Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Brian Murphy is surprised and all in on Vikings' 3-0

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Matthew Coller and Brian Murphy dive deep into the Vikings' win over the Texans, how Sam Darnold is doing a lot more than game managing and Brian Flores is absolutely crushing opponents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. It is Monday morning Murph with Brian Murphy who absolutely had the Vikings going 3-0 in preseason predictions. That's the way I remember it Murph. You said, they're going to dominate the 49ers. They're going to run the Texans out of town. The Texans are going to be over there after the game saying, what happened? What was that? Whoa, whoa. The Vikings were everywhere. What were we doing? That's what you thought, right? Going into the season? Yeah. I predicted them to start 3-0 and finish 8-9. So I'll have it both ways if I want it.

Look, this is probably one of the unlikeliest certain in my time. They haven't been 3-0 that often. I think 2016 might have been the last time, and I don't remember much about that. They were probably expected to be, or at least expected to be competitive. This is probably the unlikeliest 3-0 start in team history, certainly in recent team history. Now they're one of, I believe, four undefeated teams, and if you look at that list, they're there with the Kansas City Chiefs, which you would expect. Pittsburgh Steelers, who are sort of resurrecting Justin Fields, similarly to Sam Darnall. The Seattle Seahawks, but they already had Geno Smith kind of doing his thing last year. They do have a new coach.

But I think you can make an argument that the Vikings are the biggest surprise in the league. And it's not just, again, that they're 3-0, it's how they're 3-0. You know, you defeat a Super Bowl team and then an ascending team like Houston, and you make them look ridiculous doing it. Now, granted, home field advantage, I know we'll get into that. It was really raucous yesterday at US Bank Stadium, and that helps. It's not going to be the same going to Lambeau. But this is also a team with a lot of confidence right now. You can feel it. You can sense it.

They're playing with joy. They're playing loose. And they're making impacts everywhere. And I don't really know if you can – you'll find a way to nitpick. But I don't think there's much right now after yesterday to nitpick. I mean, that was a complete and balanced and convincing of a win from, you know, the first snap of the day. You had a sense that this was going to be the Vikings day. And one stat I heard them mention on the broadcast, which really does blow me away. Correct me if I'm wrong, and you will, but I believe they've only been behind for three minutes and 26 seconds this season in New York of all places. Right. So what, I don't know what to make of this, but it's feels similar to 2022

in the sense that there's kind of unbridled joy with it, but this is a much more complete and well-balanced team than that, that squad of, you know, golden horseshoe grabbers. So just to take you back to 2016, I remember it well, because that was my first year on the beat. And it was every bit as unlikely as this because Sean Hill started the first game after Teddy Bridgewater got hurt and he beat the Tennessee Titans. And then it was, then they got Sam Bradford, right? Sam Bradford against the green Bay Packers in the opening night of us bank stadium. And then I think that the New York giants was the next game and the defense absolutely dominated them. And it had

the same feeling inside the building where the, I think that the defense builds up the crowd. That's when they can be their loudest. when they make plays there are just explosions of noise and it was the same way in 2016 the difference was that the offensive line was so bad in 2016 that you knew that the wheels were going to have to come off at some point and then mike zimmer also didn't make things much better after things started to go a little bit awry. And then he just the fat cats. Yes, that was fat cats getting slaughtered. That was calling the offensive line soft after they lost the game against Philadelphia. And I don't think that we'll see that similar type of crazed behavior from Kevin O'Connell. But I also don't think that there is an Achilles heel that we're looking at right now.

As of this moment sam darnold is undergoing an mri on his knee so before we uh go totally all in we'll have to wait jay mccarthy just woke up feeling sore nothing to see here right so we're going to have to keep an eye on that but there was no indication of anything of serious concern for sam darnold after the game he got the game ball he He did his press conference. Everything seemed relatively normal after that happened. But, you know, just to throw the caveat on there. But when we go position by position, Murph, it's not like we could point to one and say,

well, hey, look, you know, everybody's been great and they've gotten lucky. But and that was with the Ed Donatel defense right in 2022. Hey, they're playing pretty well but every time the other team has the football they go for 400 yards uh in a game and i what was there a stretch of like five straight games where the vikings gave up 400 yards now they have three straight games of getting five or more sacks which literally never happens the Vikings tweeted out that it's the last time that's happened since 2001 I can't find in this roster where I think well hey guys the serious regression is coming they're not going to get five sacks a game for the full season but they're going to

continue to pressure the quarterback with the guys that they have yeah and I think what really the biggest concern I see right now is, is the injury list. I mean, look at every NFL team deals with it on a daily, weekly basis, and it does dictate game plan schemes, confidence, all of the above. The Vikings are nicked up. They're not, they're not, you know, wheezing yet, but there, there's a little bit here. There's a little bit there. You know, Jordan Addison really hasn't been a factor yet. That'll only make them better when he does return. Jalen Naylor's obviously stepping in and getting wonderful production and opportunity because of that. You know, Dallas Turner, how banged up is he?

Again, Darnall, you need that, you know, you need that confirmation soon just because every football player wakes up Monday morning feeling awful. So however he got rolled up on Daniil Hunter, with the adrenaline and sort of quick treatment, you can kind of survive that. Let's see where he's at this morning. See how he feels on Wednesday. That's the only concern I have right now is their health level. That's going to change. We know that. There is going to be, there will be stretches where opportunities will be lost.

You know, look, Darnold had a pretty efficient day. I think it was, what, 180 yards or whatever, obviously, the four touchdowns. And he did throw some balls away and made it obvious that he wasn't going to compound a bad situation. Also, a couple of shovel passes where you're just like, you know, holding your hands to your face, like, what are you thinking? I got to imagine Kevin O'Connell is going to have a few admonitions and tisks for some of those, like Sam just eat it here. That's the only thing I saw that was a little bit worrisome is that, well, you know, they seem to have deadened all of the faults that, you know,

made Darnold the bust that he became. But there's been a lot of improvement, both mentally and you can tell physically, they're putting him in positions to make plays. The protection has been great. Aaron Jones had 100 yards. You're getting balanced. You're getting, you know, four different receivers caught touchdowns. You know, but again, all of that is just table stakes right now compared to what the defense is doing. This team is going to be defined by whatever its defense ends up doing.

And right now, the cat's totally out of the bag. This is a team that looks scary. Now, they got to bring it out on the road to Lambeau Field. There's going to be some intrigue about whether Jordan Love will be back or not, of course. It's not going to be like MetLife Stadium was in week one with the dead on arrival Giants. I mean, the Packers are playing well and obviously appear to be the Vikings. You know, they've always been their longtime nemesis. Weird things happen at Lambeau. Kirk Cousins was lost last year at Lambeau. So this will be a good challenge, good timing for the challenge. And then, of course, you got the Jets in London before the bye. But I remember saying if they could get to two and three they'd feel good at three and oh right now I mean it's it's all gravy right and this right here against the Packers will be another

one of those games where we go into and go you know it could really well now we're going to look at it as go either way I think when we looked at San Francisco's but they would have to have a lot go right to win they did and then with the Texans I had picked the Vikings against the Texans because CJ Stroud had never come to U.S. Bank Stadium before. And wow, did that pay off because they couldn't get their operation correct. They couldn't get their motions right. They couldn't line up. They couldn't get their snap counts right. I think guys like Jared Goff or Aaron Rodgers, who have been to U.S. Bank Stadium a bunch of times, they kind of know how it works now with the noise. But I don't think that CJ Stroud and the Texans were truly prepared for that. to U.S. Bank Stadium a bunch of times, they kind of know how it works now with the noise. But I don't think that C.J. Stroud and the Texans were truly prepared for that.

And then when you add that on top of how violent this defense is and how deep this defense is, it can be coming from any different player at any different time. The pressure from blitzes, the pressure from Jonathan Grenard just straight up beating his guy. Andrew Van Ginkle lines up all over the place so now teams have to be terrified of throwing bubble screens when Andrew Van Ginkle might just jump in front of it and that the depth of the defense is what I think

gives you confidence that they can keep going in this and making life difficult but they are going to face a very tough team in Green Bay. I want to ask you more about Sam Darnold though, because I think that if you told me that he went three and oh, through the first couple of games, I'm not sure that I even would have predicted that it would have been this good. I would have thought, Hey, maybe a will Riker last second field goal. Maybe the other team gets shut out or something. And he has to grind out a win. He has not looked like a point guard who is game managing Murph. He is looking like a dynamic quarterback who can do things with his physical talent that not that many people can do, which was why he was drafted so high. And now here it is

coming to fruition in front of us. It's unfair to expect that he's going to have 117 quarterback rating for the entire season. There will be regression at some point, but I also see a lot of things that I think can keep going now through three weeks. Do you feel that way? I do because I feel like it's a growing confidence with him. And I feel like the pressure is kind of off now. Not totally. I mean, you're an NFL quarterback, you live and die with pressure. And there's of course, there's 14 more games to get through. But I by this start and how he has looked during this start really does take the edge off. And you have this sense that, you know, he's not confounded by the speed of the league. He's not trying to be a perfectionist. He's not trying to make a great

first impression on every drop back and throw as he admitted he was feeling in New York and in 2018, you know, when you're the third overall pick and you come into that media market, I mean, expectations can grind you up. And it clearly did. The year he had last year in San Francisco, you know, when he signed in the offseason, you're like, well, yeah, he rode shotgun in San Francisco. I mean, how much could he really learn from a kid who's either his age or even younger? Or certainly Brock Purdy doesn't have the pedigree that Sam Darnold had. But I think it allowed him to almost be free of, you know, expectations. Free of.

He wasn't really resurrecting his career last year. He was hitting pause and I think clearing his head. And it doesn't hurt to be riding shotgun on a Super Bowl winning team with an elite head coach and just sort of be able to take it all in without having to shoulder any burden at all. probably really sanded down a lot of rough edges and just gave Darnold a chance to breathe. Now he's coming into fruition in Minnesota because he's got a quarterback who believes in him, who speaks the same language, who's putting him in positions to succeed and not demanding too much of him yet. And it can't be underestimated to how good the pass protection has been and obviously needed for a quarterback that isn't necessarily that mobile. But you, you know,

all of the patchwork that the Vikings have done over the last several, it just feels like year after year, it's, it's either, you know, find what we can to make it work, or somebody's hurt, or something's not right, or there's, you know, there's so much, you know, when you look at O'Neill, Bradbury, Derrissaw, Ingram, I mean, these guys look like they've been playing together a long time. And you can tell that Darnold feels that confidence because he's standing in that pocket, and he's finding ways to go, and you can get more into the X's and O's of this. I think that the throws that he made to Jefferson, not so much the touchdown pass, in that pocket and he's finding ways to go and you can get more into the X's and O's of this. I think that the throws that he made to Jefferson, not so much the touchdown pass,

but some of the crossing routes, the sideline routes that take a long time to develop. You know, Jefferson didn't have a huge day yesterday, but he made several key catches, but they were key throws too at key moments. And that's, that's the difference. I mean, the Vikings have been killing it on third down on both sides of the ball. That makes all the difference in the world. If you can extend drives and get defensive stops, you steal a possession, you win the war of attrition, as it were. These are little things that add up along the way that generally add up to victories. Now, your point about the pass protection is so true. And when Darnold was under pressure throughout his career, his numbers absolutely cratered even relative to other quarterbacks. And when he was a clean pocket quarterback, he was more close to league average,

even with the not so great supporting casts or systems that he was playing with. But the offensive lines were such a factor. The Jets never figured it out. Carolina never figured it out. And as I watched some of the younger quarterbacks in the league, you watch that play that the Bears lost on and how all the offensive linemen just get completely steamrolled and the Bears throwing Caleb Williams into the Wolves without the ability to protect him. You just see the difference. And I think that there is one touchdown that is really that really demonstrates this quite well which is the one that he threw to Jalen Naylor and Kevin O'Connell broke it down after the game and he was talking about how he went from read to read to read and then back to Naylor and found him and I was impressed in the moment with how quickly the

ball got there like out of his hand the quick rotation of his arm and boom, that ball had so much velocity on it. He could just do things with the velo, like throwing a 97 mile an hour fastball up in the zone, where if you throw 92, that ball's going to be hit out of the park. But he just has such velocity on it. But what I didn't fully credit was the protection gave him enough time to drop back. Look, look, look look throw and he got through it quickly but he's been able to do that so many times and derisaw and o'neill talk about getting banged up they were a little bit yesterday but nothing looked very catastrophic

for them but those guys what they've been able to do think about the guys that they have played against brian burns a cave on tibideau to start nick bosa in week two and then hunter and will anderson and those guys were just non-factors all of them the mvps of the entire team so far might be christian derisaw and brian o'neill with the way that they've taken those guys out and they'll face uh more difficult tasks in green bay but that real quick did you even real quick did you even notice daniel hunter other than the roughing the passer call he had on darnold there was one other time i think he got a hit but i didn't even notice nick bosa that much in san francisco he got the one sack where darnold was scrambling and that was it or they were the one that he went around christian derisaw and that

was really it for nick bosa but brian Burns did nothing. I mean, these guys have had an unbelievable start to the year. I feel like when we talk about team building, we sort of just go like offensive line. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this right here, what they have is truly unique and has allowed Sam Darnold to be more comfortable in the pocket than ever. And I think it all just grows toward his confidence of Jefferson's going to make the catch except for the one at the end where he dropped, uh, which we never see him do. But aside from that, you know, Jefferson's going to make plays, but he's going to have time to get

him the ball. And everybody is a better quarterback when you have time to get the ball out. And I think the offensive line too, is kind of taken it upon itself. Look, this is a veteran room. You know, Brian O'Neill, Bradbury, even Derrissaw now coming into his own. They're getting paid. They're expected to be the alphas in the room. And you get a sense that they're taking it personally and sort of as a passion project to make sure that Sam Darnold can do the job. And you sense that.

I'm not saying that they weren't bought in with cousins but I think you it's almost like a nurturing aspect you want to you want to you want to put this wounded bird under your wing and make sure he gets better and and kind of flourishes and has the opportunity to fulfill such talents again these are just things I'm picking up on I don't know that to be a fact I'm sure they wanted to keep her Cousins safe and productive as well. There's a lot of people rooting for Sam Darnold that aren't just in TCO Performance Center, I mean, throughout the league. And that's one thing I think looking ahead,

now I want to see how the Vikings deal with heightened expectations because they're not a novelty act anymore. I mean, they are a buzz team right now for obvious reasons, not just because they're 3-0, but the way in which they're 3-0 and how, you know, Darnold seems to be resurrecting his career. And you got, you know, Brian Flores just, you know, burnishing his resume by the minute every Sunday. This guy will be an NFL head coach soon. In fact, he may end up gaining leverage in whatever litigation he has on the Dolphins and the league right now, just because I know there's going to be no way, if this continues, that any other organization is going to blackball him going forward. He is going to be a prime head coaching candidate. You just get the sense that there's this confidence building. So is that going to hold up? Because now the national media is coming.

Now teams are going to be, not that they weren't scheming up before, but now they know what they have to deal with. And how are the Vikings going to be able to deal with the fact that it's not necessarily Detroit's division right now. Detroit's 2-1. You know they're going to be there at the end, but they've not looked great. You know, Green Bay is muddling through at two and one. The Bears, we thought were going to take a step forward, seem to be taking two steps back,

as usual, at the quarterback position. I like the idea of the Vikings charging ahead here. You don't win divisions and championships in September and October. I've said it here a bunch of times, you can lose them, And you can certainly lose playoff contention. And the starts that they've had in the years that they didn't make the playoffs, it always felt like an uphill grind just to get to week 17 and maybe a chance. They're building a lot of equity up right now. They're building a lot of credibility up. And this will pay off in spades down the road.

I know you're always game to ask me, but I've been dying to ask you this because I wasn't there. And as somebody who's been at a lot of NFL venues and a lot of NFL games, I really want to know what it felt like and sounded like during that awful series Houston had where they committed four straight penalties, including three false starts. I mean, I don't know if anybody can dig through the archives and find out if that's ever happened before. I can't remember ever watching a game where an offense committed four straight penalties in one series.

It had to have been pretty electric in there at that moment. Yeah, I think, well, think about how the game really was changed there by the fans and by the terror that the Texans were feeling toward the Vikings defense. Although it was funny that Jihad Ward thought that he had jumped off sides and he was pointing to himself saying, my bad, my bad. And they called out the Texans.

He was like, oh, okay, I guess it was on them. But that whole sequence there is one that if this team turns out to be special, I'll probably go back to time and time again, because the energy in the building there reached the point where it was probably the highest and i'm trying not to be prisoner of the moment here but probably the highest that i have felt it in a very very long time and i thought is this just me so i asked players about it in the locker room after and josh patella said it was probably the most energy that he had felt in there and the most noise that he had felt. When I came up and asked him, he said, I was just saying that to Harrison Smith that I thought that was the loudest that it's ever been when I've been down on that field.

And I feel like it's a combination of things. I mean, it's the fan base also buying into the Minnesota Vikings. What they're seeing is that they're seeing a defense that builds off of their energy. And so when the defense is making plays, then the fans are very happy to say, let us help you and get behind you with this type of noise and energy.

But if you are every single third down, if you're getting out of your seat and you're screaming and you cheer, and then, oh, there's a first down. There's a first down there's a first down there's a touchdown it's hard for the people in the stands to keep ramping up and ramping up and ramping up but when you see cj stroud not communicating and you see the linemen looking around like this and they're looking shook by it then the crowd wants more and more and more and then you add what darnold is doing on the offensive side you know if you could

get him back on the field that this team's going to go score again there is something going on inside of U.S. Bank Stadium it also helped too and this is a little bit of a factor there were no Texans fans in the in the stands there were 49ers fans last week and oftentimes if you're playing the Packers that they'll put 25 you know or something like that but that will continue to happen if they continue to win then opposing fan bases are not going to take over U.S. Bank Stadium as we had seen them do a couple times in the recent past and really never before so I do think that the fans watching what they did yesterday and buying into what this team is selling right now

is a major factor going forward that we need to start saying how is this quarterback going to react when they come into us bank stadium unfortunately for the fans they won't see it again until late october because this team has to go on the road on the road to london and then has its bye week so i guess wait until then to get back juiced up. But it was really something, Murph. I could really feel it. Yeah, I mean, you could sense it through the TV, but of course it's never the same as being there.

And on the flip side of that coin, the air that went out the balloon when Darnold went down, you could sense that too. Now, they went to a commercial break in the interim while he went to the injury tent. But, boy, when he came back out for that snap, I think I wrote too, it wasn't so much unconditional love as it was unbridled relief. I think everybody wants Sam Darnold to succeed, but they want him to be available more than they want him even to succeed

because you cannot go down the road of Nick Mullins succeed, but they want him to be available more than they want him even to succeed. Cause you cannot go down the road of Nick Mullins and, and trying to preserve a three game winning streak and going down, you know, getting on that carousel that we had last year again. So I thought that was kind of telling, you know, how deathly silent people became. Cause you know, you, you see Daniil Hunter, you see, you see the ankle roll, you see him get up and go back down. And, you know, and again, the Vikings aren't out of the woods yet until we get an official diagnosis. MRIs can find some weird things. You know, J.J. McCarthy just felt sore going down his stairs the next day. So, you know, I don't know if there's the cynics there that think that he's going to need

reconstructive surgery or lose a limb, because that wouldn't be surprising if some weird news came out of the infirmary. But all indications are that he'll be able to, considering what he did coming back. And then, like you said, in the postgame, it seemed like it wasn't, he was, he didn't want to go into details but he didn't seem too alarmed at the podium yesterday either well and it's also relevant though what you're mentioning about the uh if you're a wrestling fan they call it a pop when the crowd when some when they play somebody's music and they come running down the thing and the crowd just explodes all at once that's what happened when sam darnold came

back onto the field uh i think that had it been the beginning of week one everyone would have maybe politely said oh good good he's back i guess and that speaks to how much uh everyone's getting behind sam darnold and you know there is something to it that goes beyond just, Hey, this guy wasn't that good before and whatever, because I think the difference with case Keenum was we felt like, all right, this is a magic carpet ride, but at some point the wheels are going to come off and it's just not going to be what it is. And it took a long time to get there, but we knew because he had been either what seventh round pick or undrafted and

he uh you know just it was on the smaller side and he was heaving balls up in the air that were 50 50 balls and they came down with 100 of them that year and it just didn't it didn't feel really real and i think the difference with this is it feels really real where this guy is supposed to be this talented he's supposed to be this talented. He's supposed to be this good. This isn't fluky or random or strange. He's not a little guy who's running around, making crazy plays.

He's dropping back in the pocket and throwing lasers everywhere. And I think that there's some recognition of that as well. So I guess the question to me, Murph is what level give me the meter, you know, the yellow, the red, the orange, I guess red would be the farthest than orange.

You understand how those work. I do. Give me the meter of how much people should be ready to give their hearts to the 2024 Minnesota Vikings. Oh, the needle should be buried already. I think yesterday, just because of the dominant home, they've had two dominant home wins against really, really good teams and made these teams look ridiculous at times. present. That is not easy to do. And if you're still skeptical or on the fence or waiting for the other shoe to drop, I think yesterday should have really eradicated all of that. I mean, you know, you chalk up the Giants win as an awful team. San Francisco, okay, it's your home opener.

Maybe you caught them on a bad day, made some interesting plays at interesting moments. To have your best effort, I mean, they're continually climbing. So this isn't like a, you know, Houston gave them the game. I mean, Houston certainly tossed them plenty of bouquets, but it wasn't, the Vikings went out and took that game and took it to Houston. So if you're still skeptical, boy, you must be one cynic, I'll tell you that. Again, we talked so much about 2022 because it was a unique season. What is it, the 10 one-score games? You know, the Indianapolis game, we go down the list. They were just games that they just pulled out of a raging inferno.

This one feels more like they're in control of their own destiny as opposed to reacting and making a couple of great plays at great moments. These guys are taking the initiative on both sides of the ball. And hey, look, special teams. Your rookie kickers made every kick out there right now, including a 58-yarder. Not a bad way to get his confidence going because you're going to need him for a game-winning shot. Their punt coverage, you know, there just isn't a lot of flaws. It feels like they're playing at a different level and a different speed, and I'm sure they're feeding off of Brian Flores. They're feeding off of their undefeated record.

They're feeding off the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd. So, you know, when you're 3-0 and you're only one of four undefeated teams, you know, you're now the hunted. So how do the hunted respond? And, you know, they can't hide behind anonymity as much anymore. That's what defines great teams too, is how you handle great expectations. It's not enough to go out and win. You need to manage yourself and prepare yourself and know that these victories are just bricks. The real victories are in January. And are you going to be a fraud? Are you going to be looking for that miracle play?

Are you going to be a team that goes in expecting and should win? Well, I think that as we look at just these wins in general, blowouts are more predictive of future performance than close games. We talked about that a lot in future performance than close games. We talked about that a lot in 2022 about how close games can be random. And I thought there was a little bit of exaggeration because some of the games, the Vikings were winning by a lot. And then the other team came back and scored and made it a one score game, that kind of thing. But there's, it's hard to do. And that's what happened against San Francisco,

but it's hard to do when you're up 34 to seven for the other team to bring it that close because it just wasn't. And the fact that they could close them out the way that they did by running the ball, by slamming it down their throats, by just saying, we're not going to leave this door open at all for you to get back here and getting another turnover with Cam Bynum's interception.

These are things that really good and winning teams do. And there isn't a whole lot that I could point to and say, well, this is fluky or that's fluky. And that's why it will rest on the quarterback so much of sustaining this level of performance. But they are very much though, Murph, not out of the hard schedule woods by any means. I mean, Green Bay has looked like a phenomenal team.

And then the New York Jets, the exact opposite of what the Vikings wanted to see was the way that Aaron Rodgers played the other night against New England, who has a pretty decent defense. And he looked very Aaron Rodgers-y in that game. And then out of the bye week, you still have two teams that are very good in Detroit and Los Angeles.

So I kind of look at that section of the schedule as a whole of that first eight weeks, that first half of the season as the true test. So you've got a big jump on that, but you still have to have five or six wins through that. Probably look at maybe six now through the first eight weeks to start talking about this team as a true contender. And so I, I am very much down the road on this team is really good

and defense travels and can sustain week to week. But there's a long way to go before we could truly say, look, they're in, folks. They're the best team in the NFL and things like that. Oh, yeah. And that's fine. I mean, you need to be cautiously optimistic for a variety of reasons that you just mentioned.

The other thing, too, you know, it should be noted they're losing a home game by going to London again, too. I mean, Aaron Rodgers should be coming to U.S. Bank Stadium, but for the fact that the NFL just can't get enough of the British pound, apparently. So, or certainly with the Vikings, too. I think it's three times in, what, 10 years, 12 years that they've gone to London? I mean, enough already. But, you know, the eight 30 kickoffs are nice as well. I just look, you know, yes, you mentioned the schedule. You mentioned the opponents they have coming up, the quarterbacks, especially that, you know, this, these are going to be some fascinating chess matches watching Brian Flores scheme up against Aaron Rogers, Jared Goff, and Matthew Stafford.

And even, you know, again, starting the tick, tick, tick on Wednesday, will Jordan Love be in? Will he not be in? Will he be in? Will he not be in? What's the subterfuge going to be like? What's Flores going to be preparing for? Those are going to be interesting questions leading up.

And, you know, one thing, too, that's, you know, yes, it's always tough to go into Lambeau, but I think we mentioned this a while ago when we were going through the schedule it's always nice to go into Lambeau in late September where you're not scraping permafrost off your eyebrows so it's not a bad time to go there even if Love is back in the lineup you wonder how limited he's going to be with his legs. That's, you know, the most, you know, half of this game and also, you know, how tender it would be. And I, you know, you wonder too, if Matt LaFleur's thinking, boy, do I want to really unleash love back into this, you know, raving band of marauders that Flores has put together? Maybe, maybe one more week, you know,

or two and one with our backup and maybe love could use another week of rest and we don't have to go up against, you know we're two and one with our backup and maybe uh love could use another week of rest and we don't have to go up against you know an insanely exotic aggressive fierce ball hawking swarming defense any other adjectives you got for us or he might think that he better play jordan love because malik willis is not going to be good enough if cj stroud could not battle against this Vikings defense. Murph, one word answer. How many wins does this team end up with? I'm going to go with 10 now.

I, you know, ask me after the eight games, after the Rams game, ask me that question again. So I've gone from eight and nine. Now I'm at 10 and seven. But ask me after the Rams game and i'll give you a more of a definitive number probably ask you after every game uh monday morning murph speaking about after every game we get together and break it all down the following morning murph thank you so much for your time we will do it again very soon my friend this is always fun when they're winning football football.