December 9, 2025 • 20 mins
PA hosts Xs and Os ahead of the matchup with the Cowboys and is joined by Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
The time for x's and o's with Minnesota Vikings head
coach Kevin O'Connell on the Minnesota Vikings Radio network. Now
from the TCO studios at Egan. Here is the voice
of the Vikings, Paul Allen.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome into x's and o's with Kevin O'Connell back in TCO.
Together once again, Pa and the head coach.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Here we go. Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,
joins us as he is wont to do each and
every Tuesday for x'es and o's once again, multiple cameras.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Here.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We were at Toys for Tots last week. How about
the kids? The Toys for Tots last week? Wasn't that cold?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
It was awesome. What a cool what a cool event.
I gotta be honest though, it was kind of a
nice and to be in here kind of solo and yeah,
felt felt like you in early radio career where you
were what do you mean doing all jobs at once
and it just was quiet and what.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Do you mean common here?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And I found being at Shields filling Roppie Clee speaking,
raising money for others. I was able to streamline, streamline,
like where my heart's coming from and like the heart
of the station and the team and everything.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
I thought it was great. But it is great to
have you guys back.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's great to see you again too. Now we got
uh we got that extra page camera there. You didn't have,
Paige Acer didn't have to deal with it last uh
last week. But we want to welcome those watching on
the new camera. And this is X's and No's on
the k f A n ast and ever expanding Minnesota
Vikings Audio Network and with Kevin O'Connell, we're going to
begin here. I thought it was cool that you gave
(01:35):
Jonathan Hargrave a make that Javon Hargrave a game ball
after the commander's shut out.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Big people making athletic plays. I mean like that, and
and with the force fumble and the fumble recovery and
it's by the sideline record ain't great? Uh big you know,
big people, everybody continuing to give everything. I just thought
that was a really cool moment when you get when
you recognized it and gave him a game ball.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Force and turnovers has been something we've talked a lot about,
and it coincided with us playing with the lead, which
obviously helps our defense be able to have maybe some
more opportunities than when people can kind of hide the
football throughout the game and not need to really put
themselves in any you know, sort of harm's way. But
I thought that was a big part of the game.
(02:22):
And I'll tell you what, from where you probably had
a much better dvantage point of the play than I did.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Far sideline.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
All of a sudden, you just see him flying over
there and you think he's just gonna make the tackle,
and he comes up with the football.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So I had to take a look at that one
on tape the you know, that night and.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
What to play, and he's really, you know, he probably
hasn't gotten the type of recognition you know that he
probably deserves, especially when you talk about since the bye week,
what he's done, the consistency, what he's done and giving
us some really really high quality snaps to go along
with Red and obviously Jay and the rest of the group.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You and I were both about equal distance from the play.
It took me about five seconds to figure out what happened.
Big difference is I had binoculars and you didn't, and
you were field level with a bunch of big people
in front of you, so you know it's with Hardgrave
and Jonathan Allen. It's for people like me. Okay, I
can watch the film, I can watch the All twenty two.
(03:19):
I probably have access to answers and maybe some others
don't if I choose to ask. But it's I've been
a Javon Hargrave fan all of his career, from his
first year where he had a fumble recovery touchdown. I
think with Pittsburgh he's played in super Bowls and everything,
but it's apparent that it's abundantly apparent that the way
defenses run here is different than systems that he's played
(03:41):
in before. So I know from doing this as long
as I have, without you know, properly explaining it, because
I don't know how well there's going to be something different,
you know, with the defensive tackler the three technique, So
then you mess that with stats and numbers and things
like that, and they're different. But then you see moments
like that, and then you see when he is single
and it has a little four three true three four
(04:03):
look to it and what he does it. And likewise
for Jonathan Allen, who played with his hair on fire
against his former team by the way, you understand what
I'm saying there.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Yeah, and I think what what every year Flow and
his guys do a really good job of But sometimes
even after uh they've convinced these guys, hey, this system,
it requires all eleven guys to uh not always just
do the jobs of you know, like in some defense
is one man one gap you think about, Yeah, the
old you know Seattle cover three systems or even the
(04:32):
system you know previously played at a high level for
many years.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Here it was a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Of a uh, you know, go forward, beat the guy.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
In front of you.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
And with all of the different tricks of the trade
and tools Flow presents on the edges with pressures and
van Ginkel and Grenard and obviously Harry and Mattelus and
the and we've we've added the corner blitz you know,
at a pretty high clip as of late.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
That's been pretty impactful. Right.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
It requires some you know, movement inside to make sure
where gaps sound, make sure we can eliminate the problem
plays if people recognize some of the things we're trying
to do to them.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And I think what we've seen at.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
A grave over the last few weeks is a real
commitment to understanding when his snaps are that you're he's
just gonna turn and get turned loose and play the
way he always has, or when he can use that
elite burst get off athleticism to maybe be a part
of that movement shutting off gaps and causing some real
problems for uh, the offensive line trying to target the front,
(05:31):
trying to block the front. Yeah, and then knowing that
on either of those occasions, you're gonna fall into some
chances to make some plays.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
And that's what he's done.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, I'm glad you mentioned that corner blitz portion of
the equation. And I was gonna save this for near
the end, but Jay war out of ls LSU, I mean, like,
did did did you guys try him a corner a
little bit? But he's a safety. And then now like
in that Seattle game, you know Rogers is out and
it's like, oh Jackson Smith and jigba Hey batism by
(06:00):
fire here. So it's it doesn't matter the root he's
playing corner for you. Now, I'm a special teams guy
and I have a nugget for you because you guys
blitz Jay Ward. I mean I'd say sometimes, right, a
lot of the time, Okay, a lot of the time.
And was it the Baltimore Chicago game where he almost
got home? I was one of those two very close.
So therefore, you know, on my game calling depth chart,
(06:22):
I got jay Ward, I got no interceptions, found his
last interception at LSU. Then in that game he almost
got a sack, and you have Green Bay next, so
I didn't have you know, like, when when was his
last sack? I went to LSU and look didn't have one,
went to Cole Quick County High School in Georgia and
looked didn't have one. So I approached him after we
landed in Appleton, when's your last sack? He said, I've
(06:44):
never had one in my life at any level. So
if jay Ward or when Jay Ward gets a sack,
that's going to be the first sack of his How
cool is that?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, it's gonna be a big deal. I I really
love Jay Ward. I love I mean one of the
reasons why, you know, credit Durante and Mike Hutchins and
Flow for really trying to find ways of getting guys
that have demonstrated a level of physicality and football making
sense to him. And I'm not even just talking about
(07:14):
the x's and o's. I'm talking about the physicality that
it takes to be a major contributor, you know, with
how our defense is being attacked right now, the fact
that people are trying to feature way more of their
run game and control the ball, limit turnover chances than
be putting it up in harm's way and potentially give
us a chance to snatch some momentum in a game.
(07:34):
So having j being able to give us some snaps,
whether it is firing off the edge on a corner blitz,
whether it is you know, pairing you know, Jay and
a safety maybe in a.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
True overload pressure flow.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
They can come up with any idea, but what they
need and what they've really found in Jay is a
level of physicality tackling.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
In the open field.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
He had a great play on a kind of a
screen out to Deebo Samuel I believe at one point
just kind of didn't make the play but just showed
up and just basically blew up every blocker around the
area the village, and then the rest of the crew
kind of came in and made the play. But Jay's
been a guy that you know, quietly has been just ascending,
getting better and better. The fact of the matter is
(08:17):
we've had some really good safeties last year, obviously with
the group of three guys we had and then THEO
stepping into that role. With THEO being out with some
injuries as of late, it's given Jay some opportunities at
the safety spot. But they have found ways to get
him on the field in addition to that. So I
don't know where you put him on your game calling
depth Charty behind.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
He could be a nickel, he can be.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
A safety depending on how they deploy Jay Ward And
it's been really cool to see and I think he's
only going to keep getting better and better now and
I'm really proud of what Jay's done this year.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Extra well, then Extrom kind of has a job right
now because if Jay gets a sack Sunday night, yep,
and you beat the Cowboys and we're giving up game balls, yep.
We could see that at Vikings dot com and give
one to Jay. Remember it's his first sack at any
level of his life. I promise I will not forget.
I think that's why not. Now he's got to get sacked. Now,
(09:11):
you gotta win the game. Kevin O'Connell x's and O's
KFA and it's fantastic, baby and Moreau off the script
for a second. Nobody grades out perfectly, And you know,
I don't. I'm not going to say that I break
down twenty threes, backpedal and leverage and hips and the
whole thing. All I know is when calling the games,
it's there's not there are not a lot of bad
(09:33):
things that are happening over him or with tackles. A
lot of with tackles or stuff. So you know, he's
a veteran. A lot of people don't know because Fabian's
relatively new here that he came into the league with Washington.
Six of his seven interceptions were with them over four years,
and he jumped into a difficult spot here, and I
think he's handled it pretty well.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
He's done great.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
He's obviously with Jeff Acuda going down and us really
brought Fabian here to be a part. Had a lot
of opportunities as one of those veteran kind of guys
that can step in and play guys on the practice squad,
had a lot of opportunities, and Fabe wanted to come
back here. He wanted to be back in our locker room,
and when we were able to get him back here,
(10:14):
I told him, at some point in time, you know,
you really got to look at yourself as a practice
squad player, but you got to be ready to start.
You got to be ready to play. And you're here
because of the poise. You're going to be able to
play with the experience that he's played a lot of
snaps now, yeah, over the last few years, and he
can contribute on special teams. But I look at Fabian
(10:34):
Moreau as an extension of that group of starters that
we have at the corner position, and you're right, people
you know, take their shots on him, they try to
maybe test them at different times, and he's shown up
and made some huge plays on some third downs.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Got called for a penalty the other day.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
It was more of a technique thing, probably more so
than anything. But he's totally connected physical It still runs
at a very very high level, and he can make
plays on the football.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, Minnesota needed a go two source for everything high
school sports. That's why Minnesota Star Tribune created a Strip
Varsity sign up now at Star Tribune dot com slash
Strip Varsity. More x's and o's around the corner on
the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network. Hey, Vikings fans, right now
you can pick up a commemorative Pepsi Vikings Cup at
us Bank Stadium, or participating in High V Fast and
(11:20):
Fresh and Buffalo Wild Wings locations for your chance to
win Victor's Ride and other great prizes. Vikings fans deserve Pepsi,
more x's and o's Right now with Kevin.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
O'Connell was JJ's road addison one of his best of
the season.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Well, what it was was it was a great example
of regardless of what the defense does, set your feet
with great fundamentals and technique that he is wildly capable
of consistently doing with repeatable, efficient mechanics. But it was
about Hey, Justin's the primary on the play and he
had his eyes in the right spot. The pocket was good,
(11:55):
a great, great, everything that JJ can control. But then
the decision making of not needing three hitches to decide
Justin wasn't open. It was a decisive decision which allowed
his body position and the ability to drive that football,
Like you said, not an easy throw.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
The pocket stand and he stepped. It was just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
It felt like it's supposed to feel and I.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Thought that was a great example of him playing at
a very high clip when we needed some third down
conversions Pa to not only have that drive but ether
you know, starting fast early on in the game. We
didn't have one on that first drive. But it's not
like we just ran the ball every snap either. He
made some big throws and even the first one of
the day to Ben Simms, you say, hohm, it's an
eight yard game. But that's an example of him versus
(12:42):
a pretty unique coverage. Look, they're dropping out a D lineman,
they're playing inverted too deep.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Just throw completions, man, good things are gonna happen. All right.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Wow, a couple of quickis to close here for the
head coach, Donovan Jackson plays her, cares deeply. Guys, hit
on a good one with him. We talked about that. Yeah,
I mean, holy cow, three tds for your tight ends.
Was that a product of just quickly loving the matchups
into the game or a result of how things developed
or in the blowout?
Speaker 5 (13:08):
No, it was more it was more of game planning
for for the week. We really wanted to you know,
there was a there was a method to try to
pair some of those groupings we were doing some things
out of those groupings besides just getting big to run
the ball, which we were able to do in the game,
add in extra gaps and using some physicality with knowing
(13:28):
we were going to have that group, that offensive line
group out there as well. But then what it allowed
us to do is we also threw the ball out
of those groupings and in some cases spreading out the
formations and trying to make guys uncomfortable in.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Different spots throughout that defense.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
All well, just trying to give you know, jj answers
to You can't ask him to throw completions and be
willing to check the ball down and then not have
those options available to him. And I think when you
go back and watch through his tape throughout the season,
you know when he's decisive, even when he is checking
the ball down, good things normally happen, not only on
(14:04):
that play but the plays afterwards. He also stole some
first downs for us with his legs. I thought that
backed up third down was a critical critical play to
kind of get it kickstarted there from the end zone. Yeah,
from when he when he got out right there, and
there's a learning up there. I mean, there's a you know,
protection call on a third down. If he makes that,
he probably throws another completion. We don't, and he's able
(14:27):
to still make it right by using that athleticism to
get out and steal us a new set of downs.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
All right, d there's one at the end off your
press conference yesterday. I have I have to get in.
So before that, here's the penultimate What what leads you
to taking the ball when winning the toss?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, I wanted to, I think first and foremost.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
You know, we're we're learning a little bit more about
with the fact that so many more kickoff returns are
being put in play, you know, the days of the
starting field position, especially.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I have a lot of confidence in Mile Price fun there.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I wasn't thinking about it.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
So if he gets that ball past the thirty yard line,
and in the case to start the game the other
day was.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The thirty nine yard great return.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
We have the ball at the thirty nine yard line,
you get one first down, Pa, you're at midfield. And
then the way Ryan writes punted the ball, even if
you only get one, we're allowing our defense to potentially
start fast. But the ultimate decision for me on Sunday
is you know awareness is key as a head coach,
and I was very aware that we had not played
well at home, at least from a results standpoint, since
(15:31):
the Cincinnati game.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And I wanted to take the ball. I wanted to
go score.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
I wanted to give Vikings fans a chance to, you know,
not say here we go again, but say, okay, maybe
today is going to be different. And then, like I
totally expected, they were fantastic. The defense takes the field,
they get that fourth down stop, and then we go
ninety eight for a touchdown. But the number one goal
of the week was to start fast from the time
(15:57):
I met with the team on Wednesday and said, hey,
here we want to be we want to win the
turnover battle.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
I'm tired of talking about it.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Let's win the turnover battle, and let's start fast in
the process.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Of doing so.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
And if that means we end up getting the lead defense,
I think you're going to get some opportunities to take
the ball away. The number one priority on offense is
to protect the football because we know what those numbers
look like when we do some of those things within
the game that give us very very high likelihoods of winning.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Okay, lastly, because I didn't really understand what you were
saying during your press conference yesterday.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
And a lot of people don't.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Well, well, I mean if it's yeah, but I would
ask you to the side if I didn't understand. This
just happens to be the side and everybody gets to
see and hear because we got Sunday night football coming up,
which means longer TV breaks. I mean, shoot, you can
build a village in that huddle before they scatter and
come back from the break. And that's what I mean
is you went down the road of I can't remember
(16:50):
who asked you about, like Chambliss is running out and
this guy's running out and coming back, and you were
talking about like a TV time out game with huddles
and stuf like that.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
So what is the question?
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Was Washington Cliff Kingsbury.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Since he's been in the NFL, they don't huddle.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
So if Vikings fans who were at the game or
you were watching at home, what we call a muddle
huddle a messy, they just basically stand at the line
of scrimmage. They still sub as if they're just going
to huddle up, call a play and then go.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
But what they try to do is.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
It makes it hard with the NFL rules of substitutions.
You'll see it in college sometimes a lot more.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
So whether you go base, nickel or dime, but you're.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Allowed to get a chance to match whatever they put
in the game. So if they wanted to go from
thirteen personnel, which is one back, three tight ends and
one receiver, to eleven personnel and bring in two receivers
for two of those tight ends, the officials have to
give Flow in the group a chance to then match
that like a hockey jake. And it happened to us.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Early in the year.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
If you remember when they held the snap because there
was a late sub by us around That was I
believe it was at a home game earlier in the year,
but they held that and we ended up taking a
delay on the play because the play clock means nothing
to these officials. But what Flow in the group decided
(18:15):
to do was, you know, as he kind of cycles
through what personnel grouping he wanted to have on, let's
make sure we're starting the process of substitutions, even if
it ends up changing, and it kind of had a
little bit of a you know, a hockey line change
feel to it much of the day. But every time
that happens, it's critigue. It's also causing the counter effect
for Cliff and those guys of what is in the game.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
We don't even know what's in the game.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
The play clock's gonna or the coach the quarterback is
gonna shut off at fifteen seconds, and now they've got
to if we were trying to basically take something that's
an advantage for them and turn it into an advantage
for us. Flow and I talked a lot about it,
But my beef with the TV timeouts that I go
to the league meetings and bring up with my good
buddy Sean McVay and coach Tom on the Competition committee
(19:01):
every year is this, when we're in a TV timeout,
we're not allowed to have fourteen guys out in the huddle.
The defense can have as many players as they want
in the huddle. So I'm trying to I'm trying to
figure out what's going to be on the field. Defensively,
you can't run a lot of plays with your eleven.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Group against base defense.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
There's just not a lot of unless you want Jalen
Naylor blocking defensive ends and linebackers all day.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
There's just not a lot of things you can do.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
So you're trying to you're trying to weave through what's
on the field for them, and there's some people upstairs
trying to tell me. I'm trying to see with my
own eyes. But then what happens is we come back
from a commercial or two and we pop in that
play clock ready for play twenty five seconds bam, and
then they scatter and what's in the game, what's not
There's about eighteen seconds on the play clock. Now you've
(19:48):
got to get a play called within three seconds. So
I just they're very detailed about what we do in
the offensive huddle.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You can't have twelve in the huddle.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Ever, if you're subbing, you really shouldn't have have, you know,
twelve guys.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
In between the numbers.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
But defensively, during those TV timeouts, they can have the
whole football team standing, the mascot, three coaches, and they're
all out there in the huddle right as an offensive
coach not to ramble, That's what I was trying to explain.
There's some Union gamesmanship to the strategy, and it's strategic.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
It's strategicy with those running on to the numbers and
then running back yep, oh, I'm starting to get it down.
You're awesome. Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. Kevin O'Connell, head
coach of the Minnesota Vikings That's Texas.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
No, thank you for joining us for this week's episode
of x'es and o's with Kevin O'Connell. It's presented by
Ken Lare and as an official production of the Minnesota
Vikings Audio Network.
The time for x's and o's with Minnesota Vikings head
coach Kevin O'Connell on the Minnesota Vikings Radio network. Now
from the TCO studios at Egan. Here is the voice
of the Vikings, Paul Allen.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome into x's and o's with Kevin O'Connell back in TCO.
Together once again, Pa and the head coach.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Here we go. Kevin O'Connell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,
joins us as he is wont to do each and
every Tuesday for x'es and o's once again, multiple cameras.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Here.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
We were at Toys for Tots last week. How about
the kids? The Toys for Tots last week? Wasn't that cold?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (00:40):
It was awesome. What a cool what a cool event.
I gotta be honest though, it was kind of a
nice and to be in here kind of solo and yeah,
felt felt like you in early radio career where you
were what do you mean doing all jobs at once
and it just was quiet and what.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Do you mean common here?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
And I found being at Shields filling Roppie Clee speaking,
raising money for others. I was able to streamline, streamline,
like where my heart's coming from and like the heart
of the station and the team and everything.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
I thought it was great. But it is great to
have you guys back.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
It's great to see you again too. Now we got
uh we got that extra page camera there. You didn't have,
Paige Acer didn't have to deal with it last uh
last week. But we want to welcome those watching on
the new camera. And this is X's and No's on
the k f A n ast and ever expanding Minnesota
Vikings Audio Network and with Kevin O'Connell, we're going to
begin here. I thought it was cool that you gave
(01:35):
Jonathan Hargrave a make that Javon Hargrave a game ball
after the commander's shut out.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Big people making athletic plays. I mean like that, and
and with the force fumble and the fumble recovery and
it's by the sideline record ain't great? Uh big you know,
big people, everybody continuing to give everything. I just thought
that was a really cool moment when you get when
you recognized it and gave him a game ball.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Force and turnovers has been something we've talked a lot about,
and it coincided with us playing with the lead, which
obviously helps our defense be able to have maybe some
more opportunities than when people can kind of hide the
football throughout the game and not need to really put
themselves in any you know, sort of harm's way. But
I thought that was a big part of the game.
(02:22):
And I'll tell you what, from where you probably had
a much better dvantage point of the play than I did.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Far sideline.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
All of a sudden, you just see him flying over
there and you think he's just gonna make the tackle,
and he comes up with the football.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
So I had to take a look at that one
on tape the you know, that night and.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
What to play, and he's really, you know, he probably
hasn't gotten the type of recognition you know that he
probably deserves, especially when you talk about since the bye week,
what he's done, the consistency, what he's done and giving
us some really really high quality snaps to go along
with Red and obviously Jay and the rest of the group.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You and I were both about equal distance from the play.
It took me about five seconds to figure out what happened.
Big difference is I had binoculars and you didn't, and
you were field level with a bunch of big people
in front of you, so you know it's with Hardgrave
and Jonathan Allen. It's for people like me. Okay, I
can watch the film, I can watch the All twenty two.
(03:19):
I probably have access to answers and maybe some others
don't if I choose to ask. But it's I've been
a Javon Hargrave fan all of his career, from his
first year where he had a fumble recovery touchdown. I
think with Pittsburgh he's played in super Bowls and everything,
but it's apparent that it's abundantly apparent that the way
defenses run here is different than systems that he's played
(03:41):
in before. So I know from doing this as long
as I have, without you know, properly explaining it, because
I don't know how well there's going to be something different,
you know, with the defensive tackler the three technique, So
then you mess that with stats and numbers and things
like that, and they're different. But then you see moments
like that, and then you see when he is single
and it has a little four three true three four
(04:03):
look to it and what he does it. And likewise
for Jonathan Allen, who played with his hair on fire
against his former team by the way, you understand what
I'm saying there.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Yeah, and I think what what every year Flow and
his guys do a really good job of But sometimes
even after uh they've convinced these guys, hey, this system,
it requires all eleven guys to uh not always just
do the jobs of you know, like in some defense
is one man one gap you think about, Yeah, the
old you know Seattle cover three systems or even the
(04:32):
system you know previously played at a high level for
many years.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Here it was a little bit more.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Of a uh, you know, go forward, beat the guy.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
In front of you.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
And with all of the different tricks of the trade
and tools Flow presents on the edges with pressures and
van Ginkel and Grenard and obviously Harry and Mattelus and
the and we've we've added the corner blitz you know,
at a pretty high clip as of late.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
That's been pretty impactful. Right.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
It requires some you know, movement inside to make sure
where gaps sound, make sure we can eliminate the problem
plays if people recognize some of the things we're trying
to do to them.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
And I think what we've seen at.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
A grave over the last few weeks is a real
commitment to understanding when his snaps are that you're he's
just gonna turn and get turned loose and play the
way he always has, or when he can use that
elite burst get off athleticism to maybe be a part
of that movement shutting off gaps and causing some real
problems for uh, the offensive line trying to target the front,
(05:31):
trying to block the front. Yeah, and then knowing that
on either of those occasions, you're gonna fall into some
chances to make some plays.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
And that's what he's done.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Well, I'm glad you mentioned that corner blitz portion of
the equation. And I was gonna save this for near
the end, but Jay war out of ls LSU, I mean, like,
did did did you guys try him a corner a
little bit? But he's a safety. And then now like
in that Seattle game, you know Rogers is out and
it's like, oh Jackson Smith and jigba Hey batism by
(06:00):
fire here. So it's it doesn't matter the root he's
playing corner for you. Now, I'm a special teams guy
and I have a nugget for you because you guys
blitz Jay Ward. I mean I'd say sometimes, right, a
lot of the time, Okay, a lot of the time.
And was it the Baltimore Chicago game where he almost
got home? I was one of those two very close.
So therefore, you know, on my game calling depth chart,
(06:22):
I got jay Ward, I got no interceptions, found his
last interception at LSU. Then in that game he almost
got a sack, and you have Green Bay next, so
I didn't have you know, like, when when was his
last sack? I went to LSU and look didn't have one,
went to Cole Quick County High School in Georgia and
looked didn't have one. So I approached him after we
landed in Appleton, when's your last sack? He said, I've
(06:44):
never had one in my life at any level. So
if jay Ward or when Jay Ward gets a sack,
that's going to be the first sack of his How
cool is that?
Speaker 5 (06:53):
Yeah, it's gonna be a big deal. I I really
love Jay Ward. I love I mean one of the
reasons why, you know, credit Durante and Mike Hutchins and
Flow for really trying to find ways of getting guys
that have demonstrated a level of physicality and football making
sense to him. And I'm not even just talking about
(07:14):
the x's and o's. I'm talking about the physicality that
it takes to be a major contributor, you know, with
how our defense is being attacked right now, the fact
that people are trying to feature way more of their
run game and control the ball, limit turnover chances than
be putting it up in harm's way and potentially give
us a chance to snatch some momentum in a game.
(07:34):
So having j being able to give us some snaps,
whether it is firing off the edge on a corner blitz,
whether it is you know, pairing you know, Jay and
a safety maybe in a.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
True overload pressure flow.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
They can come up with any idea, but what they
need and what they've really found in Jay is a
level of physicality tackling.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
In the open field.
Speaker 5 (07:56):
He had a great play on a kind of a
screen out to Deebo Samuel I believe at one point
just kind of didn't make the play but just showed
up and just basically blew up every blocker around the
area the village, and then the rest of the crew
kind of came in and made the play. But Jay's
been a guy that you know, quietly has been just ascending,
getting better and better. The fact of the matter is
(08:17):
we've had some really good safeties last year, obviously with
the group of three guys we had and then THEO
stepping into that role. With THEO being out with some
injuries as of late, it's given Jay some opportunities at
the safety spot. But they have found ways to get
him on the field in addition to that. So I
don't know where you put him on your game calling
depth Charty behind.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
He could be a nickel, he can be.
Speaker 5 (08:39):
A safety depending on how they deploy Jay Ward And
it's been really cool to see and I think he's
only going to keep getting better and better now and
I'm really proud of what Jay's done this year.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Extra well, then Extrom kind of has a job right
now because if Jay gets a sack Sunday night, yep,
and you beat the Cowboys and we're giving up game balls, yep.
We could see that at Vikings dot com and give
one to Jay. Remember it's his first sack at any
level of his life. I promise I will not forget.
I think that's why not. Now he's got to get sacked. Now,
(09:11):
you gotta win the game. Kevin O'Connell x's and O's
KFA and it's fantastic, baby and Moreau off the script
for a second. Nobody grades out perfectly, And you know,
I don't. I'm not going to say that I break
down twenty threes, backpedal and leverage and hips and the
whole thing. All I know is when calling the games,
it's there's not there are not a lot of bad
(09:33):
things that are happening over him or with tackles. A
lot of with tackles or stuff. So you know, he's
a veteran. A lot of people don't know because Fabian's
relatively new here that he came into the league with Washington.
Six of his seven interceptions were with them over four years,
and he jumped into a difficult spot here, and I
think he's handled it pretty well.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
He's done great.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
He's obviously with Jeff Acuda going down and us really
brought Fabian here to be a part. Had a lot
of opportunities as one of those veteran kind of guys
that can step in and play guys on the practice squad,
had a lot of opportunities, and Fabe wanted to come
back here. He wanted to be back in our locker room,
and when we were able to get him back here,
(10:14):
I told him, at some point in time, you know,
you really got to look at yourself as a practice
squad player, but you got to be ready to start.
You got to be ready to play. And you're here
because of the poise. You're going to be able to
play with the experience that he's played a lot of
snaps now, yeah, over the last few years, and he
can contribute on special teams. But I look at Fabian
(10:34):
Moreau as an extension of that group of starters that
we have at the corner position, and you're right, people
you know, take their shots on him, they try to
maybe test them at different times, and he's shown up
and made some huge plays on some third downs.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Got called for a penalty the other day.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
It was more of a technique thing, probably more so
than anything. But he's totally connected physical It still runs
at a very very high level, and he can make
plays on the football.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, Minnesota needed a go two source for everything high
school sports. That's why Minnesota Star Tribune created a Strip
Varsity sign up now at Star Tribune dot com slash
Strip Varsity. More x's and o's around the corner on
the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network. Hey, Vikings fans, right now
you can pick up a commemorative Pepsi Vikings Cup at
us Bank Stadium, or participating in High V Fast and
(11:20):
Fresh and Buffalo Wild Wings locations for your chance to
win Victor's Ride and other great prizes. Vikings fans deserve Pepsi,
more x's and o's Right now with Kevin.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
O'Connell was JJ's road addison one of his best of
the season.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
Well, what it was was it was a great example
of regardless of what the defense does, set your feet
with great fundamentals and technique that he is wildly capable
of consistently doing with repeatable, efficient mechanics. But it was
about Hey, Justin's the primary on the play and he
had his eyes in the right spot. The pocket was good,
(11:55):
a great, great, everything that JJ can control. But then
the decision making of not needing three hitches to decide
Justin wasn't open. It was a decisive decision which allowed
his body position and the ability to drive that football,
Like you said, not an easy throw.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
The pocket stand and he stepped. It was just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
It felt like it's supposed to feel and I.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Thought that was a great example of him playing at
a very high clip when we needed some third down
conversions Pa to not only have that drive but ether
you know, starting fast early on in the game. We
didn't have one on that first drive. But it's not
like we just ran the ball every snap either. He
made some big throws and even the first one of
the day to Ben Simms, you say, hohm, it's an
eight yard game. But that's an example of him versus
(12:42):
a pretty unique coverage. Look, they're dropping out a D lineman,
they're playing inverted too deep.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Just throw completions, man, good things are gonna happen. All right.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Wow, a couple of quickis to close here for the
head coach, Donovan Jackson plays her, cares deeply. Guys, hit
on a good one with him. We talked about that. Yeah,
I mean, holy cow, three tds for your tight ends.
Was that a product of just quickly loving the matchups
into the game or a result of how things developed
or in the blowout?
Speaker 5 (13:08):
No, it was more it was more of game planning
for for the week. We really wanted to you know,
there was a there was a method to try to
pair some of those groupings we were doing some things
out of those groupings besides just getting big to run
the ball, which we were able to do in the game,
add in extra gaps and using some physicality with knowing
(13:28):
we were going to have that group, that offensive line
group out there as well. But then what it allowed
us to do is we also threw the ball out
of those groupings and in some cases spreading out the
formations and trying to make guys uncomfortable in.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
Different spots throughout that defense.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
All well, just trying to give you know, jj answers
to You can't ask him to throw completions and be
willing to check the ball down and then not have
those options available to him. And I think when you
go back and watch through his tape throughout the season,
you know when he's decisive, even when he is checking
the ball down, good things normally happen, not only on
(14:04):
that play but the plays afterwards. He also stole some
first downs for us with his legs. I thought that
backed up third down was a critical critical play to
kind of get it kickstarted there from the end zone. Yeah,
from when he when he got out right there, and
there's a learning up there. I mean, there's a you know,
protection call on a third down. If he makes that,
he probably throws another completion. We don't, and he's able
(14:27):
to still make it right by using that athleticism to
get out and steal us a new set of downs.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
All right, d there's one at the end off your
press conference yesterday. I have I have to get in.
So before that, here's the penultimate What what leads you
to taking the ball when winning the toss?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, I wanted to, I think first and foremost.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
You know, we're we're learning a little bit more about
with the fact that so many more kickoff returns are
being put in play, you know, the days of the
starting field position, especially.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
I have a lot of confidence in Mile Price fun there.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
I wasn't thinking about it.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
So if he gets that ball past the thirty yard line,
and in the case to start the game the other
day was.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The thirty nine yard great return.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
We have the ball at the thirty nine yard line,
you get one first down, Pa, you're at midfield. And
then the way Ryan writes punted the ball, even if
you only get one, we're allowing our defense to potentially
start fast. But the ultimate decision for me on Sunday
is you know awareness is key as a head coach,
and I was very aware that we had not played
well at home, at least from a results standpoint, since
(15:31):
the Cincinnati game.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And I wanted to take the ball. I wanted to
go score.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
I wanted to give Vikings fans a chance to, you know,
not say here we go again, but say, okay, maybe
today is going to be different. And then, like I
totally expected, they were fantastic. The defense takes the field,
they get that fourth down stop, and then we go
ninety eight for a touchdown. But the number one goal
of the week was to start fast from the time
(15:57):
I met with the team on Wednesday and said, hey,
here we want to be we want to win the
turnover battle.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
I'm tired of talking about it.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
Let's win the turnover battle, and let's start fast in
the process.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Of doing so.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
And if that means we end up getting the lead defense,
I think you're going to get some opportunities to take
the ball away. The number one priority on offense is
to protect the football because we know what those numbers
look like when we do some of those things within
the game that give us very very high likelihoods of winning.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Okay, lastly, because I didn't really understand what you were
saying during your press conference yesterday.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
And a lot of people don't.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Well, well, I mean if it's yeah, but I would
ask you to the side if I didn't understand. This
just happens to be the side and everybody gets to
see and hear because we got Sunday night football coming up,
which means longer TV breaks. I mean, shoot, you can
build a village in that huddle before they scatter and
come back from the break. And that's what I mean
is you went down the road of I can't remember
(16:50):
who asked you about, like Chambliss is running out and
this guy's running out and coming back, and you were
talking about like a TV time out game with huddles
and stuf like that.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
So what is the question?
Speaker 5 (17:02):
Was Washington Cliff Kingsbury.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Since he's been in the NFL, they don't huddle.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
So if Vikings fans who were at the game or
you were watching at home, what we call a muddle
huddle a messy, they just basically stand at the line
of scrimmage. They still sub as if they're just going
to huddle up, call a play and then go.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
But what they try to do is.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
It makes it hard with the NFL rules of substitutions.
You'll see it in college sometimes a lot more.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
So whether you go base, nickel or dime, but you're.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Allowed to get a chance to match whatever they put
in the game. So if they wanted to go from
thirteen personnel, which is one back, three tight ends and
one receiver, to eleven personnel and bring in two receivers
for two of those tight ends, the officials have to
give Flow in the group a chance to then match
that like a hockey jake. And it happened to us.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Early in the year.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
If you remember when they held the snap because there
was a late sub by us around That was I
believe it was at a home game earlier in the year,
but they held that and we ended up taking a
delay on the play because the play clock means nothing
to these officials. But what Flow in the group decided
(18:15):
to do was, you know, as he kind of cycles
through what personnel grouping he wanted to have on, let's
make sure we're starting the process of substitutions, even if
it ends up changing, and it kind of had a
little bit of a you know, a hockey line change
feel to it much of the day. But every time
that happens, it's critigue. It's also causing the counter effect
for Cliff and those guys of what is in the game.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
We don't even know what's in the game.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
The play clock's gonna or the coach the quarterback is
gonna shut off at fifteen seconds, and now they've got
to if we were trying to basically take something that's
an advantage for them and turn it into an advantage
for us. Flow and I talked a lot about it,
But my beef with the TV timeouts that I go
to the league meetings and bring up with my good
buddy Sean McVay and coach Tom on the Competition committee
(19:01):
every year is this, when we're in a TV timeout,
we're not allowed to have fourteen guys out in the huddle.
The defense can have as many players as they want
in the huddle. So I'm trying to I'm trying to
figure out what's going to be on the field. Defensively,
you can't run a lot of plays with your eleven.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Group against base defense.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
There's just not a lot of unless you want Jalen
Naylor blocking defensive ends and linebackers all day.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
There's just not a lot of things you can do.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
So you're trying to you're trying to weave through what's
on the field for them, and there's some people upstairs
trying to tell me. I'm trying to see with my
own eyes. But then what happens is we come back
from a commercial or two and we pop in that
play clock ready for play twenty five seconds bam, and
then they scatter and what's in the game, what's not
There's about eighteen seconds on the play clock. Now you've
(19:48):
got to get a play called within three seconds. So
I just they're very detailed about what we do in
the offensive huddle.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
You can't have twelve in the huddle.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Ever, if you're subbing, you really shouldn't have have, you know,
twelve guys.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
In between the numbers.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
But defensively, during those TV timeouts, they can have the
whole football team standing, the mascot, three coaches, and they're
all out there in the huddle right as an offensive
coach not to ramble, That's what I was trying to explain.
There's some Union gamesmanship to the strategy, and it's strategic.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
It's strategicy with those running on to the numbers and
then running back yep, oh, I'm starting to get it down.
You're awesome. Yeah, thank you, appreciate it. Kevin O'Connell, head
coach of the Minnesota Vikings That's Texas.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
No, thank you for joining us for this week's episode
of x'es and o's with Kevin O'Connell. It's presented by
Ken Lare and as an official production of the Minnesota
Vikings Audio Network.
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