Vikings offensive coordinator says one of the things that went wrong for his team in Sunday’s loss at Green Bay was players slipping on the grass at Lambeau Field.
Phillips said today that he has emphasized with the players that they need to prepare themselves better for treacherous field conditions.
“We definitely have to take the conditions into account, and we have to be professional about whatever the environment we’re playing in,” Phillips said. “The margin for error in this league is small. I assume you’re talking about guys slipping down on the ground. It was noticeable that it happened with us and it didn’t happen with them. It was something that was addressed, but guys have got to understand the margin for error is so small. It can’t be like, ‘I’ll get it next time.’ You don’t know how many times you’re going to have that play to change a game or continue a drive. We have to be professional about it.”
Phillips indicated that he thought the players needed to do a better job of preparing themselves in pregame to determine which types of cleats they needed to wear.
“You do have to go out in pregame and make sure you’ve got it right before we go out there. You can’t make that decision afterwards,” he said. “We have to be better in that area.”
The Vikings will open the playoffs at home in the comfort of their indoor stadium, but they’ll likely have to play outdoors on the road in January if they want to get to the Super Bowl. And Phillips hopes that if they’re on a slippery field, they handle it better than they did on Sunday.