“It never leaves our mind,” Jonathan Greenard reinforced. “We’ve seen how it can change a game, and we’ve won some games off that. I mean, a lot of games off it. So, I think when you’re preaching that message, it’s hard to get through sometimes because people don’t see it initially. Like the players don’t see it initially. But once we’ve seen it happen in games and see how it can affect the game, give an offense momentum, give us momentum, stuff like that, kill a game, it makes us want to do it a lot more.”
More than 2024 is a tall order. Thirty-three represented Minnesota’s most takeaways since 2006 when it recorded 36. In the past 25 seasons, the Vikings have forced 30 or more turnovers four other times (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2019). But with the returning talent, and new pressure-appliers, it seems feasible.
“I always like to say, ‘Nobody cares about last year,’ but we also understand what we did,” Greenard stated. “It’s not like we’re just going to keep hanging our hat on it – ‘Oh, we did this last year!’ – but don’t switch anything up, do the same things that we did last year, do the same things with the same mindset but just add a little bit more to it. Like, yeah, we were number one but why not be number one with a larger margin? Like why not? Like why not take it to that next level because who knows, one more turnover could have changed the game somewhere in any of those games. You never know when it comes so just having that mindset of ‘the football is on your mind’ is something you should always have.”
Daniels’ resourcefulness and ability to connect with players across the age spectrum is invaluable.
“He just understands how to be a great coach and a great mentor,” said Greenard, adding Daniels’ passion and own experience as a player resonates with the current ones. “When he’s talking about these things, you ain’t gonna turn a blind eye to it, it’s something like, ‘Hey, he knows what he’s talking about.'”
Although Murphy played minimally on special teams his first year on the Vikings, and not at all last season, he considers Daniels “my guy.” They talk daily – and Daniels has helped raise his productivity.