Getty Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell showed the ultimate respect by picking up Anthony Richardson last Sunday night when the Indianapolis Colts QB was down.
What O’Connell put out into the universe came back to him a few days later via New York Jets All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner, arguably the best cover man in the entire NFL.
Gardner appeared on the Thursday, November 7 edition Richard Sherman’s podcast and had nothing but compliments for O’Connell, admitting that he’s perhaps the only play caller in the league capable of making the star DB question himself and how to do his job.
“I remember when we was playing against Minnesota, and I kept second guessing a little bit because they [offensive coordinator] is nice. He is probably one of the best OCs I’ve ever played against,” Gardner said, later clarifying that by ‘OC’ he meant O’Connell, who serves as both head coach and play caller. “That’s probably one of the only games this year where I was thinking like, ‘Oh, do I really wanna gamble against him?’ … I’m looking on the side and I just see his face, like, he played quarterback. And I’m thinking like, ‘He looking too lax. Like, what’s going on? What’s about to happen here?’ It was kinda crazy man.”
Kevin O’Connell Has Proven Himself QB Whisperer During 3 Years With Vikings
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
O’Connell has done a lot of things to impress the league, as well as strike fear into opponents all across it, stretching back to his days as offensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams.
L.A. won the Super Bowl in O’Connell’s final year there before he moved up to head coach with the Vikings in 2022. Minnesota won the division and hosted a playoff game with an aging Kirk Cousins that season.
The Vikings fought through the second half of the 2023 campaign without Cousins, during which O’Connell helped career backup Josh Dobbs elevate to national stardom for a stretch and schemed offenses allowing Nick Mullens to throw for over 300 yards multiple times.
This season, O’Connell has aided Sam Darnold in a career renaissance characterized by 1,900 yards passing, 17 TDs against 7 INTs and a career-high completion percentage pushing 70%. The Vikings head coach is likely to face another challenge next season if/when the team transitions to J.J. McCarthy, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft who will miss his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury.
Kevin O’Connell Put Out Feel-Good Vibes During, After Interaction With Anthony Richardson
GettyVikings coach Kevin O’Connell embraces Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson after an NFL game.
O’Connell grabbed headlines earlier this week after embracing Richardson following Minnesota’s victory over Indy in Week 9.
The head coach told the QB to keep his head up, keep working and that he believes in him. The message resonated far and wide, and O’Connell addressed it on Friday, November 8.
“Quarterback journeys are what they are, and every single one of them has their own story,” he said. “And I just felt like if I can have an opportunity to just let him know how I feel about him — and not only him and where he’s at now, but where I think he’s going in the future — I thought it was a good moment to tell him that. I’m just a big fan, and if you have something to say to uplift somebody else, you might as well say it and not keep it to yourself.”
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
