Vikings 23, 49ers 17
A: Guys, first off, great team win. I thought defense played their butts off today, special teams as well getting that blocked punt was huge. And then obviously a great team in San Francisco, to be able to come out as a team and fight as a team the way we did. The offensive line doing their thing, running the ball you know late in the third quarter, early in the fourth, just guys stepping up. I thought that was huge.
Jets goes down, Jones goes out on that last drive, and you had Speedy, Jalen Nailor stepping up for us and then Ty Chandler coming up huge for us at the end, running the rock and taking care of the football. Great team win and really proud of the guys.
Q: Sam, can you take us through the pass to Nailor there today. You threw it to a spot only he could get it?
A: Yeah, just seeing the guy who was guarding him up field shoulder a little bit, felt like I had space in the back shoulder to be able to throw it.
Most of those throws you throw top of the defender and for Speedy and I to be on the same page with that and him expecting that, not necessarily expecting the back shoulder but reacting the way that he did was huge.
Q: Could you take us through the long touchdown pass?
A: Yeah, obviously, you know, getting a similar coverage that we were looking for, and obviously I think I had Speedy as well on the high cross and just trusting Jets, man, to beat his man and also beat the safety. Just tried to put it out there for him and obviously he got it and did the rest.
Q: Did you know he was opening or you were getting it out there where he could catch it? When it left your hand do you know it had a shot?
A: Absolutely. Absolutely I knew it had a shot. Again, just the offensive line, the way that they battled all day, that's a really tough front up there.
Just the time that they allowed not only on that play but throughout the entire game was huge.
Q: Sam, after he makes that catch what are you seeing from your vantage point as he tries to get to the end zone?
A: I'm just watching him run around, that was pretty much it. I was ready to, you know, get the next play, call the next play and I saw him cross back across the field and, you know, noticed he had a lot of juice to be able to get away from those defenders once he cut back across the field and from when he cut back that's when I kinda knew that we were going to score on that play.
That's one of those plays, too, that's fun to be able to celebrate with the big guys while you're back there, just watching him run around.
Q: How impressive is that determination to not go down at the 35 or get pulled down inside the 10, to make sure that ends in a touchdown?
A: Yeah, it was obviously a really, really good play. A lot of guys, I feel like their legs will give out, when you start start to get to our side of the field, I guess, and then for him to be able to cut back and still have enough juice to pull away from those guys was impressive.
Q: Probably not too many quarterbacks that are throwing deep yards in the end zone against the 49ers. Talk about the aggressive call in that situation.
A: It was a great call, obviously with them expecting some type of run play or a quick throw to be able to, like you mentioned, you're backed up and you want to sometimes teams play conservative. You know, we did that last week. Backed up, throwing the ball in the flat to Ty, playing it a little bit more conservative.
Yeah, for KO to be able to call that play and the guys whatever in the booth or the offensive staff to be able to see that and call it, it shows, you know, just the trust that they have.
Q: (Away from mic.) To get points at the end of the first half how important was that to bounce back and stem that tied?
A: That was huge. I saw it firsthand the entire year last year how much momentum that team on the other side, the 9ers get when they score at the end of the half, and we were getting the ball in the second half but that just -- momentum can kind of carry that team to a win most of the time. For us to be able to get a good two-minute drive there at the end of the half was big-time for us.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: Just seeing safeties location. That's the biggest thick for me. Because I know that Jets is going to beat his man.
Q: What does it mean to you that Kevin puts that trust in you, whether it was the 97-yard throw or the end of the first half, you guys could have been conservative coming out in the second half, and you were being aggressive and going for it. He clearly trusts you. What does that mean to have your coach believe in you?
A: Yeah, it was huge. We practiced it all the time in training camp. To be able to go out there and execute that 2-minute drive at the end of the half was really good for our team.
Q: What do you think you guys learned today?
A: I don't get into narratives like that. We continue to take it one day at a time, and we will keep stacking really, really good days on top of good days and we will see where we go from there.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: Yeah, he made a good play. I think I could be safer with the football in that situation.
Q: Sam, you mentioned the trust that it takes for Kevin to make that call for the 97-yard touchdown. What does it do for you to know that your coach has that confidence in you to make that play?
A: Yeah, again, we have put in the time to be able to have the confidence, not only me and the coaching staff but everyone in our organization has trust and confidence in everybody. We have been building it since April, and, you know, we're just -- we're excited to be able to watch the tape and move auto to next week.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: Yeah.
Q: What do you tell those guys in the huddle when you have a 14-play drive?
A: This might suck for you guys to hear this, but I don't say anything. Those guys know exactly what we need to do. We need to go down there and whether it's putting a really good drive together scoring points, we obviously would have loved to have gotten in the end zone in that situation, but those guys, being able to step up when your number is called, no one was surprised when that happened, when guys were stepping up and we're going to continue to have situations -- unfortunately that's how this league is, some guys are going to step up or need to step up some weeks and they're going to continue to do that.
Q: Sam, once again your defense has a couple take aways, a fourth down stop, how much are you feeding off what they're doing on that side of the ball?
A: Yeah, it's huge. I can't speak highly enough of what our defense and our special teams -- what they're doing. It's special right now, but, again, it's our second win. It's a really good win against a really good team and we're just going to continue to watch the tape and get better and go from there.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: Maybe they're tired but they're excited that you guys scored?
A: Yeah, it's mostly, you know, during the TV timeouts or during timeouts sometimes you can get a word in every now and then to some of those guys, especially my former teammates from last year, but most of the time I would say that everyone is pretty locked in on the field.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: No, I've seen it, in preparing to, you know, to play football, and for this team and watching him, you know, the last couple years continuing to beat double teams.
The thing is, too, if we don't necessarily get the look we are looking for, if they do double team him him, there's guys on our team that can beat one-on-one coverage as well, and I'm going to continue to have the trust in those guys as well.
Q: (Away from mic.)
A: I don't know. I'm want going to compare him to anyone else. But he's a really good football player. I'll say that.
Q: What do you think about the atmosphere? Did you feel the fans behind you?
A: Absolutely. The fans were incredible. For my first home game here at US Bank it was pretty special.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports