Minnesota Vikings

Vikings coordinators: Game planning for Mack, onside kicks, trick plays and more

Published Dec. 27, 2018 7:24 p.m. ET

Every Thursday during the regular season (when the Minnesota Vikings play a Sunday game) the three coordinators speak to the media. Here’s a few highlights from this week’s press conferences:

Defensive coordinator George Edwards

Q: What about playing in U.S. Bank Stadium makes this defense better?

A: There’s no doubt that our fans and the support and the noise, and all the things that they do to help us out on third down [help us]. But also our players, the concentration and focus that they put forth, understanding the situation, understanding the matches and the coverages, understanding the protections that we’re going to get in in those situations. I think the culmination of all of it together has really helped out.

Q: How much of a weapon is Mitch Trubisky’s mobility?

A: It says a lot, he really got out on us a couple times on third down earlier in the game in Chicago. Also, first and second down. He can find a seam, he’s gotten a lot more comfortable with what they do schematically and with how they’re using their different personnel, so we’ve got to be very disciplined in our rush lanes and hopefully get out and execute the game plan.

Q: What types of challenges does it present when a running back can go vertical like Tarik Cohen can?

A: It’s a tough match, especially in certain coverages that you’re in. You look around the league, it seems like every week we’re facing a back with that type of skill set. You look at us last week with 25 [Lions running back Theo Riddick], it’s pretty much that everybody has a guy that can really go take the top off as a tough match for a linebacker. It’s one thing that we’ve been working on throughout the course of the week and that we’ve been working on throughout the course of the year, and we’ve just got to be smart and make sure that we can maintain our leverage and not give up the big play.

Q: How have you seen teams increase their focus on Linval Joseph over his time here?

A: Quite a bit. I think Linval is a tremendous player for us inside, and what he brings to the game, I think people are aware that when you single block him it’s going to be a tough day. They realize a lot of the times that they have to double him. For us, that allows our linebackers who play at the second level to be a little bit freer as they come across, but he’s going to give you a hard day’s work every day that he’s out there. He pays attention to the detail. He’s more than your typical nose with the push that he gets in the pocket and being able to understand block recognition, his effort to the football on screens. He brings a lot to us defensively.

Interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski

Q: How do you balance going back and watching the tape from the game at Chicago but not being the same play caller?

A: It’s useful. It’s the same defense versus the same offense. The players are the same and certainly having been part of the staff I was a part of the game plan that put it together. So I think it’s useful to go back and look at it. The nice part is we can see who we were, we can see what they were doing in that particular game. It’s part of any process looking back at the first time you played them.

Q: How do you balance still wanting to run the ball more with their run defense?

A: They have a very good run defense and a very good pass defense. So I think you have to go into it and put a plan together that you feel is going to have the most success, whether that is running the ball or throwing the ball, but certainly have our work cut out for us.

Q: What do you see with Dalvin Cook and what makes him so elusive?

A: He is a special talent. God gifted him with some unique physical tools. I think you’d start probably with his feet are pretty impressive. I remember seeing him in his first practice out there and just seeing how his feet moved. There’s only a few guys who look like that. He’s a physically gifted kid. I give him a ton of credit coming off the injury, just worked his tail off in the training room and just worked so hard with coach [Kennedy] Polamalu in the run game, in the pass game, in protection. The kid is working really hard. You are seeing the benefits of that on game day.

Q: What is the biggest challenge Khalil Mack offers when you try to game plan around him?

A: He is a great player. He is a great combination of size, athleticism, power, effort. Just turn the tape on. He is an impressive player. He certainly is someone that we have to account for in a bunch of different ways. That is why we are out here working and implementing that plan.

Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer

Q: Why have the onside kick numbers plummeted so much and would you like to see them go back up?

A: I’d like to see them go up if we’re kicking them and I’d like to see them stay low if we’re on the hands team, to be quite honest. It is an exciting play. I think it’s down from 20 percent to 8 percent or whatever it is. I think part of that is because there is no running start. We’ll continue to evolve and continue to work on the different types of kicks that are going to be successful, some teams already have, we’ve already tried. Whether it’s in practice getting them ready for games. I think you need to have the right type of kick because there is no running start, they already have eight in the box, they’re going to bring up ten in that set up zone, like most teams did anyway on hands team. I think without the running start it makes it much more difficult.

Q: Do you ever think about different gimmicks to make that play more exciting?

A: I think that’s part of being busy, part of my job is to be creative whether it’s a punt fake, field-goal fake, a creative way to take advantage of what a team is doing with their hands team, or whatever the case maybe. We try not to go into the game and have the same exact onside kick, the same exact same punt fake, the exact same field-goal fake, we try to tweak it and make it hopefully be successful against the opponent that we’re facing. I think that’s what most good teams do and that’s what we try to do every week. That’s part of it. I don’t know if gimmicky is the right word, but you’re trying to put your team in the best position possible to be successful.

Q: What can the league do to change more end game scenarios if the onside kick is too dangerous?

A: I don’t think the onside kick is too dangerous. I think with the emphasis on staying away from the helmet-to-helmet type of hits, with the no running starts, and those type of things. I think our job as coaches is to create situations where we can be successful with the rules that are in place because I think the new kickoff, kickoff return rules have been very beneficial for our game. I think the numbers, I haven’t seen them, but I’ve heard the concussion numbers are way down, so we’re going in the right direction which is a good thing for our players. It’s a good thing for our game. I think the onside kick success rate will go up a little bit as we get more creative with the types of kicks that we use. That’s just my opinion.