Kevin O’Connell’s thoughts on the Vikings’ hot start and Carson Wentz at QB | The Pat McAfee Show

Kevin O’Connell’s thoughts on the Vikings’ hot start and Carson Wentz at QB | The Pat McAfee Show

He’s won the coach of the year. He’s turned around an operation in a program to make us all believe that anybody could play quarterback for his team and they’d win. Ladies and gentlemen, the living legend, I’d say, former quarterback got cut before he could sit down. Yeah. In a Jets building, ladies and gentlemen, Coach Kevin O’Connell. How you doing, dude? I’m doing well. You’re uh you’re about six feet away from a living legend there. Right to your right. Coach Ba, absolutely. You’re 100% right. And on that note, there he is right there. He thinks you’re on your way, brother. He’s a very big fan of yours. I don’t know if you got a chance to hear that. Do you know Coach Ba at all, KO? I got a chance to shake his hand uh you know, when I was a younger, coach, and he was uh he was rolling there in Tampa. Um always been a huge fan, obviously going back a long time watching his offenses play. Um, but the the the side of it that he’s talking about, I got a chance to hear some of what you guys were just talking about. Uh, he’s he’s a standard setter for for winning culture, whether it’s now 2025 or or going back a long way. Got nothing but respect for coach. Well, that’s the same here, brother. I love what you’re doing and uh I I I think you could coach anybody to play quarterback except me. I actually went I went two games without completing a pass. Okay. Well, I think that would not happen with KO. Let’s talk. He might he might have been there and fixed me. Yeah, exactly. Or if you’re calling your own plays, you might have been a little bit better. But KO, let’s talk about that. That whole narrative about you being able to coach or, you know, drop a play literally in the dirt for any quarterback. I think you have tried to humble that, humble that, humble that. We heard stories last year of you literally telling the quarterback in his headphones until 15 seconds on the play clock like what everybody’s route was and what everything was and you were having success. So that obviously leads to Carson Wentzier being the most recent quarterback for you to have success with. That was by far the best football that I’ve seen him play. That was the most instructure I’ve ever seen him play. What did you see from Carson Wentz that got you excited for him to come to the Vikings? And then now that you’ve had a chance to play a game with him or coach a game with him, what are your thoughts about him and the Vikings offense as a whole if he has to continue to play? Yeah. Well, I’ve always been, you know, a fan of Carson’s going back a long way. I mean, I was in the division coaching in Washington as a quarterback coach and coordinator when when uh he was playing at an unbelievable level for the Eagles and and and then you know people forget how good of a year he had in Indianapolis. Um you know there when whenever that was 2021 I think it was. Um so I’ve always just known uh about uh the player going back to evaluating him coming out of North Dakota State big, strong, smart. uh you know I think the game uh makes sense to him in a lot of ways both pre and post snap. Um so I thought it would be a a big thing for our team to add that kind of experience. You know former second pick in the draft guy that’s been on this quarterback journey and and at different stops and different capacities and um has a unique perspective I think now that not only can help our young quarterback but can really help our whole team. Uh, so that was really the the hope of bringing Carson to Minnesota. And then on top of that, once he’s uh once he arrived here, you start seeing a guy that um this guy can do a lot of things to at a really high level at the quarterback position still. Um, he’s only 32 years old, which is is turning into a young a young quarterback nowadays with uh with the way Tom kind of reset the number at the position age-wise and what Aaron’s doing now um at at his age obviously, but uh here’s what I know. I I think Carson Wentz when I think about him playing at his best. Uh I mentioned it to Carson this past week and I mentioned it uh you know to our team and and in the postgame press conference. I really see him as a point guard, a guy that can see the whole field. He can put the ball in play. I thought he played with great fundamentals from the pocket, a base that allowed him to be grounded and kind of make quick decisions that played right alongside his fast eyes to be able to diagnose where toh find the voids and vacancies to to attack the defense. And really, that’s what our offense is all about. And we’re trying to build plays that allow him to throw the ball in open areas to some really good players, as we see right here with Justin Jefferson, unbelievable pitch and catch. Uh, you know, run after catch right there to start a two-minute drive. and allow us to score on three plays. I mean, there was just a lot of Carson just kind of letting the game come to him, being really disciplined with his feet and his eyes and and trusting in uh the system that we uh we have here. But at the same time, we wanted to put together a plan that he was really comfortable with, uh which is always the starting point to allow a quarterback to go into Sunday with a bunch of confidence. And uh I was really happy with the way he played. Yeah, I’d say that that touchdown we just showed was to go up 48 to3 in the third quarter week three. That’s a nice little start to a game. You know, that’s an anxiety reliever. We’re going to 483. Okay, now I know what the Vikings did to the Colts. Okay, I understand that. There was a whole whole conversation about 33 zip earlier today with Cam Binham. But like whenever your team’s rolling like that and you see how special it is, do you get excited about the like do you know your team is the same team or better than the team that was last year? like when do you think you’ll get a feel of that? Because last year you’re fighting obviously for the number one seed in the NFC with the Detroit Lions last week of the season. This year JJ McCarthy gets hurt. Carson Wentz steps in. He has success. Feels like you’re going to be able to have success offensively this season, which might have been the only question mark at quarterback. Feels like you’re going to figure that out. Do you feel like the same feelings as you had last year? What did you learn from last year maybe that kind of continues this trend that you’re on? I think it’s a I think it’s a really good question, but for us it was more about from one Sunday to the next at US Bank Stadium. And uh I I challenged our team after after our Atlanta game of really we don’t even know uh what we don’t. Yeah, I know. We don’t know. And now we never will. Yeah. Ferger. Oh, you got frozen there. You’re Hold on. I think you’re muted now. And you’re back. You got me. Yeah. You said um you said I told the team after the Atlanta game that we don’t even know and then it stopped. So we thought we’d never find out to be clear. But your team did find out what you don’t even know. Yeah. No. Yeah. You know Pat, we didn’t know really what we are. We did so many things in that game um that you know didn’t give us a chance to win the game by some of the things we were doing to ourselves. And uh what I asked for was to uh allow our our our philosophy on winning games to come to life. and and and that was uh forcing some turnovers on defense, protecting the ball on offense, you know, having some physicality at the line of scrimmage to be able to run the football and then generate a a completion mindset in the pass game to allow our playmakers to make plays. I thought our kicking game, both our punter and our kicker were phenomenal. the coverage units with a bunch of young players on it were phenomenal. And and I thought the way Flo called the defense uh from an attacking mentality from the jump just kind of uh allowed the energy and the momentum of the game to just play off of all three phases for 60 minutes. And and and and I told our team afterwards, we now have the answer of what it can look like. Uh but we’ve got to understand that it was about the preparation for the week, the mindset coming off of the fact that we had to deal with a little adversity head on. Um, and in this day and age, uh, you’re you’re if you allow things to, uh, outside your building from a, uh, you know, the noise and, hey, this is what they are. This is what they aren’t. And I understand all that. That’s what makes our game so great and popular is people want to talk about our game 24/7. They want to watch our game 24/7. But it still is old school principles of figuring out what it’s going to take to win a game. What does your identity of your team look like? And that may be different from last year. to answer your original question. Um, and it’s about the identity of this team and then putting that together and making it come to life, uh, against NFL teams and game plans where things are going to be hard at times. And and that’s when the best parts of this team, uh, our leadership and and and our coaching staff need to band together to to find a way to win a game a week. And that’s I know that’s a cliche, but you get too far away from that, you can find yourself searching for answers that that don’t need to be too far away. They’re right in front of you. Sometimes you just got to go to work and fix some of the things that uh will give you a great chance to win a game. Hey, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process, the process. Let’s try to win right now. Right now. Right now. This meeting right now. Let’s win this meal right now. Let’s win this conversation right now. And then the game, guess what? Win itself. Okay. Everything else has to happen. The more you can get the team focused on that, the better. But boy, after beating the out of a team, it is it is tough to do that. That’s why I would not be a good head coach cuz I’d be with the boys. Hey. Yeah. Carson, this backup quarterback boy. We smoke the Bengals. Problem. So, just know that we are part of the problem. But good on you being the one that has to handle all that. It’s not just you, though. There’s another legend on that coaching staff that you just referenced. Go ahead, Debb. Yeah, coach. I know you go way back with Brian Flores. And Bruce, you could run the video while I’m asking this question. like what is it like preparing you know against this guy sharpening I guess iron versus iron preparing going into the game because his defense you talked about the attacking style but even before the snap is even had if you’re looking at the screen all these different things that the quarterback has to deal with. So I want to know what it’s like going in to a game or or even to a season with him and then the performance of Isaiah Rogers. I want you to talk about that a little bit as well. Yeah. Well, I can tell you Debbut that uh I’m always probably the happiest guy when training camp’s over uh because we we no longer have to uh you know really prepare on a daily basis for just about anything because the way Flo and his staff operate uh they’re trying to give those players and it helps a lot having a guy like Harrison Smith back on the field, Andrew Van Ginkle back on the field to truly unleash kind of that think tank of Flo and his staff of uh disguise and uh apply applying, you know, mental pressure to go along with the physical pressure uh that they can bring every single snap. And then what are the counter punches off of that? How are they protecting some of those looks? Making, you know, a lot of things start out looking the same, but they’re different. Just really good principles of football. And uh the best thing about Flo is his ability to teach it, his ability to give the players uh ownership of each and every plan each week uh to allow them to just go out there and play fast and make it all come to life. You know, he uh he allows me to go in there and talk to the defense on Saturdays, you know, the day before the game, the plans in. I kind of have a good a good feel for that plan. And it’s one of the most fun times I have all week because these guys are are absolutely ready to, you know, get to the stadium the next day and go play and and go do their thing. But it’s all the work that goes in that leads into that that that moment and then ultimately into these games that uh I think Flo and his staff do a tremendous job. And I’m so fortunate to have him here commanding that defense and and what it brings to the mentality of our whole team um week in and week out is has has been a winning edge for us. There’s no question about that. I love that you go in and talk to the defense. I also appreciate every time we have a miked up video of you talking to the team. You’re a great communicator, bro. You’re you’re uh you’re a great I I don’t know. BA phenomenal communicator. Had his own way of doing things the way BA talked. Obviously Chuck Lagono, I heard him. He was uh more of a storyteller. Okay. He he was telling stories out there and he would act that out every once in a while as well. Rich Rodriguez, this guy hilariously intense human being. Okay. like that is had a great message was all of them come in different ways. Your delivery in your messaging and your communication with uh the team. Obviously, because you’re an ex- player, you probably maybe saw a coach that acted similar to how you act now, maybe got some influence from, or how do you find who you are? And then how much are you thinking about the messages that you’re sending? Are you reading books, watching movies, looking things up, chat, GBT, Grock, maybe? How are you figuring out Grock has gotten a few things wrong. All right, Grock. What was he saying? What was Grock saying out there? We can talk about coach. We don’t I don’t want this coach. Grock Grock’s been wrong a little bit. Grock’s been on a little bit of a terror. But on that note, how do you come up with the messages and why do you think you communicate the way you do? Is it um kind of following somebody else that you’ve seen or played for? Yeah, I think the one thing I learned uh after all these years and and whether it was being a rookie around, you know, coach Bellich, you know, getting to win a Super Bowl with Shawn McVey, there was a lot of great coaches in between along that journey of being a player and a coach. Uh I could not do this job unless I was me. Just authentically me every single day. I think it’d be awfully hard to try to be somebody else and then try to handle the moments of adversity while you’re playing the part of somebody else. That just seems like uh that just seems like an impossible task. So, what I’ve tried to do is just uh figure out uh the principles of who, you know, I want our organization to be. Um and then I want to consistently be the version of that for our guys so that they never have to wonder who they’re going to get in front of them. uh they never have to question the authenticity of the message. They know it comes from a place uh that is in the best interest of them both as players and as people and and ultimately about growth and development of everybody, me included. Um that’s probably uh the best way to answer it. I would say that the messaging postgame is authentic and as real as it gets because I really do not think about any of those things before I go in there. And it’s more about making sure I acknowledge the the people that uh had performances that day um that led us to winning football games. Many times it goes back to conversations one-on-one with the player uh like a Christian Darasaw throughout the week of uh hey I envision handing you a football after this game and saying how proud I am of you and what you mean to me and what you mean to this organization. The journey you’ve been on post injury. Uh that’s where we’re going. Let’s figure out how we’re going to get there throughout the week is is what I believe the the formula to doing that is. You can’t be one without the other. Uh that wouldn’t be coaching. that would just be motivational speaking at that point. You got to be able to fulfill your obligation as a coach to then back it up uh with the messaging that you have. And I do it all through the lens of as a former player uh who don’t I never really thought I reached my truest potential. And it wasn’t a coach’s fault, but it was more of a mindset of me uh you know, allowing my mind to worry and and focus on things that were outside of my control. So, I’m constantly trying to be that voice for our guys to allow them to focus on the present, focus on what actually matters to help them win football games. And through that process, you build unbelievable relationships. I’m sure coach can attest to this is the what he probably looks back on the fondest is just the relationships on an individual level with players. Even in this day and age with the dynamic of, you know, the college level that these players come from, guys, like you can still form relationships that matter, you can still form things uh that will glue glue together your team in a way uh that allows you to handle the ups and downs of an NFL season. And it’s my favorite part of the job if I’m being honest with you. That’s awesome to hear. You just gave like a full synopsis on coaching and relationships and wisdom and passing things on to other people. That was wonderful. Listen, thank you for that. And coach Ba, you coached with Bear Bryant. Okay. All the way through, you know, coaching Tom Brady here in the boys down in Tampa Bay. How did you find who you were? And is it all just about finding the best version of the players? That’s all you’re trying to do. Yeah. I think I think players see they see through First thing, you cannot players, man. You got to you got to be honest with them. And the truth hurts sometimes. I say you my door is always open. You might not get the answer you want to hear, but you’ll get the truth. All right. And uh why you not playing? You suck right now. All right. Now, you can get better, but you ain’t trying to get better. All right. They’ll look at you like, “I thought you going to hand me the job.” No, you got to earn this And uh but you got you got to be real with them all the time. And I think they really really respect that. Yeah, I think so. And KC, not every ex player is a good coach either, man. So, that’s a trait that I think, you know, only very few have. Congrats on having that. And the game is lucky that you’re uh deciding to give back. Now, on that note, game giving back. You got a couple international games here going Germany. No, Ireland. Ireland. Yeah, the McUade bowl. Yeah, I forgot. You got Pittsburgh in Ireland. There’s a chance car McCarthy or Carson. What? I don’t know if that decision’s been made. Whatever the case, I’m not putting you in a right now. Carson Wentz running around there in Ireland though. You could pick up an entire country of fans. First one off the bus no matter what. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And potentially make sure everybody sees that red Yeah. Maybe have him play with a leather helmet. Yeah. And wear Yeah. Do the whole thing. do the whole thing. Okay. Have them do that. You might pick up the entire country. Pittsburgh Steelers have a deep history with Ireland. You know, ambassador over there and everything like that. Going to be electrifying. Their fans are awesome from what our experience was with college ball. What is your thoughts quickly? We only have like 30 seconds or so on the backtoback international games and what you’re saying to the boys about making history here in Ireland. Yeah, I think it’s, you know, from the jump, it’s always been about a great opportunity for us. I mean, to get to to play in Ireland first and foremost is going to be an unbelievable experience. Uh, we’ve had success doing the kind of the the the oneame trip before. That’s how we’ll handle this first game. Uh, and then we’ll make our way over to London and we’ll have a full week of preparation there before going into the buy. But I can tell you this much to get to play these games at these unbelievable venues that uh were technically the road team at both these games, but uh I know what it’s like to have to go to Pittsburgh or have to go to Cleveland um in those atmospheres and environments. You know, I know it’s going to be electric, but uh it it beats being the road team, the true road team uh on the you know, going to some of these places to play these hostile environments. And we’ve got to go there and try to, you know, it’s a great opportunity to build new Vikings fans, you know, make people learn about our team, how we roll, how we operate, and go compete and try to win a couple games against two really good teams. Yeah, we got Kevin O’Connell, JJ McCarthy, and Justin McJfferson coming off the bus. All right, good luck out there, man. Safe travels. You’re the man. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell joins The Pat McAfee Show after Minnesota’s 48-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

0:00 Carson Wentz at QB
5:15 Building on success
9:18 Brian Flores and Isaiah Rodgers
15:58 Bruce Arians talks coaching

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