*Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer *
Still going, got a little bit more to do on St. Louis, we're excited to get back to TCF [Bank Stadium], get in front of our fans. They've gone a little bit of no-huddle in some of their games, so it's important for us, that they help us out and be nice and loud. Should be a great contest for us, we're looking forward to it.
Q: How do you prepare for the no-huddle and what are the biggest keys to being able to handle it?
A: We've seen it a lot this year, so you kind of get used to it. All through training camp we've had no-huddle periods, it's not necessarily hurry-up no-huddle like in two-minute stuff, it's get lined up and go. They do it sporadically throughout the game, I don't think it should be too big of an issue.
Q: With as much as you see the no-huddle offense does it get easier to defend?
A: I think you get more comfortable with it, yeah. We've seemed to have done okay against it.
Q: How much have the Rams run the no-huddle?
A: A little bit here and there, they started the first two series last week, they were in it and then they didn't anymore for the first half, then they came out a little bit in the second half and did it.
Q: How close do you think Cordarrelle Patterson has come to finding a seam on some of the kickoff returns?
A: We haven't done a real good job of blocking, really. We've got to do a better job in our kickoff return. That's been an emphasis for us this week.
Q: Did Anthony Barr get enough work in today to give you some confidence heading into Sunday?
A: Well, he's full-go. Tweet that.
Q: Audie Cole seems to thrive in the spot-role, why is that?
A: He's a smart guy, he's very passionate about his job. He's always looking for an opportunity to show what he can do. Most of the time when he's had those opportunities he's done well. He takes a lot of pride in his job, he's a great team guy, adds a lot of value to us regardless of what he's doing, if it's special teams, playing defense or whatever.
Q: Do you see the Rams game as a grind-it-out type of game with two good defenses?
A: You never know going in, you'd kind of expect that. They're good defensively, they run the ball effectively, they've got a big-time weapon with [Tavon] Austin outside, [Jared] Cook is a big-time speed tight end, [Kenny] Britt, he's a guy that goes up and gets the ball. If you're just looking at it, but you know, sometimes they don't ever work out that way, it's just how the game gets played. They're very good defensively and we're okay defensively.
Q: Have you seen a lot of misdirection in their running plays and how challenging are they?
A: The one's that they run are a little bit different. I'm trying to figure out the best way to say this. A couple of the plays that they've run five years ago was kind of the in-vogue play, some of them. And then people get away from certain things and then they get back to them and they've been really affective at it. So they've got some of that, they've got some rocket sweeps to [Tavon] Austin, often misdirection things, so it takes some work.
Q: Do you just stress to your team to be disciplined on those plays?
A: Yeah, really disciplined and it makes it tough on the defensive line, makes it tough on the linebackers and actually the safeties too.
Q: How much stress does Todd Gurley put on linebackers with his ability to get to the second level and break big plays?
A: Good, I think he's got great vision, so you can see that when he finds a crease and then accelerates to it. He's got the size and the speed to get into the second level. But yeah, he does a good job.
Q: Can Audie Cole play all three linebacker positions?
A: Yes.
Q: Is the middle where he is the most comfortable?
A: Probably, but he's gotten a lot of reps at our Sam position and probably not as many as the Will. Nowadays when you're dressing five, six linebackers for the game, they've all got to be able to play. All of the backups have got to play all of the positions.
Q: How has Mike Harris done so far this season? Do you think he has settled in as a true guard?
A: I think so, I think that's a good position for him. I think Mike could go out there and play tackle too, but I thought he's played well at guard. He's got a little bit of pop to him, he's a bigger guy. The biggest thing about Mike is he's a battler, he'll battle you.
