Previewing Bears Game, Roughing the Passer Rule, Turnover Battle | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

Previewing Bears Game, Roughing the Passer Rule, Turnover Battle | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

Uh Kevin Oonnell, coach of the Minnesota Vikings, joins us each and every Tuesday at about this time in the business we call it X’s and O’s. If you’re hearing it live on Tuesday, welcome. If you’re watching it at Vikings.com, welcome. If you’re hearing it Wednesday evening with the playback at X’s and O’s, welcome to you, too. And the head coach joins us now. Um, how are the wife and kids and how are Bill and Suzanne doing? Well, uh, no pool jumps this past weekend. Um, as you uh as you saw, my dad after the Lions game. Yes. Jumped in his non-heated San Diego pool as did your mom. Just about everybody did, but uh unfortunately no uh no pool pool jumps this past Sunday. Oh, wait. There there was there was some pool jumping. Yeah, there was the pool was empty though. But uh there’s no diving board. No, that’s right. Yeah. No, it was uh you know, they’re doing well. Kids are doing well. Excellent. you know, fighting through a little got some got a sick kid at home, but you know, we’re fighting through it a little bit. Many listeners out there are going through the same thing. You have four children, right? Yes. So, you have sick kid, which means you’re going to have six kids sick kids. Exactly. Eventually, but uh like a lot of things, it too shall pass. Like a lot of things. And um and uh we welcome Kevin to the show. Now, let me ask you this question. Um Bill and Suzanne, I’m glad things are well. Leah and the kids, right on. Uh Chicago’s plus 14 in the take give uh with a league best 20 takes. How’s that happening? Well, I think they uh you know they’ve given up some yards, they’ve given up some plays, but they have uh really you know very similar to us a year ago if you think about it defensively. We were leading the league in turnovers and it felt like all those extra possessions gave us a lot of opportunities to win games. You know, tight games, games where we needed to uh you know, find a rhythm offensively and and uh we were able to do that. And I think it’s been very similar. You know, they’ve been able to force some big turnovers and some big moments and and it’s ultimately led to it’s ultimately led to uh, you know, those guys having chances to win a lot of games. They’ve, you know, Ben’s done a great job, you know, with that that entire team. And I think DA has kind of uh really centered on, hey, we’re going to force turnovers. We might give up a play here or there, uh, but we’re going to be explosive in forcing turnovers, getting to the quarterback at times. They’ve got a nice third down pressure package that’s been very successful for him, allowing them to get to the quarterback and um definitely a challenge as we learned in the opener. It took us a good bit there to find a rhythm and then when we did, we were able to move it and score. Um Dallas Turner um I heard the press conference yesterday and and I’m I’m you know h how can the league look at that sack and find any problem with it? And as a teacher like you are, you’re a coach, but you’re a teacher. Well, how does one teach? and and subsequently, how does one learn to avoid whatever one allegedly did wrong? Yeah, you’re here a lot during training camp PA. Pete, I think you’re here every day. U but you guys will see those guys doing drills on the heavy bag or on the tall bags of getting to the, you know, simulating getting to the quarterback, you know, striking and and legally, you know, understanding where the strike zone is. And then the last phase of that that has become a big part of the league of protecting quarterbacks is that you know uh you know fully putting your body weight on top of the quarterback as as he goes down. It’s probably the part of roughing the passer that you know if uh if a lot of the old school NFL fans and and guys that used to sack the quarterback a lot in the league, I’ve talked to a lot of our our former, you know, Vikings legends that look at that and say, “How in the world can that be a penalty?” But the way the uh line by line rule of roughing the passer is now it is indeed a penalty and you just got to try to find a way to slide you know off to the side in in any way shape or form you can. It’s very very difficult to do. It sounds like it’s going to lead to a face mask and it well either that or you know you’re going to have a guy missing um some opportunities on sacks because they’re you know trying to maybe start that process to slide into the side early or quarterbacks you know unfortunately they do they do move you know Jonathan Gernard if the quarterback didn’t move Jonathan Gernard would have about 10 sacks right now with how much he’s gotten to the quarterback and that’s just part of it but uh it makes it very difficult for these guys to play violently and physically and defeat blocks and and Then when they arrive at the quarterback, there’s there’s a whole new set of rules that that uh are in play and and they’ve been, you know, it’s been a few years now that rule and and we understand it. Okay. Well, and and this is, you know, th this this is not like Paul Allen homer announcer guy because in the game at Ford Field, honestly, I thought there were two calls against the Lions that I thought were garbage. Yeah. And when Pete and I are calling the game, I’m like, well, I don’t get that, man. Hutchinson, whomever else it was. So that this is just trying to get a hold of it on a week- toeek basis be because if it we’ve seen somebody sack hit and then they lunge their body super heavy on top of the guy that wasn’t it. And so okay so now if you wrap up around the waist on the sack well your full body weight still coming down on somebody. I I just don’t understand it. I heard the press conference yesterday. I still don’t understand it. Yeah. had some, you know, we had a week- toeek instance of uh an interpretation of uh the rule and, you know, I not I know it was discussed a little bit and and it ended up being, you know, ruled a clean play when there was fast motion down by a receiver and uh kind of a pseudo crack block on GK on a screen play. He ended up making the play on the uh play, but we just wanted clarity, so we got a little clarity and and we’re told that was legal because of this, this, and this. you know, and then we have a circumstance with Adam there on a pretty critical down where um you know, based upon some of those interpretations, we’re trying to uh you know, we’re trying to execute kind of a a pick play there and and you know, at at or behind the line of scrimmage and have to try to make that legal. They determined it wasn’t. There was a there was some levels to it that kind of seemed like they were working through it. But what I’ve learned in my four years time um is uh you know crew to crew there’s going to be just different interpretations of how they see okay uh depending on formations depending on things it’s happening fast out there those officials have a very very difficult job but uh I’ve just learned that week to week you know the the the line could be read in from the rule book the same way but might be played out a little differently and that’s part of football. uh McCarthy, your quarterback, who who in your estimation would be the best quarterback in the history of Minnesota Vikings football all the way back to ‘ 61. That would be Fran Tarkin. Fran Tarkington, HOF, right? Um so, uh that that would be the statistical and and and realistic right answer. Uh in Fran Tarkington’s first four starts, he threw one touchdown and six interceptions. He completed 50% of his passes, and his yards per attempt was a whopping five and a half. Five and a half. Uh, fair to say, and he ended up in the Hall of Fame. Fair to say with young, inexperienced quarterbacks, there have been and will be performance related swings. Yeah. Is it just fair to say that? Yeah, I think it’s just uh you know there’s going to be natural growing pains that sometimes unearthed themselves where you know it could be the same the same rep from a practice rep that was I mean JJ had an unbelievable week of practice last week maybe one of the best Friday practices uh we’ve had around here in a long time and and that went for our whole team. Um, but then when you get into the games and just, you know, snaps accumulating on top of each other, uh, from a standpoint of, you know, protections and, you know, getting hit as you’re throwing on certain plays, even when I thought I thought our O line did a a pretty decent job protecting them and giving them some clean pockets. What was the pocket movement like? Did you move into some issues where maybe there’s three or four more completions if we’re not getting the block shot from one of those D linemen as we’re navigating the uh you know the the the home base of the pocket and that can uh our tackles were doing a good job setting the width for the most part and sometimes it’s a subtle climb instead of two or three climbs. uh just things that as you watch the tape, I mean, it’s incredibly uh powerful learning moments and we’re we’re you know, we’re talking about the the player’s fourth start as as you mentioned. Uh but all of that being said, I I I think he’s really shown um some real flashes of of the true competitor and and this guy is out there giving absolutely everything he possibly can. And as we’ve talked about, sometimes it’s not the scramble, you know, and and put yourself in harm’s way. Let’s just check it down to Hawinson on the back side of the formation for a gain of eight. He did it a couple times in the game two. Jordan Mason on one, Aaron Jones on another play action. They were combined gains of 20 um between the two completions. And I hit the headset and told him that might be my mo my favorite play of the day right there. Wow. Um just because it’s just the understanding of a shot called not not necessarily meaning a shot taken. Yep. Um completion mindsets no matter what the variation of the play is. and and uh it became difficult for our whole group, you know, being behind the chains, you know, due to the self-inflicted things that we had pre- snap the other day. And and you would have loved to see some of those plays, you know, earn first downs off of runs, maybe stack some more runs. Um I would have loved to see it because that’s, you know, what our plan was going into the game, but plans are always something that need to be adjusted to try to win the football game. Kevin, with uh with and and you just mentioned it with um with the tip passes at the line. Um is it uh or as you would say block shots, I is it mostly an offensive lineman’s job to present as you would say those block shots to prevent that is or does most of it fall on the quarterback? Uh it’s it’s hard to put it all on the old lineman. We teach techniques to try to get hands down. Um if guys want to leave their feet, the next thing they should find is is the earth. um from a standpoint of D lineman leaving his feet. We should be, you know, legally putting that player on the ground. Don’t have somebody fall on him with the body weight, but uh but it’s also it’s also, you know, some of those uh whether it’s technique and fundamentals of eliminating some internal penetration, some push, you know, away from the slide side. There was uh actually the the throw where we uh JJ maybe one of the most impressive throws, you know, we’ve had this year when uh he threw about a it was second and 15. He threw about a 25 yard strike to the front line and Justin uh many many times it’s come down with that ball. He didn’t in that case. Uh but that was even following through through some of that uh push. But then other times there was issues in the game where um just the the great initial pocket movement um finding that home base and that safe space in the pocket but then continuing to allow that momentum to take him right up into the back of uh of either a Blake or a Donovan or a Fry. Um and then those guy Baltimore was huge in the inter interior. They weren’t really dynamic rushers, but they affected the quarterback by getting either push or when they were blocked, they were getting their hands up and and getting their hands on some footballs, which were critical because all all four of the block shots, you know, you know, it’s easy for me to sit back and say they’re all completions, but when you turn on the tape and see, you know, Jordan Addison on a a backside in cut wide open or Yeah., you know, the third and third and three in the red zone before we went for it on fourth and three. I mean, that is a walk-in touchdown up, you know, as he wraps around that linebacker, uh, which would have been a phenomenal progression play by JJ, he did everything right, just a little bit too much movement. Um, and you know what, the first thing he said yesterday when I was watching the game with him was, you know, if I could just settle down on that second or third hitch, and I, you know, got a big smile on my face and I said, “What do you think we’re going to be working on this week?” And that’s the that’s where we’re at right now and having a having a blast doing it with them, but we’ve got to find a way to win football games at the same time. I mean, the way you just explained that and as smart as you are, you can use that to your advantage. You know, what what’s happening in front of you? I mean, you now we’re getting cute and tricky here, holding the ball a little longer, but like fakes and they go up because we know everybody blocks your shots. Oh, wow. You know, and then something with it. I just said that’s generally how people like you think is taking something that it may be bugging you or not working great, use it to your advantage. Well, that’s the thing with the block shots is working great and the result of the play end up being such a stark contrast of what the actual reality was and doesn’t bode well for uh kind of, you know, digesting what happened, you know, either from the the chalk, you know, where we stand on the sidelines or from the stands or up where you call the game. It doesn’t make it any easier for any of us. That’s Kevin Oonnell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. This is 9 to noon. We have a talkback coming a little later on a talkback Tuesday for the head coach. And he did mention false start. So, end of the equation, what what mostly played into the false starts and and do we need former FBI agent Bill to investigate if the Ravens were illicitly mocking Cadence leading to said jumps? Yeah, they weren’t. They weren’t at all. No. I mean, there may have been some move calls and things because a couple of them, actually, two of them took place on the same the same play was called um where we were simply set in the front with a motion and and uh trying to get another run off and and uh both at at the same time JJ went through his initial cadence to make sure we were good with the run play that was called. Um we had a flinch, you know, both times and uh so just a series of errors. But there was other examples. I mean, there was one where, you know, JJ had, you know, he was thinking about snapping this ball on a timely cadence where we wouldn’t let the motion get reset and in his mind, he said one thing and and and when he got to the line of scrimmage, he, you know, that was one that was called on him. Um, and then there were some other times where, you know, we were trying to communicate upfront uh a little bit during said cadence and there was just some confusion there. I think we’ve got to have a crisper uh huddle operation. You know, I’m a big fan, I’ve said this before, of if the huddle is clean, everybody breaks the huddle with total absolute certainty of play, for formation, play, motion, whatever it is. Um, and ultimately, uh, have that, you know, clean huddle break. It normally leads to clean execution for sure in the pre- snap. And uh we absolutely were uh totally crushed by it the other day cuz they were all on, you know, like I said yesterday, four, five out of the eight were on earned first down or first down. Um where we were stacking momentum within a drive. And it’s been a theme all season long is stacking positive plays. And when we do that, u we’re able to move the ball and score with uh some some pretty consistent performance. And then when we have those and I certainly have my hand in it, it is absolutely something that I’ve got to try to find a way to limit those negatives that happen um postnap with the the play call selections and and I absolutely can uh continue to fit what this team this year does well with how we call these games. Um, but at the same time, we need that total focus and absolute certainty of what my job is pre and post postnap as as an all 111 group. And good things happen for the Vikings offense when we do that. And that’s what we’re going to continue to chase. Well said. The um uh the team’s response off the Chargers loss was terrific and that of professionalism, efficiency, and ferocity. Likewise off Atlanta, Cincinnati paid for it. So, I would imagine you’re absolutely expecting the same noon this Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Yeah, I just know we’ve got we’ve got the group that uh they’ll respond. They’ll band together. They’re as uh they’re they’re as focused as they’ve uh been all season long. And and what I’ve challenged these guys for even going into last week was uh we need to start showing at this point in time in the season that uh we’ve got that, you know, competitive stamina to do it week in and week out consistently in games without the lapses of of times and games where we allow uh our opponents to recapture momentum if we have it or or it becomes further and further away from our grasp. And and that’s where we’re at in the season. and and it’s great to have the response and and I know our guys will put together a heck of a week of practice and be ready to go Sunday. U but uh we we’ve got to start seeing it consistently u to give us a chance to to get to where we want to get to. Uh before we uh close and and get into some Bears minutia uh into the we’re heading into the 10th game now. Uh why do you think there are just three interceptions? Like why do you think you guys have just three interceptions through nine? Yeah, it’s obviously been a a pretty big difference from last year, all those extra possessions and those game-changing plays. I think we we talk a lot about tips and overthrows and and we’ve had uh I think we had three or four the other day where the ball was up in the air and it finds the turf at US Bank Stadium. It’s just not uh at least in the short term things that uh you know over the last few games you’re thinking about as a coach of and I know Flo thinks about them. How do we continue to find ways to cause disruption and see if we can get opportunities at the football? Um those things have a way of working out and if you know if we uh if they awarded the uh you know the the the turnover margin winner at this point you know I I think a lot of teams would sign up for that we would not be one of them. We want to go ahead and get this thing back uh where it belongs. It’s a very very important thing. I look at every game um with this year’s team as a line of scrimmage game from a standpoint of, you know, our our fronts on both sides of the ball having an impact on the other team’s front in PA, we got to be all about the ball. We got to we got to start winning the turnover battle. We’re 33 and four when we break even or better since I’ve been coaching this team and you show up to the stadium even and that’s on us to keep it that way or improve our standards there. Uh Chicago is 0 and2 this year versus the NFC North. The the last five uh the Bears out of the buy four-1 lost to the Ravens with Tyler Huntley, not Lamar Jackson. Uh last five they’ve run 18 at 185 a clip, 185 yards a clip. What what’s that doing to help them win? Well, they’re they’re they’re running the ball. They’re running all the complimentary plays off of um their run game. I think their O line has really jelled when you watch them. Um, you know, I I I think the the acquisitions they made in the offseason, I think their right tackles, D, you know, Darnell’s turning into one of the better right tackles in football. Um, and they and they they were able to kind of solidify that left tackle spot uh that seemed to be uh kind of up for grabs there for a little bit, but they’re playing they’re jelling. And then I think what that’s allowing them is not to be so dropback oriented in the early downs. You’re just you’re seeing a lot more of the deeper play actions. you’re seeing a lot more of the keepers, the movement game, the screen game off of their run game. And um you know what we’ve got to try to do is stop that run game and and force them to be a little bit more of a one-dimensional team, you know, uh by putting them behind the chains, first and 15, second and longs, things like that. Yes, sir. Uh wide re wide receiver DJ Morris, three touchdowns, one receiving, one rushing, one passing. The uh the Jefferson pass Sunday was a beauty. H how do you know when to run tricks like that? Well, you’re you’re attempting to call them in uh you know, in moments where you we’ve had we’ve had several uh called this year where we just didn’t get the look and we end up uh you know, canning the play, changing the play to something else and and coming back to it again and trying to get the look and trying to get the look. That was a little bit more of a longer yardage situation where um kind of a breather play for JJ where he doesn’t have to drop back and and read the defense and make protection calls and we elicit the response that Justin gets when we throw him the ball. Now, ideally, you know, in a world where you get the exact look you want for the play and there’s one player to block and you have three linemen to block them, ideally you’d like to find a way to get those yards to convert and then we would have started the game four or four on third down. and what does that look like? Um there was some frustration there just overall just um you know one or two uh guys just understanding a little bit more about uh you know what we were looking for there and that’s on me. That’s got to give the clarity to to these guys because I know when I do it they they respond and and perform. Uh saving the best for last. It involves the Jalens first the guy on offense. Here’s the talkback. Good morning coach Okonnell. This is Cory from Duth Minnesota. That Jaylen Naylor performance this past Sunday against the Ravens was absolutely electric. My question for you is going forward, will opposing defenses have to pay more attention to Speedy and will that open up more targets for Jets, Addison, and Hawinson. Thanks for your time and I hope you have a great day. Thanks, Bud. Yeah, it’s a great question and and really we’ve been, you know, you and I have talked about Speedy a lot on this show. just any chance I get publicly to talk about him because it’s not always since two preseasons ago when you featured him in the preseason games. Yeah, it’s just not always uh the ball doesn’t always find him. U but it did this past Sunday and and and he was, you know, absolutely fantastic. Some third down uh some big third down plays, some some explosives and and and Speedy is just playing fast. He’s playing through contact. He’s getting a lot of one-on- ones because of Jordan and Justin and and TJ. and there’s a lot of featured coverage to take away some of those guys sometimes and Speedy goes to work in those moments and we got to continue to give him opportunities to do that. But yes, I think the second part of that question is accurate. You’ve got to really decide um you know when we’re able to throw the ball outside of our consistent uh commitment to running the ball. You got to really decide how you want to uh handle the weapons that we do have because Justin Jordan, Speedy, TJ, Aaron Jones out of the back field um have have proven to be playmakers uh that can change the game at any time and really elicit a response from the defense that helps kind of make everything go. And uh we’ve just got to find a way to make those plays, eliminate the negatives, run the football consistently. And uh when we get to those weighty downs and those third downs, those red zone opportunities like we did in the game the other day, Jaylen Naylor had two big conversions on third down and he had a fourth down touchdown when we absolutely had to have it to keep that game within reach. Uh and lastly, the Jaylen saving the best for last. I I mean, you know, the the early part of the game, I think he had six tackles in a quarter and a half, something like that. Jaylen Redmond was all over the place. He’s been fantastic. I love Now the story is unbelievable. if you get into the depth of the blood clots and his best friend died at age 23 and you know everybody gave up on him. Carolina made him exposed him and not in a negative way but other teams can come get him. You know he had a calf strain couldn’t figure out what was going on. It was blood clot related quiet going kind of guy but he is just a rolling ball of butcher knives on that defensive line getting around specifically these bigger offensive linemen. I thought in the first half I thought that’s as good a work against the run as I’ve ever seen him do. Yeah. And he’s lined up absolutely everywhere. I mean he you you’ve seen him at defensive end, you’ve seen him at nose, you’ve seen him at three technique. I mean he is capable of just about anything and and we really have needed that just with uh the versatility of of Jaylen Redmond allows Hargrave and Jonathan Allen to be not only in their multiple spots they’re comfortable at, but playing the play style that we brought them here to do. and that’s been big over these last couple weeks seeing that come to life. But I’m I’m so glad you you asked about him and u he has been a phenomenal phenomenal story and and if you see him walking the halls around here, he’s never ever had a bad day. Uh you know, since I’ve met him and same with Elijah Williams, it’s it’s it really is remarkable because those guys I mean yeah um you know I’ve seen some Dlinemen now have some bad days just because they got to be down there in the trenches all day long. But uh Jaylen Redmond has has had some swagger about him and his performances have been fantastic. But why why I laughed when I mentioned Elijah undrafted from Oregon State. Worked his tail off to make the active roster. I don’t know if he had been on too many airplanes, but you know, it’s like he was so wideeyed with these cities teams get to fly to and the hotels and the p Wow. I mean, he’s just so authentic and fantastic just like Jaylen Redmond. Just like you tear it up this weekend. All right. Appreciate you. Yes. And uh we will preview Lambeau Field next week. That’s Kevin Oonnell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. And I’m Paul Allen. That’s X’s X’s and O’s.

Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell talks with Voice of the Vikings and KFAN’s Paul Allen ahead of the Week 11 game vs. the Chicago Bears.

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