Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - 49ers analyst Kyle Madson breaks down Vikings-9ers matchup

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

49ers analyst Kyle Madson joins Matthew Coller to talk about Super Bowl expectations for the 49ers and how they match up with the Vikings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and rejoining the show. Gosh, there's so many times that we have had Kyle Madsen on for different things, Kyle. It's been Trey Lance rumors, football games of some level of importance. Great to have you back, Kyle, with now 1320 ESPN in Sacramento with the Insider Show. Also writing at 49ers Wire. And what, there's a podcast still mixed in there? You're all 49ers all the time, Kyle.

What's going on, buddy? How are you? Yeah, man. And no short of interesting things happening with San Francisco during the off season. And yeah, man, it feels like it feels like we're not talking quarterbacks. We're talking some kind of football game. I swear the 49ers and Vikings have played every year for the last seven years. It feels like it is amazing. How about you shifting from nonstop Brandon Ayuk rumors to now what is going on with Christian McCaffrey's calf.

Let me ask you about the first part of that. The Iuke rumors that went on all the way throughout the summer. What was that like for you? What was your sense for it? Were you convinced that he was going to get traded? What does it mean that he did not get traded? Seems like it's pretty important to this season that he didn't. Yeah, man, it was huge. And that was that his importance to their team this this season that he didn't yeah man it was it was huge

and that was that was that his importance to their team this year was why i didn't think anything was going to happen for the longest time i was from from the end of the draft because during the draft remember the trade rumors started there it's like the 49ers are shopping iuk and from what i understand they were shopping iuk if the falcons were going to give them eight for him, which is obviously not going to happen. But if a team wanted to give them a top 10 pick where they could go get Malik Neighbors or Roma Dunze or Marvin Harrison Jr., then they would have done that. But once we got out of the top 12, and certainly when those three receivers were off the board, you're going, okay, well, he's not getting traded, but he still heard about it.

And it's like, it's ridiculous. And so all the way up until probably mid August, I was just firm in the, they're not trading him stance, but then you start hearing, Hey, they've got a deal worked out with the Steelers and they have a deal worked out with the Patriots and the Browns. And you're still looking at it going, none of these moves make them better this year. The deal with the Steelers was apparently like a second and a third round pick that doesn't help them in in 2024 and this is a group that's trying to win the Super Bowl so it never made sense but the longer it dragged out the more it felt like he just might not come back um but it ultimately landed where where I thought it would with him signing a contract in the 30 million 30 million dollar a year range and uh being the field for week one, it just took a lot longer than I thought. And there,

it was a little bit rockier than I thought it would get to. Yeah, most certainly. And I mean, I think that for everybody involved, it's much better. I mean, he's with a team that can win the super bowl. Justin Fields isn't his quarterback or Deshaun Watson. That would not have been great. Maybe Jacoby Brissett would have been the best quarterback of the teams that he could have potentially been traded to, which seems a lot better to have Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy. But even at times last year, he would make comments that seemed like he wasn't the most thrilled. And maybe if you look around the league and the credit that Tyree Kill or that Justin Jefferson get of being the guy versus a team that was centered in its running back. And then also Debo Samuel, George Kittle,

sort of one of a machine. I suppose I could understand why a guy with his talent would want to be thought of as much more in that range at the same time, buddy, it doesn't get much better than this as far as competing teams go to be on. And it doesn't get much better than this as far as competing teams go to be on and it doesn't get much better than this as far as offensive minds to play with yeah yeah that that's kind of that's kind of the thing right is okay he's going to finish what was it seventh in the league in receiving yards even though he was 36th in targets i think but he's ultimately he's playing for a team where okay the targets he gets are going to be maximized. He's going to have an opportunity every year to be 12, 1300 yards, to be in the five to eight touchdown range. But he's also on a team that threw the ball 491 times last year. That was last in the league.

So the opportunities are going to be fewer, but the opportunities are going to be higher quality and you're going to be on a team that's going to win pretty consistently um so it was just a matter of once once he decided not to go to the Patriots where the money was because all reports have said that that the Patriots offered him the most money by a lot um it just kind of became clear like okay if that's not your priority then the 49ers give you the best opportunity to not only put up stats maybe you're not going to be Justin Jefferson maybe you're not going to be Tyreek Hill but you're going to be considered a top 10 guy in the league year in and year out. You're going to get an opportunity to be an all pro year in and year out. And also you're going to have a chance to go on deep playoff runs, which is I think kind of the happy medium for,

for, for a guy like Brandon. Right. And with the Trent Williams negotiations, boy, that was another thing that as it dragged out through the summer, it was worth talking about, of course, what's going to happen here. Is he going to miss time? And then as soon as he's back on the field, he is a Greek God again for this team. I mean, it's just unbelievable. I'm sure Vikings fans were like, maybe you should just negotiate for a couple weeks into the season. So Jonathan Grenard can have a good start to the year. But we got to talk about that offensive line in relation to Jordan Mason, because the way that he played is no mistake with the way that they played. And I think if you're the Vikings, this is the thing that you're the most concerned about, because with the Giants, they didn't have to do much run stuffing. They were ahead early in the game. They stayed ahead. Daniel Jones helped out with that.

And now you're facing a team that plays ahead all the time and is the premier running football team in the NFL. What did they do to the jets that worked so freaking well for that offensive line and Mason? Man, you know, they just, they were more physical. And I know that sounds so dumb. That's football. Like it's a physical sport, but that's what it was, man. Jordan Mason, I think at 94 yards before contact, he was just, the holes were there for him.

And then with Mason individually, he's just hard to tackle, dude. Like he's a big dude. He squares his shoulders. He finishes through contact. He's just a really, really good, uh, downhill runner, which is the kind of runner that's been successful in Kyle Shanahan system. He only had 83 carries in two seasons going into this year, but every single time he touched the ball, the question around 49er land was, Hey, why doesn't that guy carry

the ball more? And, and that, that question was justified when he carried it 28 times more than any other running back has under Kyle Shanahan and produced 147 yards out of it. So I think it's just that physicality, man. Dominic Poonie, their new right guard, the rookie third round pick from Kansas, was really good in his first start. Aaron Banks, their left guard, not a stellar pass blocker, but a fine run blocker. Colton McKibbit, same deal. Not great at either, but, but a, but a, a fine run blocker, um, Colton McKibbit, same deal. Not, not graded either, but definitely a better run block blocker than a pass blocker. Like they ran, they ran in a couple of key spots against the jets. They ran to the right, which never happened before.

It used to be okay. They're getting behind Aaron Banks. They're getting behind Trent Williams and they're, and they're going to go that way. They went right a couple of times in it and it worked. I think they were just a really good run blocking offensive line and and whether the jets had game planned for christian mccaffrey or or whatever it was they just did not match the niners physicality at all and they spent a lot of time going backwards and i do think that the vikings defensive line is a physical defensive line and they've been built on the interior specifically with run stuffers like harrison phillips jon Jonathan Bullard for a matchup like this, which will be a real battle, but there has to be a drop off from Christian

McCaffrey. It can't always go like that. Otherwise, you know, I guess then just literally everyone can run for this team, which I kind of think a lot of people can, but not in the same way that McCaffrey. So if he's not playing and I assume he's not, where would it show up that there was a drop off from him? Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think he's going to play this week, but the thing where it actually shows up is in the passing game. He averaged four catches a game last year. Jordan Mason had one catch on one target,

and that's just that threat when Christian McCaffrey motions into the slot, it is panic time for a defense where you're now shifting what you're doing defensively, because Christian McCaffrey is now a slot receiver. When Jordan Mason does that, it's not, it's not as big of an issue. And that's, that's where, that's where it comes up to me that so many times. And I thought Brock pretty was, was pretty good against against um against the Jets I didn't think he was he was awesome but there are so many times where he bails himself out by just oh hey it's second and eight here's pressure oh dump off to Christian McCaffrey McCaffrey turns it upfield and there's 12 yards in a first down um I don't think you're going to see a lot of that with Jordan Mason. So I think the difference you're going to see is more targets for Kyle Juszczyk. He had 40 receiving yards

against New York. I think you're going to see more targets for a guy like Jawan Jennings, who Purdy relies a lot on when he's in particularly third down situations, but just kind of as a bailout option. Jawan Jennings is really good at the catch point, really good at breaking tackles. Those are the two guys who I think are going to see an uptick in receiving work with Christian McCaffrey out. And that's the primary difference I think you're going to see in the Niners offense. Yeah. I mean, that makes a lot of sense. He is the very rare complete back. We hear about it all the time. Oh, this guy's going to line up in the slot this year. This guy's going to move around a lot. And then you never really see it from too many running backs, the league,

even historically, the Marshall Falks are the outliers from what most running backs can do. So I wouldn't expect that they would have another guy who can just come in and do all these things that McCaffrey can do. Go back to the matchup with the Vikings last year. You and I didn't talk after we did a preview, but we didn't say, Hey, what happened in that game? Do you remember what you thought coming out of that game? Because it was a weird ending with Brock Purdy getting concussed and no one realizing Brock Purdy was concussed and then throwing bad interception. And I don't know how much to blame him for that when he's concussed, but the rest of the game, he had some great plays, but also was not

on the same level as he was in a lot of the other games for last year. I thought because of the way that they had slowed the run a bit and just Brian Flores' defense throwing so many different looks. Do you remember how you came out of that? Because I feel like this is such a great heavyweight battle of Flores, who now has more weapons to work with on defense, and Brock Purdy, who's become so excellent at operating this offense. Yeah. So there were three things that came out of that. That Vikings game was a real turning point for the 49ers last year. They wound up losing the following week to Cincinnati as well. But the Vikings game was the one where the Steve Wilkes train derailed because he called that

zero blitz at the end of the half inexplicably. And Travarius Ward was there. Jordan Addison takes it away from him, scores a touchdown. And that was really what flipped that game. The other thing was Kirk Cousins was awesome the entire game. The Niners had nothing for him and Jordan Addison. They were really, really good in that one. But the third one, Trent Williams didn't play for the Niners in that game. And that was a key reason. Well, you had a Christian McCaffrey fumble early. Jake Moody misses a field goal. A couple of things just kind of went sideways. And then I think the bigger reason, it might've been the concussion. I don't, I don't necessarily buy that.

The, the bigger issue for the Niners is that their offensive efficiency plummets when Trent Williams isn't on the field. It happened week six against the Browns when he got hurt, he got hurt early in that game and basically said, I should have pulled myself out, but I wasn't going to throw Jalen more of their backup left tackle. I wasn't going to throw him into a situation where he's got to go heads up

with miles Garrett on no prep. So he stayed in the game and was unhealthy and the Niners didn't play well against Cleveland. They didn't play particularly well against Minnesota and they didn't play particularly well against the Bengals either. That was the biggest takeaway for me is I think that game goes a little bit different if Trent Williams is playing just because the drop off from Trent Williams to Jalen Moore, not that Jalen Moore is a bad player, but he is extremely replacement level left tackle versus an all pro, a first team all pro and a hall of famer. So that, that was the, that was the big difference for, for me between last year and this year from the Niner side is they're going to have a healthy Trent Williams to start the game. And because of that, I think

the Niners offense will be a little bit more efficient at both on the ground and with of that, I think the Niners offense will be a little bit more efficient both on the ground and with Brock Birdie. Right. I mean, you're talking about trying to replace one of the greatest players of all time, I think, in Trent Williams. I mean, such a difference made. One of the rare people you could say for any offensive lineman that is a true weapon for their team rather than someone trying to hold on for dear life. And I think we're seeing that from Christian Derrissaw and too but trent williams is on even another level from him what i thought

with brock purdy last year was at times he had some really good playmaking plays scrambles and this is what i i hate to say he doesn't give enough credit for but he doesn't get enough credit for anything because he's just this little nerd who is Kyle Shanahan's puppet boy. And I did want to talk about that because I look at offensive production as a reflection of the quarterback and his play. And so when I see a Jared Goff leading top offenses or Dak Prescott, I go, well, that guy's good. And I think that the analysis world looks at different stuff than I do with quarterbacks rather than the offensive production and what they're able to do within their structure. Tua is kind of the same way. I don't think he's Patrick Mahomes, but also if he leads the league in passing, he's definitely not bad.

And I think of the same thing with Birdie. I'm so impressed by his poise, but I'm also so impressed with his playmaking ability and his ability to see the field. I think that he is an elite quarterback and that people just don't want to admit that they didn't see him in the draft board or whatever. I don't know. I get sort of really frustrated by the dialogue, if you will, with Brock Purdy. Yeah. It's, it's interesting. I, I fall not, not quite in the middle. I lean toward he's good. Well, he's definitely good. I lean towards, you called him elite. I lean toward that side more than I lean toward anybody could do this because anybody can't. Nick Mullins threw for more yards than anyone except Patrick Mahomes in his first 16 games, but go watch Nick Mullins and tell me that he was awesome. Like, no, they, they, they just, they were behind a lot and he turned the

ball over a lot. So they had to throw it a lot. And he racked up a bunch of passing yards. Go watch CJ Beathard, go watch Jimmy Garoppolo, go watch Brian Hoyer, go watch any other quarterback run this, this, this offense. And it's just not the same. Purdy just does it better. Are there a couple of throws that he struggles with when pressure gets in his face? I think he really struggles to... Every quarterback struggles in that spot. But I think his decision-making dips a little bit and he's susceptible to mistakes there. But man, he makes so many individually great plays that I've gotten away from. Well, yeah, you know, Jimmy Garoppolo had started to play well too, before he got hurt.

And maybe it's just, uh, maybe it's just, no, Brock's just good, man. Is he, he throws a timing. He throws with anticipation, those layered throws over the middle that, that the Niners are so good at. He he's awesome in the intermediate area of the field. Um, you watch the NFC title game. He's awesome in the intermediate area of the field. You watch the NFC title game. He's using his legs to pick up key third downs. He's extending plays. There was a play against the Jets that really jumps out to me. It sticks so clearly in my mind where the pocket starts to collapse and he tries to move around the pocket. He steps up a little bit. He's got hands on him and he just gets rid of the ball. Deebo Samu there in the middle of the field, gets rid of the ball. Debo makes a catch, makes a defender miss and gets a first down. I know that Purdy, you know,

it's called 12 yards. I think it was, it's called a 12 yard completion. He didn't throw it down the field for 12 yards, but he avoided a sack and got the ball to a playmaker who generated a first down. That's the point of the position. That's the goal of the sport. You're avoiding negative plays and creating a positive one. He does that time and time again, game in and game out. It's not a fluke. He's good at football. I know like Steven Ruiz from the Ringer, his rankings are based on if everybody was in a league average everything. And this is how... Okay, then maybe Brock Purdy's team would be the 16th best team in the league. Sure, maybe.

But the fact of the matter is your circumstances are your circumstances. And Brock Purdy has elevated the 49ers offense since he took over as a rookie seventh round pick in 2022. Their offense has been awesome ever since he took over and uh i think he's only getting better i think it was lost last year too sorry to ramble um i think it was lost last year too that that was his first full season as a starter and he was coming off major elbow surgery he did what he did last year as a first-year full-time starter who didn't get an offseason

because he was rehabbing a surgically repaired elbow. Like, that's crazy impressive. I think he's only getting better. And I have gotten away from the, like, oh, I'm going to couch everything about Brock Purdy. Like, no, the guy's just good at football, man. Folks, U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code.

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more than they like watching that quarterback actually play. It's a weird thing, but the philosophical, well, if they all played for the same team, what would they be like? Nothing works that way. So I don't really understand the point of it. I wrote an article about this a couple years ago, how I thought we should do preseason quarterback rankings by what their offense is going to do, how good of a season they're going to have within the context of the teams. You know why? Cause that's what actually happens in football where they all play each other with their teams. And I just wonder, do people want Jared Goff and Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts to issue apologies for throwing to good players?

I guess Joe Montana should just give the rings back. I just like, you know what? I had Jerry Rice. So I guess I suck. And here you go. Because you know what? Joe Montana wasn't that tall and he wasn't that fast. And Tom Brady had a good defense every time.

So he should just give the rings back. It just gets so frustrating with that whole thing. When I watch Brock Purdy, I see him consistently executing the offense, but adding the playmaking to me that is what it is to be a great quarterback in the NFL. So I understand where there's this whole different conversation that just makes no difference to me when you and I are talking Vikings 49ers. I think the guy deserves as much respect for what that offense can do with him as any quarterback that the Vikings are going to

face. Yeah, I follow right there with you. One of the things that frustrates me the most is a little sidebar. It's related, but it's a sidebar. A guy like Justin Herbert, okay, obviously very talented, but if the point about, this is more Brock Purdy point than a Justin Herbert point, but follow me. If the, if the point about Brock Purdy is that he is a product of his circumstances, you cannot also turn around and then say, Justin Herbert is one of the five or six best quarterbacks in the league. You just don't see it because of his circumstances. He just needs a better coach and better playmakers. Like, wait, is that not...

That's the argument against Brock Purdy, and you're saying that Justin Herbert would be better if he had a better coach and playmakers around him. That's the... Do you see how that doesn't work? So I try not to get caught up in it because it's just really frustrating. It's like, does Brock pretty go out and win games and can,

can ultimately, because this is the goal of the, of the 49ers. Can they win the Superbowl with them? And I think, yes, I don't think they lost the Superbowl because of Brock pretty last year. Well,

and that's always my thing too, is what are we talking about within the context of this year, this season, this player, this team, can they win the Super Bowl? And last time I checked your goal, I've always said this about JJ McCarthy and even Sam Darnold, but mostly McCarthy. It be the team that everyone is saying that their quarterback's

overrated because their team is so good. Their quarterback's overrated because that means that you are probably winning a lot of games and getting good coaching, good players around him. And Sam Darnold is also evidence that if you put complete dog crap around a quarterback, there's not too many guys that will be good. So it's absolutely true that if you put Brock Purdy in the worst team in the league, you know what, he would probably be worse than he is now, but we got a game to play. So, and then this team is hunting for a Superbowl. If you're in that spot, I mean, they've been to the Superbowl twice here recently. The Vikings haven't

been since the seventies. I'm going to put a lot of respect on that. So anyway, let me, let me just ask you about the defense though, because Sam Darnold last week looked really good, but they played ahead of the chains aaron jones was fantastic the offensive line overall was good even though dexter lawrence ate some people alive i was feeling after the game it's hard is it hard to judge because it's hard to judge darnold against the giants when they were playing for ahead is it hard to judge when you're playing aaron rogers first game back in a year and they had to play a very conservative style, it seemed, and they just couldn't really get anything going, how good the 49ers defense

is actually going to be? Yeah, for sure. And that's been, I thought they were, the 49ers, just as a team, were more locked in than I expected them to be. So I've been kind of singing their praises. They played really well against the Jets. But on the other hand, defensively, they had 11 pressures, five of them from Nick Bosa, four from Leonard Floyd. That's not a sustainable model to getting stops in the NFL.

It's just, it's not. Traverius Ward was very good. I think it was Josh Norris from Underdog posted Aaron Rodgers' passing chart and nothing to the left side where Travarius Ward lines up. And I think that was by design. I don't think they wanted to test number seven. I think they, they threw out him once that he had a pass breakup. He just was really good last year. And

he's, he's really good again this year. Uh, but also the jets aren't rolling out Justin Jefferson and, and Jordan Addison. They're just the, and, and Aaron Jones or not. Uh, so I think it's going to be a lot different challenge for the Niners for sure. And that's kind of the big question I have while I talked on the radio today about, yeah, I got to see it from Sam Darnold again. He was awesome. He was like, no doubt was excellent against the Giants.

But how much of that was the Giants and how much of that was Sam Darnold? I have the exact same question about the Niners defense. How much of their output against the Jets was the Niners defense and how much of it was, oh, the quarterback is 40 and coming off an Achilles tear, Mike Williams is going to play nine snaps and it's going to be a lot of like Alan Lazard and they're playing in a negative game script. So they can't even ride Brees Hall the way they want to. I still have a ton of questions about the Niners defense for sure. It's fine for week one. They put a bunch of off season distractions behind them. They played well,

they got to win, but I have big time questions going into Minnesota. Yeah. And I was reading your article on USA Today Wire there about just how the defense really relied on two guys to get all their pressures. And those two guys go up against the Vikings, two tackles that are two of their best players on the entire team. So that's quite a battle there, but also can be negated a little bit from the impact versus maybe other teams that are not so good. Do people in San Francisco like Sam Darnold? It seems like he had a, even though it was a brief time on the field, but that it looked like that's what earned him this chance here. Even the small sample size was just how he performed under Kyle Shanahan.

Yeah, I don't. If anybody has strong negative feelings or strong feelings either way toward Sam Darnold based on his 49ers tenure, that's kind of weird. I think if anybody is vehemently anti Sam Darnold because of his Niners tenure, it's because he beat out Trey Lance for a backup job, which he should have. He was just the better player and is obviously still the better player. No, I don't think there's any kind of feeling

one way or the other. I think there was a little bit of... I don't know if disappointment's the right word, but he started Week 18 last year, and I think there was a little bit of, I don't know if disappointment's the right word, but he started week 18 last year. And I think there was some anticipation like, hey, he's gotten a year in this offense. We get to see what he looks like in a Kyle Shanahan offense. There's all this excitement about, okay, well, we know he's athletic and got the big arm and we saw some really nice throws in the preseason.

Okay, let's see it. And then he goes out and gets outplayed by Carson Wentz. And it was a little bit deflating, but that's not like, I don't think anybody feels some type of way about Sam Darnold. I personally, I root for the guy. I want to see players be successful. And by all accounts, teams and players seem to like him. So shout out to Sam Darnold.

All right, what question you got for me? What do you want to know about the Vikings as you're doing your preview work there? okay no this is actually great because i was trying to dig through some pro football focus stuff just now uh to ask that very same question um first of all observation not a question uh the vikings have a player named blake brandle which is super funny because the 49ers center's name is jake brand and Blake Brandel sounds like something somebody would make up because they don't know Jake Brendel's name. It's like if you're a Spider-Man fan, then the multiverse, like the multiverse version of Jake Brendel is Blake Brandel. Yeah. Yeah. A thousand

percent. Here's a question I have. The first thing I always look at on a defense is their edge rush, because I think that's just so important, especially in the modern NFL, to try and slow down quarterbacks. Jonathan Greenard, you see five pressures in the first game. Who else is doing stuff on the edge? I know Andrew Van Ginkle's there, in my opinion, the greatest defensive player in NFL history. How do we feel about the Vikings pass rush? Andrew Van Ginkle is absolutely fantastic, by the way. 2020, the Dolphins come into San Francisco and just beat the breaks off the Niners. I think it's like 43-17 is the final. And Andrew Van Ginkle was just unstoppable. So ever since then, we just, we love the gink.

Big fan of the gink. Ball knowers know how good this man is. And when you look at that, that's where PFF will shine on a player. Because when they signed him, I was like, oh yeah, I've heard of this guy. And they're like, what, excuse me? And then you go back and watch, you go, oh, okay. This guy is a superstar and never gets talked about because he's just a quiet fifth round pick from

Wisconsin that no one ever really talks about. Van Ginkle was unbelievable in the first game. And it wasn't just his pick six. His pick six is incredible, but it was blowing up run plays. It was creating pressures. It's high motor. I know for a white guy from Wisconsin saying he has a high motor, but when you watch it on tape, you're like, this guy's everywhere. He smashes into offensive linemen. He disengages from blocks on the run. I mean, he does absolutely everything. And I asked Kevin O'Connell about him today. He said that he was the first guy on their list for free agency. How do we get Andrew Van Ginkle? So he's been enormous for them. This is a player they haven't had in a long time because they always had Hunter and Griffin back in the day.

But since then, it would have been the Daniil Hunter show and the Daniil Hunter show only. So now it's more versatile. Dallas Turner is going to mix in, but they're not going to rely on him. He's going to come in for 20, 30 snaps and rush the passer a lot on third downs. The guy actually who really surprised me was Jahad Ward, who is a bounce around veteran, does not have very good PFF grades for his career, but they've got him in this hybrid

rush over the guards type of role where he's almost like a DT instead of a DE. And he was really good. He got a ton of pressures on Daniel Jones. I think that their pass rush, and then you mix in Ivan Pace Jr., Blake Cashman, Josh Metellus, Harrison Smith, the blitz can come from anywhere. It was a really, really deep and impressive attack. And I expect it to be that way all year long. So this is something that San Francisco is going to have to worry about for sure is that it's not just if you stop Hunter, you're okay. Now it's a lot more people coming from a lot more places. And what about in the secondary? I know they added Stefan Gilmore.

How do we feel about that cornerback room? Gilmore was great in his first game. And really him and Trent Williams doing it is look, if you get to 30 in the NFL, you probably don't need much training camp. It's just the reality of the thing because Gilmore was fantastic in his first game, but Shaq Griffin and Byron Murphy are guys that can be taken advantage of. And that's where they were not tested at all because Daniel Jones was just

throwing the ball into the ground most of the time out of terror or just being bad. And this is a totally, totally different universe that we're talking about this week. So I think that there still is guys to be taken advantage of. The safety room is so good for the Vikings, the linebackers who always get tested in these games. But Iuke, Samuel, if you're talking about Byron Murphy, he's been just a guy. Shaq Griffin has bounced around the league at this point. So I think that it's still a weakness, but this is a true test. Is it going to be a lot better than it was last year where that was by far their biggest weakness? Can you manage your way through it when you have enough talent around it? But still huge, huge question. All right. Two more things here as we wrap up on the,

what's the name of this? What's the name of this pod? The Purple and Gold Podcast? Purple Insider. Yeah. Purple Insider. That's it. Yeah. Purple insider. Don't worry about it with Kyle Madsen and Matthew caller. Um, uh, you mentioned the linebackers. That's the thing. That's the other thing. So I look at, I look at, uh, pass rush first. The second thing I look at is can their linebackers cover. And if there's a linebacker who's on the field every down who can't cover, I think it's going to be a long day for that particular player.

Is that something that worries you going into Sunday? Well, against San Francisco, always worries everyone who plays against San Francisco, but this was another overlooked upgrade because the Vikings, so much of the focus from everyone that talked about the Vikings on the outside was Darnold, McCarthy. When's Vikings on the outside was Darnold McCarthy.

When's McCarthy going to play? Darnold's their quarterback. And well, OK, this team's going to win six games because their quarterback's just not that great. But what they kind of forgot was the Van Ginkle, but also Blake Cashman, who was one of the better linebackers in the league last year for the Texans. And last year they were playing Jordan Hicks, who I have a ton of respect for super tough dude, but not a coverage linebacker at all. A blitzer, maybe it was early in his career, but he had Achilles tear and things like that. So this is a huge upgrade. And Ivan Pace is a fireball out there. I mean, he just hits everything that he sees. He's got great speed. I think his aggressiveness maybe can be taken advantage of at times from a brilliant mind like Kyle Shanahan,

but really the X factor too, we can count as a linebackers, Josh Metellus, who is this, the 210 pound linebacker safety thing that they have edge rusher. Sometimes he rushed over the guard at one point in this game. They, they, everywhere. He's just everywhere. He's everything everywhere all the time. It's he is exactly what Kyle Hamilton is in Baltimore. Only Hamilton was a top pick. So he gets talked about a lot more, but these are the types of guys that can even the playing field a little bit. I still think of course, that San Francisco has a premier offense in the entire league and they will get their yards and they're going to make plays and you just have to deal with that. But

I think as far as matchups go, this will be one of the harder ones that San Francisco has to face because of the scheme. And because last week, interestingly, Brian Flores did not blitz very much. And I wonder if he's going to start changing things up now that he has more edge rushing talent where he says, I don't have to send six guys every single time. And that'll be a very different look from what teams saw last year. So, but I think that that's one of the biggest upgrades they made on the whole roster was Cashman replacing Jordan Hicks. All right. Last question.

I'm looking at pro football focus right now. I see 10 missed tackles. I've seen a lot of 10 plus missed tackle games at the 49ers and it's always very noticeable. But I also know that the Vikings kicked the heck out of the Giants. When you see 10 missed tackles, is that something that you noticed during the game

or was it inconsequential? I honestly am surprised by that number. I didn't think it would have been that high. I think there were a few times where Malik neighbors caught the ball and dodge somebody. I mean, maybe Devin Singletary broke a couple. I don't really remember them because it was such a blowout. Yeah. Maybe Daniel Jones broke one. I mean, this, this overall is a team that if you're talking about Jonathan Grenard, he's on the lighter side that that is one thing is that the edges and Trent Williams how are they going to deal with

Trent Williams against lighter edges because this is not Everson Griffin it's not Daniil Hunter these are guys who they rush the passer man uh Grenard is not a good tackler when it comes to the run game he's a pass rusher he takes takes down quarterbacks. And I think, uh, though he often lines up on the, on the other side. So we'll see how that kind of works out. He switches back and forth and so does Van Ginkle, but Van Ginkle is not the biggest guy either. I mean, that, that is the thing is that if there's going to be an edge there, it is those tackles and the run game. And if you don't tackle Mason in the run game, this guy is a bowling ball. I mean, he was so, so impressive with how physical he was. I mean, I do think that they're going to have to make up for that

with their defensive tackles playing exceptionally well in this game. All right. You've convinced me. It's going to be a good game. It is going to be a good game. I'm excited. Isn't it always? Something always happens between these two teams. Yeah, even their playoff game a couple of years ago in that in that

divisional round even that i what was the final there 27 to 10 it ended up not it was good for a while and then ended up not being good but yeah yeah but it still felt like leaving that game i didn't it didn't feel like feel like anybody got blown out. I'll never forget Everson Griffin walking on the field before that game and just talking the most smack you've ever heard in your life and then just got dominated. That was tough. Yeah, it wasn't. That was tough for our guy. It didn't go that good.

Okay, well, how about this? Since you asked me a bunch of one more questions, let me ask you one more. Sure. When you go into every season with, Hey, if you don't make the Superbowl, you know, it's just not that great of a season for you. How is that? I assume you've been paying attention to this team long enough to see the ups and downs and all those things.

How is that different from when it wasn't that way from when it was being built? Because where the Vikings are right now is one year off out into the future. You can maybe be that team. If a lot of things go right. I am always interested in the perspective of people who's who are covering teams that if you don't get deep into the playoffs, you've got this whole regular season to play at all these games. if you don't make it deep then this didn't mean a thing what is that like it's exhausting like it's way better it's better don't get it twisted uh because the 49ers i know they've been they've been good for for the last half decade or whatever but prior to that 2017 and 2018, or excuse me, 2014 through 2018, they were not good. And 2018, they went into the year because 2017, Jimmy Garoppolo came in via trade and won the

last five games. And there was all this excitement. But even that, going into 18, it was like, oh, this might be a little playoff team. Maybe they go nine and seven and sneak in. And then Garoppolo tears his ACL in week three, and it was night night they actually lost to the uh to the vikings in week one that year uh garoppolo threw three picks um so that that you know it's it's easy to forget how recently they were just abominable and it's so much better going into a year going, all right, it's Super Bowl or bus. Then like, all right, you got a semi wonder if they're hoping to lose games to like you want to be watching college football avidly to watch for draft prospects in October. Like that's the worst. That's when you're looking at draft order after after week four. That's that's tough.

So, no, it uh it's cool the the 2019 season was a ton of fun because it was kind of out of nowhere that was the year where you're going okay yeah maybe they this this should be a playoff team this year it's a pretty good team and then they go they start whatever it was eight no and and uh go to the super bowl uh and since then that's just kind of been the the expectation when they fall short it's it's frustrating and it's exhausting when you have people calling into your radio show and they want kyle shanahan fired because they haven't won a super bowl yet but it's like bro have you not what are you talking about would you go back to jim tom solar or chip kelly or dennis erickson or mike nolan like the niners'm 34. The Niners have been bad for way more of my life than they've been good. And they finally have a, have a coach who does a lot

of the right things. And they have a front office that's, that's good at team building. And, uh, they've put together a run of success. It's, it's really, really hard to have whether it culminates in a Superbowl. I don't know, but, um, it's, it's more fun this way than well they lost again or you know okay we're looking at the draft in week six uh that that sucks so it's a good time if not if not a little bit exhausting i think the uh the out of nowhere is the best that you can ever ask for in all of sports we didn't really expect expect this, but we're in the Super Bowl. But when it comes to those high expectations, this was how it was in 2018 for the Vikings,

every loss becomes the end of the world when you have those super high expectations, and then the pressure goes up on everybody. And then it does get weird because you're constantly wanting to say, wait a minute, what are we talking about? It's just a regular loss in the middle of the season, but yet it feels like the sky is falling. This team won't be good enough to win and all those things.

And the dynamic is very different. But this game will be a lot of fun. This one deserves better than noon. It's probably the Vikings fault because of low expectations, but we'll see how it ends up playing out. I don't talk to that many people who watch football on central time noon kickoffs, huh? It's great. It's the best I last week. So last week in New York, I forgot they kick off at one o'clock and I showed up to the press box at nine o'clock

in the morning. I'm like, I'm ready to go. Where's everybody? And then I realized, oh yeah, it's wait an extra hour. That's funny. Yeah, dude, I lived in Arizona for, so I live in California, obviously. I lived in Arizona for a little bit and they don't do daylight saving time. So right about week, I think it's seven. In somewhat time in the middle of the season, the clocks move back, but Arizona stays. So you're in mountain time. And middle of the season, the clocks move back, but Arizona stays. So you're in mountain time and I've determined that's the best football watching time zone kickoffs at 11 Sunday night football starts at six 15. You're done with football for the day by nine. You have just enough time in the morning to like wake up and go to the gym and run errands.

Whereas 10 AM that's pushing it a little bit. So I've decided mountain time. I think, I think central would probably be, would be second for me. Central is very solid because I was still in New Jersey when I was watching Sunday night football, Rams and lions. When that thing goes to overtime and I, and I stay up late, but I was like, what time is it? Why am I so tough? Oh yeah. It's like, it's the middle of the freaking night when all the sports happen, but we do pretty well out here. I agree with you. 11 o'clock is when I'm actually really, really ready to go for football. So at 11 mountain time, 10 Pacific time, one o'clock Eastern and noon central,

we will play the Minnesota Vikings and 49ers. And I cannot wait for this game so uh at kyle a madsen great follow on twitter love your work man i'm glad we could get back together thanks for doing this appreciate you man literally anytime hopefully we can do it again in the blast you you