Vikings 27, Jets 22
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Proud of our team. I'm proud of the way they once again -- although on a day where we knew we were playing a really good football team, a team over there that's so well-coached, they've got a lot of really good players, played hard and schematically did a lot of things to make life hard on us, our guys in that locker room just continue to band together, and when we have to make a play, our guys found a way to complement each side, and get another punt there late by Ryan Wright and then find a way to get that thing turned over and win another game here at U.S. Bank, cannot say enough about our home fans. This atmosphere, this crowd, they will us to some of these victories, and I hope they know and our fans know how important they are for us.
We're going to try to win every single one of our opportunities and see how many of these opportunities in the postseason hopefully if we're able to qualify and get in that we can give our fans a chance to continue to do their thing.
But just proud of our team. A ton of things that I could do better, players and coaches. There's a lot for us to go back and take a look at and continue our quest to play our best football here as December gets rolling and on hopefully into January.
Q. This is the second straight game where you've had kind of a situation where you've elected to run it to make their use their time-outs. Is there any consideration there of just trying to throw the ball and get that 1st down?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think there was more to consider than just trying to get them to use their time-outs. I thought their front was a really good front coming in, and I think when you've got your heels in the paint of your own end zone, you just ultimately -- we had done such a good job at having played a pretty clean game as far as winning the penalty battle, being plus two turnovers. Our defense although we gave up a lot of yards, they were very, very good again on 3rd down. I think they held them to 19 percent, 1 of 6 in the red zone, and then on the flipside, although it was at times a struggle for us offensively, 50 percent on 3rd down and 3 of 3 in the red zone.
At that point it's really one of those things where risk-reward, if we felt like there was a real opportunity maybe to push the ball downfield from your own end zone, by all means I would go for it. I just wanted to make sure -- I thought we had some chances there. We had some hat-on-a-hat type of runs, especially that last toss. We just couldn't quite get everybody covered up to maybe get it out, and one 1st down, get that clock rolling, and maybe we can put it away.
I had confidence in our defense like they've done multiple times this year, finding a way to get that stop, get that ball stopped and not in the end zone, and we were taking a knee again here at U.S. Bank.
Q. Why the lull in the offense which extended throughout the third quarter?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think we didn't -- I was hoping to get off to a little bit better start there in the third quarter, and then whether it was our second drive there, I did think we had a couple opportunities play pass wise, we had T.J. down the field one time for a chance at an explosive, and then Justin kind of crossing the field there. We just couldn't convert those plays, and whether it's Kirk throwing to T.J. Hockenson or Justin Jefferson in those looks, we felt great about the looks. I felt the line held up in those moments, and I expect those guys to make those plays and they will and they have all season long. Would have helped with that lull, and then just another example of us really not taking advantage of a lead at halftime, and then ultimately coming out and putting somebody away.
But give the other side credit; I thought they made some adjustments offensively, and then defensively that's another really, really good front, really good defense. Our guys kind of just continued to battle, and we did not want to make that one mistake. We did not want to make a critical error that would allow them to completely grasp the momentum in the game, but ultimately you're exactly right, we would love to avoid that third quarter lull and that's something I've got to take a long look at, look inward and try to be better for our guys.
Q. With all the wins in close games, do you think you're seeing a carryover effect?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I just think our guys expect to find a way, and I think the situational success on 3rd down and red zone, players can feel that. Although we feel like at times maybe defensively we're giving up some chunks yardage wise or offensively we just can't punch through like we did on that touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, that was just execution. Execution by our guys offensively, and then at the end of the game there defensively execution, being at their best when we need them to be. That's kind of been the theme for us this year.
I still think it is within us to be a little bit more consistent, coach a little bit more consistent. But as I told our team afterwards, 10 wins in this league through 12 opportunities, I think they've earned the right to feel confident, but I do think we've got to continue to prepare like every single week is the most important game of our season because that's what we've done. I give our players a ton of credit, our leadership a ton of credit for that, and as we move forward here, we're going to continue to be tested, and we're going to have to earn the right to go into these games with confidence. This 10-2 record means absolutely nothing. We've got to go prepare, get better, and play our best here towards the end of the season.
Q. Do you think the guys play just a little bit cautious with a lead?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: No, I don't. I think you've got to give some teams credit schematically for kind of finding some things, and then offensively when we do have a lead we want to run the football. We want to try to control the clock and still be aggressive when we can. That's where I think those play action opportunities would have been big for us, but in the end maintaining position and relying on all three phases of our football team were really what helped in addition to playing a clean game, no turnovers and winning the penalty battle.
Q. Given that you are winning games and your defense is making big plays in the fourth quarter, how much do you care about how much you're giving up defensively?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I think you have to continue to look at it just because it just puts a lot of pressure on your football team and vice versa on the offensive side, trying to avoid times where we get a little stagnant and don't earn 1st downs, to stay on the field and maybe allow our defense to rest a little bit more.
Time of possession was pretty close, 31-28, but it feels like offensively we could have done a better job in those moments to maintain kind of the ability to maintain that momentum, which then might have just made it a little bit easier for our team to not need it to come together in the end the way it did.
But you make -- I think the confidence level of winning football games cannot be -- it can't be replicated by, hey, we lost one but we played great. I think we'll always take coming in there and feeling the enthusiasm of a win over everything else.
Q. What did you observe on the White touchdown that was reversed?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I think I could see why it needed to be reviewed. Good challenge there by Robert coming down -- it was hard to see, we had so many purple hats around the ball, I think it was just hard for that official coming down the line to see maybe where the football was in comparison to breaking the plane.
Obviously when they were able to -- once the challenge happened and see that he did make it in there, it looked like his body was in there regardless if you could see the football. It was a good attempt by our guys to obviously -- obviously somebody trying to quarterback sneak you and they end up out there darn near the numbers trying to punch it in. At least the interior guys did their job, and then we rallied, and it's a game of inches at that point, especially to your point about the yards when you're allowing yourself to have to have goal-line stands in those moments.
Q. When you guys have had this many high-leverage stats, especially on defense, what does that do for a group to have had this many reps as you go into the playoffs here in the next couple of weeks?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I do feel like we're going to be able to rely on a lot of these experiences, how we've won games, whether it be earlier in the season when offensively going down to win later on in the games, finding ways situationally to try to manipulate the clock, our players being completely on board with how we're trying to do things, and whether it's us and how we use our time-outs, to try to maybe use -- make the other side use theirs so then the clock can really be in our favor, all of those things are situational football. We strive really, really hard every single week to teach our players so that when those moments come around, we can find ways to have advantages and be at our best in those moments.
But like we've talked about, we've got some experience and the guys can rely on that, but let's go continue to try to strive to be the best possible team we can be for this season.
Q. Does Kevin have a concussion?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, he's in the protocol. At one point he was evaluated and cleared by the independent and by our sideline, and then as the game kind of went on, you always keep an eye on those players, especially guys that have had some things come up, and he started to have some symptoms and reported them.
We'll take a look at where he's at, but we immediately got him back out of the game, and we'll keep an eye on him, absolutely.
Q. Is that the only injury?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I think Bullard had a right bicep, and at that point he was questionable. There was a chance he would maybe come back in, but that did indeed end his day.
Q. What does it say about Kirk, his accuracy was off during the game but to put that drive together?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, I thought it was huge. There's going to be days like that. He's incredibly accurate. It's one I've always just marveled at his ability to be accurate with the football from an NFL pocket when teams have really good interior rush and then some good edge players, as well.
We were doing some things to try to help give him as much time as possible when we were going to try to push the ball down the field, and it was just one of those days where maybe, whether it was a double move go ball to Justin and we just end up being right off his fingertips there as he went to the ground in the first half, or like I said, those two opportunities there in the second half, but then what does he do, he comes back and stacks four, five, six really good plays together, puts pressure on the defense, and then when we had to have it, that 3rd and goal from the 10, to find Justin the way he did, I mean, that's a far hash full-field throw for a toe tap over on that right side. That's how you win football games in this league.
We don't win this game unless we get that seven points right there, so give Kirk a ton of credit. He broke down the team after the game, and I believe he said something along the lines of tough times don't last, tough people do. He probably said it a heck of a lot cleaner than I just did, and I think that message means a lot for our team because what that means is we found a way in the end. We knew it was going to be that kind of game against this team, to get 27 on the board against them and then to get that stop in the end, it was good enough to win, but there's a lot that we'll go back on and coach very hard, and the best part is our players will be in first thing tomorrow ready to get back to work knowing what kind of challenge we have this week going into Detroit.
Q. I'm sure you don't want to see Kirk taking those hits, but what does that mean for a team when you see the quarterback sacrificing --
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Yeah, there's been countless examples around the league of -- they get protection when they run, but if it's 3rd and 8, 3rd and 10, 3rd and whatever, Kirk knows -- he's such a competitor, he's going to go try to get those yards to stay on the field.
I think it did kind of give us a little bit of juice in that moment to flip the situation in a 3rd and longer type situation and go get those yards. I would love to see him be able to get it and get down, as valuable as he is for us. But I think his toughness and his durability over a long period of time really speaks for itself, but as the play caller and head coach, I definitely want to take care of him as much as we possibly can.
Q. A lot of guys in there talked about their own feelings of calm in the red zone defensively. What did you feel in those situations where it's that stressful?
KEVIN O'CONNELL: I feel confidence in our guys to execute the call, to continue to communicate at a high level, and when the field shrinks, it's about execution, and it's about tightening up and finding a way to just be a little bit better. Every blade of grass matters down there. Every time you can put your foot in the ground and make a break, every time we can get pressure on the quarterback, force him off the spot, it all works together. No greater moments than I think in that red zone, and it's a great point.
And then offensively on the other side, to be three of three, to get down there on a day where we weren't going to get down there every time we touched it, we knew that, but to get down there and come away with three touchdowns, two runs, and that huge one by Kirk to Justin just speaks to our guys' level of execution, being able to finish, finish drives, stop drives, and then ultimately finish the game to find a way to get our tenth win.
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