Quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy & Max Brosmer, Seahawks Game Preview | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

Quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy & Max Brosmer, Seahawks Game Preview | X’s and O’s with Kevin O’Connell

A lot to discuss this morning, 9 to noon, right, PA? Uh, indeed, as the head coach Kevin Okonnell assumes his spot for X’s and O’s on this Tuesday. Hey, we have a new camera for Vikings.com. So, we want to welcome those watching through our new camera uh to X’s and O’s at Vikings.com. those listening at FM 100.3 KFAM. And uh most importantly, we want to welcome the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O’Connell, to the equation. And begin by wishing you, Leah, Bill, Suzanne, and everybody in your covenant an early Thanksgiving. Four and seven makes it look to some like there’s not much for which uh we can be thankful, but really there is. and um and this collaboration with X’s and O’s, our friendship, uh work that I’ve done at Avale Academy because of your family. I just want to give you uh publicly give you thanks. Appreciate that. Happy Thanksgiving to you and obviously everybody at KF KFAN, Nordo, the gang. Um you know, we very much appreciate the the relationship we have and PA, you know how I feel about you. You’re very uh you’re a very special friend of mine and somebody I really enjoy working with. I appreciate you. Um, now the um we have the if Kevin weren’t here, we’d call them the Super Chicks. Uh, but we’re going to call them the Seattle Seahawks. 305 for the boom. FM 100.3 KFAM KFAN Audio Network pregame at 1 with Mus. And um, uh, through it all, through it all through these 11 games and 19 offensive line combinations, whatever we’re up to, multiple quarterbacks, stuff like that. Old Jaylen Redmond continues to help. old Jaylen Redmond. Just guys like that sticking out when things may not be at their best, you know. Yeah. And I think uh you get to this time of year and you uh you start getting some of the documentation for the Pro Bowl and things like that and you just hope Jaylen Redmond gets his due for the type of season he’s had. And I know there’s a lot of great players at the Dline position in the NFL, but uh I would argue his his tape and his playtoplay impact that he’s had for us this year um is right up there with a lot of the players, you know, that maybe have a little bit larger name recognition and and and obviously Jaylen’s got a lot of great football out in front of him. So those things will come his way. But can’t say enough about what he’s meant to our team this year. and and Jaylen had, as what Kevin would call it, a blocked shot in the game at Lambeau Field, a pass defensed by a defensive lineman. Yep. Those are just I mean, I know you want more. I know everybody wants more, but those are so important, but not really that easy to come by, right? It depends. I mean, it depends the type of uh the thrower you’re going against and, you know, release points. And I will say Jordan Love’s done a really nice job over the years of he’s got a high release point. every once in a while he’ll get leaning backwards a little bit depending on the rush and and and he’s still got the ability to make some really nice throws over the middle even when that happens. So the block shot is a huge thing and uh we’re going to continue to preach trying to force those tips and and get some of those overthrows uh where maybe the turnover ops will come our way because I know it’s been uh they just haven’t come like they have in previous years all those extra possessions and I know our defense is doing everything in their power to try to force those things. the um uh the punt return debacle that led to Green Bay’s second touchdown. It was it was 106 when that happened. So like yesterday at your press conference, oh no, excuse me, this was after the game Sunday. When when you say, paraphrasing, the way things currently are constructed, the margin for error is razor thin. That’s a high-end example, right? When something like that happens, then they score, make it a two-score game. Yeah. Yeah. And I I the whole the way we finished the uh the second quarter and and Will making the 59 yard and and and making that a 10-6 game, a lot of the messaging at halftime was defense is going to get a stop and then we’re going to put together the drive that we need offensively um off of the momentum of the end of the first half, the stop the defense is going to get um and then we’re going to find a way to put the ball in the end zone and and see what this looks like the rest of the way if we’re able to do that. And you know, the offense is gearing up, getting ready to, you know, kind of make the second part of that plan come together. Defense got the stop we needed, got him into a third and long and got off the field. And then you just have a uh a mistake made, you know, by by a rookie that has had a such an impact on our team from a a return standpoint, both the kick return phase and the punt return phase. And he’s trying to do um what he believes is is the right thing. And I think what we have to, you know, take a look at is just clean clearing up and cleaning up some of the uh some of the do a little bit more. You know, it’s I thought he did made a nice decision. He’s been a great decision maker back there, specifically on those sky punts, you know, knowing when to uh kind of, you know, de the uh the gunners out and act like he’s catching the ball, but we’re going to let that thing bounce. And what I told him and and our coaching staff was, you know, if they end up downing that ball at the one yard line, you know, more power to them. where we kind of went into it, hey, we’re going to run the football. We’re going to keep this thing close. Um maybe make this thing stay where we want it, force the Packers to expose themselves to a little bit more risk possibly. They ran the ball a lot. They were playing very similar in a lot of ways throughout the early part of that game as we were. And um it was a it was a ball control kind of game. and the time of possession was very close throughout the first half. Uh we had no turnovers in the first half, very limited penalties by really either side and um you know that one play in a game like that, especially on the road in the NFC North. Uh all of a sudden you’re down 11 and you’re it feels a lot greater uh you know of circumstances against you just on one play, one bounce of the ball. But what did we do uh to avoid the negative in in that moment by you know playing smart football? And that’s what I’ve got to do a better job of making sure our entire team feels that. Uh Kevin Oonnell X’s and O’s per 9 to noon and the KFAM Minnesota Vikings Audio Network. Also Vikings.com. Uh Kevin and I will uh we’ll we’ll chat after his pre press conferences pretty much each and every Friday. Sometimes recording a pregame interview, sometimes just chatting. And uh this week we chatted right before you spoke to the Dina High School football team. uh and they went out and won the title that night. Uh h how did that go and what’d you guys talk about? Well, uh it was the first thing I noticed was it had been a long time since I had been in a high school kind of locker room setting. Yeah. Those uh they’re not washing the uh football pants and pads as much as they probably should be. You know, my son Kaden and I walked in and it was noticeable really right away. But I told the fellas, I said, “This takes me back right here.” just that uh that that uh aura uh if you will that uh they had the stench. Yeah, the stench. That’s a better word. But uh it was it was fun talking to those guys. I mean they were in they were already kind of suited up and in their uniforms getting ready to get on the bus to head to US Bank Stadium and um you know getting a chance to to talk to some of the individual players and ask them some questions. And um you know a funny story though I I kept on talking to them about 60 minutes and and you know really in a in a football game what separates our our game is you know really when you look at it the players that play the most you’re probably only looking at about 10 to 12 minutes of actual uh activity. You know between all the play clock going and the huddle calls and all those things. So, I kept telling him, “If I if I told you you had 10 to 12 minutes for a uh possibility to hoist a state championship trophy tonight on the field at US Bank Stadium, what would you be willing to do?” Um, and and it circled back to 60 minutes in 60 minutes. And every time I said that, the, you know, the the the fellas on the team would kind of smirk a little bit and I was like, “What am I saying that, you know, is it some pop culture reference I’m making, 67, whatever it is, and and they’re laughing at me or uh and then I get to the game, had a blast, took uh took my two boys and wanted to make sure they got to feel such an unbelievable atmosphere, both sides.” Um, and I look up at the clock and there’s 12 minutes on the clock to start the game. Yeah. Yeah, and I your best for 48 minutes. And I said, I might have been asking them for 12 minutes too much. And nobody was willing to tell me in the moment, but congrats to those guys. What a season. And uh you could feel a lot of special things with that team and their journey throughout the year. And and one, you know, you’re just so happy to this game is such a wonderful game. It can be it can be tough sometimes like we felt uh this season, but make no mistake about it, this game has provided so many moments in our lives to all of us and uh moments of triumph and moments of overcoming adversity and uh that’s what we’re going to attempt to do right now on a daily minute-to-minute basis around this building. But anytime you can see a collection of guys go accomplish something like that, it was special. Well, what if you slip in the pregame talk Saturday night in Seattle? was like, “Guys, I need your best 48 minutes here.” And they’re like, “Somebody doesn’t play hard for five minutes.” Like, “Well, you only said you need a 48.” I told our team the story. And everybody, of course, uh, you know, they were laughing at me just like the Adina Hornets were. U, and, um, the Hornets had a running back in the game named Chase Borgard, who I’ve known his father, Eric, for many years, general manager, Metropolitan Ford. I’ve known Chase since he started middle school, and it’s just been great to watch him mature and get bigger and stuff like that. My man had six touchdowns and 351 total yards. Now, um, uh, Chase, uh, and his dad were in studio on my radio show with Nordo yesterday. Nice. Little father-son fun off of state championship and stuff like that. And so talking to Chase, you know, he shared that he also plays baseball and he’s a goalie for the Edina High School hockey team. Did Did you play multiple sports um in high school when you were when uh you were growing up? I did. I uh I played basketball and football were my my main sports, but uh I really I I always played baseball, you know, in the springtime until Were you a pitcher? Uh I was. And my problem was unlike football, I threw it right down the middle at a very tempoed pace every single time. as the as the hitters started to get better and better, the ball went further and further and started to feel a little bit more like batting practice. This is SoCal, too, right? Oh, yeah. So high school baseball, Cal State Fullerton for college up there. It’s unbelievable. No question. But uh but yeah, so I and then you get into the spring football and and the yearround aspect of some things, which I am highly highly for kids. Uh I’ve you know, my kids are playing everything that they could possibly imagine. And I think they need to play everything. They need to try everything. They need to figure out I just think every sport has a positive uh effect in some way on on on the other. And whether it’s change of direction, long speed, hand eye coordination, um you know, depending on if you’re a thrower, a baseball versus a football versus anything else. And uh you know and I think the different dynamics of fiveman sports you know there’s nine guys on the field on baseball 11 in the huddle on on in football and there’s just different dynamics of team building and teamwork and then the individual aspect of growth and development from a from a standpoint of for I think we all forget at times um as we start to see high school kids making NIL money and we we uh are finding a way to turn a lot of this into a business when really the most important thing is is you know learning about yourself and the passion you have to do something uh for reasons greater than yourself in many ways is what makes sports so special and helps you grow as a human being long you know outside you know much further outside the lines than just playing those games and I you know I told the guys the other day some of my I still talk to some of my high school uh football teammates you know on you know weekly monthly whatever it is because those bonds will last a lifetime. So, so let the the place in Florida McCarthy went, IMG Academy. Yep. Uh, you know, a lot of people have gone there, gone to the NFL, stuff like that. Stupid question. Is is IMG strictly football? They Well, no, they do. They have everything. They They have a lot of Okay. I think they have a lot of like Olympic Yeah. athletes. Well, I’m not saying it eliminates what you just said, but like Carl’sbad, Glendor, Mano, Topeka, Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, no matter where Chicago, no matter where you’re growing up, it it’s like when you get shipped off to something like that, it just has a factory feel to it. you know, you know, I’m not saying it’s bad and that you can’t have bonds that last forever, but I’m just never going to forget the story JJ McCarthy told into the season about um when he was at IMG Academy and COVID hit. Yeah. And he couldn’t get home and like depression set in and it was significant. I mean, I’m not oversharing. He has shared it publicly. I’ve talked to him a lot about that time and it was a difficult time and and I think I think it was a difficult time for a lot of people um you know at a lot of levels of of not only sports but school as well just being um disconnected from you know some of the best parts of being a young person growing up is those relationships you make in person around people not necessarily over a computer screen in neighborhoods with Billy Johnny and that whole thing growing up and stuff Christy Susie Tama Antoine 2020 your best friend was with the person in the bio reference van. That’s right. That you would see on a daily basis. Sorry. Um Kevin Okonnell, X’s and O’s. Um vast and everexpanding KFAN audio network. Uh do do you or do um you guys have anybody who chats with players about time they spend on social media and and I you know I know it’s a tough guy game and mental tenacity is required. So, let’s be tough here mentally especially. But sometimes that stuff can just overwhelm people specifically in their low 20s, you know. Yeah. And I learned going on uh about 18 years ago from uh my first coach in the uh National Football League, Bill Bich used to it said in big words right on the door as you walked in uh ignore the noise. And the noise has changed over the years. And was talking a little bit about this with Harrison a few weeks back. Harrison Smith on Friday mornings. him and I get together and it’s kind of old guy talk, you know, all things considered. And uh just the way the dynamic of it has changed, but I say this as all the time as well, you can’t have uh the popularity of our game, the great fan base that we have uh here in in uh in Minnesota for for the Minnesota Vikings and then not take uh both sides of it. It’s it’s part of it. It’s part of what we all signed up for. uh you know that passion that our fan base has is uh something that I always want to feel and it’s not always going to be uh positive but uh you know part of what we signed up is being able to overcome that but I think the younger player um is a little bit more tied to it than uh than maybe at times they should. So we talk about is it really worth engaging? Is it really worth, you know, uh finding uh you know, finding it in yourself to uh give responses to things when either you’re being personally attacked or u you know, some of those things cross the line sometimes. We’ve had examples of that with some of our players and that’s what I care about more than anything is u you know the times where things cross the line a little bit and then uh you really kind of have to hit the reset button a little bit of what’s important. Um and and that’s all part of it and that’s part of what like I said we all have to understand that with how much this game has provided to us both professionally and personally that the passion fans have for it is what makes our game and our league so special. Well well said. Uh McCarthy with the concussion related news yesterday. Um outside of the concussion it’s it’s with JJ. Do you ever feel he cares so much he puts too much pressure on himself and even feels he needs to carry the burden of like the entire team? I you know I think what what I have felt from him at times is a previous play where maybe he had the possibility of making a play um and for whatever reason sometimes not you know not anything having to do with his his doing on the play the play’s not made the throw’s not made uh maybe the the completion’s not there the yards don’t come um and then he will you know kind of circle back on that play in the execution of maybe something similar maybe something different later on in the game. And that’s when you’ve seen some of the, you know, kind of second half forced throws where all we’re attempting to do every single snap is treat each snap as its own. Obviously, acquiring experience and and uh applying the techniques and fundamentals and and the do your job mentality of what playing the quarterback position for the Minnesota Vikings is all about and really any offense for that matter. um but really trying to at times do a little bit too much based upon some things that he thinks are uh the you know the right way to go about things. But uh it all circles back to those little details of uh it might not be the same exact look. It might not be worth predetermining throwing this ball down the middle on this look just because maybe Jaylen Naylor was running down the middle open in the second quarter. Each thing in this league has a way of circling back, but you got to do it with the right principles and you got to do it the right way. And if if you’re ever forcing things or trying to force something to happen, um many many times it’ll come back to get you. And and I love when you say not only with JJ McCarthy who’s 22 years of age. Um but when you like you’ll say at press conferences or here, you know, I talked with the guy that Sunday night and I’m like got my phone in my hand. Leah’s like the kids are running around and stuff, but it was important. you know, at that moment to especially when you’re that young and that inexperienced because as as the absolute leader of of this football team with what takes place specifically in the season off the season two off seasonason two is when they leave I mean you got to kind of have it in the back of your mind like how do they feel? How hard are they going to be on themselves? What are they looking at? What are they thinking about? It just never stops you know to whom much is given much is expected. No doubt about it. And certainly not painting you as some kind of martyr or anything. No, please don’t. But like on a Sunday night when you’re like, I talked to JJ or whomever it was until 11:00 that that’s all part of it, right? Yeah. And there’s there’s a 53 guys just like that. It’s uh obviously the 22-y old quarterback, somebody that I’m going to be uh trying to, you know, be there for as much as possible. He needs to feel my support. he needs to feel uh obviously the uh the purpose of uh that coachto player relationship, but also it it also fuels what takes what takes place Monday through Saturday as we lead into another opportunity and and the growth and uh although you know right now there is a uh and rightly so. there’s a magnifying glass on him, our team, where we’re at in the our season, and and as we get further and further away from, you know, that win in Detroit or going back even, you know, further than that, you know, the opener in Chicago, um it starts to be a question of consistency and and taking those next steps of, you know, elevating uh his own personal game for the greater good and purpose of our team. And he’s right in the thick of that right now and and working through some uh things he’s doing well. He’s working through some things that uh we’ve got to continue to improve on and that is uh that is the life of a young quarterback on this journey in the National Football League. Well, as Kevin shared at his press conference yesterday, Max Bromer uh the undrafted rookie from U Minnesota uh he’s going to get the first team reps until JJ is out of cont. We’ll see how long that lasts during the course of the week. Our talkback uh for Kevin Okonnell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, uh I understand involves Max Bromer. And here it is. Good morning, 9 to noon, coach. This is Vinnie from Mountains View. Um, say if Max is the starter this week, how does his skill set differ from JJ’s and even Carson’s? And are you going to have to tweak the preparations at all to match his skill set? Thanks. Uh, you guys have a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks, Bob. Good question. Yeah, I don’t know if you tweak the preparation um as much as maybe some of the things that we know Max does well and I think I heard the turn signal or the hazard lights in the background uh click in there from our talkback question. Um but uh the the details that matter. Well, he pulled off to the side. He didn’t we always preach don’t talk back and drive. That’s it’s very very smart. Uh speaking of uh you know, you can carry over that analogy to playing quarterback and what it’s going to be for Max this week is keeping it laser focused like he’s done throughout this season and really he’s been a snap away now going on three, four, five weeks or so. And his preparation’s been fantastic. His questions, his dialogue, uh he is wise beyond his years. He uh obviously has some experience at at a couple different schools in college, different offenses, different levels of play. And what really caught RARI in training camp is his ability to do things um you know at a pretty high level without getting a lot of time on task or reps to build into that. You know watching JJ take reps, watching um the other quarterbacks take reps and when he got his his opportunities, he always made the most of it. And what I’ve challenged Max to do throughout this week is, you know, whether he ends up playing or not, uh let’s have that same level of consistency. Let’s envision not having to do anything more um than go in there and and execute each play as its own. You know, what’s my what’s my footwork and where’s my uh where are my completions? And what Max has shown is a twitchy quick release with uh you know, the ability to be pretty accurate uh not only underneath but in the intermediate part of the field. And um I think there’s, you know, going to be some opportunities for who’s ever playing quarterback in this game to just hunt completions all day long. Really good pass rush, athleticism. You’re going to notice it up in the booth. You and Pete will the speed at which their defense plays with Mike McDonald’s got them flying around. So, we really need to be disciplined. Uh when we are throwing the ball, whether no matter what level of or phase of our offense that is, uh we have to be airtight with uh getting the ball out of our hands, throwing completions, and really getting Justin and Jordan and Speedy and obviously TJ, Aaron Jones, and the rest of the group involved in the game by getting the football in their hands. And how many times can we do that? stack those plays without the negatives that that really doomed us in the second half the other day. And we didn’t give ourselves any chance whatsoever, regardless of the fumbled punt, regardless of what took place on the other side of the ball. And that’s got to be the starting point against a good football team on the road. Well, I mean, with with Brosmer, I just, you know, the recall is back to things you said in the off season about processing quickly and Yeah. and just the the voluminous amount of study, the scholarly nature to things, always walking around with a laptop looking at something or this micro the surface pad, whatever you call it, looking at stuff. And that came to fruition and I think it was the Tennessee game. Yep. Bersich and I were walking out with Max. He threw a touchdown back left of the end zone. Just asked about it, you know, preseason asked about the touchdown. It took him 30 seconds to explain. Well, something with cover two when it was actually man and then you do this and then you put the green dot here and you push the red button and it just kept going and it’s like it’s it’s like we looked at each other like wow holy cow. I mean that’s some pretty good dissecting right there. All right. Uh Topeka, Kansas is telling me that we need to go. I got to get in one or two more. uh if um if if uh if um you mentioned getting to attack mode yesterday um and and clearly that’s been a calling card of yours since you arrived. What what are some keys to returning to as you would say attack mode? Well, we’ll make that the last one. I think a lot of times, you know, that that mentality and that mode can be uh something where it can, you know, you’re trying to be a little bit more conservative, maybe you’re trying to run the football uh more. All you’re doing in those situations is hopefully setting up uh opportunities to get a little bit more bang for your buck in the play action game in some of the phases of our offense. And I thought we missed some opportunities in the game. There was a play where, you know, Michael Parsons goes out of the game. You know, we’ve we’ve kind of had something teed up and might have been early on in the game and we end up bobbling the snap coming away from center and ending up on the turf for a minus three yardd loss. But um that play when you’re calling the game and you’re operating as a team the way we are right now trying to uh navigate your way to uh you know at the very least a stalemate in the turnover battle the very least running the football for the for the sake of staying efficient for some of the third downs that have caused us problems when we get into those longer yardage DNDs. Okay. Um and then when you don’t make those plays, you know, those are wasted opportunities. Um that in many ways uh they’re still happening. and they’re still the defense is still having to go over and talk about some of those things whether the play was made or not and we just aren’t making enough of those plays to complement the rest of the way uh we’re trying to play as a football team and and as we continue to progress forward and uh we continue to learn more about this year’s team. We’re going to have to find those plays because the best parts of our team um in many ways are are guys named Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and TJ Hawinson and they have to have an impact on the football game to go along offensively with our ability to run the ball, our ability to control the football, the clock, and hopefully the time of possession and field position. Oh. Oh, John, look over there. Is Jackson Smith and Jigba still strictly a slot guy? And if so, he’s not not anymore. But he was like last year, right? He is uh he is a fantastic player. Okay. I mean, really watching him and and um you know, I you know, speaking to uh I remember a few weeks back when they they played the Rams and and leading into that game, I I got a chance to to uh talk to Shawn McVey a little bit about, you know, their preparation and it was going to be obviously a big game for them in the division and he was just blown away uh by by the player and and what he’s, you know, obviously grown and and kind of, you know, continued to progress forward in his career early on here. Um, but you’re seeing an explosive guy that can win outside, win inside, run after catch, making some of the most dynamic catches in the league. And, uh, you know, he’s finding his ops because, you know, Sam’s one of Sam’s great qualities is that intermediate to deeper passing game and and really activating the the intermediate to deep part of the field with his arm and and we saw it a year ago and and he’s picked up right where he left off. Have a good Thanksgiving, man. We’ll see you out here for practice this week and Friday. All right. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Appreciate you, Kevin. Kevin Oonnell, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. That’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 13 game vs. the Seattle Seahawks.

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