The Coach’s Advice? “Play With Your Hair on Fire”
A funny saying, to be sure, and yet one that makes some sense.
Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels spent some time chatting with the Minnesota media on Wednesday. What was the coach’s advice to players looking to thrive on specials? Play like their hair is on fire.
The Coach’s Advice? Play with Urgency
The point is to play with urgency. Don’t overthink things, just react.
Daniels got into that idea in the early portion of his answer: “Less thinking, more reacting. That’s what I preach, we talk about it all the time.” The coordinator says that he’s “not looking for a guy who’s out there thinking too much” but, rather, someone who relies on his “instincts.” There have been enough reps, Daniels thinks, to usually “end up being right.”
And then the funny quip: “Just play with your hair on fire. Any mistakes, any mental errors, anything like that, that’s going to fall on me […] What I don’t want to see is out there playing slow.”
Being a depth player means needing to prove one’s value apart from getting major snaps on offense or defense. In other words, the key is to thrive on special teams. Being a monster of a blocker and/or tackler in a phase like kickoff coverage or punt team is a great way to stick around an NFL roster.
One thinks of NaJee Thompson as perhaps the special teams ace in Minnesota. The undrafted free agent from 2023 is on the team because he plays so wonderfully for Coach Daniels. Consider, for instance, one of Minnesota’s overall best plays of the season, courtesy of Thompson:
Being compared to Matthew Slater is the highest honor for a special teamer. Truth be told, there is a long way to go before Thompson is in the same realm as Slater. The former Patriot went to 10 Pro Bowls and was a first-team All Pro a pair of times (which is to say nothing of getting a trio of second-team All Pro nominations). The three Super Bowl rings don’t hurt, either.
Even still, the point remains that Thompson made a spectacular play in the moment. That’s what it looks like to run as if one’s hair is on fire.
More broadly, the Vikings’ special teams has been working through some notable competitions. John Parker Romo was in town to challenge Will Reichard, the No. 203 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The rookie, though, proved to be too much, so the former XFLer has been let go.
Meanwhile, the punters are working on their own battle. Incumbent Ryan Wright is coming off of a sophomore season where he struggled. His rookie year involved just a single touchback and no shortage of punts landing inside the 20 (32). As an encore, things went more poorly with 7 touchbacks and roughly half as many punts landing inside the 20 (17). Seth Vernon has thus been brought to town to compete.
What about long snapper? Well, there’s an All Pro in that spot: Mr. Andrew DePaola. No competition needed.
The expectation is that Minnesota’s offense could take a step back given the transition at QB (though Sam Darnold has been shining). As a result, the special teams could be more important than ever.
Minnesota’s opening preseason game gets played on Saturday, August 10th. The Raiders will be visiting U.S. Bank Stadium and the game gets going at 3 p.m. CT. Look for a lot of the depth players to play as if their hair is on fire.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
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