Vikings embrace ‘summer camp’ vibes after arriving in Dublin to play the Steelers

DUBLIN – The Vikings landed in Dublin on Friday morning, after an overnight flight from the Twin Cities to Ireland. Shortly after touching down, they were headed right to work.

Tyler Williams, vice president of player health and performance, who oversees much of the Vikings’ approach to international trips, planned for the team to go straight to its practice field at the Sport Ireland Campus, rather than heading to its hotel in central Dublin, for a walkthrough to get players moving after the long flight.

The Sport Ireland Campus, where many of the country’s elite athletes train for Olympic and international competition, hosted the Vikings while the Steelers practiced at Carton House in Kildare. Because the Vikings weren’t practicing where they were staying on Friday, as they typically do when playing in London, it required them to improvise.

The Vikings practiced Friday afternoon on the Irish Rugby Football Union’s sprawling grass fields, where coach Kevin O’Connell said they did everything they would normally do on a Friday at their facility in Eagan.

“We already feel the love and the support from Dublin and really, specifically the folks here at Sport Ireland,” O’Connell said. “CEO Dr. Una May and her staff have been incredible since the moment we arrived this morning. Our guys had a great day of work. Loved everything about our energy throughout the day into practice, and now we will head back and get off our feet a little bit here.”

The agenda for this trip, the Vikings’ first to Dublin, also differs from their trips to London in one other respect. Rather than staying at a hotel outside the city, as they’ve done for their first four London games and will do again next week, the Vikings decided to stay in the city this time, giving players a chance to explore a bit of Dublin before and after the game.

After last year’s win over the Jets in London, the Vikings stayed in the city that night. They will do the same in Dublin, giving players free time in the city Sunday night before flying to London on Monday afternoon.

Though quarterback J.J. McCarthy was ruled out for Sunday’s game after missing his second full week of practice with his high ankle sprain, O’Connell said McCarthy could get some limited work next week in London.

“As we go through the weekend and then making the trip to London, he’ll truly be day-to-day,” O’Connell said. “We’ll see where he’s at, if we can start ramping up his workload, and at least getting him involved, maybe on a limited basis. allow us to get him on the grass and be working some technique and fundamentals and start building that back up.”

O’Connell said the Vikings have had McCarthy taking dropbacks during his rehab to regain a feel for his footwork. The coach reiterated he wants to get McCarthy 100% healthy before playing him, especially since the quarterback’s injured right ankle is his plant foot.

The two talked on the phone for more than an hour on Sunday night after McCarthy started texting O’Connell about things he could learn from Carson Wentz’s footwork.

“Just ‘Hey, man, watching that was really cool for me to see what it can be like,’” O’Connell said. “And after playing two games, we’re not still talking about 2024 where it’s, ‘Hey, watch and learn.’ This is, you have the club in your hand, and then you’re just not the first guy on the tee box, but your swing is coming soon. And he’s watching that. I think that was the cool thing of it; it wasn’t like I went into it like, ‘Hey, J.J., here’s what I want you to take out.’ I wanted to organically see his take on how Sunday went for Carson, both the things he did well, the things that we maybe could have been better at, play calls I could have been better at, and just kind of see the full circle.”

“It’s not going to be OK to just be close, because then you risk a setback for him taking more reps when he’s not truly 100 percent,” O’Connell said.

Edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, who was working on the side with the Vikings’ injured players on Friday, won’t play against the Steelers. Van Ginkel had returned from a neck injury and concussion to play eight snaps Sunday against the Bengals, but his neck injury kept him from practicing all week.

“It‘s really residual issues from the neck,” O’Connell said. “But with all that being said, this is not something that we anticipate [will] have a long-term impact. He just came out of the game with some residual issues from it, and we just want to make sure we’re smart, with the travel and everything that goes into this week. He’s doing really well today. We ruled him out, and then we’ll see how the week looks. But I’m hoping that we can get him right back up.”

In addition to Van Ginkel and McCarthy, the Vikings ruled out left guard Donovan Jackson after wrist surgery and tight end Ben Yurosek because of a knee injury. Blake Brandel will start for Jackson. Center Ryan Kelly, who missed Sunday’s game because of a concussion, was a full participant in practice all week and carries no injury designation into the Steelers game.