Vikes' Murray says he recovered 'pretty quickly' from Week 1 concussion

EAGAN, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray was "good pretty quickly" after suffering a scary concussion in Week 1, he said Thursday in his first public comments since the injury.

"Obviously with the protocol and everything like that, I had to go through it," Murray said of missing the Vikings' Week 2 game against the Chicago Bears. "It was just part of the process."

Murray was briefly motionless, with his body in a fencing posture, following what he acknowledged was an "awkward" slide at the end of a scramble on his 11th snap of the game. Two members of the Green Bay Packers' defense, defensive end Lukas Van Ness and safety Javon Bullard, converged on him as he hit the ground. Bullard was penalized for unnecessary roughness, but neither player was fined.

Murray said the only other concussion of his career, in a 2015 game when he was a freshman at Texas A&M, also occurred at the end of a slide.

"But I've really never had an issue protecting myself," he said. "I'd like to think I'm one of the least-hit quarterbacks in the league as far as just protecting myself, getting the ball out, stuff like that. So that's new for me to have to go through that type of situation, because that's the last thing I ever expected is to get a concussion just because I am very careful with being in open field and I know that was kind of an awkward slide situation, but I'm always trying to protect myself."

Murray had thrown an interception on his first pass and finished 3-of-5 for 18 yards. He also scrambled twice for 9 yards.

"Honestly, I just felt like I didn't even get to get in the game," he said. "That's what it felt like. It started and it was over."

The Vikings are 2-0 behind backup Carson Wentz, but they always intended to get Murray back in the lineup whenever he was ready.

Sunday, he'll face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Baker Mayfield, his former teammate at Oklahoma. Murray referred to Mayfield as "my guy" and responded jokingly to Mayfield's remark this week that he "understands" why some people don't like Murray.

"I got to see him every day in college, so I respect the hell out of Baker and what he's been through and what type of player he is and person he is," Murray said. "They showed me the comment that he said about a lot of people don't like me or whatever. I say the same s--- about him.

"I think we're both competitors and we're going to do anything to win. So sometimes I might rub people the wrong way, but he's a great dude and a fierce competitor."