Buccaneers 20 - Vikings 17
KEVIN O'CONNELL: Disappointing start to our season, from the standpoint of wanting to come in and play a clean game from an execution standpoint, wanting to do some certain things in all three phases, but when you lose the turnover battle three to nothing and have a few critical penalties on some third downs or fourth downs either to allow conversions or make those opportunities either shorter or potentially convert, you're doing a lot of things to help the opponent. And all credit to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they came in and played a good, hard-fought game, but I did feel like there was quite a few self-inflicted mistakes that hopefully we can get ironed out and move forward, and feel strongly about what the core of our football team is.
I thought defensively those guys battled, clearly did some really good things, some great downs handling, the communication of altering looks and checks with the crowd noise, it was fantastic today. We gave them a short field, which was self-inflicted. And then we just couldn't ultimately hold the football enough with those penalties on some moving drives that were pretty critical there to our overall chances. And gotta give credit to Tampa, but I think our guys are a football team that has handled adversity before, and we're going to get a great opportunity to do that this week with a heck of a challenge going on a short week to a very good football team's place.
Q. From your point of view, what did the Bucs do defensively to stop the run in the play action?
A. They're very physical, and they didn't really -- I think to say they stopped the play action pass would be -- there were some explosives to be had there. They were pretty active in the edge pressures, and really a couple of the quarterback hits came on some unscouted third down looks that we were able to kind of handle moving forward and convert. It was just the lack of run game efficiency that we hoped we would be better on, and we had some injuries on the offensive line where a couple guys kind of came in and out and ended up with some different groups in there at times, but no excuses whatsoever. Our expectation was to compete in the run game, and they've historically been a very, very good heavy front to run against that showed up today, and they were exactly that. There were no surprises there, and I thought we just didn't execute from a physicality and overall plan the way we had hoped, and that's on me.
Q. Kevin, this team has had a lot of come back wins, a lot of close wins last year. There was no carryover this year. Did you sense something different in the team?
A. No. I thought we had the previous third down before giving the ball back to Tampa at the end, I thought we had a chance to convert there, potentially with a down-the-field kind of look with how that coverage played out, and they made a good play on the out-cut, and then we just couldn't get back on the field. And our defense had been great all day long, but four-minute offense versus four-minute defense, and they found a way to make that play at the end. And that's where we gotta -- our defense, like I said, leaning on them as much as you do, when you lose the turnover battle three to nothing, they did everything they could to help us win this game. And we'll come together as a team and find ways to play better complementary. And it starts with the turnovers and a couple of those penalties for sure. But the only thing I felt is belief that we were going to get it back one more time, even if we got it back on our own one-yard line, the expectation was we were going to go down and try to win the game.
Q. Do you think they were more physical than you?
A. There were times in the game where I think they did some things schematically with some safety pressures and things where it kind of talked you out of some plays. And then up front I just think we gotta just get a little bit more movement, a little bit more connectedness on our combinations and try to just get efficient as we possibly can and then have ways of generating explosives in the run game to pair with the ability to get Justin going and ^ Jordan and some of these other guys, T.J. in the pass game, while protecting Kirk. It's gotta come together overall a little bit better than it did today.
Q. From what you know at this point, obviously you're maybe going to find out, but do you expect Garrett Bradbury will have a chance to go Thursday?
A. Yeah. I would classify him as day to day. I know it was a low back, and he had some soreness in there, something that just kind of popped up throughout that part of the game, and Schlott comes in and tries to do the best job he can but center-quarterback exchange on one and then just some miscommunication in some other spots. So whether Garrett is able to turn over on a short week or it'll be Schlott out there, whatever combination we decide to go with, we'll put together the plan that works while hopefully getting Garrett back as soon as we can. C.D. did come back in the game from his ankle and toughed it out. I'm sure he'll be sore, but he'll be fighting like crazy to make it. And then just to update you guys on Davenport, just kind of something that it looked like he was progressing, didn't look like -- we knew we would be up against it, but he just couldn't quite get to that point where we could get him feeling comfortable to go and didn't want to have him start out like that. And so now he'll have a chance to hopefully get some treatment, and he'll be the same thing, kind of day to day on that as well.
Q. How was your view on the reception record before halftime?
A. Yeah. Calling kind of a quick-game concept. They doubled J.J. to the right. T.J. has kind of got some inside leverage at the three spot. So really that ball is going to be pretty quickly defined to either K.J. or Jordan Addison kind of chasing him in there, and Kirk thought he had a chance to put it in there, which it's going to be tight windows down in the red zone. I didn't mind the decision. We'll take a look at it, whether the location could have been better. But ultimately I want him to be aggressive. We fit that ball in that window and score, everybody thinks it's a great execution, and that's what this league is against good defenses. Moved it down there in that two-minute mode and really efficiently stole some yards there at some times with some chunks through the pass game, play pass screen game today to go along with some drop-back kind of effective plays with how they were playing coverage to some of our guys.
Q. After a game like this, how grateful are you of a short week and being able to get back out there?
A. Yeah. It's a good question. Different circumstances than last year. We had a tough loss and then played right on Thanksgiving right back here. But our guys responded and handled the way we prepared for a very tough opponent last year like that, and we're going to have to do the same thing. We're going to have to travel. And this is tough times when you get this week two short game, and you love the fact that you're at home to open, but whether we won or last today, this was still going to be a heck of a challenge. And now that we didn't get it done today, we just have to have that much more urgency, that much more detail. Everybody's gotta look inward, and we gotta persevere together. This is not our first time dealing with adversity, and my hope is we'll circle back on some of that experience and play our best possible game we can play Thursday night.
Q. Is it possible your team was distracted by this Jefferson contract stuff?
A. Distracted. I got you.
Q. People talking about Jefferson's contract.
A. Yeah. I can't comment on that. All I know is, you know, we seemed incredibly dialed in all week long. We did have a good week of preparation, and every player on the team couldn't wait to get out there today to go try to get a win, and we didn't get it done. But I'm sure you would have to ask some of our players or any of those guys, because from my perspective we were -- we were ready to go.
Q. How comfortable did you feel of all the personnel groupings that you used and just that process? How did you feel that went?
A. Yeah. I think it went pretty well. The one thing you find is, you know, if you're in those bigger groupings, you know, potentially it can keep you -- if the play is not efficient, is not effective, you can be immediately into a substitution world where you gotta put different groupings in the game. It slows your ability to go fast down, and we've got ways of doing it, but that's where the efficiency comes in. And, quite frankly, it's just going to be something we've gotta be better at, and that's on us as coaches and the execution by the players, and it's something we'll go right back to work on.
Q. How did you think some of the rookies responded to the bright lights today?
A. Yeah. I remember Mekhi made a nice play down the right sideline down the field. Jordan obviously showed up. There was a couple other plays where we just had some mental errors in some different spots, not sending a motion one time and just kind of made the concept a little murky on a third down. That had nothing to do with Jordan. He was good. I thought there was a lot of guys who crossed the board that really got either their first action or significant action, and they showed up. But if you ask those guys in the locker room right now, nobody did enough to win the game today, and collectively as a team, we've gotta own that and move forward.
Q. Kevin, with Justin, do you need to have a conversation with him and just make sure that the business side is done with and just football from now on?
A. Yeah. Well, it's daily dialogue with Justin, as much as I possibly can. He knows that I support him 100 percent, and he was all in today and really has been. So we would have loved to get something done with Justin, but the decision was made, and I do not for one second believe that Justin is not going to put his best foot forward, like he did today, and really was pretty darn special today.
Q. Coach, I know you haven't assessed the tape yet, but Brian Asamoah, Jr. didn't play a lot; Ivan Pace, Jr. did. From what you see from the rookie, what did you think?
A. Yeah, I know the plan was there was going to be a little bit of a rotation there, so I'll have to look at it. Keeping up with the snap counts play to play, maybe one day I'll be able to do that. But I'll take a look at it, and I think we feel really good about kind of a three-man grouping right there. But I.P. had earned the right to be on the field. Brian had to deal with an injury through camp, and those reps were really valuable. We still feel great about Jordan, I.P. and Brian and Troy also with his ability to step in there, made some good plays on teams. So that inside backer group is a strength for us.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports