Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Bonus Episode: Remembering the Minneapolis Miracle and George Paton leaves Vikings for Broncos

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

On the anniversary of the Minneapolis Miracle, we bring you a look at the lead up to the play from every angle with PFF's Eric Eager. This episode originally ran when Matthew Coller launched PurpleInsider.substack.com. Plus an interview in which Matthew Coller is the guest on Denver radio talking about the exit of George Paton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Hey everybody, Matthew Collar here as always with you. Wanted to bring you a bonus episode of Purple Insider on the anniversary of the Minneapolis Miracle. When I launched Purple Insider as a sub-stack newsletter, I did a five-part podcast series with other reporters talking about the entire 2017 season. And so some of you may have heard this before, but I'm assuming that many of you didn't catch it when Purple Insider launched. So I wanted to bring you the section on the lead-up to the Minneapolis Miracle with PFF's Eric Eager.

That's coming up first. Also at the end, I'm including a radio interview that I did in Denver last night about George Payton leaving the Vikings. I'll be talking more with the SPN's Courtney Cronin later in the week about the Vikings assistant general manager leaving. But I figured this would give you a rundown of why he decided to take the job and what it might mean for the Vikings assistant general manager leaving, but I figured this would give you a rundown of why he decided to take the job and what it might mean for the Vikings. So thanks as always for the support from everyone

and make sure you go to purpleinsider.substack.com if you want to check out my Future of the Vikings series. I have unlocked that so you can read all of the articles if you want to check it out. And also go to Amazon, check out my book on the 2017 season making of a miracle alright enjoy so we got to start before we get into the Vikings matchup with the Saints at US Bank Stadium the week before January 7th 2018 and how we got to the point where the Vikings were playing the Saints and eventually playing the Eagles in the NFC Championship,

because there are some surprising results and events that helped us get there. And we start with New Orleans and Carolina, and the Carolina Panthers got one of the gutty performances of Cam Newton's career, where he nearly led them back to beat the New Orleans Saints, had the ball in his hands at the end of that game, and New Orleans ultimately holds on and wins that game. And then the day before that, in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Rams, who brought in the best offense in the NFL, Sean McVay had taken Jared Goff and made him one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

And Todd Gurley's running all over everybody. And yet the Rams' offense went completely stagnant. Atlanta had gotten hot after they had lost to the Minnesota Vikings. And the Falcons come away with a 26-13 win and go to Philadelphia to play Nick Foles and the Carson Wentz-less Eagles. And I think that both of these results are interesting for different reasons. I mean, one is New Orleans had already lost at U.S. Bank Stadium. So I don't think the Vikings felt tremendously scared of New Orleans coming to U.S. Bank Stadium, but they had lost to Carolina and Cam Newton had put on a special performance

in Carolina where he had a huge run to set up the game-winning score. And then it sparked a debate of if you're Vikings fans, would you rather play Nick Foles on the road or have Matt Ryan come to your building? And of course this debate sounds funny now, but that was the conversation leading up. So what do you remember from that first round that set up what we had in Vikings and Saints and eventually Vikings-Eagles? Yeah, it was interesting because the Rams were, you know, a team that, you know, is sort of, you see it every year, you see a team that sort of emerges out of nowhere, they win a kind of a weak division, and they play a team, kind of a down team the following year.

The Falcons went from being the NFC's representative in the Super Bowl the year before to being just a wild card team. But obviously it showed in that first playoff round that the Falcons were much more prepared to play a playoff game than the Rams. I think there were something like six-point underdogs in that game on the road. We know now that Los Angeles isn't the greatest home field advantage for the Rams currently. And they just outclassed them. There were fumbles on punts.

There were just, you know, Matt Ryan played pretty well. And even that Falcons team, which was snakebitten oftentimes offensively, were able to score enough points to outpace Sean McVay's crew. That was an interesting one. I think with the New Orleans game, it was just one of those games where New Orleans sort of stopped playing defense and held on for dear life. And we've seen that a number of times, especially in that rivalry. But it almost bit them with Cam Newton coming back.

And, you know, I think the Saints were something like six or seven point favorites. And, you know, the Panthers covered that but didn't end up getting the win. And that will be one where people remember Cam Newton getting hit hard many times during that game and continuing to grind through and at one point having to leave the game for a play or two and come back in and nearly pull off a win. And if you were the Vikings at that point, you probably didn't want to see that version of Cam because he was sort of flipping into unstoppable mode as opposed to a new orleans team that had not proven like you mentioned that their defense

was up to snuff now their defense over the the following years would improve and become more dangerous but to that point they were still a purely offensive team that with the way the vikings offense had been rolling you felt like they could win. Now, on the other side, on January 13th, the Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons. Now, this is a game that I think about all the time, Eric. You have Nick Foles throws a ball for an obvious interception. It bounces off an Eagles player to his own guy who makes a catch and sets up, I think, a field goal.

And Atlanta is just their offense completely no-showing in Philadelphia. The Eagles' defense was spectacular that year, and Atlanta is struggling to move the ball, struggling to move the ball. But then here comes Matty Ice at the end of this game. He drives them all the way down the field to the goal line. They've got a shot to win this game and go to play the Minnesota Vikings if the Vikings win the following day. And he rolls out, and he's looking in the back of the end zone. It's like the goal line version of the Dwight Clark catch.

He throws it up to the very back of the end zone to the best receiver in the NFL, and Julio Jones mistimes the jump, and it goes through his hands, and the Atlanta Falcons lose that game. That right there is a defining moment of this entire 2017 season as a whole. Because if he catches that ball, I think the Minnesota Vikings end up going to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean, because the Falcons were a team that the Vikings matched up really well with. I think about that drive a lot, too, because that Falcons team, I thought, was such an interesting group because I thought fundamentally they were as good as they were when they made the Super Bowl. But just on the field, they had the most drops in the NFL on third down as a percentage of catchable balls in 2017.

Matt Ryan goes from 30-something touchdowns to 20. Even on that, but then, you know, that was the year that Shanahan left, and they replaced him with Sarkeesian, and he just didn't have the juice. I mean, they ran a shovel pass to Teron Ward, I believe, on the second down play of that drive, their third-best running back. It just, none of that made sense. And ultimately, you know, when you second down play of that drive, their third best running back. It just, none of that made sense. And ultimately, you know, when you cross the street that many times, eventually you get hit by a car.

And I think that that was kind of what ended up happening to the Falcons. You know, they were good enough to, you know, obviously come out of Philadelphia to win. They were favored to win in that game, you know, which is strange considering that the Eagles were the number one seed. But ultimately, it just wasn't to be for them, despite a really good defensive effort on their part. And like you said, the one last shot that they had. And I will admit to being about as wrong as I have ever been in my entire life about this situation, because when the Eagles won that game, my opinion was this is great for the Vikings

chances to go to the Super Bowl because they're facing Nick Foles and not Matt Ryan. And what I didn't properly factor was how difficult it is to go to Philadelphia and how good their defense was, how stacked they were. Aside from maybe an outside corner or two, they were a very, very dangerous defense and especially on grass, on the road, and everything that Doug Peterson was dialing up was working at that point. But my thought was the Atlanta Falcons are just getting their legs here a little bit and getting back to where they were as a Super Bowl team in terms of their offense, and Matt Ryan is not a quarterback that I would want to face in terms of a playoff game,

as opposed to Nick Foles, who had had one good year in his career. Even toward the end of that season, he wasn't particularly good. And in this game, he was not particularly good to beat the Atlanta Falcons. So my opinion was, go to Philadelphia, face a quarterback who is a pure backup with your number one defense, beat the tar out of him and go to the Super Bowl. And of course, we know that didn't happen, which we will get into. So a very interesting and compelling playoffs to get to the point of January 14th at U.S. Bank Stadium.

And now speaking of takes that didn't work out or thoughts at the time that turned out to be very, very different. The Vikings get up 17 to zero in the Minneapolis Miracle game and we never really remember this because of just how it ended but they start off the game and they drive right down and they score a touchdown Jarek McKinnon a 14 yard run and and they're and they're rolling and Drew Brees is struggling off the off the bat in this game. And the Vikings defense gets three straight punts and then two interceptions. That's the first five drives by the New Orleans Saints, and then they miss a field goal after that.

So you're thinking this is it for the Vikings, that they are going into halftime 17-0, and all they have to do is hold the lead. They had been tremendous at holding leads all year long. There was no reason to think they were going to fall apart. But then the throw that Mike Zimmer had prophesied earlier in the season, is that the right word? I think it is. He had talked about Keenum is too risky.

He loves to just throw it up there and hope for his wide receiver to catch it. And he tosses it up and it is intercepted that kicks off the comeback by the New Orleans Saints tell me what you remember about that game to that point or what stuck out to you to the point where it starts to turn on that interception by Case Keenum well yeah I mean you watch you know the all of Vikings history history, nothing is ever easy, right? And the one game that I remember in the playoffs that actually was, was in 2009 in Favre's first year with the Vikings, where they beat the Tar out of the Dallas Cowboys at home.

I think it was like 33-3 or something like that. And the Saints game was starting to feel like that. It was, you know, their first, that ended up being their next playoff win for the Vikings. And that's kind of how it felt. Everything went right. They got Breeze, who, you know, back in the day it was Romo. In this case, it was Breeze. They had a great quarterback.

They had him playing like crap. You know, we talk about how his deep ball isn't good enough anymore. I mean, he tried to throw that ball over Sandejo's head and it was woefully short on a play like that. So I thought it was one of those where it's like, well, this seems too good to be true. It's way too easy for them right now. And, of course, as you said, it only takes one play. And it kind of snowballs because they had the block punt

and they had sort of other circumstances there. It only takes a play or two before the worm starts to turn, and that's really what happened to the Vikings. Yeah, and there are, like you said, dozens and dozens of those moments throughout Minnesota Vikings history, and that interception for me is one of the glaring ones of how we get to the point of Stephon Diggs running into the end zone and throwing his helmet.

But the Saints did get themselves together early in the third quarter. They had an 80-yard touchdown drive, and you felt like, all right, you're going to have to take this seriously. You're going to have to still get more offense out of this because that is indeed still Drew Brees. Then the interception comes, and Brees quickly makes you pay for it. Just like, boom, he scores a touchdown in, let's see, I've got the time here, in a minute and nine seconds.

Just like, okay, over, scores a touchdown. And now we've got a really tight ball game. So the Vikings get a field goal back, and they're sustaining this lead, but everything is starting to become extremely tense. And this fourth quarter is as good of a fourth quarter as you will ever see in any NFL game in the history of the National Football League. So we've got the Vikings give up a touchdown to Michael Thomas, in which, by the way, Anderson Dayhoe gets hurt, which would be a key in Philadelphia that we'll talk about.

But Anderson Dayhoe gets hurt. Xavier Rhodes feels like there was a dirty play in which Sandejo got knocked out. So what does Drew Brees do the very next play? Go after Xavier Rhodes. And I'm not sure that he's ever been the same since this game because they started to attack Rhodes because it seemed like he was sort of off of his game, and he wasn't mentally as focused as he needed to be, and then we've got ourselves a tight ball game all of a sudden, just like that.

It's 17-14, the Vikings get a field goal, and then it's 20-14, and then we have, let's see, I'll have to find exactly when this was, because the blocked punt in the middle of this is one of those classic Vikings moments where the backup long snapper who had come to Minnesota after Kevin McDermott got hurt, Jeff Overbaugh, goes the wrong way trying to block someone. They come in, they block the the punt and it sets up another score for New Orleans and there just couldn't be Eric anything more Vikings-y than getting your punt blocked and and let's see so that would have been yeah with five minutes left in the fourth

quarter getting your punt blocked and that led to the go-ahead score by Drew Brees with three minutes left on a throw that is one of the best I've ever seen in my entire life of all the games I've ever covered to Elvin Kamara over Eric Hendricks. And it just, like, if you're a Vikings fan in the stands, you're going, this is how we're going to lose because of a blocked punt? Are you kidding me? Right. It was a, you know, here we go again sort of situation for the purple. And what was great, and I think this is why, you know, we've always said, okay, yeah, I remember talking to you during the course of the season.

Okay, when is the other shoe going to drop for Keenum? You know, when is it over? When do they turn back to Bradford? Or when do they turn back to Teddy when he's healthy? And to Keenum's credit, he always came back from these things, except for in the NFC title game. Because you look at the following drive after, you know, New Orleans takes the lead, and he throws what has to be one of the,

you know, Thielen and Diggs are running wide open all season. In a play where Lattimore really does have Thielen covered well, he throws a perfect kind of rainbow pass on a second and ten to get them, you know, more or less into field goal range. And then, of course, Kai Forbath hits what should have been, you know, probably the most clutch kick in the history of the Vikings franchise. Yes, a 53-yarder. Now, before that, though, the play before that I want to focus on here

because you mentioned that everything came up Keenum for that entire season. And this drive was a great example of everything coming up Keenum because, yes, Thielen makes one of the great catches of his career on that play and also gets interfered with I think Marshawn Lattimore was called for both pass interference and holding on that play and Adam Thielen still comes down with a 24-yard catch but then right before the field goal on third and five Keenum gets pressured and heaves the ball in the direction of Kyle Rudolph and Marcus Williams who would be the direction of Kyle Rudolph and Marcus Williams who would be the goat of this game and not in a good way Marcus Williams comes within inches of

intercepting this pass and think about what we would have said if Case Keenum with a minute 40 left in this game in field goal position had heaved up a senseless pass with almost no chance of completing it and Marcus Williams had picked it off, we would have said, that's the one, that's the pass that Mike Zimmer was talking about all year. Why didn't they play Teddy? Why didn't they play? I think Sam Bradford was maybe back by then, or maybe he didn't come back until the Eagles game.

But why didn't they play Teddy earlier in the season? You knew this was coming. I think about how different things would have been. And even for Marcus Williams, of course, for him, because that play, the Minneapolis Miracle, will haunt him forever. And if he intercepts that, it's that close. It's so close to Marcus Williams picking it off that even in the box score, the pass is defined as being defended by Marcus Williams.

It was that close. And then, as you mentioned, Kai Forbath, who came out of nowhere pretty much for the Vikings the year before after Blair Walsh had gone in the tank, comes up with the definitive field goal in Vikings history, or it would have been if not for what played out next. So we go to the next drive, and this is, again, I just cannot tell you how in awe of Drew Brees I was covering this game. Because the noise is as loud as I've ever heard it in an NFL stadium, including being in New Orleans for the playoffs last year. And he just starts going to work.

They get the ball at the 25, and immediately he throws a pass to somebody named Josh Hill, 18 yards. Ted Ginn, 11 yards. But then the Vikings slow him down. They get him to fourth down. And this pass will forever stick out in my mind, Eric. Fourth down, and he hits Willie Sneed for 13 yards right in front of Mackenzie Alexander. Under pressure, pocket collapsing. This is why you are one of the great quarterbacks in history.

Because 99% of people fold in this situation and breeze through a dime to Willie Sneed to set up the potential game winning score. But the problem was all of a sudden at that point, Sean Payton got nervous. They throw two short passes and then on third and one handed off up the middle to Alvin Kamara, who's stuffed by Brian Robison and Anthony Harris. And I'll never understand it, Eric. You have third and one. You're in field goal position.

You have the greatest quarterback ever. And he never turns the ball over. And yet you decide to go with a handoff up the middle against the Vikings team that had maybe the best defense on third and short in the NFL. Linval Joseph is dominating for this season. And if there's one thing that is not the miracle play that has to keep Sean Best defense on third and short in the NFL. Linval Joseph is dominating for this season. And if there's one thing that is not the miracle play that has to keep Sean Payton up at night still, it has to be this decision to hand off up the middle against this Vikings team with 33 seconds left on third and one.

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, when you think about, you know, things teams must have practiced, right? We need to pick up a yard to extend. Because basically you're just burying Minnesota in that sense. And they couldn't. And it was execution, but also was Kamara really, you had Ingram, was Kamara really the running back you wanted in that spot type of thing? But, yeah, it was head-scratching. And, you know, from the perspective of somebody, you know,

if you were rooting for the Saints, like probably, you know, the kiss of death given, you know, all the things that had happened to you during the course of that game, it kind of, you know, a field goal is like a participation trophy in some sense. And I think, you know, even though you made it, you probably didn't feel great, you know sort of about what was upcoming no but your chances are still probably very very high to win the game at that point because the Vikings have 25 seconds

left of the ball at the 25 and this is something that I forgot about Mike Remmers jumps offside and so now you're back at the 20 and and you're going, all right, what are the odds now? And I started myself in the press box writing, Case Keenum leads a miracle drive for the Vikings to win. Because I thought no one in Vikings land on Twitter or whatever is going to read my article if they lose. Because they're going to be so mad that the Vikings not only blew a 17 point lead from a comedy of errors with the interception and the block punt, but also the number one defense in the NFL at home gave up a fourth down and 10 pass.

That would be talked about for the rest of time. And had that not happened, had the miracle not happened, the narrative on Mike Zimmer is probably quite a bit different. And I don't think he makes it through the 2018 season with all the strife that went on from that year. I don't think that he makes it through that season because he would have been so criticized for his defense blowing a 17-point lead in this game to Drew Brees at home. So Remmers jumps offside, and then a pass that we all forget about, but a good one,

a 19-yard catch by Stephon Diggs that sets up the third timeout by the Vikings, and you've got one last shot at it, and here it comes. Just throws it up to Stephon Diggs, and that is the way I would define the entire 2017 run by Case Keenum, is throw it up to Diggs, throw it up to Thielen, and see what happens. And I will say this, Eric, there is a lot of value in that mentality. And we really saw it here because there are certain quarterbacks who have played for the Minnesota Vikings recently who might not just heave it up. They might just check it down and see what happens.

And instead, 61-yard touchdown, Diggs throws the helmet. Caleb Jones, of all people, is the first guy to get to him. He was a practice squad player. Grabs him. They maul him in the end zone. And then we waited forever for them to clear the field, do the extra point ceremony, and we go to the locker room, and it's madness. Tell me what your feeling was watching the Minneapolis Miracle play.

It was strange because I was actually out of town with some family members and my parents. And I had actually, with my colleague George Shahuri, we had written up that the Saints would cover five points, which was sort of – and so at that point, you know, you're less of a fan. You're more sort of thinking about wanting to be right about a game. And so, you know, the sort of me thinking, okay, you know, my parents are still Vikings fans.

Okay, hopefully they get down and get a field goal. Diggs turns the corner and goes to score a touchdown, and I'm adding up the points in my head, and I'm thinking, it's exactly five points. And so I'm sitting here wondering what they're going to do with the extra point. Are they going to cover the spread? Are they going to push? And I'm just thinking to myself, and then one of my best friends that I grew up with, who's a Vikings fan as well, called me, and I'm just thinking, like, this never happens to the Minnesota Vikings. So it was one of those surreal moments where you're just like,

you know, wow, you know, you know, you and I are, you work, do this professionally. So we were not as big of fans in some sense, but it's like, sometimes it's just cool to sort of let your guard down a little bit and be like, wow, that was pretty awesome. In my brain, I remember it sort of slow motion because I like to on given plays, look at the secondary and see what's going on in the secondary as a play develops. And I recall looking back and saying, why aren't there more people back there? Because there was only one option on this play, and it was to throw it downfield.

And they were playing, I just think, like a regular cover two. And you're saying, well, why? Why aren't there more people back there? And as the ball went up, Marcus Williams is coming so fast. I was looking at him. He was coming so fast that it sort of in the moment went through my brain like, boy, he's going to hit him really hard. And then he just launches his body and completely misses. I'll never fully understand either one of those things.

I'll never understand why there weren't more people deep. I think maybe they were afraid of the field goal because Kai Forbath had just hit a 53 yarder. So they were afraid of catching a ball, getting a little yards after catch, getting out of bounds and having a game winning field goal. So they wanted to make sure that their coverage was a little tighter, but it eventually cost them.

And then I go into the locker room, Eric, and I've never seen anything like this, and I'll never see anything like it again. Just tears everywhere. Guys couldn't talk. They couldn't explain what just happened. I remember trying to ask several players about the third down and one stop because of how important it was, and they didn't remember that it happened. And the one that will stick out in my

mind forever is going up to Harrison Smith and asking him about this and Harrison saying I mean we got a game next week so we just you know you got to get ready for that and there was no emotion whatsoever on his face it's like they call they call him the hitman for a reason right I mean he was the only player that wasn't just completely overwhelmed. And I have a picture still in my phone of Brian Robison sitting in his locker with his head down, with his son in his lap, just overcome with emotion. And I'll never see anything like that ever again. And I think, Eric, that it is the greatest play in Minnesota Vikings history. Yeah, I mean, I'm not old enough to remember the, you know, the Super Bowls or, you know,

them getting, you know, but in my lifetime, yeah, you know, the onside kick against the Giants in 97 was certainly something that, again, one of those, this good stuff never happens in the right moment. But, you know, I mean, I think, you know, there were, there was always these plays where you think, okay, if this would have resulted in a win, you could put that, I mean, Matthew Hatchett had a touchdown against the Falcons that probably, that almost put the game away. And then of course they came back and lost that game. But as far as plays that won them games, I mean, the Kyle Rudolph catch this past season against New Orleans in overtime, that might be in the top ten,

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From purpleinsiders.com is Matthew Collar, of course, covering those Minnesota Vikings. Matthew, it's Nick and Cecil. Welcome to the program tonight, man. What's up? You're going to have to tell Nick that he is going to need to work on his central time to mountain time conversion. Got that one wrong earlier today. Oh, man. Nick, I will get with him after the show

and we will discuss that, but George Payton coveted for quite a while around the league by several different teams. What are the Broncos getting in their new general manager with George Payton? Well, first of all, I think it's really interesting that he decided on now

and he decided on this team to become the general manager because this is a guy who has been highly sought after over the years. In fact, I mean, it almost became sort of a running joke of like, all right, it's the offseason. How many times will we have to report that George Payton is interviewing for a GM job somewhere and not taking it and ending up back as the assistant general manager?

And I think what he's getting is somebody to begin with who is just very, very experienced. I mean, this is a guy who has been doing it for a long time and has worked with Rick Spielman in Minnesota for a very long time as Spielman's right-hand man and was integral in the process of building a Vikings team that, you know, for a very long time, you know, four or five years went into every season expecting to be competing for a Super Bowl. It didn't always work out like that.

It certainly did in 2017 when the roster that he played a huge role in building peaked. But this is somebody who has had a hand in absolutely everything. I mean, he was known as one of the organization's top player evaluators himself. He's involved in the contracts and the salary cap and the long-term planning of the organization and has been for a really long time. And so, you know, I think that even though the Vikings right now, you know,

went 7-9 and had kind of a disappointing season, if you look at the teams that he played a huge role in building, I mean, you can see his fingerprints all over that. And my guess is that he looked at this Denver situation and said, I can go there and do the same thing and have the added benefit of being able to find my own quarterback to do it and not be saddled with a quarterback. So there were a lot of benefits there.

Matthew, sorry about that time mix-up. I'll take that on me, buddy. But when we look at the hiring process, you know, individuals, whether you're a head coach or a GM, you like to hire like-minded people. And I've heard some whispers that, you know, now that Peyton now has a job, he could look to bring someone from that Vikings organization. If there is a person, who would be that person and why? Yeah, I think that Jamal Stevenson, who is the director of college scouting,

would make the most sense. I mean, these are two guys who have been here and worked together for a very long time, and Jamal Stevenson has a great reputation just like George Payton does, and I think that they have an understanding and you see it through their drafting of what types of players are the most likely to succeed and this is something that I mean it sounds really basic but when you start to break it down and and we've heard Rick Spielman talk about it a lot through the analytical process and tying that to the scouting process and comparing that to what the league looks like and what's working in

the league and what has worked in the past. And then Rick Spielman has talked before about trying to clone players and sort of looking at what worked for other guys and then trying to transfer that over. And I think that, you know, if he can bring some other people who are on the same page with that process to Denver, then it can sort of permeate through the rest of the organization. And it will be really interesting to see when we get to May, because that's usually when you see a lot of scouting contracts come up. If we start to see a bunch of people from Minnesota decide to leave and go to Denver with George Payton. And I think, you know, for this organization here in Minnesota,

it's not really surprising to see some people who would want a fresh start. I don't know if that's reflective of where the Vikings are at, but maybe more of the end of an era to some extent, because the defense that was really the driving factor for this team for years sort of got torn apart last year by the salary cap situation. They're really kind of starting anew here, and I wonder if some people look at it like, well, that was fun, and we built a great team, and now let's go do it again somewhere else.

Matthew Collar on the VIP line from purpleinsiders.com, covering the Minnesota Vikings. A lot of Broncos fans want to know, were there phone calls to Gary Kubiak? Do you believe that, that maybe Gary Kubiak, hey, whether it's George Payton or John Elway, you know, calling up Gary to ask about the other guy? Is that just a fan theory, or is there a reality in that, in your eyes? Do you mean calling up Gary to ask about George Payton? Yeah, just say, hey, Gary, tell me what you know about the guy, something like that.

Oh, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised at all because John Elway and Gary Kubiak are very close. And trust me, Gary Kubiak name drops John Elway all the time. I love that. I mean, wouldn't you too if you are tight friends and roomed with John Elway back in the day and helped him win a Super Bowl? I think you'd name drop him too.

But, yeah, I mean, that would not surprise me at all. And just, you know, the other thing is that the reputation for George Payton within the organization and throughout the league is really stellar. And George Payton is not a guy that I know very well as a reporter personally because he's not out there doing a lot of interviews in the media. He's not a self-promoter. He's not a guy who's on social media tweeting his every thought or anything else like that. So he kind of put together the pieces from what other people say behind the scenes, from what you hear chatting with people at the combine or wherever else. And it always comes up that George, whether it's from the players or the coaches or, you know,

wherever throughout the organization is one of the most highly respected people. And I think that, you know, Vikings fans here are kind of like, okay, the assistant general manager, I've never really heard of him. Who cares? And, you know, it's sort of been a little bit on social media being like, you might want to care because I think this guy was guy was really important to the process of building the teams that were just pretty successful over the last decade. Well, you know, some of the bigger issues that are facing George Payton,

one was dealing with the lack of ownership, and they solidified that with a six-year contract. But before we get to the March 17th date, he still has some key roster issues to deal with, and that is a Von-year contract. But before we get to the March 17 date, he still has some key roster issues to deal with, and that is a Von Lewis contract. How do you see Payton actually addressing that issue based on his previous experience? Well, one thing that George is certainly going to have fresh in his mind is just

how much pressure on the quarterback matters because this team uh in their golden years of defense from 2015 to 2019 where it really drove their success the two defensive ends were everson griffin and daniel hunter and last year neither of those guys were there and this vikings team could not pressure the quarterback at all and i watched mike glennon lead a game-tying drive against them late in the game because he stood in the pocket and threw the ball all over the place. And I think that what we see now, too, and I'm sure that this is not lost on George from last year, is cornerbacks' job is so hard and safety's job is so hard

with these freak-wide receivers that the only way to throw off the many good quarterbacks in the NFL and the AFC is to pressure them. And even Patrick Mahomes, the worst game that he's played, maybe his career was the Super Bowl against San Francisco. And what was the big issue? It was the pressure coming after him. So when you look at a situation like Vaughn Miller, I can't imagine that George Payton would walk in there and say,

yeah, get rid of that guy. The guy who can create pressure still with the best of them when he's healthy. And the other thing that George was a huge part of in minnesota that i'm sure they're hoping transfers over to denver and i'm certain it will is the ability to handle the salary cap and i know the vikings have finally had to pay the bill here that you know they got themselves into a little bit of trouble just now but throughout the the era of signing Kirk Cousins and signing the players that they had drafted and developed and who had become Pro Bowlers,

they did an incredible job of keeping the band together and giving themselves a couple of years of shots to return to where they were in 2017. It didn't work out exactly how they wanted it with Kirk Cousins, but they were able to keep a defense together. You guys know how hard that is. Right. When everyone wants to get paid, and then all of a sudden you look up

and you go, hey, every player on our defense is gone. Well, they kept them together longer because of their ability to work out contracts that were both favorable for players and for the organization in a cap situation. And I think that's one of his biggest challenges, but he has a lot of experience doing it. He's Matthew Collar from purpleinsiders.com. You can follow him on Twitter, at Matthew Collar, and if you can't spell it,

well, you're probably on Twitter, because that's kind of what we do. But, Matthew, appreciate your time. My final one, super, super quick, just give me a favorite draft pick. I know a lot of people say, you know, and George Payton was there when they got Dalvin Cook in the second, like, well, Dalvin Cook was a first-round talent. He had all three issues at Florida State. That's why he fell in the draft. So I don't necessarily count Dalvin, although Dalvin's, you know, the greatest back in the

game today. Is there a favorite pick from this Spielman-Patton regime, or Payton regime, that you'd want to highlight? Yeah, I mean, certainly the 2015 draft where they picked four starters and three guys who are pro bowlers, but probably the Daniil Hunter pick is the one that he puts up on the mantle because Hunter didn't have that many sacks in college and they saw something special in him, and then he turned into a superstar.

So it's probably that. Well, Matt, the Broncos have a lot of holes to plug, and quarterback is definitely one of those issues. If you had to look around the league at maybe a veteran quarterback, who would you say, if George Payton wanted to go in that direction, who should be the guy he goes after? Oh, that's a really interesting question. And, you know, that is, I think, honestly, one of the nicest parts of the job.

If you're taking a gig, you either want your quarterback to be Aaron Rodgers or you want it to be nobody. So you get to be the one who's responsible for bringing him in. And I made the joke to you earlier when we talked that, you know, if he finds you guys a quarterback, they'll put a statue of him right outside of the stadium, right? Because it's so hard, you know, to maintain one since John Elway and, you know, obviously that brief run with Peyton Manning. But, you know, I think there's so many routes to go here

because you're in draft position to trade up, but there's also the weapons are so good at wide receiver right now that you could bring in someone like Matt Ryan to run, you know, Pat Shermer's play action offense, kind of try to repeat what they did a few years ago with Kyle Shanahan and sort of that sort of stuff. Or, you know, look at a Carson Wentz and try to make it a reclamation project. I mean, there are so many options for that position.

Obviously it's the decision that will define him as a general manager, but he's got to love the amount of options that he has been. Matthew Collar, purpleinsiders.com, covering the Minnesota Vikings and here on our VIP line. Matthew, we appreciate you. Thank you very much. And I'll work on Nick in the clock management. He's like Vic Fangio, right?

Clock management. Wow. You know, George Payne will be used to seeing some clock management mistakes if Vic is still having that problem. He's used to that here. So thanks for having me, guys. There he is. There's Matthew Collar, ladies and gentlemen, on our VIP line.

Tell him the truth, Nick. Yeah, definitely tell him the truth. And, you know, that's why I wanted to reach out to Matt because he covers the Vikings. He's there every day. He knows the ins and outs. And I said, well, who better to give us, you know, a peek behind the curtain about who George Payton is?

I know I have my own personal experience with Payton, but I wanted to give it from a more, you know, personal standpoint and professional standpoint, and Matt did that for us.