(On the defense coming to play today and how he and the defense have progressed over the course of the season) "Yeah, well speaking first off for myself, fourth defense in five years and I didn't really have an offseason, so you can know the stuff but until you start playing and experience it in a game you don't have that comfort level. And I feel like that's grown as the year's gone on. Playing next to a guy like Myles [Jack], that really helps and benefits me and I think as a whole team defense. You guys know, with the people coming in and the people coming out, injured or what you have, I think the guys have done a good job of stepping up and playing what they are supposed to do and doing their jobs and understanding it's a whole team defense, not one guy is going to win a game of football, it takes all 11. I think we've been taking steps in that direction; obviously we have to be able to pull out one more stop, one more play to get the win."
(On if they should have played with more confidence after the pick-six and if it was disappointing they didn't follow up after that play) "Yeah, it's a young team and there is not a lot of experience in games like that or moments like that for a lot of guys on the team yet. Football is a momentum game and when you have momentum everything seems to be going your way, but once it shifts it's hard to get it back. I thought the guys, after they [Vikings] scored the two times, especially on defense, did a really good job of rallying back and being able to start limiting them again and holding them and getting three-and-outs and holding them to field goal attempts. I think you put it well and it's something we have to work on and improve on and be able to experience it and get better at it."
(On if the game plan going into the game was to limit Dalvin Cook) "Yeah, for sure. Dalvin is one of the most talented running backs in the league and does a great job; when he gets into space, he might be the most dangerous running back in the league. So coming in, the game plan was to keep him contained in the tackle box and not let him get going. We tried to get Kirk [Cousins] to throw the ball and get pressure in his face and not let him have a lot of time to throw to the receivers they've got, and I think we were able to execute that for the most part of the game as well as we could have, but obviously there's moments over time, those two drives we weren't able to stop it. For most of the game I thought we did a good job of sticking to what we were supposed to do."
(On how frustrating it is to lose games by such a narrow margin) "Yeah, I mean it gets to a point where there's no moral victories in football. You either win or you lost, it's not like 'oh we lost by 2, we lost by 3'. I think it just speaks to how hard everybody plays and how hard everybody plays for each other. Just with all the stuff we've been going through with all these close games, but to be a good football team you have to win those close games. There are some teams in the league with winning records that have been winning games by 3 points every week and it's something that we have to be able to do. You can obviously point to a couple plays in any specific quarter or any specific drive like if we get that, we win the game. It's just stuff you have to be able to be aware of because you never know when the first quarter play opportunity is going to win or lose you the game, but it happens and we have to be able to take advantage of it. I think guys on the team understand it but it's a learned experience and you have to be able to go and practice and be able to execute it on Sundays. I think we just need to keep taking steps in that direction."