Speaker 1: A fan Time for X and OS with Vikings head
Speaker 1: coach Mike Zimmer on the Minnesota Vikings Radio Network Now
Speaker 1: from the TCO studios at Egan Here is the voice
Speaker 1: of the Vikings Paul Ellen. Time for XS and OS
Speaker 1: on the kfa N Minnesota Vikings Radio Network courtesy of
Speaker 1: US Bank. Paul Allen joined by Vikings head coach Mike
Speaker 1: Zimmer out of the bye week lambeau Field this weekend, Coach,
Speaker 1: did you did you get much downtime during the off time,
Speaker 1: because whether I was testing at TCO Performance Center or
Speaker 1: here for whatever the reason, I saw your truck here
Speaker 1: pretty much every single day. Yeah, I was here quite
Speaker 1: a bit. You know, we got a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: that we have to look at and continue to try
Speaker 1: to get these young guys improved as much as we
Speaker 1: possibly can. Now, what are some things on defense that
Speaker 1: you're viking through six? And the reason I ask it
Speaker 1: that way is sometimes you only or people in your
Speaker 1: profession only focus on the negatives or only hear about
Speaker 1: the negatives. I would imagine some things are getting better
Speaker 1: game by game. Yeah, I think you know. Eric Kendricks
Speaker 1: is playing at a high level. Um, Eric Wilson is
Speaker 1: doing a nice job as well. Uh, you know, we've
Speaker 1: been pretty decent on third downs for the most part.
Speaker 1: We've been pretty right in the red zone for the
Speaker 1: most part. Uh, we've you know, there's some areas obviously,
Speaker 1: we have to improve first first downs. You know, I
Speaker 1: think the running game overall, you know, we're giving up
Speaker 1: a ton of yards but yards per carry us down there.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know, we just got to do a
Speaker 1: better job with our time of possession. Help that out.
Speaker 1: Now with with Eric Wilson, specifically with those two sacks,
Speaker 1: is that a process of the position he plays, or
Speaker 1: like a certain play and then like gets extended. What
Speaker 1: has led to his sacks? Well, I think a little
Speaker 1: bit of it. Paul is um. You know, he understands
Speaker 1: we're uh where to take his shots, and there's some
Speaker 1: times and we've been trying to get him to add
Speaker 1: to the quarterback. There's been times when he's been blitzing,
Speaker 1: and so I think just a couple of those times
Speaker 1: has helped. Now offensively speaking, Mike, you know, the the
Speaker 1: Atlanta game had its problems, so maybe some people are
Speaker 1: forgetting from Tennessee through Seattle. Yeah, there there were some
Speaker 1: incredibly good things done here offensively. Do you agree with that?
Speaker 1: And is that more who your offense is than maybe
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis or Atlantic games. Well, I think those those
Speaker 1: two things are important. Um, that we that we control
Speaker 1: the football, We sustained sustained drives by getting third downs,
Speaker 1: and um, you know in both those two games that
Speaker 1: you're talking about, UM, we turn the ball over late,
Speaker 1: which which uh, you know put us in a tough situations.
Speaker 1: So we've got to We've got to continue to possess
Speaker 1: the ball, not turn it over. We got to be
Speaker 1: able to, um, continue to do the things that the
Speaker 1: quarterback does well and and uh our offensive line does well. Now, now,
Speaker 1: you you always have taken losing hard, even like when
Speaker 1: your team is five and two. So how are you
Speaker 1: handling this one? So far? That's been pretty rough? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but I keep trying to look at these
Speaker 1: young guys and try to continue to get them better
Speaker 1: and think about, you know, what's it going to be
Speaker 1: like four weeks from now? You know, and really, um,
Speaker 1: you know this has a lot to do with trying
Speaker 1: to to better the players and how can we help
Speaker 1: them as coaches to continue to get better. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's It's just a situation we're in. You know,
Speaker 1: we didn't we didn't ask for Danielle Hunter to get
Speaker 1: hurt or Anthony Barr or Michael Pierce opt out or
Speaker 1: you know, the corner situation the way it is. But
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and so we're just going
Speaker 1: to keep keep um, plug him in and keep fighting.
Speaker 1: You you traded Unique in goc Way, and you know,
Speaker 1: all of his career, including here he sacks the quarterback,
Speaker 1: which is important, but with the standards you specifically and
Speaker 1: and Ray Patterson have had for many years, the importance
Speaker 1: of the complete game is that, you know, what could
Speaker 1: could that ever have happened with Unique here contain run
Speaker 1: stopping the whole thing? Well, I think, Paul, you know,
Speaker 1: he tried to do everything we asked him to do. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that uh, you know, he was
Speaker 1: having to buy into some of the things that we're
Speaker 1: asking to do. And we just and quite honestly, we
Speaker 1: feel good about some of these young players and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we had an idea that he probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: be here next year anyway. What do you like about
Speaker 1: dj Wanam one of those young players? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: he's improving every every time out he improves. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's still like y'all young guys do, and like Daniel
Speaker 1: did when he was young, to still thinking too much,
Speaker 1: um and not letting all of his athleticism show right now.
Speaker 1: But um, you see flashes of it in practice, you
Speaker 1: see flashes of it in game. And then when if
Speaker 1: you ever can just you know, take a deep breath
Speaker 1: and let it go, then he's got a chance. You know,
Speaker 1: and I know you you've always been big on making predictions.
Speaker 1: So any chance Dj Wantum lead your team in sacks
Speaker 1: this year? And then the reason I ask Pete Burstich
Speaker 1: analyst Vikings Radio Network and others, you know, a Fadio,
Speaker 1: Denibo two and a half, Eric Wilson too, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I hope that they they all have fifteen. I'll take
Speaker 1: dj Wantam as the long shot in this equation. Is
Speaker 1: it a bad take? No, I don't think it's a
Speaker 1: bad take. Um, you know he's got one right now.
Speaker 1: I believe that was pretty much a free runner though,
Speaker 1: So you know, we'll just see. I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm a racetrack guy, you know, I'm looking for the
Speaker 1: long shot. Mike Zimmer Rex as and ohs, how is
Speaker 1: new DB's coach Toronte Jones handling up handling or holding
Speaker 1: up with all of the youth and everything in the secondary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, quite honestly, Dorante is doing a terrific job.
Speaker 1: He's coaching these guys very hard. Uh, he's very detailed
Speaker 1: in his work. Um, you know this. It is a
Speaker 1: tough job when you when you have as many young
Speaker 1: rookies playing at one time in the back end, because
Speaker 1: that's coaching a beck ends a hard deal. But I
Speaker 1: think he's doing an outstanding job. These young guys will
Speaker 1: keeping getting better or keep improving. I think you've seen
Speaker 1: that with uh with Gladney in the slot. You know,
Speaker 1: he's playing double duty, playing inside and outside. So, um,
Speaker 1: it just keeps improving. And you know, obviously we don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of time to keep improving, but we
Speaker 1: got to keep getting better. Jeff, Jeff's a really tough guy,
Speaker 1: isn't he just like mentally tough, like he wants to
Speaker 1: win a fight. Yeah, Jeff's a good competitive kid, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know he has all the tools. He makes some
Speaker 1: mistakes like like uh, you know, all these guys do,
Speaker 1: but uh, he's got a good future. Where do you
Speaker 1: feel if Audio Dnibo is most comfortable like for the
Speaker 1: most plays in a game. Well, I think he's probably
Speaker 1: most comfortable at end. Um, but you know, we move
Speaker 1: inside because he gives us a little bit of push
Speaker 1: in the middle there and um, but I think you
Speaker 1: know he's he's a guy that's going to fight and
Speaker 1: pressure and push and keep competing until he can get
Speaker 1: to the quarterback. We're gonna have do that this week now.
Speaker 1: Dalvin clearly is one of the best overall running backs
Speaker 1: in the NFL. That's obvious. Where in non obvious fashion, Mike,
Speaker 1: where is Dalvin most important to this offense? I think everywhere? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's great on screens, he's great on uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the zone plays, He's he's good in protection,
Speaker 1: you know. But him him being out there is important
Speaker 1: to the structure of the defense as well, because you know,
Speaker 1: you can get a lot more single high He looks
Speaker 1: um than you normally would when he's out there, and
Speaker 1: with the threat of him running the football Rogers this Sunday,
Speaker 1: he really is embracing the no fans concept, isn't he?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I haven't paid much attention to that.
Speaker 1: He's uh, you know, some of the things I've seen
Speaker 1: him do is just you know, he's playing New Orleans,
Speaker 1: He's running a bootleg to his left and it's fallen backwards.
Speaker 1: It throws a fifty yard or on the money. Um,
Speaker 1: you know some of these throws that he makes and
Speaker 1: thinks he sees in the way he um manipulates the
Speaker 1: defense and not only the hard count, but seeing the
Speaker 1: pressures and getting protection turned and knowing where to go
Speaker 1: to the football. Uh, this guy's amazing. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's like this every time we have to play him. Well,
Speaker 1: he's all of famer and I'm not disrespecting him, but
Speaker 1: what I mean by embracing the no fans concept US
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium, no fans, Superdome, no fans, no distractions, And
Speaker 1: I've just never ever seen him this dialed in with
Speaker 1: without these distractions. You know. Yeah, Well, you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's very very smart. He hears a lot of things
Speaker 1: that the defense says, um, you know, and and so
Speaker 1: I think he picks up on a lot of that
Speaker 1: as well. So this guy, um, you know, he's as
Speaker 1: good as there is, uh, maybe the best of all time.
Speaker 1: So hey, what what do you think of Jamal Williams
Speaker 1: overall game? You know, I think he's a really good
Speaker 1: good I think he's improved a lot in the last
Speaker 1: I think it's three years now, but you know, he
Speaker 1: runs the ball very physically, he's got good feet, He's
Speaker 1: been good in protection as well, and so I think
Speaker 1: I think he's improved quite a bit. Last one time
Speaker 1: for one more, when um, when getting ready for Green
Speaker 1: Bay's defense, does it start with Kenny Clark and you
Speaker 1: go out or do you start with the Smiths and
Speaker 1: like come into Like I know it all compliments each other,
Speaker 1: but like where do you start with those three? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a little bit like like it is.
Speaker 1: On offense, you got to start with Rogers, Adams and
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones, and on defense you got to do with
Speaker 1: the Smiths and Kenny Clark. So you know, they've got
Speaker 1: three big time playmakers on both sides of the ball
Speaker 1: along with you know, guys like Alexander and the two
Speaker 1: safeties are good players as well, But as far as
Speaker 1: the front guys, it's those three guys that you have
Speaker 1: to do a really good job against. And just when
Speaker 1: you get squared away on fifty five outside. Then he's
Speaker 1: inside doing your a gap mugging right right, he does
Speaker 1: all those. Hey, best to luck this weekend. Thanks for
Speaker 1: the time, Thanks Paul. Yeah, Sir Mike Zimmer, head coach
Speaker 1: of the Minnesota Vikings on XS and OS and in
Speaker 1: celebration of sixty seasons, the Vikings are selecting fans for
Speaker 1: our sixty Greatest Fans Team, presented by US Bank. We
Speaker 1: want to honor the most impassioned of Vikings fans throughout
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Speaker 1: XES and OS continues around the corner on the KFA
Speaker 1: n Minnesota Vikings Radio Network driven by the XES and
Speaker 1: OS continues on the KFA in Minnesota Vikings Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Very happy to be joined by Vikings co defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: and defensive line coach Andre Patterson. But first play the
Speaker 1: new Vikings scratch game from the Minnesota Lottery top prize
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars. Just say I'm in. Get details
Speaker 1: at M and Lottery dot com. Andre Paul Allen, how
Speaker 1: you been I'm doing good Man. Just miss you. I
Speaker 1: missed talking to you before practice every day. Well, why
Speaker 1: you gotta go there? I mean, now you're getting into
Speaker 1: my heart. I missed that every single day. Kidding me.
Speaker 1: That's how I feel too, man. I mean, I feel
Speaker 1: like off the Lions conversations, I'm squared away on Rick Wagner.
Speaker 1: But we can talk about that some other time. You
Speaker 1: loved defensive end DJ Wanum into the draft, big chance
Speaker 1: for him. Now, how do you think he's going to do?
Speaker 1: I think the thing that's that's been very encouraging is
Speaker 1: DJ's gotten better every week. He's a hard working kid,
Speaker 1: very conscientious. You know, being a good football player is
Speaker 1: very poor to him. And those are the things, the
Speaker 1: qualities that he showed me before the draft that made
Speaker 1: me really like him a lot. And uh now I
Speaker 1: just expect him to continue to improve. And I think
Speaker 1: he's got a lot left in his game and we
Speaker 1: haven't gotten close to seeing the best of his. Shamar Stepan,
Speaker 1: is he one of the great team players you've ever had.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm not saying like Elvis Dumerville, Denil Hunter
Speaker 1: or whatever. I'm saying team guy who will do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes to make things work. So there's no question,
Speaker 1: you know, Jamar is like having a coach on the field,
Speaker 1: and you know, the intangible things that he does. It's
Speaker 1: it's hard for you know, people to see with the
Speaker 1: naked eye. He's a tremendous leader in my room, you
Speaker 1: a tremendous leader on the whole defense by you know,
Speaker 1: the team also, you know, but he does things the
Speaker 1: way you're coach him to be done. H He's smart.
Speaker 1: He studied hard. I mean, you know, I wish I
Speaker 1: could have all the players that I coach that have
Speaker 1: the intangibles that Shamar has. And you know, as as
Speaker 1: a coach, you know, he gives you a great deal
Speaker 1: of comfort and um, you know, so for me, it's
Speaker 1: it's very rare and unique, you know, as a coach
Speaker 1: to have a guy like that that, uh that understands
Speaker 1: the value of x's and os and techniques and and
Speaker 1: uh being aware of formations and those kind of things.
Speaker 1: And that's the kind of guy that he is. Now,
Speaker 1: for far, we know, Eric Kendricks seems to be having
Speaker 1: a fantastic season. Andre But from from your viewpoint and
Speaker 1: the non obvious things Kendricks does, so well, what are
Speaker 1: some of those things? Well, you know, I think this
Speaker 1: year he's doing a much better job of getting on
Speaker 1: and off the box um and so so what that
Speaker 1: has afforded us to do is to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: move to those sometimes off the center, and Kendricks has
Speaker 1: done a great job this year of engaging the center
Speaker 1: and being able to get off of him and still
Speaker 1: get to the ball and make and make a play.
Speaker 1: You know, there's no doubt in my mind he's the
Speaker 1: best coverage linebacker in the NFL when it comes to
Speaker 1: covering tight ends, running backs, receivers. He can cover so
Speaker 1: much ground and he has a great awareness of where
Speaker 1: he needs to be based on the route competitions. And
Speaker 1: to me, that's one of the things that makes him
Speaker 1: very unique. Andre one of the many great traits I
Speaker 1: feel and many around the league feel, you display in
Speaker 1: going into what you do as patience and you know,
Speaker 1: not necessarily with the defensive line now that you're co
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, but these kids on the back end, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're raising kids. You have to be patient, right, There's
Speaker 1: no question. You know, Hey, we all want them to
Speaker 1: be what they're going to become, you know, down the road.
Speaker 1: But there's a process that you have to go to
Speaker 1: through in order for that to happen, and you got
Speaker 1: to keep coaching them every day. You got to show
Speaker 1: them the things that they do well and not just
Speaker 1: spend the time on the mistakes that they make. You know, Okay,
Speaker 1: you made a mistake. This is what you do to
Speaker 1: correct it, all right, and then you move on and
Speaker 1: you keep letting them see if they're doing some good
Speaker 1: things too, and over time they continue to grow and
Speaker 1: grow and grow, and the complete player starts to come out.
Speaker 1: You know, people forget you know, Everson Griffin hadn't started
Speaker 1: a game before we got here, you know, and everybody
Speaker 1: knows who Everson became, who Denil became, who Limbo became. Okay,
Speaker 1: but that was a process too, and they continued to
Speaker 1: grind and continue to work hard. You know, Eric Henderson
Speaker 1: is not the player that he was when he first
Speaker 1: walked in here out of UCLA. Same thing with Anthony Barr.
Speaker 1: So you know, these things take time, and we just
Speaker 1: got to continue to work at it, continue to give
Speaker 1: these kids confidence, continued for them to see that they
Speaker 1: are doing some good things and that they have to
Speaker 1: continue to become more consistent. Andre Patterson, code defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the Minnesota Vikings, and defense of Lying Coach. By
Speaker 1: the way, purchase any twenty ouns Pepsi branded product from
Speaker 1: Quick Trip with your rewards card and enter the Vikings
Speaker 1: Opening Drive Sweet Stakes. No purchase necessary see store forward details.
Speaker 1: With Aaron Rodgers, I feel like I've asked you this
Speaker 1: question a million times, but you have different personnel. So
Speaker 1: the importance of keeping number twelve in the pocket, No,
Speaker 1: it's it's highly important. You know, he makes great plays
Speaker 1: when he gets out of the pocket, and you know, Pa,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's a very hard and difficult to do.
Speaker 1: It's not easy to do. And uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: the D line has to be precise in their rush angles,
Speaker 1: you know, and a lot of times if he wants
Speaker 1: to get out, it's almost impossible for you you keep
Speaker 1: it from getting out because there's four of us, but
Speaker 1: there's six gaps, you know, so uh, you know, so
Speaker 1: that's what makes it difficult. And you know, that's what
Speaker 1: makes it difficult to rushing and to get him on
Speaker 1: the ground because you know, you're trying to do a
Speaker 1: great job of of of letting the escape angles get
Speaker 1: wide and give him room to get out of there.
Speaker 1: So you have to be consistent throughout the course of
Speaker 1: the game, and the guys have to do a great
Speaker 1: job of executing the rush plan together. Now, speaking of
Speaker 1: that rush plan, do you feel if you had had
Speaker 1: Unique in Goquay for a season and then maybe longer,
Speaker 1: that refining his overall game may have been challenging because
Speaker 1: he you know, he's so good at what he does
Speaker 1: that one thing. But I mean, would that have been
Speaker 1: a big challenge for you? Um? Yeah, you know it's
Speaker 1: always hard, you know, Pa, when you get a guy
Speaker 1: and he shows up, you know, seven days before the
Speaker 1: first game, and he's played in the league at one
Speaker 1: place for a long time, and they did things differently.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that Yan did is he tried
Speaker 1: to do the things that I was trying to teach
Speaker 1: him and that we asked him to do within the structure,
Speaker 1: you know, of of of our defense. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he got better at it week the week. But you know,
Speaker 1: when you when you have okay, it's like I said,
Speaker 1: if the other guys, the longer they're here and the
Speaker 1: lower they're they're they're practicing every day and getting better
Speaker 1: at it every day, the better they get at it. Well,
Speaker 1: the perfect current example in my opinion, Andrea is the Fodiodenibo.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, like like back in the day,
Speaker 1: Tom Johnson comes here from the from the Saints, he
Speaker 1: learns your plan. Man, he had like six and a
Speaker 1: half sacks from the from the defensive tackle slash three
Speaker 1: technique spot and Fotio Dentibo. Isn't he that perfect example
Speaker 1: off patience and the way you laid that out? Oh,
Speaker 1: no question, you know, no question. You know. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Fotty came in here from Northwestern and we had to
Speaker 1: refine his game and it took some time, and he
Speaker 1: kept working and kept working and kept working and gotten
Speaker 1: better and better and better, and you know now he's
Speaker 1: the player he is today. And I know he understands
Speaker 1: that he still has to keep grinding because he still
Speaker 1: has a lot left, you know, out in front of him.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know that that's the way that this
Speaker 1: business work, you know, you know, Pa, every year in
Speaker 1: the draft, everybody gets so excited about all these d
Speaker 1: tackles and all these is that come into this guy
Speaker 1: is going to be a perennial pro bowler and all
Speaker 1: this and all that. But if you go back and
Speaker 1: you look just from that, this year's draft. Look and
Speaker 1: see how many of them are playing. Look how many
Speaker 1: and see them are getting, how many reps they're getting
Speaker 1: through the course of the game, and are they putting
Speaker 1: up those kind of numbers. Because the NFL is hard
Speaker 1: and you have to learn how to become an NFL player.
Speaker 1: It is so much different than college football. And that's
Speaker 1: the thing that you know, as coaches and people have
Speaker 1: to keep in mind that you have to be in
Speaker 1: the developmental business if you're going to if you're going
Speaker 1: to build a program that's able to stay good for
Speaker 1: a long time, you have to be a part of
Speaker 1: developmental business that you're going to develop players. And it's
Speaker 1: not about trying to go get somebody else's guys, Andre
Speaker 1: last one, because you know, you've taught me this and
Speaker 1: I've seen it the importance of domination and pass rush
Speaker 1: from your three technique spots. So how important how imperative
Speaker 1: is it getting better thrust from your three techniques being forward? Oh,
Speaker 1: it's you know, whenever you have a three technique that
Speaker 1: has the ability to win, that changes everything because he
Speaker 1: has the quickest route to the quarterback. And you know,
Speaker 1: pe anything that tells you how difficult it is Okay,
Speaker 1: I want you to If you can count five great
Speaker 1: ones in today's league right now, okay, then you are
Speaker 1: a big time winner. It's hard to come up with
Speaker 1: five names of three that are big time pass rushers
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. That's how hard it is
Speaker 1: to find that guy. It's difficult to do and it's
Speaker 1: a hard task to do. And so you know, every
Speaker 1: year we're out trying to find that guy. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to develop that guy. No, but they're hard to find.
Speaker 1: You know. I was lucky in my league and my
Speaker 1: early part of my career I had John Randall, and
Speaker 1: then from from John Randall, I went to le Roy Glover,
Speaker 1: you know, and then after that it started to become
Speaker 1: I'm trying to find him or trying to find him
Speaker 1: on trying to find it. It's hard to find that guy.
Speaker 1: Hey man, you're the best. Missing you every single day,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk soon. Okay, Oh, appreciate you, bud, see
Speaker 1: you later. Andre Patterson the co defensive coordinator and defensive
Speaker 1: line coach for the Minnesota Vikings. And that wraps up
Speaker 1: x'es and os with Mike Zimmer and Andre Patterson. We
Speaker 1: want to thank Brett Blakemore and Blake Brett Moore for
Speaker 1: their assistance at KFA N. Likewise, for Eric Nordquist and
Speaker 1: Jesse Marquette from the Vikings Entertainment Network, I'm Paul Allen.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to XES and OS. I'm the KFA
Speaker 1: and Minnesota Vikings Radio network driven by Chaeularis.