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On the fan?
Have you Victory Muggins?
Rewind?
Right here on the fan Denordo still recovering from his trip to Vegas as we all are, and after watching that game, you're probably thinking, boy, what are they gonna do for Vikings?
Rewind?
There was no touchdowns in the game and one field goal. Well, we're gonna make a little bit of an audible. We're gonna get a lot of locker rooms, dound. We're gonna start things with Ben Lieber. He was joined by the coach postgame.
Why are you guys?
We're down here in the Vikings lockerroom with head coach Kevin O'Connell and coach, Let's start with this defense. I mean, this defense has been playing lights out these last several games. And let me just go through a few stats for you. One hundred and seventy three total yards, giving up fifty six yards of rushing. They had three takes, now that
last one was on that desperation drive. Four sacks. But let me just talk about this, the way that they finished the fourth quarter alone, three three and outs and one take. If you don't look at that desperation drive, how are they able to stay so dominant throughout this game?
Yeah, first and foremost, they've been playing you know, winning football, you know, really finding their groove within the scheme, thrive in with guys in different roles. But Brian Flores and his staff just continuing to kind of, you know, find ways to allow guys to live in their spots within the defense. Maybe on the depth chart, but guys are doing a lot of different jobs. We're asking guys to do a lot of different things, and it's causing some
confusion for the opposing offenses. And what we talked about as a team this week is no matter what it would take to win this game, the bottom line is we weren't going to flinch. We weren't going to lose the turnover battle, and we were gonna find a way to win it, no matter how long it took, no matter if we needed extra time, whatever it was, and our defense was able to pick up a pretty banged up offense that struggled most of the day and really take us home there all the way through the end.
You know, one of the key contributors to the defense was Ivan Pace Junior, and I had a chance to talk with him right up for the game. On the field. He called himself, he's got he's got that dog mentality. I'm sure you've heard him talk about himself in that manner, but he really does.
He plays with his.
Intensity and this chip on his shoulder. And you know, for a young guy, a rookie to go through a long season, hit that bye week, and to come out with such energy and fire and intensity, what have you seen from the growth out out of him in just his rookie year.
Yeah, I think you know, Vikings fans should know he's calling the defense. He's got the green dot and Jordan Hicks aps since he's you know, basically an extension and flow out there on the field as are some of our other ves in players around a rookie that we trust with that green dot, and he just continues to answer the call, flying around the field, physicality. He's one of the best young rushers at the inside linebacker position
I think there is in the NFL. But then you know the instincts to drop, understand kind of his void and vacancy that he's responsible to cover and then make that play at the end. Just remarkable, remarkable out of ivan pace today. And he just keeps on getting better and better. And when you find an undrafted free agent like that that comes in and has this kind of impact on your team, it gets you really excited about the future of the player. And I couldn't be more excited about Ip.
You talk about the offensive struggles, you know, part of it offensive line was a little spotty in some of the protection stuff. There's a few drops out there by wide receivers. But ultimately you make the decision to go with Nick Mullens. What went into that? What was the calculations of going with Mullens in that situation.
Yeah, I just thought.
Kind of the way the game had gone, we wanted to come in into this game.
And use you know Josh.
I thought some of our run hits with him as a threat of the zone read and some of the quarterback you know keeping aspects of some of those plays gave us a spark enough to try to stay efficient. But when you lose JJ, and you lose Brian O'Neal, and then you lose Alex Madison and you're really looking at it, like, what we need right now is somebody
that I know. My trust in Nick Mullens, no matter how many reps, and he did get some reps this week to prepare him, but my trust in that moment is, you know, he's going to go out there and take great footwork, fundamentals, see it and throw it and give us a chance to maybe get three or four of those first downs that he did to get us in range to get whatever amount of points it was needed to win the game. And when your defense plays like that.
We came in saying we wanted to win the turnover battle. Offensively, we did not turn the football over. We weren't nearly as effective or explosive or efficient as we wanted to be. But in the end, it's a great lesson to you about turnovers, even when it's as hard as you can imagine to try to move the football offensively, you're having you know what, seemed like every drive we had another guy going down and the group just overcame.
Defense never flinched.
We got a couple timely special teams plays as well, total complete team effort where you're gonna have to lean on maybe one phase over another sometimes, But I'm just proud of the way the guys handled it.
They kept battling.
There wasn't announce in negativity when we were struggling on offense. Defense just kept going and going and going and gave us a chance to win our seven football game.
You know, I know a lot of the fans are gonna wonder now going into next week with with Dobbs having the performance that he did, Mullen's coming in and basically you know, leading the game winning drive and giving a little bit of juice, How does this decision and how does his play at the end of the game impact your decision who plays quarterback next week?
Yeah, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna take a look at it as a staff, but you know, the decision is going to be made based upon you know, where
we are right now. And what's the best thing for us to win moving forward, And got a tough opportunity of tough challenge going on the road again to Cincinnati, shorter week, and we'll put some time and energy into that, but we're gonna put We're gonna put the player out there that we feel like gives us the best chance to win based upon this week and our game plan and everything that goes into that, and we'll keep you guys posted on that.
But happy to get our seventh win.
Sometimes they don't always look as pretty as you'd love as an offensive coach, but in the end, proud of our defense, proud of our team to come on the road and get our seventh win.
Well, coach, a win is a win. You're right.
You got to enjoy all the wins when you can get him.
They're tough in this league.
So congratulations and we'll see in a short week in Cincinnati on Saturday.
That's right, Thanks Ben, All right, guys, back to you, Thanks Ben, and we'll hear more from Kevin O'Connell later as press conference. Earlier today, we'll do that second segment of Vikings rewine. We're going to go back to locker room though, Gabe Henderson was joined by Well. One of the MVPs of a low scoring game is your punter.
Ryan Right joined all right inside locker room following the three to zero win over the Las Vegas Raiders. We talk about a defensive performance. There's eleven minute on the field, but little do people know we have a twelfth man and Ryan Right he joins me right now inside of the locker room. Four punts inside the twenty yard line today. Just a fantastic performance by you. What were just your thoughts on your performance tonight?
You know, we put an emphasis on flipping the field and putting it inside the twenty over the past few weeks. Not gonna lie, haven't been the best this year with that, but I'm working through it and just striving to get better and better each week with it.
That's something that like Kevin O'Connell kind of pointed out last week, is you know, special teams are special teams.
Is gonna.
They've been doing a good job this year, but they got to get from good to great. It seems like you took that to heart this week.
No, yeah, I kind of took you a little personal. I'd like to stay out of the news if you hear my name in the news, it's probably not a good thing. So you know, I'm just trying to get better each week and shout out to the defense for keeping us in that game.
They played their hearts out.
Going into just a game where you know is going to be this close. Is there any added pressure for you, Like, how do you clear your mind to just do your job when you're out there?
You know, I try to just take it one point at a time, take deep breaths, and worry about the punt in front of me, and then after then I'll worry about what the result was. And then if it was good, usually it gets flushed out in a few seconds, but if it was bad, I kind of look at it a little bit, but then I do a breathing exercise, close my eyes and just forget about it so I can move on.
I love it.
I'm gonna have some fun with this last question because Greg Joseph finally got a punt in a game. To be able to watch him get a punt inside the twenty, How how funny? But how cool was that?
You know? It was?
It was really funny.
I actually ended up standing up and blocking the field side, so I hopefully I didn't.
Look too out of place there, but.
You know it's Craig is a great guy, and you know he hit that game winner, so obviously those are the three only three points of the game, so you know, his resiliencies and saying his work ethic is top notch, unbeaten. So I'm just really proud of him. And yeah, obviously that punt was hilarious, but he got the job done.
Win is a win in the NFL, and we know that special teams play is a huge factor into that. So congratulations to Minnesota Vikings as well as Ryan Right, Greg Joseph and all of the specialists today.
Congrats man, appreciate it.
Back down to the locker room, Gabe Henderson also is joined by a couple members of the Vikings defense, including Cam buying.
Them inside the locker room with Viking safety Camp buying them. Camp just a game. The first time since twenty seventeen the Vikings have shut out any opponent. We knew offensively we had some problems getting things going, but from a defensive perspective, what.
Was the mindset?
Mindset is if we don't if we don't give up with a point, they don't win.
That's really all it is.
Mindset. Every week, we don't our standard is to give up no points. We can't settle off giving up field goals whatever. Today we were on one, just knowing that we got to we gotta carry it.
There were plays, especially in the first quarter, when they ran like a two wide receiver route and you run the route for Davonte Adams. Just the film prep, the game study. What went into it this week when studying our rookie quarterback in eating.
O'Connell, especially just with the extra time we had long week coming off the buy the extra time to watch film, but just.
Knowing that the football is simple.
They're gonna run certain routes, certain concepts, so regardless of who's out there, they're still gonna run real concepts. So just studying that and having that understanding is really how we pride ourselves and playing defense and playing smart.
Ball, steaking the smart ball going forward. I got four games left. I got to continue to get these wins. What's the what's the conversation with everything that's around the same as far as adversity goes.
Every game is a playoff game. That's how we're seeing this. Every game is important and every game matters at the end for us to get.
To the playoffs.
So we're taking a one week at a time and knowing that we have to win every single game moving forward. And I don't care if it's an ugly win, it's a win.
So my last question for you, because I've been asking questions about you know, how did the defense do? But you just came off for a ball, Like, how does it feel to get a win?
Yeah?
That that's always a challenge coming off of BUYE, especially just you know, the energy, human nature you gotta it's it's been a minute since we played football. So getting a win coming off of buy and this type of win, especially for us on defense, this is a confidence booster and just something that we we're gonna enjoy.
Defensive win for sure of the Minnesota Vikings win three to zero over the Las Vegas Raiders and a tightly contested battle. So next week will be another great game for this Minnesota Vikings team. As they traveled down south to face the Cincinnati Bengals, NAK, thank you, cam, yep, appreciate you, Thank you' all.
It's a movie. Let's get to the next one.
One more trip down to the locker room. Gabe Henderson was a Troy die.
Inside the locker room following a three D zero victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, a guy who recorded his first career sack in the NFL. Mister Troy died Troy first and foremost. Congrats on the win. What was that feeling getting that first sack of your NFL career?
It was just pretty amazing. I mean, obviously I got cut. I mean I got to stay on my steet a little bit better, but to get up and get the sack because it was kind of just a real MONA been gyming that men for a long time and I just got as a contribute to the shoutout today.
This was a defensive win for sure, and understanding you were going against a rookie quarterback, what changed as far as the thought process when it came to, Okay, we got to win this game on the defensive front if we want to be successful.
I think that's our approach every week, no matter if we're playing a rooky quarterback, we're playing a veteran quarterback. I think we're trying to go out there and execute the game. Playing that coach flow and the rest of the defensive staff gets gives us on Mondays and throughout the week, and I think we got a good group of guys, no matter who it is, whether it's a young guy or a guy coming off the bench like
myself playing a role player, feeling for Jordan. I think they trust everybody enough to go out there and execut the playing and I think we did a good enough job executing it to be able to have the type of performances we had.
Man, how would you just describe this win? It's it's been a while since we've had a locker room that actually felt this upbeat, no matter what the score is. But how does it feel to finally get back into win column. I mean, it feels amazing.
Like you said, like, it's hard to win this league week in and week out, no matter who you're play, whether you're playing a quarterback or a veteran quarterback, you got to bring your best game every week. And it's just great to get back in the win call and get that street going again, and hopefully we can carry that momentum to Cincinnati. I guess a really good offense that's rolling and hopefully get a scr.
Differently, Cincinnati's up next, This is probably the nicest I'm gona be to you over these next couple of weeks, Liberty. We play Oregon Fiesta Ball, so I get it. But congrassling the toes. I appreciate you, you know. Godck's always man, my God.
Gabe Henderson with a lot of Vikings, can't bind them, Troy Die, Ryan Wright, and of course Ben Lieber with the coach and reminder. You can join Pa at the Roseville Buffalo Wild Wings this Friday from nine to noon for the Friday Football Feast presented by Corp's Light. Enjoy food and drink specials and a chance to win Vikings tickets and more. Visit Vikings dot com slash b ww for full schedule and details. The coach and his presser from earlier Today, that's next on Vikings, Rewind.
The station for hockey.
Welcome back, It's Vikings, Rewind and remind. Tomorrow you can join must for Vikings Country at the Sunshine Factory in Plymouth, presented by Miller Light. You can win great prizes include tickets in the Midllerlyte Lounge at us Bank Stadium. You can visit Vikings dot com slash Vikings Country for more info in a full schedule. Kevin O'Connell addressed the media earlier today. Let's listen back to that now in Vikings rewind presented by Omni Viking.
Likes coming off the buy to find a way to get a win was the goal, not necessarily the way we did it, how we envisioned it, but complement our team, our guys, the resiliency to just keep battling.
Huge performance from our defense.
Getting the sixteen shutout in franchise history, and we needed every single one of those plays to overcome some of our struggles on offense and then ultimately find a way to put a drive together to get some points there at the end, and we got enough to get the win. A lot of things that we need to improve on consistently still pushing here towards the final four stretch of the season and solidifying our place hopefully, you know, in the playoffs, and.
There's a lot of work to be done to get that done.
But one two definitely highlight Brian Flores and his staff and all of our defensive players did so in the
locker room after the game. So proud of those guys the way, not only how they played, not only what they did in between the white lines, but just what they mean to our team and how they handled the type of day that it was and just continuing to press onward and really limiting an impressive skill group of players that the Raiders have and and you know, kind of coming off the buy for them as well.
Just a really really impressive performance. You know, want to.
Highlight Nick Mullins for his ability to come in the football game and execute the way he did. Did get some limited reps in practice, but Nick has always been a guy that can be prepared and ready in those you know, critical moments when called upon, and he demonstrated it again yesterday. As we move forward in the week, you know, we'll make a decision on the starting quarterback. We're in the process of solidifying that as a staff now.
We'll inform the players and then uh ultimately make an announcement here in the uh in in the in the next couple of days here we'll let you guys know
as far as injury updates from the football game. Justin Jefferson, uh, you know, in in his chest injury out of precaution, did go to a local hospital and and you know, get some procedural tests done just to rule out any possible internal complications, UH that could come from a hit like that, all of which we're able to rule out any of those things, UH, and I consider justin day to day with a with a good chance to hopefully be with us playing on Saturday in Cincinnati.
Brian O'Neil's ankle injury.
You know, as as tough as Brian is trying to come back in the football game, he was unable to do that, and we'll we'll see how he you know, handles treatment throughout the week and ultimately what his available availability looks like for this coming Saturday is up in the air, but I do think we were able to avoid a real.
Long term issue for Brian. There.
Alex Madison kind of a very similar situation with his ankle. We'll see how he progresses through the week, but you know, kind of a similar timeline for those two players. And then Jalen Naylor is indeed in the concussion protocol and he'll work through, you know, the steps to see if
he can be available this week. But as always with head injuries, we will be very cautious and make sure that we allow the medical team and our doctors to determine with Jalen his availability as it pertains to Saturday.
Jefferson, I guess what are the specifics that you'll actually have to evaluate about his availability.
Is more of a pain tolerance issue or what is some of the precautions?
Yeah?
I think, uh, you know, once you're able, uh, Dave to rule out some of you know, potentially some of those complications and our doctors, you know, did a did a great job being proactive to to do the things we needed to do to make sure he could.
Fly home with us and be with us, which he was able to do.
Uh, he's doing pretty well today and yeah, it's just a matter of continuing to monitor any you know, potential things that could arise. But you know what he's like from a standpoint of his ability uh to get some you know preparation in throughout the week and feel comfortable, uh and ready to go for Saturday will be determined you know as we go here.
Yeah, Kevin, as you.
Work through the quarterback decision, what what's the process there and under what circumstances would it not be Nick on Saturday in Cincinnati. Yeah, the process Kevin is a little bit more you know of making sure we go through a full evaluation of all the plays from yesterday, and then it's a matter of just you know, the dialogue with the staff and making sure everybody understands really where I would like to go with the decision, and then
the communication with the players. And you know, having been we got back late last night and have been in that process today. It's just a little early for me to announce that, but I feel like we're on our way to making that decision rather shortly.
Here, Hey, Kevin, I think you guys have had nine different offensive linemens start for you. Is there any update just on ed Ingram's health and what factor has the rotation there at O line just been on the offensive turmoil here?
Yeah, I think you know, it's always easy to start when you lose your starting quarterback, but then you start getting into the particulars of the different groups we've played up front. You know, obviously the loss of Justin for a significant portion of our season and then only having them for fourteen plays yesterday.
Then you look at losing.
Brian O'Neill, you know, in a game where there was a significant one of the premier players in football, you know, lining up quite a bit over there on that right So having to kind of, you know, there's a lot that goes into it to make sure you know, whatever it says on the call sheet is one thing. But trying to overcome the loss of a you know, the player you built a lot of the plan around, and justin and or having to make some adjustments on the fly.
But I did think David Questenberry stepping in once again giving us some really quality snaps and some great effort, you know, knowing the circumstances that it was. I thought Blake Brendel played you know, a very very good football game at the right guard spot, considering you know, he hadn't had much time in there this year. And then as it pertains to you know, a Dulton being able to work through kind of an ankle there at some point and really refuse to come out of the game
and go back out there. I want to give him a lot of credit for that. As it relates to Ed, it's just going to be a day to day process. I see a good chance that we have him this week, but don't want to get ahead of myself.
It'll take him, you know, able to get.
Back on the practice field and get some significant work in so that he can have confidence going into Saturday that you know, we feel good about him being available.
Yeah, Kevin, just you know, talking about that sixteenth shutout in team history, I was wondered, as you look back at the game, is there maybe one play that best exemplifies you know, all eleven defenders, you know, really you know have flores having them play as one, you know, where every assignment's locked down, where you kind of step back and realize what you have defensively right now.
Yeah, I don't know if there's it's easy to look at ips interception there to kind of seal it for us, but I don't necessarily look at one. I think that's what's making them play at the level they are right now. It's just consistent of the mix and match between you know, keeping people off balance, using our playmakers at different positions.
To allow them to thrive in multiple roles.
You know, using a guy like Byron Murphy to maybe match in coverage sometimes other times, you know, maybe just play his standard spot. Josh Mattelis, Harrison Smith, cam Binham at the safety position, a guy like Makai Blackman steps in and gives us some really good snaps and then ip you know, you know, running the show is the green dot. His ability to just you know, continue to improve.
I think Mike Siravo deserves a ton of credit for the development of an undrafted free agent rookie that we're really lucky to have and quite honestly don't know where we would be without him. But once again, just a credit to Flow, his staff, our players the consistency at which they've been able to continue to communicate, execute, and ultimately finish.
Kevin O'Connell addressing the media out in Egan and reminder in Egan you can rediscover fun again at Omni Viking Lakes Hotel. The playlist is endless, just steps away from Vikings HQ and the training facility. Book now at Omni Hotel Com Slash Viking Lakes that wraps up Vikings rewind that's brought to you by Omni Viking Lash.
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