KEVIN O’CONNELL – Page 10 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Debuts: Sam Darnold Gets the ‘W,’ Kirk Cousins the Loss

Posted on September 8, 2024September 9, 2024 by David Shama

Who needs Kirk Cousins?

In homes and taverns around the state, that could be the sentiment of Vikings fans tonight as they chant “Skol” after a dominating 28-6 win on the road over the Giants. In weekend one of the NFL season, new Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold completed 19 of 24 passes including two touchdown passes in a surprisingly easy win for Minnesota who entered the game about a 1.5-point favorite.

Darnold, who the Vikings signed as a free agent in the off-season, was smoking from the beginning. The grandson of former Marlboro man Dick Hammer, Darnold completed his first 12 passes in the game that celebrated 100 seasons of Giants football. He was 13 of 14 at halftime, with 151 yards.

Cousins, who after six seasons in Minnesota as the starting quarterback decided the Atlanta Falcons offered too many bucks to remain with the Purple, had a disappointing debut against the Steelers. The 36-year-old Cousins completed 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards and threw a touchdown pass but had two interceptions in a 18-10 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Darnold looked like a different quarterback today than he has been for much of his NFL career that includes three initial seasons in the league with the Jets where he threw 39 interceptions, and 45 touchdown passes. Then he played two unproductive seasons with the woeful Carolina Panthers. Last season, he started one game as a backup for the San Francisco 49ers.

Kevin O’Connell image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

But Darnold, 27, was around offensive guru and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan a year ago and now plays for another quarterback whisperer in Viking boss Kevin O’Connell. He has added football savvy to go with his physical tools that include a quick release and strong arm.

“I am really proud of him,” O’Connell said at his postgame press conference heard on KFXN-FM in Minneapolis.

The Vikings were predicted to have quarterback issues without Cousins and minus first round pick J.J. McCarthy who was injured in the first preseason game and is out for the season. But those same predictors who said earlier in the summer the Vikings won’t make the playoffs, got a surprise today when the Vikings played a complete game.

Led by new running back Aaron Jones, the offense was balanced with 111 rushing yards complementing the work of Darnold and receivers Justin Jefferson and Jalen Nailor who both had TD receptions. Jones, who also scored a touchdown, showed his breakaway speed and toughness, rushing for 94 yards.

Defensively, the Vikings made the boos rain down from the stands much of the game at MetLife Stadium. Coordinator Brian Flores’ defense confused the Giants, and his players came up with five sacks and two interceptions.

One of those sacks came from rookie edge rusher Dallas Turner, a Vikings first round pick last April. He’s among the top favorites for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Regarding that possible honor, Turner said on Friday: “You know, it’s definitely a blessing and an honor, but you know at the end of the day I still have to play football and perform. That journey starts next week. The play is going to speak for itself.”

His sack spoke loudly and even more so was the 10-yard interception for a third quarter touchdown by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel that put Minnesota ahead 28-6. Veteran safety Harrison Smith had the other INT.

At his postgame presser, O’Connell said his players weren’t surprised with their dominant win. Maybe not, but a lot of fans who bleed purple certainly were.

Worth Noting

The Vikings are offering three fan packages for their October 6 game in London against the Jets. Per person costs range from $1,145 to $4,095. https://onlocationexp.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings-london?utm_source=vikings.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=isg_london_teams-vikings_news_article_press_release_priority_access

Kaden Johnson, the former Minnehaha Academy star who started his college career at Wisconsin, is a fifth-year edge rusher for the Nevada team that plays at Minnesota Saturday. A coveted recruit coming out of high school, Johnson has two solo tackles and nine assisted for the Wolf Pack who are 1-2 on the season, with a 28-26 win over Troy and losses to SMU, 29-24, and Georgia State, 20-17.

The Wolf Pack receive $1.2 million from the Gophers for playing in Minneapolis.

Dick Jonckowski, who turns 81 on October 22, reports he’s still cancer free from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after about 18 months. Over the years Jonckowski has been a fixture with public address work for amateur baseball and on September 21 he will be inducted into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Cloud at the River’s Edge Convention Center. It’s the 10^th hall of fame for the “Polish Eagle” who has endeared himself to Minnesotans over the years for his emcee, public address and radio broadcast work in amateur sports including with the Gophers.

Baseball Hall of Famer and former Twins left-handed pitcher Jim Kaat texting about his golf game: “I don’t keep a handicap anymore. I just play for recreation. My goal is to beat my age, 85, every round.”

Kaat, one of the best TV baseball analysts ever, plays ambidextrously. “I do play a little each way. Lefty is a little better.”

Gabriel Gonzalez, acquired in the 2024 Twins trade sending Jorge Polanco to the Mariners, is the Minor League Player of the Week playing for High-A affiliate Cedar Rapids. The Venezuelan outfielder hit .350 in five games. That’s about 100 higher than his season average for the Kernels.

Ari Peterson, the daughter of former Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson, is enrolled at Minnetonka High School as a freshman. The 6-foot-2 Peterson helped Providence Academy to state Class 2A titles the last two years playing with Maddyn Greenway, daughter of former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway.

Brian Cosgriff, coach of the defending state champion 4A Minnetonka girls’ team, wants the gifted Peterson to play “positionless basketball.” He told Sports Headliners that Peterson, who has offers from the Gophers, Oklahoma and Ohio State, can be the “best” basketball player in the state when she is a high school senior.

The Skippers have three returning starters, but lost a fourth when prep superstar Aaliyah Crump, among the most coveted players by colleges in the country, decided to play her senior season at Montverde Academy, a private prep school in Montverde, Florida.

Former Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, a member of the franchise’s Ring of Honor, will be the celebrity speaker Saturday night at the Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation Banquet in Winona. He will play golf the next day at the Cedar Valley Golf Course in Winona. Past celebrity speakers include Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Mike Ditka, Bart Starr and Bud Grant. The foundation’s purpose is to benefit youth athletics in Winona.

Steve Erban’s Creative Charters has added the 2025 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in February to the list of travel destinations that includes Gopher football games and more. Son Bryce Erban will be showing his champion Airedale.

WCCO TV sports director Mike Max leads a panel discussion with Gopher basketball coaches Ben Johnson and Dawn Plitzuweit, and Dinkytown Athletes president Derek Burns, at the Twin Cities Dunkers program September 24.

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J.J. McCarthy Might Have Made Vikings QB History

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by David Shama

In the 63-year history of the Vikings, no rookie quarterback has started every regular season game. That might have changed if 2024 first-round draft choice J.J. McCarthy wasn’t sitting out his first NFL season after right knee meniscus surgery in mid-August.

Journeyman Sam Darnold will start at quarterback on Sunday when the Vikings open their regular season against the Giants on the road. But going back to before training camp opened in late July, McCarthy’s potential teased at being the day one starter.

A former NFL executive with two clubs, who asked that his name not be published, said this to Sports Headliners in May: “I expect him to be the starter, maybe not week one, but I would say certainly by October. I think he’ll have taken over for Darnold, and I think he could beat him out in training camp. That they (the coaches) may just say hey, we’re going to go with the more talented guy here.”

In training camp, the 21-year-old McCarthy impressed head coach Kevin O’Connell and others inside the organization. In McCarthy’s only preseason game, he was 11 of 17 for 188 yards and threw two touchdown passes.

Shortly after McCarthy’s surgery O’Connell offered this highly favorable opinion of Minnesota’s No. 10 first-round selection (the highest drafted QB in franchise history): “As our fans either have already come to find out or will in the future, this guy is so motivated and so dialed in. As excited as I was to draft him, he’s confirmed everything that I hope to see not only early on through training camp, but through his performance last Saturday (August 10 preseason opening game). Our fan base and everyone should just be excited about the fact that we’ve got our young franchise quarterback, I believe, in the building.”

No one will ever know if McCarthy might have progressed so favorably after August 10 that O’Connell would have decided to make him the September 8 starter. What is certain is that the former quarterback for the 2023 national champion Michigan Wolverines is proclaimed the future starter and would have been given a lot of scrutiny between August 11 and September 8.

In the best of scenarios, McCarthy would have surpassed the stories of other Viking rookie quarterbacks including Teddy Bridgewater who started 12 games in 2014, his first season with Minnesota. Joe Kapp, who had played in Canada, started 11 games as a rookie in 1967.

Fran Tarkenton as a rookie didn’t start his first game but took over after it began and led the expansion 1961 Vikings to a stunning 37-13 win over the Bears in Minnesota’s NFL debut. The former Georgia third round draft choice went on to start 10 games as a rookie and is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Worth Noting

The Giants will be about a 1.5 underdog in the game with a roster that includes former Golden Gopher John Michael Schmitz Jr. as the starting center. Ex-Gophers and expected second teamers are inside linebacker Carter Coughlin and rookie safety Tyler Nubin.

The Gophers opening game loss to North Carolina last Thursday night at home was significant and follows a trend of so-so results against major competition. In recent years the program has been unable to match the success of the often-praised 2019 season when Minnesota was 11-2 overall, 7-2 in Big Ten games and finished No. 10 nationally in the final A.P. poll.

Minnesota’s 19-17 loss to North Carolina now gives the program a 21-18 record against Power 5 teams dating back to 2020. The Gophers are 14-13 in Big Ten games over that period.

The two point loss to the Tar Heels was clearly a missed opportunity for a win. North Carolina entered the game without an established quarterback and lost its starter in the second half. The Gophers had the better quarterback in newcomer Max Brosmer but frequently misfired on offense, defense and special teams.

Disappointments included offensive calling and absence of passing success. The offseason buzz was the Gophers would have an improved passing game but while Brosmer looked okay no receivers emerged to complement 2023 second team All-Big Ten wide receiver Daniel Jackson.

Minnesota’s passing game hasn’t drawn raves since 2019 when wide receivers Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman and QB Tanner Morgan dazzled, and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, now in his second season at Rutgers, was directing the show.

While the Gophers have an 11 a.m. start Saturday at home against FCS Rhode Island, St. Thomas hosts Northern Iowa looking for its first ever win against an FCS scholarship program. Rhode Island, 1-0, defeated Holy Cross 20-17 last Saturday. The Division I Tommies lost 34-13 at home last Saturday to Division II Sioux Falls, while Northern Iowa defeated Valparaíso 35-7.

The Twins, who are 5.5 games behind the Guardians in the race to win the AL Central Division title, need September to be their best month of the season. The second place Twins, 75-63, were 14-14 in August, the only month this season the club wasn’t over .500. Minnesota’s best record came in May, 16-12.

Third baseman Jose Miranda is second in batting average on the team at .299 (Carlos Correa, .308), after hitting .268 and .211 his first two seasons in the majors. A key reason for success is hitting off-speed pitches with a consistency few other MLB batters can match this season.

High-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Walker Jenkins, 19, hit .310 with a .909 OPS in August and is the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for August.

Travis Adams, 24, who appeared in five games for Double-A Wichita with a 0.70 ERA in 25.2 innings, is the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

Congratulations to the Waconia Lakers who won their first ever Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball championship Monday, defeating Jordan 5-2 at the Mini Met in Jordan. It was a rewarding outcome for Waconia, a team that finished second to Isanti in the 2011 Class C tournament. Town ball teams are comprised of players from various ages, ranging from teens to adults who are decades older.

The No. 18 ranked Gophers volleyball team, coming off its upset of No. 1 Texas in Milwaukee on Monday, has an opportunity to further its national reputation on Friday with a match against No. 23 Baylor in Waco, Texas. Minnesota is 1-1 in two nonconference matches, Baylor 3-0.

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Despite Injury, Favored Status Remains for J.J. McCarthy

Posted on August 15, 2024August 16, 2024 by David Shama

Despite right knee meniscus surgery on Wednesday that will end his season, rookie J.J. McCarthy apparently remains the quarterback in waiting for the Vikings. This is part of what head coach Kevin O’Connell said yesterday when he reported on McCarthy following surgery:

“As our fans either have already come to find out or will in the future, this guy is so motivated and so dialed in. As excited as I was to draft him, he’s confirmed everything that I hope to see not only early on through training camp, but through his performance last Saturday (preseason opening game). Our fan base and everyone should just be excited about the fact that we’ve got our young franchise quarterback, I believe, in the building.”

At the news conference KOC didn’t speculate 27-year-old Sam Darnold, who the Vikings signed as a free agent in the offseason, could become the team’s long-term quarterback.

Darnold and the 21-year-old McCarthy, who the Vikings took at No. 10 in the first round of last spring’s NFL Draft, might have been in a quarterback battle during the coming season. The two had been taking most of the reps at training camp this summer.

Speculation had a couple of scenarios about the competition including Darnold starting the season and McCarthy moving in at No. 1 after several games. Another path was holding McCarthy out for the entire season to let him learn and more fully develop—remaining on the bench no matter how Darnold performed.

Darnold will likely one day remember 2024 as the season that defined his pro football career. The opportunity to become an established starter was evident last winter when he reportedly signed a $10 million one-year contract to likely replace the departed Kirk Cousins, but now with the absence of McCarthy it’s even more likely he’s at a fork in the road regarding his career.

It appears Darnold will need to stage one of the more amazing comeback stories in recent NFL history to change the likelihood of McCarthy taking over the team next year. McCarthy has youth, talent and commitment on his side while Darnold’s track record is one of mostly disappointment after being drafted third overall by the Jets in 2018.

The grandson of Marlboro man Dick Hammer, McCarthy didn’t get off to a smoking start with the Jets where in three seasons he threw 39 interceptions, and 45 touchdown passes. Then he played two unproductive seasons with the woeful Carolina Panthers. Last season, he started one game as a backup for the 49ers.

Darnold, though, is intriguing. He has a quick release throwing the football and good arm strength. He is athletic enough to move around in the pocket like a teenager playing backyard football. With McCarthy’s injury, Darnold can play in a more relaxed environment and know the boo-birds in the stands, and perhaps even his own coaches, won’t pull a quick “trigger” and bludgeon his career.

Darnold’s reputation is that of a gun-slinger quarterback. He can make observers scream, “Oh, no!” Or yell, “Oh, yes!” as he fits passes into tight spaces.

The truth is Darnold has never been in a situation so ripe for success as in Minnesota. He is in a quarterback friendly system led by O’Connell. His gifted offensive teammates include wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, elusive running back Aaron Jones, and formidable pass blockers Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill. This is an elite NFL offensive environment that Darnold is integrating with.

No one, including O’Connell, can know for sure whether there is a transformation coming from the former USC quarterback who many thought might be the No. 1 overall draft choice in 2018 instead of Baker Mayfield. He is intriguing enough to believe if he gives the Vikings sustained production the club can have playoff aspirations and thoughts of winning 9 games or more.

If not, thoughts of the “Golden Boy” and 2025 will come quickly to mind.

Worth Noting

Congratulations to sports icon Dave Mona who is back for his 50th year as the press box voice at Vikings games, working games over the years at Met Stadium, the Metrodome and U.S. Bank Stadium. Asked about his age, Mona quipped, “More than 50.”

On game days Mona is continually providing information to the media. Asked about the future, he joked again and said: “Yeah, just a year at a time. Have been for about 48 years.

“I enjoy it. It’s a fun thing to do. I love working with a group of guys being part of the stats crew. I think people would be fascinated to see what goes on statistically as part of the game and how calm it is in there—despite all the information being tossed back and forth.”

Max Johnson, the son of former Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson, wears jersey No. 14 just like his father. Max, who previously played collegiately at LSU and Texas A&M, is in a starting team quarterback competition for North Carolina to see who leads the Tar Heels in their August 29 opener against the Golden Gophers in Minneapolis. Max has two seasons of remaining eligibility.

Gopher head coach P.J. Fleck talking about the competitiveness of the 2024 team: “I just think they’re ultra-competitive. They really are. And I think good teams know they’re really good. They act that way. They walk that way. They talk that way. They work that way.

“And look, we don’t know what kind of team we’re going to be…that story is yet to be told. But they come to practice every day like they feel they’re a really good football team. And I love that about them. …

“But right now, I mean competing with each other, is as good as we’ve ever had. With iron sharpening iron. I think it’s really productive for us.”

Fleck talking about prize freshman Koi Perich, who arrived on campus in June, and the Esko native’s possible playing time: “I think it’s really early when you talk about true freshmen. I think it’s all about how their bodies handle the next few weeks.

“It’s really difficult coming here in June and making a huge impact as a true freshman. It’s just hard at any level at any position, but we love what he does. We love how hard he plays. He’s really smart and if he continues to take the next right step, then you could see him being in the mix as we go forward. Not only just safety, but special teams and other certain parts of the game.”

Veteran teammate and defensive lineman Danny Striggow on Perich: “Koi is a fun guy to be around. I didn’t really hear him talk for the first couple of weeks that he was here. He was a little quiet but now he’s starting to open it up…to get in with a lot of the guys.

“It’s really cool to see him come in and be explosive right away. Kind of see him work into his role and really take control of the positions that he is in and the reps that he is getting. To be able to go out there and really take advantage of what he’s getting for reps.”

Veteran linebacker Cody Lindenberg has been impressed with Perich’s energy and instincts. The former 4-star recruit, who was the MVP of the January All-American Bowl, is a playmaker at safety or special teams including returning punts. “…Whatever it is, he’s going to make a play somehow, some way. It’s been great to see him grow, too. It’s a short while since he’s been here but he’s gotten a ton better.”

Gopher senior Quinn Carroll, who has switched from right tackle to right guard, likes playing more inside where a player is “more influential” in the run game and “that’s my strength” right now.

Condolences to family and the many friends of Scott Buss, age 50, who died unexpectedly several days ago. The Eden Prairie resident was a personal favorite. We were scheduled to be part of a foursome at Dwan Golf Course in Bloomington on Sunday. Scott was chosen by sportswriter John Sherman from the Sun-Current for Edina’s all-time high school baseball team. In his senior spring at Edina in 1993 the Star Tribune named him the all-state first baseman. Kind and soft spoken, with a passion for people and sports, Scott leaves a void that will never be filled for those who loved him.

Tom Kelly, who managed the Twins to two World Series championships and whose statue is outside Target Field, turns 74 today (August 15).

Bailey Ober, 12-5 with a 3.52 ERA, can extend his career best winning streak (now at four) when he starts for the Twins tonight against the Rangers in Texas.

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