08-08-2018, 11:31 AM
In Saturday night’s practice under the lights at TCO Performance Center, Minnesota Vikings rookie Brian O’Neill had several impressive first-team reps in which he either slowed down a skilled pass rusher or showed his quickness and athleticism.But on one particular play, he was late getting his hands in position and Brian Robison promptly smacked them out of the way en route to a (non-contact) sack.
That has been the story of camp for O’Neill as he learns on the job while trying to make a push for the starting right tackle position. The former Pitt standout has learned that one of the biggest adaptations rookies have to make in NFL training camp is dealing with those bad moments.
“Coming in that’s one of the first five things Pat Elflein ever told me,” O’Neill said Tuesday. “I was talking to him about the biggest differences. He said, ‘you probably didn’t get beat in college, especially in practice. My biggest thing here was, I’m going to get beat, but in camp that’s the place for it. Take it, learn from it and get better from it. You’re still going to get beat again tomorrow and the next day, but being able to take that realize that he’s not just beating you, he’s beating other guys too.'”
The key to handling losses?
“Being able to understand that this is our first seven days, so being able to constantly build so it’s better Day 10 than it was Day 9, better Day 11 than it was Day 10,” O’Neill said. “Try to keep things in perspective and not get caught up on how you got beat and got yelled at.”
Over the first week-plus, O’Neill has split first-team reps with Rashod Hill, who is listed as the team’s starting right tackle on the unofficial depth chart released on Tuesday. That means routinely going up against star pass rusher Danielle Hunter.
“Danielle Hunter is really good,” he said emphatically. “Being able to go against a guy like that is only going to help me — and obviously the guys inside are no joke either. As a young player coming in, you can’t really do anything but appreciate having an opportunity like that because on Saturday [against Denver] we’re going to see some talent players. Being able to see it every day, our goal is to make practice harder than the games are going to be. Hopefully it will make the transition to the games a little smoother.”
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings/2018/08/...le-oneill/
That has been the story of camp for O’Neill as he learns on the job while trying to make a push for the starting right tackle position. The former Pitt standout has learned that one of the biggest adaptations rookies have to make in NFL training camp is dealing with those bad moments.
“Coming in that’s one of the first five things Pat Elflein ever told me,” O’Neill said Tuesday. “I was talking to him about the biggest differences. He said, ‘you probably didn’t get beat in college, especially in practice. My biggest thing here was, I’m going to get beat, but in camp that’s the place for it. Take it, learn from it and get better from it. You’re still going to get beat again tomorrow and the next day, but being able to take that realize that he’s not just beating you, he’s beating other guys too.'”
The key to handling losses?
“Being able to understand that this is our first seven days, so being able to constantly build so it’s better Day 10 than it was Day 9, better Day 11 than it was Day 10,” O’Neill said. “Try to keep things in perspective and not get caught up on how you got beat and got yelled at.”
Over the first week-plus, O’Neill has split first-team reps with Rashod Hill, who is listed as the team’s starting right tackle on the unofficial depth chart released on Tuesday. That means routinely going up against star pass rusher Danielle Hunter.
“Danielle Hunter is really good,” he said emphatically. “Being able to go against a guy like that is only going to help me — and obviously the guys inside are no joke either. As a young player coming in, you can’t really do anything but appreciate having an opportunity like that because on Saturday [against Denver] we’re going to see some talent players. Being able to see it every day, our goal is to make practice harder than the games are going to be. Hopefully it will make the transition to the games a little smoother.”
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings/2018/08/...le-oneill/