Speaker 1: Welcome to the postgame report. Pete Versus is the analyst
Speaker 1: for the Vikings radio network, and I'm Paul Allen. We
Speaker 1: just got done calling a thrilling Minnesota Vikings twenty to
Speaker 1: seventeen victory. Pete and I have called games together since
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. Peach verst game on the microphone
Speaker 1: was Atlanta at the Metrodome when Adrian Peterson caught a
Speaker 1: pass for a rare receiving touchdown. From that moment, through
Speaker 1: the Minneapolis miracle and through so many different things we've
Speaker 1: seen in regular season or postseason games, this thing today
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. This is as emotional as I have been
Speaker 1: for a football game, Paul, and since I can remember,
Speaker 1: and it's and for I mean just for so many reasons,
Speaker 1: so many reasons, and to see I guess the bottom
Speaker 1: line is this. This team today had every excuse, I think,
Speaker 1: to just say, you know what, not in the cards
Speaker 1: today and we're just not gonna we know, we're just
Speaker 1: not gonna get there. We're on the road, we're playing
Speaker 1: one of the best defenses I think in the league,
Speaker 1: best defensive fronts for sure. But they found a way
Speaker 1: to win. And it was the big players. It was
Speaker 1: the justin Jefferson's at the big times that come up,
Speaker 1: the sacks. You know, Daniel Hunter gets a couple today.
Speaker 1: I mean, those are the things you gotta have, you like,
Speaker 1: you know, like Coach Burns would say. We talked about
Speaker 1: Coach Burns last night. Yeah, big players gotta make big
Speaker 1: plays at the big time, big knockers that used to
Speaker 1: call them. And that happened time after time after time today.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, I'm exhausted. I mean, all
Speaker 1: I do is talk. I get that I'm not running
Speaker 1: on the field any I got it. But emotionally, the
Speaker 1: whole thing I it is, I I've never this team
Speaker 1: is this is a team to get behind. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: is a team that you just can't say, you'll like.
Speaker 1: This is a team that you know, mentally, emotionally get behind.
Speaker 1: To see them come back like they did today. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, what a a what an amazing day, What
Speaker 1: a fun Sunday. It's one to remember that the Vikings
Speaker 1: beat Washington twenty to seventeen. Minnesota's won six in a row.
Speaker 1: Minnesota is seven and one takes on Buffalo next Sunday.
Speaker 1: The Bills lost at the Jets today twenty to seventeen.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins played six years with Washington. His first time
Speaker 1: back to FedEx Field two sixty five, two tds and
Speaker 1: an interception. We will hear from Kirk shortly. Likewise, for
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell, the Minnesota Vikings coach KOC coach with Washington
Speaker 1: for three years, two was a quarterbacks coach who won
Speaker 1: his offensive coordinator. The Vikings are six and oh this
Speaker 1: year in one score games, and when they were down
Speaker 1: seventeen seven in the fourth quarter, what Pete just said,
Speaker 1: I can't stress enough the level of importance the Vikings
Speaker 1: and winning all these games have not panicked well that
Speaker 1: there was some panic where there was some frustration. It
Speaker 1: was discombobulated. It did not look like the squad we've
Speaker 1: seen the last month and a half. Then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, there was a hit on Kirk Cousins that
Speaker 1: knocked him out for a play. The Vikings defense got
Speaker 1: pissed off and Zadarius Smith channeled his inner Lawrence Taylor
Speaker 1: and was unblockable. He was I mean, and we knew
Speaker 1: that they were going to pay a lot of attention
Speaker 1: to Zadarius Smith in the game plan. We knew that
Speaker 1: coming in. Scott Turner talked about it during the week
Speaker 1: that allowed one on ones with Daniel Hunter, and Daniel
Speaker 1: Hunter absolutely answered the bell, Paul. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: he would love to get that jet sweep by the
Speaker 1: tight end back, Yeah, but he can't. You know, he
Speaker 1: comes up with two huge sacks today. He you know
Speaker 1: those guys, none of those guys up front, ever, he
Speaker 1: gave up. Losing Tomlinson and not having Tomlinson, yeah, is
Speaker 1: a big deal. Tomson is a great football player, and
Speaker 1: I you know, I've got to give a tip of
Speaker 1: the cap to all those guys like James Lynch, yeah,
Speaker 1: and Ross Blacklock and Bullard and Kyrie Tonga who stepped
Speaker 1: up about that and did a great job today because
Speaker 1: this is a very good running football team, very good
Speaker 1: with the running game, and they stick with it, they
Speaker 1: hang with it, and we were able to slow him down. Now,
Speaker 1: coming up on the postgame report at Vikings dot com,
Speaker 1: you'll hear press conferences from Kevin O'Connell and Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: Also three takes from Ron Johnson. Then at the end,
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell's post game speech in the locker room. I
Speaker 1: love that every single week. Why wouldn't we because every
Speaker 1: single week it's a celebratory press conference from the head
Speaker 1: coach of the Vikings, whose team is seven and one.
Speaker 1: Let's begin with winning formula, Ben Lieber and Gabe Henderson.
Speaker 1: Welcome to a winning edition of Between the Lines fueled
Speaker 1: by Gatorade of My name is Gabe Henderson. Ben Lieber
Speaker 1: is alongside me and Ben. The Minnesota Vikings win in
Speaker 1: thrilling fashion today, twenty to seventeen over the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 1: And I really I haven't processed this game just yet.
Speaker 1: With all the back and forth, the momentum swings, everything
Speaker 1: that went into this game, this Minnesota Vikings team still
Speaker 1: found a way to get a win. You're talking to
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connor in the locker room right after the game.
Speaker 1: What were his thoughts on today's win. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: really the same thing that we've seen from this team
Speaker 1: all season long. He's like, we're a Resilian football team,
Speaker 1: you know, we're never out of it. He's like, you know,
Speaker 1: I said, it always seems like from a fan perspective
Speaker 1: that you know, you hit these lulls in the game
Speaker 1: and then when you have to make these critical plays.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, they just can make their critical plays.
Speaker 1: Like what is to that? He's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just obviously just a belief in what we're doing. And
Speaker 1: you know, guy's not given up, and we're just trying
Speaker 1: to out execute on every play. And it just so
Speaker 1: happens that they're making more critical plays than their opponents.
Speaker 1: And this and this was the same thing again. I mean,
Speaker 1: you never saw a true quit. Now you saw some disappointment.
Speaker 1: There were some guys on the sideline that we're obviously
Speaker 1: very depressed. I think that the Commander's defensive front they really,
Speaker 1: you know, took it out on us offensively. I don't
Speaker 1: think they gave us a lot of life. They're kind
Speaker 1: of sucking it away. But then, you know, one successful
Speaker 1: play after another, all of a sudden, you see the
Speaker 1: life kind of pop back into this team. And obviously
Speaker 1: a bunch of big plays down the stretch put it
Speaker 1: over the top. You definitely needed a big play down
Speaker 1: the stretch following the end of the first well, I
Speaker 1: guess the first player of the second half, I can't
Speaker 1: think of his name, Cameron Binder runs into the back
Speaker 1: judge the Washington the Commanders score a touchdown and everyone
Speaker 1: is thinking, Okay, is this how the Vikings are going
Speaker 1: to lose? By the back judge literally running into a
Speaker 1: play where we should have had an interception, and then
Speaker 1: we started chirping away, started getting some moment of back.
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith gets an interception. What would you say about
Speaker 1: this resilient Vikings team being able to fight back when
Speaker 1: we're down seventeen to seven in the fourth quarter. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there's one play that that really, to me
Speaker 1: was kind of the turning point. There's always like turning
Speaker 1: points in a lot of these games, especially these games
Speaker 1: that are so close and comes down to us to
Speaker 1: possession or two. It was third down and Kirk makes
Speaker 1: that throw to Justin Jefferson, I believe for forty seven
Speaker 1: yards down down the left Kings hash he takes a
Speaker 1: shot by darn Payne and lays there literally in pain.
Speaker 1: It has to sit out. A play that to me
Speaker 1: was the injection of confidence I think that this team needed.
Speaker 1: We only got three points out of it, but we
Speaker 1: are down by ten points at that time. You get three,
Speaker 1: you now take a two possession game down to one possession,
Speaker 1: and you give this team some life, some confidence, like
Speaker 1: oh Man, even though they got a guy that was
Speaker 1: you end up being a free rusher to get a
Speaker 1: quarterback hit. We're able to execute down the field. We
Speaker 1: really hadn't done that much throughout the game up until
Speaker 1: that point. So I think it gave our offense some life,
Speaker 1: gave our defense some life. In the very next possession
Speaker 1: you get to Harrison Harrison Smith interception. The Harrison Smith
Speaker 1: interception was due to this Vikings team just being able
Speaker 1: to play really good on first down. Our run defense
Speaker 1: was phenomenal today. Dalvin Tomlinson, we knew he was out.
Speaker 1: He was out with the calf injury. So Ross Blacklock,
Speaker 1: Terrence Ross, Jonathan Buller, James Lynch, all those guys had
Speaker 1: to step up. We held those guys to less than
Speaker 1: four yards per carry. What did you see from our
Speaker 1: backups filling in for David Thomlinson that was able to
Speaker 1: get us that edge over their offensive line. Well, I
Speaker 1: think as the game went on, we were able to
Speaker 1: stop sort of reading some of the zone reads stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, when you when you're trying to guess right,
Speaker 1: and sometimes that's that becomes a problem because you're not
Speaker 1: making things declared for your linebackers. And your safeties and
Speaker 1: the run fits. As the game went on, I think
Speaker 1: we declared a little bit more. We're stouter at the
Speaker 1: point of attack. We weren't getting washed down, you know,
Speaker 1: we weren't getting pushed horizontally across the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: and so we clogged up the a's and b gaps,
Speaker 1: the inside gaps. And then we saw late in the
Speaker 1: game at Caleb Evans coming up and run support on
Speaker 1: the outside as a cornerback, which is what you have
Speaker 1: to do once you declare you see it's run now,
Speaker 1: you shift your focus from past defense to run defense.
Speaker 1: And he did a phenomenal job. So a couple good
Speaker 1: examples there of just how everybody worked really, really well
Speaker 1: and tandem across that defensive front. That's a really good
Speaker 1: point you made about Caleb Evans coming up and tackle tackling.
Speaker 1: Later in the game camera camera dancer are starting in
Speaker 1: cornerback got injured. I believe in the first early part
Speaker 1: of the second half, Caleb Evans comes in get some
Speaker 1: really game defining plays. You can tell the Watchington Commander's
Speaker 1: team we're saying, okay, let's block everybody on the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikers defense and let's put our running back one on
Speaker 1: one with a cornerback. The quarterback is usually the worst
Speaker 1: tackler on the team, and the fact that he stopped
Speaker 1: up today, you had to be excited about what you
Speaker 1: saw with him, right, Oh, it was super excited. You know.
Speaker 1: You always kind of wonder, like, are these guys we
Speaker 1: love to say, like whoa next man up? That's the mentality,
Speaker 1: and like it's a lot easier said than done sometimes,
Speaker 1: But you know, he's one of those guys that is
Speaker 1: truly becoming a gamer. He seems to be always ready
Speaker 1: for the big moments. And and you know, with I
Speaker 1: think the thing that helped was with Danceler being kind
Speaker 1: of questionable going into the game, I'm assuming that a
Speaker 1: Caleb got a lot of reps in practice too, so
Speaker 1: he was prepared and you could tell that he was
Speaker 1: prepared for this moment when he gets in there and
Speaker 1: ends up playing for most of the game. So, like
Speaker 1: you said, the way that he's able to come up
Speaker 1: and run fits was great. He played, you know, great
Speaker 1: on pass defense, fourth and one, the boot across across
Speaker 1: the field, he's there to knock the ball down. So
Speaker 1: he had a huge impact in this game. Another person
Speaker 1: who had a huge impact in this game was t
Speaker 1: J Hockinson. We didn't know how much he was going
Speaker 1: to learn going He's going to know going into this game.
Speaker 1: I remember being at practice on Wednesday and he had
Speaker 1: a paper in his hand with tight ends coach and
Speaker 1: Brian Angelico, and Brian Angelico was like one A, he
Speaker 1: stepped right, one stepped left. Okay, good good good. So
Speaker 1: literally it was like he was literally learning the basics
Speaker 1: of the game. And the fact that he played almost
Speaker 1: ninety percent of plays today. Nine catches seventy yards, three
Speaker 1: catches on fourth down that converted, I mean on third
Speaker 1: down that converted to first downs. What did you see
Speaker 1: from him that that made this offense go well? Right away,
Speaker 1: you saw the defense have to respect him. You saw
Speaker 1: previously with the tight ends that we've had on this
Speaker 1: on this roster, when we're like an eleven personnel, one
Speaker 1: tight end, one running back, and usually a passing situation,
Speaker 1: you see them. You see the defenses lately lining up
Speaker 1: with linebackers. Yeah, and that makes it really tough to
Speaker 1: do what we want to do because these linebackers now
Speaker 1: they can use these safeties to double team JJ. They
Speaker 1: can double team feeling when they want to. But right away,
Speaker 1: when they saw Hawkinson split out, they put a safety
Speaker 1: over the top of him. So now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now a safety that you can use to double team
Speaker 1: or bracket somebody in the outside. You couldn't do that
Speaker 1: in this game. Yea. And the way that he can
Speaker 1: wiggle and then he can move at the top of
Speaker 1: his route to gain separation even from safeties. Tony Man,
Speaker 1: this acquisition is truly a game changer. Now. I know
Speaker 1: that the fans out there probably are saying, like, well,
Speaker 1: why didn't we take advantage of these situations? Look, maybe
Speaker 1: it didn't. It didn't like come out in this game
Speaker 1: right away when we saw those matchups. That's a really
Speaker 1: good defensive fronts. They're not going to see a lot
Speaker 1: of defensive fronts there that physical and can get after
Speaker 1: the passer and alter the passing game like these guys.
Speaker 1: These guys can. But trust me, going forward, knowing that
Speaker 1: defense is gonna have to honor him with a safety
Speaker 1: and not a linebacker, that's gonna be huge for this offense.
Speaker 1: I had no idea the effect he would have in
Speaker 1: his first game as a Minnesota Viking, But the way
Speaker 1: he was able to stretch the field down the middle
Speaker 1: of the field and open up opportunities for everyone else.
Speaker 1: I am a fan of that, and he's only going
Speaker 1: to get better with time. We have the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: next week that are six and two. We're seven and one,
Speaker 1: five game lead in the NFC North. I'm excited. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited. What's the mindset for you and the mindset
Speaker 1: for the what should the mindset for this team be
Speaker 1: going forward? Trying to stack some of these wins together. Look,
Speaker 1: I think they have to look at this um and say,
Speaker 1: there's not a team out there that we can't compete
Speaker 1: with and win. You know, we've faced a lot of
Speaker 1: defenses and teams that like they're they're they're an excellent
Speaker 1: or elite at one position or one grouping, and we're
Speaker 1: finding ways to not make that be a problem. Like
Speaker 1: I said, this defensive front for Washington, it's a problem. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And they were a problem for most of the game,
Speaker 1: but we figured it out. We found a way to
Speaker 1: mitigate some of that stuff and take advantage of them.
Speaker 1: So who's to say, after all these wins and these
Speaker 1: tough situations and being resilient that we can't do that
Speaker 1: against arguably the best team in the league, although they
Speaker 1: lost today to the New York Jets, but we all
Speaker 1: know how high powered their offense is. We all know
Speaker 1: what Leslie Fraser is doing with that defense. That's an
Speaker 1: elite defense as well. They have great safeties they've got
Speaker 1: is it gonna get after the passers upfront? Two? So
Speaker 1: major tests. But by no means should we walk into
Speaker 1: to Buffalo feeling like, oh right, we should doubt ourselves. Right,
Speaker 1: we absolutely can win that game seven and one. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and Ben is growing some hairback.
Speaker 1: When they said because we're winning, I wish I wish
Speaker 1: that was that's what happened. Like for every win, I
Speaker 1: get another sprout of hair. Hey, that's the case of
Speaker 1: Vikings fans. We're going to continue to win games because
Speaker 1: we all want Ben liber to be at as much
Speaker 1: hair as I've lost. There's not enough games in the season.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be like a ten year bit or
Speaker 1: maybe some row games. Six. Speaking of games, but Ben,
Speaker 1: it's a pleasure always talking to you. We'll see you
Speaker 1: in Buffalo next week. For Ryan O'Neill, Ben Lieber. My
Speaker 1: name is Gabe Henderson, Thank you guys again for tuning
Speaker 1: into another winning edition between the Lines fueled by Gator eight.
Speaker 1: Great job guys, Thank you Ben, and thank you Gabe.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Kevin O'Connell, first year coach for the Minnesota Vikings,
Speaker 1: you know Kirk Cousins played six years here, fourth year,
Speaker 1: fourth round draft pick in twenty twelve by Washington. He
Speaker 1: had a forty nine hundred yard passing season in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: That's still a single season record for Washington. He wasn't
Speaker 1: booed when he went down and got up and got
Speaker 1: back in the game, got a little bit of a
Speaker 1: standing ovation from an appreciative crowd. That was very very cool.
Speaker 1: But Kevin has to feel very very good about this
Speaker 1: seven and one start. Here's this postgame press conference. Um,
Speaker 1: just a quick update. Cam Danceler suffered at just an
Speaker 1: ankle injury. We will absolutely keep you guys updated as
Speaker 1: we go, but that's one of those injuries hard to
Speaker 1: give a timetable on. We'll get him evaluated, probably get
Speaker 1: him an MRI tomorrow, scan and we'll see where he's at.
Speaker 1: But really really proud of our team. We talked a
Speaker 1: lot last night about being at your best when it's required,
Speaker 1: and how do you do that? You're you've you've got
Speaker 1: a first and foremost be able to overcome adversity, some
Speaker 1: of which we you know, self inflicted caused on our own.
Speaker 1: Didn't always play the best complimentary football today, but what
Speaker 1: we saw as a team continue to find ways to
Speaker 1: win football games. Down ten again in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: and and really you know, bounced off of that Harrison
Speaker 1: Smith interception his third game in a row, and bounce
Speaker 1: off of that the right way by kind of capturing
Speaker 1: the momentum in the football game and then found a
Speaker 1: way to win it at the end. So proud of
Speaker 1: our team to get a win um, And and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, of of that magnitude when you're when you're
Speaker 1: down ten and and nobody one time flinches. We've got
Speaker 1: that mentality that's kind of proven at this point of
Speaker 1: our team. We'll continue to coach better and execute at
Speaker 1: a higher level and find ways to continue to improve
Speaker 1: as the season goes on. So uh, you know, we're
Speaker 1: playing our best ball when it matters. You guys feel
Speaker 1: back out are you tell we were in a no
Speaker 1: score situation because I just felt like, uh, if we
Speaker 1: were going to take the points off the board and
Speaker 1: and put our offense back out there. Situationally, knowing they
Speaker 1: had the one time out left, you know, you could
Speaker 1: kind of do the math on it. Where we didn't
Speaker 1: really want to take just take knees. We wanted to
Speaker 1: try to work as much of the clock as we
Speaker 1: could three four seconds. Even Kirk on that last one
Speaker 1: would have hated to would have you know, hated to
Speaker 1: see him take a hit, But what he's doing right
Speaker 1: there is every second matters just in case we can
Speaker 1: possibly run that thing all the way out round did
Speaker 1: a great job with his time out there, but then
Speaker 1: for he was out, and then we were able to
Speaker 1: kind of make it more of a desperation mode instead
Speaker 1: of keeping those points on the board there, But then
Speaker 1: you give them the full time to possibly not only
Speaker 1: get three, but maybe even go win it. So I
Speaker 1: love the way we handled it situationally. It's not always
Speaker 1: the prettiest in those moments, but we did what we
Speaker 1: had to do to win. About the play there where
Speaker 1: Kirk went down there, any media concerned what happened, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I you know, Kirk got hit quite a bit today.
Speaker 1: Um interior, that defensive line is pretty darn good. Montes
Speaker 1: sweat on the outside. Um, they did some good things.
Speaker 1: They sent some timely secondary pressures corners and we're seeing
Speaker 1: kind of a full gamut, um, you know, to to
Speaker 1: some of our you know, to some of our stuff,
Speaker 1: and we got to continue to do a good job
Speaker 1: handling some of that stuff out as as we start
Speaker 1: to see it. But that play was special in my opinion. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, there was a critical third and seven. We've
Speaker 1: got the matchup one on one. Um. But but Kirk
Speaker 1: knew he was gonna have to pay for that one.
Speaker 1: Uh maybe a little bit too quick right there. I
Speaker 1: thought we had, you know, kind of the down guys
Speaker 1: accounted for. But for him to stand in there and
Speaker 1: make that throw at that moment and then only miss
Speaker 1: one snap and really he you know, that's just a
Speaker 1: league rule. Otherwise he wanted to stay in there. Um,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know obviously go down there and try
Speaker 1: to finish that thing. Yeah. Um, you know, a couple
Speaker 1: times a year in this league, stuff like that happens. Um.
Speaker 1: I think as the coach of the team, it happens too.
Speaker 1: It's very hard to react to in the moment, especially
Speaker 1: when I felt like that had a good chance to
Speaker 1: be an interception going back the other way. That ball
Speaker 1: was in the air for a long time with kind
Speaker 1: of an overlap safety and cambine him, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of tracking it. Uh, and then for not only
Speaker 1: it to happen that way, but then also be uh,
Speaker 1: you know, go from an interception to a touchdown was unfortunate.
Speaker 1: I got to take a look at where everybody was,
Speaker 1: and I just know how hard it is to, you know,
Speaker 1: for those officials and kind of with all the different
Speaker 1: route concepts and where do I stay to still be
Speaker 1: able to do my job but also not be in
Speaker 1: the way. It's easier said than done. Like I said,
Speaker 1: it happens a couple of times a year. I'm just
Speaker 1: proud of our team for overcoming it defensively. I thought,
Speaker 1: outside of that play, where you know, we can only
Speaker 1: control what we can control, I was really proud of
Speaker 1: their effort today. Huge trust and Dalvin. We've been saying
Speaker 1: it and it has not been anything we don't believe.
Speaker 1: We really do believe Dalvin can impact this game. He
Speaker 1: got a one on one kind of in the red
Speaker 1: zone right there, critical gotta habit type play, and Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins trusted him through a beautiful throw. We expected maybe
Speaker 1: a matchup versus a linebacker, but they played some dime
Speaker 1: defense right there with the six dB in there. And
Speaker 1: for him to win, you know, against the safety type
Speaker 1: body right there and maybe fight through a little contact
Speaker 1: while the ball was in the air was pretty special
Speaker 1: and unbelievable finish to that drive. Yeah, he showed me
Speaker 1: what he showed me all year long. I mean, regardless
Speaker 1: of what it's like. It's some of these guys are
Speaker 1: hard to block, and Kirk knows that. But we've got
Speaker 1: to find a way. And you know, we were able
Speaker 1: to overcome some negative kind of outcome, some in our control,
Speaker 1: some out of our control. Um. But for your quarterback
Speaker 1: to stand in there and be at his best when
Speaker 1: we really need him to be. I don't think that
Speaker 1: that's a coincidence when you talk about us being able
Speaker 1: to win in the fourth quarter when maybe it hasn't
Speaker 1: always been pretty. It's hard in this league. Teams have
Speaker 1: really good players at some spots that sometimes match up.
Speaker 1: Uh that that that you got to account for, and
Speaker 1: that's where I think I can do a better job
Speaker 1: for our team just trying to see out in front
Speaker 1: of those and have answers before we get to the stadium.
Speaker 1: But ultimately, I'm just proud of our guys the way
Speaker 1: they can battle over and over again, versity, no flinch,
Speaker 1: and it might seem like a little thing, but it
Speaker 1: be in downtown in the fourth quarter. You've got your
Speaker 1: really two decisions to make as a football team, and
Speaker 1: we keep making the right one. You know, for Kirk,
Speaker 1: every win it's important. Yeah, But do you think this
Speaker 1: one mental a lot more to him than I guess
Speaker 1: your standard win. I don't know. If I don't know,
Speaker 1: i'd have to let Kirk answer that, but I can
Speaker 1: tell you that his teammates were very, very excited when
Speaker 1: he received the final game ball in the locker room
Speaker 1: and broke us down. Um. You can just feel what
Speaker 1: this guy means to his teammates, this organization. UM. And
Speaker 1: and as a first year coach here to have him
Speaker 1: as our quarterback, UM, I feel very confident and feel
Speaker 1: lucky to have Kirk as our guy because, UM, he's
Speaker 1: playing at a really high level and overcoming some circumstances
Speaker 1: that quite honestly, we're learning a lot about him and
Speaker 1: I feel great about where he's at right now, trying
Speaker 1: to be a guy in the Champs touchdown of Jefferson,
Speaker 1: How do you think he did never regard in terms
Speaker 1: of trust. Are you talking about the one at the
Speaker 1: end of the first half. Yeah, yeah, that was that
Speaker 1: was what we were looking for right there, one on
Speaker 1: one in that situation, with a plan for kind of
Speaker 1: pressure and what they may throw out us. We still
Speaker 1: still had our one time out left, so if we
Speaker 1: didn't get that, look, we had the ability to put
Speaker 1: the ball in play and maybe get a little closer
Speaker 1: and use our time out. Uh. That's that was just
Speaker 1: one my one point, and some discussions afterwards would say,
Speaker 1: let's just make sure we understand, uh, you know, as
Speaker 1: we as we watch that that that's not a hail Mary.
Speaker 1: That's a one on one to one of the best
Speaker 1: receivers in football, and that's what we're hunting. And I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of Kirk for throwing it, and it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: that it ends ends up being his only interception of
Speaker 1: the day on a play like that, um and loved
Speaker 1: him giving justin another chance there at the end, trying
Speaker 1: to get a touchdown on that third down before we
Speaker 1: kicked it, uh for the for the game winning field goal,
Speaker 1: right there. But I just um, those are tough plays,
Speaker 1: bang bang plays, and we're gonna keep giving justin those
Speaker 1: one on ones down the field, both in the red
Speaker 1: zone and in in the field, just trying to generate chances
Speaker 1: to get our best player in football. Yeah, and getting
Speaker 1: up after just a riding two. First and foremost, he
Speaker 1: deserves all the credit, both him and Brian Angelico, the
Speaker 1: tight ends coach. They spent a lot of time together
Speaker 1: over the last five days getting him ready to play.
Speaker 1: We did not really dumb anything down. We didn't have
Speaker 1: a separate offense when TJ was in there. I'm amazed
Speaker 1: at how prepared he was to play. I think it's
Speaker 1: a testament to his work ethic, his ability to retain
Speaker 1: a lot of information, and then obviously the coaching by
Speaker 1: Brian to just get with him and kind of be
Speaker 1: at his side for five six days in a row
Speaker 1: in hopes of having him ready to go. I think
Speaker 1: nine targets, nine receptions, some on third down, and you
Speaker 1: could feel his presence on the field. It's a big
Speaker 1: time edition that COIs and his staff went and got us. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it just I know one thing for sure,
Speaker 1: we can have confidence to go try to win a
Speaker 1: football game, however it's gone. You know, you gotta try
Speaker 1: each one of them as its own. But I do
Speaker 1: think when you're able to overcome and win on the road,
Speaker 1: you know, adversity of double digit deficits, that only helps
Speaker 1: us in the back of our minds knowing football games
Speaker 1: are gonna go a lot of different ways. But the
Speaker 1: next play, the next play mentality of knowing, uh, we're
Speaker 1: gonna get this thing done. We're going to continue to
Speaker 1: stay together, complimentary football with the defense making a huge
Speaker 1: play and then the offense turning that into a touchdown
Speaker 1: was huge. But that that four quarter game is going
Speaker 1: to be out there for us, and as I keep
Speaker 1: telling our team, no reason why it can't be next week.
Speaker 1: But it'll be nice if you know, when those moments
Speaker 1: and those quarters start to stack on each other, hopefully
Speaker 1: it's when it matters the most us. I'm glad you
Speaker 1: asked about that. I thought a Caleb between the physicality
Speaker 1: that he showed on some tackles against some good backs
Speaker 1: in space and then just knowing the type of you know,
Speaker 1: you know it's player that Terry McLaurin and some of
Speaker 1: their other guys are I felt like he really had
Speaker 1: an impact in there, and it seemed like he was
Speaker 1: incredibly comfortable in that moment um. You know, I give
Speaker 1: Edna staff a lot of a lot of credit for
Speaker 1: having him ready to roll like that. And we'll see
Speaker 1: how Cam does and but it's big time snaps for
Speaker 1: Caleb stepping in right there. Would you like to summarize
Speaker 1: your weekend including the family abissions? Yeah? So, Um, we
Speaker 1: thought a couple a couple of days earlier in the
Speaker 1: week we thought it might have been time, but ended
Speaker 1: up being the right time. Was was Friday evening and
Speaker 1: then getting the opportunity to get through the week with
Speaker 1: our team, get it immediately. When I left you guys
Speaker 1: on on Friday after practice there, got over to the
Speaker 1: hospital with my wife. She was an absolute, I mean
Speaker 1: unbelievable through her fourth you know delivery of you know,
Speaker 1: our I just feel so blessed having been there and
Speaker 1: then get a chance to make sure she was in
Speaker 1: a you know, good place and received incredible care. Helped
Speaker 1: me to be confident to come out here with our
Speaker 1: team and try to get a win. But I cannot
Speaker 1: wait to get back there. Um, just so excited to
Speaker 1: get back to my family and really spend some more
Speaker 1: time with my new daughter. Thank you though her name
Speaker 1: is Callie, Callie Grace see a l I E. Yeah, thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you for asking. Thanks. Koc Cousins finishes twenty two
Speaker 1: or forty two sixty five couple of tds h and
Speaker 1: an interception that that touchdown to Dalvin that ended up
Speaker 1: leading to the tide back left of the end zone.
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me with the catch? For sure? How
Speaker 1: about the throw? How about the throw exactly right and
Speaker 1: that throw he threw to Justin Jefferson when he took
Speaker 1: on right in the solar plexus and went down and
Speaker 1: came out of play. I mean that that is that's
Speaker 1: the razor thin edge, Paul. I think Kirk Cousins rides
Speaker 1: and if he can consistently do that, meaning take the
Speaker 1: big hit, deliver the football, he can be He could
Speaker 1: be an elite quarterback. He could be as good as
Speaker 1: anybody in the league. Because the accuracy man that we
Speaker 1: route to Justin Jefferson, that throw and that catch was
Speaker 1: a thing of beauty. We've been waiting for it kind
Speaker 1: of because that's a RAMS that's like a RAMS calling card.
Speaker 1: Right the wheel route with the running back. They got
Speaker 1: beat on a wheel route last week against the Colts,
Speaker 1: so we knew that those that route was there, that
Speaker 1: those kinds of things were there, and for Cousins to
Speaker 1: deliver that football right exactly where it needed to be.
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook has a huge catch. I mean, if Cousins
Speaker 1: can just yeah, we saw it fall apart a little bit.
Speaker 1: We saw fall apart a little bit with the delayed
Speaker 1: game bit and then the force throw that he tried
Speaker 1: to get to Jefferson. That you know that those are
Speaker 1: plays that you wish you had back, and it was
Speaker 1: great to see him face that adversity, that frustration and
Speaker 1: then come back and do you know, play the end
Speaker 1: of this game like he did. Kirkus thrown touchdowns in
Speaker 1: thirty eight consecutive games. That has tied for six best
Speaker 1: in the history of the NFL with Tony Romo. Adam
Speaker 1: thieland finished three catches sixty seven yards. He caught his
Speaker 1: five hundredth today. Well done, ad him Feeling. He caught
Speaker 1: it from Kirk Cousins. And here's what Kirk had to
Speaker 1: say after a very emotional game. I wanted to congratulate
Speaker 1: Adam Feeling on five hundred catches as of Viking, I
Speaker 1: learned only three guys have done that, and the other
Speaker 1: two guys are named Chris Carter and Randy Moss, So
Speaker 1: that's an elite company. And it says a lot about
Speaker 1: not only Adam as a player, but Adam as a man,
Speaker 1: because you don't do that on accident. You don't do
Speaker 1: that just because you have a couple good years. The
Speaker 1: ability to have sustained success over and over and over
Speaker 1: again says something about you as a person, not just
Speaker 1: as a player. And I think so highly ad him.
Speaker 1: He does everything the right way, and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see where he takes it from here because I'm so
Speaker 1: lucky to get to play with him, and I'm grateful
Speaker 1: that he gets something like this achievement wise, because he
Speaker 1: deserves it. And we'll go down as one of the
Speaker 1: best Vikings of all time. I can't say enough about
Speaker 1: what TJ. Hopkinson did this week to learn this system.
Speaker 1: It took me about four months to learn it. He
Speaker 1: didn't like four days, so he's kind of making me
Speaker 1: look bad. But uh uh, not one time in the
Speaker 1: huddle did I feel like he was looking at me
Speaker 1: like I like, like he didn't know what to do, uh,
Speaker 1: just very much on top of it. Gave me a
Speaker 1: sense of ease as a result, And you don't do
Speaker 1: it by yourself. It was coach An's working with him
Speaker 1: after hours. And I gotta give a lot of credit
Speaker 1: to David Blow. David took over post practice pre practice
Speaker 1: with TJ to help him transition from his old system
Speaker 1: to this system. And UM, I'm sure TJ's had his
Speaker 1: spending and there's a lot he still got to learn,
Speaker 1: but he helped us today and UM, just gotta say
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for the work that he put in, that
Speaker 1: David put in, the Nan put in to get him ready.
Speaker 1: And then, um, there's no way we win this game
Speaker 1: without our defense just keeping us in it, letting us,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of hang around, and um, they just
Speaker 1: kept making play after play after play and gave us
Speaker 1: the chance late in the game, especially with Harrison's interception
Speaker 1: to to you know, take it down to the red
Speaker 1: zone to give us a chance to win that game.
Speaker 1: And it felt in a lot of ways like our
Speaker 1: other wins this season where you can't point to that
Speaker 1: perfectly played offensive game where everything clicked, but just defense
Speaker 1: picking us up, special teams picking us up and then
Speaker 1: finding a way to make enough plays at the end
Speaker 1: and find the inches. And uh, it's great to be
Speaker 1: seven and one, but I think, as I've said it
Speaker 1: many other of these postgame UM conferences, you know, we
Speaker 1: do need to play better and and we're certainly going
Speaker 1: to get tested major you know, next week, and uh,
Speaker 1: gotta be ready for that challenge. So I can take
Speaker 1: any questions you have. What is that telling you about? Well,
Speaker 1: I think finding the inches is important, and I think
Speaker 1: it's important to find those in situations, you know, third down,
Speaker 1: red zone, two minute and a half, end of game, um,
Speaker 1: And so I think that's probably some of the areas
Speaker 1: we've been we've been finding successes and a half end
Speaker 1: of game. Certainly not today with our you know, interception
Speaker 1: at the end a half, but um, you know, even
Speaker 1: that was shaping up to be a positive drive get
Speaker 1: down the field goal range and and then had a turnover.
Speaker 1: But um, you know that's where we've kind of found
Speaker 1: found the interest is at the end of happen in
Speaker 1: the game. I don't know what all runs together right now.
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, with the way their defense is playing
Speaker 1: against us at ten point lead, I mean, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be tough, but I think the combination of the explosive
Speaker 1: player on third down to justin getting us down there,
Speaker 1: you know, Dalvin making an unbelievable catch, Harrison's interception. It
Speaker 1: were just kind of plays that, uh that snowball together,
Speaker 1: that gate got us back in the game and um um,
Speaker 1: and I really have a lot of respect for coach
Speaker 1: del Rio and that defense and the way they played
Speaker 1: the day. I feel like they frustrated us much of
Speaker 1: the game, and uh have a lot of respect for
Speaker 1: the way they play. Your emotions just kind of returning
Speaker 1: to Washington, Yeah, I just had a lot of uh,
Speaker 1: really warm, warm emotions and a lot of gratitude for
Speaker 1: the fact that I got to play here, that I
Speaker 1: had the privilege of being here for six years. And
Speaker 1: as we pulled in with our buses, I could see
Speaker 1: that you know, home player parking lot where I remember
Speaker 1: walking out, you know, to meet my family and to
Speaker 1: see you know, teammates and coaches, you know, the Sean
Speaker 1: mcbaye of the world that you'd you know, visit with
Speaker 1: after a game and just you know it kind of
Speaker 1: maybe emotional pulling out of the bus, just thinking about
Speaker 1: that and kind of where things have gone, and uh,
Speaker 1: just so grateful I got to play here and got
Speaker 1: to play for the coaches I did, um you know,
Speaker 1: Mike Shanahan, future Hall of Fame coach. To be drafted
Speaker 1: here by him was just special. And to play for
Speaker 1: Kyle and Sean and Matt and Mike McDaniel and so
Speaker 1: many guys, um, jay, you know, it was just a blessing.
Speaker 1: And they believed to me before I believe in myself.
Speaker 1: I remember my second start at Atlanta year two. U
Speaker 1: Kyle dat me up before the game, you know, right
Speaker 1: before kickoff and says something like, you know, go out
Speaker 1: have a great day. And he said, you're you know,
Speaker 1: kind of gassed me up. And I said, well, I
Speaker 1: want to prove you right, and he said, you don't
Speaker 1: have to prove me right. I know him right, You're
Speaker 1: going to be a player in this league for a
Speaker 1: long time. And that was before I'd done anything. And
Speaker 1: so his ability to kind of speak belief in meybe,
Speaker 1: I even believed in myself. Um, you know, took my
Speaker 1: career to a probably to a different level than ever
Speaker 1: would have gone. Like that. Kevin just brought me up
Speaker 1: to just break the team down, and so uh, you know,
Speaker 1: first thing that came to mind. But uh, you know
Speaker 1: it's just you know, I think the team, the team
Speaker 1: was calling for that one a little bit obviously. Yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah I did this one. Just mean a little bit
Speaker 1: more considering how everything unfolded. Yeah, I probably. You know,
Speaker 1: so much time has passed, five years, there's so much change. Um,
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't say so. I think to to win
Speaker 1: on the road and um, you know, to find a
Speaker 1: way it means a lot is special win. It was
Speaker 1: a hard funk game. I think the way that they
Speaker 1: rushed us, the way they hit us. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's one of those games where you know, you feel
Speaker 1: that toughness and as you walk off the field and
Speaker 1: feel so great to win. But um, um you know,
Speaker 1: I just I just have so many positive memories being
Speaker 1: here and uh and what it meant for my my footballer,
Speaker 1: brus for my life, Yeah, I call you. By surprise,
Speaker 1: I had never entered the stadium on a bus from
Speaker 1: the visitors side. I've been here sixty plus times as
Speaker 1: a home player, but never as a visitor. So to
Speaker 1: kind of realize, oh, that's that's right where it was.
Speaker 1: And you know the number of times I made that
Speaker 1: walk from the car to the stadium and back out,
Speaker 1: and you know, highs lows, you know, the whole thing,
Speaker 1: um and just where life is taken you, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know I got Chris Stannon here. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chris knew me when I was a single college guy
Speaker 1: come out of college and and so to see him
Speaker 1: is kind of one of the examples of just a
Speaker 1: lot of memories flooding back, positive warm memories and U um,
Speaker 1: just feel so grateful that I got to be here
Speaker 1: and be part of this. Yeah, yeah, please say no.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't breathe for a second. Guy, the wind
Speaker 1: knocked out of me, and I thought he scored, So
Speaker 1: I was kind of like I could jog down there
Speaker 1: and suck win for a second. But I think we scored.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna lay here and kind of catch
Speaker 1: my breath. And then they're like, no, he's down with
Speaker 1: the ten. And I was like, oh, okay, I need
Speaker 1: to get up. So I started jogging and they were like,
Speaker 1: you have to come out, and I said, I figured.
Speaker 1: I figured. So Nick Mollins went in there, did a
Speaker 1: great job. They gave him a bit of a difficult
Speaker 1: read type play and he answered the bell. He read
Speaker 1: it perfectly and did his job and then was able
Speaker 1: to go right back in because once I caught my breath,
Speaker 1: I was good, chill man. Just an awesome designed by
Speaker 1: our coaches. You know, they sit there late Thursday night
Speaker 1: and to drop up those red zone plays and to
Speaker 1: create that design is outstanding. And then Dalvin executed it
Speaker 1: perfectly and made the play. And certainly the throws got
Speaker 1: to be there, but Dalvin making the catch, keeping his
Speaker 1: feet and bounce, he got up and sprinted like he
Speaker 1: was shocked. He caught it. So it was funny, it
Speaker 1: was awesome. It was so cool to see his reaction.
Speaker 1: And it was a big time playing the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: study and battling adversity. Yeah. Where you are now in
Speaker 1: UM just for somebody like yeah, yeah sure, but there's there.
Speaker 1: That's it. Could you just talk about your journey and
Speaker 1: how it came back. Other quarterbacks, I have a lot
Speaker 1: of respect for Taylor. The way he played the day,
Speaker 1: the way he plays week in and week out. I
Speaker 1: think he's got a lot of grit and ability, and
Speaker 1: the playing the quarterback position seems to come pretty naturally
Speaker 1: to him. He has a good feel for it. UM
Speaker 1: I'll never forget when coach Shanahan was let go and
Speaker 1: I was kind of down in the dumps. So the
Speaker 1: last thing he said to the team was he said,
Speaker 1: remember you guys, tough times don't last. Tough people do.
Speaker 1: And uh, I took that with me. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: because this game is gonna beat you up. This leagu's
Speaker 1: gonna beat you up, and you have to remind yourself
Speaker 1: tough times don't last, tough people do. And um, you
Speaker 1: know what Mike was saying that moment, and what I
Speaker 1: was taking it as is, you better choose to be
Speaker 1: a tough person and uh, you better battle back physically, emotionally,
Speaker 1: mentally when this game kicks you down. And if you do,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make it. And you know, being in year eleven,
Speaker 1: now I see the truth of Mike's words over a decade,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, this game is gonna keep testing
Speaker 1: me and you gotta keep finding a way to be
Speaker 1: a tough person like that. Well, it feels great to
Speaker 1: win in this league. Um, you know, I, like I said,
Speaker 1: had so many warm memories coming in and so on
Speaker 1: the way out to be able to you know, remember
Speaker 1: those as well. With a win, it's so much better
Speaker 1: than after a loss. So uh um. You know, I
Speaker 1: told my wife and when we touched down yesterday, I said,
Speaker 1: we got to schedule a weekend, get a babysitter. We
Speaker 1: gotta come back here to the DMV and spend a weekend,
Speaker 1: go to all the former places, all my favorite restaurants,
Speaker 1: see all the all the people pull that helped me.
Speaker 1: Bodywork people, you know, ministry people gotta do it. So
Speaker 1: we gotta block out the days because it just reminded
Speaker 1: me again, I gotta get back here. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's special to be back in to win. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess those three words will follow me for the
Speaker 1: rest of my career. Made in my life. Alrighty, thanks guys.
Speaker 1: So the Vikings beat the Commander's twenty to seventeen. Ron
Speaker 1: Johnson part of the Vikings Entertainment Network. He offers us
Speaker 1: three takes every week. Take it away, RJ. Thanks BA. Well,
Speaker 1: this is Ron Johnson Company from the Cafe and Studios
Speaker 1: and this is my three takeaway from to day's game. Well,
Speaker 1: I gotta jump out there right away. T J. Hockinson
Speaker 1: bought over from the Detroit Lions. In the trade, everybody
Speaker 1: was wondering how was this marriage gonna work? Well? Nine
Speaker 1: catches seventy yards. He had an explosive of nineteen yards,
Speaker 1: which is the longest play from scrimmage for a tight
Speaker 1: end this entire season. Brand new guy, one game in
Speaker 1: and he already has the longest play from scrimmage for
Speaker 1: it tight end on this Viking's roster. I think the
Speaker 1: marriage is gone great, Kevin O'Connell said on Tuesday night
Speaker 1: ten PM. Is when t J. Hockinson started working on
Speaker 1: this playbook that he had put together for him, and
Speaker 1: he did an awesome job. Kirk Cousins, having that big
Speaker 1: target in the middle paid off. Also when he was
Speaker 1: next to Justin Jefferson, it became absolutely impossible for dvs
Speaker 1: to figure out, do we cover Hockinson? Do we cover Jefferson.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the
Speaker 1: season's gonna look like. But nine catches seventy yards, that's
Speaker 1: the first takeaway from this game. How well TJ. Hodkinson
Speaker 1: did with a limited amount of time to prepare. Second
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter two sacks. He put his hand in the ground.
Speaker 1: It was a hybrid three four type look. Yes, he's
Speaker 1: an outside linebacker, but he was able to put his
Speaker 1: hand in the ground, which he's a lot more comfortable.
Speaker 1: And you saw the get off, you saw the speed,
Speaker 1: You saw the ability of at Donna Tell to use
Speaker 1: him as Zadarius Smith on the same side, creating a
Speaker 1: mismatch where either the guard or the tackle had to
Speaker 1: decide who was gonna go one on one and the
Speaker 1: center could only help one. So if the center takes Zadarius,
Speaker 1: he's one on one, you got guard tackle on Denil.
Speaker 1: If the guard center going Zadarius. Now that tackle which
Speaker 1: we saw was one on one with Denil, but with
Speaker 1: that get off and that burst, you saw him get low,
Speaker 1: you saw him get bendy, You saw him get to
Speaker 1: Taylor Heineke before he could even get rid of the ball.
Speaker 1: On that last sack, that was the de Deal Hunter
Speaker 1: everybody's been used to. That's the Danil Hunter that's gonna
Speaker 1: have to carry this defense down the stretch. You have
Speaker 1: one guy in Zadarius Smith on one side with eight
Speaker 1: and a half sacks. You now have Danil Hunter having
Speaker 1: a game like this with two sacks. It's gonna get
Speaker 1: a lot scarier as they go. And next week Josh
Speaker 1: Allen gonna need that from from Daniel Hunter and Zadarius
Speaker 1: Smith because that was the key. But Daniel Hunters two sacks,
Speaker 1: that was a huge takeaway from me getting pressure on
Speaker 1: Taylor Heineke and then Greg Joseph with the game winner
Speaker 1: twice kick the game winner and then there was a
Speaker 1: flag had to run it out. Normally there's times like
Speaker 1: this where that play just does not work out for
Speaker 1: them and the Vikings find a way or somehow bad
Speaker 1: luck creeps in. Well, Greg Joseph makes a game winner.
Speaker 1: People all last week on fan line, we're saying we
Speaker 1: need to find a kicker, we need to trade for
Speaker 1: a kicker. The kicker is gonna ruin our season. Kevin
Speaker 1: O'Connell had trust in his kicker, kept calm and what
Speaker 1: did Greg Joseph Garden do rewarded him went two for
Speaker 1: two today on field goals, including the game winner twice,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the key in not getting in
Speaker 1: the kicker's head. And then my bonus takeaway the day
Speaker 1: as Kirk Cousins being aggressive. Yes, he threw an interception
Speaker 1: at the end of the half favor outes to Jessin Jefferson.
Speaker 1: He was covered, but he gave Justsin Jeffersons a chance.
Speaker 1: He saw another deep ball double covered. He threw it
Speaker 1: a little short, but threw it up, gave Justin Jeffersons
Speaker 1: a chance. He did not catch that one, but he
Speaker 1: gave him a chance. He did the same thing with
Speaker 1: Adam Feeling. Kirk cousins aggressiveness is gonna be the key.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins was always too conservative sometimes people said would
Speaker 1: not be willing to take a chance. He took a
Speaker 1: lot of chances today he took a lot of big
Speaker 1: play shots. Justin Jefferson's favor route, threw it early, got
Speaker 1: him there. Dalvin Cook's favor route touchdown, got it there.
Speaker 1: Adam Feelin's over out between the linebacker and the safety
Speaker 1: got it there. That is the aggressive Kirk Cousins that
Speaker 1: they are gonna need down the stretch. And that's my
Speaker 1: last takeaway. The aggressive of the aggressiveness of kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: to go after these throws and trust Justin Jefferson and
Speaker 1: Adam Thielan to make the play for him. I think
Speaker 1: that's the Vikings quarterback that everybody's looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: and how to do it. For my three takeaways from
Speaker 1: this Vikings commander's game, Commanders lose seventeen to twenty, Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings walk away to win. Back to you guys in
Speaker 1: the stadium. Dalvin Cook finished the game seventeen runs forty
Speaker 1: seven yards. Once again Cousins at two sixty five. Jefferson
Speaker 1: targeted thirteen times, seven catches, one hundred and fifteen yards. TJ.
Speaker 1: Hockinson made his Vikings debut nine targets, nine catches, seventy yards. TJ.
Speaker 1: On the very first drive of the game where the
Speaker 1: Vikings marched down and scored a touchdown to JJ, it
Speaker 1: was third and long. Cousins believed in the middle of
Speaker 1: the field, even though he just got here like a
Speaker 1: minute ago, a nineteen yard grab for a first down TJ.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Covenant, all right, And TJ alluded to
Speaker 1: what his role is going to be here in the
Speaker 1: post game interview with Ben Lieber. Teams want to play
Speaker 1: two man against us. What does that mean? You play
Speaker 1: man and man underneath with two deep safeties. That's like
Speaker 1: playing a man and a half over justin Jefferson. But
Speaker 1: what that also means is you're gonna have DJ Hockinson
Speaker 1: one on one with a safety or a linebacker. Somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field, and that's a matchup
Speaker 1: that he is going to win. You saw it today,
Speaker 1: you know the beat two man. You either have to
Speaker 1: have a scrambling quarterback or a tight end like that
Speaker 1: that can get himself open in man and man coverage.
Speaker 1: And Paul, I mean, at six foot five, how many
Speaker 1: safeties out there are gonna be able to shut him down.
Speaker 1: So his answer, I mean, Hockinson's answer to a defense
Speaker 1: that's kind of getting our number. Where teams are going,
Speaker 1: they're using two man to slow us down. To have
Speaker 1: an answer to it, a guy like Hockinson to move
Speaker 1: the chains to come up big, because Cousins is a
Speaker 1: big scramble guy is huge. It's a huge, huge ad
Speaker 1: And what a move by the front office, by the
Speaker 1: coach staff to bring a guy like that, a caliber
Speaker 1: player like that into the fold at this time of
Speaker 1: the year. And before we say goodbye, I mean, Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins deserves Immen's credit because there was a moment right
Speaker 1: before the end of the first half Garrett Bradberry injured himself.
Speaker 1: Center Austin Schlopman came in and it wasn't Schlopman's fault,
Speaker 1: but the Vikings had a delay of game penalty. Kirk
Speaker 1: was very animated, very frustrated, very demonstrative, and then he
Speaker 1: threw an interception back right of the end zone. All right.
Speaker 1: Then we go to half and Kirk was flustered. You
Speaker 1: could tell early in the third quarter it just wasn't
Speaker 1: the same. He pushed through it because this team has
Speaker 1: the fearless gene and doesn't panic. And I got a
Speaker 1: credit Kirk not only for coming back to FedEx Field
Speaker 1: and winning, but pushing through that negativity and pushing through
Speaker 1: the physicality of this game because he got hit more
Speaker 1: today than I've seen him get hit in a long time.
Speaker 1: And for him to hang in there and deliver some
Speaker 1: of those bullets, Paul, That's what I'm saying. If he
Speaker 1: can can do this weekend and week out, he's an
Speaker 1: elite quarterback. He really will be, because that's kind of
Speaker 1: the thing that was, you know, the inaccuracy, when the
Speaker 1: physicality gets there, that's the part that's the gripe. That's
Speaker 1: what you know. Whatever you're gonna say the anti Cousins crowd,
Speaker 1: but let me tell you this, the Washington Commanders, how
Speaker 1: have they been since Cousins left. They're still struggling to
Speaker 1: find a car. I didn't get this in the game call.
Speaker 1: They've gone through nine quarterbacks, exactly right, exactly right. And
Speaker 1: that's the thing with Cousins. You know what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: If you can hang in there and deliver those bullets
Speaker 1: like that, then you know what. You gotta keep a
Speaker 1: guy around like that. Oh my god, thank you. I
Speaker 1: really that was I mean, this was called four hundred
Speaker 1: some of my career. This is gonna be one of
Speaker 1: the more memorable ones because of how exciting it was
Speaker 1: when it got hot and when it got physical and
Speaker 1: the crowd was all nasty and loud. Man, And you
Speaker 1: know what great job. Pete versus analysts for the Vikings
Speaker 1: radio network, And I'm Paul Allen. Your Minnesota Vikings are
Speaker 1: seven and one, the same record held by the h
Speaker 1: nine and ninety eight Vikings, and we take on Buffalo
Speaker 1: next week. We'll have another postgame report for you after that.
Speaker 1: The final score in Minnesota twenty Washington seventeen. Let's wrap
Speaker 1: it up curly with Kevin O'Connell's postgame locker room conversation. Hey,
Speaker 1: let me just tell you something, all right, We talked
Speaker 1: last night about football teams that have philosophies and then standards.
Speaker 1: What that allows you to do is even when it
Speaker 1: doesn't go right, even when your standard is not being reached,
Speaker 1: and we all know when and where and why we'll
Speaker 1: get better each and every time, me included, always me included.
Speaker 1: But the last part of that is by living in
Speaker 1: that world, you can be your best when your best
Speaker 1: is required. That's right, and that's what this football team
Speaker 1: continues to do. I looked over to the the couple of guys,
Speaker 1: we're down ten. I said, we're gonna win this game
Speaker 1: by three. And it has nothing to do with thinking
Speaker 1: I got all the answers or anything other than just
Speaker 1: the belief, belief and belief that I have in this
Speaker 1: team that has removed all doubt. Like we talked about
Speaker 1: last night, give it up for yourselves one more time. Defensively, defensively,
Speaker 1: game balls can go all the way around for you guys.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna give him the two guys that we
Speaker 1: lean on time and time again. First one two sacks Hunter,
Speaker 1: another guy right here, all right, his yack was a
Speaker 1: little bit better. He's getting a little bit practice, He's
Speaker 1: getting a lot of practice at that yak because he's
Speaker 1: got his interception for a third game in a row. Here.
Speaker 1: This guy's been doing it for a long time, and
Speaker 1: we got to just watch him have his five hundred
Speaker 1: career reception. At him feeling right, j J. It was
Speaker 1: good to see you still know what to do when
Speaker 1: you're getting that end zone. Man, I've been killing you.
Speaker 1: Seven receptions one fifteen, one hundred and fifteen yards in
Speaker 1: a tub justin all right here. Seems like this guy
Speaker 1: got here about forty eight hours ago. We went out
Speaker 1: to go get this guy because I believe. I believe
Speaker 1: this guy can make game changing plays and fit right
Speaker 1: in with our offense. Were rolling targets TJ. Hockeys. Then,
Speaker 1: if you want to talk about being as your best
Speaker 1: when it's required, the reason why we are seven and one,
Speaker 1: the reason why our football team is at its best
Speaker 1: when it's required is our quarterback. This guy came back
Speaker 1: to a familiar place for him, got knocked out for plays,
Speaker 1: comes back in at least it's to a victory. Get
Speaker 1: him his change. My proud you father, give this to
Speaker 1: your kirkt On there. I like that. I'm like, hey, man, hey,
Speaker 1: today today was another example, I've been winning all year. Man,
Speaker 1: all right, this this team is only common and we
Speaker 1: play as a team. We win as a team. Man,
Speaker 1: no individuals. Man, I love this team. Let's keep doing it. Man,
Speaker 1: on to you, let's go. You like that