Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell caught some heat on Monday night when it appeared that the coach told tight end T.J. Hockenson to “go down” with an injury during the second quarter against the 49ers.
ESPN announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman noted that the cameras caught O’Connell mouthing these words to Hockenson, which then sparked a debate about whether the coach wanted the tight end to exaggerate his injury so the team wouldn’t have to burn a time out.
O’Connell explained what happened on the sidelines after the game, seemingly denying any claims about him wanting an injury time out.
“It was more so about if he’s coming out—kind of similar maybe what you guys saw when we took a delay late in a previous game this year,” O’Connell said, via the New York Post. “When a guy either comes on or comes off late, we’re pretty meticulous about what personnel is on the field, what we’re gonna call with those guys in the game. It just allows us all a chance [to] reset, and he was injured.
“I credit all of our guys’ toughness but sometimes depending on the time of the game of the situation of the game where the clock is really not an issue, he was able to come back in the game from that which was really impressive.”
"I'll say this. We just caught Kevin O'Connell on camera saying 'T.J. go down.'" - Joe Buck pic.twitter.com/bTq56BAUXr
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 24, 2023
Hockenson did get off the field for the following play, but was able to push through his injury to finish the game.
The Vikings ended up winning 22–17 to move to 3–4 on the season.
