Vikings - 7, 49ers - 17
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Obviously, just kind of kicking it off. You know, hope to kind of, obviously, have a chance to score a few more points in the second half and really piggyback what I thought was a strong defensive performance in the first half.
A lot of guys flashed as far as helping us stay in that game. We were just trying to find a rhythm offensively that we really never found outside of that one drive towards the end of the second quarter.
Just across the board, just waiting on that one play, you know, who's going to make that one play to get us going.
Obviously, it starts with me and we got to be able to -- every guy on the roster needs to feel like they're in the position to go out there and compete. And we felt like we had a good plan going into it. But, obviously, execution not enough offensively.
And then I think our defense just wore down. Three turnovers, short fields. Different things that right when we could kind of stand up and get some momentum going, it just did not happen tonight for us.
So we'll continue to -- you know, a lot of battles going on in our roster right now to make our team. Want to continue to allow those guys to compete but also still making sure our starters coming off a great week of practice against a really good team. I thought a lot of good things done this week. Ultimately, wanted win the game. We did not.
Q. (No microphone - Question concerning an undisclosed player's injury.)
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, it was kind of that same ankle he's kind of dealt with. It sounds like it's a positive thing from a standpoint of, you know, just an aggravation of an injury that we kind of know about already.
He's worked his way through that throughout camp. And then ultimately what it will be is just how that thing looks the rest of the week. Hopefully we still get him some work, obviously, throughout this week as we continue to prep. We'll see where he's at. I'll get with Tyler and I'll keep you guys posted as the week goes on.
Q. What's your assessment of the two backup quarterbacks tonight?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, first thing's first, it can be difficult sometimes when you're in a quarterback competition and you're kind of rotating in and out.
Getting into a rhythm and really getting into the flow sometimes, you feel like you're one play, really, away from getting going. And I felt like both guys at times tonight had good rhythm and good command. We just couldn't make that one play, that one third down conversion, you know, make that one throw, make that one, you know, play to kind of trigger and ignite the offense that we really needed.
And, you know, probably could have run the ball a little bit more to establish a little bit more of a flow. But we're trying to figure out who our backup quarterback's going to be. So I want to give those guys opportunities. As well as the backend who's going to make our team at the receiver position.
So we feel great about the running backs. I know Kene and Ty are day in and day out showing a lot of great things for us to go along with Alex and, obviously, Dalvin Cook being the special player he is.
And I think Koback is a solid depth player in that room that a lot of people will probably have their eyes on if he's unable to be on our team. I sure hope we can keep everybody.
But ultimately we got to be better going back to the quarterbacks. I think in the end, we're trying to see who can come off the bench and help us win a football game. We'll go back and watch it and coach those guys up hard.
I know I can, obviously, be better for them, obviously, in some timely play calls to maybe get them going. But for the most part, we just got to try to continue to improve and limit the turnovers and see who can win this thing.
Q. Kevin, on Kellen Mond, how would you evaluated his play? Just didn't seem to have the same confidence or zest that he had last week?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, he was always -- when I think back on Kellen's night, obviously, he's moving the team on that first drive and we get into a third down there, kind of in their half of the 50, chance it, maybe getting some points.
The pocket kind of collapses on him. That's, you know, playing in the NFL. You know, can you, you know, be exact, can you find a way to get that ball thrown to the open receiver without your arm getting tipped. I'll go back and see what happened protection-wise.
But ultimately I think that's playing in this league. We're kind of in that fringe field goal range. Can we secure points, can we be safe with that ball? And then the last interception, I think he just of lost track of where that post safety was and just trying to press to make that play we were trying to make all night.
Q. Kevin, what did you learn about the receivers that you were hoping to learn more about?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I thought on that drive, you know, to kind of go score here, had some kind of nice timely catches on that drive. Really, coming off his punt return where he got us some yards back after fumbling the previous one. I did like him responding that one.
I think Jalen Nailor getting into the game and, obviously, flashed. Didn't always get it, you know, when he maybe had a chance to.
But ultimately I think right now when I look at that room, I see Bisi doing consistent things, doing so many things to help our offense. Myr's got a pure ability that everybody can see.
And you just continue to look at the Myron Mitchells and the Trishton Jacksons and then Jalen Nailor and these guys. I just see everyone fighting and competing.
And I felt that group pressing a little bit tonight. But across the board, we feel very good about our depth there. They're going to get more op against a really well coached team in Denver. I know a lot of those guys. And coverage-wise will be similar what they practice against. So hopefully we can turn those guys loose and let them go win some jobs.
Q. You mentioned trying to get the quarterbacks to get some opportunities to move the ball down the field. Does that change the play calling for you if you're calling more passes than you might otherwise maybe trying to get more involved with the run?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: There's some times when you're having some dialogue with the staff, plays that you might get to for certain guys. And then, simply, it just ends up being, Hey, you don't really feel like -- I don't want this guy's next throw to be a third and six.
So I'm trying to give him an op today to throw some quick game, throw some screens, put some things in place to get in that rhythm knowing that we're probably going to be rotating those guys.
So a lot of times you selfishly kind of just for their sake want to try to help them get into that rhythm. So, you know, maybe play calling tends to sway that way.
But ultimately I know I got a lot of confidence in our running backs, a lot of confidence coming off of last week in our depth there at the O-line. Especially that second group to go run the football.
I'm trying to still figure out some things in other areas of our team that way heavily sometimes in some of the decisions we make.
Q. What's it like -- how cool is it to see a journeyman veteran like T.Y. McGill to see what he does?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: He's one of those guys that flashed to me. He wrecked the -- obviously, wrecked multiple plays tonight. Had the sack and a half.
It's the plays that don't register on the stat sheet when you see him exploding through the line, forcing the back to bounce. And you see BA and Troy and those guys running down plays.
That's all because of the impact that those guys are having upfront. He's had a good camp and flashed. In both games, really, when I go back and think about it, among other guys, as well. But it's really cool to see a guy like that, you know, understand the outcome he may have and ultimately capitalize on it with performances like tonight.
Q. Kevin, with the joint practices, will that play a role in the 27 players not playing tonight? And also moving forward, you think we'll see any of the marquee starters against Denver?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, 80 plus plays, a little over 48 hours ago for our ones against another team's ones. I knew playing long ago we would kind of handle this week like this.
Our game reps took place at our facility this week. And then that competitive environment that we were able to bring in, it was phenomenal to bring a team like the '9ers in for those reps.
I feel like our team improved. Those starters got a lot of work and a lot of great competitive work. I thought Kirk had a really good week of practice against a really good defense, a really good front that can consistently get pressure.
We will continue to evaluate and assess what next week looks like. We've got kind of a pretty structured plan in place for this week to ultimately, you know, make sure we're getting the amount of reps for those guys that we kind of planned coming into camp to have them ready to go with our eye ultimately circled on September 11th.
Q. Kevin, with a guy like McGill who has played so well, a lot of the snaps in preseason that have come against backups, how do you evaluate the potential and what you see there versus when you might need him in a role against starting level competition in the season?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, we do quite a bit of ones versus two work in practice. So he's had, you know, multiple days working against our first team offense.
And I asked those offensive linemen, you know, who's sticking out to you guys as far as somebody's that's tough to block? Who feels heavy in those combinations that you guys can -- they're going back and talking amongst themselves. T.Y's a problem.
So you start hearing some of that, showing the team some of these clips of guys making plays in those periods where the ones are going against the twos. And that's not a shock when he comes out here and does it. You know, maybe against guys listed similar on the depth chart, but he's still making plays and showing up in my eyes.
Q. What did you see in Evans tonight in coverage, run support? And, you know, he knocked the ball out of play.
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I thought that punch would have been big for us to -- kind of like Lawrence's hit against the Raiders last week.
If we had got that one, maybe we're able to put together a drive there and go try to tie or maybe go for two and win that thing.
But, yeah, I think across the board he's such a talented, you know, player for us to continue to just wrap our arms around, try to develop on a daily basis. We want to get him a lot of reps. There was a reason why he was out there a lot.
I'm sure there will be a lot for us to correct fundamentally with his eyes or just situationally understanding how we can tighten up in some spots. But I thought he was a willing tackler. They were running the ball hard there in the second half and guys were showing up trying to throw their hat in there a little bit.
So I think -- you know, our defense for me tonight, I just feel like we kind of left them on the field too much. Even when you're subbing, tonight was about our offense not sustaining enough to give ourselves a chance to win the football game.
Q. With Mannion starting the fourth quarter, what went into the decision for Mond come in with about four minutes left?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, we're just working off our snaps and kind of seeing -- the one thing the '9ers did, although our defense had a really strong first half, in my eyes, they possessed the ball a ton in the second half.
At one point, we were even in time of possession and they ended up almost 14 minutes ahead on that. And that all took place in the third quarter. Into the fourth quarter, just massive drives of eating clock.
And when you go three or four plays and out, at one point we were in the fourth quarter having to run seven plays. So it's just not enough plays -- we were right at 50 again tonight. We would love to see the number around 60 plus.
It comes with more execution on third down and it obviously comes with eliminating the turnovers, to be able to finish drives with points when you do get in there.
Q. What did you like about what Mannion did on the touchdown drive?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I just thought with Sean, the consistency of, you know, when you call something, you feel strongly about the execution level being high. Because you know he's going to communicate, articulate that play and go out and do his job.
I think Sean's at his best when he doesn't do too much. He throws completions, puts the ball in play to the guys around him, you know, helps lead the charge from a communication standpoint.
He's a very smart player and you feel that veteran presence when he's in there with those guys. But ultimately we would have loved to have seen a couple more drives like that for him and Kellen.
But it was nice to see, you know, they were playing some nickel defense and some 12. And we kind of finished that drive and kind of ran it in with some physicality. It was good to see.
Q. Without Irv Smith, what depth do you think you've created at the tight end position and what has Ben Ellefson provided at that position?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I'm excited to get Irv back. Hopefully we'll see him back on the grass with our guys in the next few days. And I think Johnny Mundt's been rock solid for us.
And Ben's had a great camp. I really look at Ben right now as a Jack of all traits the way he's, really, able to impact the game and the run game, play pass.
You know, everybody wants to run play pass. And I said it this week. But that requires those guys to have to block pass pro against some good outside players/rushers. And he's held up. He had some great, great reps against these 49ers in practice where I don't know if many guys in this league can hold up against some of their guys.
And he's sticking his face in there and, you know, competing through the down, giving us a chance to push the ball down the field.
Obviously, Zach Davidson tonight, I would have loved to see him finish a couple more plays. And kind of like he's done throughout training camp for us, I'm sure Zach will be ripping and ready to go at Denver next week to try and make some of those plays back. I'm sure he will. He's had a good, solid camp for us and we expect him to be right along.
Q. Kevin, do you feel at this point you're comfortable with your backup quarterback situation or could it be a possibility where you look beyond these guys to look at options there?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, ultimately you would have loved to come out of the night feeling like, Shoot, they both moved the team and scored a lot of points, and we got a heck of a hard discussion and conversation ahead as a staff and as an organization.
Although we didn't do that, I still think there's real teachable, you know, moments and then some real moments where we'll be able to evaluate and kind of really look at where we're at that position, as we kind of restack everything to go into this week to see how we need to allow those guys to compete.
Because as we've talked about, in my mind, you know, the clock is going. And although our -- I feel like our starters are in a great spot for September 11th, and that's where our emphasis is really on, there's a lot of jobs we got to still allow to play themselves out so we feel good about the overall depth of our team and we'll certainly allow that to happen this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports