Joshua Metellus - , vikings Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-17 | Full transcript (primary source).
Joshua Metellus addressed the media during a press conference for the Minnesota Vikings on September 17, 2026. The discussion focused on the team's preparation and strategies following a challenging game against the Chicago Bears, particularly emphasizing the importance of communication and run defense.
Transcript
Metellus: When you looked at tape and you saw the 59 that the Bears posted, what jumped out at you guys this week when you started to game plan? I would say for a short ability to run the ball. I think anytime a team can stay on schedule, especially an offense like that, first second down, going exactly how they want, on schedule plays, nothing really to stress anybody on the offensive side, whether that's mentally or physically. I think you start to see an offense build some rhythm. So definitely one of the key points this week, stopping the run, being good on early downs, giving ourselves a chance on third down and not putting them in a manageable position to just get it easy first down. So that jumped out on the table a lot.
Metellus: What was the main focus of preventing some of those explosive plays that happened against you guys last week? Same page. Being on the same page, I think, especially in this defense, we play at such a high risk, high reward defense. All it takes is one communication, one person not seeing things the same for us to give up 380-something yards passing. So I think once we clean up those things and we put that on tape, we'll see the explosives come off our tape. But this week, we're stressing communication, being in the right spots, how do we play certain things that we're going to keep seeing moving forward?
Metellus: Is there any growth you showed in that first game? Did you see any differences from the other two years here that you faced? Yeah, like I said, that whole talk about playing in rhythm, a lot of that has to do with the quarterback and be able to see him play within the scheme and let his talent show when things don't go their way, when the scheme doesn't work, the play call isn't the right play. You see his abilities show up. But I think those downs where it's just easy pitching catch, what's the reads, what's my progression? You see him hit those easy layups. We like to call him. He's hitting those layups pretty often. So I think that's a big jump. You've got to take away everything now instead of just those exciting highlight plays you see on ESPN. So yeah, I think the more he continues to do that, it stresses defense out, and that's the main focus.
Metellus: What specifically is it about their run game? Why is it that they seem like they're so in sync? Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson. I think just the mentality, you can say they like to dress things up, things that look the same. But at the end of the day, it's a mentality, and it comes from the coach. We talk about receivers blocking. You guys seen the hard knocks clip. He's very adamant about every receiver blocks, so it's not a tale in terms of, all right, 15's here, we're probably going to get run. No, every receiver blocks the same enthusiasm. So I think he has the team condition in a certain way. So obviously, once you get your team doing one thing, the way you think, it shows up on tape. So for sure, we have to bring our stuff. We know that. It's the vision game anyways. We're showing up with everything we have in our bag. So we're excited, and yeah, definitely a good front. You talk about guys like 58. He's definitely holding his own on that side, doing a lot of really good things on tape. So we just got to be aware of what they like to do and who they like to run by. That makes it talk a lot too.
Metellus: How do you guys handle that? I know people keep you guys calm. Yeah, we talk on Sundays. I think you can get into all that talking during the week or whatever, but at the end of the day on Sundays, we like to talk with the way we play. I might say a little stuff after, but for the most part, we like to talk with the way we play. We play a very aggressive style of defense. So a lot of things we do, you could just watch, and you can see what we're thinking in our head. So yeah, we love that. We like a feisty competitor because we're competitors on this side too. So it's just something to be excited for.
Metellus: How do you mimic that? We kind of got everybody trying their best. We've got some good mobile guys. We've had all the quarterbacks pretty much trying to run out there. Obviously, with Kyler going through concussion protocol, trying to get them to the rest throughout the week, we had them run out there a couple of times. Whatever we can, I've seen the linebackers, they go out there with each other and they pretend to be Caleb against each other, trying to get a different kind of body. Whatever you can, but nothing can really simulate that feeling of being one-on-one with 18 and just not knowing where he's going to go. So as much as we can, we're trying to simulate it, but it's hard.
Metellus: Josh, kind of a random question, but Justin Jefferson, his deep ball catch, he described how he took the defender out a little bit and then broke back inside. You've covered him out there. What is it that's so unique about his deep ball tracking? Because it seems like anytime it's up, he has a great chance to get it. I think for Justin, I think it's just the ability to act like there's nobody there. You can see it when the ball's in the air, especially on a deep ball. It just feels like it's just him in the quarterback. Even when you're covering him, it's like nobody's there. He's not fazed by what you're doing with your hands. He's not fazed with your hands in his face, trying to knock his arms down. He's literally just focused on the ball. I think that's what makes the best the best, his ability to just concentrate just on the ball. I think that's the biggest key to it. He's just locked in. That's all I can say. I see it all the time. You watch him down the sideline on the deep ball, he's literally just eyes, literally. It doesn't matter about the lay hands. People talk about lay hands, all of that. But I think his ability to just lock in and just see himself and just the ball on the field, I think that's what makes him different.
Metellus: What do you think of Dallas' game the other day? Really great. I think Dallas is doing exactly what we expected him to do, exactly what we've been seeing. I think just the confidence in a player like that, to slowly see it start to grow and then for him to have the offseason he did and to go out week one and do that on tape, I think it's definitely moving in the right direction. He knows it's a long season and we're going to need more and more out of him, especially if we get down this stretch and roll. But very exciting to see a guy like that show up on the tape the way he did.
Metellus: Thank you. Appreciate it.
