Vikings 30, Seahawks 17
A: Okay, feels good to win. You know, it was nice to finish off the game like we did. I thought -- I told the team, I thought that's the best offensive performance that I've seen in the eight years that I've been here. Kirk played outstanding. I thought Mattison ran the ball well. The offensive line blocked great. Tight ends, receivers blocked great in the run game, but also in the passing game.
Very, very proud of the way that they performed today. Two penalties, I think, all day, and one of them we took on purpose.
Defensively we started out a little shaky. They gave us some different things that we had to take care of to shut them out in the second half. I thought that was big, and Greg Joseph had six kicks that he made today, so it was a good all-around performance.
Q. What did you think of that roughing-the-passer penalty?
A: I honestly didn't see it. I was watching the coverage. It was on the other side of the field and there were some guys in front of me, so I couldn't comment on that.
Q. You talked about the best offensive performance; what does it say to do it without Dalvin Cook?
A: It says we've got more to go, hopefully.
Q. Can you talk about the job Mattison did? He ran hard out there.
A: Yeah, he always runs hard. He got many opportunities today. Alex is a good back. He's good in protection. He does a nice job in the run game, but the offensive line deserves a lot of credit, as well.
Q. When did you have an idea that Dalvin wouldn't play? When did you know that?
A: I got a text this morning.
Q. Kirk seems to have brought his play to another level. What do you make of where he's at through three games?
A: Yeah, I think he's playing outstanding. But not only that, he's playing with a lot of confidence. He's also -- I really appreciate the leadership that he's been doing lately. It's been so much better, something he wanted to work on this off-season. He's done a great job with that.
You know, and he's very confident where he's throwing the football. He's very confident in his receivers. I think the offensive line has helped him to do some of those things, as well.
Q. What do you think has led to that additional confidence about where Kirk is throwing the ball?
A: You know, he's always been really accurate. I think maybe just -- he's been in the offense now for a while, and I think maybe he just sees these things a little bit more clearly.
Defensively they have some change-ups in there that they used today, but he saw those really well. The blitz that he threw to K.J. Osborn I think was on 3rd and 6 or 7 was an outstanding play because he was going to get rocked, and he knew it, and made a great accurate throw to K.J. He made a nice throw to Conklin one time. He's just really accurate, and he seems to be playing very fast.
Q. What did you guys do to take Metcalf out? First 16 minutes he had like five catches.
A: Well, they've got two great receivers in Metcalf and Lockett. We were trying to focus on those guys and trying to back them down a little bit. When Lockett went out for a little bit, then we put a lot of our concentration on Metcalf, but we just kept plugging away. They hit us on a couple boots early and a trap pass, so we kind of messed up a couple of those things, and we settled down, and I think we did a good job of adjusting today.
Q. Did you do something to take away the deep ball to Lockett because that's a big part of their --
A: Well, we tried. We tried. They didn't hit one, but they almost got that one late in the ballgame that Harry knocked down or something.
Q. That throw that Kirk made, the one you mentioned on the 3rd down blitz to Osborn, is that a different type of throw that he's making this year, the confidence that he's going to get rocked and he can still make that and get the ball maybe -- does he get the ball out quicker this year, throwing it quicker?
A: No, he's not getting it out quicker. I mean, he knows when the extra rusher belongs to him, and he knows when he has to get it out. He's been -- he's hung in there before and done it.
I think we just had a good play call on where they were in man-to-man, they were blitzing and we had some crossing routes, which it's hard to cover those things.
Q. First regular season game with fans here in two years. How did you feel about the atmosphere?
A: Yeah, it was great. It seemed like the fans have been pent up for a year, so I'm glad that they came out today. It was nice to have a late afternoon game where they could hit some of the local establishments before the game, but they were outstanding.
That's what teams expect when they come into U.S. Bank Stadium. They expect it to be a loud affair when they come in here.
Q. How pleased are you with what Klint Kubiak has been able to produce now just three games into his play calling career?
A: Yeah, I think, first of all, he did a good job last week, too, and the first week we're -- I don't know who could have called a good game on 2nd and 20 and 3rd and 20, but he called a good game again today, but he's also getting a lot of help from these other offensive coaches, Kennedy, Polamalu is doing a great job and Keenan McCardell and Phil Rauscher, Pariani. I probably left somebody out, but they're all doing really good.
Q. Andrew?
A: Andrew Janocko with the quarterback. I think he's done a nice job with him.
It's a good collective thing where you figure out, all right, how can we affect this defense and what plays can we work to get to it.
Q. Did you think about going for it there at the Seattle 1, 4th-and-1 at the end --
A: I thought about it, but if we kick it we're up by 13; if we don't get it, it's still a 10-point game, who knows. But it all worked out.
Q. The offensive line, is there some confidence that they're showing that maybe wasn't there a little while ago?
A: Well, I think Brian O'Neill is kind of the guy taking charge in there, and I think he's helping these guys have confidence. Bradbury is basically a veteran now, too, and that's helping. Rashod did a nice job today, I thought, as far as the things that I saw him do, and Cleveland is a quiet guy that just kind of goes about his business. But I saw him do a really nice job on a stay pass that he picked up the outside linebacker today, as well.
They're doing a good job. They're working. Like I told the team last week, we work so hard, we prepare so hard, we deserve to win. These guys are working their rear ends off every single day. They're studying really hard. They come out to practice, and they go hard. They try to execute, do the things that we're trying to get them to do, and it's just good that it pays off so they can see there's some success at the end of the tunnel.
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