys are making an impact.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
The demise of Sam Darnold has been greatly exaggerated. Let's
hear from him after this impressive Minnesota Vikings victory.
Speaker 10 (29:15):
Guys, I think, like I said last week, you know,
defense balled out today. Special teams balled out, did their thing.
You know, obviously we were able to execute, execute at
a high level in the red zone. You know, hit
a little bit of a lull in the third quarter there,
but we'll clean those things up. But obviously, very happy,
(29:38):
very happy with the win and the way that you know,
besides those those couple possessions, the way that we were
able to execute today.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Say about the offense, that you can score thirty four
points on the defense, that's as good as theirs is.
But last week it was all this explosive place.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
She really kind of did it today without that explosive play,
it was just sort of a sustained, small, great pressure.
Speaker 10 (29:59):
Yeah know, I think it's it's a lot of credit
obviously to the big guys up front, the old line
to be able to you know, run the football the
way that we were able to late in the game
especially and and obviously you know the first possession, our
defense given us the ball there with great field position
and then able you know, being able to take advantage.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Of that also with the touchdown was huge.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
What was going on with your knee and what what
did it mean to you that the fans reacted so
strongly when he went down.
Speaker 10 (30:26):
Then when he came back in Yeah, the fans reaction
meant everything to me, just the way that you know,
just not not only that, but my entire time here
in Minnesota has been amazing with with the fans and
they've been great. And then you know, just with you know,
you know, just to Neil just kind of you know,
(30:48):
obviously he's he's you know, a great player and not
a not a dirty player whatsoever. But you know, just
getting hit low there and you know, we'll evaluate it,
we'll look at it, but you know, felt good enough
to be able to go back in the game.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
So how is how is it now? It feels good?
You know, just again, like I said, we're just gonna
look at it tomorrow.
Speaker 9 (31:12):
You don't anticipate it being something that keeps you from
practicing your playing or anything on else.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 10 (31:17):
I'm not going to speak about specifics like that. I
think just evaluating it tomorrow is is. Uh, you know,
obviously we'll be able to have more information tomorrow.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
So what did you feel like just helped you so
much in terms of the success you had in the
red zone today?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Yeah, I think a lot of it goes into our preparation.
Speaker 10 (31:34):
The way you know that we prepared on on Friday,
our red zone day and then even you know on
Saturday being able to rep some of those plays and yeah,
again it's just the preparation that that we put in
throughout the week allows us to go out on the
field play fast and confident.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Kind of you.
Speaker 8 (31:51):
Evaluate your own personal when you look at a game,
I know you have four touchdowns tying.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
A clear high to.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Say that this lo on my best or how do
you evaluate yourself and me.
Speaker 10 (32:01):
End No, I think it's at the end of the day,
it's you know, did I do everything that I could
to to put our offense in a really good position.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
For the most part, Yes, I feel like I could have.
Speaker 10 (32:16):
You know, done a little bit better in that regard
on those couple of drives that I mentioned in the
third quarter. And so again there's there's room for improvement,
which is great, great for us. But you know that's
I feel like that's it's it's gonna be that way
every single game.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
You know, you always have room for improvement, and.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
You know we'll just uh go from there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Games and it's gone well, Like what has sort of
jumped out to you just about the.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Kind of live and the chemistry of this team has gone.
Speaker 10 (32:48):
Yeah, you know, I love those guys in the locker room.
You know the way that they've been able to, like
I keep mentioning the way that we've been able to
prepare throughout the week, and you know, the looks that
we're getting from the scout team, like everything is is
you know, high level football right now. I think, you know,
we just we've got to continue to you know, push
each other on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to to
(33:11):
be able to go out there on Sunday and and
perform at a high level because you know, there's still
room for improvement. Even you know, the scoreboard doesn't tell
the whole story. You know, there's there's a lot of
room for improvement. We're gonna continue to.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
You know, reach for that improvement.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
We went against that defense a lot in the targeting game.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Just how much stress does everything they do pre snap, postnap.
How much stress can app.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
The auto Yeah, I mean, you know, with the different
looks that our defense presents it, it can cause a
lot of thinking at the quarterback position, and that's you know,
that's that's always hard.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
So yeah, when it was.
Speaker 9 (33:50):
Third and nineteen at your own seven after the two
pre snap penalties.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
You had gotten the first down, you know, and then
had the two penalties.
Speaker 8 (33:57):
You're backed up and you dirt the ball so quickly
that they a flag and then they pick it up
because you weren't under duress.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Is that you.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Taken coaching and making sure that you don't make mistakes
that maybe you've made.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
In a pass.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, it's just it starts with communication.
Speaker 10 (34:10):
You know, got to communicate better and.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
And yeah, I think it's just not making a bad
play worse.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
You saw that immediately. I mean it was whatever you
were looking for was something wasn't there, and you just.
Speaker 10 (34:22):
Immediately yeah, yeah, notice it wasn't there, wasn't gonna be there.
So just wanted to get the ball out of my
hand and you know, and the drive with a kick.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
Say what has it been like communicating and sitting with
and talking with Josh in game just these first three weeks.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Josh McCown. Yeah, it's been. It's been great, man.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
You know, just to be able to have a guy
you know in there that's been in our shoes plenty
of times, and you know, just like I mentioned, all
the experience that he has, it helps us a lot
of quarterbacks.
Speaker 11 (34:58):
Sam, I know you might to Nardi the defense balling out,
but just specifically with Kim of getting that interception right
away and being able to start where you guys did.
Just how much of a spark did that create immediately?
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Huge spark, you know for our defense to be able
to go out there and create a turnover on the
first drive and then, like I said, for us to
go go and capitalize on that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
You know, that kind of set the tone for the
whole game.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
How do you strike the ballots and going through your
progressions just going that they do have some active rusher's comings.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, I think you know that's that's football, right.
Speaker 10 (35:34):
It's like, you know, when when do you continue to
go through your progressions and check the ball down versus
when do you drop back, you know, go through your
first read and feel pressure and try to escape or or.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
Do something you know off schedule.
Speaker 10 (35:46):
You know, that's that's always I feel like the battle
you fight as a quarterback when you.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Have the ability to get up and escape.
Speaker 10 (35:53):
So yeah, we're just I'm just going to continue to
you know, play with play with instincts, but play smart
as well.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Donald goes for one to eighty one, and four. Jefferson
finishes six eighty one and one. He scored the first
touchdown of the game. Now he had six targets and
six catches at one point, finished with eight targets and
six catches. I mean, the only weird thing from the
game is that justin Jefferson actually dropped two passes that
should have been first down.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yeah, and you know, had he caught the head he
cut both those, he would have been right right at
one hundred yards. So you know, a couple of he
had a couple of unbelievable catches today. The one he
caught across the middle when Donald just put a he
had a zip on that thing, nothing but a vapor trail,
and he was able to come down with it. So
he had some impressive catches. I don't think you want
(36:40):
to end the game, you know, the way he did
with two drops. But yeah, again, Paul, you you're not
one handed on offense. When you're able to run the
ball like we can like we have, it gives you
some options and that then you get in the play
action game, which helps protection and gives you time to
get some of these deep routes. It's I like that
(37:01):
shot that Darnold took down down the field early.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I believe it was Josh Oliver.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Now, you know you have to do that every once
in a while, right to keep these these defensive backs.
And by the way, how about the play calling too.
I mean, you know, Kevin O'Connell's feeling it when he
when he's calling double passes and he's calling out and
ups and wheel shot. It's that drives defense as nuts too,
because they have to try to account for all that.
(37:26):
You saw it on films, So they're you know, they're coaches.
It's just their nature. They want to try to cover
and now you're chasing ghosts. So yeah, you know this
Kevin O'Connell, I think, is having just the time of
his life calling plays for this offense.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Likewise, for Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator. Into the game,
the Vikings were giving up eleven points a game and
they held the Texans to seven today. And we cannot
leave the postgame report without providing some accolades to Camu
rouge Hill. He replaced Ivan Pace Junior today who was
scratched due to injury, and again Stroud had gone two
(38:00):
sixty six in a row without a pick. His very
first pass hit by Harrison Phillips picked off by the
former Texan a Camu gruge Hill and he finished with
a couple passes defense that was fantastic. Oh, another ho
hum day for Andrew van Genkel. Six tackles, a sack,
a quarterback hit, a tackle for loss. I mean, ben
(38:22):
g Yeah, everything's humming right now and we get Green
Bay next time.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Your floor is when you see when you see I
having pace on Monday in the training room, You're like, Okay,
I just take a time with that ankle, buddy. Oh,
come on, take a time, you know what I mean.
Back in the day, that's how they would have handled that.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Great job today. Brother. That's Pete Versus joannalyst for the
Vikings Radio Network, and I'm Paul Allen. The postgame report
next week originates from lambeau Field and the three and one,
make that two and one green Bay Packers taking on
the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. For Pete Versage, I'm Paul Allen.
This is a Curly Heroes production and it's the Vikings
(38:57):
postgame Report. Your squad is three no after a thirty
four to seven victory over the previously undefeated Houston Texans,
Yo, what's going on? It's your play by play voice
Paul Allen with the analyst Pete Bersich from us Bank
Stadium for the Vikings postgame report. Your Minnesota Vikings have
started three to oho for the first time since twenty sixteen.
And they didn't just beat the Houston Texans today who
were undefeated, they smashed them. The final score was thirty
four to seven. There's a lot too unpacked, but let's
(00:37):
let the analyst analyze thirty four to seven against CJ.
Stroud into what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, Well, I mean, I think first of all, you
got to give a tip of the cap to the
defense to be able to take a guy like CJ.
Stroud off of his game. Again, he faced a very
good defense a week ago in the Chicago Bears and
they were still He's still very efficient. But to get
him to throw his first two inner options of the
season right, one off a tip ball, you know, and
(01:03):
the other one it just I believe it was buying
them that got the other one.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Just a great day of just keeping.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
And we've seen it two weeks in a row now
that quarterbacks just can't get into a rhythm, they can't
feel comfortable, and when you need someone to make a play,
you've got Jonathan Gernard, you got Andrew van Ginkel, You've
got Cashman, You've got all these other these guys just
making plays when they need to make them. Josh Mattelis
so defensively, have been extremely impressed. And our identity is
being aggressive. Our identity is getting after the quarterback. We
(01:33):
did it all the way to the end. We had
backups in there. You know when Jalen Redman is sacking
the quarterback, you know that you're putting pressure on this
quarterback when that guy's on block. So they stuck to
who they were and they came up thirty four to seven. Now, offensively,
what I love the most really was our ability to
run the football and that big explosive run by Aaron
(01:53):
Jones to set us up for the last touchdown, just
four minute drill. Everybody in the stadium knew you were
running it, and you still were not only to move
the chains, but be explosive.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right and the season.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Throughout the season, you're gonna need to have balance, and
I think this offense has more balance now than it's
had in years, maybe you know, since maybe the Dalvin
Cook days, where you can either run or throw the football.
So we're seeing all that emerge, and you know, you win.
You win the turnover battle, you win the penalty battle.
I mean, this is what happens.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I was chatting with elite football mind TJ. Abbott before
the game, who was celebrating his birthday, and he reminded
me CJ. Stroud had gone two hundred and sixty six
consecutive passes without throwing an interception. He threw three against
Arizona last year. He threw two today. And in calling
the game, there were myriad times we'd see CJ go
(02:47):
back and he would look like, say right, and he'd
be like, well, I saw that I filmed fifteen times
this week, but it's not the same, right, And then
he would get hit and then he like would duck
and I mean that's the off that's the offense. Rookie
of the year from last year. This Vikings defense just confused,
pretty much wired a wire.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, it's it's he who hesitates in this game is
dead right, I mean, and we saw that with Daniel
Jones week one. He never never got out, never got
in a rhythm, never looked comfortable. We were able to
do that last week and then this week you come
in again. I think the best quarterback we faced so
far this year.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
And c J. Stroud.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, brock Perty is a good quarterback, but
c J. Stroud with his ability to avoid blitz is
to get free to extend plays to all those things
that I was worried about middle of the field and
take that away was was huge. We knew the Texans
were gonna have a hard time running the football, right,
being without Joe Mixon. But you know, they got nothing
(03:46):
on the ground, and even with Diggs and Collins and
Tank Dell who all. You know, they got their catches
and they did they did some things. They got they
got some yards, but we kept them out of the
end zone. Right, It's the big thing.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And the Vikings finished with five sacks for a third
consecutive week. Five sacks against Danny Dimes, five against Perty
and five today on c J. Stroud. Jonathan Garnard the
former Texan. He was drafted by the Texans in the
third round in twenty twenty, first season with the Vikings
after four with Houston. I mean, seriously, how great must
that feel to have three sacks against your former team?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I mean, I can't even imagine, and he catches Pat
Jones for the lead on this team, and you know
in one game, So right, Grenard had one going into
this game, and I don't think the numbers necessarily reflected
the impact that he's had as a pass rusher getting
a quarterback to step up in the pocket, other than
making other things happen. But today, you know, he was
one on one with Cade Stover, which you know is
(04:44):
not how the Texans drew that up.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
You do not block a guy like.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Jonathan Garnard one on one with the tight end when
you're doing a five to seven step drop, and you know,
Garnard just just ran them over like a freight train.
So he was just where he needed to be at
the right time. And the ability for our guys up
front the run line games, we knew that was a
weakness of their offensive line. They didn't do a great
job of passing those things off. So a lot of TFLs,
(05:12):
a lot of things happening on the other side of
the line of scrimmage, and we got to keep that
going because the Packers have found a way to run
the football right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And Green Bay is the next opponent. By the way
next week from lambeau Field. They beat the Titans thirty
to fourteen. You're gonna hear from Vikings head coach Kevin
O'Connell shortly and also quarterback Sam Darnold. Sam finished seventeen
of twenty eight point eight one, four touchdowns, zero picks.
So Sam on the season has thrown eight touchdowns against
the two picks, and this is just the second time
(05:42):
in his career he's had a four touchdown game. The
last was twenty nineteen with the Jets against Washington. Kevin
O'Connell was the offensive coordinator for the Washington team that year.
What do you think? What do you think of Donald
so far? Or shall I say? What are you just loving?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
What I'm loving? Is this confidence? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And you know Donald, I think his comfort zone is
throwing the ball short into the outside, which is the
hardest throat to making football. But his ability to just
step up and deliver something down the middle of the field.
He had a few of those today in the red zone.
The arm strength of setting his feet super quickly and
just putting a lot of zip on the football, and
(06:20):
like the touchdown of Johnny Unt, I mean that was
an absolute laser beam the throat to Naylor number three
read and with just another laser beam in there, and
Jalen Naylor came up with it. So his confidence and
then his ability to attack the middle of a defense
pall is what I think has impressed me the most.
I think that's where Donald needed to grow. He needed
to add that, add that to his repertoire. And you know,
(06:41):
with the guys that we have, the receivers we have,
that's where you're going to have to attack if they
want to try to do some creative things defensively to
stop justin Jefferson, that middle of the field is going
to be open and he's able to take advantage of that.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Let's hear from Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell following
a thirty four seven victory over the Houston Texans.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
Awful empty in here. That's good. That means they're talking
to the guys they should be talking to. Okay, I
want to start out. I'm always going to do this
because this place is special. This building was special today.
I thought our fans were phenomenal. For budget reasons, we
can't give every single one of our fans a game ball,
but they certainly deserve it and really really appreciate the
(07:27):
energy from the jump five fall starts by the Texans today.
They're part of the formula here at US Bank Stadium.
They deserve to be able to show up and hopefully
enjoy what they see on the field for three and
a half hours every up. We get so very very
excited about what our fans bring to this building on
a weekend and week out. Basis knew this was going
(07:48):
to be a tough, physical team to really two weeks
in a row of you know, the standard of tough
and physicality, and we knew kind of obviously early on
it was going to be that way. But just so
so proud of our defense. Want to highlight a lot
of guys on our defense, but as a whole, just
felt like, you know, the pre snap and post snap
(08:10):
was pretty effective all day long. Flow called the phenomenal game,
the scheme, understanding of what we're trying to get done
by our players on the field, the tackling, keeping the
chunks off the tape. For the most part, they got
some kind of looser plays there in the second half,
but so proud of our guys, I mean, comus stepping
in and getting that early interception was huge. And then
(08:31):
I thought Jonathan Grenard was absolutely fantastic, Excuse me, fantastic
all day long. JG's been huge for us all year
with pressure production, but I know all of us are
great to see him ring the bell three times right
there with three sacks. Offensively, I thought Sam Darnold was
really really good all day long, smart, really decisive, took
(08:53):
care of the football accurate, We were good on third down.
We hit some chunks when we needed to expose ourselves
to negative football outside of some of the self inflicted
things that I've got to get cleaned up to keep
us traveling forward throughout our possessions. And then I thought,
Aaron Jones, you know, to get over one hundred and
really one forty eight all purpose, affecting the game in
(09:16):
so many ways. Just really proud of where our group's at.
Jets was. You know, Jets was really solid all day long.
Had some you know, critical play that nobody will ever
know about, blocking the corner on the kind of double
pass we called. If he doesn't block that, we don't
draw the penalty and then we're not punching it in there.
So he's doing the things that everybody knows justin Jefferson
(09:37):
for but he's doing. He's going above and beyond to execute,
even when his number is not called, Will record with
the fifty eight yarder. Total complete win. Proud of our team.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
On to the next.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
What does it say about Ryan Flores and your defense
that you've done this to two excellent teams the last
and excellent offense is the last two weeks.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Yeah, we have a lot of respect for everybody. We
We know any Sunday in the NFL, you're gonna line
up against teams that can be explosive, teams that can,
you know, try to come at you and dominate the
line of scrimmage. Our guys are answering the challenge. It's
a collective group effort with total scheme ownership flow. Like
I said, you know has been calling really really good games.
(10:18):
Balance keeping us balanced while keeping our opponents off balanced
is the best way I can describe it. And you know,
staying aggressive who we want to be. And then really
two weeks in a row of really on both sides
offense and defensively, that play style showing up like some
of those short yardage conversions we had offensively, and you know, defensively, defensively,
(10:41):
the physicality. I saw you.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
Challenge this team to prepare, you know, to not go
with the ups and downs in the NFL. Is that
going to be this team's identity, that you guys just
coming and ready to play like this.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Yeah. I just I think we had you know, it
was a physical game last week. That's always going to be.
You know, when you kind of really play these two
games back to back, you really ask yourself, you know,
and I asked our football team early in the week.
Are we willing to do the things that we thought
it would take to win the game? Are we willing
to kind of prove some early season discipline of handling
(11:14):
some success handling a physical football game, finding a way
to prepare and showing up and doing it again. I
think it's a good benchmark early here for our team
to develop some real confidence in the process through our
coaching staff, how we deliver the game plans and then
how we execute it, and then getting a chance to
talk to him every Saturday night before these games and
(11:34):
provide the ultimate clarity of they should have confidence and
if we do these things, which many of them we
did today, we should have a great chance to win
the football game post nab and stuff.
Speaker 8 (11:45):
You've talked about defense affecting.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
As the team.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
Yeah, you know, that's that's one of those things CJ is.
I told him after the game. You know, I think
he's one of the best quarterbacks in our league. I
think he's going to be for a very long time.
I'm huge fan of CJ. Really always have been. But
you could just feel kind of the the uh you know,
just the the back and forth of what each snap
(12:11):
and the stress of each snap and the potential based
upon the looks that they were getting what that was
kind of doing. There's a little bit of kind of
mental attrition that takes place where every snap you just
don't really get a lot of plays where you can
just call a play, snap the ball and and and
you know, just go. And they still made some plays
and that's a super talented group. I think that's as
(12:32):
good of a group of three receivers as you'll find
in this league. And uh, you know, like I said,
the crowd was huge because those snap you know pre
snap penalties, you know, forcing them to go backwards kept
them out of some manageable third downs early and helped
give us some momentum for sure.
Speaker 9 (12:49):
Sam, I'm guessing he checked out fine after that one
play that he came out.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Yeah, I think, you know, he he got rolled up
a little bit on the penalty. They're kind of low
on him. He checked checked out and came back in
the game. We'll definitely, you know, he'll go through an
evaluation just to just to kind of rule anything out.
But I was proud of Sam coming back in the
game and helping take us downfield when.
Speaker 9 (13:12):
He did come back in. I don't know if you
heard it during in the midst of all, but the
fans were reacted very positively. Yeah, And I'm curious if
you heard that, notice it in the moment or like
what that felt like for you.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Yes, I did, and it was you know it regardless
of how I felt about it. I know Sam, you know,
probably very much appreciated. That just goes right along with
tipping my cap to our fans and what they're all about.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. I think
we got the best fans in the National Football League,
not particularly close.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Kevin.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
How does that, I guess emphasize things or amplify things
for a defense when you.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Have that kind of noise.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Yeah, it's just it stresses communication and your tools to
deal with whatever you're looking at from the eleven guys
across the line of scrimmage. We're not just standing there,
and if we are standing there, more than likely we're
standing all at the line of scrimm And it requires communication,
It requires all eleven being on the same page, snap
after snap after snap, and we have not talked about
what happens when the ball does get snapped yet. So
(14:11):
I think it's a combination of a lot of things.
Really proud of Flow, having an absolute blast coaching with them,
putting game plans together every week, and really, you know,
kind of propelling this team that we thought we had.
You know, I told our guys last night, I'm not
all that concerned about who or what is said about
(14:31):
our team. We keep doing what we're doing. There will
be plenty of things to be talked about having to
do with these guys that they deserve it, because this
is the players making this come to life, and I'm
just so proud of them right now. But divisional challenge,
we got to be ready to handle, just like we
did a week ago. We got to be able to
do the exact same thing and ready to go try
to win a football game in the division on the road,
(14:51):
which is very, very difficult to do.
Speaker 8 (14:53):
I stood out most about the way that Sam kind
of progressed and a lot on a lot of those
red zone.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yeah, you know, I think looking at looking at the
touchdowns that he that he threw that he threw today,
you know, Justin's is really an example some off schedule.
Great job by him not getting pushed out early on
in the game and working back. You guys have seen
us work that drill many times in practice, and Sam's
athletic ability to create off schedule is a huge weapon
(15:22):
in the red zone. And that doesn't mean you know,
running the quarterback or you know RPOs. That means drop
back and progressing rhythm and find a way to get
up and out and attack the defense and touchdown number
one right there. Obviously. The one that really kind of
sticks out to me is I'm you know, I'm trying
to figure out. I normally can remember these things, but
(15:44):
when you throw four of them, sometimes they're hard to remember.
But the two that really stick out to me are
the speedy. The speedy touchdown that's a total reset on
the backside of a formation of feet, eyes, ball location,
a single beauty and then Johnny Muntz is the exact opposite,
you know, play where he's getting us to the right
play to start, and then understanding how we've kind of
(16:07):
talked about the motion, how it might affect the defense.
There could be little slivers of space within the zone coverage,
and he knife his first progression right into Johnny, which
I thought was a great catch in traffic, and we
knew it would kind of be like that. You get
down there tight against a team that's gonna you know
that predominantly plays a lot of man down there, but
you know, when you got the weapons we do, and
(16:28):
people know that Sam's gonna be surgical accurate with his accuracy,
You're gonna get some zone covers with a lot of
bodies in there, and you've got to be disciplined and
detail to be accurate away from defenders. So you know,
the full full kind of spectrum there of different aspects
of what Sam's you know, showing on a day in
a day out basis, and just really proud of him
another day for you know, really good quarterback play.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Kevin, Is this the kind of running game that you've
been wanting for a while.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
Yeah, that's a physical you know front. They they were
activating a lot of you know, things that you know,
quite honestly remind you a little bit of our defense
when they're starting to activate corners and safeties and double
edge pressure. And I thought our guys handled it, and
and just kept playing the next play, playing the next play,
and then Aaron pops the the long one and and
and it kind of that's how games like this against
(17:17):
good defenses, physical defenses are gonna be. And I just
thought we stayed after it. Some negatives in there, but
you know that's you know, you're not gonna throw it
a hundred times, you're gonna try to be balanced. And
I thought our guys really, you know, kind of maintained
that next snap kind of mentality with our run game.
And then you know, we hit some we hit some
nice chunks when he needed we needed to, especially to
(17:40):
kind of flip the field. Screen game came to life
again for some plays. So uh, just really proud of overall.
It's it's not going to be you know, it's not
necessarily gonna be a box score that jumps out at people.
And but there was some really good football on that
tape today. I can't wait to watch it.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Kind of last year, you seemed, I guess, particularly bothered
by not.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Winning at home when you guys very much.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
So why was that such a big deal for you?
Speaker 5 (18:03):
I think just you know that, knowing what, knowing the
potential we have if we can get off to good starts,
if we can protect the football force some turnovers have
our fans feel the momentum of their role on third down.
It just kind of feels like a little bit of
a title wave of momentum energy, and our players feed
(18:24):
off of it. And I just think when when fans
are willing to show up and have the type of
performance that they had, we like rewarding that, we like,
you know, allowing them to, you know, have a very
enjoyable Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
For giving up thirty points to three games. Yep, as
an offensive guys, they had a little mind blowing three games.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
In the season. Yeah, you know, as the head coach
of this team, it's you know, playing against this you
know that outfit over there and last week and you know,
I think the you know, our Week one opponent had
some success today. So really, what I'm trying to stress
to our team is we must respect and understand who
we're playing every single week, because I think every team
(19:04):
in this league is capable of playing at a really
high level, and if you don't play at a high level,
none of that matters the opponent, the circumstances of the game.
We're going to continue to coach these guys up incredibly hard.
We're going to demand a level of you know, performance
that our guys are responding to that they're pushing it further.
(19:25):
They want more, they want more scheme, they want more
ownership of being able to drive this thing forward. This
thing is really about the players in that locker room.
Our jobs as coaches just can continue to provide them
with the toolboxes they need to go perform all eleven
at once. Whatever phase we're in. Thought special teams. I
thought defense for sure, and offensively as efficient as we
(19:48):
were and putting the ball in the end zone, compromentary football,
sudden change with the early turnover, seven points, and I
was proud of that drive coming out of the half
to put seven on the board right there too. To
try to make sure we can and continue holding onto
that momentum.
Speaker 6 (20:01):
When Aaron's touchdown catch. Was that designed that way for
Jada and clear out for him or to just developed
that way?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Yeah, No, it was designed. You know, we kind of
went on a speed, you know, or very quick cadence
really kind of moving a couple guys around in the
formation with Justin in the backfield and then Aaron kind
of assuming Justin's role. How quick can you get aligned?
How quick can you snap the ball? Be legal? Details
you know are in it, and actually really wasn't something
(20:28):
that you know, I was particularly gonna call at that
area of the field. That just kind of had an
idea that we'd get some man coverage and wanted to
kind of have a kind of a ball out type
play to mitigate the rush and have a chance for
Aaron to come flying across there if they were able
to match Justin out the front of the formation. So
sometimes there's simple plays and it's just who's where. Other times,
(20:49):
you know, there's there's a lot that goes into it,
just in the formations and the shifts and and ultimately
the quarterback's ability to command the ship and run it all.
And Sam's doing all those things right now.
Speaker 9 (20:59):
At halftime, they uh, they showed Justin kind of like
doing gripping his hand and putting his glove on and office.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
Is he having any issue? Yeah, justin Jefferson, I'm not aware.
I'm not aware of anything in that regard, but I'll
definitely keep you guys posted throughout the week if anything
else comes up.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
How much fun do you feel like Flow is having?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
Yeah, he's uh, he's he's definitely having some fun. The
players are, you know. I've been trying to spend a
little bit more time with that that unit this year,
either on Saturday mornings or you know, throughout the week.
We got a bunch of great, great guys on that
side of the ball, smart, tough, love football. New additions
(21:37):
like JG and Blake and Shack and and Van gink
and and just and then the guys that are I'm
hoping they don't get tired of me the Harrison Smith
Mattel is buying them phillips, you know, because I'm having
an absolute blast coaching this team, and I think we're
made of the right stuff and we just got to
keep proving it because that's what this league is all about.
(21:58):
As as great as this feels for our team to
start out three and zero and beat some really good
football teams and win at home every week is going
to be a challenge. How disciplined can we be to
you know, have the best possible Wednesday practice. We can
this coming Wednesday and then worry about Thursday next. And
it sounds like a cliche, but you know, if your
(22:19):
players are willing to commit to that process and demand
it of each other, you know we're gonna We're gonna
be okay. All right.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
So the Minnesota Vikings now are twenty and oh with
O'Connell at the helm when they win or push, the
take give battle, and I mean, you played the game
and you coached it, and you know we've called together
for quite some time. We know the importance of taks
and Gibbs turnovers. But to be twenty and oh when
you win or push, I mean, that's a heck of
(22:49):
a mark right there.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
It is, And you don't have to go any further
back than a year ago at this exact time. The
way we started last year and the number of turnovers
that we had going through the first three games, it's
it's the complete, really reversal of that. And these are
the results. So we want to make this. We sometimes
want to make this game complicated, and then at its
core it really isn't. And that's one of the core
(23:11):
things that that matters. It's possessions, right and our ability
to turn offenses over. But then again, in the same time,
outside of cj Ham's fumble, you know on opening Day,
we've been good since then and hopefully this offense will
continue that. I mean Aaron Jones again, and what a
difference maker. I think Blake Brandell as a blocker and
(23:34):
just a huge body in the way he and Bradberry
are working together on double teams and those things in
the running game. But Aaron Jones, and you know, almost
one hundred and fifty total yards today has just been
so impressive. I think he's rubbing off on Ty Chandler
and his running style. So Aaron Jones was an unbelievably
(23:55):
good get in the offseason.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Jones finished with one hundred and forty eight total yards.
He had five catches for forty six yards and his
first receiving touchdown for the Vikings, and he ran for
one oh two and today was the one hundred regular
season game in the career of Aaron Jones. Before we
hear from Sam Darnold, just chew on this for a moment.
(24:17):
The Vikings are three and oh and are you know
they're they're I don't want to say the talk of
the league, but when you blow out the Texans a
week after beating the NFC team that just went to
the Super Bowl, nationally and locally, everybody's going to be
throwing Baucaesia way and I'm sure O'Connell and or Flores
we'll talk about that this week. But but here's the
thing on which to chew. Jordan Addison's coming back very soon.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Hockinson is on the horizon. Dalton Reisner is also on
the horizon. Just chew on that, analyst, right, And so
you you have, you're just adding so much more talent
and route running ability.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And I think that's something that's impressed me about Jalen
Naylor is how how he's mature and his route running.
You know, he's able to stay healthy. And then to
throw Addison in the mix, right, and Jordan Addison, being
as as good of a rout runner as he is,
is going to give Donald even more options. And then
we talked about the middle of the field and what's
better for a quarterback in the middle of the field
than a TJ.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Hockinson.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Right, So all those things, all those things are yeah
there you talk about positives on the horizon. Yeah, I
mean that's that's something that this team to play as
well as it has been without all of its talent,
with all the bullets and it's gun proverbially is unbelievably impressive.
And the coaching job offensively, defensively, special teams are doing
(25:39):
the little things right, you know. It's it's just so impressive.
These guys are taking pride in their work and it
shows on the field, and that's kind of something that's
been missing. I think it's just that that that killer
attitude of when you have the lead to just be
able to run the ball and finally put a game away.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
It's just starting.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I'm starting to see that upfront, especially with that offensive line.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I love it and I am glad you said that
because the Minnesota Moving Company was getting a lot of praise.
During the broadcast on KFA and Today, Christian Darra saw
Blake Brendel, Garrett Bradberry at Ingram and Brian O'Neil. The
right tackle David Questenberry had to come in for a
few plays and he represented well too. But here's the point.
And I know it's a team game, so pass protection
(26:22):
is not only unto the offensive line. You need backs
who can pick up tight ends, a quarterback who doesn't
hold it too long, the whole thing. But you can't
dispute however it's happening, and the offensive line will give
most of the shine here. Game one, we talked about
Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and cave On Thibodeau all week.
All right, Lawrence gets a sack right out of the gate,
(26:44):
welcome to the twenty twenty four season. Well, then he
got shout out. The rest of the game, Thibodeaux and
Burns had a combined one tackle. Thibodeaux had zero. The
next week, you're running play action out of the end
zone with O'Neill singled up against Nick Bosa, and it works.
And then you get Aaron Jones picking up bred Warner.
You get Brad Berry, I think, picking up Javon Hargrave
(27:07):
long enough for Donald.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
To go ninety seven. Very good pass rusher as.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, right ninety seven to Jefferson. Then today former Viking
Daniel Hunter eighty seven and a half sacks, when he
was here, third most in the history of the team,
behind John Randall and Chris Dolman. On the other side,
the defensive rookie of the Year last year, Will Anderson,
Derek Barnett, the former Eagle, who's full of fire, and
yet you held them at bay. Holy cow.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, let me let me lay this stat on you.
A week ago, the Chicago Bears threw the ball forty
two times. Caleb Williams was pressured thirty six come on
of those forty two attempts, thirty six out of forty two.
And we saw Donald today being able to go on
two to three extend plays. I mean this offensive all number.
(27:53):
You know they had the credit. Got to give credit
where credit's due. And you're right, Paul, though, those five
guys up front are really doing a great job. They're
scheming things the right way. Protections are good, they're executing
those protections. You're not seeing the mistakes, you know, like
when when again, when we see someone like Jonathan Gernard
just beat Cad Stover one on one with a tight end,
(28:13):
who was a rookie. I mean, that's a mistake. That
can't have drawn that up that way.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
We're not seeing that on our side of the ball,
so you know, and Tunsil.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Let just let somebody go.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Remember Laromie Tunseel. Yeah, just inside.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
A lot of issues at the interior with them with
those guys hand again, you see it on film. Their
offensive line. They ran the ball well, they run the
zone very well. They had over two hundred yards on
the ground against the Indieapolis Colts. But they don't they
don't handle the stunts well. The guys like Shaq Mason,
the right guard, Juice Scrugs coming back, they struggled today
in getting a beat on these defensive linemen who were
(28:48):
moving all over the place and.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
We were just a step ahead of them.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
And very very impressive win for the Minnesota you know,
jahad Ward getting in there and jumping a snap and
getting a pressure.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I mean it's it's.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Like all these free agents that we brought in, all
these guys are making an impact.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
The demise of Sam Darnold has been greatly exaggerated. Let's
hear from him after this impressive Minnesota Vikings victory.
Speaker 10 (29:15):
Guys, I think, like I said last week, you know,
defense balled out today. Special teams balled out, did their thing.
You know, obviously we were able to execute, execute at
a high level in the red zone. You know, hit
a little bit of a lull in the third quarter there,
but we'll clean those things up. But obviously, very happy,
(29:38):
very happy with the win and the way that you know,
besides those those couple possessions, the way that we were
able to execute today.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
Say about the offense, that you can score thirty four
points on the defense, that's as good as theirs is.
But last week it was all this explosive place.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
She really kind of did it today without that explosive play,
it was just sort of a sustained, small, great pressure.
Speaker 10 (29:59):
Yeah know, I think it's it's a lot of credit
obviously to the big guys up front, the old line
to be able to you know, run the football the
way that we were able to late in the game
especially and and obviously you know the first possession, our
defense given us the ball there with great field position
and then able you know, being able to take advantage.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
Of that also with the touchdown was huge.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
What was going on with your knee and what what
did it mean to you that the fans reacted so
strongly when he went down.
Speaker 10 (30:26):
Then when he came back in Yeah, the fans reaction
meant everything to me, just the way that you know,
just not not only that, but my entire time here
in Minnesota has been amazing with with the fans and
they've been great. And then you know, just with you know,
you know, just to Neil just kind of you know,
(30:48):
obviously he's he's you know, a great player and not
a not a dirty player whatsoever. But you know, just
getting hit low there and you know, we'll evaluate it,
we'll look at it, but you know, felt good enough
to be able to go back in the game.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
So how is how is it now? It feels good?
You know, just again, like I said, we're just gonna
look at it tomorrow.
Speaker 9 (31:12):
You don't anticipate it being something that keeps you from
practicing your playing or anything on else.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 10 (31:17):
I'm not going to speak about specifics like that. I
think just evaluating it tomorrow is is. Uh, you know,
obviously we'll be able to have more information tomorrow.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
So what did you feel like just helped you so
much in terms of the success you had in the
red zone today?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Yeah, I think a lot of it goes into our preparation.
Speaker 10 (31:34):
The way you know that we prepared on on Friday,
our red zone day and then even you know on
Saturday being able to rep some of those plays and yeah,
again it's just the preparation that that we put in
throughout the week allows us to go out on the
field play fast and confident.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Kind of you.
Speaker 8 (31:51):
Evaluate your own personal when you look at a game,
I know you have four touchdowns tying.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
A clear high to.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Say that this lo on my best or how do
you evaluate yourself and me.
Speaker 10 (32:01):
End No, I think it's at the end of the day,
it's you know, did I do everything that I could
to to put our offense in a really good position.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
For the most part, Yes, I feel like I could have.
Speaker 10 (32:16):
You know, done a little bit better in that regard
on those couple of drives that I mentioned in the
third quarter. And so again there's there's room for improvement,
which is great, great for us. But you know that's
I feel like that's it's it's gonna be that way
every single game.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
You know, you always have room for improvement, and.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
You know we'll just uh go from there.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Games and it's gone well, Like what has sort of
jumped out to you just about the.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
Kind of live and the chemistry of this team has gone.
Speaker 10 (32:48):
Yeah, you know, I love those guys in the locker room.
You know the way that they've been able to, like
I keep mentioning the way that we've been able to
prepare throughout the week, and you know, the looks that
we're getting from the scout team, like everything is is
you know, high level football right now. I think, you know,
we just we've got to continue to you know, push
each other on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to to
(33:11):
be able to go out there on Sunday and and
perform at a high level because you know, there's still
room for improvement. Even you know, the scoreboard doesn't tell
the whole story. You know, there's there's a lot of
room for improvement. We're gonna continue to.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
You know, reach for that improvement.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
We went against that defense a lot in the targeting game.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Just how much stress does everything they do pre snap, postnap.
How much stress can app.
Speaker 10 (33:35):
The auto Yeah, I mean, you know, with the different
looks that our defense presents it, it can cause a
lot of thinking at the quarterback position, and that's you know,
that's that's always hard.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
So yeah, when it was.
Speaker 9 (33:50):
Third and nineteen at your own seven after the two
pre snap penalties.
Speaker 5 (33:54):
You had gotten the first down, you know, and then
had the two penalties.
Speaker 8 (33:57):
You're backed up and you dirt the ball so quickly
that they a flag and then they pick it up
because you weren't under duress.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
Is that you.
Speaker 6 (34:04):
Taken coaching and making sure that you don't make mistakes
that maybe you've made.
Speaker 5 (34:08):
In a pass.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, it's just it starts with communication.
Speaker 10 (34:10):
You know, got to communicate better and.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
And yeah, I think it's just not making a bad
play worse.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
You saw that immediately. I mean it was whatever you
were looking for was something wasn't there, and you just.
Speaker 10 (34:22):
Immediately yeah, yeah, notice it wasn't there, wasn't gonna be there.
So just wanted to get the ball out of my
hand and you know, and the drive with a kick.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
Say what has it been like communicating and sitting with
and talking with Josh in game just these first three weeks.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Josh McCown. Yeah, it's been. It's been great, man.
Speaker 10 (34:45):
You know, just to be able to have a guy
you know in there that's been in our shoes plenty
of times, and you know, just like I mentioned, all
the experience that he has, it helps us a lot
of quarterbacks.
Speaker 11 (34:58):
Sam, I know you might to Nardi the defense balling out,
but just specifically with Kim of getting that interception right
away and being able to start where you guys did.
Just how much of a spark did that create immediately?
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Huge spark, you know for our defense to be able
to go out there and create a turnover on the
first drive and then, like I said, for us to
go go and capitalize on that.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
You know, that kind of set the tone for the
whole game.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
How do you strike the ballots and going through your
progressions just going that they do have some active rusher's comings.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, I think you know that's that's football, right.
Speaker 10 (35:34):
It's like, you know, when when do you continue to
go through your progressions and check the ball down versus
when do you drop back, you know, go through your
first read and feel pressure and try to escape or or.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
Do something you know off schedule.
Speaker 10 (35:46):
You know, that's that's always I feel like the battle
you fight as a quarterback when you.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Have the ability to get up and escape.
Speaker 10 (35:53):
So yeah, we're just I'm just going to continue to
you know, play with play with instincts, but play smart
as well.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Donald goes for one to eighty one, and four. Jefferson
finishes six eighty one and one. He scored the first
touchdown of the game. Now he had six targets and
six catches at one point, finished with eight targets and
six catches. I mean, the only weird thing from the
game is that justin Jefferson actually dropped two passes that
should have been first down.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yeah, and you know, had he caught the head he
cut both those, he would have been right right at
one hundred yards. So you know, a couple of he
had a couple of unbelievable catches today. The one he
caught across the middle when Donald just put a he
had a zip on that thing, nothing but a vapor trail,
and he was able to come down with it. So
he had some impressive catches. I don't think you want
(36:40):
to end the game, you know, the way he did
with two drops. But yeah, again, Paul, you you're not
one handed on offense. When you're able to run the
ball like we can like we have, it gives you
some options and that then you get in the play
action game, which helps protection and gives you time to
get some of these deep routes. It's I like that
(37:01):
shot that Darnold took down down the field early.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
I believe it was Josh Oliver.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Now, you know you have to do that every once
in a while, right to keep these these defensive backs.
And by the way, how about the play calling too.
I mean, you know, Kevin O'Connell's feeling it when he
when he's calling double passes and he's calling out and
ups and wheel shot. It's that drives defense as nuts too,
because they have to try to account for all that.
(37:26):
You saw it on films, So they're you know, they're coaches.
It's just their nature. They want to try to cover
and now you're chasing ghosts. So yeah, you know this
Kevin O'Connell, I think, is having just the time of
his life calling plays for this offense.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Likewise, for Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator. Into the game,
the Vikings were giving up eleven points a game and
they held the Texans to seven today. And we cannot
leave the postgame report without providing some accolades to Camu
rouge Hill. He replaced Ivan Pace Junior today who was
scratched due to injury, and again Stroud had gone two
(38:00):
sixty six in a row without a pick. His very
first pass hit by Harrison Phillips picked off by the
former Texan a Camu gruge Hill and he finished with
a couple passes defense that was fantastic. Oh, another ho
hum day for Andrew van Genkel. Six tackles, a sack,
a quarterback hit, a tackle for loss. I mean, ben
(38:22):
g Yeah, everything's humming right now and we get Green
Bay next time.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
Your floor is when you see when you see I
having pace on Monday in the training room, You're like, Okay,
I just take a time with that ankle, buddy. Oh,
come on, take a time, you know what I mean.
Back in the day, that's how they would have handled that.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Great job today. Brother. That's Pete Versus joannalyst for the
Vikings Radio Network, and I'm Paul Allen. The postgame report
next week originates from lambeau Field and the three and one,
make that two and one green Bay Packers taking on
the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. For Pete Versage, I'm Paul Allen.
This is a Curly Heroes production and it's the Vikings
(38:57):
postgame Report. Your squad is three no after a thirty
four to seven victory over the previously undefeated Houston Texans,
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