November 2, 2025 • 32 mins
Welcome back to the Vikings Postgame Report presented by Lumen - The trusted network of A.I. The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions 27-24 in the "Motor City" on Sunday. The Vikings got contributions from all phases of the game today: Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy returned for his first game since Week 2 and helped secure the victory. McCarthy ended the game completing 14-of-25 passing for 143 yards, 2 TD's and an INT. McCarthy also added 12 yards on the ground, including a 9-yard TD run in the 3rd Quarter. Running Back Aaron Jones Sr. led the running game with 9 carries for 78 yards. Wide Receiver Jordan Addison led the receiving game with 2 catches for 48 yards. Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson and Tight End T.J. Hockenson both scored receiving touchdowns in the 1st Quarter of the game. Kicker Will Reichard had another perfect day, converting 2 field goals and 3 XP's, including a 50-yard field goal in the 2nd Quarter. Defensively, the guys were flying around and pressured Jared Goff throughout the game. Linebacker Blake Cashman had a monster game, leading the team with 14 tackles and a critical forced fumble in the 3rd Quarter that was recovered by Safety Harrison Smith. Linebacker Eric Wilson led the team with 2 sacks and Defensive Tackles Javon Hargrave, Jalen Redmond, and Levi Drake Rodriguez also notched a sack. Rodriguez also had a critical field goal block in the 4th Quarter. Kick Returner Myles Price flipped the field all day long and amassed 164 return yards for the Vikings. Paul Allen and Pete Bercich breakdown the game, including: the significance of getting the win at Ford Field, the Vikings defense getting healthy and stepping up in a big way, the shot in the arm provided by the return of J.J. McCarthy, and being able to close out on the final drive when you had to have it. Plus, Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and Quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s press conferences are all in this edition of the Vikings Postgame Report - presented by Lumen - The trusted network of A.I.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hey, it's the Minnesota Vikings postgame report provided by Looman
from Ford Field with Pete Bursich.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Paul Allen.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
The Minnesota Vikings snapped a five game losing streak to
the Detroit Lions, and they came on the road after
getting healthy, led by JJ McCarthy, and they left with
the money. McCarthy two touchdown passes, one to Jefferson, the
other to Hockinson. McCarthy also ran in a touchdown for
the second time this season. And funny what happens when
(00:48):
you get your best players healthy. You got Christian Darris
on Brian O'Neill, both healthy for the offensive line the
Minnesota moving company. But defensively, Andrew van Ginkele returned, so
for the first time since the victory at Soldier Field,
you had Van Ginkell, Grenard and Cashman together. Think it
made a difference.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, it absolutely did. And it's not just Van Ginkle.
I mean he does so many things away from the
ball and away from the play that make this defense better.
But the ability now to have Van Ginkole kind of
you know, in and out you rotate in Dallas Turner,
you got Eric Wilson playing inside he's playing outside. Ivan
Pace got in there, you know, Cashman got in there.
(01:29):
So so many different lineback I mean, just the personnel,
the different combinations of personnel on defense kept Jared Goff
off of his game poll. I mean, this is a
timing offense and he is one of the best in
the league at doing so. A seventy six percent completion percentage. Yeah,
going into going into this game against the Vikings in
(01:50):
his last five we kept them off. We kept him
off all he's missing throws that we you know, we
hadn't seen. And you know, this is a game, Paul,
that you circle on the map and said, this is it.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You know, it's a tough one, but it's on the road.
The whole thing.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
How about the adversity and then the negativity and going
into this game where we were, how we looked on
Thursday night against the Chargers and oh, by the way,
it doesn't get any easier because you got to go
to Detroit play them at home, coming off the buy
that so much is in their favor They were eight
and a half point favorites going into this one, right,
and my heavens for us to be able to come
(02:28):
in here and upset the Lions. What else can't this
team do? I mean, I think if anything, it proves
that when we're firing on all cylinders, when we're being physical,
especially on defense, Paul, we were so physical today. We
ran the ball for more yardage than we threw the
ball for today. So that's physical right there. The physicality
(02:49):
is back on this team. And when we are, wow,
does it open up a lot?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
At the end of the broadcast on KFAM, you said
that this is the biggest or let's say, most significant
regular season win since Kevin O'Connell became the coach. Here
now we're gonna hear from the coach coming up shortly.
Why'd you say that?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Because because of all those things, Paul, I mean, so
much was flying in the face. I mean, what's stuck
in my memory was just the end of last year.
You come out of You played Detroit until until the
beginning of the fourth quarter. It's a it's a it's
a tight game, it's a one score game, and then
the fourth quarter things go sideways. Then you go out
to Arizona to play the Rams after they had to
(03:30):
move and we weren't in it. The whole the whole game,
and it was kind of like that same feeling of
we you know, we barely we could have beaten the
Philadelphia Eagles, right, we were a player two away. And
then the game out against the Chargers, what happens there?
We were you know, we were I mean that was
a defeat, that was a physical defeat. And so what's next?
(03:55):
Plus you're going into the toughest place to mean, the
Lions have played three games here, Paul, and they've won
each won by fifteen points or more. I mean, it's
it's it's insane how well this team has played here
and to come in here and disrupt all that with
a quarterback who's getting only his third start in his career. Oh,
by the way, Dan Campbell owen three versus quarterbacks in
their first three.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I wanted to get that about the call because you
can be like Aaron Jones before he left, how he
really provided a spark. Michigan native Eric Wilson had a
two sack game, Blake Cashman had fourteen tackles. But you know,
the most significant statistical wherewithal that indicates why the Minnesota
Vikings won today is because Dan Campbell is oh in
three lifetime against quarterbacks who have started three or fewer times.
(04:39):
That would be justin Field's Bailey Zappi and JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And another thing is the Lions are now two two
and one coming out of the by the Dan Campbell
here right, this is the first home game coming out
of the buy. I mean, so much was in Detroit's
favor today and you know the odds market side eight
and a half point underdogs coming into this.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I mean, what the ability to motivate this team, right?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And you heard it from like Grenard during the week
about how they just don't like Detroit and it's okay
to not like your rival. It's okay, it's not personal. Right,
twenty years from now, you guys all get together and
have fun. But right now they're taking this thing personally.
And the way we shut down the run, Paul, I mean,
they had sixty five yards of.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Rush twenty five in the first half. We gave up.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We gave up almost as many yards to Herbert last week,
last Thursday, he had sixty two or sixty three alone,
and we gave up against this bunch, against this group,
only only sixty five yards. I mean, what a tremendous outing.
I think Javon Hargrave, all those guys up front played better.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And in fairness to the Lions, they they lost their
left and right guards during the game to injury. Taylor Decker,
their left tackle, left and came back all right. But
I mean, it's that's just how football goes. And you know,
it's it's nothing on which to lament for a Minnesota
Vikings team that has had sixteen or seventeen different offensive
line combinations this year. It's not even like see, it
(06:10):
ain't easy to get around this. It's not even that.
But the bottom line is, when you're analyzing or breaking
down football, if you think that for a well oiled
machine like this Lion's offense, you're gonna lose two key
cogs on the MotorCity Moving Company and it's just gonna
zip up and down the field. Na, they learned today
what O'Connell and the Vikings offense have been dealing with
(06:32):
all year.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Right in, this offensive line was intact for a good
portion of this football game. So it wasn't like they
came in here, you know, suffering, you know, suffering from injuries.
So the defensive front, Paul the entire game, regardless of
who was in there. We said Javon Hargraves name more
than we've said in a long long time. Jonathan Allen
(06:53):
kind of all over the place, Jalen Redman, how about
him continuing to just just get after the quarterback for
the for each in that last drive we had a
three man rush. We've been blitzing, sending linebackers getting after golf,
making their running backs protect. We give them that look
and then drop everybody out. Van Ginko comes on an
(07:14):
underneath stunt, Jalen Redman just loops around him and it's
it's a sack for Redmond. I mean, that type of
twist in the defensive game plan is brilliant, and not
only that it has.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
To be executed, it was executed flawlessly. I I'm just proud.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I'm actually proud of these guys and what they were
able to do today.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And you know, and shushed down all They was an
absolute bunch.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Paul.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I'll put myself in that category too, because I'm talking
about all the challenges and all the things that do
not point our way going into this football game. But
at the end of all of that, if you come
out of here with the victory, it changes everything, right,
who's secure?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Who's going to win this division? Right now? Green Bay
just lost a home that's good to work. Yeah, we
just beat Detroit. This thing is wide opened. Yep. Right now,
your Vikes are two and zero in the division.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
By the way, Kevin O'Connell won for the first time
at ford Field, oh and three into it, one and
three out of it. And what's strange for Kevin is
at Lambeau and Soldier Field six and one. Couldn't get
a win at ford Field, but he did today. And
let's hear from the reigning coach of the year.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
All right, you come to this place, you know it's
a tough place to come win.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
I'm just really proud of our guys.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Proud of them from the beginning of the week till now.
Be very easy to just kind of succumb to some
of the you know, some of the aspects of this
league when when things aren't going your way, and this
team just does not do that. Two and oh in
the NFC North and just aerted a very hard fought,
you know, total team win with doing a lot of
(08:54):
the things that we thought that it would take to
win the game from a standpoint of things that we.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Talked about all week, and it was not perfect.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
There's a lot of things we can clean up, and
simple execution here there might allowed us to you know,
win this game without needing to kind of close it
out at the end. But always feels like games, you know,
are close versus this team for the better part of
these football games. And got a lot of respect for them,
a lot of respect for their players and their coaching staff.
So we know that it's going to be a sixty
(09:23):
minute battle and we were able to make play there
at the end to you know, not give them the
ball back one last time. But a lot of guys
I could highlight individually, but really just the nature of
this team win the nature of blocking a field goal
to essentially win the turnover battle on the day, winning
you know, winning the rushing battle against a very physical
team on both sides of the ball, and then finding
(09:45):
a way to put the ball on the end zone
enough when we got down.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
There, you know, was a was a big thing.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Would allowed to punch it in there late when we
got down there, real tight, but they made a stop
there and we were able to still get the three
to make it a.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Ten point game.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Ownes will you know, came out of the game there, uh,
you know, evaluated for I believe his shoulder in a toe.
We'll see where he's at. Hope to get hope to
get some good news on Aaron. But I thought it
was a big thing to have him back on the
field with us. And in regard to our young quarterback,
I mean there's you know, we we saw, you.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Know, a lot of the things that he's capable of.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Doing, and we we saw some things that has his
you know, he continues his ascension and his growth.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
He will only get better and better.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
But there's you know two and O on the road
in the NFC North with him making some critical critical
place for.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Us to win the game. And we'll all keep improving.
Starts with me.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We got to go right back to work and host
a really good team next week at US Bank Stadium.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
But really proud of our team.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Can't say enough about them, the leadership, our captains, the
vibe of the team under difficult circumstances to come on.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
The road and get a win.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
And now we will move on to the next what
do you think start there? Yeah, you know, we tried
to have a plan that you know he could he can.
We tried to get him into a rhythm. I thought,
you know, he was really decisive. He made some nice
throws early in the game. I thought the throw to
j A on third down when they were doubling Jefferson
was a off someome pocket movement kind of kept his
(11:16):
base and give Jay a chance to make that play.
I'm sure there's plenty more, but just the feel of
him playing quarterback, mixed with his athleticism protected himself a
couple of times when he did, you know, steal us
some yardage, got us in the end zone again on
a critical third and goal from I believe the nine.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
And then you know, just just his presence.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
You know, he's a he's a young player in a
in a heck of an environment today. Really he's had
three starts, two of which and you know, very difficult
road environments. And his poise in running the show I
thought was matched by him making some big time throws.
And there's always gonna be some things that we can
go back and correct and but you know, really proud
(11:58):
of the way he competed and battled to day. And
then you know, the last throw to Jayalen Naylor. We
were in a similar situation against them a year ago
at home the first time we played them, and we
were able to make the play and speed.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
He made an unbelievable catch there.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
It looks like in a one on one situation, and
JJ made one of the best throws of the day
when we absolutely needed it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm gonna play. Did you mentioned last year's game must
have adain so yeah, in that this particular situation made
the trusts. Yeah, I think it's just total team trust.
Total team trust.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
If you know, we're gonna try to end the game
if we can, if we feel like there's a play
there to to go.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Try to do that.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
And I think just the execution level of our guys
when we absolutely had it, absolutely needed.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
It was critical.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
And my confidence level, regardless of the circumstances of the season,
I boil it down to one opportunity and that game
is sixty minutes, and I tell our guys all the time,
from the first play to the last, we just need
to have the competitive stamina to continue to hold up
and do the things required to beat good football teams,
(13:09):
and this is certainly one of them here in Detroit.
And we know we'll see him again at our place
late in the year.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Attacking single covers the way he did, what led.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
To his decisive us to get to those spots and
see the opportunities a couple of type ros there.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, I think what it
was is, you know, we saw Jay, you know, Justin
Jefferson warrants a lot of attention and depending on the
down and distance, depending on the situation. I thought they
called a good game to try to limit his impact.
That's where you'd love to get a little bit more
catch and run on some of those plays when when
he does win and get open, specifically on the early downs,
(13:47):
but whether it's the Naylor play at the end, you know,
Addison's early third down catch, some other ones that you
know JJ was able to make to move the football
and give us that new set of downs, give us
that chance to re establish the run game and just
do things that, you know, do things that finding the coverage,
finding the open guy, finding the void and vacancy. I
(14:09):
thought he had a nice zone snap, you know, when
Justin was in the backfield, he progressed and found Jordan
Adison ran a great route over the top of that
there was just examples of it. We didn't have a
ton of plays. What did we end up with? I
think fifty you know, fifty nine plays. You know, you'd
love to you'd love to get that number a little higher,
and I think with a little cleaner execution.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
We could get there.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
But between the blockfield goal and the Harrison Smith fumble recovery,
what I loved was the complimentary nature of that with
a total that shows you got a totally connected team
to make that play and then find a way to
get points for sure off those drives, including you know,
obviously JJ's touchdown run on a pretty weighty third and nine.
There some third down the fourth quarter out of the goal
(14:53):
of my every car freaking field goal and JJ goros out.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, TJ. Hopkinson's getting getting out on a out.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
We're trying to ran a similar concept on the early
first down play, tried to be physical and then and
they made a stop actually I think lost a.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Half yard on that play.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
And then you know, got one on one coverage for
Justin on the second down play, and I thought they
just made a play, you know, tough, tough cover out
there kind of on an island and uh and and
they made a play. And then on third down, just
seeing if we can give JJ that run pass option
kind of a traditional, you know, heavy grouping goal line
type of play, and and and wanted to make sure
(15:31):
we ensured the field goal at that point, but still
be aggressive to the point if it was a little tighter,
maybe you can get a run off, but they're selling
out to stop the run.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And and they were able.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
To cover TJ and really kind of looked like he
got held up trying to get out of there.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
It's really a one man show with full cell there.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
But but yeah, I would love to score a touchdown
there and and really put the game away.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
Looked very decisive and did you was at a point
of emphasis getting.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Off the best start to.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Get the Yeah, I mean nothing's easy in the NFL.
So even plays where you know, he looked decisive, that's
just him playing the position and and finding completions. And
you know, like I said, I thought that early Jordan
Adison conversion was a big time play on a on
a third down.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
And then just as the game went.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
On, you feel a little bit of the normal kind
of ebbs and flows of a game where if you know,
I think he will continue to learn to just stay
totally you know, present and and and level in each
moment and just continue to work and make up for
a lot of lost time in these situations to be
able to just consistently do his job with technique fundamentals.
(16:38):
How accurate can we be when guys get on edges
versus man coverage? How how decisive can we be check
the ball down? I remember early on in the game
to Aaron Jones on a you know, a play where
we got zone coverage and and just production can look
a lot of different ways from the quarterback position, and
it's not always the exciting plays here and there, but
(16:58):
those will come up from time to time. But you
just can't make it one when it doesn't present itself
that way.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
And that's playing quarterback.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
And I think just his overall demeanor is such a
positive throughout the game. He just seems to you know,
if anything, you know, sometimes you know, he gets really excited,
he's competitive.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
This guy's a.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Winner, and he's now twice this year, really found ways
to win, you know, under some unique circumstances on the
road in the NFC North, this is a tough place
to come play.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
A sin said that a bunch of the captains talked
last night a year. What did you take out of that?
Speaker 5 (17:33):
What did you think of Yeah, I had met with
a lot of those guys early on in the week,
and you know, my meeting on Monday, you.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Know, was hopeful. I was hopeful to set the tone for.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
The week, and it was a long meeting, and I
told them at the end of that meeting, this might
be the last time you guys here for me. I lied,
because I did start the meeting last night. But the
captains were very adamant. They just wanted to make sure
that everybody heard, all eight of them individually stand up
and deliver messages of encouragement of what we've built here,
the things that matter from a standpoint of what's in
(18:07):
that locker room, culturally, and ultimately, you know, just find
a way to have the performance needed, whatever that was today,
sticking to the principles that we thought were important to
win the game, but then collectively doing a lot of
things out there at a high level.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
For the guy next to you.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
It's a cliche, but you know, when players deliver that message,
some cases emotionally, some cases with some fiery context to it.
You know, we were you know, there's a lot of
folks that wanted to play the game last night. We
just had to wait until one o'clock today.
Speaker 8 (18:38):
Definitively what we're able to do to go off and give,
you know, off of what they've been doing most of.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Yeah, I thought I thought the line of scrimmage was big,
you know, our defensive line, our edge players having Andrew
van ginkel Back, the physicality that they played with up
front of loud guys like Cashman and e b to
you know, go make a lot of tackles, make a
lot of plays.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I thought there was knock back.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
It wasn't always you know, you know, floated a really
good job mixing it up, but it wasn't always scheme.
It was a lot of guys defeating blocks, not getting
knocked back, trying.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
To stop the run early. And then I thought we
did a good job.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
And I know they you know, as the game went on,
they had some tough, tough injuries that that we've experienced
kind of all season long of just having to kind
of figure it out with some guys down the line
on the old line. But I thought the pressure, I
thought we'd moved Jared off the spot a little bit.
He's as good as anybody in the National Football League
if he can stay clean all day long. And I
thought we were able to move him off the spot
and affect some place. Even when they made some plays,
(19:37):
it was, you know, we tried to make it hard
on them, and then you know they're gonna keep competing.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You know they're gonna make some plays.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
They got some really good players over there, and it
just felt like our guys just kept playing and continuing
to just press onward and find a way to win the.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Game against you still have a game. Yeah, it was
just a mixture. It was a mixture.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
It was a lot of showing uh, pressure and kind
of varying up the looks from there, showing man to
man and playing some other things out of it.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
And I just thought the.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Plan on both sides that the coaching staff put together
was the right plan to win this game. They're each
their own and we're gonna have to do the same
thing next week and on from there. And and we've
certainly got a lot to build on, a lot of
things we can clean up to play even tighter and
and and play even more consistent as a football team.
But still complimentary when we need to respond to the adversity,
(20:32):
slipping here and there or activating the momentum changing. It's
all part of football. I mean we talk about a
lot of things sometimes and and rightly so. And that
locker room, you know is I absolutely love these players.
I love this team. I love our coaching staff. And
in weeks like this where you know, in many cases
it can it can go one way or the other.
(20:53):
And there wasn't a moment all week despite some of
the things going on and some of the things that
maybe we're tempting to kind of hang that hang that
left they they stayed together all the way through and
found a way to get us back to five hundred
and to and on the division. Yeah, I mean Miles
Prices continues to show up. You know, I thought you
(21:14):
would have loved to get that would have loved to
get that that touchdown there. Uh, they got a holding
call there, and we'll have to take a look at it.
What we can coach better to clean up our technique.
And because Miles is going to give us a chance.
I mean I think he had one hundred and sixty
four uh return yards, which all those field position plays,
all those times where we can flip the field. And
(21:35):
then I thought, even though it wasn't, you know, super
exciting in the fantasy football world, I thought the win
like the field position. It just felt like outside of
that one sequence where we were backed up and then
gave them a short field, it felt like for the
majority of the game we had the field position where
we wanted to allow, you know, allow our defense to
go out and get a stop or that turnover.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
With that that drive started backed up, got.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Him into a third and long, and and we were
able to kind of get the punch out there, something
we work a lot at and hopefully start seeing more
and more of that show up on Sundays.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I know, you really liked the way Kevin mixed it
up along with the offensive coordinator Wes Phillips early in
the game using Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The way they were.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I mean, it's the Lions came out keeping the Vikings
defense off balance three catches sixty six yards in a
touchdown with Sam Laporta. I mean, they just put eighty
seven right on you and said go ahead and stop it.
Vikings didn't at that point. Yeah, O'Connell did the same
thing with Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yes, he did. I mean, Aaron Jones was a shot
in the arm of this offense. Early.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
We got a couple of short fields and we were
able to capitalize it. But it's just the you know,
the Jets sweep to Jordan Addison, yes, right, some of
the bootlegs, the throwbacks, the quick screens. I mean, everything
that they did today worked and it was so well designed.
I was getting, you know, a little bit not nervous
per se, but just they when they were on the
(22:54):
script early on in the game.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Man, it was boom boom, boom, boom boom.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Right, fourteen points and then things kind of calmed down
a little bit. But then we made those adjustments at
halftime and you continue to put points on the board.
And for JJ McCarthy, a couple of you know, a
lot of mistakes in hand in the football off if
tim or the running buster.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
We were able to get through all of that.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
McCarthy finishes fourteen to twenty five, three, two touchdowns and
a pick. He also ran for a touchdown. After the game,
he had this to say.
Speaker 8 (23:22):
Good to see you all as always, tremendous victory, obviously
coming here on the road against a great division opponent.
You know, getting to win in any which way possible
as you know, something that we were searching going into
this one. But just want to say how proud I
am of the defense, the offensive line, the special teams,
and the offense. Like we really played very well on
(23:42):
all three phases. But there's a lot of meat on
the bone in all three phases. So we got to
go back to work and uh, you know, make sure
we correct all the little things.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
But very proud of the guys.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Jack he takes through the last throw.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
When he saw there.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
You know, I told Speedy ever since, you know, beginning
of the season that he's going to make his mark.
And you know, every single day, every single game, he's
always doing the dirty work.
Speaker 7 (24:06):
He's always doing everything right.
Speaker 8 (24:07):
And you know, when I saw him manned up and
coach O'Connell gave us, you know, that confidence to go
convert on that play, I knew it was meant to
be and I knew it was his moment, and you know,
the offensive line did a tremendous job of holding up
and he did a tremendous job of bringing it down reaction.
To be honest with you, it was just starting my operation,
(24:29):
starting my thought process.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
You know in those moments. You know, I think clutch
is a myth.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
It's just all about how can you execute that individual
play regardless of the circumstances. Those are things outside of
our control. So it was just about the basics.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
I wanted to mean, you to be back here in
Michigan and playing in the speed game that you came
back from.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Your rest meant a lot. I love this state.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
You know, I've shed a lot of blood and tears
in this state. And you know, there's so many relationships
that I built over the three years that I was
at Michigan. And seeing some of those faces and making
those you know, connecting interactions is you know, really special.
And you know, I'm just tremendously grateful for Michigan faithful,
and tremendously grateful for all the Vikings fans back at home,
(25:11):
because I know they were cheering for us.
Speaker 7 (25:13):
I know they were.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
Believing in us, and it means the absolute world to us,
and we're gonna give us, give it our all every
single week for you guys back home.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
When you guys were talking that you said, we're going
to make some people up today.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
How important was that for you?
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Not only personally but for the team and against the
promotional one.
Speaker 8 (25:30):
I just think, you know, even after today, we haven't
scratched the surface of our potential. And you know, this
team is so talented, but the most important thing is
we love each other. You know, every single one of us, coaches, players, staff,
we have this tight bond that you know is something
very hard to achieve and you can't buy. And you know,
it's just one of those things where you know it's
gonna click and we're gonna peak at some point, but
(25:51):
we're not there yet, and you know, we're just focusing
on our process and trying to strive for perfection every
single day.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Jag, you won't win.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
Into the meeting last night, Kevin Donald said that there
was a conversation beginning between him and the captain just
about what was going to go into the week, But
what went into it for you? What you want to
say to the team, and what was the whole seem
like for you as a captain.
Speaker 8 (26:12):
I thought it was a great idea by coach O'Connell
and for me, my message was simple.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
And I've been sleeping in my.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
College bed for the past you know, a few weeks
with a little roam my kid and getting my sleep,
and you know, I just couldn't sleep, and you know,
it felt like I was catching this glare from the
silver platter with a juicy opportunity right on top of it.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
And you know, that's what I told the guys.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
You know, this opportunity is something that we've been asking
for and praying for ever since we started, you know,
wearing pads, and you know, it's just a realization that
you know, put everything into this moment, put everything into
that this game, and you know, we'll see where we
end up.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
The fact that you haven't played in so long and
you come out.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Doesn't seem to be any of us or think sharp.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You could touchdowns in your first two drives.
Speaker 7 (26:57):
The rest of.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Where's the let me get back into the rhythm of
the game kind of thing.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
It's just executing ball plays.
Speaker 8 (27:05):
You know, at the end of the day, I think
we handled my high ankle screen a tremendous way, and
you know, thanks to the athletic training staff, thanks to
coach O'Connell and his perspective. I'm dealing with that because
I felt like I went out there one hundred percent
today and you know, just back where I left off
and you know, like I said before, it's just about
executing plays, not getting into a rhythm, just you know,
(27:25):
do whatever coach asks.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
College.
Speaker 7 (27:28):
Yeah, I'm packing, just you know, getting that quality sleep.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You know.
Speaker 8 (27:32):
Yeah, Romy's a tremendous baby, but you know, babies love
to cry in the middle of the night.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
So yeah, what did you think of your performing today?
Speaker 8 (27:41):
You know, Uh, I'm happy that we got the win,
but I'm not proud, to be honest with you. There's
a lot of meat on the bone and I feel
like I could have played a lot better. But coming
into this environment and you know, controlling my emotions, controlling
you know, kind of my temperament going into it.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
I was proud of that, and just a line of
scrimmage procedure.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
You know, we didn't have too many self inflicted, but
there's something that we need to clean up. And you know,
there's a lot I need to clean up, like the
one is speedy, Like I got to put that ball
out in front of them.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
Like one.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
And there's a lot of opportunities where I was on
the run that I just need to get those reps
back again, and you know, not be so amped and
you know, miss some of those guys high. So there's
a lot that I need to clean up. But I'm
happy the boys had my back today and extremely grateful.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Ones on the run, are you saying or do you
think you should have kept running? Are you just saying
you wish you had more accurate throws or what? Like? What?
I just wish I hit them.
Speaker 8 (28:26):
You know, there's a when you're running, you build up
so much momentum that if you try to throw the
ball the same way when you're not moving, then it's.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
Gonna fly up.
Speaker 8 (28:34):
So you know, just little things like that, and uh,
you know, getting more experience with those situations.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Being back in Michigan, Can you tell us who went
into wear that shirt in this game in the stadium,
in the state just a mentality.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
You know, shed a lot of blood and sweat and
tears here, and you know, just I'm a Michigan man,
and through and through I love this state. I love
you know, everything that went into kind of cultivating and
crafting who I am as an individual, who I am
as a football player, And uh yeah, it's just you know,
something that I wanted to show tribute to and a
(29:07):
lot of.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Things those who are familiar.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
Can you just take us for what it means.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Like where it came from.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Yeah, it was just coach Harbaugh's idea.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
I don't know how many games you have to play
to earn one, but you know, it's just the blue
collar mentality going to work, regardless of where it is,
regardless of the situation, regardless of the circumstances. We're just
going there to do our job and you know, take
care of business.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
What was your reaction when you got back to the
lockerroom Just it was awesome.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Yeah, it's just when you're when you're hurt.
Speaker 8 (29:43):
You know, being on i R last year and being
out for five weeks absolutely kills me. Not being out
there with those guys because I love every single one
of them and you know, I know they got my
back and I got there the rest of the way.
Speaker 6 (29:56):
As you're thinking through that this week, when if you've
missed time and the team's lost the in a row,
how do you kind of balance the emotions of that
part of the season with just saying it is just
executing football plays.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
How do you kind of hold those two things together.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
It's just being present, you know, understanding that you know
there's like the three and four whatever the schedule was
before this next game doesn't matter like that doesn't come
into play until later in the year. So we just
got to focus on the next opportunity, the next challenge
to overcome. And you know it eliminates all anxiety, all nerves,
all outside noise when you just put one foot in
front of the other.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
All right, the Ravens next to the US Bank Stadium.
Justin Jefferson, by the way, at six catches and a touchdown.
Two touchdowns this year for Jefferson, both from McCarthy. But
Jefferson passed Adam Thielen and as the third most catches
in the history of Minnesota Vikings football. And I think
we would be remissed to depart without giving Jalen Nail
(30:51):
or his flowers. I mean, my man had one catch
today for sixteen yards.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
What to do? It won the game? Right, And that's
Paul we talk about.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
We say the phrase coldlood it all the time, and
that's how you have to be in this league. And
you know the Lions are doing that because they're going
and fourth down. But you had to move the chains
one time to put this game away, and you throw
a back shoulder fade to Jalen Naylor, who by the way,
had one thrown behind him earlier that was intercepted, and
he comes through and actually to win this football game,
(31:21):
to put this thing away. What just an amazing, amazing,
cold blooded job by the entire crew.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Great calling the game with you, but had fun. It
was a black versa. We'll be back with.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You at F one hundred point three KFAM calling next
week's game, a home game against the Baltimore Ravens, then
the Bears at us Bank Stadium after that. The Vikings
are undefeated in the NFC North after beating the Detroit Lions,
the reigning division champions, twenty seven to twenty four. Make
sure to stay here at Vikings dot com for what's
(31:52):
going to be wonderful wonderful interviews and stuff like that,
not only from the victory over the line Ins, but
all week up to the Ravens game. That's Vikings dot
Com right where you are. I'm Paul Allen. A nice
job today, Vikes. That's the Minnesota Vikings postgame report provided
by woman.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Thank you for listening.
Hey, it's the Minnesota Vikings postgame report provided by Looman
from Ford Field with Pete Bursich.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm Paul Allen.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
The Minnesota Vikings snapped a five game losing streak to
the Detroit Lions, and they came on the road after
getting healthy, led by JJ McCarthy, and they left with
the money. McCarthy two touchdown passes, one to Jefferson, the
other to Hockinson. McCarthy also ran in a touchdown for
the second time this season. And funny what happens when
(00:48):
you get your best players healthy. You got Christian Darris
on Brian O'Neill, both healthy for the offensive line the
Minnesota moving company. But defensively, Andrew van Ginkele returned, so
for the first time since the victory at Soldier Field,
you had Van Ginkell, Grenard and Cashman together. Think it
made a difference.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, it absolutely did. And it's not just Van Ginkle.
I mean he does so many things away from the
ball and away from the play that make this defense better.
But the ability now to have Van Ginkole kind of
you know, in and out you rotate in Dallas Turner,
you got Eric Wilson playing inside he's playing outside. Ivan
Pace got in there, you know, Cashman got in there.
(01:29):
So so many different lineback I mean, just the personnel,
the different combinations of personnel on defense kept Jared Goff
off of his game poll. I mean, this is a
timing offense and he is one of the best in
the league at doing so. A seventy six percent completion percentage. Yeah,
going into going into this game against the Vikings in
(01:50):
his last five we kept them off. We kept him
off all he's missing throws that we you know, we
hadn't seen. And you know, this is a game, Paul,
that you circle on the map and said, this is it.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
You know, it's a tough one, but it's on the road.
The whole thing.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
How about the adversity and then the negativity and going
into this game where we were, how we looked on
Thursday night against the Chargers and oh, by the way,
it doesn't get any easier because you got to go
to Detroit play them at home, coming off the buy
that so much is in their favor They were eight
and a half point favorites going into this one, right,
and my heavens for us to be able to come
(02:28):
in here and upset the Lions. What else can't this
team do? I mean, I think if anything, it proves
that when we're firing on all cylinders, when we're being physical,
especially on defense, Paul, we were so physical today. We
ran the ball for more yardage than we threw the
ball for today. So that's physical right there. The physicality
(02:49):
is back on this team. And when we are, wow,
does it open up a lot?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, let me ask you this question.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
At the end of the broadcast on KFAM, you said
that this is the biggest or let's say, most significant
regular season win since Kevin O'Connell became the coach. Here
now we're gonna hear from the coach coming up shortly.
Why'd you say that?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Because because of all those things, Paul, I mean, so
much was flying in the face. I mean, what's stuck
in my memory was just the end of last year.
You come out of You played Detroit until until the
beginning of the fourth quarter. It's a it's a it's
a tight game, it's a one score game, and then
the fourth quarter things go sideways. Then you go out
to Arizona to play the Rams after they had to
(03:30):
move and we weren't in it. The whole the whole game,
and it was kind of like that same feeling of
we you know, we barely we could have beaten the
Philadelphia Eagles, right, we were a player two away. And
then the game out against the Chargers, what happens there?
We were you know, we were I mean that was
a defeat, that was a physical defeat. And so what's next?
(03:55):
Plus you're going into the toughest place to mean, the
Lions have played three games here, Paul, and they've won
each won by fifteen points or more. I mean, it's
it's it's insane how well this team has played here
and to come in here and disrupt all that with
a quarterback who's getting only his third start in his career. Oh,
by the way, Dan Campbell owen three versus quarterbacks in
their first three.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I wanted to get that about the call because you
can be like Aaron Jones before he left, how he
really provided a spark. Michigan native Eric Wilson had a
two sack game, Blake Cashman had fourteen tackles. But you know,
the most significant statistical wherewithal that indicates why the Minnesota
Vikings won today is because Dan Campbell is oh in
three lifetime against quarterbacks who have started three or fewer times.
(04:39):
That would be justin Field's Bailey Zappi and JJ McCarthy.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And another thing is the Lions are now two two
and one coming out of the by the Dan Campbell
here right, this is the first home game coming out
of the buy. I mean, so much was in Detroit's
favor today and you know the odds market side eight
and a half point underdogs coming into this.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I mean, what the ability to motivate this team, right?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
And you heard it from like Grenard during the week
about how they just don't like Detroit and it's okay
to not like your rival. It's okay, it's not personal. Right,
twenty years from now, you guys all get together and
have fun. But right now they're taking this thing personally.
And the way we shut down the run, Paul, I mean,
they had sixty five yards of.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Rush twenty five in the first half. We gave up.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We gave up almost as many yards to Herbert last week,
last Thursday, he had sixty two or sixty three alone,
and we gave up against this bunch, against this group,
only only sixty five yards. I mean, what a tremendous outing.
I think Javon Hargrave, all those guys up front played better.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And in fairness to the Lions, they they lost their
left and right guards during the game to injury. Taylor Decker,
their left tackle, left and came back all right. But
I mean, it's that's just how football goes. And you know,
it's it's nothing on which to lament for a Minnesota
Vikings team that has had sixteen or seventeen different offensive
line combinations this year. It's not even like see, it
(06:10):
ain't easy to get around this. It's not even that.
But the bottom line is, when you're analyzing or breaking
down football, if you think that for a well oiled
machine like this Lion's offense, you're gonna lose two key
cogs on the MotorCity Moving Company and it's just gonna
zip up and down the field. Na, they learned today
what O'Connell and the Vikings offense have been dealing with
(06:32):
all year.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Right in, this offensive line was intact for a good
portion of this football game. So it wasn't like they
came in here, you know, suffering, you know, suffering from injuries.
So the defensive front, Paul the entire game, regardless of
who was in there. We said Javon Hargraves name more
than we've said in a long long time. Jonathan Allen
(06:53):
kind of all over the place, Jalen Redman, how about
him continuing to just just get after the quarterback for
the for each in that last drive we had a
three man rush. We've been blitzing, sending linebackers getting after golf,
making their running backs protect. We give them that look
and then drop everybody out. Van Ginko comes on an
(07:14):
underneath stunt, Jalen Redman just loops around him and it's
it's a sack for Redmond. I mean, that type of
twist in the defensive game plan is brilliant, and not
only that it has.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
To be executed, it was executed flawlessly. I I'm just proud.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I'm actually proud of these guys and what they were
able to do today.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And you know, and shushed down all They was an
absolute bunch.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Paul.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
I'll put myself in that category too, because I'm talking
about all the challenges and all the things that do
not point our way going into this football game. But
at the end of all of that, if you come
out of here with the victory, it changes everything, right,
who's secure?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Who's going to win this division? Right now? Green Bay
just lost a home that's good to work. Yeah, we
just beat Detroit. This thing is wide opened. Yep. Right now,
your Vikes are two and zero in the division.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
By the way, Kevin O'Connell won for the first time
at ford Field, oh and three into it, one and
three out of it. And what's strange for Kevin is
at Lambeau and Soldier Field six and one. Couldn't get
a win at ford Field, but he did today. And
let's hear from the reigning coach of the year.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
All right, you come to this place, you know it's
a tough place to come win.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
I'm just really proud of our guys.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Proud of them from the beginning of the week till now.
Be very easy to just kind of succumb to some
of the you know, some of the aspects of this
league when when things aren't going your way, and this
team just does not do that. Two and oh in
the NFC North and just aerted a very hard fought,
you know, total team win with doing a lot of
(08:54):
the things that we thought that it would take to
win the game from a standpoint of things that we.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Talked about all week, and it was not perfect.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
There's a lot of things we can clean up, and
simple execution here there might allowed us to you know,
win this game without needing to kind of close it
out at the end. But always feels like games, you know,
are close versus this team for the better part of
these football games. And got a lot of respect for them,
a lot of respect for their players and their coaching staff.
So we know that it's going to be a sixty
(09:23):
minute battle and we were able to make play there
at the end to you know, not give them the
ball back one last time. But a lot of guys
I could highlight individually, but really just the nature of
this team win the nature of blocking a field goal
to essentially win the turnover battle on the day, winning
you know, winning the rushing battle against a very physical
team on both sides of the ball, and then finding
(09:45):
a way to put the ball on the end zone
enough when we got down.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
There, you know, was a was a big thing.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Would allowed to punch it in there late when we
got down there, real tight, but they made a stop
there and we were able to still get the three
to make it a.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Ten point game.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
Ownes will you know, came out of the game there, uh,
you know, evaluated for I believe his shoulder in a toe.
We'll see where he's at. Hope to get hope to
get some good news on Aaron. But I thought it
was a big thing to have him back on the
field with us. And in regard to our young quarterback,
I mean there's you know, we we saw, you.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Know, a lot of the things that he's capable of.
Speaker 5 (10:21):
Doing, and we we saw some things that has his
you know, he continues his ascension and his growth.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
He will only get better and better.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
But there's you know two and O on the road
in the NFC North with him making some critical critical
place for.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Us to win the game. And we'll all keep improving.
Starts with me.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We got to go right back to work and host
a really good team next week at US Bank Stadium.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
But really proud of our team.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Can't say enough about them, the leadership, our captains, the
vibe of the team under difficult circumstances to come on.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
The road and get a win.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
And now we will move on to the next what
do you think start there? Yeah, you know, we tried
to have a plan that you know he could he can.
We tried to get him into a rhythm. I thought,
you know, he was really decisive. He made some nice
throws early in the game. I thought the throw to
j A on third down when they were doubling Jefferson
was a off someome pocket movement kind of kept his
(11:16):
base and give Jay a chance to make that play.
I'm sure there's plenty more, but just the feel of
him playing quarterback, mixed with his athleticism protected himself a
couple of times when he did, you know, steal us
some yardage, got us in the end zone again on
a critical third and goal from I believe the nine.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
And then you know, just just his presence.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
You know, he's a he's a young player in a
in a heck of an environment today. Really he's had
three starts, two of which and you know, very difficult
road environments. And his poise in running the show I
thought was matched by him making some big time throws.
And there's always gonna be some things that we can
go back and correct and but you know, really proud
(11:58):
of the way he competed and battled to day. And
then you know, the last throw to Jayalen Naylor. We
were in a similar situation against them a year ago
at home the first time we played them, and we
were able to make the play and speed.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
He made an unbelievable catch there.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
It looks like in a one on one situation, and
JJ made one of the best throws of the day
when we absolutely needed it.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
I'm gonna play. Did you mentioned last year's game must
have adain so yeah, in that this particular situation made
the trusts. Yeah, I think it's just total team trust.
Total team trust.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
If you know, we're gonna try to end the game
if we can, if we feel like there's a play
there to to go.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
Try to do that.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
And I think just the execution level of our guys
when we absolutely had it, absolutely needed.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
It was critical.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
And my confidence level, regardless of the circumstances of the season,
I boil it down to one opportunity and that game
is sixty minutes, and I tell our guys all the time,
from the first play to the last, we just need
to have the competitive stamina to continue to hold up
and do the things required to beat good football teams,
(13:09):
and this is certainly one of them here in Detroit.
And we know we'll see him again at our place
late in the year.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Attacking single covers the way he did, what led.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
To his decisive us to get to those spots and
see the opportunities a couple of type ros there.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, I think what it
was is, you know, we saw Jay, you know, Justin
Jefferson warrants a lot of attention and depending on the
down and distance, depending on the situation. I thought they
called a good game to try to limit his impact.
That's where you'd love to get a little bit more
catch and run on some of those plays when when
he does win and get open, specifically on the early downs,
(13:47):
but whether it's the Naylor play at the end, you know,
Addison's early third down catch, some other ones that you
know JJ was able to make to move the football
and give us that new set of downs, give us
that chance to re establish the run game and just
do things that, you know, do things that finding the coverage,
finding the open guy, finding the void and vacancy. I
(14:09):
thought he had a nice zone snap, you know, when
Justin was in the backfield, he progressed and found Jordan
Adison ran a great route over the top of that
there was just examples of it. We didn't have a
ton of plays. What did we end up with? I
think fifty you know, fifty nine plays. You know, you'd
love to you'd love to get that number a little higher,
and I think with a little cleaner execution.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
We could get there.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
But between the blockfield goal and the Harrison Smith fumble recovery,
what I loved was the complimentary nature of that with
a total that shows you got a totally connected team
to make that play and then find a way to
get points for sure off those drives, including you know,
obviously JJ's touchdown run on a pretty weighty third and nine.
There some third down the fourth quarter out of the goal
(14:53):
of my every car freaking field goal and JJ goros out.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Yeah, TJ. Hopkinson's getting getting out on a out.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
We're trying to ran a similar concept on the early
first down play, tried to be physical and then and
they made a stop actually I think lost a.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
Half yard on that play.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
And then you know, got one on one coverage for
Justin on the second down play, and I thought they
just made a play, you know, tough, tough cover out
there kind of on an island and uh and and
they made a play. And then on third down, just
seeing if we can give JJ that run pass option
kind of a traditional, you know, heavy grouping goal line
type of play, and and and wanted to make sure
(15:31):
we ensured the field goal at that point, but still
be aggressive to the point if it was a little tighter,
maybe you can get a run off, but they're selling
out to stop the run.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
And and they were able.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
To cover TJ and really kind of looked like he
got held up trying to get out of there.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
It's really a one man show with full cell there.
Speaker 5 (15:47):
But but yeah, I would love to score a touchdown
there and and really put the game away.
Speaker 7 (15:53):
Looked very decisive and did you was at a point
of emphasis getting.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Off the best start to.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Get the Yeah, I mean nothing's easy in the NFL.
So even plays where you know, he looked decisive, that's
just him playing the position and and finding completions. And
you know, like I said, I thought that early Jordan
Adison conversion was a big time play on a on
a third down.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
And then just as the game went.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
On, you feel a little bit of the normal kind
of ebbs and flows of a game where if you know,
I think he will continue to learn to just stay
totally you know, present and and and level in each
moment and just continue to work and make up for
a lot of lost time in these situations to be
able to just consistently do his job with technique fundamentals.
(16:38):
How accurate can we be when guys get on edges
versus man coverage? How how decisive can we be check
the ball down? I remember early on in the game
to Aaron Jones on a you know, a play where
we got zone coverage and and just production can look
a lot of different ways from the quarterback position, and
it's not always the exciting plays here and there, but
(16:58):
those will come up from time to time. But you
just can't make it one when it doesn't present itself
that way.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
And that's playing quarterback.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
And I think just his overall demeanor is such a
positive throughout the game. He just seems to you know,
if anything, you know, sometimes you know, he gets really excited,
he's competitive.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
This guy's a.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Winner, and he's now twice this year, really found ways
to win, you know, under some unique circumstances on the
road in the NFC North, this is a tough place
to come play.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
A sin said that a bunch of the captains talked
last night a year. What did you take out of that?
Speaker 5 (17:33):
What did you think of Yeah, I had met with
a lot of those guys early on in the week,
and you know, my meeting on Monday, you.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Know, was hopeful. I was hopeful to set the tone for.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
The week, and it was a long meeting, and I
told them at the end of that meeting, this might
be the last time you guys here for me. I lied,
because I did start the meeting last night. But the
captains were very adamant. They just wanted to make sure
that everybody heard, all eight of them individually stand up
and deliver messages of encouragement of what we've built here,
the things that matter from a standpoint of what's in
(18:07):
that locker room, culturally, and ultimately, you know, just find
a way to have the performance needed, whatever that was today,
sticking to the principles that we thought were important to
win the game, but then collectively doing a lot of
things out there at a high level.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
For the guy next to you.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
It's a cliche, but you know, when players deliver that message,
some cases emotionally, some cases with some fiery context to it.
You know, we were you know, there's a lot of
folks that wanted to play the game last night. We
just had to wait until one o'clock today.
Speaker 8 (18:38):
Definitively what we're able to do to go off and give,
you know, off of what they've been doing most of.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
Yeah, I thought I thought the line of scrimmage was big,
you know, our defensive line, our edge players having Andrew
van ginkel Back, the physicality that they played with up
front of loud guys like Cashman and e b to
you know, go make a lot of tackles, make a
lot of plays.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I thought there was knock back.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
It wasn't always you know, you know, floated a really
good job mixing it up, but it wasn't always scheme.
It was a lot of guys defeating blocks, not getting
knocked back, trying.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
To stop the run early. And then I thought we
did a good job.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
And I know they you know, as the game went on,
they had some tough, tough injuries that that we've experienced
kind of all season long of just having to kind
of figure it out with some guys down the line
on the old line. But I thought the pressure, I
thought we'd moved Jared off the spot a little bit.
He's as good as anybody in the National Football League
if he can stay clean all day long. And I
thought we were able to move him off the spot
and affect some place. Even when they made some plays,
(19:37):
it was, you know, we tried to make it hard
on them, and then you know they're gonna keep competing.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You know they're gonna make some plays.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
They got some really good players over there, and it
just felt like our guys just kept playing and continuing
to just press onward and find a way to win the.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Game against you still have a game. Yeah, it was
just a mixture. It was a mixture.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
It was a lot of showing uh, pressure and kind
of varying up the looks from there, showing man to
man and playing some other things out of it.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
And I just thought the.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Plan on both sides that the coaching staff put together
was the right plan to win this game. They're each
their own and we're gonna have to do the same
thing next week and on from there. And and we've
certainly got a lot to build on, a lot of
things we can clean up to play even tighter and
and and play even more consistent as a football team.
But still complimentary when we need to respond to the adversity,
(20:32):
slipping here and there or activating the momentum changing. It's
all part of football. I mean we talk about a
lot of things sometimes and and rightly so. And that
locker room, you know is I absolutely love these players.
I love this team. I love our coaching staff. And
in weeks like this where you know, in many cases
it can it can go one way or the other.
(20:53):
And there wasn't a moment all week despite some of
the things going on and some of the things that
maybe we're tempting to kind of hang that hang that
left they they stayed together all the way through and
found a way to get us back to five hundred
and to and on the division. Yeah, I mean Miles
Prices continues to show up. You know, I thought you
(21:14):
would have loved to get that would have loved to
get that that touchdown there. Uh, they got a holding
call there, and we'll have to take a look at it.
What we can coach better to clean up our technique.
And because Miles is going to give us a chance.
I mean I think he had one hundred and sixty
four uh return yards, which all those field position plays,
all those times where we can flip the field. And
(21:35):
then I thought, even though it wasn't, you know, super
exciting in the fantasy football world, I thought the win
like the field position. It just felt like outside of
that one sequence where we were backed up and then
gave them a short field, it felt like for the
majority of the game we had the field position where
we wanted to allow, you know, allow our defense to
go out and get a stop or that turnover.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
With that that drive started backed up, got.
Speaker 5 (21:55):
Him into a third and long, and and we were
able to kind of get the punch out there, something
we work a lot at and hopefully start seeing more
and more of that show up on Sundays.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I know, you really liked the way Kevin mixed it
up along with the offensive coordinator Wes Phillips early in
the game using Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The way they were.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
I mean, it's the Lions came out keeping the Vikings
defense off balance three catches sixty six yards in a
touchdown with Sam Laporta. I mean, they just put eighty
seven right on you and said go ahead and stop it.
Vikings didn't at that point. Yeah, O'Connell did the same
thing with Aaron Jones.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Yes, he did. I mean, Aaron Jones was a shot
in the arm of this offense. Early.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
We got a couple of short fields and we were
able to capitalize it. But it's just the you know,
the Jets sweep to Jordan Addison, yes, right, some of
the bootlegs, the throwbacks, the quick screens. I mean, everything
that they did today worked and it was so well designed.
I was getting, you know, a little bit not nervous
per se, but just they when they were on the
(22:54):
script early on in the game.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Man, it was boom boom, boom, boom boom.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Right, fourteen points and then things kind of calmed down
a little bit. But then we made those adjustments at
halftime and you continue to put points on the board.
And for JJ McCarthy, a couple of you know, a
lot of mistakes in hand in the football off if
tim or the running buster.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
We were able to get through all of that.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
McCarthy finishes fourteen to twenty five, three, two touchdowns and
a pick. He also ran for a touchdown. After the game,
he had this to say.
Speaker 8 (23:22):
Good to see you all as always, tremendous victory, obviously
coming here on the road against a great division opponent.
You know, getting to win in any which way possible
as you know, something that we were searching going into
this one. But just want to say how proud I
am of the defense, the offensive line, the special teams,
and the offense. Like we really played very well on
(23:42):
all three phases. But there's a lot of meat on
the bone in all three phases. So we got to
go back to work and uh, you know, make sure
we correct all the little things.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
But very proud of the guys.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Jack he takes through the last throw.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
When he saw there.
Speaker 8 (23:55):
You know, I told Speedy ever since, you know, beginning
of the season that he's going to make his mark.
And you know, every single day, every single game, he's
always doing the dirty work.
Speaker 7 (24:06):
He's always doing everything right.
Speaker 8 (24:07):
And you know, when I saw him manned up and
coach O'Connell gave us, you know, that confidence to go
convert on that play, I knew it was meant to
be and I knew it was his moment, and you know,
the offensive line did a tremendous job of holding up
and he did a tremendous job of bringing it down reaction.
To be honest with you, it was just starting my operation,
(24:29):
starting my thought process.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
You know in those moments. You know, I think clutch
is a myth.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
It's just all about how can you execute that individual
play regardless of the circumstances. Those are things outside of
our control. So it was just about the basics.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
I wanted to mean, you to be back here in
Michigan and playing in the speed game that you came
back from.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Your rest meant a lot. I love this state.
Speaker 8 (24:50):
You know, I've shed a lot of blood and tears
in this state. And you know, there's so many relationships
that I built over the three years that I was
at Michigan. And seeing some of those faces and making
those you know, connecting interactions is you know, really special.
And you know, I'm just tremendously grateful for Michigan faithful,
and tremendously grateful for all the Vikings fans back at home,
(25:11):
because I know they were cheering for us.
Speaker 7 (25:13):
I know they were.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
Believing in us, and it means the absolute world to us,
and we're gonna give us, give it our all every
single week for you guys back home.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
When you guys were talking that you said, we're going
to make some people up today.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
How important was that for you?
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Not only personally but for the team and against the
promotional one.
Speaker 8 (25:30):
I just think, you know, even after today, we haven't
scratched the surface of our potential. And you know, this
team is so talented, but the most important thing is
we love each other. You know, every single one of us, coaches, players, staff,
we have this tight bond that you know is something
very hard to achieve and you can't buy. And you know,
it's just one of those things where you know it's
gonna click and we're gonna peak at some point, but
(25:51):
we're not there yet, and you know, we're just focusing
on our process and trying to strive for perfection every
single day.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Jag, you won't win.
Speaker 6 (25:57):
Into the meeting last night, Kevin Donald said that there
was a conversation beginning between him and the captain just
about what was going to go into the week, But
what went into it for you? What you want to
say to the team, and what was the whole seem
like for you as a captain.
Speaker 8 (26:12):
I thought it was a great idea by coach O'Connell
and for me, my message was simple.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
And I've been sleeping in my.
Speaker 8 (26:17):
College bed for the past you know, a few weeks
with a little roam my kid and getting my sleep,
and you know, I just couldn't sleep, and you know,
it felt like I was catching this glare from the
silver platter with a juicy opportunity right on top of it.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
And you know, that's what I told the guys.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
You know, this opportunity is something that we've been asking
for and praying for ever since we started, you know,
wearing pads, and you know, it's just a realization that
you know, put everything into this moment, put everything into
that this game, and you know, we'll see where we
end up.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
The fact that you haven't played in so long and
you come out.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Doesn't seem to be any of us or think sharp.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
You could touchdowns in your first two drives.
Speaker 7 (26:57):
The rest of.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Where's the let me get back into the rhythm of
the game kind of thing.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
It's just executing ball plays.
Speaker 8 (27:05):
You know, at the end of the day, I think
we handled my high ankle screen a tremendous way, and
you know, thanks to the athletic training staff, thanks to
coach O'Connell and his perspective. I'm dealing with that because
I felt like I went out there one hundred percent
today and you know, just back where I left off
and you know, like I said before, it's just about
executing plays, not getting into a rhythm, just you know,
(27:25):
do whatever coach asks.
Speaker 4 (27:27):
College.
Speaker 7 (27:28):
Yeah, I'm packing, just you know, getting that quality sleep.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
You know.
Speaker 8 (27:32):
Yeah, Romy's a tremendous baby, but you know, babies love
to cry in the middle of the night.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
So yeah, what did you think of your performing today?
Speaker 8 (27:41):
You know, Uh, I'm happy that we got the win,
but I'm not proud, to be honest with you. There's
a lot of meat on the bone and I feel
like I could have played a lot better. But coming
into this environment and you know, controlling my emotions, controlling
you know, kind of my temperament going into it.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
I was proud of that, and just a line of
scrimmage procedure.
Speaker 8 (27:57):
You know, we didn't have too many self inflicted, but
there's something that we need to clean up. And you know,
there's a lot I need to clean up, like the
one is speedy, Like I got to put that ball
out in front of them.
Speaker 7 (28:05):
Like one.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
And there's a lot of opportunities where I was on
the run that I just need to get those reps
back again, and you know, not be so amped and
you know, miss some of those guys high. So there's
a lot that I need to clean up. But I'm
happy the boys had my back today and extremely grateful.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
Ones on the run, are you saying or do you
think you should have kept running? Are you just saying
you wish you had more accurate throws or what? Like? What?
I just wish I hit them.
Speaker 8 (28:26):
You know, there's a when you're running, you build up
so much momentum that if you try to throw the
ball the same way when you're not moving, then it's.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
Gonna fly up.
Speaker 8 (28:34):
So you know, just little things like that, and uh,
you know, getting more experience with those situations.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Being back in Michigan, Can you tell us who went
into wear that shirt in this game in the stadium,
in the state just a mentality.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
You know, shed a lot of blood and sweat and
tears here, and you know, just I'm a Michigan man,
and through and through I love this state. I love
you know, everything that went into kind of cultivating and
crafting who I am as an individual, who I am
as a football player, And uh yeah, it's just you know,
something that I wanted to show tribute to and a
(29:07):
lot of.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
Things those who are familiar.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
Can you just take us for what it means.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Like where it came from.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
Yeah, it was just coach Harbaugh's idea.
Speaker 8 (29:16):
I don't know how many games you have to play
to earn one, but you know, it's just the blue
collar mentality going to work, regardless of where it is,
regardless of the situation, regardless of the circumstances. We're just
going there to do our job and you know, take
care of business.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
What was your reaction when you got back to the
lockerroom Just it was awesome.
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Yeah, it's just when you're when you're hurt.
Speaker 8 (29:43):
You know, being on i R last year and being
out for five weeks absolutely kills me. Not being out
there with those guys because I love every single one
of them and you know, I know they got my
back and I got there the rest of the way.
Speaker 6 (29:56):
As you're thinking through that this week, when if you've
missed time and the team's lost the in a row,
how do you kind of balance the emotions of that
part of the season with just saying it is just
executing football plays.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
How do you kind of hold those two things together.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
It's just being present, you know, understanding that you know
there's like the three and four whatever the schedule was
before this next game doesn't matter like that doesn't come
into play until later in the year. So we just
got to focus on the next opportunity, the next challenge
to overcome. And you know it eliminates all anxiety, all nerves,
all outside noise when you just put one foot in
front of the other.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
All right, the Ravens next to the US Bank Stadium.
Justin Jefferson, by the way, at six catches and a touchdown.
Two touchdowns this year for Jefferson, both from McCarthy. But
Jefferson passed Adam Thielen and as the third most catches
in the history of Minnesota Vikings football. And I think
we would be remissed to depart without giving Jalen Nail
(30:51):
or his flowers. I mean, my man had one catch
today for sixteen yards.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
What to do? It won the game? Right, And that's
Paul we talk about.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
We say the phrase coldlood it all the time, and
that's how you have to be in this league. And
you know the Lions are doing that because they're going
and fourth down. But you had to move the chains
one time to put this game away, and you throw
a back shoulder fade to Jalen Naylor, who by the way,
had one thrown behind him earlier that was intercepted, and
he comes through and actually to win this football game,
(31:21):
to put this thing away. What just an amazing, amazing,
cold blooded job by the entire crew.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Great calling the game with you, but had fun. It
was a black versa. We'll be back with.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You at F one hundred point three KFAM calling next
week's game, a home game against the Baltimore Ravens, then
the Bears at us Bank Stadium after that. The Vikings
are undefeated in the NFC North after beating the Detroit Lions,
the reigning division champions, twenty seven to twenty four. Make
sure to stay here at Vikings dot com for what's
(31:52):
going to be wonderful wonderful interviews and stuff like that,
not only from the victory over the line Ins, but
all week up to the Ravens game. That's Vikings dot
Com right where you are. I'm Paul Allen. A nice
job today, Vikes. That's the Minnesota Vikings postgame report provided
by woman.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Thank you for listening.
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