Kevin O’Connell on Loss To Eagles, Red Zone Struggles, Losing Turnover Battle

Kevin O’Connell on Loss To Eagles, Red Zone Struggles, Losing Turnover Battle

thought uh thought our guys battled. Um but we uh we uh did not do enough to put the ball in the end zone offensively with our multiple trips down to the red zone. Pretty explosive kind of uh competitive day moving the ball, but uh we’ve got to find we basically, you know, had a better day on third down. You know, third fourth down 50%. um gave ourselves a chance for for points, but we weren’t able to overcome kind of the fact that they win the turnover battle two to nothing. We did that two weeks ago and I told our team that is rare and not a formula, you know, to to win games consistently and uh you know, showed up again today and was was very unfortunate. But I thought defensively their ability to stop the run against a team that was, you know, going to come out and try to run the football on us was a real positive, but clearly a lot of explosives and and and Jaylen and their offense made some big time plays um that uh kind of limited our ability there in the second half to truly um try to come all the way back and and uh you know, win the game. I thought we had a touchdown chance there to to TJ and ended up being a, you know, a fourth down that we convert and then we’ve got to find a way to put that one in the end zone. But thinking back on the red zone trips, you know, um I think we might have missed an OP on a on a flat on one of our run pass solution run pass option plays. Um we snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head for a minus 22 yard loss and then um I got to get some clarification uh just on the holding call. um seem to be a pretty routine um kind of play, but you know that’s uh that’s the way that’s the way it goes sometimes. But um short week guys are already in the recovery mode now and we’ll turn our guys over and and go compete uh on Thursday night. Injury updates just Z Scott and CJ Ham. Z Scott had a right wrist and CJ had a left hand. Uh those guys will be evaluated um here um you know currently going on right now. Kevin, when Jaylen Herz makes the plays he makes on those third downs, especially when he gets out, how difficult is that to defend just when he’s able to extend things as long as he did on a couple? Yeah, it was a big, you know, big part of the game plan was going to try to uh contain him as much as we could to the pocket and um try to get home and and see if we can first and foremost force him into what seemed like uh I don’t know if I’m right on this, but it felt like three of their third down conversions, maybe the three they had in the game were all long yardage kind of um you know, pretty pretty backbreaking kind of plays when you’ve done everything to force those DNDs of of what they are and and then they not only end converting but for some explosive gains there. So, um I know our our guys competed all day long, I thought the defense, you know, even with us turning the football over for a touchdown and then they were able to kind of give us some opts to keep that competitive and and uh stay in the football game and it was back and forth just trying to find a way to uh put the ball in the end zone and at least um find a way to get a lead at some point there in the second half. um had no, you know, no issues moving the football. It was it was points and that has not really been um our problem and and we were able to rectify some things on third down, but a lot of self-inflicteds did show up in that red zone that make it hard to put the ball in the end zone. Kevin, what what did you see coming in the second half that made it as you guys as rhythmic offensively through the air as it as it? Well, I think, you know, throughout most of the day, it felt like, um, you know, we did a lot of good things in the pass game. I thought our I thought our guys, um, you know, we had some early success in the pass game moving it between the 20s. Um, then they made some adjustments and and we made some real time adjustments to kind of keep the momentum and find um, guys like Jordan Addison, TJ, um, Speedy, all those guys had some some, uh, really really nice uh, plays throughout the day. And I thought Justin was um you know his normal self from a standpoint of being a problem and and there was some real emphasis to try to limit his impact which opened up some opportunities for some of the other guys. And um when we could you know against you know a pretty good interior player there uh in 98 when we could hold up and and and allow the plan you know to kind of come to life. We had some real opportunities down the field and um enough to move it like I said, but uh at the same time, you know, 22 points uh when you when you give them seven off of a turnover and um ended up in a very long situation coming off of a penalty and end up having the ball kind of, you know, ruled out of bounds on a on a lateral there that put us in third and forever. Um and then turn it over on that third down. just plays that u we it just feels like we put ourselves in in some of the situations of the football game. Um that uh although they competed, we’ve we’ve got to clean up. You know, we can’t allow, you know, maybe third down execution one week isn’t up to the standard. And then, you know, we it it trickles down to the red zone when you do have a good day on third down to to possess the football quite a bit in the game and try to stick with the run game as much as possible to then allow you to be explosive throwing the football. Kevin, you said the the holding in the red zone was sort of routine. What do you mean by that? Uh just normal technique that you see uh you kind of see around the, you know, around the the league from a trap. You know, it’s called a trap. um you know, knock a guy’s hands down. Um got to go back and watch it. You know, didn’t see it real time, but uh just uh I think the officials were, you know, there was some discussion amongst them and and they made the call and and they’re going to, you know, they’re going to make those calls and can’t give them the opportunity to throw those penalties cuz penalties and negatives in the red zone make it really hard uh to come away with points or seven. Did you get any clarity or understanding of why TJ’s touchdown was overturned? Um, really my question was kind of connected to TJ’s play to the Saquon Barkley challenge that I had earlier on in the game because it seemed like a very kind of similar premise of why they should maybe be similar. Um, but I did not I did not of it being obvious or not obvious. Yeah, I did not get any, you know, I’m not a part of the conversations with uh with Bill or New York, but the the side judge that I was standing with um tried to update me as much as possible, but the main update that I got was incomplete pass. Kevin, what did you see on Carson’s first interception? Yeah, they brought a, you know, they they brought a a man pressure where they dropped uh my defensive end out. Um gave up a little penetration there. And I think 98 was um you know over the over the center trying to isolate him. Um we’re doing a lot of things to to try to combat uh with what we do with our slides and things like that. But they were able to kind of dictate the look right there. And um you know thought we had a chance maybe at Justin um if we could have one more click to let him clear that dropper. Uh but at the same time, I think Carson had to get rid of the ball and and uh you know, they they had a dropper right in the initial window of the play and and it was a critical critical play in the game for sure. Kevin, just how would you assess Carson to play as a whole? You know, there Yeah, I thought he competed. I mean, clearly he, you know, was able to, you know, allow our offense to be explosive. Um, I think there were some uh I think there were some plays that uh you know the turnover plays are uh the first one obviously you know even if we end up having to take a sack right there you know the interceptions for for points the other way are are massive plays in a game. Um and then you know we were third in forever or second and forever whatever it was and um his uh you know we kind of had a kind of designer type move the pocket type play. didn’t think we particularly u protected very well on that one based upon the the schematics of the play. Um but then he you know that’s not a time that that we want to be heaving that ball down the field um as much as you know maybe where the intent of it was. But listen he was he was trying to compete. He thought he saw a chance to make the throw and ends up essentially being like a punt in many ways sometimes on those plays. But the first one was, you know, good defensive call by them. Um, thinking you’re going to get manto man and maybe uh the the perfect look for the play and and as as we talk about sometimes, especially when 18’s on the field, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. So, we got to confirm that and make sure that those things don’t happen. Kevin, after the Hawinson catch gets overturned, did you think at all about kicking the field goal there and saving a little time before Yep, I did. It was just uh it was just a matter of it being fourth and two. Um the idea of still getting seven right there uh was, you know, something that I wanted to be aggressive on. Um, and then just knowing that if we did have a scenario where um, with all three of our timeouts left, a scenario where we were getting it back, if we could get seven right there, hold them, and then the way Will was kicking the ball, you know, thought the, uh, the longer since we’re already so far down the field, Ben, um, you know, you you clearly if you have to exhaust your three timeouts and then move it maybe 35 30 35 yards or so and and give Will a chance to win it, um, was kind of the thought process there. I did think this I think we got the conversion and then I I did I believe there was a sack. Um and that was that was a a critical critical play um to eat up so much clock and then try to get into the right play where we had a chance at TJ I believe on the next one. Lester Kevin will be more another more evaluation on quarterback going into Thursday night or do you stay with Carson going in on short week? How do you Yeah, I think we first and foremost I thought he competed and and got to see how he comes out uh health-wise. Took some, you know, he had to use his legs there a couple times on the last drive. We’ll see how he how he turns over and and uh you know, I know Max was ready to go today and and JJ was emergency three, but JJ was able to get some some work last week. We’ll see how he feels as well. And um on a short week, we’re going to you know, put together the best plan we can. Um, and that’s also includes the the players available to us. Last one. It just seems like from the games that you’ve lost, it’s sort of been catastrophic plays. Is there something that you can pinpoint that similarity through those losses that’s happened? Well, I think uh you know the one thing looking back on it during the buy is those two losses happened to coincide with you know two of the original starting five linemen going out at least offensively and uh and then you know were some of those catastrophic plays tied to uh those plays um you know I think they each one of them have their their own story but uh today was a little bit more about um kind of right it didn’t really feel like we played a very complimentary every football game, you know, when one side, you know, stopping the run and getting them off the field, we were able to move the ball and possess the football quite a bit today, but not get seven in the in the red zone when we got down there enough. And then when it kind of became a little felt like a little bit more of uh you know, offensively we were we were doing a lot of good things to move it. Um we just couldn’t quite make that one stop to kind of truly flip the game is what it felt like today. Thanks everybody. Will Carson up next.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell addressed the media from U.S. Bank Stadium after the team’s Week 7 28-22 loss to the Eagles.

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