^ Kevin O'Connell
Vikings 23, Green Bay 7
Q. (Indiscernible.) Is that what you thought about the whole time? Is that your signature?
A. Well, I do know I answered a lot of questions about our players being ready physically to play, having the mindset and the capability to maybe come out of the box fast despite not playing in the preseason, and we knew the responsibility we had to get our players ready; they knew the responsibility that they personally had to be ready.
But to have that first drive go the way it did and then as the game went on, I told our guys this would happen, but there was multiple times that those O-line, receivers, backs, were coming over saying, Coach more tempo, more tempo.
But we're going to attack on out terms, and you do that because of your efficiency. Because you don't have penalties. You play a clean game. Our terms can mean a lot of things and that was a really, really good defense and we're going to see them again. There is a lot of problems all over this field you have to account for both in the interior D-line, those edge players, the linebackers, are as good as anybody we'll play.
Then the secondary makes it real hard on you, and obviously with them getting Jaire back. It's a challenge playing against a defense like that. What I give our guys credit doing, especially offensively in this game, was just on the to next, on to the next.
How many times can all 11 line up and do their job, whether it was huddle call, tempo, situational. We got a lot to correct, but I'm really, really proud of our group.
Q. You touched upon it a little bit, but what were some of the things you did to make sure you didn't come out rusty at all? You rested a lot of starters in the preseason. Sometimes to take offense a while to get going, but obviously that wasn't the case for you guys.
A. Yeah, we had five phases to our training camp that clearly each and every phase, those players know exactly what the standard would be to check that box and move forward and make sure they had the right to show up to U.S. Bank to have the performance they did.
I credit our leadership, our coaches. Cannot stress enough how blessed I feel I am to have the group I have around me, and a lot, lot of people that help not only make decisions in the best interest of our team, but our players and leadership, putting or culture and our football philosophy on display today.
Q. What do you do to celebrate your first win? You don't get one of them.
A. Yeah, I cannot wait to see my family. Hopefully they'll be coming down soon. Then I got news for you, in this thing I've learned the second you celebrate and start feeling yourself a little bit, this league has a funny way of humbling you.
I'll be right back to work tomorrow. Got a lot to correct personally, a lot that I can do better for our team and our coaches, and we will get back to work. We've got an unbelievable challenge on the road, Monday Night Football next week, against a really good football team.
Q. Is that why you weren't bumping your fist after the game?
A. I think I had done it enough after a couple of those completions and pass plays. I just told somebody I got to get used to maybe having the camera on me, because I was jumping around after a few of those.
Yeah, I just -- you saw the reaction of our team. Saw the reaction of our fans. I was really just taking it you all in at that moment, and this is one I will not forget.
Q. What do you think enabled Justin to have the day he did?
A. First and foremost, I credit Justin for being able to handle a lot. We move him around a lot. We ask him to play multiple responsibilities. He's not just an X receiver that lines up over here and dictates coverage.
We're not going to allow that to happen. I credit Adam and KJ and Jalen and Irv and the rest of our group. They play a complementary role in getting Justin open a few times, and then to make the plays in between some of those ops to keep us a live and give us more plays and opportunities.
Then the offensive line, that is a tough group. Thought those guys battled. Love the way we ended the game. Would've loved to end it taking a knee, but when they know you're going to run it, and to get the big fellas in there and lean on them a little bit, love the way our backs were running throughout day.
It's a tough team to run the football against, and we were able to be at least efficient and stay on schedule.
Q. How big was the sequence of the goal line stop and (regarding Kirk.)
A. Yeah, I thought it was huge. Would've loved to end that 99 yard drive with those last five or six yards. Just couldn't quite -- JJ just couldn't quite get his feet down. Kirk had a great movement in the pocket to keep his eyes up. His pocket presence today was really, really good.
I thought his decision making, couple times they were close to having him in the grass and he knew where to go with the ball, safe to go with the ball. Checked it down when we needed to, but pushed the ball down the feels when ops presented itself, and was really happy with the way Kirk played. A lot to build on for the offense.
Q. (Regarding Za'Darius serving as a spark plug.)
A. Yeah, my biggest concern was just would he be too hyped up. He's got a lot of people he's close with over there. I know that organization has a lot of respect for him. He has a lot of respect for that organization.
But we brought Z here for a reason. Whether it's his relationship with some of our defensive coaches or just providing him with a place where he can be the best version of himself, that's our goal for you all of our players. It was fun to watch him play and have that success and really enjoy himself out there. I think he got all of us going a little bit.
Q. Packers offensive line configuration was a little bit different than what a lot of us expected. How do you get defensive linemen prepared for maybe some unexpected changes?
A. Yeah, I think Mike Smith and Chris Rumph, they do a great job game planning alongside Ed and the rest of the staff, Mike Pettine. To attack protections, sometimes you're thinking about people, sometimes you're thinking about schemes. Sometimes you're thinking about how do we marry rushing coverage and just make it that much harder for the quarterback. But I thought across the board the defensive game plan was outstanding.
And then for our players to take it and execute it, it's a credit to Ed and his staff and our leadership on this side of the ball.
Q. Rodgers had to hold the ball a lot.
A. Yeah.
Q. In terms of what you see from the secondary playing together and covering up, how do you evaluate that part as well?
A. Yeah, that was one of our -- what I thought a key to the game, what I thought it would take to win the football game is that marriage. We talk a lot about the marriage of the run and the pass offensively, but the marriage of rush and coverage on defense.
I mean, he's not going to miss very many people when they're hope open. Every time they were able to get home up front it's a credit to the back end clouding up the picture for him and just make him hold it one more click, one more hitch, and see if we can get home.
He made some plays against us, and I thought offensively we could have been a little bit better in the red zone and maybe take a little pressure off our defense.
All in all, complementary football. Our defense leading the charge against a really, really good offense. Now got to see if we can stack it. How many times can we show up and continue to put together performances like we saw today.
Q. What did the defense need to to adjust after what looked like it could have been a catastrophic (indiscernible) that just happened to be drop?
A. Yeah, I think it's just a matter of we play a lot of different variations of coverages, and they had a good one called at that point, and very, very close to being a massive explosive.
You know what? It would've been on us as the offense off Pence to go sustain, try to make a change to that momentum early and go snatch it back and allow the defense to get their stuff together. But play wasn't made, and luckily we were able to kind of move on from that one.
Q. What does the process look like on those fourth and shorts inside the ten? Went for it on the fourth and one; didn't go for it the fourth and two. How does that decision get made?
A. Yeah, I think a lot of it is just situational with the first one. I felt pretty strongly about that play call at that point, especially coming off -- those third and eights or nines, whenever we were at, those are tough calls. Not a lot of the vertical grass. I thought Kirk made a great decision to hit Adam on that crosser.
Looked like he was close to the first down so you're thinking about possibly challenging the spot, and then ultimately you got to have a call ready to go. About five seconds into it I said, I love this call. We'll go get this thing in the end zone. Felt really good about it.
Then once you start seeing the defense play well, I would've loved to go for it again, but ultimately I thought points at that point were the best thing for our team, and then ultimately what would play out after that.
Q. Did the score differential at that point play a role?
A. I'm sure when I go back and look maybe it did. I was just looking more big picture. The defense was playing well. Let's get the points, especially coming off that drive where we started the drive inside our one yard line.
I thought the momentum of getting the points for sure would've been tough if we go for it right there. Fourth and two, pass run, if I could have called the same play again that I called on fourth and one, maybe we could have gotten another conversion.
But we got a really good football team. In my mind, I just have to make the best decisions in the moment for me and a lot of dialog with our staff and make sure I put our guys in position to have success overall throughout the game.
Q. We didn't see a ton or Irv today. Was the plan to bring him long slowly?
A. No, I think for me, today it really wasn't. It was just a matter of our 21 grouping, how those groups played out for this game. You know, it was one of those things where we really wanted to activate some things with CJ. Used 21 personnel to our the advantage, especially early; tried to see how we were going to get matched.
They got a lot of different personnel groupings, so 21 versus two tight ends in there with Irv and maybe another tight end and maybe get a different look. Wanted to clear up the picture when we could can activate some things from 11 personnel, which we're always going to do.
I cannot stress enough I would not overanalyze snap counts and when we use guys and when we don't, because I feel so good about our entire unit that there will be some real ebbs and flows to how we see best utilizing our personnel. That's honest.
Q. What did you think the Greg Joseph...
A. Yeah, three for three. I mean, that is one of those situations where we didn't really do a good job. Actually had a little bit of a bust there on the third and long trying to make it a little bit closer for him. But without hesitation, he goes on and sets his career long right there.
I think he was great. Ryan Wright had some real timely punts to pin people down inside the 20 down near the ten yard line. Coverage units were really solid.
Jalen Reagor with a really physical kind of punt return on that one to get us a couple yards back leading into that drive.
So all in all, I just think three phases of our football team showed up with a really concise plan of attack, and those players, I give all the credit to those guys and our staff for utilizing how we prepared through the off-season, through training camp, to put the on the best possible version of our team today for our fans.
That was the one thing I definitely wanted to make note of. What was an unbelievable atmosphere. This place a special. Our fans are special. We don't take for granted one bit the role that they played in helping us have the success we did today making life really difficult for them and ultimately picking our players up when we needed it the most.
It was just a huge day for or organization.
Q. You guys knocked off the Packers. Did this win show the potential of what this team could be down the road?
A. You know, I think we wanted to be 1-0. There is a lot I know personally that I can clean up and do better for our team. I think the biggest thing we preach a lot about being your best possible version of yourself every day to help the guy next to you, help our team, and that's what I'm going to focus on.
That's what I'm going to focus on with our team. We've built it in a way where I'm going to rely a lot on the leadership. We have a great week of preparation going on the road into a really tough environment. It's going to be a real challenge in Philadelphia, and we got to have a great week of prep and really have things dialed in because we're going to be playing a really good football team.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports