Kevin O’Connell on Loss to Ravens, Penalty Issues, Jalen Nailor’s Big Game, Injury Updates & More

Kevin O’Connell on Loss to Ravens, Penalty Issues, Jalen Nailor’s Big Game, Injury Updates & More

All right, good afternoon, guys. Um, looking at the, you know, looking at the tape, obviously, what continues to jump out, you know, is is a lot of the self-inflicted. You, you play a good team like that, lose a turnover battle, and have the kind of penalty issues that we have. Uh, that we had, um, ultimately never really gave our ourselves a chance to win the game despite there were some, uh, there were some good things on the tape as well, you know, execution wise when we were able to not stop ourselves. as Baltimore made some plays, but uh we’ve got to get uh right to work on the tape. That’s what we’re doing now with the players. Um and make sure we as I told them, you know, the the frustration of yesterday needs to be fueled by the conviction and the and the determination for tomorrow and and having a really good week of prep and making sure we solve some of the things both with real communication and dialogue of what happened specifically in regards to the cadence. Um, when you look at it, you know, five of those false starts coming on first and 10 in many cases, you know, with some continued, you know, runs called and chances to stack some positive plays in the run game. And then you’re first and 15 against a team that plays um some unique things and challenges on third down. Um, kind of tilts the, you know, what you want to do as an offense and how we wanted to play the game and away from us. And then the remaining three came on said weighty downs, third downs, and uh fourth downs. So, um critical critical, you know, we had a couple defensive penalties, a pass interference, and then the the rough in the passer I thought was an unbelievable, you know, rush by Dallas. Great, you know, great game there working with uh you know, one of the inside guys and and gets there with you know, a ton of force. Just got to make sure we don’t uh you know, fully, you know, the body weight rule is what it is. and that was that was uh the exact reason for for that rule. So just some you know real real momentum changing plays. I thought our defense did a lot of really good things against a very talented offense and then obviously the special teams uh turnover at that point in time in the game was uh was very much a uh you know an incredibly shifting play to kind of change how the duration of the game played out. But I’ve got to do a better job coaching this team. Clearly when you have, you know, pre- snap issues like that, uh, both in-game, you know, not only not, you know, not just relying on position coaches and and and West to get things fixed and flip over to the defensive side. I got to be directly um, you know, involved with some of those things. Um, and watched them all on the TV copy, listen to them all. We have the benefit of kind of going through each one as its own thing. And um you know don’t know if there’s a necessarily the smoking gun that you know maybe you know I thought uh yesterday it’s uh you know it’s a variety of a couple things but uh we’ve got to make sure we fix it and we will. Uh looking ahead I did want to update you guys. Got some good news on JG Jonathan Gard. Um see how he does throughout the week. He’s sore today, but uh you know we’ll uh we’ll we’ll see if he can get a get some time in this week on the practice field and and potentially be available for this Sunday, but I I do think we avoided a long-term injury with him. Theo Jackson cleared the concussion protocol this morning. Uh so he should be a full participant and be back this week. Uh Josh Oliver should return to the practice field um and uh work his way up to hopefully giving us some snaps on Sunday. Um and then uh Ryan Kelly, we’re still figuring out exactly when it takes place, but barring anything uh changing here. Um anticipate maybe opening his window at some point in time uh soon here. Um you also may see some guys limited or get a day here and there. Um, but it’s that time of year as we kind of shift into November into December uh where we want to have a fresh team um as much as possible for the game. But NFC North uh game at home, we’re two and0 in the division. Um Bears are playing really well. Ben’s doing a great job. You know, DA’s doing a great job with that defense, forcing a lot of turnovers. That’s been a problem for us. So, we need to make sure we put together a plan that limits their ability to do that. And then we’ve got to get the execution out of all 11 to make sure uh that we’re not uh doing anything from a self-inflicted standpoint to limit, you know, yesterday having over six yards of play and and sustaining some uh a good start again and just not able to sustain it with the kind of consistency that we need. And to me that uh you know, falls directly on me. Kevin, with Brian Kelly, just how is he doing? And then what can you share about what those conversations are like with him about coming back? Yeah, we uh you know when we put him on IR, you know, the phrase I used for him uh was I wanted him banging down my office door to get back on the field. And um you know, he’s he’s doing really well. He got some really good work in on the sidefield last week. Uh really no issues whatsoever. And and that was kind of the hope knowing that the anticipation was, you know, we would hopefully open his window at some point and get him back practicing and then see, you know, how he responds to that. you know, actually getting on the practice field, getting in the huddle a little bit. Um, but but he’s doing really well. You know, he he wanted to go through a full weekend, stayed at the hotel and everything on Saturday, kind of getting back into what that rhythm kind of looks like. So, very encouraged with where Ryan’s at, and I know he is, too. Kevin, as you go through the the play call line sequence when you have those false starts and it’s first and 15, how much does that change the likelihood of running in the spots going down a distance being where it Well, I think the thing you run into, Ben, is like you’re you’re going into a first and 15. So, you’re really kind of limiting, you know, the under center stuff. um you know your uh the defense can then uh take a little bit more risk whether it’s pressures into runs or forcing you to have to maybe get to a secondary run because of some of those looks. So, a lot of times what you do is you activate some of your gun runs. But then, you know, once again, those those plays can be determined a lot by u you know, some some triggers of whether we’re going to have a postnap response and maybe throw the ball anyway uh on a bubble or or some sort of variation to kind of have a solution for a run problem. Um, so a lot of times you’re just trying to get back on track to like in a couple in many of the cases we were able to get to a second and eight, you know, after being first and 15. Um, or immediately like, you know, we we completed a ball to Jordan for 20 plus on a, you know, and and called the same play uh that we had called on the on the first down sequence. But with the disappointing ones are the ones where you’ve stacked a couple good runs and in some cases explosive runs 10 plus. Um and then you’re just trying to continue to see if you can uh keep that early down. Not only efficiency, but you’re stealing chunks of yardage with those plays. Then now, you know, you get into first and 15 and um you you have to there’s a lot a lot more variables come up um from a standpoint of, you know, solving problems that could either create more negatives or, you know, limit limit your ability to use tempo. You know, things that then help you kind of tilt tilt the scales back to even even though you got to get 15 instead of 10. Um but yeah, I you know, looking at the you know, looking at the stat line and and all those things, would have loved to, you know, have a a sequence of the end of game where we could stay true normal football and and be able to keep running it because I thought the guys did a good job. We got off to a slow start um in the run game, but we’re able to offset it with going three for four on third down early on in the game, put the ball in the end zone. thought we had a chance on, you know, that third and long play uh where we threw the ball back to JJ, kind of got the whole defense flowing and and we just had to make one block and didn’t make it. And that could have been four four to start the day on third down. Then you get the run game going. Um but like I said, those are all whatifs and should have, could have, would and we did not. Kevin, what do you like most about uh Jaylen Naylor? He’s really been throwing in some unbelievable catches lately. Yeah, he’s I mean I’ve I’ve tried to make any opportunity uh and you guys have done a good job noticing him before yesterday and asking me about him throughout the year. You know, what does he mean to our offense and and the role he’s playing. Uh Jaylen basically had the same game he’s had, you know, throughout the season. He just, you know, got some big targets and some big moments and uh continues to just impress me with his physicality on early downs in the run game. uh his ability to I mean he had some really good blocks on Kyle Hamilton fitting in there in the B in the box in the run game. Um and then just you know you saw the speed on the first you know the third down long ball the run after catch you know turning that into a 60 plus yard gain um the touchdown on the fourth down you know really where we kind of got an unscouted look. I think they had run that coverage one time all season compared to some of the other things they were running. Um, and that’s what happens when you’re in a fourth and five and put yourself in a a long sequence and go backwards self-inflicted wise, you could get something like that. And I thought JJ made an incredible throw and heck of a catch by by Jaylen Naylor. Still, you know, would have loved to get more out of the target share to some of our other players. Um, trying to get, you know, those guys going, but uh, but yeah, I thought Speedy was huge for us. Really taking advantage of his opportunities. Kevin, with 22 incompletions, I was wondering like where are some of those uh easier completions to J TJ that don’t really see a lot of anymore? Yeah, I thought uh you know I thought we had a chance at the one you know the third down conversion to Naylor over the middle. TJ was really the primary um out on the the red line kind of simulating a screen that we had run early in the game to to Aaron Jones against the Lions. Got the defense to bite. JJ was playing fast and just got off of it. But there could have he ended up converting to Naylor over the middle. But there, you know, I think the the the biggest thing is is TJ’s a major part of what we do and and uh you know, a couple of the false start penalties. You know, he, you know, he’s the primary in those, you know, kind of more manageable DNDs and then you start thinking about 10 plus and protection and trying to convert on some of those throws. But it’s no excuse. We got to get TJ involved in the game more. we got to find them. Um cuz you’re you’re absolutely right. You’re right right. We need those we need those plays. They’ve been a huge part of our offense since we acquired them for sure. And then when you’re looking at some of the block shots, I think we had four um all four of those were you know looking at uh you know backside in cut to Jordan Addison’s going to be an explosive. Jordan probably in the red zone um on the last one is going to be a touchdown if not getting back to TJ, you know, on the back side of that progression. and uh just some of just some of those things where you know when you’re not totally synced up and you’re kind of reaching a little bit at times it felt like we’re pressing once we got down especially. Um and then you know when you consider we had no none of those pre-nap penalties in the first quarter. Um but then they go two and four the rest of the way. Um just kind of putting ourselves in a in a uh in a tough spot that gets you out of those DNDs where TJ’s always been um pretty significant for us. as you went back to the tape, what did you think of JJ’s footwork in the second half? Yeah, I thought uh like what happens to many quarterbacks as games goes went on. Um you know, there was some there were some inconsistencies there, but still there was some playmaking and some competes that I think uh are are are pretty unique to to JJ. So, if we can just get uh I thought, you know, throughout the early part of the game, the deep ball to Naylor, uh the reset back where we might have had TJ, but he’s, you know, compact and in the pocket, little push there. Thought he had some good pocket movement. Uh it just, you know, like like with a lot of young quarterbacks in this phase of where he’s at right now where we’re, you know, getting a lot of these snaps on the fly. It’s not just that subtle climb back to that safe spot because I did think we had some good pockets for him. um it’s the it’s the subtle climb and then you know come into balance instead of two or three climbs and then all of a sudden uh that push or the block shot comes into play. So I I just think it’s all it’s all normal in my opinion part of um part of kind of where he’s at and his development which is uh something that’s very encouraging. you know, the the the great part is seeing the competes and the will to win and his ability to play that style of game that we had to play, especially late. Uh but that’s not the game we want to play uh right now. And and I got to do a better job keeping us in that game and um whether it’s, you know, I spent a lot of time thinking about that third and one call um you know, late into the evening to try to, you know, zero coverage, Justin Jefferson on, you know, in a one-on-one situation. And there’s a lot of uh 100 times you call that play, you don’t think, you know, that one out of 99 where he gets tripped up and ends up being a an interception going back the other way, not getting to run the run the ball on four downs. You know, as the head coach, you get to make decisions and um you know, I made the decision we would be four down even before that third and one um at that point in time in the field and uh came back to bite us for sure in a huge huge way. So, we wanted to, you know, take some shots in the game. you know, JJ throws the deep ball very well and and uh you know, we didn’t really get the value received from it in the football game outside of you know, that third down throw to Jaylen early in the game. After thinking through that, do you are you still would you still do it again or is it best receiver in football in a one-on-one with w with a a run call you know you feel good about on fourth and one. I would not change that call. And on Justin, um you’ve talked a lot about this year, especially about him being your sort of energy guy, leadership. So, I’m just curious how you kind of saw his body language on a few of those plays, especially after the interceptions. Yeah, I I think there was some frustration and and maybe with the, you know, not having a couple calls go his way from a from a uh you know, a referee standpoint, but that’s all part of the game. Um, and got frustrated there a little bit. He’s so competitive. He wants to make those plays, especially when he is, you know, I’m not I think he had 12 targets in the game and and wants to make the impact. um you know, we we’ve got competitors and um sometimes that thing can present uh itself differently when you’re talking about this guy to the next guy, but um I have no concerns with Justin. If anything, you know, this time of year, I am always thinking about plays a lot of snaps and just uh uh where can we, you know, where can we find, you know, those times, maybe even throughout the week to make sure that uh you know, uh we’re taking care of him so he could be at his best on Sundays as we roll into kind of the second half of the season here. Um, but no, I you know, whether it’s the the chances to get him the ball in his hands, uh, I thought JJ made a great throw on another one where it was a bang bang play at the goal line and and, uh, you know, we we just didn’t connect and it was kind of like that um, in some critical moments of the game, but uh, we’ll get back to work and nobody will lead the charge more than Justin. with uh with JJ’s development, how much are you finding yourself kind of reminding him like throughout games or the week to not press or to kind of stay calm? He brings so much intensity a lot. So, I think it’s a I think it’s a factor. I really do. uh you know cuz he’s so competitive and and he’s a very you know he’s a high football IQ guy and wants to make uh the play and as many young quarterbacks have to learn over time sometimes I thought he had some great checkdowns you know one to to Jordan out in the flat um on a tempo play uh one to Aaron Jones on a play action play you know out of the out of the 21 grouping where he just kind of gets to the top of his drop feels the defense lifting a little bit and we end with 12 13 yards on a very simple play and it’s just production moving the ball forward where it should not be a you know a worldly lift a heaven and moving heaven and earth. Um the defense plays what they play. Um sometimes there’s some throws there down the field. Sometimes there’s great opportunities to put the ball in play check downwise that are either right in front of you or you’ve got to work through a progression you know when protected. And um you know there were some really good examples of that too. It’s just when you’re in, you know, you get 17 of these things and you’re in an NFL game that how the circumstances of the game play out, many of which we directly let ourselves into. Um, you know, you got to play that game to try to win. And and uh that doesn’t always puzzle piece fit handinhand with uh where you would like the game to be for for the ascension of his development. But I still think uh with all experience being good experience for him right now um you’d love to make them all after after wins but we got to do uh we got to do the things required as a team and then you know JJ’s going to make a lot of those plays for us and like I said the competes you know the his his willing willingness to lay it lay it on the line and and try to make the plays are are very much things we knew about him but now it’s just about continuing to carve this thing and and shape it in a where uh we’re helping him become the best version of of of himself both shortterm and long term. As you’re thinking through that with JJ in the middle of the game trying to help him stay even advantage, is there anything play calling wise that you have to think about there is creating some team buttons or Yeah, we you know every game, you know, we we we try to have those in whether they’re getting Aaron Jones touches and those get considered rushes like they did against Detroit or um you know, some some run plays that are called and you know, we get a chance to throw adjusting the ball for 11 yards. Um, just, you know, it’s like a free throw shoot. It’s like a three-point shooter getting to the free throw line if you know if they’ve missed a couple. A lot of times you you see Steph Curry get to the free throw line and all of a sudden he doesn’t miss again for a quarter. Like quarterback is such a rhythmic thing. Um, seeing the ball go through the net can help. Um, but at the same time, it’s it’s also, you know, the difference being, you know, the the defense plays a lot into the things they’re going to take away. Maybe those layup throws have to be backside in cuts or underneath routes to Adam Thelen or to just kind of progress and and put the ball in play. And and um you know, obviously with some of the unique things we see coverage-wise with Justin, it can’t always be um you know, it can’t always be just a a simple proposition. Sometimes it’s going to require saying no to something which hopefully by design we’ve put eligibles in his vision um or checkdowns in place so he can you know see the ball go through the net but I think to Mark’s question earlier you know that’s where TJ comes into play the running backs on some of those checkdowns can be great options to kind of uh steal the rhythm um in a lot of ways if it’s been lost for a sequence of plays. So thank you

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media from TCO Performance Center after the team’s Week 10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

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