The challenge for Hall this week is to not overthink the opportunity that’s in front of him.
15 years later, Kevin O’Connell remembers putting too much pressure on himself when he was a young quarterback trying to establish himself in the NFL.
As a third-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2008, O’Connell felt like he had to prove himself every time he got an opportunity. Typically, that led to him forcing things. He wound up struggling in his rookie preseason, attempting six total regular season passes in his career, and flaming out after stints with five teams in five years.
“I remember feeling like I had to win the game on every play sometimes,” O’Connell said this week. “Maybe because you were fighting for a job, maybe because you felt like you were stepping in in a role where you needed to show what you can do. It’s about doing your job every single play … the times I did that, good things happened collectively for the unit I was with. The times that I didn’t, very rarely did good things end up happening.”
O’Connell said he absolutely was guilty of thinking too much about the big picture during his playing career.
“It’s probably the one thing looking back on it, I wish, and I did have people tell me that, but I wish they would have made me tattoo it right there on my arm so I could be reminded of it every day,” he said.
His own personal experience is something O’Connell has shared with Vikings rookie quarterback Jaren Hall this week as he prepares to step in for Kirk Cousins and make his first NFL start. The message for Hall is to not make this game bigger than it is. Even with the Vikings trading for veteran Josh Dobbs this week, Hall can’t think of this game against the Falcons as his one opportunity to prove he belongs in the league.
That’s the type of mindset that can lead to mistakes.
“I’ve already talked with him about it,” O’Connell said. “The last thing he needs to be thinking about is ‘What does this mean? Where is my career going to go from here?’ This is about making sure I call the play right, break the huddle, and do my job, whether it’s a run or pass, on the first play of the game. Thinking about anything big picture, that would be incredibly wrong in my opinion.”
Obviously, this is a massive opportunity for Hall. Preseason is one thing — this is his first chance to show what he can do as an NFL starting quarterback. And with Dobbs now in the building and Nick Mullens potentially back from injured reserve soon, nothing is guaranteed for Hall beyond this week. It would be huge for his career prospects if he can put some good things on tape in Atlanta.
But as hard as it may be, he has to try not to view it that way. He has to be methodical in his preparation this week so he can go out and take it one play at a time on Sunday. The Vikings simply need him to execute their offense by making the right reads and getting the ball out on time to his playmakers. That’s what Hall is trying to focus on.
“I think that it’s very easy to go down that path and start thinking about that, but lucky for me, coaches are constantly reminding me just to focus on this day, focus on walk-through, this practice, this install — whatever it is,” Hall said. “It’s a long career in the NFL. It’s a marathon, it’s a journey. So, you can’t look at one game or one opportunity like it’s your last.”
“The career doesn’t ride on one game, although you don’t want to take the importance away from it,” he said. “This is a 1-0 week for us, and it’s the only game I’m focused on, and it’s gotta be my Super Bowl every week because it’s the most important thing that’s coming next.”
Hall, a fifth-round pick out of BYU this year, has been preparing for this moment for a long time. He’s been putting in extra work after practice with quarterbacks coaches Chris O’Hara and Grant Udinski since the spring. Now, suddenly and unexpectedly, an opportunity has arrived.
O’Connell and the Vikings’ coaching staff are going to do everything they can to make sure Hall is ready for the moment. All he needs to do is lean on his preparation and play with confidence from the first snap of the game.
“He’s been preparing week in and week out, really since he arrived here, for this moment,” O’Connell said. “So it’s going to seem like we’re getting him ready for his first start, but I really look at it as — if we’ve been doing our jobs, he’s been getting ready for this for a while, just not knowing when that time would come.”
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