Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - A wild and crazy statement win over 49ers for the Vikings defense and Sam Darnold

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

From US Bank Stadium, Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press break down the Vikings' enormous victory over the 49ers *apologies for some scratching audio early in the episode, it gets fixed after a few minutes* Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome inside US Bank Stadium. Matthew Collar here, Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. And we are going to spend the next hour or so talking about one of the most impressive Minnesota Vikings victories that we have seen in a very long time. The Vikings beating the San Francisco 49ers here. And what I said to you just before we went on, Dane, is where I want to begin. I am surprised, but I'm not shocked. Going into this game, I remember I had a conversation with Jeremiah Searles and Andrew Kramer. And we said, well, what's the percentage chance that they could win this game against the 49ers? And I was closer to 40%, 4 out of 10. So even though, of course, because of who the san francisco 49ers are had to

lean in their direction they were in the super bowl last year they blasted the new york jets to start the season so yeah very dangerous team but you know after seeing what the vikings did in week one i know it was against the giants there was one thing that kept me believing that it might be possible not leaning their way but believing it might be possible, not leaning their way, but believing it might be possible. You know what that was, Dane? That was the Vikings defense and the way they played against the Giants. It wasn't just Daniel Jones being bad. It was also that they were violent and that they were in tune with each other. And what we saw today, even though a lot of yards got put up, but San Francisco is playing from behind for the entire game. We know exactly what that's like with a team that puts up a lot of yards and then loses by one score over the last couple of seasons. But the yards weren't really the important part for the defense.

It's how many times they sacked Brock Purdy, how many times he looked uncomfortable in the pocket, like he didn't get a great read on what he was supposed to see or that they were collapsing upon him. And Jonathan Grenard told me, Dane, after the game that they really understood that Purdy's not the tallest guy. And if they could contain him, not let him get to lanes that they thought that they could cause problems. There were turnovers. There were mistakes. There were things from the 49ers that usually don't happen. And I think that's because the Vikings have a bunch of really, really freaking good players on defense. That's where I want to start the discussion is when you have a defense like this, that the other team gets the ball back and you go, you know what? I think they can get a

stop here. And they did allow them to come down and get back in the game later. But turnovers, sacks, good tackling for a lot of the game. Their running back was very violent, but good tackling for most of the game. This was the best defensive performance we've seen in a long time relative to the competition. And I think that when we talk about, and we will all this week, what this means to have beaten the San Francisco 49ers, that's where I want to start. And then we can get into Darnall. We can get into Jefferson, by the way, said he's going to be okay, that it's not serious. So that's important as well. We can get into Darnall. We can get into Jefferson, by the way. Said he's going to be okay that it's not serious, so that's important as well. We can get into all that.

But I want to start with this is some defense we have not seen in a long time. And I think this does give this team an opportunity to play with anyone on a week-in and week-out basis going forward. Yeah, I remember talking to you this offseason, and you said something about Brian Flores' defense heading into this year. It was, in the past, it's been him piecemealing things together with just guys that were there or trying to snag someone in the bargain bin. This is the first year, really, since Brian Flores has got here that it's all of his guys, that it's guys that he has perfectly curated to this defense to kind of do everything he wants to do.

Tons of versatility. Obviously, a guy like Josh Metellus, a guy like Andrew Van Ginkle. But you even see, like, the interchangeableness of this defense. Blake Cashman had a huge day, 13 tackles. Ivan Pace played with physicality. These are all new names that have been kind of added into the bunch of players that also exist. Obviously, Harrison Smith has been here forever. Big play at the goal line

today but everything that kind of went into this defense as far as constructing it you're seeing it now out on the field and I think that's why this defense the potential seems to be through the roof I thought going in maybe top 10 this defense could be this year maybe I undersold them like they looked really really good last week and they looked really, really good again this week. And you mentioned your conversation with Jonathan Bernard. I talked to Josh Metellus after the game. Everyone talked to Josh Metellus after the game. He talked for like 25 minutes. But he said like our game plan wasn't complex. It was, we're going to line up against them and see where the chips fall.

And I like that tenacity out of this defense. It wasn't, we have to scheme together a perfect game plan to beat the vaunted 49ers. It was, no, we're as good as you, and then we're going to prove it. And they did time and time again, the sacks, the pressures. Metellus also said, like, we could feelck purdy start to kind of be rattled not not necessarily trust where he was going with the ball and brock purdy made some good throws but i think that was also on display in real time i mean one of the balls just slips out of his hand jihad war picks it up that's because there is just generating pressure throughout so the defense like yeah

that's the thing that's going to make this team i I think, go from, oh, they're kind of a fun, plucky bunch to like, oh, maybe we should really take them seriously. Because I think they're going to have the upper hand in almost every single week just with how well they've played so far. No, right. And there's so many guys who are proven on the defense. And that was another thing that, gosh, we talked to everyone in the locker room, everyone available after a win like this. But I think it was maybe Cam Bynum who talked about, or Andrew Van Ginkle, one of the two, just how many of these players had to adjust to a new situation, but they had been places before and they were able to do that. And it was Bynum who said a lot of them had to throw out a lot of the stuff that they had before like okay well i was in this system or that system we'll throw that out because brian forrest runs something so unique and so

different that they had to immediately kind of learn something else and also put the past aside and gel very quickly and grenard was telling me that i felt this way i know you felt this way during the joint practices against Cleveland that they kind of looked around and said, you know what? We got a lot of talent here. They were dominant in those practices. And after that is when they brought in Stefan Gilmore, who, by the way, has just been really good in these first couple of games. It seems like they kind of stay away from him opposing teams because they know he's Stefan Gilmore, but somebody who's going to compete for a Hall of Fame spot at some point in his career, defensive MVP. And the same from him opposing teams because they know he's stefan gilmore but somebody who's gonna compete

for a hall of fame spot at some point his career defensive mvp and the same thing with harrison smith who's still out there making plays so the older players where we kind of went i don't know how much is really left with this guy i guess we're gonna find out well that's been best case scenario granada's created pressures van ginkle almost did it again twice today where he almost picked off those bubble screens. At some point, teams will stop doing that. And then the depth of the pass rush. This is what has been most impressive about the construction of this roster is to have Jihad Ward make plays, to have Patrick Jones make plays. There's so many players in the league that I think can, you know, I think that they can play really effectively in certain roles, but they can't always be completely dominant if they're starting. So with Patrick Jones last year, he's a good example of this where he was a pretty good role player and then was asked to play a ton and couldn't really do it.

But then now he's just a role player again. And all of a sudden we're talking about somebody who's playing very effectively. So, you know, I think that that's just kind of the nature of the beast when it comes to this defense is the deeper you can get, the more well-constructed you can get from a roster perspective, which Kweisi Adafo-Menson did a great job building a roster for Brian Flores. Now you have all these veterans. They've done it. They've been these veterans. They've done it. They've been here before.

They've seen it. And Flores can call whatever he wants. And also, when the ball pops up in the air, somebody's going to make a play because that's what good veteran NFL players do. We are not sitting here, Dane, going, well, I wonder if a Caleb Evans will kind of be able to do it. Or, you know, I wonder if this other guy will step up when he's a rookie and unproven. These are all proven guys, and I thought we really saw that today.

Yeah, and I think the way that, like you just said, they're able to take opportunities that may come into the air and capitalize on them kind of speaks to the ceiling of this defense. They're going to be good, I think, week in and week out, just kind of lining them up and going against the other team. But they're also going to be extremely opportunistic in their ability to kind of take advantage of when the offense on the other side gives them a chance. So I think when you're able to kind of marry those two things together, just being able to kind of compete at a high level game in game out week in week out kind of snap in snap out but then also take advantage of the opportunities that may be presented you know via turnovers and

stuff I think that's what could take this defense kind of to another level but yeah I think you mentioned Stephon Gilmore like huge signing that I think we knew at the time was a really big deal and you're seeing it right now. It's Jack Griffin. Like we didn't see him all training camp because he had that, you know, soft tissue injury comes back. And I think like last week against Daniel Jones and the Giants, you're probably like, oh, well, how good is Daniel Jones? How effective is the secondary actually going to be. But when you do the same thing again, and I'm not sitting there saying, oh, you know, the cornerbacks made, you know, another blunder, like I was at times last

year. The fact that you can just trust a veteran group, you know, in the secondary, I think speaks volumes. So it's just, you're almost left speechless by how, you know, what the potential of this group could be. Because to see it on display week in, week out so far, just two weeks. But, I mean, they look like they could be pretty special. No, they absolutely do. So that's where I wanted to start it, just because I was so impressed with how the defense played and just the number of plays that they had to make that were of the splash variety and yes they did have to get some help just because uh you know when you're talking

about Brock Purdy letting the ball fly out of his hands and I guess it was officially ruled a fumble and not an interception which is uh it makes no difference at all but kind of reminded me of that Nick Mullins play from last year where he just whoops lost the football but there was some mistakes by the 49ers that were uncharacteristic, but I also think that that's what a good defense does to a team. And when they're driving down the field and they can score a touchdown potentially to make it close and get the onside kick, and then Van Ginkle just makes that play,

that's the thing that you need to be a great defense is you need fourth down stops. You need plays. You need somebody to catch the ball or to pick up a fumble or whatever it's going to be. And that's what they were able to do today. And I think with the players they have, they can do that week in and week out. Now, we need to go back to the other side of the ball and Sam Darnold and the way Darnold played today. It was not a perfect game from Sam Darnold and the way Darnold played today. It was not a perfect game from Sam Darnold,

the interception in the red zone where I just wanted Kevin O'Connell to run the football there and remember who his quarterback is. But overall from Sam Darnold, the drive to put them ahead at the end was a situation where even if he didn't come through, I think we all would have been like, Hey, it's okay. I mean, it's Sam Darnold and you know, you need the defense to get a stop and you can't fumble the ball with Aaron Jones, which was very uncharacteristic like, and kept San Francisco in the game. And Darnold hits Jalen Naylor, kind of a back shoulder, great catch by Jalen Naylor.

He's somebody that Kevin O'Connell has just ridden that train all the way here and believed in and believed in but at that point you're without Justin Jefferson you're without Jordan Addison you're without TJ Hawkinson and Aaron Jones was banged up on the sideline just for a few minutes there and yet Sam Darnold was able to lead them on a drive to put the game away that is something that I don't think anybody really believed in Sam Darnold was going to be able to do maybe outside of Kevin O'Connell, who has just had his back this entire way. And the entire idea from the Viking signing Darnold was given to Kevin O'Connell, have those two work closely together, have someone actually believe in

Sam Darnold. And it's starting to feel like, and I'm not saying this predicts all quarterbacks will always lead game-winning drives for the Vikings. I'm not saying that. But at some point, we have to look at the coach and look at the confidence that his quarterbacks are exuding and say, I think these things are connected. And the way that Darnold and O'Connell

are coming together already here, it just makes you think that this could keep going. I know Darnold has fooled people before with a couple of good games, but this is a good game against a great team. It's not against an okay team. And I thought overall, you were talking about maybe one of Sam Darnold's better games of his entire career. And when you can just drop back, maybe one of Sam Darnold's better games of his entire career. And when you can just drop back two different things about Darnold that I

just went, Oh, Whoa. Okay. When you can just drop back and heave the ball 60 yards in the air without needing some sort of double pro hop, and you could just let it go. You give a chance for a 97 yard play for Justin Jefferson, his belief in Jefferson. We've seen it the last two weeks is so impressive. There were two guys that were on Jefferson, but he just threw it up to him anyway and took that shot.

The other thing is too, and it's impossible not to be snarky here. So I'm just going to go for it. Oh, a quarterback is allowed to scramble when things break down. Amazing stuff, folks. You mean that's effective and can help you? I mean, this was something over the last six years that drove us insane. It was the fact that the quarterback

could never make a play with his legs and Darnold had numerous opportunities to make plays with his legs, and he did. He scrambled for, I thought it was a huge first down to make an easy chip shot for Will Reichard, and there were a couple other ones too where the pocket's breaking down, and he ran and made plays with his legs.

And if you can balance out some of the miscues that will happen, he could have run once and he ran backwards into Nick Bosa. Whoops. There's just going to be whoops moments from Sam Darnold at times. But when he can make up for it by throwing deep balls to Jefferson, by scrambling as effective as he did I mean it just feels like this this darn old thing that we all said hey maybe it's happening it feels like it's happening after today yeah I want to touch on a few points like the the 97 yard

touchdown pass 97 yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson obviously will go down as the highlight of the game maybe the highlight of the week across the NFL. And it was obviously important, big moment in the game. But like we knew Sam Darnold could do that. I think like we knew just first day of training camp, we get the TCO performance center and he throws it a mile down the field. Justin Jefferson catches it and scores a touchdown in training camp. We knew from the jump that Sam Darnold was going to be able to wing the ball downfield. And when you throw it to the best receiver in the league, sometimes it's going to result in really, really cool things like we saw on that play. We knew all that about Sam Darnold, just his arm strength, his arm talent. What we didn't know about Sam Darnold goes back to the throw to Jalen Naylor

that you were talking about. Is he going to be able to operate in this offense and not just trust his arm talent all the time? Like, obviously, you need a ton of arm talent on that final drive of the game to hit Jalen Naylor up the scene. But just the fact that he was able to take over when they needed it, march down the field, get some points in, in such a crucial moment without all those stars.

Like I think that was what we were wondering, are we going to see that type of level of quarterback play from Sam Darnold? And we are. So when you have this flash plays like to 97 yard touchdown, throw to Jefferson that Kevin O'Connell said after the game, one of the best throws I've seen in person. And I would agree with him. But then you can also kind of marry that with just the ability to take

what's there. Like I know, like sometimes like the duality of Darnold is going to show up. He admitted after the game, great play by Fred Warner on that interception. And you're right. Probably run the ball there. Keep running.

You were gashing them. Just impose your will on the 49ers at that point. I would have been fine if they ran, ran, ran, ran until they got stopped and either they scored a touchdown or kicked the field goal. But instead, they opt to throw and Fred Warner makes a really good play. Darnold admitted, I could have been more careful with the football. I think you're going to get parts of that with him just because he is so much willing to just throw the ball, kind of that gunslinger mentality. But I think that mentality also gives him the ability to complete a 97-yard touchdown pass,

to drop back in the shadow of his own goalpost, step up in the pocket, take a hitch, and just let it go. So I think those two throws, the one to Jefferson, obviously, and then the one to Naylor down the stretch, kind of speak to the growth of him as a quarterback. We knew one thing. We learned another thing today. you And I think that Kevin O'Connell emotionally invests so much in his quarterbacks that that has a lot to do with this. And I felt this way when Kirk Cousins was here, where we saw a different confidence level from Kirk Cousins when Kevin

O'Connell was his coach and I also feel like O'Connell has this thing because he failed as an NFL quarterback that he wants every guy to succeed so badly but especially guys like Sam Darnold that people didn't believe in I think that he felt this for Josh Dobbs too, and maybe leaned into that a little too much with believing in Dobbs. But with Darnold, every quarterback who has a huge arm is going to sometimes make throws that you go, oh, no, shouldn't have tried to fit it in to that window. You should have checked it down. Any guy who's drafted as high as he is is going to try to make plays at times

that are not going to work. And I think we have to allow a little bit of leeway for that with Sam Darnold because the high end of it is so high. So the tightrope that he was able to walk today was when it was third down and he decided I'm going to use the cannon, he was able to do that. But also one of his biggest passes of the day was a check down. It was an underneath little, let's get two yards on third down. Let's not try to play hero and go for a touchdown

and get that first down that essentially ended the day for the San Francisco 49ers. But there were also other times where, you know, even early in the game, he throws to the back of the end zone. You go, oh, that was almost an interception, Sam. But I don't know what quarterback with this much talent doesn't play like that to some extent. What Kevin O'Connell seems to have been able to do through two weeks,

and I really needed more time than just last week to say this, but it reigned him in enough while also making him believe in himself for those big moment type of plays. And that drive is through two games now, 2-0, and at the top of the NFC North is the signature moment of these first two games, I think, even more so than the 97-yard throw, which is unbelievable. And to watch it in person, you go like, whoa. You know, seeing as far as that ball traveled, it is definitely the farthest I've seen anyone throw the ball in this stadium since I've been covering the team.

But the drive, he was in command and he believed in himself and he was confident. And then you go, whoa, who is this? This is, but you know, when we heard him talk the other day, it really stuck with me when he said, when things are going wrong for you as a quarterback, you could feel like the whole world is against you. He now feels like the whole world is behind him. And you know what? It also makes you feel pretty good. If you do make a mistake and this is where with Kirk Cousins in years past if he made a mistake they'd be down 14 points because the defense wasn't stopping anyone now it is more Keenum like where okay he did throw that pick but

it's not the end of the world because your team can get it back they can get a stop they can block a punt today CJ Hamm had a big smile on his face when I walked by him on the way out of the stadium today, as he should. Great play. But I think with those things coming together with Darnold's confidence and the fact that he doesn't have to, when he throws an interception, beat himself up over it because the defense can get you the ball back, that allows him to play more confident, and that's how it played out today. Yeah, I also think an important part of that confidence is he threw an interception when they were marching to put the game away in the first half.

Maybe that's overstating it because I think the Niners would have punched back after halftime. But on that drive where he throws the pick to Fred Warner, if the Vikings score there, I mean, they go up 17, and I think that's a good night. He throws that interception. The Niners go down the field, score a touchdown, and the Vikings had an opportunity there. There was a minute and 53 seconds when they got the ball back. And this speaks to the confidence. Kevin O'Connell could have run the ball three times, tried to make the 49ers use their timeouts, maybe picked up a first down and been content to go to halftime. He trusted Sam Darnold to keep going, to go for points.

And I think even something like that, when your head coach is just willing to say, you know what, you threw a pick there. Got to be better next time. But we are going to still trust you and go down and try and score here right before the half. Like, I think that as a whole matters too. Like, it speaks and, you know, it kind of, I think, emits confidence from a guy when your coach is willing to go to you there after making a mistake. So the confidence of Sam Darnold is going to be huge for this team this year. And I think you're seeing it grow week after week, partially because of him, but partially, like you said,

because he finally feels like the world is kind of behind him rather than crumbling in around him. Yeah. I mean, we should also talk about just how crazy this game was in general. I felt like every 30 seconds something was happening that if you were going to take a bathroom break or go get a snack, there could be two fumbles when you came back. And I think that keeping their head throughout all of that was the sign of such a veteran team and a well-coached team. We can't downplay how important it is that Brian Flores was able to stick around as well and how through some different things, whether it was issues with reviews that didn't go their way or whatever

other calls that they went through. You know, I just think that they showed resilience through this game where there were opportunities to let it slip that were there and could have happened when Aaron Jones fumbles the ball. I mean, Brock Purdy was able to lead a scoring drive, but most of the clock was worn down during that and just didn't give him a very good chance to win. And I think that there was probably, I'm guessing maybe a 10% or less chance to win, even as Brock Purdy is driving down, but they still were able to make it a methodical drive. They didn't give up any huge, huge plays that allowed them to score. And then Darnold bounces back.

And I think when we talk about what's sustainable, and we'll get to our grades for each position and all that, when we talk about what's sustainable, that might be even bigger than anything else that the team as a whole, we have seen them panic in the past. We've seen them fall apart in the past, especially when they're playing against good teams. And in this instance, they weren't.

And I also didn't feel like this was fluky because if I go back to, and I say, what was the most impressive when the Vikings had in the last couple of years, I would say at Buffalo and that game, his was similar where it was just insane flying all over the place, but that was fluky. I mean, Josh Allen had to fumble at the one yard line and the, you know, there was some stuff on both sides for this game, but being effective and efficient as a quarterback running

the ball, well, making plays on defense, these are all things that they can keep doing. So somebody asked earlier in the chat, does it change your expectations for this team? I already thought that they would be a pretty good football team, but maybe it does a little maybe it does a little i mean i still have them above 500 but maybe it does a little yeah i picked them to win nine games but i picked them to win nine games while going through the schedule being like well they could win that game in theory like now i feel like i mean there's a world in which they're not just flirting with the playoffs down the stretch, but they're firmly in the playoffs by that time.

Just because they have this complete offense, defense, special teams marriage going on right now. And I think, I mean, I've seen the chat. Like a lot of people are saying this didn't feel like an upset. And I think that's probably one of the biggest statements you can walk away with is it wasn't fluky. It didn't feel like an upset. It felt like two really good football teams going up against each other. And frankly, for a lot of the game, the Vikings felt like the better football team. So, look, it's two weeks. A lot can change over the course of an NFL season. But you couldn't draw up a better start with kind of how everything

has just kind of married together so far. And I just keep going back to Sam Darnold and the offense, the way they've looked so far, the confidence that's building and Brian Flores and that defense, the confidence that's building. It just feels like there's still more out there. It didn't feel like they were playing

over their skis today. It really does feel like they're building towards something that could be even even greater down the road so it's two weeks i would like to temper expectations but at the same time lean in why not well and that was kind of the thought that we had going into the season which was let's all see how it goes right and because there were a lot of people who were including the Vegas gambling community, who were looking at this team saying, no, they're going to be terrible. They're trying to rebuild for next year.

And they're actually one of the older teams in the league and more experienced. That number is pulled forward by Harrison Smith and Stefan Gilmore alone. But I just don't think that there was maybe enough factoring of that veteran element of the team when we were looking at expectations. But even the way we looked at it was, yes, we all know where 2025 is expected to be. And I don't think that they're there yet.

I still don't think that they're quite on that same level. So I'm not saying book that flight to new Orleans for the super bowl just yet. But even though you said, well, it's only two games, and I 100% agree with that. It's a tiny sample. I don't know what percentage two out of 17 for a season is, but it's not that much. However, when they would go 0-2,

we would talk about how devastating that is to a season. And now when you look at the way the schedule plays out, everything looks so much different now, because if you start out 0-2, and that's why last week was so important, you start out 0-2, man, the Texans are coming in and you got to go to London and you got to go to Green Bay, not in that order. And then you feel like it could pile up. Okay. It's 11.76%. Thank you, Sean. I appreciate that. So it could pile up very quickly. If you don't win these games, if you're one in one, that's okay. But two and O now there is room

for error. There's room for a random bad game that Sam Darnold doesn't play well. And they just lose by a lot, which I think will happen at some point. We'll all go, Oh, does that mean Darnold can't play anymore? But yeah, I think that there's that game at some point, and it doesn't have to ruin them. And in years past, the disappointing loss, because they would get behind the eight ball early in the season, I'm talking about 2020 and last year, there was no room for a whoopsie type of totally random loss that we didn't see coming. Now this helps you a lot lot even if they lose the next

two weeks which man i'm interested to see how the packers play after this because holy cow that was crazy uh their game today where they're just running around a million times the indianapolis colts but great they have a great coach um so that but then now that game and the texans game these next two weeks now look like even if you split them, then you fly to London at three and one playing a Jets team that is OK, but maybe still suspect. You go into the bye. I mean, it just changes the math on the entire season to be two and oh, even versus one and one. And that's why on the other side of it, the Owen Tombstone thing, like if we could say it's important to lose the two games, it's just as important to win the two games. Now, real quick, before we go position by position and give our grades for each spot, give the update on Justin Jefferson. I was talking to

Jonathan Grenard as you were talking to Jefferson. Yeah, well, Kevin O'Connell came out after the game and said quad contusion. You go back and watch the play. It looked like Fred Warner kind of flies in there. Fred Warner was flying all around today. But when you see Justin Jefferson need help to go to the medical tent, I think everyone starts fearing the worst. When you go back and watch the play, it didn't look that bad. But to hear Kevin O'Connell come out and say quad contusion after the game, I think he's going to be okay more day-to-day.

That's good news. But then to see Justin Jefferson talk at all in the locker day to day. That's good news. But then to see Justin Jefferson talk at all in the locker room post game, that's great news. If it was bad, I can promise you, Justin Jefferson would not be talking to reporters. And he was his normal jovial self after the game. Talked a lot about his 97 yard touchdown. He said, I always dreamed of having a touchdown longer than 95 yards. I said, hey, can we all dream about that? But the biggest thing he said was, I'm not overly concerned. I think I'll be okay.

Now, could he wake up tomorrow and could the quad contusion? It basically means a quad bruise. Could the bruise be really bad? Yeah. Could he wake up Tuesday and the bruise hurt really bad? And maybe we are looking at a limited participant in practice kind of thing. Yeah. But this isn't a how long do we have to worry about this injury kind of lingering. It does seem very kind of acute.

It's a bruise. He feels good. And I think we'll take his word at it. He's the ultimate competitor. So if he can play and if he's cleared to go, I think he'll be out there next Sunday. Well, another part of it with Jefferson and being 2-0 is that if he can't play against the Houston Texans, you need Jefferson for as many games as he can possibly be in.

It's okay to heal. And the other thing is, too, we'll get into this with the grades, but the receivers who are behind Jefferson and Addison have actually played pretty well in some big moments, including a couple for Brandon Powell. So why don't we get into it? We'll just go back and forth. That's how we're going to do it.

Every other position, we will start with quarterback, which I will give to you, Mr. Mizutani. What would you grade Sam Darnold for today's contest? I'm going to give him a B+, because I can't go A, because there were those turnovers. There were, and frankly, could have been more turnovers. He was a little bit risky with the ball. But I think that goes back to what you were saying.

You're going to have to just be okay with that. We'd watched a quarterback for six years who took care of the ball. Like it was his child and it was boring. And it often sometimes, you know, made it for games where it didn't, the Vikings were kind of punchless. Like the Vikings are going to be an aggressive offense because of Sam Darnold. Those turnovers are going to come along with it. We got one today, but it wasn't extremely costly.

It probably made the game more interesting than it had to be. But I'm at B-plus because, I mean, did you see that 97-yard touchdown? I mean, he threw it a million feet into the air, and then it went a million feet down the field too. It was a beautiful throw. And then we've talked at length, the last drive of the game really just showed what he has put it all on the table and said, you know, kind of get on my back. I'm going to lead this drive without Justin Jefferson,

without Jordan Addison, without TJ Hawkinson. B plus for me. Because even though there were mistakes, I think a lot of this game was kind of Sam Darnold saying, like, the offense is going to be fine with me kind of leading it. I might give him an A. I mean, OK, so the interception is not good, but that's also a Fred Warner stat. That guy, he might be the best player in the whole league outside of Justin Jefferson and two of his teammates or three.

That was an astounding play to get into that lane and actually bring the ball in. I think that most linebackers maybe either have it go right by their head or maybe they get a tip on it and so give him credit. And his receiver was open on the other side of it. But listen to this line 17 for 26 268 yards 10.3 yards per attempt two touchdowns and you just beat the team that was in the super bowl i'm going higher i just i think i want to go even higher i have no critique whatsoever for darnold in that leading a game game ending drive the way that he executed everything he was asked to do okay you know what the whole two people motioning at the same time and fumbling backwards all right all right maybe maybe you're being fine but I think when we grade on a scale

of this entire game and who you're playing against if he did this against the Giants I'd be like B but against this team I think I might even go a shade higher but you don't don't change don't change your grade give just give your grade running back i will and this one is hard because aaron jones fumble was really crushing but aaron jones was playing okay and ty chandler was absolutely phenomenal in this game this is hey ke hey, Kevin O'Connell, last year, can we go back in time and just put in Ty Chandler for all plays? Because he has great talent. 82 yards on 10 rushes.

I mean, he was all over the place today, and there were a few key runs where, I mean, down in the red zone, they're trying to kill time on that long drive. He gets a handoff, gets a first down on his own. He was phenomenal, but only nine runs for 32 yards for Aaron Jones and a big fumble. So I would have to go with a solid B for the running back group. They go 146 yards on the ground, but also Darnold added 32 on five rushes for that.

Great day for one running back. Tough day for the other running back. But the fact that they have a duo here, and now maybe there is more trust from Kevin O'Connell because this is how you'd like it to be in an ideal world, which is where you have one running back. Well, he's not hot today. He's struggling a little bit.

Here's the other running back. He's going to come out and average 8.2 yards per carry for Ty Chandler. The two mistakes are probably the issues there. But aside from that, a good day overall running the football. And I don't think that O'Connell even stayed with it enough at times. And I guess I'm up here just pounding the table for that. And also, I don't know whose decision it was. i assume it's o'connell not ty chandler i do not want to see a running back go like this ever ever i do not want to see a running back looking like he's about to throw the ball but i'll go i'll go with a b because of the big fumble for aaron jones yeah i i would be right on there with you. So we'll move on to receivers.

Yep, wide receivers. A, it has to be an A. Justin Jefferson finishes at four for 133 in a touchdown and misses basically the final quarter of the game. Just, like, can we go back to that 97-yard touchdown? Like, the fact that he scores there, like, that matters because a lot of guys, a ton of guys get pulled down at like the 35 and then it's a crap shoot like hopefully we get a touchdown here maybe it's a field goal like

maybe even some guys they cut back against the grain and they run out of gas their legs kind of give out inside the 10 i think justin jefferson was tired like he had to be and run basically 100 yards on that play over that but he his determination to get into the end zone to make sure that play ends in a touchdown not anything else like spectacular um hall of fame where they play right there so four for 133 for Justin that's an a already but then for him to go down Jalen Naylor catches another touchdown while he's schemed open again by Kevin O'Connell. O'Connell just handed Jalen Naylor touchdowns, but he's making the most of it. But it wasn't just the touchdown. It was that back shoulder pass.

There was also a crosser over the middle that Jalen Naylor caught. The guy that needed to step up when Justin Jefferson went down did, Jalen Naylor. Obviously, Jordan Addison's not playing, and Jalen Naylor steps right up, makes big plays. But then you saw the depth even. Brandon Powell, a couple of huge receptions on that last drive. Just all of it kind of together. I think there was temptation, including by me, this offseason to say,

like, you got to bring someone else in. This group is just a full full of a bunch of guys who i don't know if they're ready to kind of be thrust into that spotlight they were today and they performed at a at a extremely high level obviously highlighted by justin jefferson but top to bottom that receiving core top notch today for me justin jefferson's touchdown one of the greatest plays I've ever seen in my entire life. I mean, it really was because what you could see here in the stadium that maybe is

harder to fully grasp how insane this is, is catching the ball is finding the ball. So Jefferson is running full speed with two dudes behind him and has to just look up and spot where the ball is coming down and reach out and grab it and then have the wherewithal to seemingly understand where the defenders were and leverage them against themselves i was talking to uh judd zolgat about this because we sit next to each other during the games about i was like randy moss probably just catches that runs into the end zone from that.

Jefferson's not quite Randy Moss speed, but what a Randy Moss play. Just this absolutely crazy touchdown that he was able to understand where the defenders were after running right through them and then find his way into the corner of the end zone. Just breathtaking play, but we can't downplay Naylor and Powell. And you know, you're right. Because when you're talking about this off season, I just was really skeptical that a Hunter Renfro, who's not even the league by the way, or any other random wide receiver that they brought in. I really thought that you should just see how this plays out. They like these guys for a reason.

They like Brandon Powell for a reason. Tristan Jackson's been around forever. He didn't have a play, but they brought in Trent Shurfield to do his blocking thing and everything else and give Naylor a chance to be that guy. And, you know, after the training camp, he had that little ankle thing. We're like, oh, here we go again.

But I thought, boy, this guy had one heck of a camp. And that's why we go to those practices every day. So we can come back and say, you know, this is working, this is not working. And that was one of the things that really did work to give Jalen Naylor a chance. And O'Connell deserves credit for sticking with that. And also they brought back Powell on this team. We downplayed because he's not always a punt returner. Two plays, they get i think

it was in a bunch formation and powell just does this little kind of flat route in the box score it's eight yards or something but it's the biggest play of the game because it puts away one of the biggest plays of a thousand uh but it really gets them rolling on that drive to make that play and then when he gets the first down it's kind of a check down or underneath. I mean, just a lot of really good stuff from this wide receiver group. Yes. An a is very much deserved. I'm not even sure where I would take away anything from them. Offensive line. I'm not sure. I really am not. I'm really not sure because yes, we have to go back and watch it.

At one point, Christian Dersaw got absolutely destroyed by Nick Bosa. Welcome to the club that includes everyone getting destroyed by Nick Bosa, the highest paid player in the entire league. And with Darnold, there were times where he was underdressed. He was sacked three times. The three sacks only resulted in 10 yards. One of the low-key great plays of this game, Bosa comes around the corner and sacks him and he hangs on to the football and did not have it smacked out of his hand. That was like, wow,

how strong is this guy to be able to hang on to that football at that point? But aside from that, the couple of the pressures, I did not feel like Sam Darnold had no time to throw. And I felt like in the clutch moments, he had time to throw. And when you run for 160 something yards, you got to look at the offensive line and go, this is one of the better performances. This is my feeling from right now that usually when this team has played a good defensive line, I mean, just it's over, or it's going to be a huge, huge problem for the quarterback.

And especially the running game to run for one 64, even one 30. If we take away Darnold scrambles with this offensive line against who they're huge problem for the quarterback and especially the running game to run for 164, even 130 if we take away Darnold's scrambles with this offensive line against who they're playing against. I want to give that a B plus. I really do. I mean, a win like this, you've got to give out a lot of high grades because, again, I'm sure that the grades for PFF will not be ideal, but we are adjusting on a curve of who this team is playing against. So I don't know if you disagree, but I thought this was a pretty good game for the offensive line overall. No, it was fun to kind of watch you talk yourself into a B plus because I think that's a fair

grade. I also think we keep talking about the 97 yard touchdown because we should. But one, the balls to call that play in the shadow of your own goalposts, like you have to trust your offensive line a little bit. And they immediately rewarded Kevin O'Connell for that trust. Pockets clean, Sam Darnold can step right up and wing it down the field. Yeah. Are there going to be times against the San Francisco 49ers where you look overmatched? Absolutely. But it wasn't something where we've seen in the past. It's like, oh, my God, like the quarterback's never going to have a chance to throw. Now, I think part of the offensive line looking better goes to your earlier point about Sam Darnold being able to move.

Not everything is a sack when the pocket collapse. It's nice to have a guy that can wheel out left or right and extend the play. But, yeah, I'm fine with B plus. OK, I can't analyze it much more without watching it back because we're watching the football like everybody else for the most part. On the defensive side, let's start with the defensive line. Like the front, yeah. Outside linebackers and defensive tackles.

Yeah, we get both. I mean, they pressured the hell out of Brock Purdy today. I'm just inclined to give the defensive front an A because of how hard they made life for Brock Purdy. And I hate to keep, like, bringing up last week, but I think when we saw Daniel Jones look uncomfortable, you're like, man, Daniel Jones stinks. It's all Daniel Jones.

It's not the Vikings. I think today proved that, yes, it is the Vikings. They had Brock Purdy looking rattled at times. And I know his stats probably are going to look pretty good. But they were trailing. They had to kind of throw it all at the Vikings. And you're going to just get your stats padded when you're playing from behind. But they made life miserable for him it did

feel constantly like he was at least having to you know make a second guess downfield and and go somewhere else and i think part of that you know stems from just the pressure that they're they're generating up front so again it's kind of hard like offensive line and defensive line defensive fronts like those grades in a vacuum are a little bit tough because you want to go back and kind of watch the intricacies of it all. But if you're just talking, how did it feel like eye test wise? It felt like the Vikings came to play up front in the trenches and weren't kind of overmatched the way we just kind of talked about the offensive line. The offensive line for the Vikings wasn't overmatched. It didn't feel like the defensive line for the Vikings was overmatched at any point. I mean, I think that matters when you talk about play style and Kevin

O'Connell talked all about the physicality that the 49ers play with. The Vikings matched that physicality in the trenches today and they get an A because frankly, I hope you give the back half of the defense an A. The defense was incredible. So I'm giving the defensive front an A because, frankly, I hope you give the back half of the defense an A. The defense was incredible. So I'm giving the defensive front an A. Okay, the only thing I would nitpick on is probably I got the stat sheet up over here. 20 runs for 100 yards for Jordan Mason. And, wow, I was calling him Marshawn Mason.

I mean, that guy is a violent runner. San Francisco, I wouldn't change my opinion on San Francisco at all, by the way, after this game. That team could definitely go back to the Super Bowl. They are that good. And that's why when we're talking about whether it changes expectations, I think it has to to some extent. But when you give up 100 yards to a running back, and yes, I mean 319 yards and 78% completion percentage for Purdy

is counteracted by six sacks. There were some moments, though, where they didn't pressure him, and he stood in there and had easy completions, and we kind of forget about those because of the big plays that happen. I don't know if I would quite go A. I might go more like B-plus with them. But the fact that you have Jihad Ward, Patrick Jones, not even the guys that you paid the most money contributing along the D

line. I still think that interior defensive tackle group did not maybe have the best day considering how easy it was for Jordan Mason to run. So I think I would probably stick around somewhere in the, in the B to B plus type of range, but you can't be mad about the pressure they were able to create linebackers safety how did we break this up before defensive front and then defensive yeah yeah so were you including linebackers because blake cashman you get linebackers i'll take the address okay so you

get linebackers and secondary linebackers and secondary i i mean playmaking all over the place Blake Cashman was just everywhere in this game Josh Metellus gets the interception with a hockey assist on it with Cashman and Bynum tipping the ball in the air which was very good they did give up a lot of completions but the biggest thing there was how few explosive completions they gave up throughout the day, and even late drives, how much of these stats are, okay, well they need a 99-yard drive, but that's all right because as the clock is draining as a defense, you're going, that's okay. That's okay if you're getting completions and slowly moving down the field. We went through that how many times with, oh, the team's down by two scores

and they're wasting a bunch of time. So if your defense is doing that to another team, that's okay with me. They mostly tackled pretty well when these guys had the ball. There was never a, oh man, he missed the tackle and turned a 10-yard gain into a 40-yard gain or something like that. George Kittle's phenomenal. Thibaut Samuel's phenomenal.

Brandon Ayuk, they caught a lot of passes that I didn't even think when they left Brock Purdy's hand that the guy was going to catch. So they made some really good plays, but I would have to go similarly with probably getting B plus A, whatever. That's how you beat a really good team like this, and I don't think it was random that everybody came together and played that well. How about, though, you've got to give an A to that special teams. Yeah. Yeah. I forgot about the special teams. How could I?

Because C.J. Hamm, block, block, punt. C.J. Hamm, everyone loves him, and we see why. Will Reichert, three for three josh matelis said when we watch will reichert kick we just go out on the field look for a second and know that the three points are coming and you know how me and caller feel about will reichert they got a good kicker on their hands and he wasn't really tested today but all of them just bang right down the middle and they almost had a forced muff pump by Jacob Cowling. I don't know how the Vikings don't recover that kind of pinballed around

there. The Niners ended up falling up on top of it, but the Dallas Turner gaff. Yeah, that was, that was bad. I'm sorry. That was bad.

Yep. I don't wonder. I wonder like he, he got a little dinged up, so we didn't get to talk to him after the game. I wonder if he just didn't know the rule, like the college rule, because it didn't need to happen. I think that's just a rookie making a mistake.

But that in a vacuum, like had nothing else happened, you'll remember that special teams play as like a big mistake. But given what the special teams unit did as a whole after that, you almost don't remember it. So yeah, that was an A. They were really good. And I think that speaks to like the all phases of the game coming together, you know, offense, defense, and special teams too. Just a home run day for the Vikings all around.

Well, and I got maybe the quote of the locker room from Jonathan Grenard. He said that when they drafted Will, well, they had drafted Will Reichert and they got to practice, they started practicing. And he said to Dallas Turner, hey, you played with this guy in college. What do you think? Dallas Turner told him, I trust Will Reichert with my life. I'm like, whoa. Okay.

And then we started trusting Will Reichert with our lives after watching him in training camp. The guy had the best training camp that I've ever seen from a kicker since I've been covering the team, so I expected that. Not that there was high difficulty there, a great scramble by Sam Darnold to make it, so we didn't have to see if he could kick it from 56 or whatever it would have been today, but he continues to be solid,

and I thought that Ryan Wright was fine punting the ball today. That was a great punt that Dallas Turner ruined to get down inside of the 20 there. So, you know, I think as a whole, the team has performed through these first two games as well as any Vikings team that we've seen in any two game stretch for a very long time. And we always make comparisons of the past and what it looks like. But this team looks like one that is going to have to play a lot like 2017 to have a special season where it's everybody has to contribute to get the most out of the quarterback. And I'm not going there yet.

There's going to have to be a few more wins to pack that up. But I also don't see areas where I go, okay, well, that was just purely lucky or they won that game because something stupid and crazy happened. Stupid and crazy things happened on both sides. And the Vikings outplayed the San Francisco 49ers in the ways of moving the football efficiently, running effectively, pressuring the quarterback on defense, blocking for their quarterback. These are all things that they can transfer from week in and week out, which I think is, again, as impressive as we've seen

in a very long time from this team. So why don't we give our wrap-up statements, our final statements on the Vikings' win over the 49ers, which I think is going to make for a very entertaining week now leading up to Vikings-Houston Texans. I think when you turn on those debate television shows tomorrow morning, there might be a little conversation about the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings. But what do you think?

What's your final thoughts, Dane? I think they're for real. And what does for real mean? Am I saying this team is now a Super Bowl contender because they knocked off a team that was in the Super Bowl last year? No, I'm not ready to go there yet. But that team was in the Super Bowl last year, and they're a damn good football team that's going to be there all year.

And the Vikings looked like the better team all day. So I think they're for real. I don't know what that's going to end up looking like at the end of the year. But I think all people wanted to talk about, I guess not all people, but a lot of people last week wanted to talk about how, well, we can't read too much in that win. It was just the Giants. What are you going to say now? They just whooped the 49ers for a large portion of the game. I know it comes close at the end and it finishes as a one-score game. But anyone who watched that game, anyone who watches that game back,

knows deep down the Vikings were the better team today. So, yeah, I think they're for real. Well, I guess when it comes to a situation such as this one, with a quarterback who is not proven, there could always be something around the corner, and I'm not saying he's Josh Dobbs. I'm saying that we did a pretty excitable postgame podcast after a win against the New Orleans Saints last year,

though the Saints are nothing like this San Francisco team, or at least they weren't last year. Now they might be after they destroyed the Dallas Cowboys today. But I think that when I look at a team and try to say, well, are they really good or not? What I look at is the situations that are controlled by the teams, not controlled by the randomness gods and controlled by the shape of the football,

but did you actually outplay them in the running effectively, passing effectively, getting ahead in the game, and then keeping those leads, playing quality defense overall. And they did in these two games. So the sustainability will be a question. But at this moment, I think my bigger takeaway is that this is so ideal for everyone in Minnesota. I don't think anyone had any idea what this was going to be. We didn't really at all. I think now that they're 2-0, we could say, hey, we told you they weren't going to be terrible. But at the same time, I think in the back of both of our minds was, I don't really know. Going into this season, maybe as the least confident that I've been just because you didn't

know what you were going to get from Darnold. So now what you could feel today, the energy was really here inside US BankS. Bank Stadium. I thought that the defensive players at times were going, oh, my gosh, it is so loud in here trying to communicate with each other. And that's how U.S. Bank Stadium should be. But now the fan base can also believe, the players can believe that they can do it after a win like this. This is one that you can say momentum, whatever, that they can keep going back to even when they do have any sort of problems, when they do hit any skid or do have a bad loss, which will happen at some point, you can go back to, we are the group that beat the San Francisco 49ers.

So that's going to sustain them through the ups and downs of the season as they go forward. And also, watching somebody, and I don't know when or where this is going to go with Sam Darnold or when we're going to be sure about where it went even, like, is it eight games? Is it all the way through the season? But to watch someone go through so much early in their career and arrives in Minnesota, and he's kind of timid about even just talking about it from the past. And to see him take on this you're the guy role after J.J. got hurt, really embrace that.

And to see a coach quarterback connection like that, it's something unique. I mean, it's something special to see someone, and I'm sure they felt this way in Tampa Bay with Baker Mayfield last year, and they won today. That Tampa Bay team might be way better than I thought they were going to be. There's something to that that kind of gets you like, well, let's see where this goes because this is so cool for him to have these moments and have that locker room actually believe in him as opposed to the, you know, well, it's Sam Darnold.

So, again, I think always just ride the wave and let's see where it goes on this season. But this adds a new dynamic and does raise the bar for this team. So guess who's going to be around it for the entire year? Us doing post games each and every week, just like this one, including next week. But so much to come on the show this week. Monday morning, Murph, Jeremiah Searles joins the show on Tuesday. Live shows on Monday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. It's going to be really fun. So thanks, everybody, for watching us. We've got to get to some more writing here. Read his work at the Pioneer Press, mindpurpleinsider.com. Make sure you check it out. Thanks so much for all your comments and being a part of this live show.

It was a lot of fun. And now we go for it with I think it's going to be a really interesting week out there now that the bar is raised and now suddenly there are expectations on the Vikings that instead of we're proving people wrong, it's almost like they already did today. Now it's about the next part, which is we go from, hey, can you be something, to, hey, can you really compete against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears? As of today, it looks like they will. So they're going to have to do that going forward.

All right. Thanks, everybody, so much. Thank you, Dane. And we will talk to you all soon. Football.