September 23, 2021 • 21 mins
On this edition of X's and O's with Mike Zimmer and Voice of the Vikings Paul Allen preview the game against the Seahawks on Sunday and WRs coach Keenan McCardell joins the show.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's right for x Is and Old with Vikings head
coach Mike Zimmer onto the Minnesota Vikings Radio network now
from the TCO studios in Egan. Here is no Voice
of the Vikings Paul Ellen Seattle at us Bank Stadium.
KREE twenty five is the next game to the Minnesota Vikings.
Mike Zimmer, head coach joins us now in the Arizona game,
(00:28):
Harris and Smith up the middle late. I mean, did
you have that in your back pocket for like how long?
I mean, I can't remember seeing I've seen him threaten
the a gap, but he came and he got through. Yeah,
And when's the last time you around that? Last year?
Probably go there, do you not want to share? Yeah?
It was last year. Yeah, But I mean it's what
(00:50):
a wonderful call at that time of the game. Then
for him to get through and Kyler off his back
leg when you when you send that many people in
the middle of the field becomes open like like what's
supposed to happen on the back end to make sure
Christian Kirk doesn't catch it. Well, you're hope, you're hoping
that it gets a quick throw. Um, you know, he
he drifted back about ten yards and Alley ooped it
(01:13):
to the middle of which the same as Russell Wilson
will do as well. You know he's done that in
the past. He did against Tennessee when a zero Blitzton. So, um,
you know, I wish I would had that call back,
but we did a great job in the red zone
of stopping him there anyway, So you wish you had
the call back even though Harrison got through and was
an inch from hitting him. Yeah, well we didn't. You know,
I got you end up being a big play and
(01:34):
then but we still were able to We did a
great job in the red zone after that. Um, you know,
so we still held him three points With Daniel Hunter,
is he not getting doubled much or what I mean?
Four sacks you know, and I recognize off the layoff
is going to be a process. Fewer plays at Arizona
than Cincinnati, but four sacks and the acceleration at the
(01:56):
end when he ran down Kyler was good. Yeah, he
did a great job. Uh you know, one time the
tight end try to block him, my belief, and then
one time the tackle, Uh he beat the tackle and
came off and Kyler kind of um scramble a little bit,
but he's got you know, long arms and great acceleration.
He's able to add him there at the end. With
the way you put the plays together, you have the
(02:17):
mock game on Saturdays, and then you play the game.
When when you run Dalvin on the first play and
then you get kJ on that long one right in
front of you, were you as wide eyed as the
rest of us with what a great start that was? Yeah,
that was a great start. Um. You know, we're looking
to start fast. Come out of the locker room fast.
That was one of the things we wanted to do
last week. Um, come out of the locker room fast
(02:38):
on defense in the second half, and we intercepted a
pass for a touchdown. UM. So yeah, I mean, you know,
it was great to see Dalvin get get going. Um
and uh you know, um, kJ did a really good
job on the route that he got. We we have
Keenan McCardell coming up a little later. And in the
brief conversation I've had with Keenum by the buses after
(03:01):
the Arizona game, about the only thing, one of the
few things he said about kJ was confidence, you know,
and in second year, the confidence, I guess would be expected,
but he has to be bursting with it now, right. Yeah,
he's made some big time catches. You know, he made
right there before we attempted the field goal. He made
a couple of catches there. You know, he did the
week before and fourth and four in Cincinnati. So yeah,
(03:24):
he's done a really good job with your offensive line.
Having not watched it back critically, not that that matters,
but from what you've seen in that Arizona game me
now watching it back critically, not you. It seems from
Afar like they fought like the Dickens the entire game. Yeah,
they did a great job some of the pressures that
they had. They you know, I thought they did a
great job on cutting off the backside to learn to
(03:45):
allow Dalvin to get some cutback runs in there. We're
good at the point of attack. You know, JJ wats
a guy that doesn't play blocks. He runs up the
field and swims and goes around blocks, and you know,
for the most part, I thought we did a really
good job on that as well. So I know the
bench area is very important to you, and granted you're
managing the entire game, but with Phil Rauscher, now that
(04:06):
we're two regular season games into it, and he's a
new offensive line coach compared to Rick Dennison, you know,
who has done every years with Phil and how he
handles things during the heat of the game. Like, what
are you liking because I would imagine from Cincinnati and
the penalties to what you just said, I mean that
this game is about improvement and that was an improvement. Well,
(04:27):
I think one of the big things Paul. After the
the Cincinnati game, we talked a lot about, Um, you know,
they kind of snuck up on us with some of
that plan that they had. We knew that Arizona was
going to do that, so I thought, number one, they
had a really good plan. Um, we have to continue
to keep working with our technique. You know, I think
(04:47):
you know the first after the first game, our technique
wasn't near as good as it was a second game.
And so you know, when you're preparing for other teams,
you start thinking about what they do and what and
at the end of the day, you still have to
keep working on what you do and how you do
it so that that helps you to be more efficient.
So you just fills on that during the games, just
like handling, Yeah, not so much during the games because
(05:08):
we you know, you do that in practice, you do
that in the film study, you do those things. And
then and then when he gets into the into the game,
you know, it's like, all right, well, this run looks
a lot better against them than this run, or this
protection looks a lot better against them than the other protection.
So I think that part and then you correct the
technique errors and things after the game and during the week.
(05:30):
With the Arizona game again, how how what went into
holding DeAndre Hopkins to zero catches over five zero minutes
fifty minutes? Yeah? I think he had four catches in
the game, right, YEA one was a scramble on the
touchdown the first one. Another one was a glance off
a play action they kind of pumped fake faked the linebacker. Um.
(05:51):
Another one was I think he caught a hitch or
something on the outside. Nothing real big, right and all
in the first ten minutes of the game. Yeah, sou
but that was that, you know, that was one of
our things we want to do. We want to keep him,
you know, off off the stat sheet. Um, you know,
And the unfortunate part was we gave up some big,
big plays and um, so a lot of the receivers
(06:14):
didn't have a lot of catches, but they had some
big plays, and so you know, we have to eliminate
those big plays. So here we go at US Bank Stadium,
XS the nose with Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer Seattle
just envision for a second, third and long for Seattle,
and you're in that building and for the first time
since twenty nineteen in a regular season game, they're back
(06:35):
and they're loud. I mean seriously, how great is that? Yeah,
it's going to be, uh, really outstanding. And the thing
is that they the this is another no huddle offense,
and so the louder that we can be, the louder
that that our fans can be, you know, it makes
it more difficult on defense obviously, but it also makes
it difficult for the offense. But there he does a
(06:55):
lot of checks at the line of scrimmage, He does
a lot of um, you know, changing plays, and so
the louder it can be, even when it's a low
in the in the in the play, you know, yeah,
just any loud as it can possibly be the entire time. Now,
the I love what you said at your Monday press conference,
not defending Greg Joseph, but just kind of opening your
heart about hey, this happens, and he's made these from
(07:17):
fifty and stuff like that. Uh. In this one coming
up Sunday at home, you know in these fans just
love this team. You know, hopefully things go well early,
you know, so they don't get walky and like set
the tone that way because he's the kickers. I mean
it's a cliche and you've seen it more than anybody. Man.
They just the confidence part just odd, it's there. Odd,
it's it's just up and down. Yeah, and you know
(07:40):
the you know so in that in that ball game, Um,
you know he hits two fifty two yarders, hits a
fifty three yarder the week before to get us into
overtime the chance to win the game. Pressure kick, yeah,
big time pressure kick. And this one is you know,
thirty seven yards right down the middle and uh you
know he pushed it a little bit, so, um, you know,
(08:02):
hopefully he'll continue to make all those. You know that
that would have been a great win for us on
the road. Um. You know we've had two road games.
Um we've lost by four points, I guess now to
two games and had opportunities to win both of them. So,
but our team is playing their hearts out. They're fighting
like crazy, They're playing, uh with a lot of emotion
(08:24):
and intensity, and so you know, we got to continue
to that part of it and then these wins will come.
Arizona has so much team speed. Does Seattle try to
beat you otherways? I mean, are they a super fast?
I mean Arizona it was a track meet. It was unbelievable. Yeah. Um, well,
and they were doing so many things. You know, they
they'd have guys halfway out on the numbers and then
they call them back in and then they go out,
(08:47):
and so you know, the personnel groupings were crazy. And
then obviously they have great team speeding out. Now, Seattle's
got great team speed too, you know, um um you
know metcalf metcalf is four to five locket four three six, Um,
you know, they've got a lot of speed. But they
they are. They do run the football. And Russell as
a scrambler. He's not the same kind of scrambler as
(09:09):
as um um Kyler Murray, but he's he's got quickness
and then acceleration. So we're gonna have We're gonna have
to have our hands full there, and you know, do
a great job that Their new offensive coordinator somebody i'd
never heard of, Shane Waldron. Uh, he was at UMass
five years ago. Much um, much different? Is it much
different with Russell and their offense under this coordination compared
(09:33):
to Brian Schottenheimer, which you had schemed against like three
four times. Yeah, I think it's I think it's a
little bit different. It's you know, it's from the RAMS system.
They're gonna have condensed formations. They're gonna run rockets and
and and flashes and um. You know, they'll move, they'll
motion almost every single play. Um, and then they'll run
the boots like uh, like our offense does and like
(09:54):
like uh the Rams do. So we'll get a lot
of those same kind of combinations. And then you know,
you got to defend these these receivers. They got some
great receivers. Now it's it's only through two games, so
still fifteen to go, but they're they're last in the
league in time of possession at twenty two minutes. I
mean that's a really low number. Well, like what's led
to that, Well, there's no hovel a lot of times, right,
(10:15):
and so you know, there's times when they haven't been
real good in some of the some of the third
down situations. They haven't had a lot so they haven't
sustained a lot of drives. But but they're a good
offensive football team. And the other part is, you know
they hit a probably a sixty yarder to lock it
in one ball game, they hit another forty yard or
(10:36):
to lock it. So that's you know, might be one
play series when when you game plan for Russell Wilson,
Aaron Rodgers, Kyler Murray, you know, Burrow super high pick,
you know who he does some good things when when
you book but the HL laps Rogers and Russell Wilson
and stuff. Is that like more stimulating for what you
(10:57):
do or does it give you more of a headache? Um?
Because they really know how to play the game. Yeah,
it's it's a big challenge. You know. I can remember
when we played Brady last year. You know we had
a we had a perfect blitz called and you know
he knows where the where the exits are. I guess
the best way to say it. You know we're going
to hit him and he throws. He knows that. You know,
(11:17):
if he's if we come from this side, he's he's
picked up. If you come from the other side, he's
got to get the ball out. And he does such
a great job there. I think Russell Wilson does a
good job with that as well. The difference is that
he will try to avoid and move and then create
a big play. Same thing with Murray and and a
lot of these guys. But you know, they're hard to fool.
(11:39):
You have to be really on your on your piece
and queues and then uh, you know, you got to
play with great technique and great effort, great luck this weekend,
Welcome Home Home Open Her Sunday. Hopefully you guys win.
Thank you. Mike zimmer Head coach of the Minnesota Vikings
Wide Receivers Coach Keenan McCardell is Next on the KFA
and Minnesota Vikings nex is the Nose on the KFA
(12:02):
and Minnesota Vikings Radio network continues courtesy of the Minnesota Lottery.
Kickoff this Viking season with country music star Dustin Lynch.
He's live at the Commons of US Bank Stadium September
twenty sixth that leads up to the home opener versus Seattle.
The free event is open to the public begins at
ten in the morning, presented by Miller Lite and in
(12:23):
partnership with k one O two. Visit vikings dot com
slash Kickoff for concert details. Happy to chat with Keenan McCardell.
He's the first year wide receivers coach for the Minnesota Vikings,
a four year wide receivers coach with Jacksonville before that,
as a player with a decade and a half plus
in the NFL, two time Super Bowl champion, one with
(12:46):
Washington when he came into the game and the other
with Tampa Bay. And mister McCardell joins us. Now, thank
you very much for the time, and I mean you
can smell the rows. First of all, an apology that
it took me thirty seconds to get through the Keenan
McCardell ormation, but it's also a smell the roses moment.
You're oh and two, So if you needed to smell
the roses for just a second. It's sixteen years you
(13:08):
played in the NFL, right right, seventeen actually, but yep,
seventeen years. Seriously a lot of fun, yes, And I
mean the gigs are hard to find and the lines
are long. To be a National Football League receiver let
alone for seventeen years and very early and in fact,
I think your first year you won a Super Bowl
with Washington, and then and then when the Buccaneers beat
(13:31):
Oakland and rich again and you won that one. So
just m it's a pleasure to chat with you. A
very blessed career and as wide receivers coach. Here, kJ Osborne,
on that second play of the game, you set it
up beautifully with Dalvin and then the next play there
may have been a busted coverage, but you still got
to close on it. kJ Osborne in that play, man,
(13:51):
how excited were you? I was really excited. H you know,
I was standing on a sideline looking at it and
I was like, well maybe maybe, yes, yes it is
They must the courage and uh and kJ went down
the sideline and made a play. I mean, this is
things that he's been doing all training camp, actually since
Mini camp and OTAs he's been doing it, and uh,
(14:12):
he's had he has a lot of confidence right now.
I think he sees his improvement and he's he's ready
to go get even more U you know as the
week goes on. I mean I think he's a guy
that people are really not paying attention to and I
think they should be paying attention to it. You would
know better than anybody. But when you're that wide open,
(14:35):
and and and it's super early in the game, so
everybody's still super adrenaline and excited, that's not the easiest
pass in the world to catch, right, it's not the
easiest passing the worldly catch because you're wide open. Uh.
You know the thing you got to do that is
just make sure you catch the ball first. It doesn't
matter if the defender catches you're not. Just catch the ball.
(14:55):
And he did, and then you know he put on
the after burners and fin to play. I mean, you
know he ran through the tackle at the end. And
you know his shows shows how dynamic he can be.
Seven catches seventy six yards on sixty seven snaps in
the first game at Cincinnati, had a cold blooded hit
to kJ very late before the field goal at the end. Uh.
(15:16):
You worked with DD Westbrook when you were in Jacksonville
and d D coming off an injury returning punts. Now
he's got a little run of wide receiver. But when
he came out of Oklahoma, what did you like about
him as a receiver. But I like that about him
as a receiver. He was super explosive and a dynamic
person for his size. I mean, I think, uh, it's
one reason why he's a returner. You know, when he
(15:38):
has the ball in his hands, good things happen. And
I think, uh, you know, him coming back off the injury,
you know, it's been very, very good. I think he
still feels like he has a little way to go,
and uh, you know, each each game he continues to
gain more and more confidence, and I expect him to
be back, you know, like the old DD real. I mean,
(16:00):
I think you know, as people, if you ever went
through a knee injury, you know, it takes the time
to get used to back of being hit again and
trusting your knee. And I think now, you know, after
last week, you know, I had a good punt return.
He's trusting it, and uh, it's time for him to
get back on his way. So so you've been here
for months now, organized team activities, mini camp, rookie camp,
(16:23):
training camp, about three preseason games, these two regular season
games justin Jefferson. You know now that that because I
you know, would tell anybody who would listen. Last year
at the end of the year, and the fact that
Herbert won the Rookie of the Year by an inch
doesn't offend me. But to be a receiver, and you
would know this better than anybody, keenan with a virtual offseason,
(16:44):
learning depth of route and plays in everything, and then
to go out and go fourteen hundred and seven. Are
you kidding me? It's one of the great accomplishments I've
seen in my twenty years calling games for this team,
especially for a receiver. Everybody it's about how hard the
position is to come in and play. And I think
he came in, like he said, virtually. You know, it
(17:07):
was tough. I had to do my virtually with my
rookies last year, and it was tough for them to
get a feel and understand what we were, what you
were trying to do. For him to do that, it
shows you how locked in he was, what kind of
football mine he has, and what kind of athlete is
I mean, he's a He's a great, great athlete that's
(17:28):
very dynamic, Probably one of the top top five in
the league right now, if not the top three. You know,
I think he understands what he has to do each
and every week and you know, he always talks about,
you know, people double covering him and stuff like that.
I tell him all the time, no where about that,
you just go get open and that let us figure
that one out. That's awesome because I mean, starting in
(17:50):
the Champa Bay game last year, the champions with Todd balls,
I mean, I don't know it was doubles, triples or what.
He didn't it was every game the rest of the
year where it's like, man, we're not gonna let this
kid knocks us out with a roundhouse. That's just how
good it was. And he sees a lot of coverage,
doesn't he If he doesn't, you know him and Adam
sees a lot of coverage. You know, it helps out
in a passing game for the underneath guys because they
(18:13):
take so much coverage deep. If you run in a
shallow or a checkdown by the back, you're basically one
on one with a backer and if you make a myth,
it's a big place. So we're fortunate to have fortunate
to have two great receivers that can play this game.
And JJ is just you know, he's young and he's
getting better every game. Keenan McCardell seventeen years in the NFL,
(18:35):
won a couple of Super Bowls. First year wide Receivers
coach for the Minnesota Vikings in deep stretch of exes
and os on the Vikings Radio network courtesy of the
Minnesota Lottery. You mentioned Adam Feeling and we you know,
fourteen TVs last year, We've seen him here forever. He's fantastic.
It just forever amazes me inside the red zone, but
(18:56):
specifically inside the five. Just how good he is is
in those in those claustrophobic I mean, how does he
get so many touchdowns inside the town. He has a
very good change of direction. He understands how to get open.
He understands coverages. I mean, I think and I always say,
he has some of the best feed I've seen him
in the receiver. And then he understands how to set
(19:18):
people up down there. You have to set people up
in tight quarters and the ball is gonna be on
you very fast. On that. He has great handout coordination,
like like the touchdown last weekend. Later in your career,
you know, Rich Gannon's the NFL MVP. Oakland comes in there.
They had a problem with the center who didn't play
you guys get the money. Does that ever leave you?
(19:41):
Winning the super Bowl? I mean that was what like
two thousand and three, two three or four? Like, does
that emotion ever leave you? It never leaves me because
every super Bowl you you think about when you want
it and know what those guys are feeling. So you know,
each year you get that that joyful feel of went
in the super Bowl like I've been there before and
(20:03):
I understand what they're feeling and it comes back. It
makes you look giddy about that. So and then every
time you look at that ring also is nice. Also
in ninety two was your second season, right ninety one? Yeah,
my first season, my rookie season, and uh, you got
the super Bowl. We got a super Bowl ring. Now yeah,
I got spall thinking that that's that's the way it
(20:23):
was gonna be every year, and then sent me to
Cleveland and I figured it out. But that you worked
there with a very young Bill Belichack. What was that like?
It was fun? I mean he was tough. He hasn't changed. Uh,
you know, wanted smart, uh discipline people that that players
that can play uh in his system. Wanted to want
(20:45):
you to come in every day and work hard. I mean,
it's everything that you hear from him right now. It
was that way in Cleveland, you know, and I think
we were on our way to turning that thing around
until the they moved them to Baltimore. Yeah. Um, that
that was an app blue treat. It was my pleasure
as you can tell a fan of your career and
(21:05):
as much as your career longevity, you know, because everything's
so wham bam in and out and how I get
ever everything, I mean, seventeen years. Keenan McCardell, Minnesota Vikings
Wide Receivers Coach. You can get pumped like Keenan does,
say that you're I'm in to the new Vikings scratch
game from the Minnesota Lottery. Must be eighteen years of
age or older to play. Thank you, Brett lake Moore,
(21:27):
Thank you Vikings Entertainment Network. I'm Paul Allen. That's Exes
and OS with Mike Zimmer, presented by the Minnesota Lottery
on the KFA and Minnesota Vikings or Radio Network
It's right for x Is and Old with Vikings head
coach Mike Zimmer onto the Minnesota Vikings Radio network now
from the TCO studios in Egan. Here is no Voice
of the Vikings Paul Ellen Seattle at us Bank Stadium.
KREE twenty five is the next game to the Minnesota Vikings.
Mike Zimmer, head coach joins us now in the Arizona game,
(00:28):
Harris and Smith up the middle late. I mean, did
you have that in your back pocket for like how long?
I mean, I can't remember seeing I've seen him threaten
the a gap, but he came and he got through. Yeah,
And when's the last time you around that? Last year?
Probably go there, do you not want to share? Yeah?
It was last year. Yeah, But I mean it's what
(00:50):
a wonderful call at that time of the game. Then
for him to get through and Kyler off his back
leg when you when you send that many people in
the middle of the field becomes open like like what's
supposed to happen on the back end to make sure
Christian Kirk doesn't catch it. Well, you're hope, you're hoping
that it gets a quick throw. Um, you know, he
he drifted back about ten yards and Alley ooped it
(01:13):
to the middle of which the same as Russell Wilson
will do as well. You know he's done that in
the past. He did against Tennessee when a zero Blitzton. So, um,
you know, I wish I would had that call back,
but we did a great job in the red zone
of stopping him there anyway, So you wish you had
the call back even though Harrison got through and was
an inch from hitting him. Yeah, well we didn't. You know,
I got you end up being a big play and
(01:34):
then but we still were able to We did a
great job in the red zone after that. Um, you know,
so we still held him three points With Daniel Hunter,
is he not getting doubled much or what I mean?
Four sacks you know, and I recognize off the layoff
is going to be a process. Fewer plays at Arizona
than Cincinnati, but four sacks and the acceleration at the
(01:56):
end when he ran down Kyler was good. Yeah, he
did a great job. Uh you know, one time the
tight end try to block him, my belief, and then
one time the tackle, Uh he beat the tackle and
came off and Kyler kind of um scramble a little bit,
but he's got you know, long arms and great acceleration.
He's able to add him there at the end. With
the way you put the plays together, you have the
(02:17):
mock game on Saturdays, and then you play the game.
When when you run Dalvin on the first play and
then you get kJ on that long one right in
front of you, were you as wide eyed as the
rest of us with what a great start that was? Yeah,
that was a great start. Um. You know, we're looking
to start fast. Come out of the locker room fast.
That was one of the things we wanted to do
last week. Um, come out of the locker room fast
(02:38):
on defense in the second half, and we intercepted a
pass for a touchdown. UM. So yeah, I mean, you know,
it was great to see Dalvin get get going. Um
and uh you know, um, kJ did a really good
job on the route that he got. We we have
Keenan McCardell coming up a little later. And in the
brief conversation I've had with Keenum by the buses after
(03:01):
the Arizona game, about the only thing, one of the
few things he said about kJ was confidence, you know,
and in second year, the confidence, I guess would be expected,
but he has to be bursting with it now, right. Yeah,
he's made some big time catches. You know, he made
right there before we attempted the field goal. He made
a couple of catches there. You know, he did the
week before and fourth and four in Cincinnati. So yeah,
(03:24):
he's done a really good job with your offensive line.
Having not watched it back critically, not that that matters,
but from what you've seen in that Arizona game me
now watching it back critically, not you. It seems from
Afar like they fought like the Dickens the entire game. Yeah,
they did a great job some of the pressures that
they had. They you know, I thought they did a
great job on cutting off the backside to learn to
(03:45):
allow Dalvin to get some cutback runs in there. We're
good at the point of attack. You know, JJ wats
a guy that doesn't play blocks. He runs up the
field and swims and goes around blocks, and you know,
for the most part, I thought we did a really
good job on that as well. So I know the
bench area is very important to you, and granted you're
managing the entire game, but with Phil Rauscher, now that
(04:06):
we're two regular season games into it, and he's a
new offensive line coach compared to Rick Dennison, you know,
who has done every years with Phil and how he
handles things during the heat of the game. Like, what
are you liking because I would imagine from Cincinnati and
the penalties to what you just said, I mean that
this game is about improvement and that was an improvement. Well,
(04:27):
I think one of the big things Paul. After the
the Cincinnati game, we talked a lot about, Um, you know,
they kind of snuck up on us with some of
that plan that they had. We knew that Arizona was
going to do that, so I thought, number one, they
had a really good plan. Um, we have to continue
to keep working with our technique. You know, I think
(04:47):
you know the first after the first game, our technique
wasn't near as good as it was a second game.
And so you know, when you're preparing for other teams,
you start thinking about what they do and what and
at the end of the day, you still have to
keep working on what you do and how you do
it so that that helps you to be more efficient.
So you just fills on that during the games, just
like handling, Yeah, not so much during the games because
(05:08):
we you know, you do that in practice, you do
that in the film study, you do those things. And
then and then when he gets into the into the game,
you know, it's like, all right, well, this run looks
a lot better against them than this run, or this
protection looks a lot better against them than the other protection.
So I think that part and then you correct the
technique errors and things after the game and during the week.
(05:30):
With the Arizona game again, how how what went into
holding DeAndre Hopkins to zero catches over five zero minutes
fifty minutes? Yeah? I think he had four catches in
the game, right, YEA one was a scramble on the
touchdown the first one. Another one was a glance off
a play action they kind of pumped fake faked the linebacker. Um.
(05:51):
Another one was I think he caught a hitch or
something on the outside. Nothing real big, right and all
in the first ten minutes of the game. Yeah, sou
but that was that, you know, that was one of
our things we want to do. We want to keep him,
you know, off off the stat sheet. Um, you know,
And the unfortunate part was we gave up some big,
big plays and um, so a lot of the receivers
(06:14):
didn't have a lot of catches, but they had some
big plays, and so you know, we have to eliminate
those big plays. So here we go at US Bank Stadium,
XS the nose with Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer Seattle
just envision for a second, third and long for Seattle,
and you're in that building and for the first time
since twenty nineteen in a regular season game, they're back
(06:35):
and they're loud. I mean seriously, how great is that? Yeah,
it's going to be, uh, really outstanding. And the thing
is that they the this is another no huddle offense,
and so the louder that we can be, the louder
that that our fans can be, you know, it makes
it more difficult on defense obviously, but it also makes
it difficult for the offense. But there he does a
(06:55):
lot of checks at the line of scrimmage, He does
a lot of um, you know, changing plays, and so
the louder it can be, even when it's a low
in the in the in the play, you know, yeah,
just any loud as it can possibly be the entire time. Now,
the I love what you said at your Monday press conference,
not defending Greg Joseph, but just kind of opening your
heart about hey, this happens, and he's made these from
(07:17):
fifty and stuff like that. Uh. In this one coming
up Sunday at home, you know in these fans just
love this team. You know, hopefully things go well early,
you know, so they don't get walky and like set
the tone that way because he's the kickers. I mean
it's a cliche and you've seen it more than anybody. Man.
They just the confidence part just odd, it's there. Odd,
it's it's just up and down. Yeah, and you know
(07:40):
the you know so in that in that ball game, Um,
you know he hits two fifty two yarders, hits a
fifty three yarder the week before to get us into
overtime the chance to win the game. Pressure kick, yeah,
big time pressure kick. And this one is you know,
thirty seven yards right down the middle and uh you
know he pushed it a little bit, so, um, you know,
(08:02):
hopefully he'll continue to make all those. You know that
that would have been a great win for us on
the road. Um. You know we've had two road games.
Um we've lost by four points, I guess now to
two games and had opportunities to win both of them. So,
but our team is playing their hearts out. They're fighting
like crazy, They're playing, uh with a lot of emotion
(08:24):
and intensity, and so you know, we got to continue
to that part of it and then these wins will come.
Arizona has so much team speed. Does Seattle try to
beat you otherways? I mean, are they a super fast?
I mean Arizona it was a track meet. It was unbelievable. Yeah. Um, well,
and they were doing so many things. You know, they
they'd have guys halfway out on the numbers and then
they call them back in and then they go out,
(08:47):
and so you know, the personnel groupings were crazy. And
then obviously they have great team speeding out. Now, Seattle's
got great team speed too, you know, um um you
know metcalf metcalf is four to five locket four three six, Um,
you know, they've got a lot of speed. But they
they are. They do run the football. And Russell as
a scrambler. He's not the same kind of scrambler as
(09:09):
as um um Kyler Murray, but he's he's got quickness
and then acceleration. So we're gonna have We're gonna have
to have our hands full there, and you know, do
a great job that Their new offensive coordinator somebody i'd
never heard of, Shane Waldron. Uh, he was at UMass
five years ago. Much um, much different? Is it much
different with Russell and their offense under this coordination compared
(09:33):
to Brian Schottenheimer, which you had schemed against like three
four times. Yeah, I think it's I think it's a
little bit different. It's you know, it's from the RAMS system.
They're gonna have condensed formations. They're gonna run rockets and
and and flashes and um. You know, they'll move, they'll
motion almost every single play. Um, and then they'll run
the boots like uh, like our offense does and like
(09:54):
like uh the Rams do. So we'll get a lot
of those same kind of combinations. And then you know,
you got to defend these these receivers. They got some
great receivers. Now it's it's only through two games, so
still fifteen to go, but they're they're last in the
league in time of possession at twenty two minutes. I
mean that's a really low number. Well, like what's led
to that, Well, there's no hovel a lot of times, right,
(10:15):
and so you know, there's times when they haven't been
real good in some of the some of the third
down situations. They haven't had a lot so they haven't
sustained a lot of drives. But but they're a good
offensive football team. And the other part is, you know
they hit a probably a sixty yarder to lock it
in one ball game, they hit another forty yard or
(10:36):
to lock it. So that's you know, might be one
play series when when you game plan for Russell Wilson,
Aaron Rodgers, Kyler Murray, you know, Burrow super high pick,
you know who he does some good things when when
you book but the HL laps Rogers and Russell Wilson
and stuff. Is that like more stimulating for what you
(10:57):
do or does it give you more of a headache? Um?
Because they really know how to play the game. Yeah,
it's it's a big challenge. You know. I can remember
when we played Brady last year. You know we had
a we had a perfect blitz called and you know
he knows where the where the exits are. I guess
the best way to say it. You know we're going
to hit him and he throws. He knows that. You know,
(11:17):
if he's if we come from this side, he's he's
picked up. If you come from the other side, he's
got to get the ball out. And he does such
a great job there. I think Russell Wilson does a
good job with that as well. The difference is that
he will try to avoid and move and then create
a big play. Same thing with Murray and and a
lot of these guys. But you know, they're hard to fool.
(11:39):
You have to be really on your on your piece
and queues and then uh, you know, you got to
play with great technique and great effort, great luck this weekend,
Welcome Home Home Open Her Sunday. Hopefully you guys win.
Thank you. Mike zimmer Head coach of the Minnesota Vikings
Wide Receivers Coach Keenan McCardell is Next on the KFA
and Minnesota Vikings nex is the Nose on the KFA
(12:02):
and Minnesota Vikings Radio network continues courtesy of the Minnesota Lottery.
Kickoff this Viking season with country music star Dustin Lynch.
He's live at the Commons of US Bank Stadium September
twenty sixth that leads up to the home opener versus Seattle.
The free event is open to the public begins at
ten in the morning, presented by Miller Lite and in
(12:23):
partnership with k one O two. Visit vikings dot com
slash Kickoff for concert details. Happy to chat with Keenan McCardell.
He's the first year wide receivers coach for the Minnesota Vikings,
a four year wide receivers coach with Jacksonville before that,
as a player with a decade and a half plus
in the NFL, two time Super Bowl champion, one with
(12:46):
Washington when he came into the game and the other
with Tampa Bay. And mister McCardell joins us. Now, thank
you very much for the time, and I mean you
can smell the rows. First of all, an apology that
it took me thirty seconds to get through the Keenan
McCardell ormation, but it's also a smell the roses moment.
You're oh and two, So if you needed to smell
the roses for just a second. It's sixteen years you
(13:08):
played in the NFL, right right, seventeen actually, but yep,
seventeen years. Seriously a lot of fun, yes, And I
mean the gigs are hard to find and the lines
are long. To be a National Football League receiver let
alone for seventeen years and very early and in fact,
I think your first year you won a Super Bowl
with Washington, and then and then when the Buccaneers beat
(13:31):
Oakland and rich again and you won that one. So
just m it's a pleasure to chat with you. A
very blessed career and as wide receivers coach. Here, kJ Osborne,
on that second play of the game, you set it
up beautifully with Dalvin and then the next play there
may have been a busted coverage, but you still got
to close on it. kJ Osborne in that play, man,
(13:51):
how excited were you? I was really excited. H you know,
I was standing on a sideline looking at it and
I was like, well maybe maybe, yes, yes it is
They must the courage and uh and kJ went down
the sideline and made a play. I mean, this is
things that he's been doing all training camp, actually since
Mini camp and OTAs he's been doing it, and uh,
(14:12):
he's had he has a lot of confidence right now.
I think he sees his improvement and he's he's ready
to go get even more U you know as the
week goes on. I mean I think he's a guy
that people are really not paying attention to and I
think they should be paying attention to it. You would
know better than anybody. But when you're that wide open,
(14:35):
and and and it's super early in the game, so
everybody's still super adrenaline and excited, that's not the easiest
pass in the world to catch, right, it's not the
easiest passing the worldly catch because you're wide open. Uh.
You know the thing you got to do that is
just make sure you catch the ball first. It doesn't
matter if the defender catches you're not. Just catch the ball.
(14:55):
And he did, and then you know he put on
the after burners and fin to play. I mean, you
know he ran through the tackle at the end. And
you know his shows shows how dynamic he can be.
Seven catches seventy six yards on sixty seven snaps in
the first game at Cincinnati, had a cold blooded hit
to kJ very late before the field goal at the end. Uh.
(15:16):
You worked with DD Westbrook when you were in Jacksonville
and d D coming off an injury returning punts. Now
he's got a little run of wide receiver. But when
he came out of Oklahoma, what did you like about
him as a receiver. But I like that about him
as a receiver. He was super explosive and a dynamic
person for his size. I mean, I think, uh, it's
one reason why he's a returner. You know, when he
(15:38):
has the ball in his hands, good things happen. And
I think, uh, you know, him coming back off the injury,
you know, it's been very, very good. I think he
still feels like he has a little way to go,
and uh, you know, each each game he continues to
gain more and more confidence, and I expect him to
be back, you know, like the old DD real. I mean,
(16:00):
I think you know, as people, if you ever went
through a knee injury, you know, it takes the time
to get used to back of being hit again and
trusting your knee. And I think now, you know, after
last week, you know, I had a good punt return.
He's trusting it, and uh, it's time for him to
get back on his way. So so you've been here
for months now, organized team activities, mini camp, rookie camp,
(16:23):
training camp, about three preseason games, these two regular season
games justin Jefferson. You know now that that because I
you know, would tell anybody who would listen. Last year
at the end of the year, and the fact that
Herbert won the Rookie of the Year by an inch
doesn't offend me. But to be a receiver, and you
would know this better than anybody, keenan with a virtual offseason,
(16:44):
learning depth of route and plays in everything, and then
to go out and go fourteen hundred and seven. Are
you kidding me? It's one of the great accomplishments I've
seen in my twenty years calling games for this team,
especially for a receiver. Everybody it's about how hard the
position is to come in and play. And I think
he came in, like he said, virtually. You know, it
(17:07):
was tough. I had to do my virtually with my
rookies last year, and it was tough for them to
get a feel and understand what we were, what you
were trying to do. For him to do that, it
shows you how locked in he was, what kind of
football mine he has, and what kind of athlete is
I mean, he's a He's a great, great athlete that's
(17:28):
very dynamic, Probably one of the top top five in
the league right now, if not the top three. You know,
I think he understands what he has to do each
and every week and you know, he always talks about,
you know, people double covering him and stuff like that.
I tell him all the time, no where about that,
you just go get open and that let us figure
that one out. That's awesome because I mean, starting in
(17:50):
the Champa Bay game last year, the champions with Todd balls,
I mean, I don't know it was doubles, triples or what.
He didn't it was every game the rest of the
year where it's like, man, we're not gonna let this
kid knocks us out with a roundhouse. That's just how
good it was. And he sees a lot of coverage,
doesn't he If he doesn't, you know him and Adam
sees a lot of coverage. You know, it helps out
in a passing game for the underneath guys because they
(18:13):
take so much coverage deep. If you run in a
shallow or a checkdown by the back, you're basically one
on one with a backer and if you make a myth,
it's a big place. So we're fortunate to have fortunate
to have two great receivers that can play this game.
And JJ is just you know, he's young and he's
getting better every game. Keenan McCardell seventeen years in the NFL,
(18:35):
won a couple of Super Bowls. First year wide Receivers
coach for the Minnesota Vikings in deep stretch of exes
and os on the Vikings Radio network courtesy of the
Minnesota Lottery. You mentioned Adam Feeling and we you know,
fourteen TVs last year, We've seen him here forever. He's fantastic.
It just forever amazes me inside the red zone, but
(18:56):
specifically inside the five. Just how good he is is
in those in those claustrophobic I mean, how does he
get so many touchdowns inside the town. He has a
very good change of direction. He understands how to get open.
He understands coverages. I mean, I think and I always say,
he has some of the best feed I've seen him
in the receiver. And then he understands how to set
(19:18):
people up down there. You have to set people up
in tight quarters and the ball is gonna be on
you very fast. On that. He has great handout coordination,
like like the touchdown last weekend. Later in your career,
you know, Rich Gannon's the NFL MVP. Oakland comes in there.
They had a problem with the center who didn't play
you guys get the money. Does that ever leave you?
(19:41):
Winning the super Bowl? I mean that was what like
two thousand and three, two three or four? Like, does
that emotion ever leave you? It never leaves me because
every super Bowl you you think about when you want
it and know what those guys are feeling. So you know,
each year you get that that joyful feel of went
in the super Bowl like I've been there before and
(20:03):
I understand what they're feeling and it comes back. It
makes you look giddy about that. So and then every
time you look at that ring also is nice. Also
in ninety two was your second season, right ninety one? Yeah,
my first season, my rookie season, and uh, you got
the super Bowl. We got a super Bowl ring. Now yeah,
I got spall thinking that that's that's the way it
(20:23):
was gonna be every year, and then sent me to
Cleveland and I figured it out. But that you worked
there with a very young Bill Belichack. What was that like?
It was fun? I mean he was tough. He hasn't changed. Uh,
you know, wanted smart, uh discipline people that that players
that can play uh in his system. Wanted to want
(20:45):
you to come in every day and work hard. I mean,
it's everything that you hear from him right now. It
was that way in Cleveland, you know, and I think
we were on our way to turning that thing around
until the they moved them to Baltimore. Yeah. Um, that
that was an app blue treat. It was my pleasure
as you can tell a fan of your career and
(21:05):
as much as your career longevity, you know, because everything's
so wham bam in and out and how I get
ever everything, I mean, seventeen years. Keenan McCardell, Minnesota Vikings
Wide Receivers Coach. You can get pumped like Keenan does,
say that you're I'm in to the new Vikings scratch
game from the Minnesota Lottery. Must be eighteen years of
age or older to play. Thank you, Brett lake Moore,
(21:27):
Thank you Vikings Entertainment Network. I'm Paul Allen. That's Exes
and OS with Mike Zimmer, presented by the Minnesota Lottery
on the KFA and Minnesota Vikings or Radio Network
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