Vikings vs. Browns in London, Fixing Penalties & Player Injuries | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

Vikings vs. Browns in London, Fixing Penalties & Player Injuries | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to X’s and O’s from the Minnesota Vikings team manor outside of London proper. And I’m Paul Allen, joined weekly at this time by Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin Oonnell. And uh we welcome Kevin to the equation uh with um a a schedule a scheduling question for you. Uh what um what are you going to be doing tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 8:10 London time? 8:10 London time. Wednesday. I will be I imagine I’ll be with the fellas doing some third downs. Okay. Is what I would imagine. So that’s third down planning. Yes. Okay. Well, your Padres’s are at the Cubs in the playoffs at 8:10 London time tomorrow night. Does that excite you? It does a little bit. Yeah. You’re you’re a lifetime Padres’s family. I just like the fact that uh you know the Padres’s made the playoffs and Brian Angelico’s Mets did not is what I love the most. I with an epic collapse. Nonetheless, yes, especially after uh you know, Juan Sodto’s career journey took him from uh the beautiful beaches of San Diego to uh New York on his way to the Mets. So, um I I have enjoyed that in in in a very small capacity. You um lastly here on the baseball vibe from the team manor outside of London proper. It’s beautiful here, quite tranquil. Um, you you need the Padres’s to beat the Cubs because you guys have the buy next week, which means if they beat the Cubs, I think you can go to a game. I talked to uh I’ve I’ve become fairly close with uh Mike Schil, the manager of the Padres’s, and got a chance to spend some time with him when they came out to the Twin Cities a couple weeks ago, a few weeks back. Sweet. And uh yes, we’ve uh that would be something that uh in the midst of trying to work through the buy and kind of get our guys ready to go for the the following week coming out of the buy, which will be very important to us when we when we get to that uh get to that time. I have thought about that a little bit. Okay, good. Yeah. Excellent. So, you think about more than football. Uh it’s it’s very much so just football right now and at this beautiful place, but uh that time will come. Um, okay. Two football. Um, now I’m going to guess that uh, in fact, I’m going to say I know. Um, I know these penalties are working on your last nerve. Okay. And the crazy thing is is the first three years under OK, the Okonnell coaching staff leadership, you guys always were top seven, top five. Yep. With like fewest penalties. So, I mean, it’s just crazy through four games. How do you preach that out of them? Well, I think, you know, you you can’t allow any of the factors that might be contributing to those things be an excuse. I I don’t really uh if somebody were to tell me, hey, I don’t, you know, you’ve had a couple centers in there, a couple quarterbacks, different cadences. I don’t buy into any of that. I think we’ve got to find a way to execute at a uh at a higher level from a standpoint of the pre- snap. and and we’ve had uh some of the critical offensive penalties that we’ve seen um have been in the pre-nap variety where they come on a third and six then all of a sudden you’re third and 11. They come on a third and seven then all of a sudden you’re third and 12. It’s a it’s a you know a screen to Justin in the red zone and you could be third and inside a one um and instead you’re you know a lineman not involved in the play downfield getting flagged for a penalty. So, it’s it’s it’s it’s some things that we clearly have to coach better and we’ve got to get back to our standard of pre and postnap execution. And then some of the, you know, some of the things postnapwise, extracurricular wise on Sunday defensively, uh where, you know, we knew we knew it was going to be that kind of game specifically with some of the uh some of the players, uh, you know, on the grass for them offensively. And that’s that’s what it’s on tape. you see it and that’s part of, you know, playing teams that are uh going to try to, you know, bait you into some things when when it’s that every yard kind of matters kind of game like and uh and Byron and and we saw and we saw some of that and I did not like the way we handled some of that. Um the officials were are always going to catch the second guy before they catch the first guy or vice versa. And uh we’ve got to just understand that that’s what the three and a half hour is. three and a half hours are going to be every Sunday in this league. That’s the competition. That’s the uh the highest level of it and and sometimes some of those between the ears kind of warfare that goes on to try to elicit stealing some yards here and there. We can’t let it happen. Uh m minus Aaron Jones, uh you have your full arsenal to strike in the passing game and and and at least from from you know my outsiders knowledge of what I see, they’re mostly getting open a fair amount of the time. So, fair to say with better protection, the the the deeper hits will come. Yeah, I think you know, we’ve been we’ve been trying to make a concerted effort to to see how how efficient we can be getting the ball out to our playmakers and and you know, when we’ve, you know, we’ve kind of took some we’ve we we’ve we’ve took some lumps here when we’ve tried to push the ball down the field via some of the ways we’ve traditionally done that, the play pass, right? um different different ways of of trying to manipulate coverage downfield and and we’ve got to find the balance to still do those things when when the time calls for it. And when we do those things, can we be schematically sound to protect with the best, you know, the best uh schematics of protection we can to help where we can. What’s been difficult is trying to, you know, we haven’t necessarily gone into uh the Atlanta or the Pittsburgh game thinking we’re going to play our seventh or eighth lineman. Um, so we’ve gone in with a plan to try to uh either help in a a certain spot where maybe we’ve got somebody stepping in going into the game. Uh, either, you know, thinking about Justin School or thinking about um, you know, knowing we wouldn’t have, uh, certain parts of our our offensive line available to us. But then you’re then you’re reacting on the fly. Yes. uh still having to block the same folks, still having to, you know, make sure you’re accounting for some of the uh the problems along the defensive front and some of the pressures they may bring, but you’re also adding a layer of how do we help uh kind of a new category of player once they’re stepping in and and and trying to play at their best and and do everything they can to help us. But yeah, I I think you know the facts, you know, even in those circumstances the other day, it was a game where we had to we had to try to go get the game. Yeah. And in the process of doing so, you’re going to expose yourself to some risk. But in the end, we still had the ball first and 10 at the minus 40 with a chance to go at least get three to tie the game regardless of what it had gone like. And I think that’s look I I I have a lot of respect and admiration for uh the folks that anticipate games going a certain way or going to, you know, playing to a certain script. Um that’s just not how our season has gone here early on. But my sole focus, and you know this about me, is I believe we’re going to win the game until uh the last opportunity has been uh has come and gone. And and for us, although folks may have thought at certain times in the second half there that that football game was headed to being over sooner rather than later, that’s just not the case. And we eventually threw for a bunch of yards and statistically all this stuff that doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. It’s, you know, what’s the flow of the game and how do we find the the best path to winning a football game. We’re playing against one of the best defenses in the league this week. We’re playing against a physical team. Uh we’ve got to try to match that, but we also have to play the game in a way where it’s a little bit more on our intended terms, not so much on our opponents. And that’s what I thought took place in Dublin. I thought we played the game uh that the Steelers wanted us to play. And uh we still had a chance to win said game despite losing the turnover battle two to nothing and having a lot more negative plays uh on our on our ledger than they did and penalties. So, um, you you’ve you’ve got to find, uh, some positives in the fact that when we can eliminate some of those things, it maybe looks a little bit more like Cincinnati than it does some of these these other the couple losses we’ve had where we’ve kind of dug into the roster a little bit to try to manufacture four quarters where where we’re dealing with some things. But as I said, postgame and you know this about me, uh I don’t view that as any sort of uh you know excuse or any sort of thing that can be a detriment to winning. I view it as an opportunity for that next man to step up and for us to coach at a high level and uh you know put a put a put an exclamation point on it with uh uh Kevin Oonnell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. I’m Paul Allen. This is X’s and O’s, a weekly component 9 to noon. very fortunate and uh privileged to have the head coach join us for an elongated conversation each and every week. We are at a manor where the team is staying outside of a London proper and it’s uh it’s quite um it’s bright out here. It it’s bright, but uh it’s it’s going from the not that you got out a ton because you’re getting ready for the Steelers game, but the hustle and bustle of Dublin and it was just I mean it was like a big time city. It’s on fire in the city and stuff with people walking around and and then here now it’s just so tranquil and peaceful. It’s almost like you could take your surface down next to some 200y old tree and like crapped up the first 15 or something. Yeah, exactly. It’s the same to me. I I didn’t get out much in Dublin. So, it’s all the same to me. Yes, sir. Um and and off what you were talking about about injuries in the game, I mean in in-game injuries, I would imagine are the absolute worst and and how much is required to change when say two offensive linemen go down during the course of the game? Well, I think there’s there’s a couple ways to look at it, right? We uh you know, TJ Watt played on the right side. We had a plan to you know, make his make his day as difficult as possible. and and you know, I got my normal weekly check-in with said, you know, elite pass rusher after the game. He said, you know, I can I I think twice all day I got an open edge to rush. And I said, we’re not, you know, we you know, we’re not going to just roll the ball out there, TJ. We’re going to try to make it hard on you, but that’s cool you do that. When when you even, you know, Brian O’Neal’s a really good player and has been for a really long time. When if he doesn’t get hurt, you win. Well, and and and getting hurt, you know, on a on a on a field goal is the is the is the hard one for me, just because, you know, you wish you wish you didn’t have to a have a player like Brian on the field goal team and you had a few more bodies up. Yeah. Uh but those are the rules. That’s what everybody kind of deals with. Jeez. Um, but yeah, when you when you have a drive like that that should have ended, you know, with seven points to start the day, we end up with, you know, a critical penalty there and then, uh, you know, take a sack in the on a third down. Um, and you you get your three points and as a coach, you’re thinking, okay, there’s our three. Um, you know, we’re we’re going to get the ball to start the second half. Defense is going to go out and get a stop. Let’s get ready for this next drive. Um, and then all of a sudden you’re out, you know, on a knee over Brian O’Neal as as he, you know, is is being assessed by the doctors. And then eventually Ryan Kelly, you know, as well early on in that game going. So essentially, you go in with a group of five you think are going to be out there. And we were talking a lot about Donovan Jackson and Blake Brenell stepping in um and really being kind of uh probably where most people’s eyeballs were going to be. Yeah. And now that’s really third or fourth on the ledger as far as big time what you’re dealing with in the game and and and that’s in game after a week of preparation. So there are some tweaks and subtle adjustments and then there’s going to be some hard downs where uh you look at the you know the intentional grounding late in the game. PA, we’ve got an opportunity there uh for a explosive one-on-one matchup, you know, where we wanted to go with the ball and and we get beat on a TE immediately and and and that’s that’s part of the game. They made a play and and and made the play required to win the game at that point. But you think about what could that have play been like uh if if we find a way to at least give Carson a chance to take a hitch and throw that ball down the field cuz we needed a chunk in the moment. we had an opportunity for it and they made the play to stop us and that’s why they won the game. But um you go back through the game over the course of that game and first and foremost you evaluate how you called it and and the circumstances that you found yourself in trying to chase that game down a little bit. What led us to being in that situation and what kept us from being a little bit more consistent? And yeah, you can look at some of the aspects of personnel and say, “Okay, well, maybe we’ll be better here or there or what whatever it may be, but at the same time, we’ve got to find a way to play the game, whatever’s required to give ourselves the best chance to win.” And that might not always equal the the, you know, tell the story in the stat sheet. Um, especially early on in the year here where we’re trying to navigate playing our games in some capacity where you look at it. Hey, we’ve probably had about 11 of our original 22 guys that we penciled in reporting to training camp and we’ve probably had uh we’ve we’ve we’ve had 11 of those 22 guys not out there for certain chunks of time and that doesn’t mean we’re you know nobody’s going to feel sorry for us in any capacity. We got to find a way to win those games regardless. So, so, um, uh, from the manor, uh, Kevin met with the media earlier in in kind of an on thereord, uh, you know, chat that wasn’t per se a press conference, but you shared some stuff about offensive lineman Brian O’Neal and Ryan Kelly. Yep. What uh, so for those who missed it, what what what are the updates with them? Yeah, so Brian O’Neal has a an MCL sprain. we, you know, we avoided, you know, the real long-term scares sometimes when you when you see one of those big guys go down with uh with a knee injury. Um, we consider him week to week at this point. And I think we’ve been we’ve been blessed with where our by-week is. Don’t think short-term IR or anything like that’s going to be required. Brian’s uh one of the most elite workers and veteran tough guys that I’ve been around and I expect him to be able to, you know, really progress quickly here. use the by-week next week as a as a real springboard to hopefully see where he can, you know, possibly return um coming out of that by, you know, week to week from there. But, um I think we avoided, you know, a serious a serious injury that would keep him from returning this year. And then Ryan Kelly did, you know, he’s in the concussion protocol. He’s feeling uh he’s feeling uh pretty good all things considered. And uh the one thing I you know I mentioned earlier is I do feel very strongly about where concussion rehab is now from a standpoint there it is evolving and changing over these last few years and from a medical side I think we can um feel pretty strong about the process Ryan’s going to be a part of and and working his his way back as well. Uh but we obviously want to be smart with a with a player with head injuries and things like that. So, something we want to be smart about and we’re going to put together the uh a really good group, a group that we think gives us the best five out there for not only what the Minnesota Vikings want to do, but what the Cleveland Browns present defensively as well. All right. So, so say you wanted to work out some street guys like like do you have to fly them to London and like meet them at Piccadilly Square and run down the street or something? Yeah. So, we uh anybody that we that isn’t on our practice squad currently, we’ve we’ve got to fly in and and they’re not exactly local unless they’ve decided to somehow take a vacation, you know, to uh to Europe while uh while we’re over here. So, it is the same process it normally is. It’s just you’re not flying them to uh MSP. You’re flying them uh to one of the three airports here and getting them here as fast as possible. Uh Kevin Oonnell X’s and O’s 9 to noon FM 100.3 KFAM and also you can watch it at Vikings.com. Xavier Scott um he he seems to be gaining confidence rep by rep and now now he’s making guys miss and stuff like that. It um is his best current asset in the passing game matched up against certain linebackers? I mean because I mean he just worked number six last game. Yeah, and that’s where we were trying to, you know, the, you know, he drew a penalty there late in the game. Um, but if he gets a clean release and doesn’t get uh doesn’t get hooked right there by uh by Patrick Queen, I mean, he’s going to have a chance early in that possession to probably cross the 50 with the ball and then and then you’re not only thinking about three points there, you’re thinking about can we just go end this thing right now? And that’s we were a play we were that one play away from doing that. We had another opportunity uh that I was talking about a little bit earlier a couple plays later where we took the intentional grounding penalty. Y what Zay brings is he’s got a natural feel of route running and catching the football and then he’s an explosive athlete. He’s got some receiver background uh in his football journey. So we’re going to try to uh you know use him in the traditional sense. He’s electric with the ball in his hands and kind of has helped us absorb the loss of Aaron Jones with his skill set and then knowing we want JP to be that kind of bellcow, you know, all down kind of physical presence, downhill runner that he is. So, he’s Zay’s brought something he’s brought something to the table. It’s why he’s here. It’s why he made our team and and and we saw that potentially being a real opportunity for him throughout the course of 17 games this year knowing that you’re inevitably going to have to deal with injuries and um you know we feel very strong about what Zay can bring to our offense. Kevin, uh how high-end is Isaiah Rogers playing for you guys? I mean, from the words I view standpoint calling the game, watching some stuff, I mean, he he’s fantastic. He just seems fantastic. Yeah, he’s you know, it’s it’s not a surprise to me. It’s not a surprise to Flo. kind of what we uh imagined him being. So, I file that into the category of I know a lot of folks need to see it to believe it a lot of times, but we that was one of the uh positions that I know I was asked about a lot throughout the off season and um even after signing Z, it’s u you know, what else are you going to do? What else are you going to do? That can’t be that can’t be it. and and you you know in the back of your mind you know what’s coming if you truly believe in in in kind of which I do you know Brian Flores and his vision for players and then ultimately what we saw from a scouting standpoint of where he was at in his career. I’m not surprised about anything he’s doing. What I am uh surprised about is just the the momentum he seems to be getting snap in and snap out of. Now we’re kind of coming off the playmaking of the Bengals game. Now you’re kind of seeing um you know examples of him being really close to doing that a heck of a lot more than just in that sequence of play. The nuts and bolts. Yeah. And just the consistency factor of it regardless of the matchup, regardless of who he’s lining up across from. And um there’s going to be some other challenges this week with the Cleveland Browns and Judy and the rest of their skill guys. Uh and I know uh you know Zay’s going to be one of the driving forces behind slowing that offense down. Um Jaylen Redmond um with all due respect to everybody involved, he might be your best defensive lineman through four games. Uh what what is it from the other defensive lineman you want to see and required to start right now? Well, I think you know there’s a level of uh you know things go in waves, right, PA? So you’re you you you want to try to add disruption and and interior pass rush. Well, you know, we still have to be that that defense that we need to be on the early downs from a standpoint of defending the run and getting people into these longer yardage situations where the best parts of our our defense can come out. Whether that’s the pressure looks that we bring, uh, the sticky coverage that we have, making them have to get down the field a little bit more to convert third downs or the the, you know, the hard graves or the Allen the interior rush. But you mentioned Jaylen Redmond, and I just want to really highlight the fact that uh this this is a player that is still ascending and just growing on a daily basis. We’re just now seeing it happen, right? Um in in game action and he’s showing up making a bunch of plays. I mean, I feel like every week I could be showing clips uh to the team of Red making a play and last week it was the sacks. The previous week uh you know, he made some plays in the back field affecting the quarterback, affecting the run game. uh he’s showing up every week and when you when you talk about him, Grave, Ja, and then you get into Levi and Ty Ingram Dawkins and you see the depth and Elijah Williams even getting in there for some snaps, you know, we feel good about that depth. We just need to see um a little bit more consistency of of guys being able to set edges, you know, stop the run, allow our allow the the rest of the guys on the defense to go run and make plays to try to get the offense into some of those down and distances where they’ve really got to be concerned about negative plays. A few more for the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin Okonnell, via X’s and O’s from this beautiful manor outside of London proper. Uh Carson got banged around pretty good uh in in the Dublin game. Do do you find it um and you played quarterback so maybe it was you too. Do do quarterbacks become a little or do they become gunshy to pull the trigger sometimes when they keep taking hits? No, I think it’s I think it’s a little bit more uh not necessarily pulling the trigger, but it could speed you up a little bit and make you decide uh that uh you know I need to throw this thing maybe a little earlier than I want to or maybe I need to get off of this first or second progression a little bit faster. and it can just kind of speed up your internal clock. Look, the uh you know, the Steelers, I I mentioned earlier playing the game on their terms. Um that’s what happens when you find yourself uh with the kind of deficit that that we did. And um early on in the game, we were kind of able to kind of play it to our terms a little bit. they made some adjustments and then once you know the injuries kind of happened we had to you know try to find different in different ways to either run the football or protect in the in either the play action game or the you know the drop back quick passing game whatever you want to call it and uh they just you know they made a few more plays than we did and then we were able to kind of um you know retip the scales a little bit later on in our favor have some explosives in the pass game move the ball at a at a good clip find our way in the end zone and make it a football game but it too much of uh you know at times you know things getting away from where we wanted it to be from a game plan standpoint due to some factors out of our control but at the same time what was in our control that’s what we’ve got to focus on uh a couple on Cleveland here to close now now I it’s almost a week here at the manor okay after a weekend in Dublin where where you left last Thursday got there Friday Dublin time settled in played the Steelers now we’re in London after that you get the buy So I I it’s no time for anybody to be homesick or looking ahead to the potential of a sandy beach with with some off time that’s welld deserved for a lot of people. Yeah. But human nature also wins sometimes too. So is that on your mind at all or an absolute non-player with this group? No, I I I it’s it’s my job to make sure I’m communicating uh that that that cannot be an option for us. And luckily, we’ve got the type of group that uh these guys are motivated. They’re locked in. You know, it’s it’s they genuinely feel week in and week out like they commit to uh trying to have the best week of preparation we can because the three and a half hours on Sunday are really important to these guys. And um so I think we’re going to have a good week of prep. We’re kind of in a different world now than we were last week from a standpoint of we have adjusted to the time. We are, you know, we we are not going to be on buses all over uh, you know, all over London. We’re going to be here. We’re going to be practicing here. We’re going to be meeting here. We’re going to be eating here. Everything’s taking place right here as if we’ve just moved TCO um right here to uh Hamberry and and that’s where the resources that put together these trips and how we have it set up, it’s really designed to be the best possible um setting for the player. And there’s some things, obviously, we’re in a different country, so there’s some things that are going to be outside of the norm for these players, but what’s not is they’re going to hear from me on Wednesday what I think it’s going to take to win the game in the team meeting setting. They’re going to hear from Flo and and Wes and Matt Daniels from a coordinator standpoint of of how we’re going to do it in all three phases with great detail and installation of those plays and concepts. And then they’re going to get it in the position room setting uh with their position room coaching. and we’re going to go practice it right down by the golf course there on a beautiful field down there. And then we’re going to come back and we’re going to meet and we’re going to do the same process uh that we always do regardless of the previous week’s result. Yes, sir. But there is an urgency and there is an attention to detail uh required when you know that there are some factors you know either previously with the result and the process of travel and all that stuff or out in front of us with those sandy beaches you speak of um that we just can’t allow that to have any sort of a factor in whether the Minnesota Vikings play well or not on Sunday. Um, I I I know you and Browns coach Kevin Stansky have just a high level of respect for each other. And you both you guys are both really really good at taking what you have and trying to win the game the way with what you have is best to try to win. So from a Cleveland standpoint, do do you think they want to shrink the game and try to win lower scoring affairs with the current iteration of what they have? Well, I I don’t know if they necessarily go into it saying that, but with the with the defense and the way their defense is playing, I mean, it’s one of the best front, you know, front groups in football, led by Miles Garrett, obviously, but I think, uh, you know, Delpit’s one of the best safeties in football. They’ve got two really good corners. Um, I think the linebackers are playing well, but everything starts that Michigan defensive tackle, Mason Graham. Everything starts with them along the front of just absolutely penetration and winning the winning the line of scrimmage and and trying to do everything in their power. Disrupt the flow of your offense. So, you’ve got to try to find a way to play uh in that world, but maximize your opportunities without exposing yourself to a lot of risk and with that comes complimentary football. like we need our defense uh to to you know get stops, get off the field, give us more opportunities offensively and then when we get them offensively we got to do our job which is going to be drive the football. We cannot have turnovers. We can’t have silly penalties and self-inflicted penalties that cause circumstances to be more difficult by our own doing. And that’s what I’m really looking to, you know, get on the grass and coach through this week to make sure we have a great plan to to play the game the way we need to play this week to try to beat the Cleveland Browns. And it’s going to be a challenge. You’re awesome. Thank you. I appreciate you, man. Appreciate you. Kevin Oonnell, X’s and O’s, FM 100.3, KFAM, and Vikings.com.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell talks with Voice of the Vikings and KFAN’s Paul Allen in London ahead of the Week 5 game vs. the Cleveland Browns about the San Diego Padres in the MLB playoffs vs. the Chicago Cubs, fixing offensive penalties, getting the ball to playmakers, in-game injuries and more.

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