Matthew Coller: Replacement special teamers, Oliver's role, Robinson's smarts

Running down a bunch of important Vikings topics with Matthew Coller.

Oct 24, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings tight end Josh Oliver (84) celebrates after scoring on a 5-yard touchdown pass against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings came out of their win over the Indianapolis Colts healthy on offense and defense. Surprisingly, they did not leave US Bank Stadium with their specialists in one piece. On Tuesday the Vikings placed kicker Will Reichard and long snapper Andrew DePaola on injured reserve. Reichard suffered a quad injury and DePaola required surgery on a hand issue.

They brought in kicker John Parker Romo, a former XFL’er who was with the Vikings in the spring and into training camp and added former Lions long snapper Jake McQuaide. For at least the next four weeks, the Vikings will rely on these two to hold down positions that have been held by the best of the best. Before Sunday night, Reichard hadn’t missed a kick the entire season (14-for-14 on field goals, 20-for-20 extra points) and DePaola has been a staple of consistence since arriving in Minnesota and has twice been voted to the Pro Bowl.

McQuaide has a ton of experience. He’s a 36-year-old two-time Pro Bowler (2016, 2017) who was with the Rams for 10 years. As for Romo, he made 17-of-19 kicks for San Antonio of the XFL, including 2-for-3 from beyond 50 yards.

“It's tough, especially when it's at the kicker and really the kicker and the snapper position, because that kind of requires the most being in sync, so luckily [punter Ryan] Wright is a pretty good communicator,” special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said. “We'll kind of lean on him to be able to help out…that's why you get labeled the title of coach, I've got to do an unbelievable job of coaching these guys up and try to get it together. And hopefully we'll be able to find a nice, good, consistent operation operation, whoever's in there.”

Losing DePaola, Daniels said, is more than just missing a consistent snapper. He has also become one of the special teams unit’s top leaders.

“It's devastating, honestly,” Daniels said. “Just from a intangible standpoint of what this guy brings to the room, his intelligence, what he sees on film, how he's able to communicate to guys….when we do get him back, I told him we need him, in the meeting rooms, in the building, still carrying out the same process, still having the same communication… But it's definitely going to be a hit to our team just from a leadership standpoint and what he brings.”

Reichard told the Star Tribune that he felt some discomfort in the lead up to the game but Daniels said that he was not informed of any injury and that Reichard had a good practice prior to the win over the Colts.

Josh Oliver’s role

The Vikings eased TJ Hockenson back into his spot as TE1 by mixing in a lot of Josh Oliver. He was ready for the challenge. Oliver had the highest PFF grade of his career, caught a career-high five passes and did plenty of dirty work in the run and pass blocking game.

“Josh is the best blocking tight end in the league,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “And that's no disrespect to anyone else…we'll take Josh over anybody in this league in the role that he's in. He's not only physically imposing…but the attitude that he plays with the physicality… you see it every week. He's moving humans, large men, and putting them on the ground. And it's been a big part of why we've been able to have some success on the ground.”

Hockenson was on the field for 33 snaps and caught three passes on four targets for 27 yards.

“We didn't want him to overload him in his first game back,” Phillips said. “I think he felt it a little bit, just getting back into real football in that kind of shape. But it was good to have him out there. He did some good things. And I think that'll continue.”

Cam Robinson’s debut impresses coaches

The Vikings leaned heavily on their new left tackle in his first game, giving him a full workload of 73 offensive snaps. He allowed just four pressures on 42 pass blocking snaps.

“Everything about him coming in was impressive,” Phillips said. “From the Wednesday he gets here, he meets with the line coaches. They come in immediately and they're like, ‘this guy's a stud, he's really smart.’ His meeting with Kevin before he met with those guys, Kevin said, he's really smart. You could just tell, talking to him, he knows football.”

When Robinson met with the media last Thursday, he called it a “whirlwind” but seemed mostly unconcerned with the difficulty of the task at hand. Phillips noticed his unbothered demeanor as well.

“There was just this kind of calmness where you weren't worried about him and a confidence that he has and everything you kind of talk to him about. He says, "I got coach, you know, I got you.”

OC on the sideline

Phillips moved from up in the booth to down on the sideline on gameday. He explained the decision on Tuesday.

“We're just trying to find the best way to communicate in game,” Phillips said. “And felt like there were some things that maybe just communication wise between positioning groups while Kevin's down there and flipping over to defense and managing the game and all the things that he does. Just felt like me being able to kind of move around and then talk to him directly was going to help us.

Flores on Turner

Rookie Dallas Turner had one of his best performances of his young career with four QB pressures and 26 total snaps. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores said that he got an opportunity because Andrew Van Ginkel got banged up.

“Gink… got a minor thing that he was dealing with so Dallas is the next guy in, he went in, played well,” Flores said. “Gink said he was ready to go back in and we just kept the same kind of grouping for the remainder of the game. And Dallas did a few good things as well. So, again, You know, that's a deep room. There's a lot of good players in there. And, you know, by and large, it would go with the hot hand.”

It’s yet to be seen if Turner’s strong showing results in more opportunities in the coming weeks.