Inside The Vikings

Kevin O'Connell, T.J. Hockenson, Harrison Smith Reached Milestones vs. Raiders

These three etched their names into the Vikings history books on Sunday.
Will Ragatz|
Kevin O'Connell, T.J. Hockenson, Harrison Smith Reached Milestones vs. Raiders
Kevin O'Connell, T.J. Hockenson, Harrison Smith Reached Milestones vs. Raiders

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Minnesota Vikings

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, tight end T.J. Hockenson, and safety Harrison Smith all achieved franchise milestones during Sunday's 3-0 win over the Raiders.

With the victory, O'Connell became the fastest coach in team history to reach 20 wins. He did it in just 30 regular season games, surpassing Dennis Green's record of 32 (1992-93). With one more win, O'Connell will stand alone as the Vikings coach with the most victories in their first two seasons. Fascinatingly, the Vikings have played 23 one-score games among their 30 under O'Connell, including 12 of 13 this year.

Hockenson, who led the Vikings with five catches for 53 yards in Vegas, is up to 85 receptions this season. That breaks the previous single-season franchise record by a tight end of 83, set by Kyle Rudolph in 2016. Joe Senser (79 in 1981) and Jermaine Wiggins (71 in 2004) are the only other Vikings tight ends to have 70 catches in a season. There are still four games left for Hockenson to try to become just the eighth TE in NFL history to catch 100 passes in a season.

Lastly, Smith played in his 172nd regular season game on Sunday, passing Hall of Famer Paul Krause for the most games played by a defensive back in Vikings history. Krause played 171 games for Minnesota from 1968-79.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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