Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Adam Thielen joins the show and talks Patrick Peterson and his best ever catch

Episode Date: November 2, 2022

Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen makes an appearance on the Purple Insider podcast to discuss how Kevin O'Connell has brought together the Vikings' veterans, why Patrick Peterson's energy is contagious and the best catch he ever made. Plus Adam is made aware that some folks don't love ketchup on hot dogs.  -- For more of Matthew's Vikings coverage, head to purpleinsider.substack.com For bonus discussions, interview clips, and more videos, check out our YouTube channel! Interact with us on Twitter! @Purple_Insider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider presented by Liquid Death. Go to liquiddeath.com slash insider and learn about the Tallboy can, which actually has water. Find out where you can get it near you at liquiddeath.com slash insider. All right, we welcome into the show Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen making a return appearance and it will involve food discussion. We're going to have a little talk about ambassador hot dogs in a couple of minutes but Adam I want to first start off by

saying you know we've known each other a while neither one of us has seen six and one how are you feeling that's true uh it feels good obviously um there's nothing better than winning this league it's it's not easy to do so any uh chance you get to to win some ball games and put a little bit put a you know stack them together uh to get to six to six and one. It's a, it's a good feeling but it's kind of weird because we haven't played our best football yet. So it kind of feels kind of like a little bit of mixed emotions. But shoot, I mean, a win, a win is a win, especially when you get six of them.

But we got to find a way to continue to get better. Okay. So there's something that I, I'd really like to understand better. Because in journalism, we try to avoid too many cliches. And things like players, coach, and culture, those are kind of cliche labels. But in this case, it's players, coach, and Kevin O'Connell. It is a culture that feels so much different inside the locker room. I wonder if you can put a finger on this, or is it just kind of a nebulous, complicated thing that only the people inside the locker room understand?

I think it goes back to, you know, I remember in OTAs talking to you guys, and, you know, I think it's not just one person or one thing or one player. It's just a it's just a multitude of people that are working together, a collaborative effort that really is what you need to do to to have a good culture. So you can't just say, OK, you brought in this one person or this one guy and this has changed the culture. No, that's that's not true. It's a collaborative effort of a lot of people, especially in football, right? There's, you know, in the offseason, there's 90 guys. Now there's, you know, 60 some, including practice squad and all that.

And then all the coaches and all the, you know, scouts and the GM and the management. So there's just so many people involved in creating a culture that you have to have leaders at the top and multiple different, you know, spots that are working together in a collaborative effort. And I think that's what what has been created here in this organization, which is really cool and is created in us giving us an opportunity to handle adversity. You know, it's one of those things where we haven't had a ton of adversity, but we have in games. And to be able to just have that leadership from the top down has created an ability to handle some tough times.

Yeah, I'm sure that fans would prefer that the third quarter didn't exist and you just ran away with some of these games. But the other teams have good players too. It is interesting about the collaborative effort because I've always thought that culture kind of comes down to your best players. But in this case, there's a lot of veteran players who have been around, who know how to win, who know how to succeed in the league that are being empowered in a good way. Like normally when we hear player empowerment, it's an NBA player demanding a trade or something but but but i think that what it what it means in this case is having a voice in the room uh you know to use the experience that a lot of you guys have zadarius patrick peterson like harrison smith so many players who have been through it uh to influence what's happening on the field yeah i agree with that and i think the more guys that have those experiences

that can touch on hey guys like we can't we can, we can't relax. Like this is the NFL. It doesn't matter who we're playing week in and week out. It's tough to win this league. And so you have to, you have to somehow find a way to kind of you know, turn out the noise of, Oh, you guys are so great. You're six and one, all this stuff. You have to find a way for all of us each individually to turn that off and to pretend like that we're our backs

against the wall because that's how this league works it's it's tough to win so you have to again you have to just find a way to use those experiences and use you know lean on some of those veteran guys to say hey you have you been here before or what what did you do to to to continue to to to win ball games and stack them together and to um to really ballgames and to stack them together and to really be your best when it comes to the end of the season. So we're going to have to continue to do that. And, you know, Pat P. last week, you know, made sure that everyone understood that five and one does not get you in the playoffs

and that we have to stay on our game and be focused, and be focused and, um, stick together. And, and, uh, I think it's those little messages every once in a while that are really, really powerful. And, and, uh, they, it maybe doesn't sound like much, but it means a lot. You know, with Peterson yesterday, it was really something to see how, uh, juiced up he was for that game and contained himself and played a really good game. Um, but also, you know, enjoyed the spoils of winning with that. But I'm curious about like just you being around him for the last two years. This is a guy who is locked dead Hall of Famer. I asked him before the season, like, why'd you come back?

Like, you've got a career that would get you a gold jacket. And he said, because he thought this team could win. And I think that he wanted moments, more moments like yesterday. I just wonder about your observation. I mean, one of the things that's interesting to me is when football people say it means something to him. And with Patrick, it really seemed to mean something to him yesterday,

but mean something to continue into his 30s to prove the Arizona Cardinals wrong or people wrong that he was going to fall off because he has been one of the best players on this team. Yeah, I'd say first of all, the last two weeks he's been on just a different level. His attitude, his demeanor, his energy has been contagious and is something that we need moving forward because I think guys felt that and they felt it coming from him and they kind of turn their, their game up.

You need guys like that in the locker room. And again, it might sound cliche to have, you know, a rah, rah, all this stuff, but he's not a rah, rah. He, he is a guy that is bringing it every single snap and in the locker room. And, and just that, that, that, that look in his eyes that you can just tell that he's on a different level right now and playing at a high level, backing it up, which is impressive. But, you know, I go back to, I think about the

first time I made a Pro Bowl. And I remember going into the Pro Bowl, you know, you're a little nervous. You don't really know those guys. You have a ton of respect for them. A lot of guys have been there a ton of times before and are all pro guys and all this stuff. And you think, like, man, they're just super gifted and all this. And, you know, obviously they work hard, obviously. But, like, you don't really realize those guys that are top of their game, Hall of Fame type guys, you don't really realize until you're around a bunch of them, how hard they work

and how much it means to them, how much they care about football. You know, you're in these Pro Bowls and like all the guys are talking about, man, hey, I saw you run this route and you did this and this and man, that was really good. And guys are talking ball. Like that's what shocked me the most is just how much guys care and how much it means to them. And then you kind of put it two and two together. Like, man, that's why those guys are pro bowlers. That's why they're continuous all pros and why they're gold jacket guys, because it's not only are they gifted, but everybody's gifted that's in the NFL. But they put the little extra things.

And you see that even more now with Pat B being here, his film study, his approach in the locker room how he's teaching guys and helping guys out and then how he practices it's it's impressive and it is why he's going to be a gold jacket someday yeah I remember there was a story about Jerry Rice running hills in Honolulu or whatever before the Pro Bowl and people were like what are you doing you psycho but that's like that's that's the ethic. One more thing before I ask you about hot dogs. I'm going to give you a hot, hot dog take. But I want to ask you about this.

So yesterday had some spectacular catches. Justin Jefferson, Mossing, and Dude. DeAndre Hopkins had several of them, including the one-handed. You have made many throughout your career. This is a two-part question. One is, how does one make a spectacular catch? Like there's the rating on Madden spectacular catch rating, but you've made many of them. And I wonder, I have a take on what I think your best catch of your career is, but I

wonder what you think it is. Um, yeah. What, what does it take to make a spectacular? I think, I think it's just, um um having those ball skills having that confidence um you don't you can't really practice them um it just comes naturally and the best ones in the in this league or that I've played in this league they're just natural it's it's there's no stress the ball's in the air they're just they're relaxed and they're they're kind of tracking the ball and making a play and And it just comes, you know, you don't think about, you know, you don't say, Oh, I'm going to one hand this one or, or, Oh, I'm going to make a crazy catch here. No, it's just, it's just reaction. And the best,

you know, receivers in this league and I've played in this league, they have tremendous body control and ball skills, those kinds of two common, two combined and uh you know I'd say I don't know exactly what my best catch in my career is maybe maybe the Saints game in the playoffs um but uh maybe uh uh one-hander um in the end zone I'm not really sure to be honest you're thinking exactly where I was thinking over Marshawn Latt he committed in the um minneapolis miracle game he committed a pass interference and you still went up and then i think he undercut you and you grabbed it and came down and still had the ball that's that's the one that stands out to me there was also a superman dive in philly in 2018 where it was a throw from the goal line and it was a good pass but you had to like fully dive

out um not bad not bad that was a tough one that was a tough one that was that was a throw from the goal line and it was a good pass, but you had to like fully dive out. Not bad. Not bad. That was a tough one. That was a tough one. That was a, that was a good one. All right. Now, so you're representing ambassador hot dogs, a Minnesota company. Here's my hot dog take. I don't care how old I am. I like to chop up hot dogs and put it in Mac and cheese. That's probably something you would do for your children. But, but that's my take.

That is one of my favorite, if not my favorite form of hot dogs. Interesting. I am not that type of person. I'm a traditional hot dog in a bun, ketchup, mustard guy. But it's been fun, you know, ambassadors been around Minnesota for, you know, a company for 90 years. So that tradition, you know, paired with, I just remember going back to like, being in high school, middle school, going to football games with my dad. And, and like, you know, you're in the tailgate, we're walking through the tailgates, you know, at a Vikings game, and everybody's grilling up their hot dogs. And so like, I I mean that's what I think about when I think about ambassador hot dogs I think about going to those games and being in the tailgates you know being a fan uh which hopefully you know someday

I'll be able to do with my kids and show them that experience but um but they love the they love the traditional hot dog in a bun uh but uh maybe I'll have to try that cut it up and put in the mac cheese for the boys. They might like that. Yeah, that is, it's definitely a meal for children and not for grownups, but I still do it. Do you have a, do you have an opinion on ketchup? People are mad at ketchup. I see online. I do not understand it because when I eat a hot dog and a bun that we've grilled in the back porch or whatever, just putting ketchup on that thing. And then I see people like oh how

dare you you need to put this in there whatever like i don't know when did that become a problem really i didn't know that was a that was an issue midwest people like chicago people they got a problem with that interesting yeah i mean i i'm i'm i'm just gonna do me i guess yeah you like it how you like it right yeah no exactly do no, exactly. Do whatever you want. Put it in mac and cheese, put ketchup on it, whatever. I appreciate Ambassador Hot Dog setting this up. And it's always good to have a little fun podcast conversation with you and keep repping hot dogs, man. I know that you're a health nut and all those things, but you got to enjoy yourself as well. So I really appreciate

you taking the time to come on, Adam. I mean, can you, you can't, you got to do it every once in a while. Minnesota summers on the, on the deck, overlooking the lake. Like, I mean, you kidding me? You got to have an ambassador hotdog, right? They can use that one for the perfect tagline feeling. Got to have an ambassador hotdog. Well, very good. Well, best of luck the rest of the way. Of course, I'll see you around and appreciate you coming on, man. Thanks for your time. Appreciate it. Absolutely.

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use the contact us to send me any questions that you have and we'll include them in the fans only podcasts or on twitter if you go to at matthew collar you could send me a direct message anytime just let me know that it's a fans only question and i will do my best to get it on the show so let's go right into it. Cody via email says, Are all these close games just a function of how Kirk Cousins plays? Generally, he can't make the big throws where nothing is there, even though he's great when he has an open look. There just aren't enough of these open looks to pull away from most teams.

Reminds me a lot of Alex Smith with the 49ers. Do we just embrace it and hope that they are situationally sound to win close games, big plays and being better situationally seemed to be the key difference versus last year. Well, being better situationally is definitely a difference from last year. I mean, you think about how many times they had a chance to put a team away on offense or defense, and they just were not able to do it. And I think Kirk said a couple of weeks ago that, maybe right before the bye week, that there were times last year where he walked off the field feeling like everyone had played pretty well,

and yet they were going away with a loss. And this year, there have been times where they felt they didn't play very well, and they're walking away with a win. And the situational stuff, winning around the margins margins has been a big deal for this team and will continue to be a big deal for this team. I think that you're right when it comes to creating out of structure, making something happen when everything goes wrong is just not going to be a skill of Kirk Cousins it's not going to be Josh Allen where Blitzer comes wide open and he just flings it sidearm 30 yards down the field into the hands of Stefan Diggs like we saw against the Packers it's just not something he's going to be able to do physically although you know after that touchdown run maybe we need to rethink what he

can do with his speed i mean he's always been able to run for first downs and probably should take a little more that they give him but you know i don't think you want kirk cousins running very often or trying too hard to make those plays i mean one of the things that cousins i think has always done well is understood what he could and could not do now maybe there's some areas where he needed to have a little more belief in himself. I mean, you look at the jump ball for Justin Jefferson that he goes up and gets and makes a tremendous play on. I mean, those are the plays that maybe I think cousins would even tell you he should do a little bit more often throughout his career, but he's

also made a successful career out of protecting the football, not having too many turnovers, doing what he's asked to do, looking through his reads the right way, not coming off them, not trying to make too many plays out of structure. Like that's been a successful model for him. But I agree that it generally does mean that you're not getting the variance. You're not getting that high end of, Hey, a bunch of your deep bombs went well this week and you scored a ton of points. Like even PJ Walker in Carolina has right now the best, um, big time throw rate in the NFL. And part of it is just PJ Walker. I mean, one was a hail Mary, which was incredible, but part of it is like PJ Walker seeming to not care.

Like this is my big shot and this is it for me. And I'm going to throw the ball down the field and see if good things happen. Well, that's never who cousins has, has been. He's always been a game manager type, which is not an insult necessarily. It's only to say that it's not going to be running around, making crazy plays, putting up 50 points. It's just not them. How many times have the Vikings even put up 40 since Kirk Cousins got here? Is it at all?

I mean, maybe one. I don't remember a game where they put up 40 points. And one of the best offensive performances they had in Los Angeles that night in 2018, where he played incredibly well, and they still only had 31 points in that game. And I think that there's a inconsistency even within a game for cousins or where he can just be solved. And a lot of it happens. It's like at the beginning of the game, you come out with your opening script and he has that master. I think he's terrific when he's playing on the opening script and then the defense makes adjustments and that's where it seems to go quiet for a while in a lot of games and the other team comes back because this vikings team by the way

does not have the 2000 ravens defense like they are not shutting teams down so that when that door is swung open opposing teams can get back in the game against this defense. That's just going to be a fact of life. So then you get toward the end of the game. Then defenses start playing back. They're not being as aggressive. And that's where Cousins tends to take advantage pretty well. That if he could play against those sort of deep zones where he's not getting as much pressure, he can get a clean pocket and give time for somebody to get open.

I mean, that's usually been a strength of his when the opposition is trying to keep everything in front of him. But if you're doing it that way against Cousins, he seems to be pretty good in those spots. I don't want to call them exactly late game spots, but when other teams are trying to protect leads rather than playing where they're being more aggressive. I think that that works in his favor. And that's why I think in the recent years you've seen him come through.

And then the other part of it is having great wide receivers. But as a whole, I agree with your general sentiment that you have to rely on turnovers on defense helping you out because they're giving up a ton of yards. So you have to create turnovers on defense. You have to make plays on special teams. At some point, they're going to have to make more of their field goals, but their punting game has been terrific. Their special teams are causing turnovers. I mean, they're just getting a lot out of all of the stuff around the margins and health has been a big part of it. And by the way, it should be mentioned that there's a big loss on this team, maybe two, but one specifically that could hurt the Vikings quite a bit. Delvin Tomlinson is week to week, according to Kevin O'Connell. And you think about the teams that are coming up, Washington is not super scary,

especially on the run game, but then Buffalo Dallas Buffalo, Dallas, they're going to need Delvin Tomlinson. If he's not in there, there's not a whole lot they have to work with. And this was why when they got rid of Armond Watts, it was like, really? Are you sure you want to do that? He's kind of like experienced in your defense now through training camp. And Ross Blacklock hasn't been all that effective. So they're in a situation now that's going to be pretty tricky without one of their best players in Delvin Tomlinson. And this is tying back into

cousins and who this offense is with some of their rollercoaster ways, even within a game or from game to game, everything else has to stay on point because if you start making mistakes on special teams, if you do have some more injuries and irv smith is out as well and you might say that's nothing but irv smith has 22 catches so far this year i mean his career high i think was like what in the 30s uh so he's got 22 catches this year and johnny munt is averaging like six yards a catch so you know they're in a little bit of trouble there without that extra even like a dump off option in irv smith jr that can make something happen even just get a first down or or be a red

zone target like that's one less player for him uh the right guard issue has been problematic like when things go wrong there isn't a skill that he has like a huge arm or crazy athleticism that can just break the game for a minute and take over and overcome that and so far this season like they've been able to work through that because of the situational play because of the late game drives because of a great catch here there or a missed assignment by the defense they take advantage or turnover for the other team and I think this is where they have to be better. And a lot of players are still saying, even after the other day, when I thought they played maybe their best game, that they still have to be better than that.

If they're going to be consistent on a week to week basis, because if you leave the door open enough times, someone else is going to smash through it. So a lot of it does depend. A cousin is going to be cousins kind of always in forever. The same guy he's been. So a lot of it does depend. Cousins is going to be cousins, kind of always and forever, the same guy he's been. And a lot of it is just around all the other positions, all the other situations. Do you get the big sack? Do you get the big interception? Do you get the opposing team to fumble a punt? Do they miss a field goal? Do you make a field goal? Like that's going to determine a lot of close games and then how they play against buffalo and dallas i think that will tell us are they capable of raising their play to the competition in those two big games but i don't expect anything to ever be

different and i think that your explanation is is quite good that even though there's you know very very good elements to cousins play just based on his skills alone, it puts somewhat of a cap on how many points you're going to put up on a week-to-week basis, which usually results in them playing close games. So great comment. Really appreciate that. This is from Thomas via email.

Missed Zimmer for the first time. Oh, okay. Up 14-3, four plus minutes. But by the way, can we say that there hasn't been any moments on defense where maybe you wanted a blitz dialed up that you maybe miss Zimmer? Maybe a couple, right? Um, anyway, so let's see up 14 to three with four plus minutes left. They passed to Thielen for seven yards on first down, second and three, and then they pass it twice and both incomplete with no time off the clock. Punt, and a nice one at that.

You're up 14-3. Cardinals get the ball in the second half, and they have to be on the verge of real frustration with their first half performance. Second and three, run the ball, take 40 seconds off the clock. You don't get it, run it again, 40 seconds off the clock you don't get it run it again and you get the clock to 220 ish given how they've run the ball to that point almost a certainty that they get three yards with two attempts worst case they're a little time left with one timeout because they mismanaged their timeouts yeah yeah i i right totally get what

you're saying and you know what uh in the second half, this is where I think Kevin O'Connell really did a great job, was he did not stray too far away from the run. And I mean, even on there was a fourth down and short and they threw the ball down the field, which didn't make a whole lot of sense after they had run for a first down. I thought that the failed fourth down deciding to pass the ball was a little silly. One of the things that I noticed in years past with the Vikings is how many times Mike Zimmer's defense even could have been beaten if opposing teams just kept running. And then last year they actually did it last year. They actually just kept running the football against the Vikings. And, and a couple of teams won games because of it, Los Angeles and Cleveland, you know, they won games because they just didn't go away from it and kept running and running and running. Although even Cleveland tried to go downfield and get a little bit galaxy brained in that game and almost blew it. Remember, Odell Beckham nearly had a couple of deep passes from Baker Mayfield, but Mayfield was inaccurate when they should have just kept running. It is a hard thing for offensive coordinators, offensive minds to do because when you are, let's just say a guy coming into the coaching ranks and you're dialing up plays and you're

studying plays and everything else, you're trying to learn everything you can about offense. It's about passing offense, right? Like like i think this is one of the things that made gary kubiak so unique in his career and this came from mike shanahan was passed down and rick dennison and and all those guys were involved alex gibbs they were all involved that they loved themselves some outside zone they obsessed over outside zone and they were the best at it and they knew exactly how to teach it. And man, was it good, right? It was good. 2019, 2020, when Gary was here and Rick Dennison was teaching it, they were a terrific running team. And, you know, I do think, and Wes Phillips kind of said this,

their offensive coordinator, that they went into the buy and they looked at a lot of things schematically, what's working, what's not working with the running game and tried to figure out how they can be a little more consistent and then in the second half they went off against arizona and kept running which i think totally justifies what you're saying is sometimes kevin o'connell is going to have to look at himself and say it's okay to just keep giving the ball to delvin cook and really it plays to the strength of what this team does well as blockers. They are, outside of Derrissaw and O'Neal, like a pretty mediocre to poor pass-blocking team. I'm going to pull up the numbers right now for where they rank on passing

and running pass-blocking, or blocking in general. So they are 18th in pass blocking. And let me see run blocking fourth. So there you go. They are a very, very good run blocking offensive line with a running back who I think maybe has not been quite as good as he has in the past, as far as his jump goes, but looked pretty quick the other day. And if he's healthy and he used that by week to get healthier, I mean, you can have a really good running game. Alexander Madison mixed in very nicely gained 40 yards, which is what you want from Madison to be able to have more of a duo to keep those guys healthy and keep those guys fresh throughout a game.

You have to keep giving them the ball sometimes. And I know I made this joke the other day about, Hey, if you've got to run Delvin cook 46 times in a game to win, like you should do that. And, uh, you know, I, I, I do think that there's always going to be this tendency from a former quarterback to want to throw the ball from an offensive coordinator that, you know, you're thinking like this guy's going to come in with all these passing schemes that are super unique to get the receivers open. He comes from an offense where Cooper cup was, you know, nearly record setting and everything else. Right. And you know, don't forget like what your team is doing well, especially in the blocking area. And we do know this from studies that have been done, is that when runs are blocked well, oh man, are they effective. And Terrell Davis, you know, Gary Kubiak's old all-time great running back,

he could attest to this, that they had a tremendous offensive line and running yards per carry, running success, is really a product of a couple of things. I mean, one is just the talent you have, but also how detailed, how well taught that, that, that all of that is. And I think that, you know, they're maybe getting better at it as the season goes along, getting more comfortable with it, with the offensive linemen. And it was just phenomenal against Arizona. And we know this, like it ties into the last conversation about

Cousins. Like if you give Cousins opportunities in favorable passing situations, he will play extremely well when you can run those play actions and when you can be in run or pass situations, when you can force the other team to bring an extra guy in the box, which they did at times. I mean, that's just, that's just gold for Kirk Cousins. He does have to play off of a run game and, and don't forget it. Like, don't forget it. And I thought second half, they really came out and did a great job of that. And it was one of the reasons that they, they won the game and why they didn't, you know, completely melt. So I think that your comment is correct. Thomas get in a second and three in a key spot just run the ball man

just run the ball get that first down do do what uh seattle should have done with marshawn lynch and don't overthink this thing uh as long as it's working that's a good one folks i know you've heard me talk about soda stick for a long time now but i'm telling you you have to start following them on social media for new, fresh gear. They are releasing all the time. Of course they have the classics like the Moss Moon design and the Metrodome shirts and hoodies. But as the local teams go along in their seasons, Soda Stick is constantly putting out new stuff, whether it's the new Horn State gear or the Vicodontis Rex shirts, lots and lots more from all the Minnesota clubs.

Go to SodaStick.com and follow them at SodaStick on Twitter. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com on Twitter and use the code Purple Insider to get 15% off your purchase. All right, let's see here. This from, uh, at the purple plague on Twitter. Do you think that Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi told the Wilfs that they could go all the way with Kirk cousins? Do you think that that was part of the selling point or pitch to get the job? Or do you think they said, yes, but dot, dot, dot. Um, I, I really don't know. I really don't know what that dialogue was like. I know this, that they had a conversation about what direction they wanted to go in

and that for one reason or another, the ownership said, I want you guys to try it. Now, I know they shopped everybody in the off season. They took offers for Cousins. They took offers for Thielen. They took offers for Cousins. They took offers for Thielen. They took offers for Hunter. And they decided not to do it. And I think part of the reason was that the Wilfs had it in their mind that the players believed, and I'm talking about the veteran players, your Thielen, your Kendricks, your Harrison Smith,

that the players believed they were close to being a very good team. And at this moment, they have been very much justified in believing that. And so I think that the Wilfs were the ones who steered the ship for what they wanted to do in year one. Now, after this year, it's much more likely that they'll have familiarity with O'Connell and Kweisi Adafomenta, and they can decide in a maybe more collaborative fashion what they need to do. But another part of this also is, I think that Kevin O'Connell probably looked at it and said, and this is speculation, this is not from sources or anything, but I'm sure that he looked at the

situation and said, but who am I supposed to have as my quarterback? You're a former quarterback, you came from a team that had Matthew Stafford. You just won the Superbowl and you want to put in all this stuff that you took from McVay and you're, you're going to bring in what Andy Dalton who's playing well, you're right. And Marcus Mariota, who's leading his division.

Like these guys probably could have accomplished a lot of the same things, but go back to that point at the NFL combine and look at it from there. Marcus Mariotta is a backup, you know, Jameis Winston is coming off an ACL. He was an available quarterback. You know, could you trade for Jimmy Garoppolo? Maybe if you trade cousins away, like, I don't know. They just beat Garoppolo in the NFC championship and he wasn't all that impressive at the end of the game. Like, you know, are you very confident that those are good options if you're Kevin O'Connell or having worked with Kirk Cousins before, do you look at him and say, I know what he does well, I know what he doesn't do well

already from having coached him. And I think that the best option to win games is to work around that because, I mean, think about the draft. Kenny Pickett was, I mean, clearly not ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. He's shown that in Pittsburgh. Then you have Malik Willis, who's just, you know, really far away. Maybe we'll be a backup for his career or maybe emerge in years, but we don't know anytime soon. He would not have been capable of starting right away Malik Willis or Desmond Ritter or any, you know, I think there were some draft analysts who tried really hard to make Desmond Ritter a thing, but that was not ever a thing, right?

I mean, just like, what were your options for the situation is how they would have looked at it. Now, how I would have looked at it is the difference between Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota. Both of them get Justin Jefferson and Marcus Mariota gets you $20 million. You know, it might be just as good. It probably won't be better, but it might be just as good. And I think Atlanta has shown that like Atlanta is a much worse team than the Vikings. And they found the way to win some games because he's not a joke quarterback. He's been to the playoffs before. He's a good quarterback, but not a tremendous one,

one that can find a way to get you into the playoffs in favorable circumstances, which he would have had here. But I think that if you were looking for what is the reason they decided to go the direction they did, which again is at this moment, very much justified. I think it had to do with the, the veteran players convincing ownership that they were fairly close. That that's how it seems. And, you know, putting together all of the of the breadcrumbs that have been left behind about the meetings that players had with ownership.

And then Mark Wilf, it was a question I asked Mark Wilf directly at U.S. Bank Stadium before the season when he did his press conference. I said, how much were you involved in the direction? And he said, very. And so that kind of tells you, like, they were the ones calling the shots. As is fine. Like, I know that we kind of looked at that in the offseason and wondered, is that a good thing that they're the ones calling the shots? But, you know, they own the team.

So you're going to direct the thing the way you want it directed. And then they did the best to put together this roster around what the ownership wanted. And this is what you ended up with and they took the shortest possible deal for Kirk Cousins to extend him I think with the thought in mind that this might not be a long-term thing and we'll see what this all ends up meaning to Kirk Cousins in the long term I think a lot is still to be determined I mean going six and one you don't get to put a ring on. Like you have to finish the job. You have to get deep in the playoffs when you're given this opportunity.

It can't be at this point now a nine and eight or a 10 and seven in a first round out. Like that's just not good enough at this point. That means you spun your wheels. It has to be better than that. But I think they wanted to find out. They wanted to find out how much it would matter if Kirk Cousins was supported. So far, it seems to, even if statistically he's been not as good, he is communicating within games. And if that makes the difference on one play down the stretch, as opposed to Mike Zimmer, not wanting to make

eye contact with him, Like that, that can be the difference. It's the NFL. There's so many small differences. I look at it as a decision that was made from the top and also gave Kevin O'Connell a chance to win in the first year. And in his mind gave him a quarterback that could execute a lot of the things he was going to ask him to do. And so far it's been like 75% of that. And I think there's still room on the table for cousins to improve. And if you were doing it by the statistics and based on his career, he should improve.

If during stretches where he's had a 90 quarterback rating, usually there's an upswing after that, because that's kind of Kirk cousins and the Kirk rollercoaster. If, if that comes, then they can compete with some of these better teams. If it doesn't, then they may end up feeling like, well, we got a lot of the same, even if it was a better record because things fell our way. But that's, yeah, it's an interesting question to go back to that point and making that decision that right now looks really good.

And we'll see how that all plays out as we go forward. This one comes from, let's see, from Jeff via email. Now this was sent before Delvin Tomlinson got hurt, but he says, we are who we are and we'll only get worse from here going forward as injuries are bound to occur and we have no depth. This is as good as it gets. It may be good enough to make the playoffs if they get lucky with health, but we're not going to go anywhere. We cannot beat a good team with anything on the line. Agree or disagree. Hmm. Yeah. I mean, I think that right there is the sentiment of a lot of people who have been through a lot of things with this football team. I mean, Vikings fans have every reason to be very skeptical of anything that looks good. Anything, anything, because

everything that's been shiny and put in front of them has hurt them in the past. You draft Teddy Bridgewater. It looks like you got the steel of the draft you're ready to go into a super bowl type of season or window with a good defense and younger receivers in 2016 teddy goes down for basically ever was never the same and never played again outside of one appearance against cincinnati and then you know, you've got the team of destiny that ends up losing in the NFC championship. I could go through all the other ones where there have been times that you thought something special was about to happen.

Even in 2020, starting out one in five, then going five and one in the next stretch, like, oh, maybe you're a good team now. Maybe you've got something going here and they can make the playoffs and surprise everybody and then a few injuries later and it all comes apart you give up 52 points against new orleans like any time that vikings fans have gotten sort of this flash and this goes through the entire history of excitement the next thing around the corner is uh-oh like not good even 2019 where they beat new orleans it's a huge win it's kyle rudolph at the end of the game with a

touchdown and overtime super exciting and the next week is 160 yards passing and they just get completely blasted by san francisco and the the thing about what you said that's the most accurate is that they don't have depth. And unfortunately, you know, with Delvin Tomlinson going down, unfortunately for him, because he's having just such a great season, now you're left with Ross Blacklock, James Lynch, someone named Tonga that they just picked up. Like, there's just not much there to go along with Harrison Phillips. And when you see Zedarius Smith go down and hold his knee, like you hold your breath because while I've liked some things from Patrick Jones and DJ Wanham, if those guys are asked to play whole games, you're not getting that type of production out of them.

We don't know what Andrew Booth Jr. can do. He hasn't gotten any action at all. And in training camp was even banged up at times. So there's not much to say about how he would fill in if a corner got hurt, but that's not really a favorable situation either. You have depth at running back and depth at safety. And that is all the positions where there's depth on the offensive line. Even, I mean, if someone gets hurt, it's Blake Brandle or ole udall playing tackle or in in the interior of the line i think chris reed at right guard might be an upgrade but he's not an upgrade to as in like being a good player

and overall garrett bradbury's been pretty solid uh are you know austin schlottman is the next man up there so you can't and wide receiver of course every time thielen gets hurt or banged up a little you same thing with zadarius smith where you go what like who's gonna play if this is a serious injury and for them luckily it hasn't been so far but uh if that were to happen then it's a team that probably can't go very far in the playoffs. That's just reality. If they're running out the team that they have yesterday, uh, that entire group, you know, Smith's going to come back, Irv Smith and Tomlinson is going to come back. So if that entire group is running out there, can they play with anyone in the league? No, not, not, not likely.

Can they play with anyone in the NFC except for Philly? I would say so. I mean, San Francisco is not a good matchup for them. San Francisco would have to come here. It's a different type of story. Or if it ends up being Seattle, is that a great matchup for them with those amazing receivers? Not really.

But can they beat Seattle? Sure. Their teams, Seattle and San Francisco, are teams that are just like the Vikings. They're talented in some places. They're flawed in other places. And when these two teams play, anybody can win. So you can win the playoffs for that reason, and you get U.S. Bank Stadium. If things continue to be where they are right now, then, yeah.

I mean, like, you can definitely win some, but can you go all the way? Things would really have to come together in order for that to happen. That's why we've been talking about the trade stuff, which by the time you're listening to this podcast, we will know whether they have decided to make any trades or not. And there will be an emergency podcast if there is trades, of course. But that's the reason that I've advocated for it is just because that is the reality of who they are as a team is if you were to lose Delvin Tomlinson for the season, not just a couple of weeks, then I don't know who you can beat because you have to stop the run in order to win.

You've got to do something well. And stopping the pass is not it, as we've seen the last couple of weeks. So health is going to play a major role. And it all ties into the first question. If you want to win with Kirk Cousins and go six and one, like this is how it happens. You got to be great in the situational stuff. You got to have Jefferson play at his best. You got to have jefferson play at his best you got to have the defense make a big plays shutting down the run doing enough in the past with a couple

of interceptions that's everything that's got to happen in order to win which is the case for almost every team except for buffalo and kansas city buffalo and kansas city can suffer injuries they can lose players they can have things go wrong for them. And Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen will just make it happen. That's not what you have here, but that's not what most teams have. And so that's why the ride is going to be so interesting to watch because it feels like no one is pulling away outside of Philly. Anybody can win. Anything can happen.

Dallas certainly made a statement the other day, and they might be the second best team, but you're right in that conversation. As long as you're healthy, if you're not probably not. So, I mean, we'll be here.

We'll be watching. It'll be, it'll be something that is sort of out of their hands. And that's why when you ask the question, it's like, well, that's, I mean,

that is a reality, but there's nothing they can do about it. Sometimes people just get hurt or sometimes they don't. And you've got to just continue to hold your breath week in and week out that there isn't serious injuries. So great stuff. Great questions from everybody as always again, purpleinsider.com. If you want to go there, use the contact contact us send me a question or through dm on twitter at matthew collar and once again thank you for adam thielen for coming on talking food and talking football and we'll talk to you all soon