Kevin O’Connell on Carson Wentz Starting & Players Returning from Injury | Vikings vs. Eagles

Kevin O’Connell on Carson Wentz Starting & Players Returning from Injury | Vikings vs. Eagles

All right, good afternoon guys. Um, just starting out uh just game statuses for the game. The only player that will be out this week is Andrew Van Ginkle. Um, everyone else uh will either be questionable uh Tyler Baddy and Blake Cashman more so procedurally uh just with the roster mechanics um that will uh likely take place over the next 24 hours or so. Um Ty Ingram Dawkins, Jurgens, JJ McCarthy and Brian O’Neal um will all be questionable. everyone else will go in uh without a designation. Um Carson Wentz will start the football game. Uh thought uh he’s had a a good week of practice as well as JJ McCarthy. I just I I was really proud of the work he put in, you know, as he kind of continues to push through um the later stages of of this rehab. Feel good about him being uh available. Uh but he will be the emergency third quarterback. uh you know just to you know we we went into the last game with two and didn’t quite feel uh like that was the smartest thing to do and feel good about where he’d be at uh if he had to play uh in in in that third quarterback capacity. So Maxwell back up Carson Wentz cannot wait toh get to US Bank Stadium. I know our team is so darn excited to get an opportunity in front of our fans, expecting our great home environment uh on Sunday uh against a really good football team coming in and uh we’ve been working on a lot of things, continuingly chasing uh improvement, doing some of the things uh better that we need to and also continuing to build, you know, this uh the picture of what this team looks like as we’re able to get some guys u you know, hopefully returning back here, not only this game, but in in the very near future as well. Sounds like you expect Blake and Tyler to both be good to go then, but they’ll just be listed questionable because the Yeah, it’s it’s more procedural than anything until we can get them uh uh onto the roster. I believe we’re at 51 right now, so we we don’t uh need to do anything more than uh to put them on the 53man roster. Kevin, will Blake Brando start at center? Yes. Yeah. Excited about where he’s at. Jurgs is uh you know, as one of those questionable guys. I want to see how he feels after today and then uh you know we’ll be we’ll see as far as what the group of eight looks like for uh for the game um as we get a little closer after today. often come up. But JJ as the emergency third, you must feel comfortable enough about his progress that if he has to play. Yeah, I think you know, you know, as opposed to maybe having to designate and list a running back or um a receiver, uh if we get into that situation, I feel comfortable comfortable enough, uh, you know, in what would be considered that kind of emergency capacity to be able to, you know, call some I I feel good after watching him practice about some of the things that give him um some problems at this point. and uh but at the same time some of the things he feels uh really good about from a movement standpoint uh you know whether it’s in the run game or the pass game some of the things he’s uh feels good about and him and I will go through a lot of those things and uh you know the he got a ton of reps this week uh both with the you know the first group and and also with uh getting some real good reps you know with that look team of feeling the rush of Gernard and Turner and Hargrave and Allen and and uh really working on some things that are really starting to come to fruition. So, I was I was proud of the way he attacked the week and um I know although he knows he’s not quite all the way there yet, he he’s uh progressing in a really good way. Kevin, Brian talked Tuesday about, you know, momentum comes and goes and how he influences or tries to influence him from the sideline. As an offensive guy, what do you find is the best, you know, recipe and for you to try and get momentum back as a player? I think um you know the when I think back to the times over our over my you know entire time here being the head coach, there has been times and a lot of times it ends up being those close games late um where getting momentum back is going for that drive to to get a touchdown late in the game last week. But what I’m challenging our guys to do is uh just by doing the routine things a little bit more routinely and and what is in that bucket of routine things. Um if we can grow that to and and with consistency amongst more guys in all three phases, I think we’re going to see uh momentum be, you know, a little bit more attainable and then hopefully uh holdable. And then what we did so well a year ago uh that that Flo has been so big and impactful for and and his players have been capturing the momentum when it’s been lost by turning the ball over, getting an opportunity at the ball, punching out the ball, uh led the league in, you know, interceptions a year ago. Like those plays help you even in a game where momentum can be the es and flows and it goes back and forth. one third down stop for them and then all of a sudden uh do we get the execution on our punt to not give our defense a short field. Uh and even if all things happen and we don’t get that execution on the punt, our defense goes out there and either gets a stop or forces a turnover, offensively we got to do the same thing. You know, thinking back to last week, we get the touchdown drive to start out the second half. Um, and then they’re able to re, you know, respond off of that either on the next one or two drives later and and they take the lead back and that’s just what NFL games are. Um, but when you really peel back the layers and look at it, are you doing the things that could be considered routine to help keep the the momentum in a game or are you doing self-inflicted things, you know, mental errors, you know, pre-nap pre- snap penalties, um, you know, we had some issues this year with post snap stuff going on. All of those things are just body blows to the momentum that you’re trying to trying to capture. So I like that’s where I love having Flo and we we look at it very similar and we can talk even during games sometimes about either how he’s going to call it or I’m going to call it to try to be either more aggressive or hey we’ve we feel pretty good about where we’re at. Here’s how we maintain it and then try to make sure our players can go execute that plan. So is that tempo for you? Is that either going faster? I think that’s yeah tempo, you know, tempo has been a has been an equalizer for us, especially when we’ve been healthy, you know, when when we’re, you know, we’ve got, you know, our 11 guys on offense that are totally, you know, sequenced up and then you can just speed up the the pre- snap of the game and and, you know, get more plays off that way. I think that’s a great example, Mark. And other ways would be, you know, some of the explosives. You know, I think an explosive on a drive, you guys can look up the data on it, uh, can not only flip the feel of a game, but it can it can give you greater odds and chances to to go put the ball in the end zone. Um, when you get that one, you know, play to Justin Jefferson on the two-minute drive or the stack a couple explosives on the on the touch on the touchdown drive where Cam Acres threw the Wildcat pass. Like those are um, you know, those are momentum plays within a drive that then allows you to finish it with points. Kevin, with Van Ginkle, how would you describe kind of his recovery from that neck injury at this point or where are you guys feeling comfortwise with him? Yeah, it was really encouraging that, you know, he started out the week on Monday kind of on the side field and then was able to take part in practice on a on a limited basis throughout the week. So, um, we wanted to make sure we got that work in, see how he felt today. um not quite all the way there yet, but uh you know, I do feel like we’re heading towards a time. It’s going to be a short week next week, so we’ll see how he how he uh you know, how he feels early on in that week before we head to LA. Uh but feel very positive about the progression we’re on now and really having used, you know, the resources to to to find out exactly the path we want to go and what Andrew feels best with. Did he have to go get outside opinions or what kind when you say extra resources, what kinds of things? He’s he’s he’s seen, you know, he’s seen some extra uh we’ve had some, you know, outside opinions just to make sure we have all the information that could be out there. Um, you know, the the residual side of of the neck and and some of the things that um he’s dealt with and and has really progressed beyond and feels better and better. We just want to make sure we have all the information we’re doing right by him and then most importantly give him the confidence uh to attack this thing from a from a rehab and really just getting days on the practice field and build up uh you know in a lot of ways similar to what Harry went through um in training camp. Totally different uh injuries. Uh but um ultimately same type of thing when you’re talking about a guy that’s going to play so many impactful snaps. How do we start ramp that up? Yeah. What have you seen from Max just in the six weeks or so since camp ended? I think the the biggest thing is just um he mentally absorbs the game plan much beyond just a you know an undrafted rookie. Um he he’s got a very very high capacity to not only study, you know, watch tape, but then when you get in on a Wednesday, uh you’ve you know, Max has already gone through the list that we sent him Tuesday night, and he could, you know, he has great questions about uh some of the stuff he saw on tape, you know, that you may have even not applied to the principle of the play that you put in. Um so things like that from a mental, you know, standpoint is pretty pretty impressive. And then I just, you know, from from the time I saw him throw the ball for the first time a couple years ago, he has an ability to throw the football that fits uh with, you know, many many of the things we ask quarterbacks to do in this offense. And he made our team for a reason. And and uh you know, we have we have the confidence to to, you know, handle JJ McCarthy’s progression uh to getting him to where we want to get to healthwise. Uh we have the confidence in Max to do that and feel good about where Carson’s gotten to as well. Thanks everyone.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media from TCO Performance Center ahead of the team’s Week 7 game against the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2025 NFL regular season.

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