Speaker 1: The season finale with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions, takes place Sunday at noon. It's You're play
Speaker 1: by Playboys Paul Allen, joined weekly by Vikings head coach
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer. This is X's and Knows, presented all season
Speaker 1: by US Bank. How you doing coach things? All right?
Speaker 1: Ye're doing okay, Paul. The twenty twenty season probably the
Speaker 1: appreciation for adapting and people just having to make things work.
Speaker 1: It probably is the highest it's ever been, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of good communication, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of people following all the protocols and doing
Speaker 1: the things that they had to do. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought our guys did a nice job. When you
Speaker 1: write that book, will twenty twenty get a separate chapter? Yeah? Probably?
Speaker 1: And speak speaking to the twenty twenty season, not speaking
Speaker 1: for you, of course, but seriously, have you ever appreciated
Speaker 1: the fans here, there, or anywhere more than this year? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been very unusual. It took a long time to
Speaker 1: get used to really going into the stadium being quiet
Speaker 1: and um, you know, on the road at home, the
Speaker 1: whole bit. You know, we have great fans and they
Speaker 1: you know, they definitely help us in the home field advantage.
Speaker 1: What um, Blake Lynch undrafted from Baylor. He had a
Speaker 1: bunch of tackles in that New Orleans game. But overall,
Speaker 1: what do you what do you think of Blake? I
Speaker 1: think he's got a chance to be a good player.
Speaker 1: He's got good size, um, you know, like most of
Speaker 1: these young guys, they got to get bigger and stronger.
Speaker 1: But he's got good speed. He's a smart kid, so
Speaker 1: he has a chance. You know, I think has a
Speaker 1: chance to be a good special teams player next year
Speaker 1: and then maybe move move into you know, the lineup
Speaker 1: a little bit more the following. You know this this
Speaker 1: Lynch undrafted from Baylor, I think twenty sixteen through twenty
Speaker 1: eighteen played offense, had like rushing and receiving touchdowns, twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen Sackson interceptions. That that's quite the athlete at Baylor
Speaker 1: in the Big twelve. Pretty good. Yeah, and he uh
Speaker 1: it was a defensive back, you know, so he's still
Speaker 1: learning the position, um, you know, and he's I think
Speaker 1: Eric Wilson has helped him quite a bit trying to
Speaker 1: learn some of the some of the nuances of playing linebacker.
Speaker 1: You know, with the way the New Orleans game went
Speaker 1: and the way the season will end with no playoffs,
Speaker 1: is it even possible at this stage to recognize truly
Speaker 1: how much dynamic young talent you have on this team.
Speaker 1: I think, Paul, that's still that's still weighs away. You know,
Speaker 1: I think we do have some talented young guys, but
Speaker 1: you know, they have to be obviously a lot more consistent. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they all have to get bigger and stronger,
Speaker 1: get in the weight room, have an off season, OTA's
Speaker 1: spring practice this, you know, I think they all have
Speaker 1: to have that, and uh, you know, without that, it
Speaker 1: put a lot of these guys behind the eight ball. Really,
Speaker 1: you know, with Justin Jefferson more receptions than Randy Moss
Speaker 1: in ninety eight is rookie year, thirty seven yards from
Speaker 1: the most receiving yards in the history of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: I know, in a team game, it's an individual accomplishment,
Speaker 1: but with no preseason and a virtual off season, with
Speaker 1: all that that, that's phenomenal. Yeah, he's done a great job,
Speaker 1: you know, But offensively, I think we've done a great
Speaker 1: job all year long. You know, We've had a lot
Speaker 1: of veteran guys, and I think it showed throughout most
Speaker 1: of the season. Um, you know, having justin in there
Speaker 1: with with Adam and uh, you know most of the
Speaker 1: time with Kyle and you know Kirk um and having Cookie,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to do what he's done. I
Speaker 1: think all those things have added to h to him.
Speaker 1: But he's he's a really really good football player, catches
Speaker 1: a ball well, um, run really good routes, and he'll
Speaker 1: continue to get better and better. How about Riley Reef,
Speaker 1: I mean he himself, in my opinion, as a metaphor
Speaker 1: for life because you know, reportedly takes a pay cut
Speaker 1: in training camp, assumedly doesn't complain about it, and goes
Speaker 1: out and has arguably the best season of his career.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's how you handle tough situations, right Yeah.
Speaker 1: And Riley, uh, you know, I love him. He's he's uh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't say a lot, but when he does, he
Speaker 1: means it. He's extremely tough, extremely physical, wants to battle
Speaker 1: you every single play. Um, you know, he's just a
Speaker 1: just a true football player. After this Lions game, do
Speaker 1: you get some time off or is it immediately tear
Speaker 1: down the twenty twenty eight figure out what to do
Speaker 1: to get better. Yeah. I think what we're gonna do
Speaker 1: is take take a little time away and then uh,
Speaker 1: you know, because you never want to evaluate all your
Speaker 1: players on you know, just a past performance, and so
Speaker 1: take some time think about the season, the things that
Speaker 1: we've we've we've done well, things we didn't do well,
Speaker 1: and then evaluate the players and then go from there.
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer XES and os KFA and Minnesota Vikings Radio Network,
Speaker 1: the uh with with the week of practice up to
Speaker 1: this Lions game, Um, non playoff season, does anything change?
Speaker 1: Does it loosen up a little? I mean, like, how
Speaker 1: how does this week of practice compare to others? Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty similar, you know, you know quite honestly.
Speaker 1: The defensive guys, these these young guys, they need to
Speaker 1: continue to practice and go you know, we probably could
Speaker 1: go a little bit lighter with the with the offensive guys,
Speaker 1: but uh, you know, it's a team game, and we
Speaker 1: all got to go out there and we all got
Speaker 1: to try to perform and um, you know, so uh
Speaker 1: to me, this this is the game that I'll remember
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the off season, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: so hopefully we go out there and play play well.
Speaker 1: Given the nature of the most recent off seas season,
Speaker 1: Jeff Gladney nine plays against the Packers played increasingly more
Speaker 1: of the rest of the way the Packers game first
Speaker 1: game of the year. Overall, What do you think of Jeff? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's had a good year. You know, like
Speaker 1: I said before, we put a lot on his plate
Speaker 1: playing really playing two positions for a young guy. I've
Speaker 1: never had a rookie come in and be able to
Speaker 1: do those kind of things and get in in the
Speaker 1: nickel before. Um, So he's done a nice job. It's
Speaker 1: the off season will be important for him as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he had a knee that he's been milking
Speaker 1: a little bit, I guess the best way to say
Speaker 1: it throughout the throughout the course of the season. So
Speaker 1: he needs to get that rehab the right way, get
Speaker 1: back and get some strength and and and you know,
Speaker 1: come back ready to go. You know, whether I was
Speaker 1: Xavier Rhodes here when he was a top his game,
Speaker 1: Leon Hall when you were in Cincinnati, is Cam Danceler
Speaker 1: becoming the type of corner where you're getting close to
Speaker 1: being able to say that guy is yours. That's the
Speaker 1: end of the story. Well, I think he has that ability.
Speaker 1: You know, it's still way too early to say that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he does have ability, and he does have
Speaker 1: really good cover cover skills. You know, he's got to
Speaker 1: stay healthy, he's got to get he's got to get
Speaker 1: bigger and stronger in the offseason as well. You know,
Speaker 1: he's one hundred and eighty pounds and six almost six two. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got to get some put some bulk
Speaker 1: and strength on him. And then uh, you know, understand.
Speaker 1: I think the one good thing about all these young
Speaker 1: guys is they kind of understand what, um, the NFL
Speaker 1: season is really like. It's a lot different than the
Speaker 1: college season. And even some of our guys who missed
Speaker 1: the OTA's and um, you know, the the true training
Speaker 1: camp kind of kind of things. Um, I think they
Speaker 1: got an appreciation for what it really is going to
Speaker 1: take for him to be a good professional football players.
Speaker 1: And and off that, I mean, I think maybe for
Speaker 1: fans or really anybody except for like superstar veteran players,
Speaker 1: the appreciation for the preseason games. I mean, have you
Speaker 1: ever appreciated preseason games more than you do now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, Paul, we had guys come in here
Speaker 1: that uh we weren't even here in training camp that
Speaker 1: end up playing their first game is is uh, you know,
Speaker 1: when they go out there and play against whoever we're
Speaker 1: playing that week we've had. You know, these rookies the
Speaker 1: first game they get to go out and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: play against Aaron Rodgers the first game. So, um, you know,
Speaker 1: those things are all important in the in the progression
Speaker 1: of um, especially young players. You know, the veteran players,
Speaker 1: you know, Harrison Smith and those guys, and you know
Speaker 1: Riley Reef, as you said, they have an idea of
Speaker 1: what this thing's all about now, but I promise you
Speaker 1: if they would have had to deal with the same
Speaker 1: things that these young guys had to, um, you know,
Speaker 1: it would have took their breath away a little bit
Speaker 1: as well. And then you get to as a were Cleveland,
Speaker 1: I mean, he'd never maybe played guard in high school,
Speaker 1: I don't know, but he never did a boys the state.
Speaker 1: You know, now, all of a sudden, we're opposite what
Speaker 1: Grady Jared and the team Hicks and these men that
Speaker 1: make up the NFL. And I'm sure it didn't great
Speaker 1: out perfectly, but think about that from a team concept standpoint,
Speaker 1: he wants to be tackle. You drafted him as a tackle.
Speaker 1: But look, I mean went in there and gave his best. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and um, he's another guy that needs to get bigger
Speaker 1: and stronger. You know, he's he's he's still a puppy. Um.
Speaker 1: You know all these young guys. You know, Jefferson obviously
Speaker 1: was ready to go. He's he got the size and speed.
Speaker 1: But when when he puts on a little bit of strength,
Speaker 1: a little bit more strength, he's gonna be something really
Speaker 1: to deal with. But you know Ezra has to do that. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know all these all these young guys that uh
Speaker 1: come in here. Um, you know it's different. And and
Speaker 1: when you don't have OTAs and preseason and uh all
Speaker 1: the you know training camp, really what what you have
Speaker 1: to do with It's it's a different deal now. Um
Speaker 1: with uh, with Eric Kendricks, You're you're making a playoff
Speaker 1: push and you'll lose Eric. With with losing him, what
Speaker 1: what on the deep end did did you did you
Speaker 1: miss during the playoff push? Well, somebody could make some plays.
Speaker 1: You know, he's he was a big time playmaker. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, intercept intercept the ball against Detroit in the
Speaker 1: end zone. Um, you know, his his leadership ability of
Speaker 1: getting everybody lined up and making the correct calls and
Speaker 1: all those all those types of things. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: but just his you know, he's he just is a
Speaker 1: football player that goes and makes tackles all day long.
Speaker 1: And you know with him not being there obviously and
Speaker 1: missing bar that obviously helped, you know, hurt as well.
Speaker 1: And his energy to right specifically in stadiums with no
Speaker 1: fans where you know, you kind of got to get
Speaker 1: a going on your own. Yeah, and you know, Chris
Speaker 1: Boyd was a big energy guy before he got hurt.
Speaker 1: You know, he was a guy that was a good
Speaker 1: tackler and energetic and uh he brought a lot of
Speaker 1: emotion to those to those young defensive backs and so,
Speaker 1: uh you know that was that was a loss as well. Um,
Speaker 1: I say Dalvin for last because I saved the best
Speaker 1: for last. He's phenomenal on and off the field. He's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: What what do you think of his season? Terrific? You know,
Speaker 1: he fought through playing eighty plays. I think it was
Speaker 1: seventy plays in one ball game or something like that. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, his explosiveness, his leadership ability, which I really
Speaker 1: really respect the way he goes about being a leader
Speaker 1: and the toughness that he brings to not only that position,
Speaker 1: but the offense and the team. I think, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's just a tremendous, tremendous football player with a
Speaker 1: great heart and uh you know, as good as football player,
Speaker 1: his heart might be bigger and I and we respect you.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for joining us, and best to
Speaker 1: luck this offseason. Okay, all right, Paul, thank you. Andrew Janoko,
Speaker 1: a frequent guest on x's Nose, is the wide receiver
Speaker 1: coach for the Minnesota Vikings and he's in a sixth
Speaker 1: year with the football team. Something um I discussed with
Speaker 1: the head coach and the previous segment, adapting and just
Speaker 1: learning the proper routes to adaptation no matter what comes
Speaker 1: at you. I mean, really with the twenty twenty Vikings
Speaker 1: and professionally or personally for you, Andrew, is that a
Speaker 1: fair way to put it? Yeah? I think so. You know, everybody,
Speaker 1: whether it's in the sports world or outside of here,
Speaker 1: has had to adapt to different circumstances and we're no different.
Speaker 1: And we take each day and you know, we have
Speaker 1: a job to do and however, we gotta get that done,
Speaker 1: whether it's virtually, whether it's in person, the different things
Speaker 1: that come at us, we just we try to do
Speaker 1: it one day at a time and do the best
Speaker 1: you can. Any personal or professional like life lessons out
Speaker 1: of this season. You missed a game, you know, because
Speaker 1: of the COVID situation, and you know, like you mentioned
Speaker 1: with the no fans and virtual and anything that when
Speaker 1: you sit down and you kind of smell the roses
Speaker 1: with the way things went, anything that'll stick with you forever.
Speaker 1: I think, just counting your blessings every day and realizing
Speaker 1: how blessed you are to get to do what you do,
Speaker 1: and any time that you get to step on the field,
Speaker 1: whether it's practice to walk through or it's a game,
Speaker 1: to never take that for granted and to always understand it.
Speaker 1: It's it's truly an honor to get to wear these
Speaker 1: colors and step out onto that field. So you know,
Speaker 1: just really enjoying any time you get to do that.
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson rookie from LSU thirty eight yards for mosses
Speaker 1: the eight rookie record two hundred seven yards from a
Speaker 1: player named Bill Groman, who has a sixty year old
Speaker 1: record for the most receiving yards in the history of
Speaker 1: the NFL. Best to luck with Justin. All that, but
Speaker 1: kind of a dovetailing what I discussed with the head
Speaker 1: coach in the previous segment for Jefferson, no preseason games,
Speaker 1: virtual off season Randy Moss type records. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is unbelievable. Great job by him, Great job by you.
Speaker 1: Oh thanks, Paul. You know, the biggest thing is just
Speaker 1: trying to get ready to play every week. Give him
Speaker 1: the best, the best opportunities and the best advantages possible
Speaker 1: for him to get to display his talent and help
Speaker 1: him be ready mentally and physically to go execute the
Speaker 1: plan each week with everything laid out with Justin and
Speaker 1: he's obviously a very very talented young man. With no
Speaker 1: preseason games in that virtual offseason, I'm going to guess
Speaker 1: that it probably didn't all super quick early in the season.
Speaker 1: Maybe it hasn't to this point. But getting through that
Speaker 1: learning NFL plays with no preseason and the different training
Speaker 1: camp was that difficult? Yeah, it was. You know, the
Speaker 1: offseason was difficult at times, but everybody had the same
Speaker 1: hand and so we had to go to work and
Speaker 1: you know, it's a credit to to those guys to
Speaker 1: learn to learn that system and credit adjustin to learn
Speaker 1: the system, um, learn how to run the routes. Um.
Speaker 1: And yeah it was a struggle at first, but um,
Speaker 1: you know, we just we had to do what we
Speaker 1: had to do and you know, take the extra time
Speaker 1: and the extra meetings and and try to get him
Speaker 1: in a position where he could he could go out
Speaker 1: and practice on his own. And um, you know understand
Speaker 1: the language that we were talking, the language we were
Speaker 1: speaking with the plays, um, the different things we were
Speaker 1: asking how we ran routes here, um, and the different
Speaker 1: techniques to apply. You know. Yeah, there there was some
Speaker 1: hiccups at times, and you know we kind of had
Speaker 1: to dive head first in once we all got here together, um,
Speaker 1: not just the rookies, but but all the receivers in
Speaker 1: that room. Um. You know, with me being a new
Speaker 1: guy add into that room, you know, we just kind
Speaker 1: of had to go and you know, there were there
Speaker 1: were bumps in the road, but you know, at the
Speaker 1: same time, we just uh, you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: took it in stride each day. Andrew your your first
Speaker 1: season as wide receivers coach. Now in the off season,
Speaker 1: did you like talk to anybody either on this team
Speaker 1: or with other teams who a have done that job
Speaker 1: before or be kind of got you set up for
Speaker 1: what to expect. Yeah, obviously, you know, as a staff,
Speaker 1: we're talking every day. And one of the great things
Speaker 1: of working for coaching, working for coach Kubiak are as
Speaker 1: they coach their coaches and you know, coach Coobs every
Speaker 1: day he was he was helping. He was coaching me
Speaker 1: um as much as he was coaching everybody else. And
Speaker 1: then you know, you reach out to reach out to
Speaker 1: different resources, different guys that you know have done this job,
Speaker 1: and you pull from your notes, people you've been around,
Speaker 1: people you're respecting this league and try to give yourself
Speaker 1: set yourself up to be successful the best way you
Speaker 1: know how without actually seeing a whole lot of people
Speaker 1: for a couple of months. Wow, what what you like
Speaker 1: about Adam Feeling season? You know, he's just he's just
Speaker 1: one of those people that are a pro and no
Speaker 1: matter what we ask him to do, he takes pride
Speaker 1: in it. Whether it's digging out of safety, it's cutting
Speaker 1: off on the back side, it's running aroute for a screen.
Speaker 1: He wants to to do that, to do that to
Speaker 1: the best of his ability, and takes a lot of
Speaker 1: pride in it. And you know, he wants to make
Speaker 1: sure that the tough catches are ones he's supposed to make,
Speaker 1: and he holds himself to a very high level of accountability.
Speaker 1: And that's been that's been really cool to be around,
Speaker 1: to see somebody that really focuses on the little things
Speaker 1: and really cares about the little things, whether he's getting
Speaker 1: the ball or he's not. He wants to do it
Speaker 1: right all the time. Red zone touchdowns for Adam number
Speaker 1: one in the NFL. What makes him so good in
Speaker 1: the red area inside the twenty Well, I think it
Speaker 1: starts with what I just mentioned, his attention to detail
Speaker 1: and understanding who the defender is, what they're trying to do,
Speaker 1: how he studies defenders, and then putting himself within the
Speaker 1: concept and giving himself the best best position to be successful,
Speaker 1: whether it's in the beginning of the route, whether it's
Speaker 1: creating separation at the top of the route and the
Speaker 1: moons he works on there and the things we stress there,
Speaker 1: and then you know, just being a competitor and wanting
Speaker 1: to go get the ball. Lastly, and it's off topic
Speaker 1: because you are the wide receivers coach. Way of one
Speaker 1: game to Go. You worked with Rick Dennison in the
Speaker 1: offensive line last year, and I know you watch back
Speaker 1: these plays Riley Reef and Brian O'Neill. I mean, seriously,
Speaker 1: when you watch back these plays, I know you're not
Speaker 1: coaching them this year, but isn't it a treat to
Speaker 1: watch those guys play the way they play it? Really?
Speaker 1: And those two guys deserve to play well because that's
Speaker 1: how they prepare. So it's an expectation for them because
Speaker 1: they prepare so hard and they practice so hard, and
Speaker 1: they're both tough guys. So when they have success, it's
Speaker 1: it's not a surprise. It's seeing their hard work payoff
Speaker 1: and then you know, getting what they deserve because that's
Speaker 1: how they work each day. Great job, man, Thank you
Speaker 1: Andrew for all the appearances on x AS and OZ
Speaker 1: this year. Have a wonderful, wonderful offseason. I'm sure we'll
Speaker 1: run into each other other whenever it's safe to run
Speaker 1: into each other, right, let me know as soon as
Speaker 1: as soon as we can get down, let's see you
Speaker 1: call race again. I'd love to do that. I'm in
Speaker 1: on that man. Thank you, Andrew tay Care, Paul