Vikings 27, Saints 19
Q. When you came in, what allowed you to spark the offense?
A. I mean, that was just us as a whole. When we are able to execute and do the things that we were capable of doing, we get good results.
Q. The question about the fourth and three play. Were you going to get rid of the ball. What was the plan on that particular one? Is that the play call, or you just had to get rid of the ball?
A. It was a run pass option. I'm not sure what play. I think it was third and three, if I'm not mistaken, because I think we converted on the fourth down, the fourth and one, the next play. I really don't know which play you're talking about.
Q. Was that kind of a game plan-specific or --
A. We were in obvious passing situations, and we had to push the ball down the field. I just commend the guys for just continuing to fight. We never gave up, and we gave it all we got.
Q. What was working with your connection with Olave?
A. Chris is just an unbelievable receiver. When you give him opportunities, he does great things.
Q. Can you talk to playing with A.T.?
A. It's just A.T. Wanted his first touchdown so bad that he goes up top and makes a great play. Sometimes the best play in football is the scramble drill. Me and A.T., we're working every Tuesday. Letting him know when you get a one-on-one opportunity, go up there and make a play.
Q. What did you see on that play as it unfolded?
A. I saw him in the corner of the end zone by himself, and as I let it go, I saw 7 break on it, so I just gave him a ball that only he can get to.
Q. Can you speak to -- there were a couple of plays where Rashid Shaheed just went all out and gave it everything. Can you speak a little bit to his --
A. We have a great group of guys. We just have to get it together. Rashid, Chris, Mike, A.T.; our tight end group with Juwan, Taysom and Foster. We have guys that can really go. We just have to continue to develop, continue to get better, and execute.
Q. Can you speak to the mentality that you have when you lost Derek and Mike during the game and just kind of going on without them?
A. It's always next-man-up mentality, and everybody out there is grateful for their opportunities. Those guys, they took advantage of it. We just didn't end up on the winning side.
Q. What was your mindset when you entered the game?
A. I'm grateful every time I get out there. I just want to finish.
Q. Can you talk about how the team regroups?
A. Man, we're so close. We're so close. You just saw really in the first half it showed all how we were so close to converting, and things were open, and we just needed one extra second, or we needed the ball to be right here or a little bit more.
I think we got it, man. Obviously you want to go with a win heading into the bye week, but this is a time where we're all going to dig deep and look inside of ourselves and come out on top.
I believe this team has the will to persevere. I believe this is a resilient team. I believe we have some resilient coaches. Now it's time to go do that.
Q. Can you walk us through the one interception? It looked kind of like --
A. Which one?
Q. The second one.
A. The second one. I was trying to give Rashid Shaheed a chance down the field. In that case take what the defense gives you. We had a chance to tie up the game, and that's what I said. We just have to finish. I have the to finish.
Q. And the first one?
A. The first one I just gave Chris a chance to have some pressure up the middle. At the end of the day it don't really matter. When you don't win, those get escalated, but when you win, you know, you can move on and find a way to get better.
Myself, I'll continue to be studious and continue to give it all I've got when I'm out there. So I'm grateful that I had the opportunity, and I continue to get better and finish stronger.
Q. Did you feel like -- you played in Green Bay. Was this an improvement on that game? How do you feel kind of just after everything?
A. I only can focus on right now, and right now we didn't finish, so that's the biggest thing. Really next it's going into the bye week and continuing to prepare, continuing to find ways to build on the positives and eliminate the negatives.
Q. We don't know the status of Derek Carr going forward and his injury. How comfortable are you leading this team?
A. If I'm given the opportunity, I promise you I'll be doing my best to execute, stay disciplined, and give my team all I've got. We've got a great group of guys, so I know any and everybody will be ready.
Q. If that were to happen, how impactful is having this bye week in between your next start?
A. I don't like going into bye weeks losing, so we definitely are going to have to just sit on this bye week and evaluate how we can get better. I think that's going to be our main focus.
Q. You guys treated kind of the last 20 minutes of the game like it was got to go now. Was that by design? Is that what the defense was presenting? I think there's only one run play maybe --
A. We were in obvious passing situations until we got down by one score, so I mean, that's what was given, so we've got to go out there and execute.
We have to be grateful. Any time we're on the field, we have to go out and put our best on film.
Q. Obviously that worked for the first two touchdown drives where it got the offense going. It's one of those hindsight things, you know. Throwing deep on third and three and things like that. In any hindsight, do you wish that those drives had been --
A. We're going to check it out and get back to them. Right now I'm not able to visualize what we could have done. It's a lot of could have, should have, would have.
However, we need to finish, and we will finish. So right now it's about eliminating the negatives and building on the positives, and we have a lot of positives out there.
So we have to do that, and we will.
Q. What did you like about being able to get Chris and A.T. those --
A. Well, I mean, they're just great players. Chris is an amazing player. A.T. is a great young player. Rashid Shaheed is an unbelievable player. Lynn even got out there and got a catch.
I think we have an amazing group of guys, man, and we just have to find ways to continue to get better. I believe we're gelling together as a team.
This one just was unfortunate. So we have to get back in the drawing board, come closer together as a team, and build off this.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports