The Minnesota Vikings lost to the Tennessee Titans 24-16, but they showed a lot of growth.
From Jaren Hall to Lewis Cine, there were a lot of interesting things to discuss about the team and their performances.
The best ways to learn about the team and where they sit is by watching the games and listening to the press conferences. You can learn a lot from what the coaching staff and players say.
Here are the 10 most notable postgame quotes from the Vikings.
1. Kevin O'Connell on the quarterbacks
“I thought Nick really for the most part did a lot of the same things moving the team that he did at Seattle. I think back to that first drive, there’s a couple chances there, if we’re just a hair more accurate, we probably get the third down conversion, and then we’re in plus territory hopefully rolling into in the red zone to score a touchdown. He runs the team incredibly efficient, his communication, his ownership of our offense. He is an accurate quarterback. That’s one of the reasons why he’s here. I don’t worry for a second about Nick. But there were just a couple high misses here and there, whether it was technique, he was dealing with some push and some rush at times. We didn’t do much to run the football early on in the game to help him all that much. Yet, just like he did last week, he was able to move the team and at least generate some points there. Jaren, really how it kind of came down rep-wise, I wouldn’t have minded getting him in a little
bit earlier but wanted to let that group continue to try to sustain there towards the end of the second quarter. He came in and was good to see him engineer that touchdown drive. Use his legs to steal a third down conversion. We were able to punch it in. Some decent run game there late with that third, fourth group kind
of mixing in there some new guys. But I thought overall of the quarterbacks, for where we’re at right now, I think we can continue to do things to help those guys, but we’re also putting them in some situations to see how they respond and handle it. I thought for the most part both guys did some good things tonight.”
2. Kevin O'Connell on the wide receiver battle
“Yeah, particularly that receiver room, without Jalen Nailor getting very many reps since day one, it’s really allowed more guys to compete in that first huddle outside of J.J., K.J. and really Jordan. Then you start to look at Jalen Reagor. Brandon Powell has had an excellent training camp, doing so many things I
don’t think people realize sometimes, all the different jobs he can do. Jalen Reagor’s speed, we kind of tried to get him over the couple times tonight. Either the pocket or coverage didn’t allow it. His speed is a real factor. When I think about just the depth of getting Trishton back from that kind of near scare we had, getting
him back, getting all these snaps for him, I think that group is going to be very tough for us to figure out, whether it’s five or six. Ultimately what the depth looks like on the practice squad, there’s probably four or five names that are all deserving. These are good problems to have, but you’re trying to figure out how it will all fit. Knowing we should get Jordan back this week will be huge for us. K.J. and Justin have been getting their work throughout. I would love to get Jalen Nailor some work here at some point if we can, but he’s a player that I think very highly of and just want to continue to see how that whole group, especially on the back end, fits with how we want to play with multiple personnel groupings and trying to commit to building our run game up.”
3. Kevin O'Connell on sharing play calling duties
“Yeah, Wes. I called some of the early first half stuff, then trying to get him some reps. Thinking about trying to get creative with the game next weekend. It was something, whether it was Sean or Jay Gruden, some of my early times getting reps, calling plays, was during the pre-season. I think it’s a really good thing for me to sit back and kind of evaluate our whole team sometimes, especially as some of the guys down the line on the roster, I want to have a great feel for them. I want to be able to watch things closely in all
three phases. That helps me do that. I thought Wes on that touchdown drive called a great drive, and the guys executed. There was no delay of games, pre-snap penalties. The function, that was calling it from the box down. We’re always looking at things from the standpoint of helping people, not just players, but players and coaches develop.”
4. Kevin O'Connell on if the starters would play vs. Cardinals
” I’m thinking about from the standpoint of when I count the reps for the ones from this past Wednesday and Thursday, knowing what it’s going to be like Wednesday and Thursday with the heat, and my plan is to keep the rep count the same as planned, which is more than last week. Those guys are going to get plenty of work, as the standard rule goes. I think you saw it with one of their players tonight that might not have played had he not been kicked out of practice. So that’s the standing rule we have. I don’t know if
Coach Vrabel has had that rule throughout or in our dialogue decided to apply that one. I think the point of it all is, we’ve spent a lot of time planning training camp, these joint practices. I know these games are genuine opportunities for game situations to come up. But as you guys that were at the joint practices, we
hit just about every situation possible in two days, and had ultra competitiveness out there almost right to that line. Give those guys a lot of credit over there for being able to have two days of work without it getting out of hand.”
5. Kevin O'Connell on Lewis Cine
“That’s what jumps out to me. The missed tackling or the missed tackle on that one run, he’s coming downhill. He’s trying to fill his responsibility. Those are going to happen, especially when he’s really just getting back going again. That’s the one thing we can’t simulate in those joint practices, is tackling. To see him make the play on Malik, on the red zone scramble, that’s a tough guy to bring down. There was a couple other times where he pulled the trigger, came downhill and made a play. I think Lew is in a great
spot. It was fun to make him a captain tonight. The team, when I announced that, was excited. Lew is doing a great job right now of building upon what he does each and every day. I’m sure there will be some things to correct. He’ll be right back in there with Daronte, Harry, Cam. What a group you can really look at right
now. Then Theo and Jay Ward. That’s a full room of NFL football players. We feel very strongly about that room.”
6. Jaren Hall on what he did differently week-to-week
“I spent more time in the playbook. I spent a lot of time watching film last week. You learn that it’s not as valuable as knowing your plays. You have to know your plays first and foremost, so I spent a lot more time seeing our plays and visualizing, just a better combination of film and play calling.”
7. Kevin O'Connell on Hall's preparation
” I think it’s a matter of do you know it or do you really know it, to the point where when myself or Wes starts calling a play for him, you should know that game plan well enough that you can kind of finish the calls. You can be the guy in the huddle that’s so clear and concise with what we’re asking, what that call is, that motions and timing of motions and all the little details. That’s really our whole group right now. It’s not just Jaren. It’s that whole group in there. Really the group that started the game, as well. There’s guys that we’re looking for that detail as much as possible because we want guys to demonstrate what it would look like if they were in that first huddle, regardless of the position. There’s a little bit more volume. There’s a lot of plays that we may have ran over Wednesday and Thursday that weren’t going to be on the call sheet tonight. It’s that give-and-take of a guy trying to prepare for a game he’s going to play in versus a practice where he’s only going to get four, five, six reps. A lot of those plays will not carry over. It’s the hard part of being a rookie in this league, especially the way we do things. He’s going to get a ton of time next week.
He continues to find little ways here and there to move the team. Just looking for more consistency not only from Jaren but from our whole unit, whatever phase is on the field. We’re getting closer, but we want to see that last phase of training camp kind of put a stamp on our group. I can promise our first groups have been getting their work and really a major part of the young guy development, as well. I think about Jordan Addison coming back this week. He’ll be right next to J.J. I think about Jay Ward sitting next to Harrison Smith. Ivan sitting next to Jordan Hicks in meetings. The way we’re coaching these guys up, my hope is
they can play their best football next week and really put a stamp on what they’ve done this training camp to try to make our team.”
8. Lewis Cine on how important reps are
“Those reps are important to me because, you know, I’m getting those game reps in. Those are game reps to me, which are very important. I didn’t really get the chance of having full game reps last year, you know, the fact that I’m getting them now is good. Good on good, everything is online so I just gotta let my talent show, don’t think and play.”
9. Jaren Hall on feeling more comfortable
“Definitely more comfortable. Cleaning up the pre-game routine, having experience from last week, understanding what I need to do better, and how I can prepare better. I have a lot more time on my hands now than I did before, especially in college. It’s just using your time wisely and finding what you need to work on to be more prepared. I thought I found a better routine.”
10. Nick Mullens on how it felt out there
“Yeah it felt good, it felt really good, I thought the guys up front gave a lot of time, did a lot of very good things, there were multiple plays where I got my third and fourth read and that’s because of the O line. Early in the game, I like to be a little bit more efficient just moving the ball and obviously you want to strive for touchdowns. Field goals don’t win in the NFL. So some good some bad, you just keep working and striving for improvement.”
