Kevin O’Connell on Carson Wentz Starting at Quarterback & Preparing for Chargers on Thursday Night

Kevin O’Connell on Carson Wentz Starting at Quarterback & Preparing for Chargers on Thursday Night

Um good afternoon guys. Obviously it’s a jammed uh packed day for us. Um getting a a lot of preparation in on a short week. Um you know looking ahead to Thursday night. Uh we know it’s going to be here uh before we know it. We’re doing everything we can uh to turn over our players. We got a great staff to do it and the players have really that process began um really after the game on Sunday night. Um we don’t officially have full speed practices this week, but end up getting a lot of uh very very important on the- field work via the walkth through. Um we’ll have our guys feeling good and ready to go um compete. Uh wanted to give you guys just an update earlier this morning. Uh we did put uh JJ McCarthy through an onfield workout uh just to see uh if he had a chance uh to to make it this week. Uh, you know, JJ, the medical staff, myself, we’re all kind of encouraged about where he’s at and the progress he’s making. Um, but he’s just not there. Um, and if this was a Sunday game, maybe it would would be a little bit of a different story and we could push it throughout the week and and see where he’s at towards the end of the week. But really, I look at today almost as the combination of a Wednesday, Thursday, but really it is a Friday on the timeline of coming up on being 48 hours out from the game. So, we wanted to have a plan at the quarterback position and it’ll be very similar to last week. Carson will start, Max will be the backup and JJ will be available in the case of emergency as the third. Um, and like I said, encouraged about where he’s at. Um, and very much looking forward to continuing uh his progression and hopefully having a chance uh to go next week and and uh we’ll keep you guys posted on that. But uh also wanted to make note of Aaron Jones 21-day window opening up uh today. That’ll be uh something that will happen today and we’ll see where he’s at uh potentially for his availability on Thursday night. Kevin, what have you seen from Dallas Turner both on and off the field taking on obviously a lot of responsibility with Andrew out? Um I you know he’s had uh a lot obviously a lot of snaps and and some impactful plays. I think um we’re asking him to do quite a bit especially in our in our emphasis of trying to stop the run last week. I thought Dallas was really really good setting edges against a really physical front. Um you know hard hard O line to rush against especially at the tackle spots um and wanting to try to contain hurts as much as we could. maybe limited some of the, you know, creativity of some of the rushes, but the strain, the finish, his use of his, uh, you know, gifts to rush the passer are are being used and emphasized, but also growing on a daily basis. So, I think Dallas is just going to continue uh to get better and better and better opposite JG there and um looking forward to see what how he can do this week. Fired up to watch him play. The deep balls you guys gave up, how do you balance you haven’t done that in the past with the fact that it happened? I mean, you can’t completely write it off. How do you balance those? Yeah, Flo Flo talks about all the time, you know, one of the main priorities every week is keeping the chunks off the tape and those big plays. You know, there were some, you know, obviously some some huge plays for scores. But, uh, it’s not just those. It’s also the, you know, the third and long you get, you stop the run, you get them in second and long and then into a third and long. And, and they were able to make some kind of backbreaking kind of plays to either stay on the field or in some cases, as you said, uh, those those long um, completions. Obviously, you got to look at, you know, is there anything in the in the makeup of the play from the call to the technique to the communication uh that we could do better at and then uh ultimately just continue to trust in the fact that uh if we continue to do the things defensively that uh equal good principles for us. um we’ve shown to be able to cause disruption leads to negativity and then have chances at turning the football over because we we’ve just got to find a way to you know make that part of our DNA and and obviously strain and stress the things that are really important to doing those things that uh Flo brought here with them uh with this defensive philosophy that we’ve had a lot of success with. But got to keep the chunks off the tape for sure. What prompted the workout this morning just that the walk through doesn’t have enough to to Yeah. It’s just really what it is is, you know, I thought, you know, I think I may even have said this on Friday, like I was encouraged by where, you know, he was at coming out of uh Friday and then thought, you know, pregame, you know, got a chance to work with him a little bit Sunday uh in the official warm-ups and then I know Joshu was able to take him through some things before we got out there officially in uniform. um and and just wanted to know kind of if if if he could possibly, you know, be at a good place and cuz really we’ll go through first, second, and third down today. Um so just having a plan in place, not only for those guys, uh but also uh just knowing uh you know, the communication’s been really good between JJ, the medical staff, and myself, and just wanting to make sure everybody had clarity going into the week. Short weeks are tough. They are what they are. Um, but we’re attacking it and and have a lot of confidence in our team to go out to LA and play well. But just more about the clarity and and making sure we’ve got we’ve got the right plan for the week while knowing um we’ve got to continue the minute to minute daily progression that he’s been on. Um, you know, as we we still have a lot of football left in the season. Kevin, when you say JJ’s just not there yet, what kinds of thresholds do you still need to see him clear before you say, “Yeah, he is there.” It’s been it’s some of the movements that that uh the reactionary movements within the pocket being able to use his athleticism um to to protect himself in the pocket. Um and then as he’s able to work through progressions, I feel really good about, you know, the work we’ve done on his on the foundation of his fundamentals. Uh that’s been pretty evident through the work that that he’s done and and he’s really the commitment to doing that. Um, it’s really just about, you know, hey, there’s a, you know, maybe a guy gets edged and I don’t really know the movement I’m gonna have to make, uh, that’s where, you know, he still feels it. And if he doesn’t have the ability to do that pain-free, you know, we obviously risk setting him back, which would be very, very unfortunate with the time lost already, um, but also giving him the best chance to go out there and have success is is ultimately, uh, you know, what we’re what we’re looking for. I really, you know, having to overcome um certain things, you know, that’s kind of been the story of our season. If you look at it for JJ, I mean, whether it’s, you know, early on in the Chicago game, we just didn’t have a great all 11 feel execution, then we did late in the game and and had a bunch of success and won that game and then clearly the circumstances involved in week two made it less than, you know, ideal from a standpoint of preparing a guy to play um in a football game. So, and now you have the injury as part of it. Um, no, it’s not going to be need to be something where he’s 130%. Um, or we’re being, you know, uh, in a situation where we’re waiting for this metric that, um, quite honestly with this kind of injury, um, he’s got to work through some of that here late in the rehab stages, but it’s about his effectiveness and his ability to go out and do his job for 60 minutes, uh, without having any setbacks or making his job more difficult uh, than it has to be. Governor, are you week at center and blake still there now. Yeah, we’re I think Jurgs is is continuing to he was available and ready to go and and uh I feel like you know we’re we’re giving both those guys some reps this week and we’ll go with uh what we think is the best vibe for the game for sure. Where is Carson with his health just coming out of Sunday? Yeah, it was a physical game obviously. Uh, you know, he competed his tail off to the very end and was able to steal us some first downs and take some hits, you know, on on some of those plays as well as some of the, you know, against a good interior front, he took some hits as well. He was sore, but I’ve been really encouraged by, you know, how fast he turned over and um really didn’t, you know, have, you know, any more setbacks or anything other than the normal soreness after a physical game like that. Um, so he had a, you know, already had a great walk through and we’ll continue to progress throughout this very, very short week, uh, to get him and and all of our guys ready to go after what was a physical game on Sunday. What is the key to to turning over? What is the key to turning over so quickly from a Sunday to a Thursday? Well, I think it’s a lot of it is, you know, the the resources we have both. I mean, we had guys um immediately from the time I broke down the team, starting to do something at the we’re blessed to have the facilities we do at US Bank Stadium. And then yesterday was about getting them in, trying to flush out whatever we could with some movement, a lift, massages. I think I think every player on our team um you know, either got one or or had one available to them here in house. Um, and then we were able to kind of, you know, meet mentally, kind of absorb what we needed to to improve from the game and then get ready to start moving and and, you know, you’re not flushing it from a standpoint of forgetting what happened on Sunday, but at the same time, you’ve got to move forward and prepare for a really good team. Um, while knowing there’s some things that we, you know, we could have easily, you know, in our control done better in the football game on Sunday against a good team, uh, to have a chance to win. I don’t think anybody on our team um you know staff or player didn’t leave US Bank Stadium knowing that there’s a lot to build off of and you know in a game that did not go our way results did not go our way but if you look at it from a standpoint of a lot of the positive things that were done and then the correctable things that were clearly on the tape and and things for both players and coaches um were encouraged and and that’s what sometimes a short week can give you is a chance to take some of that and put it into action. you think back to evaluating Justin Herbert pre-draft. What stands out the most to you about just the arc that he’s had? Yeah, I think you know he’s he’s big. Uh he’s strong. He’s very athletic. I don’t I still don’t know if he gets enough credit for his athleticism. I mean the mobility in Justin’s game is real. He can hurt you in the pocket with, you know, elite arm strength and accuracy. Uh but then he can clearly make plays with his legs and create to give them extended opportunities at plays uh down the field and and staying on the field moving the chains and and we know they want to run the football. We know they want to do a lot of things off of that run game. But the pass game and the weapons they have both the guys that you know are are known guys and they’ve got you know some guys really emerging as well on that offensive side you know getting some real opportunities. So, uh, yeah, I just remember seeing a guy that, you know, in that kind of spread, no huddle system at Oregon, you could still see a player with the skill set that would really fit any NFL offense. And that’s absolutely become a an accurate statement. You know, this, you know, not only where he’s at, but uh, I think he’s still an ascending player as well. He’s a very, very impressive player. What is what is a I mean, the return game’s not great, but it’s obviously improved. What does Miles Price give you that maybe you didn’t have before? Yeah, I think it’s a combination of Miles has and we noticed this very early, Mark. We like you’ve got to have the ability to make somebody miss at the first level. And what I mean by that is like you can block up uh you know your hold up guys in the punt return or the schematics of the dynamic kickoff. You can get some things started, but it’s normally to get them over uh the line of just a decent return for for for somewhat good field position to like he did in the second half the other day. get you near midfield or beyond. Um it’s going to require him to make somebody miss or make a cut, make a change of direction move that will give him a chance to then restart the engines and hopefully have a chance to take it the distance. uh he’s been able to flip the field on some punt returns that have been huge in some moments and uh a couple of those have been called back via penalty that were you know bang bang close plays but you know I I think he’s been uh a real positive for us and and what has become with what we’re all learning in the dynamic kickoff the field position uh battle even the subtle change that has been made to so many more balls getting returned the starting field position has moved forward um all you need is one first down and then you’re essentially almost in a sky punt backed up situation, you know. So, I I think things are evolving and changing due to what we’re seeing um not only in the dynamic kickoff, but then how the field position affects the type of punts and return ops you’re going to have in that phase as well. And there’s a number of low low number of fair catches. Is that something you guys encourage or is that his personality? It’s decision-m from a standpoint of, you know, his trust in the 10 guys in front of him. Um but then also he’s just got a confidence and a belief. You know, it takes a certain kind of individual to go back there and and you know, you’re on an island back there. These punters are wildly talented, putting the ball where they want and different types of spin and rotation on the ball. He’s a he’s he’s caught the ball very well. Um, and then, you know, he feels like he’s got uh the ability to change a game uh every time he touches it, which is the type of characteristic you want in a guy that’s going to go back there. Kevin, what chance does Aaron Jones have to go Thursday night as? I you know I he’s been he’s a guy that you um you don’t need to you don’t need to really kind of get out there and test too much cuz you know in his rehab and the work he’s done on the sidefields he’s a veteran player. He knows what he has to do. Um he knows what he needs to feel like and then you know we’ll we’ll we’ll be smart with Aaron you know but at the same time um we know the you know he’s here for a reason and we know what he can bring to our offense. So uh we’ll see how he responds. he’s going to because he didn’t play on Sunday, he can do a little bit more either with the trainers or, you know, side work uh in conjunction with what he’s doing in the walkthrough to mentally prepare uh to kind of figure out where he’ll be at on Thursday. Thanks everyone. Locker room is open. Thank you.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media from TCO Performance Center ahead of the team’s Week 8 Thursday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers during the 2025 NFL regular season.

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