Vikings Postgame Report: Vikings Score The Final 13 Points, Outlast The Commanders 20-17 | WASH | Week 9

pass for a rare receiving touchdown. From that moment, through the Minneapolis miracle and through so many different things we've seen in regular season or postseason games, this thing today was unbelievable. This is as emotional as I have been for a football game, Paul, and since I can remember, and it's and for I mean just for so many reasons, so many reasons, and to see I guess the bottom

line is this. This team today had every excuse, I think, to just say, you know what, not in the cards today and we're just not gonna we know, we're just not gonna get there. We're on the road, we're playing one of the best defenses I think in the league, best defensive fronts for sure. But they found a way to win. And it was the big players. It was the justin Jefferson's at the big times that come up, the sacks. You know, Daniel Hunter gets a couple today.

I mean, those are the things you gotta have, you like, you know, like Coach Burns would say. We talked about Coach Burns last night. Yeah, big players gotta make big plays at the big time, big knockers that used to call them. And that happened time after time after time today. And I'll tell you what, I'm exhausted. I mean, all I do is talk. I get that I'm not running on the field any I got it. But emotionally, the whole thing I it is, I I've never this team

is this is a team to get behind. Yeah, this is a team that you just can't say, you'll like. This is a team that you know, mentally, emotionally get behind. To see them come back like they did today. Oh my gosh, what a a what an amazing day, What a fun Sunday. It's one to remember that the Vikings beat Washington twenty to seventeen. Minnesota's won six in a row. Minnesota is seven and one takes on Buffalo next Sunday. The Bills lost at the Jets today twenty to seventeen.

Kirk Cousins played six years with Washington. His first time back to FedEx Field two sixty five, two tds and an interception. We will hear from Kirk shortly. Likewise, for Kevin O'Connell, the Minnesota Vikings coach KOC coach with Washington for three years, two was a quarterbacks coach who won

his offensive coordinator. The Vikings are six and oh this year in one score games, and when they were down seventeen seven in the fourth quarter, what Pete just said, I can't stress enough the level of importance the Vikings and winning all these games have not panicked well that there was some panic where there was some frustration. It was discombobulated. It did not look like the squad we've seen the last month and a half. Then all of a sudden, there was a hit on Kirk Cousins that

knocked him out for a play. The Vikings defense got pissed off and Zadarius Smith channeled his inner Lawrence Taylor and was unblockable. He was I mean, and we knew that they were going to pay a lot of attention to Zadarius Smith in the game plan. We knew that coming in. Scott Turner talked about it during the week that allowed one on ones with Daniel Hunter, and Daniel Hunter absolutely answered the bell, Paul. I mean, I know he would love to get that jet sweep by the

tight end back, Yeah, but he can't. You know, he comes up with two huge sacks today. He you know those guys, none of those guys up front, ever, he gave up. Losing Tomlinson and not having Tomlinson, yeah, is

a big deal. Tomson is a great football player, and I you know, I've got to give a tip of the cap to all those guys like James Lynch, yeah, and Ross Blacklock and Bullard and Kyrie Tonga who stepped up about that and did a great job today because this is a very good running football team, very good with the running game, and they stick with it, they

hang with it, and we were able to slow him down. Now, coming up on the postgame report at Vikings dot com, you'll hear press conferences from Kevin O'Connell and Kirk Cousins. Also three takes from Ron Johnson. Then at the end, Kevin O'Connell's post game speech in the locker room. I love that every single week. Why wouldn't we because every single week it's a celebratory press conference from the head coach of the Vikings, whose team is seven and one.

Let's begin with winning formula, Ben Lieber and Gabe Henderson. Welcome to a winning edition of Between the Lines fueled by Gatorade of My name is Gabe Henderson. Ben Lieber is alongside me and Ben. The Minnesota Vikings win in thrilling fashion today, twenty to seventeen over the Washington Commanders. And I really I haven't processed this game just yet. With all the back and forth, the momentum swings, everything that went into this game, this Minnesota Vikings team still

found a way to get a win. You're talking to Kevin O'Connor in the locker room right after the game. What were his thoughts on today's win. I mean, it's really the same thing that we've seen from this team all season long. He's like, we're a Resilian football team, you know, we're never out of it. He's like, you know, I said, it always seems like from a fan perspective that you know, you hit these lulls in the game and then when you have to make these critical plays.

All of a sudden, they just can make their critical plays. Like what is to that? He's like, you know, it's just obviously just a belief in what we're doing. And you know, guy's not given up, and we're just trying to out execute on every play. And it just so happens that they're making more critical plays than their opponents. And this and this was the same thing again. I mean, you never saw a true quit. Now you saw some disappointment. There were some guys on the sideline that we're obviously

very depressed. I think that the Commander's defensive front they really, you know, took it out on us offensively. I don't think they gave us a lot of life. They're kind of sucking it away. But then, you know, one successful play after another, all of a sudden, you see the life kind of pop back into this team. And obviously a bunch of big plays down the stretch put it

over the top. You definitely needed a big play down the stretch following the end of the first well, I guess the first player of the second half, I can't think of his name, Cameron Binder runs into the back judge the Washington the Commanders score a touchdown and everyone is thinking, Okay, is this how the Vikings are going to lose? By the back judge literally running into a play where we should have had an interception, and then we started chirping away, started getting some moment of back.

Harrison Smith gets an interception. What would you say about this resilient Vikings team being able to fight back when we're down seventeen to seven in the fourth quarter. Well, I think there's one play that that really, to me was kind of the turning point. There's always like turning points in a lot of these games, especially these games that are so close and comes down to us to

possession or two. It was third down and Kirk makes that throw to Justin Jefferson, I believe for forty seven yards down down the left Kings hash he takes a shot by darn Payne and lays there literally in pain. It has to sit out. A play that to me was the injection of confidence I think that this team needed. We only got three points out of it, but we

are down by ten points at that time. You get three, you now take a two possession game down to one possession, and you give this team some life, some confidence, like oh Man, even though they got a guy that was you end up being a free rusher to get a quarterback hit. We're able to execute down the field. We really hadn't done that much throughout the game up until that point. So I think it gave our offense some life, gave our defense some life. In the very next possession

you get to Harrison Harrison Smith interception. The Harrison Smith interception was due to this Vikings team just being able to play really good on first down. Our run defense was phenomenal today. Dalvin Tomlinson, we knew he was out. He was out with the calf injury. So Ross Blacklock, Terrence Ross, Jonathan Buller, James Lynch, all those guys had to step up. We held those guys to less than

four yards per carry. What did you see from our backups filling in for David Thomlinson that was able to get us that edge over their offensive line. Well, I think as the game went on, we were able to stop sort of reading some of the zone reads stuff. You know, when you when you're trying to guess right, and sometimes that's that becomes a problem because you're not making things declared for your linebackers. And your safeties and the run fits. As the game went on, I think

we declared a little bit more. We're stouter at the point of attack. We weren't getting washed down, you know, we weren't getting pushed horizontally across the line of scrimmage, and so we clogged up the a's and b gaps, the inside gaps. And then we saw late in the game at Caleb Evans coming up and run support on the outside as a cornerback, which is what you have to do once you declare you see it's run now, you shift your focus from past defense to run defense.

And he did a phenomenal job. So a couple good examples there of just how everybody worked really, really well and tandem across that defensive front. That's a really good point you made about Caleb Evans coming up and tackle tackling. Later in the game camera camera dancer are starting in cornerback got injured. I believe in the first early part of the second half, Caleb Evans comes in get some

really game defining plays. You can tell the Watchington Commander's team we're saying, okay, let's block everybody on the Minnesota Vikers defense and let's put our running back one on one with a cornerback. The quarterback is usually the worst tackler on the team, and the fact that he stopped up today, you had to be excited about what you saw with him, right, Oh, it was super excited. You know. You always kind of wonder, like, are these guys we

love to say, like whoa next man up? That's the mentality, and like it's a lot easier said than done sometimes, But you know, he's one of those guys that is truly becoming a gamer. He seems to be always ready

for the big moments. And and you know, with I think the thing that helped was with Danceler being kind of questionable going into the game, I'm assuming that a Caleb got a lot of reps in practice too, so he was prepared and you could tell that he was prepared for this moment when he gets in there and ends up playing for most of the game. So, like you said, the way that he's able to come up and run fits was great. He played, you know, great on pass defense, fourth and one, the boot across across

the field, he's there to knock the ball down. So he had a huge impact in this game. Another person who had a huge impact in this game was t J Hockinson. We didn't know how much he was going to learn going He's going to know going into this game. I remember being at practice on Wednesday and he had a paper in his hand with tight ends coach and Brian Angelico, and Brian Angelico was like one A, he

stepped right, one stepped left. Okay, good good good. So literally it was like he was literally learning the basics of the game. And the fact that he played almost ninety percent of plays today. Nine catches seventy yards, three catches on fourth down that converted, I mean on third down that converted to first downs. What did you see from him that that made this offense go well? Right away,

you saw the defense have to respect him. You saw previously with the tight ends that we've had on this on this roster, when we're like an eleven personnel, one tight end, one running back, and usually a passing situation, you see them. You see the defenses lately lining up with linebackers. Yeah, and that makes it really tough to do what we want to do because these linebackers now they can use these safeties to double team JJ. They

can double team feeling when they want to. But right away, when they saw Hawkinson split out, they put a safety over the top of him. So now all of a sudden, now a safety that you can use to double team or bracket somebody in the outside. You couldn't do that in this game. Yea. And the way that he can wiggle and then he can move at the top of his route to gain separation even from safeties. Tony Man,

this acquisition is truly a game changer. Now. I know that the fans out there probably are saying, like, well, why didn't we take advantage of these situations? Look, maybe it didn't. It didn't like come out in this game right away when we saw those matchups. That's a really good defensive fronts. They're not going to see a lot of defensive fronts there that physical and can get after the passer and alter the passing game like these guys.

These guys can. But trust me, going forward, knowing that defense is gonna have to honor him with a safety and not a linebacker, that's gonna be huge for this offense. I had no idea the effect he would have in his first game as a Minnesota Viking, But the way he was able to stretch the field down the middle of the field and open up opportunities for everyone else. I am a fan of that, and he's only going to get better with time. We have the Buffalo Bills

next week that are six and two. We're seven and one, five game lead in the NFC North. I'm excited. I'm really excited. What's the mindset for you and the mindset for the what should the mindset for this team be going forward? Trying to stack some of these wins together. Look, I think they have to look at this um and say, there's not a team out there that we can't compete

with and win. You know, we've faced a lot of defenses and teams that like they're they're they're an excellent or elite at one position or one grouping, and we're finding ways to not make that be a problem. Like I said, this defensive front for Washington, it's a problem. Yeah, And they were a problem for most of the game, but we figured it out. We found a way to mitigate some of that stuff and take advantage of them.

So who's to say, after all these wins and these tough situations and being resilient that we can't do that against arguably the best team in the league, although they lost today to the New York Jets, but we all know how high powered their offense is. We all know what Leslie Fraser is doing with that defense. That's an elite defense as well. They have great safeties they've got is it gonna get after the passers upfront? Two? So major tests. But by no means should we walk into

to Buffalo feeling like, oh right, we should doubt ourselves. Right, we absolutely can win that game seven and one. It's a lot of fun and Ben is growing some hairback. When they said because we're winning, I wish I wish that was that's what happened. Like for every win, I get another sprout of hair. Hey, that's the case of Vikings fans. We're going to continue to win games because we all want Ben liber to be at as much hair as I've lost. There's not enough games in the season.

This is gonna be like a ten year bit or maybe some row games. Six. Speaking of games, but Ben, it's a pleasure always talking to you. We'll see you in Buffalo next week. For Ryan O'Neill, Ben Lieber. My name is Gabe Henderson, Thank you guys again for tuning into another winning edition between the Lines fueled by Gator eight. Great job guys, Thank you Ben, and thank you Gabe.

Speaking of Kevin O'Connell, first year coach for the Minnesota Vikings, you know Kirk Cousins played six years here, fourth year, fourth round draft pick in twenty twelve by Washington. He had a forty nine hundred yard passing season in twenty sixteen. That's still a single season record for Washington. He wasn't booed when he went down and got up and got back in the game, got a little bit of a standing ovation from an appreciative crowd. That was very very cool.

But Kevin has to feel very very good about this seven and one start. Here's this postgame press conference. Um, just a quick update. Cam Danceler suffered at just an ankle injury. We will absolutely keep you guys updated as we go, but that's one of those injuries hard to give a timetable on. We'll get him evaluated, probably get him an MRI tomorrow, scan and we'll see where he's at. But really really proud of our team. We talked a lot last night about being at your best when it's required,

and how do you do that? You're you've you've got a first and foremost be able to overcome adversity, some of which we you know, self inflicted caused on our own. Didn't always play the best complimentary football today, but what we saw as a team continue to find ways to

win football games. Down ten again in the fourth quarter and and really you know, bounced off of that Harrison Smith interception his third game in a row, and bounce off of that the right way by kind of capturing the momentum in the football game and then found a way to win it at the end. So proud of our team to get a win um, And and uh, you know, of of that magnitude when you're when you're

down ten and and nobody one time flinches. We've got that mentality that's kind of proven at this point of our team. We'll continue to coach better and execute at a higher level and find ways to continue to improve as the season goes on. So uh, you know, we're playing our best ball when it matters. You guys feel back out are you tell we were in a no score situation because I just felt like, uh, if we were going to take the points off the board and

and put our offense back out there. Situationally, knowing they had the one time out left, you know, you could kind of do the math on it. Where we didn't really want to take just take knees. We wanted to try to work as much of the clock as we

could three four seconds. Even Kirk on that last one would have hated to would have you know, hated to see him take a hit, But what he's doing right there is every second matters just in case we can possibly run that thing all the way out round did a great job with his time out there, but then for he was out, and then we were able to kind of make it more of a desperation mode instead of keeping those points on the board there, But then you give them the full time to possibly not only

get three, but maybe even go win it. So I love the way we handled it situationally. It's not always the prettiest in those moments, but we did what we had to do to win. About the play there where Kirk went down there, any media concerned what happened, Yeah, I you know, Kirk got hit quite a bit today. Um interior, that defensive line is pretty darn good. Montes sweat on the outside. Um, they did some good things.

They sent some timely secondary pressures corners and we're seeing kind of a full gamut, um, you know, to to some of our you know, to some of our stuff, and we got to continue to do a good job handling some of that stuff out as as we start to see it. But that play was special in my opinion. Um, you know, there was a critical third and seven. We've got the matchup one on one. Um. But but Kirk knew he was gonna have to pay for that one.

Uh maybe a little bit too quick right there. I thought we had, you know, kind of the down guys accounted for. But for him to stand in there and make that throw at that moment and then only miss one snap and really he you know, that's just a league rule. Otherwise he wanted to stay in there. Um, and uh, you know obviously go down there and try to finish that thing. Yeah. Um, you know, a couple

times a year in this league, stuff like that happens. Um. I think as the coach of the team, it happens too. It's very hard to react to in the moment, especially when I felt like that had a good chance to be an interception going back the other way. That ball was in the air for a long time with kind of an overlap safety and cambine him, uh, you know,

kind of tracking it. Uh, and then for not only it to happen that way, but then also be uh, you know, go from an interception to a touchdown was unfortunate. I got to take a look at where everybody was, and I just know how hard it is to, you know, for those officials and kind of with all the different route concepts and where do I stay to still be able to do my job but also not be in the way. It's easier said than done. Like I said, it happens a couple of times a year. I'm just

proud of our team for overcoming it defensively. I thought, outside of that play, where you know, we can only control what we can control, I was really proud of their effort today. Huge trust and Dalvin. We've been saying it and it has not been anything we don't believe. We really do believe Dalvin can impact this game. He got a one on one kind of in the red zone right there, critical gotta habit type play, and Kirk

Cousins trusted him through a beautiful throw. We expected maybe a matchup versus a linebacker, but they played some dime defense right there with the six dB in there. And for him to win, you know, against the safety type body right there and maybe fight through a little contact while the ball was in the air was pretty special and unbelievable finish to that drive. Yeah, he showed me what he showed me all year long. I mean, regardless of what it's like. It's some of these guys are

hard to block, and Kirk knows that. But we've got to find a way. And you know, we were able to overcome some negative kind of outcome, some in our control, some out of our control. Um. But for your quarterback to stand in there and be at his best when we really need him to be. I don't think that that's a coincidence when you talk about us being able to win in the fourth quarter when maybe it hasn't

always been pretty. It's hard in this league. Teams have really good players at some spots that sometimes match up. Uh that that that you got to account for, and that's where I think I can do a better job for our team just trying to see out in front of those and have answers before we get to the stadium. But ultimately, I'm just proud of our guys the way they can battle over and over again, versity, no flinch, and it might seem like a little thing, but it

be in downtown in the fourth quarter. You've got your really two decisions to make as a football team, and we keep making the right one. You know, for Kirk, every win it's important. Yeah, But do you think this one mental a lot more to him than I guess your standard win. I don't know. If I don't know, i'd have to let Kirk answer that, but I can tell you that his teammates were very, very excited when he received the final game ball in the locker room and broke us down. Um. You can just feel what

this guy means to his teammates, this organization. UM. And and as a first year coach here to have him as our quarterback, UM, I feel very confident and feel lucky to have Kirk as our guy because, UM, he's playing at a really high level and overcoming some circumstances that quite honestly, we're learning a lot about him and I feel great about where he's at right now, trying to be a guy in the Champs touchdown of Jefferson, How do you think he did never regard in terms

of trust. Are you talking about the one at the end of the first half. Yeah, yeah, that was that was what we were looking for right there, one on one in that situation, with a plan for kind of pressure and what they may throw out us. We still still had our one time out left, so if we didn't get that, look, we had the ability to put the ball in play and maybe get a little closer

and use our time out. Uh. That's that was just one my one point, and some discussions afterwards would say, let's just make sure we understand, uh, you know, as we as we watch that that that's not a hail Mary. That's a one on one to one of the best

receivers in football, and that's what we're hunting. And I'm so proud of Kirk for throwing it, and it's unfortunate that it ends ends up being his only interception of the day on a play like that, um and loved him giving justin another chance there at the end, trying to get a touchdown on that third down before we kicked it, uh for the for the game winning field goal,

right there. But I just um, those are tough plays, bang bang plays, and we're gonna keep giving justin those one on ones down the field, both in the red zone and in in the field, just trying to generate chances to get our best player in football. Yeah, and getting up after just a riding two. First and foremost, he deserves all the credit, both him and Brian Angelico, the tight ends coach. They spent a lot of time together over the last five days getting him ready to play.

We did not really dumb anything down. We didn't have a separate offense when TJ was in there. I'm amazed at how prepared he was to play. I think it's a testament to his work ethic, his ability to retain a lot of information, and then obviously the coaching by Brian to just get with him and kind of be at his side for five six days in a row in hopes of having him ready to go. I think nine targets, nine receptions, some on third down, and you could feel his presence on the field. It's a big

time edition that COIs and his staff went and got us. Yeah, yeah, I think it just I know one thing for sure, we can have confidence to go try to win a football game, however it's gone. You know, you gotta try each one of them as its own. But I do think when you're able to overcome and win on the road, you know, adversity of double digit deficits, that only helps us in the back of our minds knowing football games

are gonna go a lot of different ways. But the next play, the next play mentality of knowing, uh, we're gonna get this thing done. We're going to continue to stay together, complimentary football with the defense making a huge play and then the offense turning that into a touchdown was huge. But that that four quarter game is going to be out there for us, and as I keep telling our team, no reason why it can't be next week.

But it'll be nice if you know, when those moments and those quarters start to stack on each other, hopefully it's when it matters the most us. I'm glad you asked about that. I thought a Caleb between the physicality that he showed on some tackles against some good backs in space and then just knowing the type of you know, you know it's player that Terry McLaurin and some of their other guys are I felt like he really had an impact in there, and it seemed like he was

incredibly comfortable in that moment um. You know, I give Edna staff a lot of a lot of credit for having him ready to roll like that. And we'll see how Cam does and but it's big time snaps for Caleb stepping in right there. Would you like to summarize your weekend including the family abissions? Yeah? So, Um, we thought a couple a couple of days earlier in the week we thought it might have been time, but ended

up being the right time. Was was Friday evening and then getting the opportunity to get through the week with our team, get it immediately. When I left you guys on on Friday after practice there, got over to the hospital with my wife. She was an absolute, I mean unbelievable through her fourth you know delivery of you know, our I just feel so blessed having been there and then get a chance to make sure she was in

a you know, good place and received incredible care. Helped me to be confident to come out here with our team and try to get a win. But I cannot wait to get back there. Um, just so excited to get back to my family and really spend some more time with my new daughter. Thank you though her name is Callie, Callie Grace see a l I E. Yeah, thanks,

thank you for asking. Thanks. Koc Cousins finishes twenty two or forty two sixty five couple of tds h and an interception that that touchdown to Dalvin that ended up leading to the tide back left of the end zone. Are you kidding me with the catch? For sure? How about the throw? How about the throw exactly right and that throw he threw to Justin Jefferson when he took on right in the solar plexus and went down and came out of play. I mean that that is that's

the razor thin edge, Paul. I think Kirk Cousins rides and if he can consistently do that, meaning take the big hit, deliver the football, he can be He could be an elite quarterback. He could be as good as anybody in the league. Because the accuracy man that we route to Justin Jefferson, that throw and that catch was a thing of beauty. We've been waiting for it kind of because that's a RAMS that's like a RAMS calling card.

Right the wheel route with the running back. They got beat on a wheel route last week against the Colts, so we knew that those that route was there, that those kinds of things were there, and for Cousins to deliver that football right exactly where it needed to be. Dalvin Cook has a huge catch. I mean, if Cousins can just yeah, we saw it fall apart a little bit. We saw fall apart a little bit with the delayed game bit and then the force throw that he tried

to get to Jefferson. That you know that those are plays that you wish you had back, and it was great to see him face that adversity, that frustration and then come back and do you know, play the end of this game like he did. Kirkus thrown touchdowns in thirty eight consecutive games. That has tied for six best in the history of the NFL with Tony Romo. Adam thieland finished three catches sixty seven yards. He caught his five hundredth today. Well done, ad him Feeling. He caught

it from Kirk Cousins. And here's what Kirk had to say after a very emotional game. I wanted to congratulate Adam Feeling on five hundred catches as of Viking, I learned only three guys have done that, and the other two guys are named Chris Carter and Randy Moss, So that's an elite company. And it says a lot about not only Adam as a player, but Adam as a man, because you don't do that on accident. You don't do

that just because you have a couple good years. The ability to have sustained success over and over and over again says something about you as a person, not just as a player. And I think so highly ad him. He does everything the right way, and I'm excited to see where he takes it from here because I'm so lucky to get to play with him, and I'm grateful that he gets something like this achievement wise, because he deserves it. And we'll go down as one of the

best Vikings of all time. I can't say enough about what TJ. Hopkinson did this week to learn this system. It took me about four months to learn it. He didn't like four days, so he's kind of making me look bad. But uh uh, not one time in the huddle did I feel like he was looking at me like I like, like he didn't know what to do, uh, just very much on top of it. Gave me a sense of ease as a result, And you don't do it by yourself. It was coach An's working with him

after hours. And I gotta give a lot of credit to David Blow. David took over post practice pre practice with TJ to help him transition from his old system to this system. And UM, I'm sure TJ's had his spending and there's a lot he still got to learn, but he helped us today and UM, just gotta say I'm grateful for the work that he put in, that David put in, the Nan put in to get him ready.

And then, um, there's no way we win this game without our defense just keeping us in it, letting us, you know, kind of hang around, and um, they just kept making play after play after play and gave us the chance late in the game, especially with Harrison's interception to to you know, take it down to the red zone to give us a chance to win that game.

And it felt in a lot of ways like our other wins this season where you can't point to that perfectly played offensive game where everything clicked, but just defense picking us up, special teams picking us up and then finding a way to make enough plays at the end

and find the inches. And uh, it's great to be seven and one, but I think, as I've said it many other of these postgame UM conferences, you know, we do need to play better and and we're certainly going to get tested major you know, next week, and uh, gotta be ready for that challenge. So I can take

any questions you have. What is that telling you about? Well, I think finding the inches is important, and I think it's important to find those in situations, you know, third down, red zone, two minute and a half, end of game, um, And so I think that's probably some of the areas we've been we've been finding successes and a half end

of game. Certainly not today with our you know, interception at the end a half, but um, you know, even that was shaping up to be a positive drive get down the field goal range and and then had a turnover. But um, you know that's where we've kind of found found the interest is at the end of happen in the game. I don't know what all runs together right now.

I remember thinking, with the way their defense is playing against us at ten point lead, I mean, that's gonna be tough, but I think the combination of the explosive player on third down to justin getting us down there, you know, Dalvin making an unbelievable catch, Harrison's interception. It were just kind of plays that, uh that snowball together, that gate got us back in the game and um um, and I really have a lot of respect for coach del Rio and that defense and the way they played

the day. I feel like they frustrated us much of the game, and uh have a lot of respect for the way they play. Your emotions just kind of returning to Washington, Yeah, I just had a lot of uh, really warm, warm emotions and a lot of gratitude for the fact that I got to play here, that I

had the privilege of being here for six years. And as we pulled in with our buses, I could see that you know, home player parking lot where I remember walking out, you know, to meet my family and to see you know, teammates and coaches, you know, the Sean mcbaye of the world that you'd you know, visit with after a game and just you know it kind of maybe emotional pulling out of the bus, just thinking about that and kind of where things have gone, and uh,

just so grateful I got to play here and got to play for the coaches I did, um you know, Mike Shanahan, future Hall of Fame coach. To be drafted here by him was just special. And to play for Kyle and Sean and Matt and Mike McDaniel and so many guys, um, jay, you know, it was just a blessing. And they believed to me before I believe in myself. I remember my second start at Atlanta year two. U Kyle dat me up before the game, you know, right before kickoff and says something like, you know, go out

have a great day. And he said, you're you know, kind of gassed me up. And I said, well, I want to prove you right, and he said, you don't have to prove me right. I know him right, You're going to be a player in this league for a long time. And that was before I'd done anything. And so his ability to kind of speak belief in meybe, I even believed in myself. Um, you know, took my career to a probably to a different level than ever

would have gone. Like that. Kevin just brought me up to just break the team down, and so uh, you know, first thing that came to mind. But uh, you know it's just you know, I think the team, the team was calling for that one a little bit obviously. Yeah, yeah I did this one. Just mean a little bit more considering how everything unfolded. Yeah, I probably. You know, so much time has passed, five years, there's so much change. Um,

so I wouldn't say so. I think to to win on the road and um, you know, to find a way it means a lot is special win. It was a hard funk game. I think the way that they rushed us, the way they hit us. Um, you know, it's one of those games where you know, you feel that toughness and as you walk off the field and feel so great to win. But um, um you know, I just I just have so many positive memories being here and uh and what it meant for my my footballer,

brus for my life, Yeah, I call you. By surprise, I had never entered the stadium on a bus from the visitors side. I've been here sixty plus times as a home player, but never as a visitor. So to kind of realize, oh, that's that's right where it was. And you know the number of times I made that walk from the car to the stadium and back out, and you know, highs lows, you know, the whole thing, um and just where life is taken you, you know,

and you know I got Chris Stannon here. I mean, Chris knew me when I was a single college guy come out of college and and so to see him is kind of one of the examples of just a lot of memories flooding back, positive warm memories and U um, just feel so grateful that I got to be here and be part of this. Yeah, yeah, please say no. I just couldn't breathe for a second. Guy, the wind knocked out of me, and I thought he scored, So I was kind of like I could jog down there

and suck win for a second. But I think we scored. So I'm just gonna lay here and kind of catch my breath. And then they're like, no, he's down with the ten. And I was like, oh, okay, I need to get up. So I started jogging and they were like, you have to come out, and I said, I figured. I figured. So Nick Mollins went in there, did a great job. They gave him a bit of a difficult

read type play and he answered the bell. He read it perfectly and did his job and then was able to go right back in because once I caught my breath, I was good, chill man. Just an awesome designed by our coaches. You know, they sit there late Thursday night and to drop up those red zone plays and to create that design is outstanding. And then Dalvin executed it

perfectly and made the play. And certainly the throws got to be there, but Dalvin making the catch, keeping his feet and bounce, he got up and sprinted like he was shocked. He caught it. So it was funny, it was awesome. It was so cool to see his reaction. And it was a big time playing the game. Yeah, study and battling adversity. Yeah. Where you are now in UM just for somebody like yeah, yeah sure, but there's there. That's it. Could you just talk about your journey and

how it came back. Other quarterbacks, I have a lot of respect for Taylor. The way he played the day, the way he plays week in and week out. I think he's got a lot of grit and ability, and the playing the quarterback position seems to come pretty naturally to him. He has a good feel for it. UM I'll never forget when coach Shanahan was let go and I was kind of down in the dumps. So the last thing he said to the team was he said, remember you guys, tough times don't last. Tough people do.

And uh, I took that with me. Um, you know, because this game is gonna beat you up. This leagu's gonna beat you up, and you have to remind yourself tough times don't last, tough people do. And um, you know what Mike was saying that moment, and what I was taking it as is, you better choose to be a tough person and uh, you better battle back physically, emotionally, mentally when this game kicks you down. And if you do,

you're gonna make it. And you know, being in year eleven, now I see the truth of Mike's words over a decade, and um, you know, this game is gonna keep testing me and you gotta keep finding a way to be a tough person like that. Well, it feels great to win in this league. Um, you know, I, like I said, had so many warm memories coming in and so on the way out to be able to you know, remember those as well. With a win, it's so much better

than after a loss. So uh um. You know, I told my wife and when we touched down yesterday, I said, we got to schedule a weekend, get a babysitter. We gotta come back here to the DMV and spend a weekend, go to all the former places, all my favorite restaurants, see all the all the people pull that helped me. Bodywork people, you know, ministry people gotta do it. So we gotta block out the days because it just reminded me again, I gotta get back here. So you know,

it's it's special to be back in to win. And yeah, I guess those three words will follow me for the rest of my career. Made in my life. Alrighty, thanks guys. So the Vikings beat the Commander's twenty to seventeen. Ron Johnson part of the Vikings Entertainment Network. He offers us three takes every week. Take it away, RJ. Thanks BA. Well, this is Ron Johnson Company from the Cafe and Studios and this is my three takeaway from to day's game. Well,

I gotta jump out there right away. T J. Hockinson bought over from the Detroit Lions. In the trade, everybody was wondering how was this marriage gonna work? Well? Nine catches seventy yards. He had an explosive of nineteen yards, which is the longest play from scrimmage for a tight end this entire season. Brand new guy, one game in and he already has the longest play from scrimmage for

it tight end on this Viking's roster. I think the marriage is gone great, Kevin O'Connell said on Tuesday night ten PM. Is when t J. Hockinson started working on this playbook that he had put together for him, and he did an awesome job. Kirk Cousins, having that big target in the middle paid off. Also when he was next to Justin Jefferson, it became absolutely impossible for dvs to figure out, do we cover Hockinson? Do we cover Jefferson. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the

season's gonna look like. But nine catches seventy yards, that's the first takeaway from this game. How well TJ. Hodkinson did with a limited amount of time to prepare. Second Daniel Hunter two sacks. He put his hand in the ground. It was a hybrid three four type look. Yes, he's an outside linebacker, but he was able to put his hand in the ground, which he's a lot more comfortable.

And you saw the get off, you saw the speed, You saw the ability of at Donna Tell to use him as Zadarius Smith on the same side, creating a mismatch where either the guard or the tackle had to decide who was gonna go one on one and the center could only help one. So if the center takes Zadarius, he's one on one, you got guard tackle on Denil.

If the guard center going Zadarius. Now that tackle which we saw was one on one with Denil, but with that get off and that burst, you saw him get low, you saw him get bendy, You saw him get to Taylor Heineke before he could even get rid of the ball. On that last sack, that was the de Deal Hunter everybody's been used to. That's the Danil Hunter that's gonna have to carry this defense down the stretch. You have one guy in Zadarius Smith on one side with eight

and a half sacks. You now have Danil Hunter having a game like this with two sacks. It's gonna get a lot scarier as they go. And next week Josh Allen gonna need that from from Daniel Hunter and Zadarius Smith because that was the key. But Daniel Hunters two sacks, that was a huge takeaway from me getting pressure on Taylor Heineke and then Greg Joseph with the game winner twice kick the game winner and then there was a

flag had to run it out. Normally there's times like this where that play just does not work out for them and the Vikings find a way or somehow bad luck creeps in. Well, Greg Joseph makes a game winner. People all last week on fan line, we're saying we need to find a kicker, we need to trade for

a kicker. The kicker is gonna ruin our season. Kevin O'Connell had trust in his kicker, kept calm and what did Greg Joseph Garden do rewarded him went two for two today on field goals, including the game winner twice, and I think that's the key in not getting in the kicker's head. And then my bonus takeaway the day as Kirk Cousins being aggressive. Yes, he threw an interception at the end of the half favor outes to Jessin Jefferson. He was covered, but he gave Justsin Jeffersons a chance.

He saw another deep ball double covered. He threw it a little short, but threw it up, gave Justin Jeffersons a chance. He did not catch that one, but he gave him a chance. He did the same thing with Adam Feeling. Kirk cousins aggressiveness is gonna be the key. Kirk Cousins was always too conservative sometimes people said would not be willing to take a chance. He took a lot of chances today he took a lot of big play shots. Justin Jefferson's favor route, threw it early, got

him there. Dalvin Cook's favor route touchdown, got it there. Adam Feelin's over out between the linebacker and the safety got it there. That is the aggressive Kirk Cousins that they are gonna need down the stretch. And that's my last takeaway. The aggressive of the aggressiveness of kirk Cousins to go after these throws and trust Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielan to make the play for him. I think that's the Vikings quarterback that everybody's looking forward to seeing

and how to do it. For my three takeaways from this Vikings commander's game, Commanders lose seventeen to twenty, Minnesota Vikings walk away to win. Back to you guys in the stadium. Dalvin Cook finished the game seventeen runs forty seven yards. Once again Cousins at two sixty five. Jefferson targeted thirteen times, seven catches, one hundred and fifteen yards. TJ.

Hockinson made his Vikings debut nine targets, nine catches, seventy yards. TJ. On the very first drive of the game where the Vikings marched down and scored a touchdown to JJ, it was third and long. Cousins believed in the middle of the field, even though he just got here like a minute ago, a nineteen yard grab for a first down TJ. Welcome to the Covenant, all right, And TJ alluded to what his role is going to be here in the post game interview with Ben Lieber. Teams want to play

two man against us. What does that mean? You play man and man underneath with two deep safeties. That's like playing a man and a half over justin Jefferson. But what that also means is you're gonna have DJ Hockinson one on one with a safety or a linebacker. Somewhere in the middle of the field, and that's a matchup that he is going to win. You saw it today,

you know the beat two man. You either have to have a scrambling quarterback or a tight end like that that can get himself open in man and man coverage. And Paul, I mean, at six foot five, how many safeties out there are gonna be able to shut him down. So his answer, I mean, Hockinson's answer to a defense that's kind of getting our number. Where teams are going,

they're using two man to slow us down. To have an answer to it, a guy like Hockinson to move the chains to come up big, because Cousins is a big scramble guy is huge. It's a huge, huge ad And what a move by the front office, by the coach staff to bring a guy like that, a caliber player like that into the fold at this time of

the year. And before we say goodbye, I mean, Kirk Cousins deserves Immen's credit because there was a moment right before the end of the first half Garrett Bradberry injured himself. Center Austin Schlopman came in and it wasn't Schlopman's fault, but the Vikings had a delay of game penalty. Kirk was very animated, very frustrated, very demonstrative, and then he threw an interception back right of the end zone. All right.

Then we go to half and Kirk was flustered. You could tell early in the third quarter it just wasn't the same. He pushed through it because this team has the fearless gene and doesn't panic. And I got a credit Kirk not only for coming back to FedEx Field and winning, but pushing through that negativity and pushing through the physicality of this game because he got hit more today than I've seen him get hit in a long time. And for him to hang in there and deliver some

of those bullets, Paul, That's what I'm saying. If he can can do this weekend and week out, he's an elite quarterback. He really will be, because that's kind of the thing that was, you know, the inaccuracy, when the physicality gets there, that's the part that's the gripe. That's what you know. Whatever you're gonna say the anti Cousins crowd, but let me tell you this, the Washington Commanders, how have they been since Cousins left. They're still struggling to

find a car. I didn't get this in the game call. They've gone through nine quarterbacks, exactly right, exactly right. And that's the thing with Cousins. You know what you're gonna get. If you can hang in there and deliver those bullets like that, then you know what. You gotta keep a guy around like that. Oh my god, thank you. I really that was I mean, this was called four hundred

some of my career. This is gonna be one of the more memorable ones because of how exciting it was when it got hot and when it got physical and the crowd was all nasty and loud. Man, And you know what great job. Pete versus analysts for the Vikings radio network, And I'm Paul Allen. Your Minnesota Vikings are seven and one, the same record held by the h nine and ninety eight Vikings, and we take on Buffalo next week. We'll have another postgame report for you after that.

The final score in Minnesota twenty Washington seventeen. Let's wrap it up curly with Kevin O'Connell's postgame locker room conversation. Hey, let me just tell you something, all right, We talked last night about football teams that have philosophies and then standards. What that allows you to do is even when it doesn't go right, even when your standard is not being reached, and we all know when and where and why we'll get better each and every time, me included, always me included.

But the last part of that is by living in that world, you can be your best when your best is required. That's right, and that's what this football team continues to do. I looked over to the the couple of guys, we're down ten. I said, we're gonna win this game by three. And it has nothing to do with thinking I got all the answers or anything other than just the belief, belief and belief that I have in this team that has removed all doubt. Like we talked about

last night, give it up for yourselves one more time. Defensively, defensively, game balls can go all the way around for you guys. But I'm gonna give him the two guys that we lean on time and time again. First one two sacks Hunter, another guy right here, all right, his yack was a little bit better. He's getting a little bit practice, He's getting a lot of practice at that yak because he's got his interception for a third game in a row. Here.

This guy's been doing it for a long time, and we got to just watch him have his five hundred career reception. At him feeling right, j J. It was good to see you still know what to do when you're getting that end zone. Man, I've been killing you. Seven receptions one fifteen, one hundred and fifteen yards in a tub justin all right here. Seems like this guy got here about forty eight hours ago. We went out

to go get this guy because I believe. I believe this guy can make game changing plays and fit right in with our offense. Were rolling targets TJ. Hockeys. Then, if you want to talk about being as your best when it's required, the reason why we are seven and one, the reason why our football team is at its best when it's required is our quarterback. This guy came back to a familiar place for him, got knocked out for plays, comes back in at least it's to a victory. Get

him his change. My proud you father, give this to your kirkt On there. I like that. I'm like, hey, man, hey, today today was another example, I've been winning all year. Man, all right, this this team is only common and we play as a team. We win as a team. Man, no individuals. Man, I love this team. Let's keep doing it. Man, on to you, let's go. You like that