Kevin O’Connell Gives Injury Updates Including J.J. McCarthy Being Out for Week 3 Game vs. Bengals

Kevin O’Connell Gives Injury Updates Including J.J. McCarthy Being Out for Week 3 Game vs. Bengals

All right, good afternoon. Um, you know, talked about a little postgame. Um, the film kind of u, you know, confirmed a lot of the things that, uh, that we felt in the game. We didn’t play, um, you know, didn’t play to the standard that we need to. I did think the effort and the energy was there. Um but across the board it it it’s coming down to um simple things that that we we work really hard to make sure that that standard is met and fundamentals, technique. Um really specifically speaking to the offense, just avoiding critical, you know, critical errors that don’t give us a chance to uh ultimately have success and um need to be more, you know, consistent across the board. um regardless of who’s in there or who’s got to step in there, uh we feel like we’ve got a roster that can that can handle that and guys can step in and and do the things required. Um so a lot of work to do uh with a very fortunate to have another opportunity at home this week against, you know, a good football team and um we’ve got to have a good week of preparation and make some of these things come to life and and that’s what we’re going to do. Um and we’re on our way to doing that already uh today here with the players back in the building. So, uh, update, uh, just on some injuries. Um, you know, both Ryan Kelly and Justin School are in the concussion protocol. Um, came in, you know, uh, with some positive early signs, um, today, but, uh, that is totally in the the hands of the medical professionals as they work through the protocol. Um, Aaron Jones, we’re still in the process of, uh, evaluating kind of his hamstring as of right now. Want to make sure we have a good understanding of it. and uh likely uh to be down this week. Um and and we’ll find we’ll figure out kind of the the determining um factor for that timeline. Uh we did avoid uh thank goodness some serious injuries on Gabe Murphy and Jonathan Gernard. JG was able to come back in with that oblique. just kind of shocked him there uh for a play and and he was able to come back in and Gabe Murphy Gabe Murphy did um avoid you know uh you know what we feared at the moment to be potentially serious. He was able to avoid um anything serious there. Um and then just one final update, JJ McCarthy um you know did come in very very sore today with the ankle sprain. Um I would anticipate we are not planning on having him um for Sunday. um and don’t likely see this being any kind of short-term IR thing, but um I do want to see and and Tyler and the group want to see how he responds, you know, to treatment this week. But, uh you know, give him a ton of credit. Um just the toughness to get that thing taped up and keep playing. Um but, uh but yeah, that is uh something that, uh we were able to determine today. Um so, obviously tough news, um there. So, um, we’ve got our work cut out for us. A lot of work to be done. Um, we’ll get, uh, we’ll get Carson Wentz ready to go. U had a really good practice last week when JJ was out of the building, you know, on a on a third Thursday Thursday kind of third down kind of day. Um, and Carson stepped in and did a great job. So, I know the guys will have a ton of confidence in him. Uh, as well as Max being a snap away. Kevin, so what happened with JJ? Yeah, it happened on It happened. Uh, I believe it happened on the um second and second and 20 scramble where he was able to get towards our sideline and just kind of got rolled up um and in the moment, you know, didn’t necessarily um think it was significant when we came off after that series. He he uh there was somebody in the blue tent, so he was kind of evaluated right there and and just got it taped up um and uh and went back in the game. And um I think it’s one of those things, you know, you know, just kind of hearing from from our our medical staff, one of those things that tends to be much worse today than probably was in the moment to him with adrenaline and everything. Um but like I said, you know, huge compliment to him for for fighting through it and continuing to compete. Just how crazy are all these injuries? I mean, yeah, it’s a lot. Yeah, you know, we’ve we’re we’re definitely dealing with some adversity right now for sure. You know, both uh you know, through our performance, but also, you know, the injury side of things, it’s never ever, you know, going to be an excuse. we’ve got to find a way to have the next man up and and hopefully um you know we’re expecting you know some good news on Akuda and Gink with where they’re at um in the phase of the protocol being able to you know begin their practice work and and kind of clear that last hurdle to hopefully be available this week and then we’ll see where Harry and Gink are or Harry and CD are as well uh as they continue kind of their ramp up plan. I anticipate both those guys practicing on Wednesday and then we’re see we’ll see where we’re at um from that standpoint as well. So there’s you know absolutely um the you want to have all your guys out there. You want to have the the original intent of your full groups um whether that’s Jordan or CD or um potentially now Aaron and JJ. But we’ve got to work through it. Every team deals with it. Our opponent’s going to be dealing with it um as well uh specifically at the quarterback position. So, um, that that is that is the nature of our league week in and week out. Um, it’s just hit us, you know, pretty significantly early on here. Uh, and we’ve just got to work our way through it and try to weather the storm and play good football regardless of who’s in the game. Kevin, with Ryan Kelly, I think this is his fourth concussion in his career. How much does that affect the way you guys think about the time for him? Yeah, it’s definitely something that, you know, I think, you know, in these cases specifically, um, you’re always going to defer to the medical professionals and Ryan and and allow them, um, to work through it. It is encouraging, you know, that he feels he he does feel um, you know, positive and and good today from a standpoint of knowing that history. Um, but like I said, I mean, my my job is to to have the best interest of the player and totally um just allow the medical medical staff and our doctors and and the independent doctors to kind of guide where this thing goes ultimately. But, uh, no question, we want to make sure Ryan’s in a good place. With JJ, people will see that he finished the game uh last night and at least wonder like, does this is there any part of the decision this week based on performance? No. No, not uh not at all. In fact, it was pretty crushing this morning to to hear that for me just, you know, look, uh, for JJ, you know, he’s in in a a a long process, a long journey right now, um, where there’s going to be some ups and downs and, um, as a team, um, I I I think our ability to to play a little bit more consistent around him, um, on the offensive side, these oneoff kind of critical errors that that end up, um, being totally out of JJ’s control. Um, we’ve got to find a way to to eliminate those and limit them in any way possible. The things that are self-inflicted that our opponent is really not doing a whole lot to cause, um, those are the things that, uh, you know, we need to make sure we wrap our minds around, look at them, meet them headon. That’s us as coaches, you know, absolutely myself and and then our group. And we’ve got the group to do that. But no, there’s not um not any aspect of this. This is a pure purely medical uh medicalbased thing that uh you know we’re dealing with right now. And what’s your sense of how much Carson’s been able to pick up here in the weeks that he’s been here? Yeah, he was really impressive last week. Um kind of stepping in. You felt the veteran presence um and the command. He’s really smart. Uh guy that’s played a lot of football and he’s been able to, you know, get himself to a place where um he’s felt very comfortable, you know, these past two weeks had he needed to go in the football game. And now he’ll he’ll get a you know a week of preparation to get ready to go play. Can you call everything that can you call everything that you would call with JJ if he’s been in the system two years? Can you call everything with Carson that you would with JJ? Yes. Yes, I think so. And I and and there’s always going to be a quarterback comfort level uh to what we take to the game. you know, regardless of what we uh prepare throughout the week, you know, by the time we get to Saturday, uh you want to be calling the things that the the guy in the game’s comfortable with, has a, you know, has a positive feeling towards a great understanding of and uh you know, there’s going to be some things, previous experiences that allow Carson to, and we’ve already seen that with kind of a seamless transition for him, um in certain areas and then in other areas where things are um kind of newer for him for the first time. Um I think normally my experience with him short term has been um he gets that rep, he gets that uh he gets that time, he gets that clarity and then you know he’s been good to go as if you know had had he gone in the game um even yesterday. Um we were going to be working off the same same menu uh same collection of plays and and uh Carson felt good about it. Kevin, are you comfortable with Max as the backup just considering he is inexperienced? Yeah, I I think uh you know, you’re you’re kind of going back to how we talked about him in training camp and how he came out of some of those great games, you know, with with pretty high marks and grades for his personal execution, some of the instinctive things he did. Um you know, his physical skill set of of being a really fundamentally sound kind of twitchy accurate passer and and being able to be a fast decision maker. All those things bold well. Uh but but no, there’s there’s clearly, you know, you’d love to have a little bit more experience there, but uh that’s the nature of wanting to have a good really good young developing player um that you bring in in the undrafted process. You know, he’s on our roster and and he’s going to be a snap away and I know Max will be prepared. That’s what we’ve kind of learned quickly about him from the very first day he was here. And Kevin, what did you see in Michael Jurgens getting out there? Yeah, I thought uh you know, Jurg stepped in. there was, you know, there was uh, you know, a a few plays from a standpoint of just stepping in and, you know, some of the plans, you know, for a guy like Ryan Kelly, you know, some of the jobs we ask him to do. Um, there there can be some challenges out there, but I thought Jurg stepped in and competed. Um, you know, there’s there’s always going to be some communication things when things are moving fast for a guy that, you know, didn’t get a lot of reps throughout the week. Um, but I thought he, you know, over the the course of his body of work, there was a lot of positives and, um, I think he’ll build on that this week if if his numbers called. Just to be clear, did you guys know about JJ’s injury during the game or is this something that popped up? Yeah, no, he was he was evaluated and and, you know, I, you know, he I know he got it taped and and probably was something that you guys were aware of. Um but uh but yeah, the severity of it and and just knowing that uh he was going to need he’d some need some time for that thing to settle down and and kind of work through the early process of the rehab uh stage of things. And like I said, I don’t anticipate it, you know, being a a u you know, a short-term IR type situation. Um but we do need to see how he responds here early this week uh to treatment and then we can kind of start projecting um what his you know ramp back up will look like. How are his spirits when you’re talking to you know he’s obviously you know disappointed. I mean this guy wanted to he would go back out and play today. Um you know if if uh if it was possible if we could schedule a game that’s the kind of player and competitor he is. Um I think for him it’s it’s uh you know part of this journey is acknowledging um you know making sure you acknowledge you know what it felt like what you were you know in the moment you know if you did I take the right footwork did I you know play with the kind of technique and fundamentals and have my eyes in the right spots and what plays did I do that and what did that look like and then what plays you know maybe could it have been um a little bit more consistent and then what did those plays turn out like and then just evaluate each play as it own, but always with the same principles of playing the position and and uh you know, I think I think for him it’s just um you know, the injury just it it it it’s crushing because you just want it to be a daily process of of you know, activating um every aspect of the development and learning because you’ve you’ve just seen it, you know, out of him and um in game, you know, his response, you know, to to find a way to win win that opener in Chicago and we weren’t able to get that done um yesterday and and there were some plays uh there were some plays that maybe could change the game there um at different times and it wasn’t always JJ McCarthy that the reason why those plays didn’t happen it was a it was a collection of uh guys that uh you know we just have to have a little bit better all 11 feel I I told the team today you know you can watch these clips and see all 11 guys doing their job and really good things happen for the Minnesota Vikings when that happens And that’s what we got to get more of. And and that’s what uh you know, ultimately, you know, I’m responsible for. And and I put it on myself to try to challenge everybody, prepare the team the right way, regardless of who’s in there, regardless of some of the adversity we’ve kind of felt from an injury standpoint. You know, to me, it’s about the principles of playing the way we need to play. Um you know, all 11 guys, no matter what phase, offense, defense, or special teams. And um it’s not a cliche when you’re when you’re seeing some of the results uh that that we’ve had and and I think it goes back to um taking you know a look at how we prepare taking a look at how we give our guys the most possible clarity. And then to me when it is a fundamental thing um we talk about being a fundamentally sound football team. I don’t think we were that yesterday. And we also, you know, lost the turnover battle pretty significantly, which uh normally means you’re going to have a hard time winning the game. And that’s exactly what it was. How have you felt about JJ’s clock through a couple games in terms of staying in the pocket versus looking to escape? Yeah, I think uh you know, you think back to, you know, some of the plays where uh things were really firm and, you know, the edges were good and those things, the 50 yard before the half. um thought that was a great example of all 11 guys um doing their job and what it could look like. Um there were some other examples where he caught a little bit of a rhythm there um when we were able to move it with a couple explosives. Speedy on a third down, then we hit Speedy again. Um after the long conversion to Adam, you look at those, it’s, you know, pretty much significant chunk significant chunk. And then uh one of his best reps of the day was the ball down to Speedy on you know near that right goal line um where I think we were knocked out at the two. Um and then you look at it the very next snap uh probably have a chance to you know for a pretty easy one there and we we kind of bobble the ball and and and pick it up and throw it away. So it’s just the consistency of how many plays we can stack um you know consecutively uh and like I said it’s not just one particular player. It’s it’s the you know called a few screens in the game and um you know we we we don’t throw and catch one with a pretty significant chance for a gain on that play. Um and then just have a mental error on another screen that ends up being a two- yard gain when when we should clearly have everybody kind of accounted for with a chance to have Jordan Mason um in space with a lot a lot of grass potentially on either one of those plays. So it’s just you know those plays we don’t get you know we don’t get doovers. We, you know, those plays come and go and they are the result are what they are. But what I have to, you know, take a, you know, long look at is the execution of these plays and, you know, all the little details that go into guys just doing their jobs and and I think good things will happen. In fact, I know good things will happen and and, you know, that’s just um something that that doesn’t make it any easier. I mean, talking about our our uh environment we had and the fans that certainly showed up uh for us and and didn’t get the performance that uh quite honestly they deserved and and we all know that our you know our players and and coaching staff know that and we’ve got to find a way um knowing that we’ve got 15 more games and we’re a one-on-one team with a chance to win a game uh this week. That’s all our focus needs to be on is uh enhancing and improving the consistency of all 11 guys doing their job regardless of the situation, regardless of first, second, third down, um whatever it may be. Simple things, center quarterback exchange, um you know, different mechanics of uh you know, our run game combinations and the targeting. And then um I did think there were some positives, you know, throughout the game, whether it was Justin or Speedy or these guys. Um you know, TJ doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet, but um it should if we get the all 11 execution that that uh you know, we can’t just expect uh we’ve got to go make it come to life. Last one. Kevin Christian Darasaw, do you sense that he’s close? Yes. Yeah. No, he’s this has been, you know, I, you know, I I I understand kind of especially with the the nature of his kind of ramp up and working back into it and some of the work he had throughout training camp and that that calendar that we’ve been on. Um, and it’s been a true day-to-day approach to it and and trying to get to a a place where um, you know, we’re, you know, obviously doing what’s best for Christian and and a very collaborative process there. U, but at the same time, he’s doing everything he can uh, to be out there. He’s done a phenomenal job from start to currently where we’re at right now and and uh, anticipate that continuing and and uh, when we get him out there, it’s going to be a huge boost for us for sure. Thank you guys.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media following the Week 2 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons and provided injury updates and more.

#MinnesotaVikings #Vikings #NFL #MN #Football #Skol

Subscribe to the Minnesota Vikings YT Channel: https://goo.gl/VTGqAS
For more Vikings videos: https://goo.gl/f9Ppj3

For more Vikings action: http://www.vikings.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minnesotavikings
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vikings
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikings/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vikings
Get the App: https://apple.co/2uPFQkP
Subscribe to our podcasts: https://apple.co/36BX1on