In his first public comments since a near-flawless debut as an NFL play-caller, Vikings interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski made sure to share the credit with players, coaches and the boss, Mike Zimmer.
"I had a lot of confidence because of the players and the coaches that were helping me," he said Thursday, four days after the Vikings ran for a season-high 220 yards in a 41-17 rout of Miami.
"I had never [called plays]. It was different, but once I got through that first series and figured out you press a button to talk to the quarterback, it was, I don't want to say, easy. I told Zimmer if I can't figure that out, we have some problems. After the first drive I felt pretty comfortable."
Stefanski said his comfort level was helped by a tip Zimmer gave him while watching film of the Dolphins during the game-planning process.
"It's something that he has done for a long time," Stefanski said. "Basically, you run the play and you say what you may have called there. Then you watch the play and you say, 'Would that play had been good or not?'
"It's just taking yourself through the rhythm of a game and how you are going to call it, both in the run and the pass."
Monday, Zimmer praised Stefanski for running one play 10 times with 10 different pre-snap looks. The challenge, of course, increases as teams get more film on Stefanski's tendencies.
"We try to know ourselves as well as the opponent does," Stefanski said. "That informs us in our decisions and in our scheming and in our game-planning."
