Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Checking in on the Vikings from England with Jonathan Harrison and Peter Carline

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Matthew Coller is joined by Purple Insider producer Jonathan Harrison, who is covering the game for PI in England and then by Peter Carline, a Daily Mail writer and long-time Vikings follower. They talk about the atmosphere, how the Vikings got some good breaks with the injury report and whether the circumstances will impact the outcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and I am joined from literally in England, Jonathan Harrison, a producer here on Purple Insider. Jonathan, how did you enjoy your travel? How do you feel? What time is it there? What's happening? It's 7.30. I'm a little tired, but I am amped after coming back from a tour of Old Trafford, Manchester United Stadium. So it was awesome.

So do you feel like you could play a football game on Sunday? No. God, no. I am so behind on sleep. It is not funny right now. Well, I think that the Vikings had a little more process involved and maybe a smoother flight than you had. I don't know if you went for like a whole private plane for yourself,

but I'm guessing the answer is no. And something was brought up about blue lights. I have no idea. But the Vikings process may be a little better than yours. But I wanted to talk to you for this episode about just your trip, what you're doing over there, what you think of this whole thing. And then on Sunday, you're going to be covering the game for Purple Insider. Then we could talk hardcore, what you saw at the game, what went on and everything else.

But I will mention that it does look like Andy Dalton is going to be the starting quarterback. James Winston is listed as doubtful for the game. And Peter Carline is going to check in with us as well. He was at Vikings practice today and talked with Kevin O'Connell. Delvin Cook, good to go. Harrison Smith, good to go. And questionable on Zedarius Smith. And I'll just bring up one more to watch. Marcus May is a safety for the Saints. Not a big name, but he's way better than their backup, P williams and i also saw people tweeting that wyatt davis might play that's not gonna happen uh wyatt davis it

was never gonna happen but uh he's listed on some depth chart as the backup guard but it's uh you'll like this jonathan uh kelvin throckmorton i'm not making that up. The guy's name is a British name. Yes. The guy's name is Kelvin Throckmorton. And he was, um, starting for them a lot last year. He came in for Andrus Pete. So if you've seen on the internet that Wyatt Davis is going to start, that's not the case anyway. So, uh, you, Manchester United stadium is what you went and saw. So tell me about that. So it's the biggest club football stadium in all of England. Wembley's bigger, but they specify it, at least Manchester United does, as that Wembley was made for other sporting events.

So they claim to be the biggest football stadium in the country, and it's historic. It's been around since the early 1900s. The team's historic. The trophy case at their museum is literally four walls, and it's been around since the early 1900s the team's historic uh the trophy case at their museum is literally four walls and it's amazing just stocked full of trophies from every single era of the club and the the tour was everything that you expected it to be you just get to go in sit in the different stands go go in the player locker room uh see all these historic places

inside the stadium it It was awesome. Yeah. I think, are they not like the most successful team like ever in pro sports or something like that? Behind Real Madrid, I believe, yes. But they're the most successful British soccer team in the country. Liverpool is catching up to them, but they have overtaken them over the past couple of years. So I have never been to such an and historic stadium. I went to Fenway Park. That's probably the closest that I've gotten. When I visited Yankee Stadium, it was already the new Yankee Stadium and it didn't have any feel of the old one. Right. So I guess that would be my question is like, what was it like i mean what what is it uh what does it look like what's different from like nfl stadiums and things

like that uh you can definitely tell it's been around since the early 1900s the concourses are smaller the aisles to the seats are smaller everything's just smaller because everything just has was built in a different time frame so it's it seats i believe 75 000 or something like that but it doesn't look like it fits that in the concourses it looks very tiny and cramped if there were if there were that many people the turnstiles uh i'm a bigger guy i will admit that i would have to turn sideways to get through the turnstiles they are so rail thin it's some of the stuff you can tell is very antiquated very old because the glazers who own the club and on the stadium haven't really done anything since buying the club 15 years ago that's a whole different

story but yeah it's it's a very old stadium that looks it it feels it it feels every bit as old as it is and that's that's part of the mystique about it. It's called it's nicknamed the theater of dreams because there's been magical moments that have happened there for Manchester United over the decades. And so, yeah, it feels like a historic stadium that a lot of magic and a lot of cool things, historic moments have happened at. Now, if people don't know from listening to our old show, when you were the producer, you are a soccer guy. You

are on the broadcast for the Minnesota United. Tell me what this means to you to go. Because to me, as a non-soccer watcher, I'm like, okay, cool sports. But you have always been the biggest soccer fan I know. So what did this mean to you to go? It's awesome. It's awesome to come to Manchester, then go down to London on Sunday and just be in the place that was, that's essentially one of the homes of sport. It's where kind of sports were invented

all the way back in the 1700s, 1800s, and just kind of be around a lot of history because you don't really get that in America. There's not a whole lot of, like unless you go to the 1800s, 1700s, 1800s, and just kind of be around a lot of history because you don't really get that in America. There's not a whole lot of – like unless you go to the East Coast, there's not really a lot of historic places that you can really feel the history of, and that's pretty much all England is, is just you can feel a lot of history. I'm sure they've done a lot of stuff to make it look newer, but it just all feels historic, and that's kind of cool to be around that.

But, yeah, it's really cool to be over here and see and kind of live this sports atmosphere instead of America's sports atmosphere, listening to their sports talk radio, watching their sports TV. It's interesting to get that kind of viewpoint on sports. Obviously, they're not talking American sports, but they are talking about the NFL coming to London once again. So it's cool to get their perspective on it. Now I was watching NFL network and they had a comedian on that was British. And I don't think they expected how much he was going to make fun of the NFL playing in England because he basically mentioned that no one cares and you

have to be a weirdo lunatic. I guess I wonder what, and we'll talk to you after the game about what the atmosphere is like but what your expectation is because i think that even just the fact that you're over there for the first time checking this all out but being so connected to the soccer world as you are uh it feels to me like they haven't really bought into this sport, even though old Raj has been trying to make them watch football for a long time. But the comedian did bring up that the timing of the games is pretty tough. Like you're talking about games starting late at night

and the best games going into the middle of the night over there. And also the idea of having a franchise over there at some point just seems preposterous because of the interest, but also because of the travel, like it's this huge thing that they've been planning for months to be able to do. And the time difference is socking you in the mouth. Like,

I don't know how you could ask teams to go over there week after week, but also a team, if it was over there to have to come over here week after week after week and ask guys to go live in England. Like it just seems like totally impossible, but I wonder what your impression is of the feeling of the NFL over there. Yeah. It's a little interesting, especially you mentioned the timing there, just the noon games for central coast time or central time. it starts at 6 p.m. here. So it starts off late. And then you then you think about the 7 p.m. games, then the Sunday night football. That's at like three in the morning. No one's going to stay up to watch it unless you're a heart.

You're a die diehard football fan who most likely was born in America and then just immigrated over here and decided to live over here and still loves football but wants to watch it. So I don't really see, and that's part of the problem, is that your biggest best teams really aren't on television here because it's so late at night. So it's hard to get that unless you bring them over. And we've seen that when the NFL does send the teams over, for some reason they're selecting out of a select bunch of them. They're not spreading it around. Like the green Bay Packers come over here next week. It's their first time over here.

And they've been doing this international series for what? 10, 15 years now. And it's their first time. That's a team that you think should be over here at least once every other couple of years, because how historic they are, that seems like it'd be a perfect fit to come over here,

considering they have Vince Lombardi, widely considered one of the best football coaches of all time. Sir Alex Ferguson from the UK, from Scotland, one of the best sports managers, sports coaches of all time. You'd think you would want to kind of merge those two historic franchises if you wanted to just bring them over, but this is the first time they're doing it. So it seems like some of the planning has been a little off.

I get why they're doing the 8, well, for Central Time Zone, the 8.30 kickoff because it's more natural over here. It's a 2.30 p.m. kickoff here. So that does help. So that'll be interesting, but you're not going to see NFL games played in America at 9 a.m. to accommodate the British viewers. It's just not going to happen. And if they were going to try and bring a franchise over here, the best way they could do it was is to follow the model that a I think it's a lower league rugby club did in Toronto.

They had a club in Toronto join the rugby league over here in the lower leagues. And basically they would spend like four weeks over in Toronto and they bring teams over, play there, play four weeks in Toronto. And then that team, that Toronto team would move their base to England and play four weeks of road games here. And that's basically the only way you could do it is you'd have to have them set up different bases. And it's just that's too much work. There's too much logistics. I don't think it'll happen at that point. Just set up a whole different league.

Set up NFL Europe again. Man, I loved NFL Europe. Go Ryan. What was it like Berlin Dragons or something? I mean, it's some yeah, it's some great teams back in the day. But I know I totally agree with you. And I guess I wonder what you think that the crowd is going to be like because Kirk Cousins mentioned something. And now this is funny.

Somebody brought up that Cousins having only played there once and tied has a 500 record in England. It's just okay. With only one game, like you can't make that up. But but he mentioned that every time there was a kick or a punt that the crowd got very excited. And I just thought, like, well, that's you know, it is kind of fun. I mean, we grow up with this sport, like literally from the time that I am four years old. I remember watching NFL games on TV and every Sunday of my

life in the fall and winter since. And we're talking about people coming who are going to be wearing, you know, Atlanta Falcons jerseys and Seattle Seahawks jerseys. And Kevin O'Connell said he expected kind of a neutral type of atmosphere. and and this is actually really good for the vikings overall because they would have been playing at the superdome otherwise and so you would much rather take this and they're also just another part of this this is a little funky they're moving out the grass because apparently the grass is sacred and they're moving in turf which matt daniels and i'm not kidding you gave us a scouting report on the turf from his understanding that it is less thick than some of the turf over here.

So there are some strange circumstances if you're the team playing in this game. The system that the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium uses to move around its fields is amazing. If you ever get a chance, go YouTube what that system is. They literally have the grass that Tottenham Hotspur, the club they play on, they have it on basically rollers, giant rollers, like massive rollers that they roll outside the stadium. It rolls underneath the stands and they park it in a parking garage that's right next to the stadium. And they have like the solar the solar lights over it so the grass is still getting solar or getting sunlight so while the nfl stadium the turf gets basically raised up they bring in more stands to fill it out a little bit and that's how they do it but yeah the turf because it's sitting

underneath the grass all the time really isn't the the thickest but it's a really cool system really expensive Tottenham Hotspur when they made their new stadium they put that in because they wanted to host NFL games so it'll be interesting as for the fans I think it'll be as as you said it's going to be a neutral crowd because it's just people coming out to see an event and uh London does put on really great events. We saw that with, with the Olympics. We saw that with the Euro finals a couple of years ago. Now security measures need to be a little bit better than they were at the Euro finals when people were just barging into Wembley, but I assume they will be this time,

but London does know how to put it on a great event. And so that's, that's kind of what people are coming out to see. Cause as we mentioned, there's not really a whole lot of diehard fans around here. They're just fans of certain teams. So they're going to come out and see American football when they can. I was going to say that. I don't know that there'll be barging in more or than maybe Roger Goodell is outside asking people if they want to come in. Like if I gave you some money out of my wallet, would you come cheer for a team

just pick one it doesn't matter um but the vikings you know interestingly the game in 17 started out and they were playing a horrific cleveland browns team that might have been was that the one that got no wins the the browns in 2017 it might have been um and they may yeah i don't know i feel like i I remember Deshaun Kaiser was starting, so maybe they won a couple games that year, but it might not have. Anyway, not the point. They started off that game really bad, and Cleveland was winning at halftime, I think,

and then in the second half, things sort of came together. But it seems to me just because of the circumstances, having this weird atmosphere with the fans, having the grass that's rolled in there and everything else, the travel, everything that goes with it. I think if the Vikings were just regularly playing the Saints on the road, you might actually feel a little more confident because the Saints team is not that impressive at the moment. But with this, I think it's a lot harder to figure out how this is going to go. I did see somebody from Pro Football Focus that looked at when games start versus Kirk Cousins' performances, which is pretty funny. Like, I guess he's a morning person or whatever. You know, if you play at 325, it's usually against a good team or on Sunday Night Football. So that has to be factored in.

But the point just being that I'm very interested to see how this goes from the outset of the game. Because I think the Vikings have a better team than the Saints. But I'm just not sure what the circumstances are going to do to both of these teams. Yeah, especially with the Saints going through the injury bug that they're going through and having most likely to change quarterbacks to a guy who hasn't played much this season. So that'll be interesting. I think that might actually help them because Andy Dalton's probably a better quarterback than Jameis Winston is at this point, which is weird to say because Andy Dalton's way

older than Winston. But I think that might help them. But that also doesn't counter or come into play with the rest of their team. As you said, the Vikings have a better roster. They're probably a better team. And so, yeah, it'll all be very interesting to see how it plays out. The neutral site is definitely going to help them over having to go down to the Superdome because that place, no matter if they're good or bad, is always a raucous atmosphere.

So what are your plans for tomorrow? You're actually going to a soccer contest there, huh? Yes, I'm going. So Manchester, there's a couple of different outlying cities and Salford City is one of them. So I'm going to a Salford City soccer game. They are in the third division, I believe. No, fourth division of professional soccer here.

So is that like double-A baseball? Would that be kind of the comparison? It's like, yeah, around there. Single-A to double-A, yeah. Because Manchester United wasn't there. They're not home, right? They are playing Manchester City, their crosstown rivals, on Sunday. So I will be preoccupied on Sunday.

Ah, well. So I went to the stadium tour today. Indeed. But that will be very cool for sunday ah so i went to a tour today indeed uh but that will be very cool for you your first like uh soccer atmosphere and i know that those minnesota united games are really exciting and i think that they have tried to capture what it's like over there but it's your first chance to get the authentic english soccer experience that's very cool and i'll be sitting front row for all of 18 pounds. So that'll be great. What does that is America? It's like 20 bucks. Oh, really? Okay. All right. So that's like sitting behind soccer. So yeah, it's like lower league soccer. So I can,

so it's cheaper. Oh, that is awesome. That is awesome. So what is your travel day like for going to the stadium, getting there and getting ready to cover this thing for purple insider. I will be getting into London probably, I think eight o'clock in the morning, kind of walking around, getting breakfast, kind of, I'll take in the atmosphere,

see what, see what London's got to offer on how they're basically letting people know that the NFL exists in London this week and next week or the next couple of weeks. Probably take some couple, take a couple of pictures, videos of the area, go to the stadium, take that in and then hop on a bus after the game and head up back to

Manchester. Cause my flight takes off right away in the morning. Oh, very nice. Very nice. Well, I appreciate you going over there and I'm glad that you get to experience some soccer things that you've wanted to see for a long time. Looking forward to your coverage also after the game. And so you're going to be posting some of these things on the purple insider Twitter account. So it's at a purple underscore insider. I don't know why there's an underscore.

Maybe there was somebody that had the account and I wasn't going to give him any money to give it to us. But if you don't follow that Twitter account already go there, that's where Jonathan's going to be sending out some of his updates from England. And then, yeah, we'll have, I think we're going to do it like roundtable style after the game. Paul Hodowanek, myself in American soil, and then you over there.

And we will have a great postgame show then. So enjoy your time on Saturday, going to the game, touring around, look at some different things there. And we will talk on Sunday, Jonathan. Thanks, man. Sounds good. Thanks. Next time we'll have to talk about that private jet. Yeah. Well, you know, if you work really hard over there and maybe we can earn the revenue to do it. So I'm not saying the pressure is entirely on you, but it is. What's new? All right. Now we welcome into the show, making his return, Peter Carline, who not only writes for the Daily Mail over there in England, but also will be contributing to a local newspaper here,

the Pioneer Press, covering the Vikings and the New Orleans Saints and was at practice today. Peter, what is going on, man? How are you? I'm very, very well. It's very nice to be home after a long day. I like being around the Minnesota Vikings, but they're tiring days. I know everyone says, oh, you journalists, you have it easy. There's a lot of waiting around. No one gives you any food. Yeah. Anyway, it's nice to see you again yeah nice to see you as well and sometimes they give us food uh usually before the game i'm sure that you'll get some sort of nice meal um beforehand because u.s bank stadium has an elite spread and i have had many around the nfl it's one of the best um so you guys have a lot to live up there. Maybe

fish and chips or something. Am I right? You're right. Yes. It might be that. I think it will probably be some sort of a roast, maybe. The weather's, it's got a lot colder here over the last four days. It's rain today. It's proper English weather. I'm feeling some sort of comfort food. Okay. Well, hopefully they help you out on Sunday. So you are at practice today. Maybe you can give us a scene setter. Like I saw some pictures, Ben Gessling is over there, a couple other people, but we did not send a massive contingent from the Minnesota media to cover this practice. So what did it look like out there? It looked like an NFL pitch right next to a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus II or II, or however you want to say it, in 200 acres of green English countryside.

There were lots of men wearing purple and white as they do. Dalvin Hook Cook was not wearing a helmet and as Drake's energy came on it began to drizzle and then the rain got progressively worse but Kirk Cousins I think the only interesting thing he said well arguably in his press conference was that it was the most picturesque practice he's ever known that's nice that That's pleasant.

I didn't listen to Kirk because it was a choice of either speaking to players or listening to Mr. Cousins on a podium. So I chose to speak to some players. So what did you come away with?

Everybody excited? I think Justin Jefferson's really excited. Yeah, he was really switched on, actually. You know, he said he said he slept he slept all throughout the flight adam theelin's been trying to ply him with coffees all day he's only had two uh he did a cut to camera for these german journalists and they and he couldn't read

their writing but he was so nice about it and he just seemed you know obviously the you know are you what you're going to do when you come up against Latimore again? And he said the same answer that he's given for the past four days, very politely. But he seemed, you know, pretty lively. Dalvin Cook wasn't around very much. Dalvin Cook, who, well, he's active. And then there was Eric Kendricks, who I really like Eric Kendricks

as a, you know, one-on-one interview um they were the only players available it was supposed to be harrison smith but not quite sure what happened there and adam theanum was supposed to be up but he had a sauna instead as uh as many of us do but uh no i agree with you on on eric kendrick's when you're um you know one-on-one with him it's a lot different than maybe if people have ever watched press conferences. I don't think that he really likes to be in front of cameras, but he's a very smart guy and always offers some good insight. And with Justin Jefferson, he has to be one of the most affable superstars there is in the league. We gave him the Media Good Guy Award last year.

And even through the questions about how they're going to get him the football and i went back and watched the tape i think that's a huge topic here for this week but even through those questions you know jefferson really doesn't have a defensiveness about him like some star athletes have he just is kind of uh i'm sure he was frustrated after last week but at least the way he presents himself is always kind of like, well, you know, it'll happen. I'll move past it. We'll get there. And I think that this week it will, particularly because Marcus May is not playing. And that's something to watch because P.J. Williams has been roasted for the Saints so far this year.

And May was a really good player, but he's not going to play. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing Justin. Is it the first time I've seen him live? I can't think. I used to have a memory, Matthew, and then I had children. Yeah, I really can't wait to see him live. And the other thing about London games is, not all the time, but the last time Mr. Cousins was here playing for the Washington franchise,

who should have just, I think, just been called the Washington football team, but whatever. Totally agree. It was a shootout against Andy Dalton, of course, who's going to be playing tomorrow. And him and James Winston are the only two quarterbacks to play in England to throw for over 400 yards. So, you know, everyone's jet lagged.

No one's going to know what, well what well let's hope and the saints are just injury hit aren't they like you say and they've lost pete as well which is great so we've got help on both sides let's do it i've said we i mean the vikings have the opportunity here to win the game against a very depleted opponent indeed they do do you guys do that over there do you say we with all the teams or what what is the media like covering covering football teams uh it's not it's not quite um as no cheering in the press box uh but oh there's a chap today wearing a vikings cap um yeah and no it's gen yeah it's it's it's not as frowned upon as it is in america but it's you know it yeah you wear neutral colors and and in my defense i haven't actually called the vikings we

for i've got rid of it but i'm so excited because they're playing the saints who i don't like very much so for obvious reasons yes i'm sorry and And we have talked about this in the past, though, that you have followed the Vikings for a very long time and found different reasons to write about them. And I was curious to ask you, though, about the coverage over there. Has the novelty worn off? Is there a lot of people that are excited about this? Is there a lot of media?

Like, what is this thing at this point um i think what the nfl are doing is um growing their game to a worldwide audience and when roger goodell sits on a podium and says we love our we want to bring our game to our worldwide fans you just replace the word fans with money don don't you? And it thinks England as a petri dish, a breeding ground. And yes, they've got this really pretty good stadium in North London, Tottenham, which I really like going to. And I think it's better for the NFL than it is in the Premier League. And actually, both are pretty good and picking hairs.

So we've got three games this year in England. The high was four. They've done this deal where there's going to be four games overseas, at least two in England, one in Germany, one in Canada and Mexico, and it will kind of rotate. And obviously there's a game in Germany in November. Germany, the NFL is – it's not king there because you've got soccer, but I think it's because they don't have a contact sport in their market

and they just kind of love it. And you've got the kind of history you've got, you know, Sebastian Vollmer and what have you. And I don't know what it is, but I spoke to the head of UK and Europe who used to work for World Rugby called Brett Gosper, who's actually a really interesting guy. And he said, basically, you go over to Germany and even the taxi drivers are talking about it.

And, you know, that's it really. I think what will happen is Germany will grow and eventually surpass merry old England. And obviously they'll go Australia, China, wherever, wherever, wherever they can make the money and wherever they can put it on, they will. So why do you think that is? You sent me an appearance from a comedian on NFL Network. It was really funny, really funny.

And but I don't think the NFL Network people expected that. But why isn't it – has it gained traction here? I mean, they've been doing this thing for quite a while now. I think it is gaining traction. No, I mean, you walk around and you're sat on the underground and you see someone wearing a lion's cap or what have you. It is here and it has got a big audience the ticket that they always well that mostly sell out unless unless the jags at wembley don't sell out but actually they're going to this year aren't they but because they're pretty you know anyway um

it's just there's a mainstream i think there's a media sort of snobbery about it particularly in kind of print media. It's on a satellite subscription channel called Sky. I'm not necessarily a fan of their coverage. But, yeah, it's difficult because you've got football, soccer, you've got rugby, you've got cricket. We're sports mad and it's i i think i think it's the perfect perfect market to come into england because we certainly have always been able to put on events at the drop of a hat that's not the drop of the hat but like the olympics you

know we can do a good event and because we're in europe 15 of tickets are bought up from guess where germany you know there's danish fans it's spanish you name it italy i know my mate from italy's coming tomorrow people sunday people will come from europe so you got that as well maybe there's the reverse effect from how a lot of people in america have looked at soccer just like oh i don't know you know little kids play it over here but that's about it and then all of a sudden uh when what was it uh david beckham arrived that people started to pay more attention and then well the fact that you know on social media you can follow every bit of things that are going on with any team you want.

So you can just adopt a soccer team and then go from there. And I was talking to Jonathan Harrison, who you'll meet on Sunday earlier. But that, you know, I mean, that's Jonathan is like he has grown up a big soccer fan as it becomes more and more accessible. And I think maybe as it becomes more accessible over there with the, these games continuing that, you know, it'll, it'll continue to grow. But I wanted to ask you, having covered these games before, what the impact you think of the whole thing, the travel, the atmosphere, maybe it will rain. I don't know what the weather is going to be like, but all those, all these factors that go into affecting potentially the quality of football, because I think that Vikings fans should be looking at this one as like, you should beat this team. You mentioned how beat up they are. They weren't that great to begin with.

But there has to be a little bit of nerves of just like, is this going to mess with the things that they can do? Yeah. Let's, let's make notes. It's not in the superdome. Right. So that's a win, but the things that they can do. Yeah. Let's make notes. It's not in the Superdome, right? So that's a win. But they're not good.

Right. But they've been here since Monday. The Vikings have just got here. I think they probably would have got here earlier had they had a bye week. You know, they're going to hit the Bears straight. You know, hopefully they've got to come back and they've got to get back on track as soon as possible.

I meant to write today. I meant to work it out. Normally, teams get a bye week. It's sort of 80%, 85% of teams, but obviously it's started to change. And I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. It's just, you know how the season falls sometimes. Sometimes you play a team and they're terrible, and then a month later they look amazing you know like whatever um i think as long as you win in london it's okay basically you know it that's a long flight home the raiders sack dennis

allen the uh now saints coach when he was uh at the Raiders and they lost six, seven years ago, whenever it was. There was a spate of coaches who got sacked after losing in London. The other thing is we don't necessarily get the best teams in a funny sort of

a way. I can remember about three decent games and there have been 30 the vikings did contribute no well the steelers game was good but they're all jet lag mate you know i know what i'm like when i get back from america and uh i can't you know i can barely put one foot in front of the other they're they landed at seven o'clock this morning. And I will say this, the Vikings are not an outlier here. The Friday arrival has become standard. They arrived on Thursday

when they played the Browns and that was fine. That was unusual. The Saints arrived on the Monday. They're the first team to do that for five, six years. So, I mean, I don't know the science behind it.

There is no rhyme or reason to it you arrive on this day this team wins this team there's nothing it's let's let's be honest it's not good I don't think you know I would love to get a player to talk off the record well just just say you know because it they say oh it's great you know playing under the flag and spreading the word. And yes, I get it's a good experience, but my God, it's got to be bloody hard. No, it has to be. I know. I mean, even when Kevin O'Connell came in today and he was like this, I'm opening my eyes with fake matchsticks. You know, they they must have they must drink coffee or goodness knows what to keep them awake throughout today. I don't doubt that they used every bit of science at their disposal, but I just don't know that there's any easy answer.

And when I cover games on the East Coast, for whatever reason, the West Coast doesn't bother me, but the East Coast, that's like an hour. It throws me off for the rest of the week, getting used to even coming back from a little bit of travel my wife travels a lot for her job and it's the same sort of thing even if you're there for just a couple of days but i think that uh it is a huge contributing factor that they are playing the next week and that's a choice that they made uh they actually told the nfl they did not want their bi-week they wanted to push their bi-week later into the season um and try to just manage this and get through it part of it might have been disrespect for the

bears just saying like well if you put an easy opponent there then uh we'll take that instead so i i don't know if they said put the bears there but the point just being that i think that's why they um i think that's what the bears who throw for 68 yards a game or whatever now at this point, but that was why they handle it the way they did. I think if they had the bi-week, they would have come over, got adjusted and then, you know, done the whole thing the same way the saints did. But I think the bigger factor in this game, and we could talk about this is just the injuries or lack thereof. In some cases. Delvin Cook is going to play. Harrison Smith is back.

Zedarius Smith, though, we don't know. And on the other side, I'd love your opinion on Andy Dalton as opposed to Jameis Winston, because all week I've been saying I think it's worse for the Vikings if Andy Dalton plays, in part because I was looking this up, the turnover worthy play ratio, which means like interception or almost throw an interception for Andy Dalton is half what Jameis Winston is. And these games just kind of scream somebody turning the ball over all the time. But Andy Dalton, I think, has the right mentality to get the ball out quickly, not take too many sacks not throw any turnovers and and just try to survive this game that's worse for the vikings than someone who could come out and easily throw four picks i i agree you know do you know what happened the last time winston was at tottenham for the bucks i don't but he threw six interceptions oh my god he did

six six yeah come on so you know it was it was sort of Winston in microcosm. You know, he threw like two or three amazing throws and then was just completely idiotic. And, yeah, I agree. I'd much rather have Jameis Winston than Andy Dalton. And Andy Dalton, I think, is two and two against the Vikings. Yeah, I mean, he started off… I mean, he's nothing, but at the same time, I think, is 2-2 against the Vikings. Yeah, I mean, he started – I mean, it means nothing, but at the same time, you think, ooh.

He has started – It was that Zimmer thing, wasn't it, where he wasn't great against the backups, and Dalton was one of them. Yes, we discussed whether that's like a real curse or not, and there's enough information to say maybe. But with Dalton, he's played 15 games over the last two years, and he's 7-8, which is exactly the most Andy Dalton thing. Right, exactly.

I mean, just, you know, he's a 500 quarterback who's going to play it extremely safe. But I think they're going to have to because Michael Thomas is not playing in this game. Andrew Stoutful, Kamara. You know, they've got Olave, haven't they, yet to score a touchdown. Yeah, all right. Go on.

Just put your bet on it now. First touchdown. Well done, mate. But, yeah, this is a – I mean, it's the offensive line as well, losing Pete. You know, they've got some really, really bad injuries. And this is coming from a Vikings perspective. They've really got to win this game. No, they do.

Because if you win this game and you're 3-1. Sky's the limit, mate. Coming home to play the Bears, you feel absolutely great about yourself. And from a Vikings perspective, Tua being hurt the way that he was the other night it does not seem super likely he's going to be starting by week six when you say that they'll probably wheel him out next week yeah i don't know that they could do it again problem you have like um congressmen talking about what the uh miami dolphins did at this

point so they're gonna have to be very patient with bringing him back. So it might actually be another Teddy revenge game. I don't know. Or maybe there's no revenge. Yeah. There's no revenge with Teddy. Please, that's sacrilegious. Well, if you remember, I mean, he almost got revenge against the Vikings, but their kicker missed the field goal at the end of that game against Carolina.

So I guess, so I look at it, it though as if Sean Payton were still the coach of the Saints I would be saying well look I mean this guy has one of the best offensive minds of the last 20 or 30 years and he can easily figure some things out he won games with Teddy he won games with Taysom Hill as a starting quarterback but without Sean Payton there this just this just feels like I just want to just prefix that it's it's the hated Sean Payton yeah, this just feels like... Can I just prefix that? It's the hated Sean Payton. You're not using his full name. Sorry. Well, he certainly is

here, but you have to give him his respect. And I feel like this is one where if they don't come home with a win, you're going to be saying what an incredible missed opportunity because this is a team you should absolutely beat. Yeah.

Kevin O'Connell will face. Why did you go out on Friday? The Saints were there. Yeah. If they lose that, it's not the end of the world, but this is kind of there. Three and one, you look at the NFC, you think, all right, the Eagles are looking pretty good.

Yeah, the Bucks have got a great defense. I'm pretty sure those lot, you know, however many miles east will come good. But even that, you know, they haven't got any receivers, have they? You know, how much can Mr. Immunized, Ayahaska, whatever, really do? The Eagles look the pick of the bunch. i'm not saying the vikings are the thing the thing about the vikings is that they've got

cousins at quarterback and i don't trust him beyond the divisional round and he's only reached that once in his career so but it's a really really it's an open goal this year. Everyone's terrible in the NFC. So, you know, yeah, they just have to win on Sunday. There's no two ways about it. It really feels like – And they're 2.5-point favorites or something? Yeah. It seems crazy.

But do Vegas know something? Well, 2.5 isn't really really it's like it's not that much for a team with a backup quarterback and okay no receivers and starting center out and you know okay fair point probably baked in that it's a neutral site neutral site so if you were going on the road and you were two and a half favorites that would be bigger than it is if you're neutral site i would assume i'm not a gambling expert but i've i have i have tried to understand how to use the vegas lines yeah they're they are uh they are out there they're just not us um okay so let me just uh get a a final comment from you then

you excited it's kind of exciting for you right like your team does not come over there and play in front of you all that off yeah um i'm really looking forward to it um tottenham tottenham's a really good ground um it's got a it's just got a i really obviously you know my my favorite stadium i don't know it's a toss-up between the metrodome and u.s bank stadium i know it was dilapidated and everything, but it was ludicrous with the slippery floors and the urinals. But Tottenham's a great place to watch, particularly as a member of the press.

And I just, yeah, let's throw the ball, Kirk. Take those risks. Just who's he going to throw the first pass to? Thielen. Thielen? Ham. You think how? Yeah, well, he.

We'll know. We'll know by the first couple of passes how it's going to go yeah i'm not i'm not massively keen about cook playing because do they not need do they not want to think about you know the longer term here but um yeah i think just get just just justin jefferson you know i asked him how are you going to celebrate he's went gritty so thelon thelon last time here he did that he watched arsenal the day before when the great thierry elmery did the knee slide and theon copied that so yeah just i would oh yeah i i just want to see them win well if i'm waking up this early uh i want to see a good football game and i will be

watching it i wouldn't count on that yeah i would not count on that either uh but i want to so i'm going to try to speak it into existence um anyway well you are uh one of my five favorite englishman peter um how many did you know three um let's see something something in that ballpark well it depends on what you mean by no because like there's a couple of other people who are over there who do actually really really good football coverage that i've had on the show before but we haven't met because they live there and i'm here so you're one of the rare ones that's actually come here so i met met you. Okay. Anyway, well, this is good, and I'm glad we were able to get together, and we will definitely do it again.

And you enjoy your day, and I hope you get a good pregame meal, Peter. Thank you. I read the Pioneer Press. Yeah, the Pioneer Press. Yeah, read that. Are you going to write like a, the UK is buzzing for the Minnesota Vikings. Like what's the.

I have to, I have to go and talk to fans before the game and then walk around the locker room and pester players. I'm fine with that. That's great. It's kind of what we do. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Great stuff, Peter. Thanks for coming on, buddy. Thanks,

Matthew.