Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Can Jeremiah Sirles be convinced to believe in the Vikings vs. the Giants?

Episode Date: January 12, 2023

Matthew Coller and former Viking Jeremiah Sirles talk about his trouble believing in the Vikings to beat the Giants on Sunday. Matthew attempts to talk Jeremiah out of his take and they discuss the offensive-defensive line matchups and how coaching could play into the matchup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Welcome to a very special episode of Tuesday Morning Left Guard being recorded in the afternoon on Tuesday. But we have a bonus. Jeremiah Searles in person here at the Purple Insider Studios. I mean, we've just got all sorts of cool things going on at the studio. There's neon lights. There's a party outside. There's like techno music. I mean, you've never seen seen this before but it is one hell of a setup that we have here at the purple insider industries i mean i feel like i'm inside like espn

hq or something we got monitors everywhere we got alerts we got tickers going across the bottom of breaking news i mean it's state of the art if you've ever seen parks and rec like the thing that they built the i forget what the name of their company was, but they had like Roy Hibbert there just to dunk basketballs all day. That's pretty similar to what's going on in our studios here. So anyway, well, awesome to have you in person. You're in Minnesota. Nice to see you. Yes, it's good to be back.

You know, you guys got a little bit of snow up here. As I was driving through Iowa and found my way into Minneapolis, I was like, yes, they did get 14 inches of snow in like six hours. So snow everywhere. It's good to be up here working out with some of the guys that I have representing this year, working over at Training House. So it's just good to be back up here. Okay, let me ask you the question to start us off.

Last week, you were a sad man after the loss to the Green Bay Packers. And I asked you percentage that they get out of the first round, and you said you're not even sure that they get out of the first round. And you said, you're not even sure if they'll show up at the stadium. Have you changed with a little more time to think about it? Because look, that loss to the Packers, I mean, it just, that was a kick to the gut for sure. And I can't say that beating the bears made anybody feel better or different about anything, but time heals wounds. You know who the team that they're playing against.

Have you changed how you feel about their potential playoff run? No, I have not. Because it's exactly like you said, the Bears aren't like this big wow bounce back game for me. And it's not like they went out there and just steamrolled the Bears either. They beat them, yes. But, you know, after that Green Bay game, then you watch Green Bay play against Detroit, and you're just like, I don't,

is this really the team that just dismantled us? Like, up and down the field, we could do nothing, and Detroit's moving the ball. I mean, Green Bay's fumbling over there, Aaron Rodgers missing players. Pushing trainers. I mean, you have a guy that walks up and picks up the ball on an extra point

or something ridiculous like that. Like, that team didn't look like a playoff- playoff caliber team, and yet they dismantled the Vikings. So, no, I am not super. I'm still going to stick it right at like 20% that I think that they win this weekend. Wow. I mean, this is astonishing because, I mean, first, for me, it's very much a coin flip because I respect a lot of the big time players that the Giants have. But also when you look at some of their weaknesses, they are extremely weak for the Giants. Like I don't

think they have good wide receivers. I don't think they have a great secondary. It's still not a hundred percent clear if a Dory Jackson is going to be back or not, which is a massive thing. If he is, that's tougher on Jefferson. If he's not not he could have the same day again i i can't get to a place where i go as low as you're going so you're going to have to further explain this than even we did last week because i was shocked i mean uh courtney cronin said 60 40 they lose i'm 50 50 right in the middle but i mean going going this aggressive i mean first like that's how you have a media career, really, is you just bring some flames with the take.

But you're going to have to go into more depth if you're going to bring this type of sadness to the audience. Well, I mean, the number one and the biggest thing is the offensive line. Brian O'Neill not being out there. Garrett Bradbury, maybe, probably not. So, I mean, are we looking at Chris Reid back there in the middle? And the one thing i will say about the new york giants is their d-line has shown up over the last few weeks you know why they've been able to compete in these games and and get after the quarterback is guys

like dexter lawrence there in the middle you know you have guys rip rushing the passer off the outside didn't and i just worry about a third string center and a backup right tackle as you head into a playoff game. You know, that's one thing that Kirk has had time this year, right? Because he has had those guys. He's had Bradbury being able to coordinate things in the middle. And now you're talking about, yeah, Justin Jefferson can run all over the place and get open. But does that half a second difference now really make a huge difference in the depth of throws after him?

Or is the defense going to be like, hey, I'm going to get all over 18 because we know we're going to get home on the pass rush. Now, you know, I just think that those two alignment out in the middle really isn't going to help us. But then also our run game still is a problem. It's still an issue. It's still not something that I feel like we can rely on to get us out of trouble. And that just compounds with the fact we're missing two offensive linemen.

So on the offensive side of the ball, that's where I just see us really struggling. And then the defensive side of the ball, you know, Saquon had a pretty good day against us last time. I think they're going to lean even heavier off him, him coming off a rest week. You know, he didn't even go out there. Daniel Jones coming off a huge week when he rushed all over the Indianapolis Colts. You know, so I feel like they clicked really well there towards the end against the Colts. You know, last week they didn't really play anyone.

But, you know, I just feel like if you're talking about momentum going into the playoffs, I feel like the Giants have more than the Vikings. Well, they do because their final impression was getting to play the Colts and then actually doing what the Vikings should have done against the Colts. I mean, there is a part of that, that there were so many uninspiring moments down the stretch to go along with some crazy wins and the biggest comeback and all those things. But there's a huge deficit against the Colts. There's a huge loss to the Cowboys, a huge loss to the Packers that these are not things you can just erase from your mind as your goal is to win three games in a row to get to the Superbowl. And when you look at it in the second half of the season, they weren't able to always have that final answer

the way that they did in the first half of the season where the only loss came against Philadelphia. And now it's sort of funny that wins in the middle of the season that felt like they might actually be really good at the end of the season looked less good. And I'm not trying to take away because they were exciting games and they were good wins and whatever else you got to say that every time but like the jets missed the playoffs new england missed the playoffs washington missed the playoffs and just as we speak fired scott turner because it was definitely his fault i get it but i think scott turner's fairly sharp and i don't know yeah i love scott just get it get a different job where the quarterback's not Taylor Heineken. I mean, even Dallas.

Dallas down the stretch has not looked good, right? I mean, they have looked bad, and they dismantled us. You know, I just look at the losses and as many wins as we have, and it was a great season. Listen, I hope the Vikings go out there and prove me wrong. I really do. I just can't look at the losses that this team had and the teams that they should have beat handedly and

struggled with at times and think that this is a team that's going to be able to go make a run now I don't think the Giants are going to make a run and win the Super Bowl I will come out and say that but you know for me I just think at times the Giants have looked more complete and I know that's a crazy thing to say about a 14 win football team but I just when I watch it from an objective view and the things that the giants can do in the run game that we can't do. And if we lose 18 and it just looks like the wheels come off on offense. I mean, it's the things we've talked about all year. We're one or two things from going awry to losing a game badly. Do you think that you are more harsh

because you are a former player? I mean, I, I think that because like players, one of the things either goes one or the other way when they're asked to analyze something, it's either, well, that's my former team. So we're going to win no matter what. And they don't want to hear it at all. And you were talking before we started recording about, uh, arguing with Alex Boone, who's like, no, we're going to win. Uh, that's the, that's my best Boone. Um, and he's like that, right? Like he's, we're going to win no matter what, because we're us. And that's who I played for. Uh, but you are a very analytical player and study the game so closely, but I also feel like in this way, you're looking for, as so many players do all the things to correct or

critique and being like, well, that's going to be too hard to overcome. And that's going to be too hard to overcome. I don't know. I wonder if that like plays into it, that you just are seeing some of these things and can't unsee them. Yes. And no, you know, I think yes, by you look at some things, but the no piece of it is, you know, I do the same thing with the bills where I look and I go, oh man, that's a problem. How are they going to overcome that? And then I always rely on like, well, they have really talented people elsewhere, or they have a lot of depth at that position. They're going to be able to rotate guys into, right? Like you look at, man, they really struggled to rush the passer early in the year. Right. And it's like, well,

Gregory Russo was going to come back. Oh, he's back. Right. And it's like, for me, when I look at the Vikings and I look at some of the deficits, there's no answer. There's no like, oh, that's going to get fixed right we've been like how do we fix our secondary we haven't all year you know how do we fix our ability if daniel hunter and uh zadari smith aren't getting to the pass rusher oh we don't because we haven't been able to fix it all year you know and those things those things that were problems that we're getting away with and we were winning you know i've never been one to shy away i've been i've called it all year it's a problem but now it's going to really become a problem when you hit playoffs everything gets ratcheted

up a little bit more everyone's a little bit more on edge you know everything just gets elevated into that into that spot and so when I look at the Vikings and specifically on defense I just don't see a way that it's just going to flip a flip a switch and magically get fixed you know where I can look and see like on the bills it's like okay if this't working, they can move to some different type of scheme or they can move to some different type of area and it works for them. It just seems like everything we've tried to do on defense this year just doesn't really work. And then we're going to get a turnover and we can win by one point, you know, or whatever it may be. But I just, I look at dominating teams and I need to see dominating performances. And I just didn't see those out of the Vikings. And so as a player,

you can just kind of feel what those look like and how those things feel. I just never felt that way about the Vikings this year. So I think I would agree with you that like, as far as chances to go deep, maybe it's not that high because of that. And history would tell you not that history has meant a damn for this team for the most part, but mostly would tell you that when your defense is like this and those are the numbers that

you've put up all year, it's very hard to go deep in the postseason. Offense is more predictive, but you can't usually have 25th or worse in terms of, you know, in terms of total defense. But this Giants team, and I'm just looking at all of their numbers from this year, there's just nothing scary about them on paper. They were 15th in scoring. They were, what, 15th in scoring percentage

in terms of how often they produce points. They don't turn the ball over, though. I think if there is one thing that actually might be a little bit about them, a bad matchup for the Vikings. Last time they had two key turnovers that led the Vikings to win and then a punt block. But this team actually has the lowest turnover percentage per drive of any team in the NFL. Fewest interceptions of any team in the NFL. Daniel Jones has been playing the role of Alex Smith here very much with a little more wheels,

or at least using his wheels a little bit more. So I think if you're looking back at that game and what you could take away, there is that element of it that if the Giants don't turn the ball over, it will be a very tough game for the Vikings. Right. And that's been the thing, was when we've been able to take the ball away and create possessions for our offense and create a short field for our offense, we've been very successful in that but when it's just an even back and forth game it's coming right down to the wire and you can say yes this team has found ways to win close games at the end but I mean that's a coin flip situation at times or we're that close to losing those games at the end you know and when the playoffs and the the margin

for error is so slim like I just don't like betting on that you know and yes the Vikings have the experience of making it go their way that time but when you're talking about the five seed that snuck into the playoffs here and you talk about the three six one fourteen games like it shouldn't be a question it should just be like all right we're gonna roll through this game and we're gonna go and we're gonna see the Vikings play the San Francisco 49ers next week or whatever it is but there's just too many question marks about this team for me and I know I sound like a hater here but I just I can't get it out of my head of watching that Green Bay game going we're so far away from being a playoff caliber team that it's just I can't unsee it like you said it's just

ingrained in there just feels to me like the Vikings are the any given Sunday type of like any given Sunday in both ways in the any given Sunday they could play great and their offense can look unstoppable and they can pull out a three-point win even if they outplayed the other team but they have I mean there have been games where they decidedly outplayed other teams I mean Chicago Arizona and they kind of let them hang around when they shouldn't have and I thought in the Giants game they were the better team but allowed the Giants to hang around and they were up 10 nothing in the game and then just turn over on downs and had a couple of third downs fail and then

you just can't have any room for error with the defense that you have do you know how many yards daniel jones ran for this year oh gosh it's got to be close to 500 708 and seven touchdowns. Josh Allen's number. That's like Josh Allen type numbers. Daniel Vick. I mean, honestly, I can't, I mean, I minus the dog fighting. I know that. Wow.

Yeah, that's not great. Um, Daniel Jones seems like an upstanding person. So there's not that maybe, um, Daniel, uh, Seneca Wallace. There it is. I was actually, I'm actually curious to see how many yards Josh Allen ran for this year because I have not looked at this at all. I should know this because he was my fantasy quarterback, so I should be aware of this.

But, you know, I think it's probably less. I don't think Josh Allen had that many rushing yards because Daniel Jones ripped off some, like, 40-yarders, 50-yarders. Like, he had some explosive runs versusosh was kind of just the death by a thousand ten yard runs uh 762 so just a few more for josh allen same number of touchdowns so daniel jones has been as effective as a runner as josh allen which who had that bet uh going into the season i think maybe that was part of the allure of bringing dayball to the giants yeah i think dayball saw what daniel jones could be now is he josh allen no but he has a lot of the same physical qualities the big guy

that can run and move and that was what made josh so special what made that buffalo offense so special and i think it's why you've seen such a turnaround with the new york giants offense is because of what day ball's been able to do with the quarterback position and limiting the turnovers that's been such a monster because he was a turnover machine his first few years in the league oh yeah the fumbles all over the place and that's been remarkable the other weird thing is that this man is not actually fast like on paper he ran a 4-8 like daniel jones so that's i mean his his physical comparables according to mock draftable like mac jones matt leinert eli manningning. Like what is happening? It's not, it's not just because he's a white guy and the broadcast has to be like more

athletic than you think it's because he literally doesn't look that athletic, but then he's got wheels. I don't know. I almost wonder if it's because, I mean, so much of it has been also like just break down scrambles, right? Like run man coverage, everyone turns around and he's got 20 yards of open grass. So he doesn't have have to be fast he's just going to eat up 20 yards before they get to him you know that's been a big piece of it too but also they've scripted a lot of runs for him you know that's some of the vikings are gonna have to watch this with this week especially you know the

quarterback power the quarterback sweeps and and all that stuff you know i was curious on your take on this too you know kenny holiday? He gets in the game last week. Everyone's talking about how he needed 76 catches to get his incentive or whatever it was. But he goes out there and plays a pretty good game, catches a touchdown. I'm curious if he gets kind of inputted back into the lineup a little bit this week. And if he goes out there, he's still an incredibly talented receiver that if all of a sudden he decided to figure it out this would just kind of feel like the game that it might be able to work for him their receiving list is really kind of crazy it is so Saquon Barkley led the team in receptions with 57 compare this to the Vikings and this is why this is why your percentage is just way too

that's fine because of this list right here next is richie james who did have a couple big catches against the vikings by the way but he also had 57 catches at 10 yards a catch then darius slayton who missed a couple games with 46 isaiah hodgins with 33 a former bill but he's only played half the season with them because he got picked up off the bill's practice squad and then when john brown scored a touchdown last week, they showed a picture of Isaiah Hodgins for some reason. That's like his claim to fame at the moment. And Daniel Bellinger,

a tight end with 30 catches. Like this is just completely unimpressive stuff for the receivers that they have. I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny Galladay somehow got in, but he has six catches, six. So I'm not even close to getting to Kenny Galladay reading their list of receptions. Like he has six on 17 targets for 81 yards. I mean, that would be one of those things. And I want to know like what goes on in going into a playoff game because every team has to try to play their game galaxy brain a

little to mess with the other team but also not too much like you have to balance this we have to change things but not change in a way so much that it's going to fundamentally impact who we are right i think for the giants the number one thing they're going to do is be like all right 26 we're gonna there's no saving you anymore there's no making sure you're good like they're gonna hand the ball to that dude a hundred times if they can they're gonna throw it to him as many times as possible like the whole offense is gonna run through 26 which it has all year and rightfully so I mean the ability of how he's come back from last year being kind of back from the ACL to being a dominant running back again this year I mean at one point he was um one or two and leading and rushing you know that's what they want to do that's their identity

now if you can then sprinkle in serviceable receivers in there like that's why they've been able to be fairly efficient on offense not great they haven't been great they've been middle of the world like I said 15th but against a Vikings team that is bottom third on defense like they're just going to try and just continue to methodically move the ball down the field. You know, they're not going to have to hit the deep shots all the time. I think they're really just going to try and hand it to 26, get ahead of the chains, you know, live in second and six and second and five and go from there. But flip side, if the Vikings can take away 26, that's when the problems then do become for the Giants,

but not many teams have been able to do that this year. Folks, have you noticed that I'm always talking about liquid death here on the show? Well, you've probably also noticed by now that it's in the grocery aisle with the water. Yes, that's the water that looks like a tall boy beer. And hey, there's a good reason for that. Liquid death is not only delicious mountain water and sparkling water, but it's also saving the environment as well. Liquid Death Tallboy style cans are much easier to recycle than those plastic bottles, so they're trying to kill plastic by using aluminum and by donating 10% of profits

to put an end to plastic use. I've enjoyed taking a break from soda and trying Liquid Death, and some of you kind folks have tweeted me and said that you've done the same with great results. Even if your family thinks that you are downing beer after beer, find liquid death at Hy-Vee 7-Eleven target, or check out liquid death.com slash insider. That's liquid death.com slash insider. Yeah, against the Vikings, they actually kind of underused Saquon Barkley, considering that that game was close the entire way. He only carried the ball 14 times, but got 84 yards. And the biggest was the touchdown run at the end and caught eight passes

for 49. So they kind of limited him. Plus, they also limited him themselves. He has not had a hundred yard game though, since week 10 against Houston, when he ran for one 52. And since then his high was only 87 yards against Washington on that game that Washington probably should have won against the giants. I think that that's why I could never go as far as you would this, because I just think that the giants offense, despite being good at not turning the ball over, it's just very flawed and like, does not scare you really at all. If the most scary things are,

well, maybe the quarterback will run for a first down and Hey, they're running backs really good. Like those things are just not terrifying in the NFL. It's like, if you're talking about San Francisco, which we may at one point or Philly or Dallas, the problem you have there is elite wide receivers play for those teams. This one, I mean, this is like anyone can run a slant route against the Vikings. So we saw that last time, but I think that's the biggest area where it doesn't really terrify anybody is their mediocre offense. There is something interesting though, because we all want Ed Donatello to blitz like crazy, but Daniel Jones is actually better this year when he is blitzed than when he's not,

which I think is really interesting. I think that like Daniel Jones is kind of a fascinating quarterback in general because he's very good at like going to the right place with the football and he's weirdly very good at running and nothing else really though like not being dynamic not deep balls or anything like that but I think if you blitz him too much he will kind of dink and dunk to you or dink and dunk you to death and Saquon is part of that of just like checking down and getting those big plays after yeah you know a big reason why Saquon has so many catches too, is because Dable was like this in Buffalo too. He loves empty formations. He loves spreading guys out, going four wide and having the running back free release out of the backfield.

Because as a defense, it's really hard to hide your intentions when you go five wide. You know, when you have everyone spread out, you can't sit and have that safety kind of stay tucked in because you have to just kind of show your hand, you know, and when you have everyone spread out, you can't sit and have that safety kind of stay tucked in because you have to just kind of show your hand. You know, and when you have a quarterback that you know is not dynamic like that, but is smart, he's an intelligent guy and can see it. You know, if you give him the opportunity to see the whole field and to see the ability and see where the ball is going to go pre-snap, I think that's what Daniel Jones has done a great job of this year. And so if you want to blitz, it's kind of blitz at your own risk because the yards after catch are where you can hurt yourself then. And, you know, so I think that if your plan is to blitz Daniel Jones, you need to take advantage of it on the rundowns, right? The first down, the second down, get them behind the chain and then play your coverage behind it. But if you're

looking to dial up a blitz at like third and six, third and eight, that's where he's been pretty efficient this year. Why do you think it is that this Vikings run defense is, is it just the nature of run defenses? I feel like on a week to week basis, I have no idea what it's going to be because there have been some games where it's been good and it's actually kind of kept them around in games, even though they were playing badly against the pass, the jets games, stuffing them at the goal line, a bunch of times, even

Detroit, Jared Goff was annihilating them, but they didn't run the ball very well. Yet Aaron Jones of the Packers, they had a pretty easy time at it. I think any team that schemes to run toward their edges can, especially behind maybe Andrew Thomas can beat this team because they're playing those wide nine guys way out there. And I just feel like there's, that's always been the trouble with playing your edge rushers out at the sidelines basically is it just leaves a lot of gaps there. So I think like this comes down to also how does Brian Dable find ways to exploit that part of the run game? Cause teams who haven't, it's actually put them behind the sticks and they've been forced to convert third downs over and over which i think this vikings team

is actually decent at stopping teams from doing yeah you know i think again yeah the number one thing that the giants offense and the vikings defense is talking about winning first down right winning first down in this game is going to be hugely important to not just extending drives but like you said staying in front of the sticks because the Giants are going to try and do everything imaginable to put Daniel Jones in a position to not throw it 60 times. They want him to be able to just throw the ball 20 to 30 times a game, have a very balanced offense, but the Vikings on the flip side are like, no, no, no, you throw it because we know who you are deep inside.

In the playoffs, you might get a little more excited and try and force a ball where you shouldn't and all those things. So that's kind of the galaxy brain cat and mouse of, does Dable trust Daniel Jones enough to be like, all right, buddy, we're going to open the playbook up just a little bit, just a tiny little bit so that you can throw this thing all over the yard? Or do the Vikings just sell out completely and be like, we're going to pressure you.

We're going to make you make fast decisions. We're going to make you do all these things because I can see it going good or bad either way on that front. It's just going to be a matter of who can execute that better. So my intuition on that was right, that the Vikings are 12th best on third down, which is way better than most of their other numbers. And I think that's one of the things that's kept them alive is that they have done well in terms of turning the ball over. And they've done well in those third and fourth down, some fourth down situations, but a lot of third down situations has kept them alive.

So if they slow Saquon Barkley, even to some extent, and you're, I mean, you still have to avoid those explosive plays, which they're not good at avoiding, but when they've gotten teams to third down, when they've gotten them to the red zone, it like, that's the only time they've been halfway decent in the red zone the vikings are eighth so like those types of key situational stuff that's where you also don't trust daniel jones as much which again is why i think this is kind of an even thing and not giants are way better because because i think that like those are the situations where if they had josh allen or patrick mahomes you'd be like yeah he's gonna destroy those situations he's gonna score every time in the red zone and he's gonna convert every third down because he's a freak he's an alien this guy is not that this the reason why alex smith

kind of ran his course with his teams is because he couldn't do those things and that's like the way daniel jones is playing yeah i can't disagree with that statement. You know, I can't disagree with that. Daniel Jones is not those guys, you know, but I'm going to get this percentage. You're going to get it up. You're going to try. You're going to try your best. I'm not letting you do this to yourself. But I almost have to paint a line in the sand here because I argued tooth and nail with Alex Boone for like 30 minutes last night about this.

So I can't waver now. I can't waver on my stance. You know, but for me, just overall, I don't think it's as much about the Giants being that good of the fact that the Vikings can be that bad you know that it's not the fact that the Giants are going to go out there and turn into the Kansas City Chiefs it's if the Vikings come out and show up like they did against Dallas and show up like they did against Green Bay and like it can get out of hand on them and it doesn't take a dynamic playmaker. It doesn't take a, an alien to go out there and do that. It takes a serviceable football team, which the giants are a very serviceable football

team. That's what worries me more than the giant showing up and being like, Ooh, the monster versus the Vikings, just not being ready to go for whatever reason. Right. And, uh, so maybe there's a comparison here of like driving a car. You can let's say let's say you're practicing alone in a parking lot for your driver's test and you run over some cones while you're practicing. Well, that's OK. That's like the regular season. You're like, well, you know, you ran over a cone, but like who cares?

But when you're actually out on the road, you can't actually run into things. And this team just for some reason loses track of the wheel and just crashes and burns in some of these games. So I think that if you're really afraid of that, it's a totally reasonable thing because if what happened against Indianapolis happens here, they will not win because they'll just run the ball with Saquon over and over again. If you get behind early in the game,

you believe in some of their comeback ability, but not against the team. That's so good at not turning it over, controlling the clock and has a good coach. I wanted to ask you about coaching in general in this, because this is two young ish coaches. Um, O'Connell's younger than day bowl, but still, you know, young ish, new ish, um, first year guys preparing for their first playoff game and dable said like hey playoff experience is overrated which is probably right uh i just want to really think of these guys really turning around these franchises i mean opportunity and situation matters for sure like you know the giants were devastated by injuries last year that didn't happen to them this year

but i think it's very clear that these are two guys with a ton of pro experience who really understood how to maximize the strength of their players and also how to reach their players on a like teaching type of level and like removing the authoritarian element of it it seems like that was really important for both of these franchises absolutely you know and i think Dable, when you talk about playoff experience, I think people think a lot to like, oh, the decision-making you make as a head coach and all that. Playoff experience as a coach is more about how to get your guys to play hard for you, right?

And that's what both of these coaches have done all year. And you see it on the sideline. Dable dancing, them dumping stuff all over him. Same with KOC, the excitement that it brings. You know. When you have a younger head coach and you have a guy that you just really want to play hard for, it's easy to get up. It's easy to get up every week and go to Wednesday practice and go to Tuesdays and have your off day and be like, I'm going to come in and work hard because I want to win for this guy. And I know that he's got my back. And both these coaches have done phenomenal jobs in handling some adversity that's hit throughout the year of how they've stood in front of the podium how they've taken the arrows for their

teams how they've said hey I know that we got to get this fixed and how they've celebrated with their teams in good times and bad times and both these guys are going to have these teams really excited to go out and win for them you know and I think a lot of it will just come down to who can execute better because I don't think it's going to be a coaching decision that wins or loses this game you know a lot of it's just going to be what team goes out there and figures out the way to best perform for their guy versus if either one of these teams and I know I say I'm scared about the Vikings but it's very possible that I the Giants go out and turn it over three times as the game is over before it begins you know that's a very likely scenario that could happen but I just don't see that happening with the way Dable's been able to control this football team.

But I also can see that the Vikings come out and can score 40. And that's where you say the coin flip. I just think if I'm going to err on a side of which team comes off the rails more, it's going to be the Vikings. So I'm looking at their second half of the season for the Giants. Again, I'm not trying to totally talk you out of this, but just listen to this stuff. This is since week 10 for the Giants and again I'm not trying to totally talk you out of this but just listen to this stuff this is the second this is since week 10 for the Giants they beat the Texans by eight then lost to the Lions lost to the Cowboys tied the Commanders lost to the Eagles beat the Commanders by eight

lost to the Vikings by three beat the Colts by 28 and lost to the Eagles in a meaningless game like that is not an inspiring second half of the Eagles in a meaningless game. Like that is not an inspiring second half of the season after a lot of their wins were in the same way with the Vikings, you know, a five point win over green Bay at the final moments where they stopped them in the red zone. They beat Baltimore by four points. I mean, even their first game of the season, they had to win on a final play where they went for it. So that that's, that's why I think like, even with this team, the fact that the Vikings do have the capability to crash and burn, but I think that they do too. Like the giants have that same thing. That's why I, I wrote an

article today about like, I just think this is a perfect matchup actually for this team because they are kind of looking in the mirror at each other. But with Kevin O'Connell, one thing I've observed about him and it's impossible not to compare it to the last guy. You know, you get the new girlfriend, you're like, wow, she's much nicer than the last girl. But you know, it's, it's he's been able to extinguish any potential problems. And I think that that's a real key for both of these coaches that they had a stretch. The giants did where they lost three and tied one I mean that's like the wheels can come off you can completely lose belief in yourself fall apart entirely they had some tough losses in there uh one really bad

one to the Eagles 48 to 22 like that can just destroy a team and the same thing with this where like the Cowboys loss or some of these other games. And also, you know, Justin Jefferson gets shut down and then he's swinging helmets and cousins has had some tough games mixed in here. But I feel like every time it happens, Kevin O'Connell is so even about it. Even after that, that green Bay game, I was like, all right, this one's going to get them. This is like, this is the time he says, screw Kellen Mond or something like he's going to do it here. And he did kind of wave the bird at the players for not changing their cleats, but not even

in a super aggressive way. Like it was probably said behind the scenes, but I think that his, his way of handling things in a very even handed type of way, uh, has really helped this team. And I think day bowls the same way, get through through the rocky moments even in good seasons for both teams. Yes, absolutely. And it is easy when you've been on a regime, you've been covering it, I played for it in the old regime here that rode the roller coaster in a big way, right?

Yes. Peaks and valleys, and the valleys were low, and even the peaks were like, we're the best, and then it would just fall off. But to quote my old strength coach here be the thermostat not the thermometer and you know i think that the koc's done a fantastic job of that i mean but you can even kind of go all the way back to when they hired him of setting the standard or setting the bar of like the competitive rebuild you know we

talked about that like they didn't come here and say hey koc you're gonna go win all of this right and put unrealistic expectations on a guy you know i think they did the same thing in buffalo like yeah or in new york you know they didn't say you're gonna go win the division right like they just basically were like we think we have the chance to be competitive but we are somewhat rebuilding and then as things have progressed he's been really good about not changing the narrative yeah you know he hasn't been like we knew knew this was going to happen all along, right? We knew we were going to win 14 games. Screw the haters. Right.

You know, he's been very good. I respect that a lot. Yes, me too. You know, he's been very good. Like, nope, this is what we are. This is who we said we are. And we're just going to keep doing what we do. And that really goes to into your team where the team buys into what he's saying.

They all believe they have the leader out in front that sticks to it. And I think that's big reason why they've had so much success as well. He doesn't seem to have, and I could be wrong about this behind the scenes, but he does not seem to have concerned himself with things that don't matter toward whether the team wins or loses. And I mean us for one, uh, he hasn't concerned himself with whether ESPN is picking them for certain games or just anything of the outside things that are going on that can distract a head coach from his ultimate goals. And I also think that throughout the season, after every big win, he said, we're very happy to be whatever seven and one, but that's not our goal. Every single time that's been the message. I think

that's the right message. And every time they've lost, he said, not good enough back to work. We're going to figure it out. And none of these things are interesting to me, but I also think that it's exactly right. Like to not be interesting to me after losses, to not be like pointing fingers and blaming people and explaining what happened without saying, well, if Kirk hadn't thrown the three interceptions or, you know, whatever, you know, that kind of thing. Um, I think that he's just struck the right tenor really from day one. And there were, you know, as I was watching TCU, like get demolished the other night,

thinking about Michigan losing to them. And just like, I wonder how Jim Harbaugh would have handled some of the huge losses versus some of the big wins. You talk about like a ride, the rollercoaster guy. I think they picked when you pick a backup quarterback as your coach, you got to have a good demeanor to be a backup NFL quarterback like Kevin O'Connell, because otherwise you just don't stick around very long. And I think it's been a factor for why they've been able to overcome some of those things. And again, why I wouldn't say that that green Bay thing will stick with them because he's been so good at correcting and moving on, which is what you have to do. Yeah. And I think

you're right. He's done a great job correcting and moving on, but it's not necessarily the weeks after the big loss that I'm concerned about. It's the weeks after the wind sometime. Yeah. You know, and so we had the big correct after Green Bay and so does this team and again this is behind closed doors and this is only really someone who's inside those buildings and inside those walls can understand is you know is the team now like oh we're back on track that didn't like and do they fall into some routine of when the wheels do come off or did they really allow that Green Bay game to be the true wake-up call similar to Georgia against Michigan where it's like everyone knew Georgia didn't play very well and yes they still found a way to win and I told everyone I was like they're gonna go to practice this week and get

everything cleared up and it's just gonna be an absolute demolishing which it was you know and so I can see the Vikings going either way here with the demeanor of Kevin O'Connell which is like see we're fine just keep doing what we're doing and it'll work or they really took that Green Bay game we're like that cannot happen and learn from're doing and it'll work. Or if they really took that Green Bay game, we're like, that cannot happen and learn from that in a big way. But I thought the same thing after Dallas. And then it happened again against Green Bay.

So it's all these things that just keep going back to, do they repeat themselves or do they actually learn from those mistakes and not have it happen to them in next week? You want to hear something funny about Kevin O'Connell? I really do. Okay. So there's a chart on the internet.

You're a big chart guy. Just the pie you're all about love the charts uh that was comparing the data and analytics to his decision making in games this year and all teams philadelphia was the best buffalo was very good you know a handful of other teams that you'd expect that are analytically sound the vikings were actually one of the most conservative teams when it came to making decisions, going for it on fourth downs. And even some of their fourth downs were actually wrong that they did go for because people think it always says go for it. It does not. And I, you know, I actually, if there's one concern,

it's that some of the game management stuff i think is very hard for someone calling the plays for many years that was a criticism of andy reed and i think mahomes has just covered up any of those problems but if it when it was alex smith it mattered more when it's kirk cousins it matters more there have been a few times where it's like fourth and three we're going for it and throwing it 23 yards down the field for no reason. You know what I mean? Like there's just been third and one and here's CJ ham on a jet sweep. And like, there's just been a few of these times. There was a field goal against green Bay to start the game.

There was a field goal against new Orleans where a play call didn't go right for him. And it seemed like he was mad about it and forgot that he had to make a decision that it was like a field goal. And I just like, that's the one thing that is gonna in a playoffs the razor thin margins i do wonder like that's something he's really got to focus on because by the numbers he has not been one of the better coaches of that you know i wonder how much having a defense that you're not necessarily fully confident in goes into those you know if you look at and i don't have it in front of me but like the

top teams like you were talking about that are the most aggressive probably have one of the top defenses as well because you you feel the need to gamble more and feel like you can risk more when you have a ton of confidence that if it doesn't go well your defense is going to make up for it right like versus like hey our defense has been good in the middle and good in the red zone but let's make them go eight plays and have to go 80 yards versus just the ability to make them go 40 yards because we turned it over on the 50, or whatever it might be.

I think that probably has a ton of it because I do think Kevin O'Connell is a little bit more aggressive than he has been this year. I think he does want to be just by judging off the style of his offense, but I also think he's smart enough to understand, like, I can't bluff. Like, I can't bluff this and

have it not work and then they kind of in a way steal a possession because they have a short field versus making them punt and go the distance see I think you should look at it the opposite way where if they if you screw up and they score quickly you get the ball back now you go score to be more aggressive not less but I think that it's a surprise considering that they wanted to be better at this, that Mike Zimmer was very erratic. There were some stretches of seasons where Mike Zimmer was the best, and I kid you not, the absolute best decision maker in the NFL. And then there were stretches where he was the worst.

And I think 2020 was, no, no, 2021 must be, yeah, 2021 was the year through the first half of the season. He was the worst decision maker in football. And then the second half he was like, bleep it. I'm probably getting fired anyway and started making brilliant decisions. So I do worry about that a little bit of him getting kind of concerned, like, Oh, I don't want to blow it on a fourth down that I call in my first playoff game, things like that would suggest a yolo approach it's for kevin o'connell and uh believe in yourself my friend so uh one more thing before we wrap up um have you changed your mind no okay i'm gonna die on the cell oh okay i hope i hope we're potting next week and you're going hey dummy i told you i told you it was a coin flip and they were gonna win on

a last second field goal right like that's well, but there's very possibly I could be sitting here going, yeah, the wheels came off and they lost by 17. Like it could go either way, but you know, I I've gone too far to now sit here and let you be a decision maker in my brain. You've made some good points. You've made some good points. And again, I hope I'm wrong. I just can't unsee some of the things I've seen.

Um, yeah, it's funny. Cause like, if you just talk about this enough and we have for the whole season, you'll eventually get to where you can say I told you so or I was dead wrong about everything. Every game, every situation, every opinion. You know, we could be saying Kevin O'Connell doesn't know how to run the ball and then Delvin goes for 200 and is like, well, we said you should run it more.

Everything is like that yeah we've covered every scenario imaginable over the last 17 weeks whatever it's been yeah i was even thinking about how like i'm in a no-win situation for the post game because if i if they win then people will be like they showed you you never believed in them analytics dweeb and if they lose then i'm gonna be like well we did have some questions be like how dare you how dare you say i told you so in this dark moment for us so i'm i'm in a no man no win situation uh but here's the the actual last thing um andrew listener pointed something out to us that we have not done all year, which is neck rolls for, for players talked about neck rolls. We haven't even discussed that at all. And so he wanted to know who our top

three neck roll players were. And I saved this question, um, for when you were here. Now I can give out my three players. I need, I need a second here. Number one is Duke Shelly. That little guy deserves a neck roll because he weighs like 20 pounds less than me and is five foot eight and is out there just breaking up passes. Like you got to respect it. I mean, cut before the season and then becomes a key player for them. So I will start with him. Unfortunately, I would love to give one to CJ ham, but you kind of can't because they just don't use him enough i'm gonna i'm gonna go off the board here and give a neck roll to kirk cousins the most hit quarterback in the entire nfl stop come on he has been smacked

around this year this is the toughest we've ever seen kirk cousins have to be for his team played all 17 games didn't miss a snap outside of that one in washington neck roll for kirk cousins the last one i'm gonna have to think about this one i i have my first one you want me to go my first yeah go ahead with the first one my first one my first neck roll is gonna go to dalvin thompson and i'm gonna say this because i know he's been hurt i know he got dinged but there is a drastic difference in this defensive front when he's in there and when he is not so my first neck roll is going to go out to Dalvin Tomlinson because he is a game changer not a game wrecker he's not a Von Miller he's not a Khalil Mack but he is a game changer of how the

offenses have to handle that interior run game when he's playing okay i've got my third one love it josh metellus oh give it to josh metellus they just gave him the captaincy with brian o'neill down and josh metellus has blocked punts he's played nickel he's played safety he's had to do everything for this team all the phases of the special teams and no one deserves a neck roll more than a guy who plays all phases and multiple positions and wears a C on his jersey. I have one, and you guys are going to kill me for this. I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but the punter. Ryan Wright. There it is.

Ryan Wright gets a neck roll because all of these games, especially early, more early than late, he was electric. Yeah. And he was dominant. And without him, we have nowhere near the record that we have. So he, and as much as it pains me to give a specialist a neck roll, he deserves a neck roll. Who do you think weighs more right now, you or Ryan Wright? Oh, it's close.

It's real close. I mean, he is thick. I'd like to see him run down there and try and body up a tackler. I mean, he could do it. He easily could do it. What are you like, 265? 27 265 275 275 that's pretty good what did you play at 310 about 310 315 so i'm no boone yet boone's like 240 so i'm not i'm not crazy man like him yet but you know i'm yeah i'm i'm definitely not as puffy as the punter i'm a little bit still a little bit better built than the soft body punter yeah but maybe a little taller he has a neck roll yeah he does get a neck roll did you have one more is that was that three you

know i keep and this is gonna sound i don't even know if i really want to give it to him because he hasn't shown up in the past game but i'll tell you this if you watch kj osborne i like it if you watch him block and put his body in there and he'll go in there and put his head in the safeties and that slot position of having a push crack and then he shows up when he needs to now he hasn't been flash he hasn't had the year he wanted to but he has played his role very well on this offense when you're playing next to a superstar you know and i know he has been happy about it but he's been integral in some of the wins that we needed him in and his ability to go in there and put his nose in there and block on the receiver screens put him in there on the block of the inside runs outside run of the bunches i

think he deserves one i like it i think that's a great pick i did consider him uh him versus metellus but somebody in the slot needs to be a good blocker in this offense and even though they don't run the ball that often when they do he's got to make plays all right the next time we do this jeremiah we will know whether you were right the next time we do this jeremiah we will know whether you were right or wrong yes we will we'll either make fun of you or i'll apologize for trying to talk you out of it we will find out so thank you for all season long and it's been an incredible run of crazy uh post-game breakdowns and everything else with you and on to the playoffs we go and i will say say this. As much as I'm down and out,

I have had a ton of fun this year covering this team. And I think that regardless of what happens this weekend, like, I enjoyed it. I hope Vikings fans enjoyed the ride because this is not a season that happens often unless you are the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, this is something that's been a fun team to watch. It's been 100 times better than the show last year

where all we did was like, well, it happened again. So, you know, this has been super fun. I i'm excited and i hope we get a few more of these 20 wow okay well i mean just you couldn't even no all right okay well we'll see we'll see what happens thanks for your time man thanks for stopping by the studios absolutely man it's beautiful in here till next time