*Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer *
Q: What kind of challenges does Andrew Luck present to your defense?
A: He's tougher than as heck. He runs really good. He's the second-leading rusher on the team. He makes every throw. He moves in the pocket well. I tell our guys when they think they've got the guy covered they don't because he can throw it anywhere and any place.
Q: What do you think are some of the challenges, if Adrian Peterson comes back to integrating him into an offense that has changed since he played?
A: Well right now, we're not going to worry about those things. When the time comes we'll talk about the things he does. It's like when any player comes back. You try to figure out what they do well and how you can fit it into the system and things you need to change. It's like last week when Anthony Harris played for Harrison (Smith). He can't do the same things Harrison Smith can do, but other ways that we can use him. It's really the same.
Q: Do you view it as pretty unlikely that he'll play this week?
A: I don't know, we'll see.
Q: Will he be a full participant in practice?
A: Yes.
Q: Does a team get an emotional lift from a player like that coming back to practice?
A: I don't know. You'd have to ask the team.
Q: Do you get an emotional lift seeing Adrian Peterson back?
A: Well, not right now. I haven't seen anything.
Q: Did you see a difference in the way defenses approached you in Weeks 2 to 3 when you lost Adrian Peterson?
A: Well, not so much from weeks 2 to 3. But, as the season progressed, yes. We've seen a lot different (defenses). [Reporter: Like less in the box? In which ways?] Yeah, less in the box. Less worried about the run.
Q: Are you optimistic that you'll get Harrison Smith back this week?
A: There's a possibility, yeah. Even though the report was erroneous before, but he's doing good.
Q: The report that said he could be done for the season?
A: Yeah, he had this high Grade 3 ankle sprain and he was out for the year. All that stuff, yeah. Whoever did that report, he's not here today.
Q: You don't read that stuff, right?
A: I hear about it. Trust me. I hear more than you think. I really don't read it, but I hear a lot.
Q: There's a lot of outside attention for Adrian Peterson. Is it something you have to do to keep your team grounded and get ready for Indianapolis?
A: No, we don't have to worry about being grounded. Our job is to go out there and beat Indy. That's all. Guys that play, play and guys that don't, don't. That's all we have to worry about, is them.
Q: What are some of the top challenges after Andrew Luck when you look at the Colts?
A: Well, they have the eighth-best rusher in NFL history. So, that's kind of a challenge. Frank Gore is a terrific back. They've got tremendous skill, speed with (Donte) Moncrief and (T.Y.) Hilton obviously. They've got great speed. They've got two decent tight ends. One's a second-leading receiver (Jack Doyle) and defensively the 3-4 stuff. We've been in a little bit of a 4-3 mode the last couple of weeks. So, we've got to get back to the 3-4 and the things we do there and changing some of that up.
Q: What about Frank Gore's production impresses you?
A: Well, he's really good back. He runs with his pads forward. He's quick to get to the hole. He accelerates. I've seen several catches and runs for touchdowns with him. He's a good screen guy, excellent in pass protection. I would say that he's probably, of the backs that we've had this year, that he would be as good as any of them or maybe better than any back in protection. You don't play for 12 years or whatever it is and be as productive as he has, if you you're not good in every area.
Q: He hits the hole quick, and he runs really low. Does that cause problems?
A: Yeah, because, like I said, he carries his pads forward. I think he has got great vision, and then when he gets there, he's a compact, think runner that can really add some power on contact. So, that's always a concern. [He] hasn't been a huge bounce guy. He's a vertical runner, but when he puts his foot in the ground and goes, that's where he makes his yards. [He has] quick feet, very quick feet in the hole.
Q: You're heading back to U.S. Bank Stadium, and there have been more penalties at home than on the road. Why do you think that is?
A: Undisciplined. We've got to fix it.
Q: Do you think it has anything to do with the atmosphere in the stadium getting guys too pumped up?
A: I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's when we're on the field, it's about doing your job. So, part of my job this week is to fix it.
Q: Why would you be more disciplined on the road than at home?
A: Yeah, it doesn't make any sense, does it? That's why I'm not real happy about it.
Q: You've seen some mobile quarterbacks throughout the season. What's the key to keeping them contained and not letting that part of the game hurt you?
A: Part of it is don't freelance, don't get greedy, in your rushes. We obviously have to rush him as a team. We have to know where his launch point is, where his drop is. We have to understand when … Sometimes they invite you to come inside, then they get out. So, we have to be disciplined with when we do beat a guy. Part of it, too, is when you beat a guy fast, and you beat him quick underneath, and then you create a seam back to the outside for him to bail. So, we have to be really coordinated with the games that we run, if we're running games, and when we beat a guy, we have to make sure that as we beat him, we get back vertical, so we can get back to the spot where we're trying to get to.
Q: He's a big guy. Is he pretty hard to bring down from what you've seen?
A: Yeah, he's a tough guy. He's a tough guy. I really admire guys like him. He gets hit, and he doesn't complain to the official or anything like that. He just goes about his business, and like I say, he's a tremendous, tremendous quarterback.
Q: Has that been an encouraging quality about Sam Bradford? He has taken some pretty big hits and gotten back up?
A: Yeah, he has done good. Hopefully, we can eliminate some of those hits, but yeah, he has been tough. He has been good in all those things. He doesn't get shaken or rattled. It has been good.
Q: Do you think that week was one of the better weeks for your offensive line in terms of pass protection?
A: Yeah. I think so. I think the backs did a good job. They blitzed a lot. As I told the team the day before, two days before [the game], 'When you blitz, and you hit them a couple times, you've got to have some big cojones to keep blitzing.'
Vikings Quarterback Sam Bradford
Q: Do you take some kind of encouragement in being able to finish games strong and score when it's important?
A: Yeah. Like you said, obviously, some of those games haven't turned out the way that we had hoped, but the fact that we have been to move the ball down the field and score late in the game, I think that's a definite positive, and hopefully that's something we can build on. But, hopefully we can find a way to do that before the last couple minutes of the game, too.
Q: What have you seen in the goal-line and short-yardage situations that have made it tough on you guys?
A: I think a lot of it just comes down to execution. We've just got to be better. We've got to be cleaner when we get in those critical situations. It's something that the past couple weeks we've talked about. I think we've been better in the short-yardage situations. Obviously, last week, we weren't great on the goal line, but I think we've just got to be better. And we've got to go out there and execute the plays that we have.
Q: After you had that great start, you started losing some games. Is this team still mentally coming out of that and learning how to be good again?
A: I think, obviously, we went through a stretch there where it was tough, and we lost some games, but I think if you look at last week and the way we came out, the way we played on the road, I think that's the type of football we know we can play. Obviously, like you said, we started out the season hot. We won five in a row. We still believe that we're still that same team, and we're just looking to build off what we did last week and try to start a streak like we had early in the year.
Q: What do you think the challenges are in integrating Adrian Peterson back into and offense that has changed so much since he played last?
A: Obviously, it's a little bit different than the first couple weeks of the season, but Adrian's a great player, and I'm sure he'll be able to adjust. But also, probably just finding things that, obviously, he's comfortable with, runs that he likes that they've had success with in the past. So, probably a good balance of things that this offense has done with Adrian, and obviously, some of the things that we've incorporated without him.
Q: How challenging is that when you have to win out and there isn't time for experimenting?
A: I think any chance you get to add Adrian Peterson back to your lineup, I think it's a positive. So, I think we'll definitely take him back in the lineup regardless of if it adds any challenges or not.
Q: Is there just kind of an emotional lift if you see him back out at practice again?
A: Yeah, I think so. Obviously, it was great to see him out here in the walk through today. I think he's just one of those guys, he has been a leader on this team. Obviously, he's one of the best players in this league, and he has been for quite some time. So, I think just having back out at practice in the huddle, I think it's a definite lift to our guys.* *
Q: You've had some success moving in and out of the pocket. Can you talk about that?
A: I think some of it's just that opportunities have presented themselves in the past couple weeks, whether it be to move around the pocket or escape. It might be something that I've thought a little bit about as the season has gone along, about when the opportunities do present themselves, to try to move around and try to make some plays.
Q: Do you have any thoughts about the league allowing teams to bring more than one player back from injured reserve?
A: I really don't want to get into that, because it really doesn't matter what I think. Obviously, from the player side, thought, you would love to have the opportunities if someone does get hurt, for them to be able to come back and play if they are healthy by the end of the year.
Q: You mentioned moving in the pocket. Were you just thinking about ways to extend plays when things weren't going well, and was it a conscious effort on your part?
A: I think it was just, like I said, opportunities in the past have just kind of presented themselves in the past couple weeks. I think they've just shown up, and I've just reacted to those situations. But at the same time, I think anytime that I can extend plays with my feet, it'll allow those guys on the outside to create a scramble drill or to get outside the pocket and pick up yards on the ground. I think it's a definite positive for us.
Q: What kind of a different do you think it will make to have Adrian Peterson out there with the way defenses will approach you?
A: I'm not sure, to be honest. Obviously, when he's back out there, thought, you would assume that you're going to get a lot more attention in the run game, probably some heavy, eight-man boxes trying to stop him and trying to take away the run game.
Q: The offensive line protected better last week. Why do you think that was?
A: Those guys played great last week. They went out there and they just blocked their butts off, both in the run game and in the pass game. I thought they did a great job, and I couldn't be more proud of those guys. Obviously, last week, when [Brandon] Fusco goes down and [Zac] Kerin comes in and steps up, plays really well. Those guys did a great job last week, and look for them to do the same this week.
Q: Was there that you guys did differently schematically to help the offensive line out?
A: No. They just went out there and played great.
Q: Did you get a chance to see Jerick McKinnon's blitz pickup?
A: I did, yeah. Obviously, it was a great pickup. Anytime someone's coming up the middle like that with as much speed as he was, for Jerick to step up and make that pickup, that's really what allowed the play to happen.
