Vikings rookie quarterback Jaren Hall will make his first start against the Falcons on Sunday after Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles.
Hall got his first regular-season playing time in last week’s victory over Green Bay, completing 3-of-4 passes for 23 yards. He also lost a fumble.
Though Hall is a fifth-round pick out of BYU, he’s been with the Vikings since the spring. He told reporters this week that he doesn’t want to have the proverbial offensive training wheels on Sunday.
“I think you’ve gotta have the mindset you can run it all,” Hall said in his Wednesday press conference. “I don’t think we’ll hold anything back. But again, it’s just a matter of, if I can be dialed in on my preparation and take advantage of every minute, because it’s five or six days until Sunday, so you’ve got a lot of time to be ready to go by then.”
As a player making his first start, it’s likely Hall will see his share of different pressures. He’s trying to “prepare for everything.”
“Truly to Kirk and everything he’s shown in his preparation, you always be prepared for everything,” Hall said. “It’ll definitely be a mindset if they were to blitz and do that stuff, but that’s, you know, coaches are kind of in charge of all that. They know the looks, and they’ll be prepared for anything they decide to show or not show.”
Given that the Vikings just traded for Josh Dobbs, this may be Hall’s one and only opportunity to start this year. But he’s doing his best to not see it that way.
“I think that it’s very easy to go down that path and start thinking about that, but lucky for me, coaches are constantly reminding me just to focus on this day, focus on walk-through, this practice, this install — whatever it is,” Hall said. “It’s a long career in the NFL. It’s a marathon, it’s a journey. So, you can’t look at one game or one opportunity like it’s your last.
“So, for me, I’m just focused on being as prepared as I can for these guys because they’ve grinded so much these last few weeks and come back from so much adversity, that I just want to do my best to focus on this game.”
