Minnesota Vikings 28
Detroit Lions 24
A. Continue to improve and be at our best moving forward. I'm so proud of our guys. Unbelievable to have our legends in town this weekend and be around our team. As I told those guys last night, never underestimate their power and their influence to be what our guys what may need to see, and to see their camaraderie, how together they are still years and years later.
The great history of our team, we've got a lot to play for a lot to be proud of, but first and foremost today was about those players, and a great day for a lot of guys on our team who needed to step up. And like I said a lot of things we'll do better and need to work on and we've got a tough task ahead with a tough football team obviously in London.
Q. Will a comeback win like that have some carry-over effect for this team?
A. I think so. It's one thing to rep a lot of those situations in practice. It's one thing to do it in competitive ways when you can, but to do it at home, with our great fans, just being that extra edge that we needed there late.
But give them a lot of credit, they did some things defensively that caused us to kind of have to alter our plan that we came in with, especially in the passing game. I thought Kirk was fantastic on that final drive. Able to execute some things that quite honestly we didn't necessarily have up on the call sheet but we found a way to go out there, all 11, and execute. And thought the O line had a huge final sequence there giving Kirk time to attack there. K.J. obviously showing up huge.
Q. Kirk (indiscernible) receivers and he did again today. (Indiscernible) open players outnumbered. Is that what we saw today?
A. I think it was a combination of a couple of things. A, Kirk did a great job keeping eyes up and reading coverage. They were doing some things schematically to take away Justin. And we'll continue to have tools at our disposal to try to counteract that, obviously.
But they did a good job defensively. I thought there were a few competitive plays that could have gone either way as far as possibly a grab or tug, the way technique-wise they were playing. But ultimately when our guys needed to they overcame that, they overcame at times us not having the cleanest execution. But situationally, when it mattered, for Kirk to do what he did and lead that group, I think that says a lot about our football team and loved the way we closed it out with Metellus making that pick.
Q. What were your thoughts on the defense? They gave up a decent amount of yards but they stepped up at the end when they had to?
A. They really did. You'd like to think over the course of that kind of fourth quarter and when we were able to get the drive to make it 24-21, you'd like to think we wouldn't need another one or another defensive stand without having the lead and they were obviously able to. We went for it on that fourth down. Obviously liked the look there.
But didn't get it done offensively but understanding the defense is going to pick you up. We might not have any timeouts. We might have to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, but we've got just the guys to do it. And our quarterback did a great job taking us down the field.
Q. It looked like at some point you had a conversation with Justin on the sideline. Was he frustrated?
A. It's one of those things with great, great players in this league and the coaching that goes on, they do things to try to take away what you do best. And the way we were able to run the football, the way we were able to get Adam and K.J. and some of these other guys ops in the passing game is because of Justin Jefferson dictating a lot of coverage, dictating how runs are fit, dictating how they play on the edges.
Justin had a huge impact on this game. It just didn't show up in the stat sheet. But that's not good enough. I have to do a better job giving Justin different aspects of lining up in different spots, different personnel groupings, whatever I need to do to help him because he's an ultra competitor, and we'll get him going.
But the first guy celebrating with K.J. Osborn when he scores that touchdown is Justin Jefferson. He's a great teammate. Although he doesn't have a "C" on his chest, I know our guys view him as one of our leaders. And we relied on him today to maintain and just keep on pushing. And I have a lot of respect for how Justin handled today, but put it on me obviously to do a better job to get him home.
Q. You mentioned how you had a lot of things late in the game that weren't necessarily on the call sheet. What got you to the point where you had to reach in your back pocket to (indiscernible)?
A. I think it's that combination that a week ago I didn't do a good enough job staying true to who we want to be from an offensive philosophy standpoint. Then I thought the way our defense was playing, especially in the second half, that we could stay in our normal offensive rhythm while still trying to get some chunks. Then kind of late there we didn't have any timeouts left. I knew that I didn't want to be in a situation where we kind of dinked and dunked, Hey, get up on the ball, go fast, and all of a sudden we're playing...
I wanted to score. I wanted to score a touchdown. I wanted to finish this game for our football fans, put maximum pressure on those guys, quite honestly how they did the rest of the day with how gritty and tough of a football team that is.
That's when you just have to continue working, put your head down. Adversity is only going to be one snap away in this league for you individually, collectively, per side of the ball. You just got to meet the moment, rely on your leadership, trust the guys around you in those huddles to get it done. That's what I think you saw today.
But there will be some moments that we'll be able to go back and look on and think we could have had some earlier success in some critical moments as well. So we got to get better from it.
Q. The thought process before the final drive, field goal, drive?
A. Knowing I got all the confidence in Greg in the world, know we put him out there for two 54-plus yarders. He'll continue to knock those in. My confidence will not waver in Greg, and everybody in that locker room feels the same way.
But I did know if we could manipulate some things, get K.J. or potentially Adam running, I knew we could protect with the way our guys were protecting up front, that we could possibly get some explosives in, at least put some pressure on them to kind of not be dictating to us. We got them kind of on their heels a little bit on that drive, and defense was able to come out and get a stop with that remaining time.
Q. Cook, do you know what his situation is?
A. No, I have not answered that. Dalvin just had a little bit of a shoulder deal that kind of came up on that fumble. Unfortunate with him being three yards away from his first hundred-yard day. Thought he played phenomenal. I thought Alex was really, really solid. Those kind of 1-2 punch that we have.
But he'll be day to day. We'll run some tests. Should have some time to hopefully get him turned over. He's already told me after we scored, I asked him how he was doing, he said, I'll be out there next week.
We'll do what's best obviously for Dalvin, make sure that Tyler and Uriah and our doctors make those decisions.
What a competitor. Really proud of the work he put in today, knowing we would come back to him after not getting him enough last Monday.
Q. The interception, looked like you and Ed... What was behind that?
A. Well, he was pretty fired up. I was, too. I just want to tell him how proud I was of him and his guys. I know they wanted to get that ball back to him in the game. It was fun to see him like that there. Still pretty sore, old man still got a little strength to him.
But, no, you could just feel the emotion of the whole stadium understanding how important it was for us to persevere and rally. Like I said, unbelievable effort by our fans today when we had to have it in those critical moments. You felt them right where they need to be. We're going to need that as many times as we play at this stadium this year.
Q. Were you surprised the Lions tried the 54-yard field goal at the end?
A. No, I think a lot goes into those decisions. We went for it a couple times today as well. I think you're just constantly managing what's more important, getting those points right there, possibly giving us a short field where a field goal could be within reach, maybe we could be more aggressive, or try to go for it and end the football game on the grass.
I think it probably tempted him a lot to try to go for it in that moment. But just a huge credit to our defense getting that stop and then feeling like we had a chance to go win that football game regardless.
Q. Does that stop give you momentum?
A. Yeah, I mean, it's either they get that stop or there's no use in momentum any more because the game's probably going to be over.
I think you felt it. You felt those defensive guys coming out. They feel it. They're letting our offensive guys going on the field, Hey, now is the time.
I think when you can respond in those moments, when you look at one another and you know this is it, this is when you go win the football game or you don't. When you come back in with the victory, know we earned every bit of it against a good football team, I think there can be some real growth and belief moving forward if and when that inevitable adversity hits again.
Q. What is it like to see Josh get his hands on the ball before the interception?
A. For sure. I thought E.K. was going to get that one there as well. I got a lot of confidence in our defense in those moments. We situationally prepared this football team in a way I think we feel very comfortable in the two-minute moments, the end-of-game situations on both sides.
When Josh made that interception, got a little pressure there to move him off the spot. But Jared Goff, I thought he played really well and kind of was a real challenge. They've got great skill and able to run the ball. That's a tough outfit that we're going to have to see again obviously in Detroit.
But got a lot of respect for that team over there. One of the reasons why I'm so dang proud of our guys for beating a good football team when we had to come from behind.
Q. (No microphone.)
A. Yeah, I mean, I think we all saw that. Not to reference that Cowboy-49er game from last year's Playoffs, but there was a feeling with this crew of that being some relevance to them in this game. I think they were worried about the functioning, which they did. They did a great job. We're going to get that ball set.
But I did see something pretty blatant on that one that makes it a little hard within the rules to get that ball clocked.
That would have been another opportunity for Greg to possibly knock in a field goal and get three right there. So I liked the way we were aggressive there. We get the screen early on, then Kirk hits a couple things there, we kind of got the ball across the 50. One second too much with that how that play played out.
We'll have to coach our guys that that's a real possibility that the other team can knock the ball out of your hands and that's not a penalty.
Q. (No microphone.)
A. I know Greg missed a couple long ones, at least one at that point. I'm going to continue to give him long opportunities, especially in those moments where I do think that's a little bit more of a high-percentage play to let him turn one loose than a Hail Mary at that point.
Q. What did you see from Kirk there?
A. Yeah, just resilient. I think there were some plays in there where he showed incredible grit and toughness and made some real plays.
We didn't always convert, we didn't always make the play. I think back on, we had K.J. one time down the sideline, a couple shots to Adam where it's competitive, good football. There was one to Irv, as well on a play pass, first-and-10 when we were moving it pretty good.
Our execution level, when we're locked in, dialed in, all 11, we'll know it when those ops start being positive plays for us each and every time.
As far as Kirk Cousins goes, today, the toughness, the mental toughness to just keep playing, just keep leading, relying on the other continue guys in the huddle, but leading those guys out in the front, ready to go win it in the end, I think there's a lot to be taken out of this game positive for Kirk and our offense, in addition to a lot of things we can do better.
Q. (Question about Za'Darius.)
A. He knows those are his moments. When we get the lead, a chance to go finish it in that two minute, he's going to give it everything he's got.
Luckily he was down there for a play, able to come back in there and be a part of getting the rush on Jared on that last play.
We got tough guys. We got guys that love playing for one another, playing for each other. Days like this are where you can really feel the special part about what we're building. Then also understand that there's a lot we can do better to not make it so hard on ourselves sometimes.
But once again, give credit to the Lions. That was a heck of a football game. Just glad we came out on top.
Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports