Vikings - 34, Texans - 7
SAM DARNOLD: I think, like I said last week, the defensive balled out today, special teams did their thing. We were able to execute at a high level in the red zone. Hit a little bit of a lull in the third quarter there, but we'll clean those things up.
Obviously very happy, very happy with the win, the way that -- besides those couple of possessions -- the way that we were able to execute today.
Q. What about the offensive team, scored 34 points on the defense, as good as theirs is. Last week it was all those explosive plays you did, just sort of a sustained, throughout all the pressure?
A. I think it's a lot of credit, obviously, to the big guys up front, the O line, the way we were be able to run the football the way we were able to late in the game. And obviously the first possession, our defense giving us the ball there with great field position, and then being able to take advantage of that also with the touchdown is huge.
Q. What was going on with your knee, and what did it mean to you that the fans reacted so strongly, winning the battle?
A. Yeah, the fans' reaction meant everything. Not just the reaction, not only that, but my entire time here at Minnesota has been amazing with the fans. Just been great.
And just with -- just kind of obviously he's a great player and not a dirty player whatsoever, but just getting hit low there, and we'll evaluate it. We'll look at it. But felt good enough to be able to go back in the game.
Q. How is it now?
A. It feels good. Again, like I said, we're just going to look at it tomorrow.
Q. You don't anticipate it being something that keeps you from practicing or playing or anything along those lines?
A. I'm not sure. I'm not going to speak about specifics like that. Just evaluating it tomorrow is obviously we'll be able to have more information tomorrow.
Q. What do you feel like helped you so much in terms of the success in the red zone?
A. Yeah, I think a lot of it goes into our preparation, the way that we prepared on Friday, our red zone day. And even on Saturday, being able to rep some of those plays. And, again, it's just the preparation that we put in throughout the week allows us to go out on the field, play fast and confident.
Q. Sometimes you evaluate your own personal play in the game. Threw four touchdowns today, a career high. Do you say that this is one of my best games or how do you evaluate yourself?
A. No, I think it's at the end of the day it's, did I do everything that I could to put our offense in a really good position? For the most part, yes. I feel like I could have done a little bit better in that regard on those couple of drives that I mentioned in the third quarter.
So, again, there's room for improvement, which is great, great for us, but I feel like that's -- it's going to be that way every single game. You always have room for improvement. And we'll just go from there.
Q. Three games and it's going well. What sort of jumped out to you about the vibe and the chemistry that this team has?
A. Yeah, I love those guys in the locker room, the way that they've been able to, like I mentioned, the way we've been able to prepare throughout the week and the looks that we're getting from the scout team, like everything is high-level football right now.
I think we've got to continue to push each other on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, to be able to go out there on Saturday and perform at a high level, because there's still room for improvement.
Even the scoreboard doesn't tell the whole story. There's a lot of room for improvement. We're going to continue to reach for that improvement.
Q. You went against that defense a lot in training camp. How much stress does everything they do, pre-snap, post-snap, how much stress can that put on it?
A. With the different looks that our defense presents, it can cause a lot of thinking at the quarterback position, and that's always hard.
Q. When it was third-and-19 at your own 7 after the two pre-snap penalties, you had gotten the first down and had the two penalties, were backed up and you (indiscernible) the ball so quickly they threw a flag and then they picked it up because you weren't under duress. Is that you taking coaching and making sure you don't make mistakes that maybe you've made in the past?
A. Yeah, it starts with communication. Gotta communicate better and I think it's just not making a bad play worse.
Q. You saw that immediately. Whatever you were looking for, something wasn't there and you immediately --
A. Yeah, I noticed it wasn't there. It wasn't going to be there. Just wanted to get the ball out of my hand and end the drive with a kick.
Q. What has it been like communicating and sitting with and talking with Josh in game just these first three weeks?
A. Josh McCown? It's been great. And just to be able to have a guy in there that's been in our shoes plenty of times and just like I mentioned all the experience that he has, it helps us a lot as quarterbacks.
Q. I know you mentioned already the defense balling out, but specifically with Kamu getting that interception right away and being able to start where you guys did, just how much of a spark did that create immediately?
A. Yeah, a huge spark. For our defense to be able to go out there and create a turnover on the first drive, and then, like I said, for us to go and capitalize on that, that kind of set the tone for the whole game.
Q. How do you strike the balance of going through your progressions just knowing that they do have some active rushers coming?
A. I think that's football. Right? It's, like, when do you continue to go through your progressions and check the ball down versus when do you drop back, go through your first read and feel pressure and try to escape or do something off-schedule.
That's always, I feel, like the battle you fight as a quarterback, when you have the ability to get up and escape. So, yeah, I'm just going to continue to play with in seams but play smart as well.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports