Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Another bizarre win as the Vikings beat the Commanders

Episode Date: November 6, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic talk about the Vikings' 20-17 victory over the Washington Commanders -- a game in which they were slow on offense for a large portion of the day but Taylor Heinicke's interception gave them the game. What does it mean to be 7-1? Is Buffalo the true test next week or does it not really matter with such a big NFC North lead? 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. hello welcome to the how did the vikings get away with it again post game podcast matthew collar here along with paul hodowanek of wcco radio and of all the giving away east this was the giving away party for Washington who decided that they wanted Kirk Cousins to have his revenge game it was very nice of them uh Paul for

most of this game the Minnesota Vikings played very bad offensive football on the defensive side I'm not sure if they were good or Washington just really has no offensive attack. They can't run the football. Their offensive line isn't very good. And their quarterback is absolutely a backup who used to play in the XFL. Wait, actually he was a backup in the XFL. Uh, he wasn't even a starter and that showed toward the end of the game. Uh, sorry, there's highlights playing here in the background because ESPN just loves their box score to include loud highlights. Anyway, but guess what the highlights are? Taylor Heineke throwing a game losing interception and giving the game away to the Vikings who are now seven and one in every single game. What you could say walking away is, look,

they probably shouldn't have won this this but the other team made one more mistake than the Vikings their passing game was unimpressive they didn't consistently run the ball the interior the offensive line got its face smashed in today but Washington all they had to do was probably run the ball and then punt and make her cousins travel 80 yards to tie the game. And Taylor Heineke threw it eight yards over his wide receiver for an interception. I guess on the other side of things, Paul, you could say that a referee made the best play of the day for Washington. And that's the reason the Vikings were losing, but they also had two other defenders on that play who did not stop Terry McLaurin. But at the end, we sit 7-1 for these Minnesota Vikings

as they head to Buffalo. And before I pass the ball over to you for your thoughts, I just want to say, I will not be spending this week saying we're going to find out who these Vikings really are. No, no, no, no. We have a huge sample size. We know exactly who the Vikings are. We know what their strengths are.

We know what their weaknesses are. We know why good teams could eventually beat them. We know that luck has been very much on their side and whether they win or lose in Buffalo, I don't think I'm changing my opinion on them after this week. I think that they are a team that has strengths enough to have great sections of football at any given time and weaknesses enough to be right in the game with just about any team in the entire NFL. And that's who they are. So I'm not going to change that almost no matter what happens in Buffalo. We also know this Green Bay is a joke joke. They are a laughingstock. Aaron Rodgers is throwing interceptions at the one yard line. They're dusted.

Chicago is awful. They lost today. Detroit is awful. You're in a one man race with yourself at this point for the Vikings just exist for the rest of the season. In fact, Ben Kirk, so he could play in the playoffs and week nine. I mean, it's really that crazy of a situation before the year. We say things like, well, you know, if a lot of things go right, they could be pretty good.

Not a lot of things. Every single thing, including Kirk Cousins getting absolutely popped today and then being able to get back up and carry on. So this has been just one of those years that pops up once a decade for the Minnesota Vikings. And here they sit after a game that they really really really should have lost Paul yeah it's it's hilarious to go to the ESPN standings page right now and just like gaze at the NFC North because it's seven and one and then immediately under it it's three and six and it's just jarring to go from one to six and the fact that second place in the division is only three and six,

but that's where the Vikings have found themselves. And I feel kind of like a broken record coming on here now and just, you know, giving them some kudos for being resilient, but then pointing out the fact that they could have lost this game over and over again. And for a while through three quarters, it felt like kind of all the makings of one of these games were finally some of those 50, 50 things don't go right at the end of the half uh Kirk throws up a kind of a shot to Justin Jefferson in the end zone it bounces off some hands it lands with a Washington defender that's an interception that probably at minimum the Vikings thought they were gonna get three

points there they get none then they get the Taylor Heineke the ref play where that goes Washington's way. Zedaria Smith comes up with a sack on a third and 10, but he gets called for a face mask. They had another time where a third down stop was negated by a penalty that didn't really seem to have that much of an effect on the final result of the play. So it felt like a lot of these things were starting to spiral in against the Vikings direction and to the point where, okay, this is going to be the one that they lose. We've always, we've kind of talked about it.

Like they probably will lose the bills game. They're probably going to lose to the Cowboys. Potentially there might be another one in there where you're just, everything starts to not go the Vikings way. And that's what it felt like through a half. And so, and into the third quarter too. And so that Taylor Heineke interception that he throws, and then the penalty on the field goal late in the game where they can now

just run the clock out basically until the field goal. Those are the two plays that come back in the Vikings direction and allow them to flip this game because yeah, they didn't quite deserve it for, for much of it. They averaged 4.6 yards per play. They were abominable on first downs. They had like a 29, 29% success rate on early downs.

They were consistently getting into those second and third and longs that we've talked about. I've written about they're one of the worst offenses in the NFL when they get to that point. So the game script wasn't going for them. The bounces didn't seem to be going for them. So I do have to credit them in being resilient. Taylor Heineke sticking with it because Taylor Heineke, I think is just good for one of these plays where he air mails a pass and you have to be ready for it. They caught

the pass. They took advantage when Washington did let up the gas. So you still have to, or I feel like I need to at least praise them for doing that because we continue to do this over and over again. And at some point it could be luck, but at some point, if they're just going to keep doing this thing where they're going to come back from games, they're going to eke out games. I have to at least point to them being resilient. They're down 10 and they don't waver. Like those are important building blocks of a team that could be good and blocks that we haven't seen previous Vikings teams laid the foundation with. And so in that respect, there's a little positive important building blocks of a team that could be good and blocks that we haven't seen previous Vikings teams lay the foundation with. And so in that respect, there's a little positive there.

And the defense, I think, played well in stretches. But yes, just such a topsy-turvy game where, again, it could have gone either way, but it's 7-1 in the standings. And they're at this point pretty much a shoo-in to make the playoffs just based on the math that the other teams in the NFC North would have to, the games that they would have to win in the stretch that they would have to go on and none of them seem capable of doing that yeah the hard thing about this post-game podcast for me is that I want to spend the whole thing marveling at Washington blowing this game I mean it just the things that they had to do even the fact that they almost refused to run the football early in the game, which is

crazy because Delvin Tomlinson is one of the best players at his position in the entire NFL. He's out. James Lynch is out there. Jonathan Bullard is out there. And I think that both of those guys have done an okay job against the run this year, but there was opportunities there and they were like, no more, more Heineke, like the more cowbell, like, no, actually, you know what we want more. I got a fever and this is more Heineke, like the more cowbell. Like, no, actually, you know what? We want more. I got a fever and this is more Heineke. And that's really what happened at the end too. I mean, I just, I felt like I was Richard Sherman

with not handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch. I just couldn't believe they didn't run three times up by seven points and punt the ball away with the world's best punter. Tress Way's the best punter in the universe. Punted away, make them go 80 yards to tie the game late in the fourth quarter in a game that looked very much like it was 1997. They should have played it like it was 1997

because they had a backup quarterback in. It was like Washington totally forgot. Like, oh yeah, this guy Taylor Heineke, he's the real goods. That's something you do with Patrick Mahomes. So there is that. I mean, there's also the penalty at the end because it would have been 20 to 17 with almost two minutes remaining. And there's plenty of time with the secondary that the Vikings have to give that up and the elite receiver. And that's really how Taylor Heineke has won games in recent weeks, where it's right at the end, he makes some great drive or some crazy throw to Terry McLaurin. And so I thought, okay, this is a big opportunity here for the Vikings defense to make

another big stop at the end, but also a little spotty. Like this is an opportunity also for that late game luck, that one score luck to die right here in DC. And instead what a personal foul on a 25 yard field goal. You can go sit in the stands on a 25 yard field goal. You don't have to rush that thing at all. And instead the guy is blasting the long snap. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. Ron Rivera using a challenge on what? I mean, they never overturned those. Not only did they never overturn them, but it wasn't even remotely right. In fact, the spot was darn impressive by the referees. So there's lots of different ways I want to look at it

and just wonder what was Washington thinking. But then I remember their Washington. They've made the playoffs one time since 2015, and they were seven and nine that year. Like this is a really bad football team that the Vikings should have blasted their face in. And I think that where it was most unimpressive for the Vikings is just how long they went between having that great first drive. They're on script, they're firing on all cylinders, and then it just disappears. And tell me how this is any different from last year.

That happened repeatedly last year where they would have this great first drive, score a touchdown, get Justin Jefferson going, and then not be able to find Jefferson for a long period of time the rest of the game. And that's what happened today until he finally shows back up again in the fourth quarter. And his numbers end up looking great. But I think he had five catches on that first drive or in the first quarter and then he ends up with seven catches for the entire day which cannot happen but I'm also sort of getting tired of saying like oh well they have to learn and improve from this this game was the exact same game that they played

against Miami it was the exact same game that they've played repeatedly. And with the only difference being that Washington's defensive line was so violent, so terrific that they completely shut down Delvin cook for most of the day. They pressured cousins most of the day. And if that happens, it's just the kryptonite of all kryptonites for this team. And Washington decided that they just wanted nothing to do with this win. But it's really hard for me to look at what happened here and be like, oh yeah, no, that was great. I mean, I think with the Miami win, I was much more apt to say, okay, well, look, you know, you were coming off the London trip,

an emotional win against a division opponent, Chicago. Chicago's playing people hard these days. All right, that's not that bad. But they had just beaten Arizona in maybe their best game and went to play a team that's not any good. Look at their passing numbers against, I think it was their third interception of the entire season. They can't cover anybody.

Washington, as was shown on the 147-yard catch. And even with that, even with that ending, Kirk cousins ends up with 6.6 yards per pass attempt and 81 quarterback rating. Like this is definitely, this is definitely the year for Kirk to keep being like QB wins a, a purple insider.

Like, I, you know, I get it because things have gone their way. None of the teams except for Miami that they've beaten have a winning record and they played their backup quarterback. It's like it's just crazy because now there's this laundry list of all these things that have been given to them. And yet, historically, if you go seven and one, it usually means you're great. So that's that's my question for you, Paul.

As as unimpressive as this was, and as some other wins they've had this year have been, um, should we just say, look, seven and one is seven and one, and I don't really care how you got there. I mean, I care how you got there, but the, I don't know. I think what's illustrative of kind of where they're at right now is they're seven and one. They're going to play the Bills next week who lost this week. They're six and two. The Bills are nine and a half point favorites or they were as of this recording, nine and a half point favorites for the team that has the worst record. And so that kind of characterizes the expectation you have with this Vikings team, despite them being 7-1.

They're almost a double-digit underdog. To face a team, if we're going to benchmark things of great, if we're going to try to contrast or compare things that are great, I think the Bills have shown themselves to be a pretty great team so far this year. They've had their blunders. Obviously, they lose to the Jets this week, so they're not inflappable. They can be beaten. The Dolphins beat them earlier this year, but that's as close to great as we have that's kind of the benchmark that is set in the league this year unless you want to make it the

eagles uh and the vikings vegas doesn't even think they the vikings should sniff a victory in that game that's what we're talking about with this and so it matters how you got there because it is indicative of how you're going to play moving forward three weeks into the season maybe i would have said it wouldn't wouldn't be but we're eight in we're eight games in now this team largely is the way it's going to be and as we saw when you lost cam dantzler today in the game only you're really probably only going to get less healthy throughout the year because you've been this healthy. And so all the factors tell me, yeah, okay, you're seven and one and that's great. And you've taken advantage when you've needed to take advantage. You've

capitalized on errors when a lot of other middling NFC teams have not done it. The Buccaneers haven't been able to do it. The Packers haven't been able to do it. So many of these teams we thought were going to be right up there. The Rams haven't been able to do it. Like so many of these teams that we thought were going to be the contenders, the teams to beat have fallen on their face over and over and over again. And the Vikings haven't so far, but I don't necessarily know if that's indicative of them not ever being able to fall on their face or them being able to avoid one of these games later on when they're playing a better opponent. And so it matters how you got there because it's really going to tell how you're going to play moving forward. Obviously you can improve. I thought Hawkinson provided a nice

safety blanket for the Vikings. I'm sure we'll get to him at some point. You'd only expect his role to grow and for that connection to foster even more between him and Kirk Cousins. So there are slight signs that you could say, well, this is going to improve. The offense is just way too inconsistent right now. And one unit where I don't know is going to improve much is the offensive line. And that was just beaten and battered today. And that first down stat I talked about earlier, where they were just struggling, like if I could run through these right now, Cook ran for a negative one yard. Then it was a four yard run, a 16 yard pass, but then they went a three yard run incomplete, two yards, four yards, negative one yards,

incomplete, incomplete, incomplete, negative three, negative one, negative eight, negative three, incomplete, four yards, incomplete, seven yards, incomplete, two yards. Those were their first down plays. And when you do that, it's just pinning the ears back for the defense. And that's when you continually saw them getting exposed. And so maybe some better first down plays or some more production there helps limit it. But I also think the offensive line played a key role in them not doing well on first down either. So I think the offensive line is the biggest thing I see week to week. It's going to be an issue. And after the start to the year where we thought maybe this was a decent unit, I think they've regressed back to what we know they're going to be. And that's two solid

tackles and everything else is a dice roll game in and game out. And when you go up against a front like Washington, the dice are stacked against you and you're, and you're going to come out looking like this more often than not. Folks, you've heard me talk about liquid death and i'm glad to see that some of you are getting on board i got a great tweet from a listener the other day talking about how liquid death has helped him kick sugary drinks and slim down and also for the longest time my wife was the type of person to carry a water bottle everywhere because she didn't like the idea of buying so many plastic bottles. Well, that's the reason it's called Liquid Death, to bring an end to plastic bottles and instead use aluminum cans, which are easier to recycle for profit and do not end up turning into trash.

Liquid Death is even donating 10% of its profits to kill plastic usage. So you're going to want to look for Liquid Death Mountain Water and Flavored Sparkling Water in the water section. And here's how you find it. It looks like a beer can. It's the only water that looks like a tall boy. So whether you want to use it to drink more water or confuse your coworkers by bringing in something that looks like a beer can to work,

you can find Liquid Death at Hy-Vee, Target, Walmart, 7-Eleven, and many more stores. Find out where liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquiddeath.com slash insider. Yeah, and it wasn't just one guy today. I mean, Ed Ingram struggled, and there might have to be another answer there. Although if they win, I doubt they're going to make a change at any position. But Ezra Cleveland was just as bad today. I mean, it was one pass rush after the next.

And I know you're facing a good player, but you have to at least survive. And they did not survive. So I guess what everything has to be right now, the way that we look at it is, look, you're having a special season. No one says that you're not. So when we look at the numbers and we analyze what happened in a win that you get in D.C. on the road and the Kirk Cousins revenge game and all those things, not a whole lot of revenging, but, you know, he throws the touchdown to Delvin Cook and so forth. But we have to look at it really through the lens are of, are you actually really good or not? Because seven and one, even a team this good can be deceiving. I mentioned that there were teams that started seven and one and finished with 10 wins. That's the minimum. And that's going to run away with this division. But think about the Steelers maybe a couple of years ago, where I remember this last year too yeah the uh well last year but

then even like two years before that I think they won 12 or maybe even 13 games it was something crazy but it was at least double digits and they had started out something like nine and one what whatever was this like two three years ago and there were a lot of the numbers people who were saying like man this is just not actually a very good team and and so forth and they eventually when they got to the playoffs got destroyed by the cleveland browns in the playoffs because they had all those weaknesses and they just sort of survived and so forth um by the way josh allen it appears has an injury are you kidding me Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is this every year's worth of bad thing to happen for the Vikings going good for them

all at once. Although case Keenum revenge game. Now that would be something. But if, if Josh Allen is playing hurt, then that certainly evens the playing field between these two teams next week. But anyway, the point just being that if we're analyzing this team right now and what the numbers say about them, what the performances have said about them, it's all close games and it's all against bad teams. And if there was another team doing this, we would be saying about that team, I don't know. I don't know whether to take them too seriously or not because they have these red flags and the red flags that they have can't really be fixed. So there's a lot of me that just wants to be like, ride the wave folks. We'll just see how

long this carries on because sometimes it does. Sometimes it does in the playoffs for the Rams. It did in the playoffs. The Rams last year started seven, one, and then had this big, like car crash in the middle of their season where Stafford came to Minnesota through three picks and they won a game that was unimpressive. They had some bad losses. They got killed by San Francisco. They went to the playoffs. Tom Brady didn't play well for a big part of a game. Jimmy Garoppolo melted at the end. They dropped an interception and they landed in the Super Bowl. Like, ride that wave. But I want to talk about some specifics of the game because you brought up Hawkinson, some specifics beyond just,

hey, the offensive line got its face beat in again. I guess I wonder about the running game, and we've been talking about it for a while of like, hey, you know, if you need to lean into this running game, then go ahead and lean into the running game and we've been talking about it for a while of like, Hey, you know, if you need to lean into this running game, then go ahead and lean into that running game. But I think what we know about it now is that on a week to week basis, we're not really sure whether that's going to show up or not. And also if you thought that like adding TJ Hawkinson was going to make your running game better. It's not going to make your running game better.

Like I think it's going to be just a very inconsistent. Do you hit on a big player too, during a game type of running game? And if you don't, you end up with two yards per carry. And then all that stuff that Kirk cousins loves to do with the play action and the favorable situations, it all kind of goes away. Yeah. And

to a slight defense, Washington came into the week third in rush defense EPA. So they, this is a good rushing defense that they went up against, but it's not the first time that they've just been completely stifled and that's really hurt them like the miami game comes to mind where they are just consistently three and out three and out three and out and i think the touchdown drive to begin the game got people you know you're feeling positive about the viking so then the ensuing whatever five punts in a row that they had after that doesn't feel as bad because there's some points on the board but after that drive, after the first game script, that offense couldn't do anything for large stretches of time. And again, when they aren't running well on early downs, it's going to put them in these bad positions and they are the worst NFL in the, or the first

worst offense in the NFL. When those happen, they had 19 rushes on first and second down. They had a success rate of 21% on those plays. So that five of those plays resulted in positive yardage or a successful play, which is varies based on down, but basically 80% of the time, those were not effective plays. And when that happens, it allowed everything else. Like you're not respecting the pass, the play action. You're not respecting the pass protection. And that just crumbles everything. And we know Kirk needs play action to help get himself going. I think we now know this offensive line desperately needs play action to help it kind of hide

some of its deficiencies. And so that means the running game needs to work regardless of if you're going up against a top five rush defense in the NFL by EPA, which Washington was, you just have to find a way to do it. And finally, towards the end of the game, they were able to knock off a few bigger runs that helped them seal the deal. But there were so many runs before that, that went nowhere that badly put them in second and 12, second and 13, third and eights. And that's just not the way this team

is going to win on offense. And we're seeing that over and over and over again. So while this game was against a really good rushing opponent, it's just been too consistent no matter the opponent. And it needs to get fixed if they have aspirations of beating a Buffalo, beating a Cowboys, even beating a Patriots team who

now that defense looks really solid, and they're continuing to win games. This next three-game stretch, they're going to need the running game if they're going to win, and their only successful games have come against really bad rush defenses, and so they need to prove themselves that they can at least hang with a good defense running the ball. And they just haven't done it yet. And this is why when we talk about like the natural thing to say is, well,

they've got to work on this. So they've got to fix this. So they've got to resolve that. And at this point, I'm just not sure those things exist. Like normally in the past, and it wasn't always the case when they faced elite defensive lines in fact sometimes it wasn't but when delvin cook was at his absolute peak he could take a game

where they were getting beaten on the offensive line and at least give you a fighting chance i don't think that that's who delvin cook is anymore i think that it's if you block it really well he's going to get what's there and if you don't then you're going to end up with a day like today where it's two yards a carry because it's just not quite what it was before. So it really comes down to the matchup in the trenches. Do they protect enough in the middle? Do they block well enough in the middle to give Delvin Cook a chance to break a big play? So it's kind of like, I don't know how you fix that.

I don't know how you scheme around that. The only thing would be just to make a change at guard, but the run blocking has not been the issue for Ed Ingram. And again, they probably won't make a change as long as they continue to win. I think that this should be the wake-up call game where they do, and they look at Chris Reed, but he's inactive. So I don't know. Like normally we tend to trust the coaching staffs when it comes to this stuff and they're not even making himactive. So I don't know. Like normally we tend to trust the coaching staffs when it comes to this stuff and they're not even making him active. Uh, so is it Schlottman? Is it Udo? Like these things don't sound like upgrades to me, but they probably are slightly, but then like, is the chemistry changed or is the run blocking changed? Because that is his good area. But if

they are outmanned, they will lose that battle and that will put them behind the sticks. And that's why so much depends on matchups, because if you go up against a team that has a monster D line, it's going to be just a hard matchup for them. If you go up against a team that's more offense driven or more secondary driven, Justin Jefferson could be anybody in the secondary if you're not pressuring Kirk Cousins. On the other side of things, you briefly mentioned TJ Hawkinson, but I think that, like, oh, this is what it looks like when a tight end runs fast. I mean, I'm not trying to be down on Irv Smith Jr.

overall of what we thought he would be made sense, but he was not running fast. I'm not sure that that knee ever got back to 100% because the thumb injury kept him out during training camp. But what that also kept him away from was doing the running on the knee to shake off the rust to get to 100%. He was never pulling away from people. He was never juking people. And to see TJ Hockinson do those things a couple times, you can totally see it.

And where it had its biggest effect today and where it could have its biggest effect down the road is just on those third downs. And this is sort of the yin and yang of the Vikings as a whole, because they're like, as soon as something goes good, there's something else that you're like, Oh, what's going on there. And the what's going on there is like, does KJ Osborne exist? I am not sure. Did they trade him for TJ Hawkinson? I mean, KJ Osborne was targeted two times for zero catches and zero yards today. We are well aware now that Adam Thielen is capable, but is not going to dominate. There were a couple of balls that were in his area that maybe he gets five years ago. He's not going to get today and not for the rest of the season,

but he's still, he's still effective, though. Like, you look at his numbers. I mean, ESPN put out these receiver numbers, still really good at catching things that come his way, still getting open a fair amount according to their data. But K.J. Osborne essentially does not exist. And that's where I wonder, like, why that's happened. And when we talk about any solutions,

if they could find a way to get him open at some point to get him involved then the addition of Hawkinson can become bigger if not I think it still helps them a lot because Irv Smith was such a non-factor um but that's that's kind of where I see it is those third downs where everyone is or should be Washington on third and seven and no you don't give up a slot fade for 47 yards. But most of the time, teams will be looking at Jefferson on third down. And he is a tight end who can actually make a play on those

where I think that they've been lacking that this year and going back to like Kyle Rudolph. Yeah, I mean, he caught all nine of his targets. Some of the tight ends that the Vikings have tried out this year. Haven't done that. And it's caught the cost them on big plays. Irv Smith down the sideline, missing that ball,

Johnny Munt third and one during what game was that? The Eagles game. I don't quite remember where it just goes right through his hands. So just to even have just a surefire guy that you feel like can catch the ball. You trust you can throw into tight windows with Kirk Cousins had a 25% aggressive throw rate so he's throwing within a yard of of coverage 25% of the time that's much higher than his average and several of those came

to Hawkinson and kind of tight windows when they needed a play on third down I don't think that's a coincidence and I also think Adam Thielen had a couple catches where he was kind of wide open. And I think having a more legit guy opposite Jefferson can help Thielen too, because, okay, maybe they're bracketing Jefferson or something. And so the defense feels good about that. Then the other guys can really turn to, okay, where's Thielen. But now if you have Hawkinson, maybe that helps open up Thielen a little bit more than he has been in the past. So I think Hawkinson's presence should only help this unit. And then, yeah, adding Osborne can be additive.

And that's when you can hopefully get a little bit more stability with the offense. If you feel like you have four different players you can go to on any given route that you feel good about right now, I just don't think Osborne's in that spot, which is curious based on the way he played in glimpses last year, you felt like he can at least be that third down type of receiver, like try to mimic any sort of like Jarius Wright type of like production. And that just has not come in any sort of consistent or meaningful manner for the Vikings this far. So I think Hawkinson just by kind of slotting him into the totem pole, if it goes Jefferson, Hawkinson, then Thielen or however they want to go, that pushes a couple people down one rung,

pushes it down how offenses are or defenses are playing you. Because I think with Irv Smith out there, he's probably still the fourth option that defenses are really concerned about on any given play. Hawkinson obviously brings that up. And I think that can help these tertiary receivers get more open. And if Hawkinson can catch all nine of his balls the way he did today, that's going to be a really big help. And you'd only think that they can find better ways to use him. He was like, and he made mistakes too. He had a block. He should have

blocked someone on the outside. There was just a free rusher that came in and sacked Kirk. Those are the types of plays you're hoping with reps that he gets better at at least chipping or not just letting him run free. So I think, again, that's a spot where the offense can progress. And I think you saw the benefit of having a TJ Hawkinson. And I think the Lions did a good job of it this year. He can go and go run deep and get longer more explosive plays and i think as they continue to work him in there'll be different ways that they can use hawkinson throughout this offense 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, SodaStick 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. clubs go to soda stick.com and follow them at soda stick on twitter that is s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k dot com on twitter and use the code purple insider to get 15 off your purchase i mean this was really the best case scenario for a guy on a short week i'll have to look tomorrow what his snap count was he was out there a fair amount, and when he was out there, they were looking for him, and they feel like this is a legitimate weapon. So I agree with you that it helps to push KJ Osborne down and kind of not out of the rotation because they run three receivers and a tight end, but it does feel like even with Hawkinson in the game, they were very short on answers outside of Justin Jefferson, save for one throw to Adam Thielen down the field that he was left open.

And Cousins made a very good throw. It sort of speaks to always that Cousins is even on a game to game basis is mostly a product of the way that your team is playing, if not entirely. And today it was like when Jefferson is wide open, the throw is there. When Thielen is open, the throw is there. But when the pressure is on, there's no real answer. And when they're not running, there's no real answer. And then when Washington completely steps on its foot,

there he is to take advantage. I mean, he's going to – what is this? His fourth quarter comeback of the year, I believe. I mean, this is the thing is it would be hard if not impossible to argue that's a good thing right like this was always my argument because people would look at his numbers and so he hasn't had fourth quarter comebacks and this or that and that's always a bad way to look at it because John Elway doesn't have that many fourth quarter comebacks because he's winning all the time. And because there was no answer for a player like that.

There's no answer for Mahomes. Like, you know how many Mahomes, you know how many fourth quarter comebacks he has in the month of November in his career? Zero because he's won every single game. That's why. I mean, it might not be zero, but I think it's zero. He's just ahead all the time. And so this was kind of one of those games where you felt like really it was a big time product, his performance of them just getting beaten up by this Washington defense and where Hawkinson fits in is that he gives them some more answers and that showed up today, but it also kind of sends the message that Hawkinson is an answer. He's not

all the answers to what have held this offense back from being consistently good for the entire season. Now on the defensive side, Taylor Heineke is just not a good quarterback. I don't know if anyone in DC thought that he was. The fans were cheering Heineke for a little while. You know, look, if you can throw a Hail Mary on second down on the second play of the second half into triple coverage, you got to do it, uh, because there's a chance the referee makes a play on the ball. So, uh, but this guy, I mean, he's never been a starter. He's, you know, there's a reason they went and got Carson Wentz after seeing him for

a whole year. Cause he does stuff like he did today. Now with that said though, I do have to give a lot of credit to Zedaria Smith, who is looking like 2019 Zedaria Smith. And that goes under the category of when we checked off all the boxes, what would it take for this team to win more than 10, more than 11, which they're not there yet, but what would it take as they are now down the road on that? And toward the top of the list, maybe one of the three or four things that you'd bring up was Zedaria Smith has to be amazing. And Zedaria Smith has been nothing short of

absolutely amazing this year. And he was one of the reasons why Taylor Heineke was skittish in the pocket for a big part of this game. And you know, the other guy too, the other Smith, Harrison Smith, it was also, he was in that, you know, category as well of a guy that needed to not fall off, continue to be there for big plays. Yes. The ball was thrown right to him, but he's made plays on a week to week basis, causing a fumble, getting an interception.

Like those are the things that he's done throughout his career that make him an all-pro caliber player, and he's done that as well. And the defense, outside of Delvin Tomlinson being out and getting Cam Dantzler banged up, I mean, still healthy. Caleb Evans made a big play on a fourth down that should have been a first down. I think Caleb Evans has shown some talent there. And people asked me last week about Andrew Booth Jr. I think a Caleb Evans might be just ahead of

him. Well, maybe not might is based on today is just ahead of him based on what those two have done throughout training camp and practice. It doesn't make you feel great that a rookie has to come off the bench because Dantzler was banged up, but he played very well today. So there were a lot of things that they did well to earn the win. It wasn't like entirely luck, but they were down in the fourth quarter by 10. And that just tells you like how one thing, one event, one interception, one mistake can swing how we feel about a team or about a game, because if they lose and they're six and two Buffalo, Dallas, new England on Thanksgiving in the short week, we're talking about, whoa, this team could drop back to six and four in a hurry. And now they seem like they're basically fireproof,

but it wasn't just all because Washington gave away the game, holding that offense in check for most of the game. If not the entire game outside of a crazy play, goes the credit very much to Zedaria Smith. The defensive line did allow some big running plays, overall four and a half yards per carry. The running backs for Washington didn't dominate, though, about three and a half a carry for each. They kind of survived not having Delvin Tomlinson today.

So on that side of the ball, we're going on several weeks where they have actually shown signs of getting better. The question is, were they getting better because of, you know, Kyler Murray throwing them the football twice and Taylor Heineke throwing them the football? And, you know, next week we'll see how injured Josh Allen is, but it's going to be Josh Allen and then Dak Prescott, and those are going to be Josh Allen and then Dak Prescott. And those are going to

be different stories. But, you know, they do deserve credit for doing as well as they did as a unit on defense today. Yeah. And I hear you on Taylor Heineke not being like a starter worthy, but I still think he's a pretty solid backup. I think he can do like some things that you like. And I think for stretches of the game, he looked all right. And I'm generally of the mindset of in this modern NFL, if you're keeping teams under 20 points, you're doing a pretty dang good job unless the quarterback is just completely inept, like unless you have Sam Ellinger back there

or like Nathan Peterman or someone who can't play. And I think Heineke, while not good, is at least a step above that. He's at least a guy that can go. Washington had won several games in a row with him quarterbacking. They were ugly games, but they were winning those games. And so again, not great, but not the worst quarterback you could throw out there. And so when that's the case and you're on the road and you keep a team

under 20 points and one of the touchdowns is kind of that fluky touchdown ball that they get. I think largely the defense played pretty solidly. That doesn't mean they didn't have issues, but I, a guy you didn't mention yet, Daniel Hunter had two sacks today and they were big sacks. Cause one thing Heineke can do well is he's a little slippery and he can get out there and he can at least avoid taking sacks by throwing them away and Hunter at pivotal points in the game, grab two sacksacks and so we've been looking where is he what is he doing he had several really nice pass rush moves that got him

into Heineke's grill right away and so if you can get a little bit more of that from Daniil that helps you exponentially more than just having Zedarius and having Hunter kind of just lingering around so if he can build on today's performance, I think that's a really another solid step for the defense. And I echo what you said about a Caleb Evans. He came in, made a really nice tackle on a run that got outside and he came in and tackled really, really well for a cornerback. And if you're making those plays,

those are the plays that keep you above in Andrew Booth. If you're tackling an open space as a cornerback in the run game, like you need to be able to do that in the NFL. And Vikings cornerbacks of the past have not tackled well from that cornerback position all that often. And so for him to make that play, for him to make the big fourth down play, those are really solid pieces. And it makes you not feel like the sky's falling if Cameron Dantzler has to miss a game or two. It's not ideal, but it doesn't feel like you're throwing out last year, Brashad Breland potentially. Now it could, as more teams get more

reps on him and figure out how to beat him, that's just kind of comes with the game. And that will, that turbulence will come for him at some point, but at least showed signs of being a solid, capable NFL cornerback in today's game. So I left mostly positive about the defense, but I don't know if I was coming from a position to expect a ton from the defense. So I think kind of holding Pat, holding a team under 20 points and just making your offense go and get it, which I think in this day and age in the NFL, if you're scoring less than 20 points, you're having a really bad offensive game. So they met that threshold. No thanks in part to the Harrison Smith turnover. So I think the offense was much more of an issue in this game. And I think the defense definitely will get exposed if Josh Allen

is healthy and if that Prescott's healthy in the next two weeks, but more signs, I feel that I felt kind of after week two, week three, week four, where I think the defense, at least from a series to series, isn't going to just play super soft and let up first down after first down after first down. They seem to have improved on that aspect of it. And that is important no matter how far they get this year. And another guy that should be mentioned too, that I was not convinced on this year, but has done very well as a rotational rusher is DJ Wanham. He has come along quite well for them and, and is actually probably a much better fit for this style of defense than he

was for what Mike Zimmer wanted to do. Not really being a hand in the dirt guy in college, more of an outside linebacker in his size and his playing style. And that seems to be really fitting with the way that this defense is coming up. And then he gets a sack, which was, you know, like kind of a cleanup sack a little bit. There were multiple people there, but he is actually turned into somebody that they can count on as a rotational player. The other thing is the way that they played against Terry McLaurin today, I thought overall was pretty good that he only had five catches for 56 yards

and they had been smoked by top receivers in previous weeks. I'm sure a lot of that is Taylor Heineke getting balls batted down, being generally short and inaccurate. And I thought that he was really panicky in the pocket. I didn't think that he showed like a poise or even a playmaking outside of one spin away from Eric Hendricks that he just seemed to kind of like duck around and then get sacked. Um, but still, you know, Terry McLaurin, and I think earlier, and I apologize if I said McLaurin had that long, the referee touchdown, it was Curtis Samuel. I think at the, at first the broadcasters may have said it was McLaurin and maybe that stuck with me. I don't know, but it was, yeah, it was Curtis Samuel. So he ends up overall with 65 yards, but 49 of his on one catch. So the way that they

performed against those top wide receivers was really impressive. They'll face Stefan Diggs. They'll face CD lamb and maybe Odell Beck, um, possibly based on some reports that there's some intrigue there between Odell Beckham and Dallas. Although now that the Vikings are where they are, maybe Odell would take something cheaper. I don't know. There's no rumor at all about that, but when they face Dallas and Buffalo and Diggs and C.D. Lamb, that's a different story than Terry McLaurin from Taylor Heineke, assuming that Josh Allen is back to 100%. That's hard to say. I mean, the way that they played offensively today indicates that that injury might be serious for him. So I guess we'll

have to find out throughout the week. Yeah. And I think through this whole stretch of them winning these games, we've just consistently said, well, okay, let's wait for them to get to Buffalo. So I'm really excited to actually see them play that game and for us to see them go against a team that they could play later down the line in the Cowboys and the NFC playoffs, the Bills, who knows? Like that's, those are the cream of the crop teams right now. And so for them to play, I assume they're going to keep playing the way that they're playing and they have been playing.

And just to see what that how that produces against great teams I think we kind of know but I'm really excited to see it I want to see how they match up player to player style to style and how overmatched we've kind of assumed they would be I'm excited to see if that is the case if they show a little bit more in those games like now we're reaching that meat of the season that we even talked about at the beginning of the year. That's going to be the stretch. That's really going to determine where this team can go.

And so now we've gotten through some of these teams. They've been able to beat the teams that they should be probably claw back from some games. They shouldn't have won. And now we get to this point where if they win these games, it's because they put together a full 48. They haven't had to do that yet. And so I'm excited to see what that looks like moving forward.

Two weeks in a row. You forgot how many minutes are in a football game. Yeah, I guess I shouldn't pour cold water on the narrative right away about this is the week where we find out who they are in Buffalo. I don't really feel that way because I also feel like I've seen this team for a very long time. And I've seen the last two years where variants went against them in close games.

And then it's just swung back the other way and schedule and everything else that last year's schedule was much harder. And this is another subpar team that will not be in the playoffs. How many wins do they have against teams that will be in the playoffs? It's only Miami, right? None of these other teams are going to be in the playoffs that they may be without Tua. So I,

if new Orleans gets super hot because that division is, is really putrid, but that's pretty much it. Right. So it still feels 2019 ish where every week they're winning and you're going like, okay, I guess we'll see.

I thought they had more convincing wins in 2019. But if they go to Buffalo and they win, I think that they will be declared like a legitimate Superbowl contender. And the fact that Buffalo has lost to Miami and the Jets, I guess it shows you like they're not completely impenetrable. They're not like, maybe even not quite as strong as I was giving them credit for even just last week after they lose this game to the jets. Although again, I didn't see it. So I don't know how much went into Josh Allen being banged up and having this elbow problem. But you know, I guess I'm just not going to like change how I feel about what they need to go somewhere and who they're going to be. I think we know that.

I think we know that they need to match up with the right people. They need to run the ball. They need to get Zedaria Smith and Daniil Hunter healthy and dominating. Like we know that the boxes that need to be checked, it's just whether they do it or not. And still like, it's not impossible to start to come apart at any time, but even coming apart won't really matter. It's one of the weirdest things with no divisional race because like, well, you know, if they start to

fall apart and lose the next two games, like, and then what, then there's seven and three and nothing, you know, right. And then, oh, wow, man, Sam Ellinger's down the road. You got to watch out for him. So it's not, it's not impossible that some of these things could crop up and be problematic. But I think what we know is that they exist in a space that's just better than these teams that are losers that are going to blow games against them and that they'll take advantage. We do know that. And we only have one game of sample how they match up against a good team. So I am very interested. I don't mean to say I'm not interested. Of course I am. I mean, it's my hometown. I'm going back early for this game. It's, you know, I don't know why it's at noon. Like this one should have some extra juice. That should be a night game. But, you know, that's going to be the game of the week. And it they lose by two touchdowns, like, Oh, well, because they're not playing Buffalo in the

playoffs to get there and they wouldn't play them until the super bowl. So I guess I'm not going to look at it with the same type of weight after they won this game, had they lost this game. I think I would have been saying, Oh, you need to win or you're talking about a potential major slide here. So this win gives them so much cushion that almost anything can happen in the next two weeks. And they're still going to feel like one of the three best teams or four best teams in the NFC. So another wild win for the Minnesota Vikings. It has been one of those years of destiny. You all know them.

87 or 2000. They ended up in the NFC championship game after kind of those years of destiny. You all know them, 87. Well, 2000, they ended up in the NFC Championship game after kind of a mediocre regular season. But 2009, 2017, and we will see what happens the rest of the way. I thought this was going to be the one where the pendulum swung back the other way and it was going to be the ref game that took their season apart, but not so much, not so much. It carries on. So Paul, thanks so much, of course, for your time. Thank you all for listening. Murph was in DC on one of his famous road trips that I cannot wait to hear about tomorrow. So

that's going to be a great show. And then Jeremiah Searles, the whole crew comes in and there will be a lot to break down. I'll see if I can wrangle up some friends from Buffalo to talk on the show for this week as well. And we will talk to y'all later.