Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Defector Drew Magary is ready to talk about the Vikings being for real

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Matthew Coller talks with Defector writer and unapologetic Vikings fan Drew Magary about his response to the Vikings' hot start Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Ins or Matthew Collard here and this is the episode that you dreamed of Drew McGarry defector and I have titled the episode what is Drew McGarry ready to talk about and that's that's what we're gonna do here Drew wow ready to talk about are you ready to talk about playoffs are you ready to talk about best team in the league are you ready to talk about Sam Darnold are you ready to talk about what they do in the future with Darnold and J.J. McCarthy? What are you ready for, Drew? Actually, I wanted to come and talk about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I don't really know why you asked me on the talk. It doesn't seem like it's going good there.

I'd love to talk about all of it in general. And I will say there was one thing that it didn't happen after the texans game it happened after the niners game um i was listening to our mutual friend judd zolgad and when he saw the 97 yarder happen he said it gave him uh you know gave him the same feeling that he got in 1998 which is a lot to say like that's a loaded thing to say right but um given that i've been a fan as long as as him and anyone and you know most of the people who listen to this i didn't think it was unjustified and that was particularly true after the texans game like the most meaningful vikings win that i've encountered in my lifetime was the Monday night win in Lambeau early in

1998. It was the Randy Moss party, right? That was for me sort of the defining win of my time as a Vikings fan because it was the best Vikings team of my lifetime, but also that essentially announced it. It was like, okay, this team

because they weren't, that was not uh predicted to really do much of anything not unlike this year's team right brad johnson was the starter randall cunningham was not was was the backup and was not even in the league prior to that year right so uh johnson you know gets hurt and and and randall takes over and it's like okay well i this this might work and then you know they go to lambo and it's like oh this really works and you know that's a feeling that i have not really encountered like even in 2017 you know like like you said it's got you know case keenan was sort of like the asterisk there, right? Like, it's like, well, how far can we go with this little dude, you know, chucking the ball up and, you know, and all that.

And it has a bit of a different feeling now because of Sam Darnold's talent level. And I think that I now think, I think you're kind of to blame for this, uh i think that your draft status now um is actually immeasurable like i think it's it's almost like a stat um you know i i've lived long enough to have guys who have stuck around in the league based purely on their draft reputation like jalen rager i think just like got another job and like he sucks. He can't play. There's no point in playing Jalen Rager now. So that's all reputational. However, in the case of somebody like Darnold, he was a first-round pick for a very, very good reason. Because of his arm, because of his size, because of his ability to throw on the move and stuff like that. And so it really has been convincing over the past three weeks to see him play the way O'Connell has essentially ordered him to play. I think the fact that, that, uh, KO has like said to him and I, you know,

I wasn't in the room when this happened, but I think what he said was like, listen, we've got you covered in terms of coaching and in terms of the talent around you. So all you have to do is your job and you'll be, and you'll be good and like, just do your job and the rest will take care of itself. And that's exactly what's happened. And I think what happens from there,

I think confidence goes from there. So it's like, okay, this works when KO tells me to do this, this, and that. It works when I throw the ball to Justin, because it works for everybody when they throw the ball to Justin. And then, okay, well, I'm feeling pretty good. Why don't I try this? Why don't I try that? Why don't I try, okay, well, you know, I'm feeling pretty good. Why don't I try this? Why don't I try that?

Why don't I try, okay, all right. And you feel, you know, you start to feel yourself a bit more and confidence grows. That's true in everybody. And to see that happen has been really, really gratifying. And of course, I have the sort of the idiot back part of my mind that's like, well, what if we have to pay him now? And I'm like, shut up, brain. You're being so stupid.

Just enjoy it for what it is. But, you know, I've gone long enough to say that, you know, basically everything that you've been talking about this week is the same that I've been thinking about. It's they're really good. They're a really good football team. I can't guarantee that they're going to go to the Super Bowl or even win the Super Bowl because Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes exist, right?

But they're not a joke. Like I now expect them to win 10 games plus. And that's not stupid because of the way the offense is constructed and also because of the depth on the defense and because of what Flores is doing with that depth. So they're a brilliantly coached team. I think they are one of the best coached teams in the NFL and probably the best if not for the Chiefs.

I have to account for Andy and I have to account for Spaggs coordinating that defense and all that shit. But just in terms of coaching, I will say, I think that it's the best pure coaching I've seen of a Vikings team in my lifetime. And we've had good coaches, right? Like we've had, like Zimmer was a good coach, particularly at the outset. And Denny was a great coach in terms of, you know, the sort of CEO job of head coach, like employing the right people,

minus Richard Solomon and, you know, the, the sort of CEO job of head coach, like employing the right people, minus Richard Solomon and, you know, hiring good staff, letting those, letting those staffers do what they do best and all of that. Kevin O'Connell is a different sort of coach because he's much more hands-on, particularly with the offense, particularly with the quarterbacks and all of that. And he's so good at that, that it is really having a demonstrable on-field effect. And that's been a joy to behold. It's cool to watch this team play. And once they went up, I don't know what, like two scores on the Texans. I was like, this game's over.

We got this. Like, it wasn't like, you know, the six Kirk years where I take a lead and it's like, well, you know, as long as Kirk doesn't fuck up, I guess we'll be all right. And then he'd go and fuck up, right? Like he'd go three and out. And you know, it's, it's, it's different and it feels so, obviously it feels so refreshing because of the post-Kirk afterglow. But you know, if you've watched enough football, you can recognize, you know, game recognizes game and you can tell that this is a really, really good football team. And that's pretty damn cool because it takes you out of your, I think it takes you out of your fatalist tendencies as a fan. When you know what you're looking at, when you know you're looking at a really, really,

really good team, you don't have to sit there and hope that things will, you know, hope that you'll be able to hold on to a lead or hope that, you know, well, you know, I hope that, you know, the other teams lose and so that we get a top seed and all, you know, you're constantly thinking of all these ways to backdoor your way into glory. And when you have a team that is legit good and can legit, you know, destroy other offenses on a whim,

then, you know, then you're talking about a different mindset as a fan, those fans in the stadium, they, they believed. And that is not always the truth, or that's not always the case. I know. Cause I was at the giants game when they lost that one. And that crowd was on edge for a good amount of it. It's something that I've thought about a lot. And I've talked about a lot on the show is just how the U.S. Bank Stadium crowds every time they would be in one of those close games. There would be this we're going to blow it type of sense, which started to change a little bit in 2022. But the second half of the season, they didn't play so well and it sort of petered out there. And as you mentioned, that that playoff game was not as loud as I expected it, because every time they needed the crowd to be there, there still was this hovering over. Like, our defense isn't good enough.

They actually going to do it. And to have the defense cause three false starts and an illegal procedure. Yeah. Crowd do that. And the decibel meter doesn't lie weirdly this was a purple insider investigation a couple years ago when i discovered you know the decibel meters were fake it's real no it's real i thought it was fake yeah i would i would have assumed noise meter but in the week 18 game where they had already missed the playoffs and everyone just sat there quietly

the decibel meter got to like 90. I was like, oh, wait, that's a real decibel meter. So it was 120, which is not quite Seattle, but it's pretty close to that. I think that the fan base is so dialed in to the heartbeat of the Minnesota Vikings that they felt it and they felt when the other team was drowning and they said, let us push your head down farther by being this loud. And that is something that defensively they haven't been for a while. But also I think that the Darnold storyline has added to this.

And with Darnold, you mentioned the, when it comes to the draft status, it's the tools matching up with the performance has never quite happened with him outside of in micro bursts of a couple of games here or there this looks like coming together with the technique and everything around him where he doesn't have to feel like it's all himself to where those tools can really come to life because even with the greatest even with patrick mahomes he has to throw it to rishi rice he has to run for 30 yards in order for this thing to actually work right he can't he needs pass pro too like in 2020 right no pass pro and it was a disaster against the bucks so yeah right and so i think what we're seeing is the the full version of what sam darnold probably could have always been if he had all these different factors but what's

fascinating to me is how they're all coming together and and the hiring of kevin o'connell like this is why you hire him is so he can bring the best out of some very talented quarterback, which it seems is what he's doing right now. Well, also, it makes you appreciate how rare that sort of coaching is, right? Like, it's not, I said this actually on my own podcast with David Roth, but I think the past few years have shown me that, you know, the most important thing you can have if you want to win a Superbowl is complete and is to have your head coach and your quarterback and complete and total sync with each other. That was true of Brady and Belichick before they fell apart. That was true of Stafford and McVay still is. That's true of reading my homes, obviously. Um, and so if you have that that is you know it's as it's more valuable

than gold and it's just not you can count on your on one hand the number of teams that have that right now in the league uh and we're one of them and that's that's no small thing um so now i just have to hope that i don't get another surprise meniscus injury. Like we were teased earlier this week. I did not. I did not enjoy that little part of it. But MRI, not good. What what is your feeling about where Sam Darnold fits in the the QB dialogue?

The tears. Yeah, the not that's it. Yeah, not so much that. But we've just turned ourselves into some sick, twisted. I have to be right about every quarterback. I have to rank the quarterbacks every single day in every single game, or we all just melt. Right. We can't. We enjoy.

We're weak. You just have to. That's I feel that there is almost some people who enjoy debating quarterbacks more than watching football that exists out there. And I don't want to be that world. But in the NFC right now, there's some young quarterbacks that are exciting. Jaden Daniels, certainly one of them. I think Williams, yeah, still falls into that category.

But we're also living in a space that does not have Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, just dominating football anymore. And I feel like it's swung the doors open for certain things that mattered less to matter a lot more, how you're good, your defenses, how good you're coaching your particular quarterback, how much you could put around him, all relevant things in the past, but felt less powerful when you knew Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers was on another team. Yeah. It's, it's weird. Cause it, it was something that I had written about a defector last week where all the, all the quarterbacks who got freshly paid this off season have sucked.

And I think, you know, I, I'll use Trevor Lawrence is like sort of the prime example right now, because we're talking about a guy who was basically touted as a lock you know same as same as caleb williams right and he goes in and he's you know he has he's stuck with urban meyer the first year urban meyer fails him because urban meyer sucks right but then he gets a seemingly competent coach in doug pierce a guy who's won a super bowl right and you think that that is you know that that's okay okay well now he's gonna go be the guy who wins 12 games every year. He's not. And if he was going to be that guy, he would have been that guy by now. Right. So it is really interesting to see. itself by that position for the past 20 years and and more and i you know i think there are people who i saw someone ascribe it to just it was a run of it was an uncommon run of talent you know a

decade ago with breeze and roethlisberger rogers brady and all that stuff i don't necessarily believe that because every time i'm told oh we'll never see the likes of them again that like you know when jordan retired it's like well you never see that when then LeBron comes along, right? So I've never really believed that, but, you know, it certainly is possible that there's a gap, particularly in the NFC. The NFC is just awful, right? And if you can get someone like Sam Darnold, who, you know, isn't going to necessarily

fit into some power ranking, you know, based upon, you know, what he's done or what his potential is or any of that. If you just go by, you know, what's happening right now, he's just a very, very good quarterback who can win football games. And that's all you need, right? That's all that matters right now. And how you, you know, how you, you know, he's not as good as Josh Allen. He's not as good as Patrick Mahomes, but so few people are that you can't you can't use that as a measuring stick because you're just going to be disappointed every every year for you know the next 40 years until you finally stumble on you know some magic guy who can do everything

it just feels like what's happening now is similar to when we saw people like Matt Hasselbeck or Rex Grossman take their teams to Superbowls. What you're, what you're looking at and maybe, um, not as excessive as Trent Dilfer because you're looking for more than, uh, what Trent Dilfer brought to the Baltimore Ravens once upon a time, but it's not, it's not that different from the era of coming out of the marino kelly elway type of thing and not quite had reached the peak of some other quarterbacks and it left this space and then defenses at that point were playing so well and dominating offenses so well that if you had that defense and your guy could game manage and you had enough playmakers to help him then even like ben roethlisberger goes 15 and one is a rookie i don't know how many times we'll ever see that again but that era kind

of opened that door for that thing to happen and i think that's what's happening in the national football conference at this moment where there's just not one person who is going to be so far ahead of everyone else that it feels like if you have a good game planner if you have a good defensive coach if you spend the right amount of money that your chances are better and i think that's what i'm thinking about with sam darnold is if he can just do his job and make a handful of plays here or there that defense and coaching all that stuff is going to matter more as we go down the stretch, which is kind of the argument for buying into this entire thing.

Yeah, no, I agree. I think so long as he stays upright, and like you said, that's a matter of O'Connell making sure that he runs the ball when he doesn't have to pass, right? I like the fact that he goes for the throat. You need that. You can't, you sit on a lead, you're going to lose it. Right. And Zimmer sat on plenty of leads in his time. So, uh, you know, I'm, I'm happy to,

to have a wide open passing attack, but, um, I, I think you're right. I think that, you know, there is an opening,

uh, there's an opportunity. And also we don't know, you know, we have not seen, uh, we have perhaps not seen Darnold at his full potential yet. If you think of him right now as a rookie, which is disingenuous, right, because he's been in the league for six years now. But if you think of him as a rookie who has not been properly developed and is finally being developed by Kevin kevin o'connell right now then you know you're you're viewing

him through a different prism than just you know this has been who crapped out with the jets panthers and you know and had a cup of coffee with the nyers but didn't mean anything because he was a backup who never played well and uh i think with the it's funny because they're two years difference between him and aaron jones we talk about aaron Aaron Jones as if he's on death's doorstep. Right. Methuselah. Sam Darnold is still young, but the quarterback lifetime goes on for such a long time that we have seen so many players develop in their same age as where Sam Darnold is that it makes

it more believable. I want to hear what is bouncing around your brain about this defense though, because you're a football guy. You're a trenches guy. You always want to talk trenches. And yeah, because we've been losing along the last grunge for so many years.

Right, right, right. Right. And that's just been. But there's something happening here with this group. It's not just the scheme. It's not just how they play. It's also all of the people involved and how it's not just the scheme it's not just how they play it's also all of the people involved and how it's being done that is so captivating to me right it's a talent league right so you know florist was making chicken salad out chicken last year right and he did

he did a brilliant job of it you know no doubt and you know if he if he gets bypassed for a head coaching gig this off season, he should sue the league again. Right. But in terms of talent, yeah. I mean, you know, all the, all the credit goes to, you know, or a good amount of credit goes to crazy in the front office, right. For getting, not just getting Van Ginkle, Grenard and Cashman, but getting them right away, identifying them, targeting them and saying, no, we want you. We know exactly what kind of player you are and how we're going to use you. I remember you talking, you talk a lot about fit and O'Connell talks a lot about fit.

And I think that's a really great word, even if it gets, even if it's going to end up being overused because all football terms get, you know, beaten into the ground. But it really does matter that if you have the talent and you know how to use that talent, that's a big deal. And so it's really exciting to me to watch this defense play and to see the wealth get spread around. So it, like you said, it's not just, I got to hope that Daniil Hunter faces the crappiest right tackle in the league week to week or whatever for us to succeed. I don't need that anymore.

And I don't need, if Ivan Pace is out of game, I don't freak out, right? Or Byron Murphy is going to miss him. I'm not going to be like, oh, we're screwed. Because we lost the only middling defender we had, and the rest of them are poor. The fact that we can you know that we can get production from van genkel or you know if you know if he's having a you know if he's getting targeted by the offense then granar can do it and if not him then pat jones who you know was a was a

for the the you know the first three years of his career here. And now he's like, like he he's dangerous. He's a dangerous pass rusher. And then Jihad Ward, like, and so seeing all these guys flourish, I think that's, what's been so cool about it. Because again, it's another thing where you recognize it when you see it, you're like, oh, that's a great defense. And it is a great defense. We don't have to have the discussion of, oh, well, can they get into the top 10 this year? Maybe with a little bit of smoke and mirrors and, you know, oh, maybe they play a backup quarterback or two. No. They just completely ruined two of the better quarterbacks in football and destroyed them.

And left poor C.J. Stroud like a crying heap on on the bench and i wasn't even like i wasn't even laughing at him i was like i like cj stroud he seems like a good dude and he's a fun quarterback i don't want him like broken you know because i'm gonna have to watch him on thursday night against the colts sometimes so i'm gonna i want that to be good but when we can do that to another team it's it's a big deal because I recognize the past of this franchise when that happens. I recognize Jared Allen, Dolman, Millard. There is a tradition there. It goes back to the Purple Peepers, people leaders, but that predates my life.

So to know that that is there and have that sort of confidence in a defensive front, it's a big deal as a fan. When you say that, you know, when you see it, I mean, even from week one against the Giants, the violence that they played with, the confidence and aggressiveness that they played with, it wasn't just Daniel Jones. It was the way that they were tackling, the way they were rallying to the ball, the way that they were celebrating. There's so many things. It was the way that they were tackling the way they were rallying to the ball, the way that they were celebrating. There's so many things. It's almost like when a basketball team likes each other and has good chemistry and everyone understands their role and the ball just moves. And when a team is not working, one person's dribbling around with it going,

is anybody going to do something? And then they dump it to the post and then they turn it over. And I felt like in recent years, you had Harrison Smith doing his thing or Patrick Peterson doing his thing. And everybody else was kind of looking around going, is it my play? Am I supposed to be there? Am I supposed to be doing this? And it seems like every guy has puts the onus on themselves to go make the tackle,

go make the play, do the unselfish pass rush, which is really required for this, that sometimes Jerry Tillery has to take his huge body and smash it into two people because that's going to help somebody else. This is something that does not come around all the time when you get players who are taking on this mentality. And I think that's what is clicking so much with everyone. I want to ask

you about the packers there is a there's a thing here that i think uh i would compare to suburban neighbors where they're always looking over and saying man why do they got that nice pool how do they how do they have that great car over there in green bay it's always so nice and we're trying to work extra hours and get that but we're not quite there and there's a little bit of jealousy and i don't i don't think it is pure rage hatred as much as it is speak for yourself wanna wanna be you this is just my observation wanna be you what what and i think vikings fans really enjoy enjoy the games where they play the Green Bay Packers because there's always that chance you sort of knock them down a peg. How do you approach this Vikings Packers thing?

Yeah, I hate the Packers. I want to destroy them. area i've been used to well for the past 20 years every washington every commander season basically hinging on whether or not they beat dallas because that's all they had to have to hang their hat on and then they couldn't be dallas because they sucked right so they'd be like so the radio would be like it's dallas week like as if it were like the iron bowl and like it was just like some week seven game that they would end up losing and i don't it's not a thing where i'm like okay well if they if you know if they go 15 and 2 but both the losses are the packers that's a bad like i'm not gonna do that i just don't like the packers and i would prefer

to beat them right and i have to give it's it pains me that i have to give matt lafleur props like because i would really prefer he be an awful coach but he's not right so I have to be like oh god like they know like they know what they're doing like I would much prefer they just be a disaster the way the Lions have been like pre Dan Campbell right like I that's what I want so badly for the Packers because I just they just irritate me to no end um but you know going into But going into this week, I see them as like, it's not going to break me if we lose to them because they're well coached. Even if they have Willis starting,

they know their strengths and they know how to play to them. And that's important. But I would also like us to have a 98 redo and you know hang 40 points on them uh brian flores today by the way talked a lot about uh just what an incredible coaching job they've been able to do and the challenge of now preparing for two different offenses between the malik Willis and the Jordan Love offense. And they are different offenses. Where I disagree with you, though, is I think it would be so boring if they were the Lions. I didn't get excited about any Vikings Lions games until recently. I think when they've been so good and they have good players and they have good coaches,

it ups the ante to every one of these games. And this may be because I don't live and die with the results so much as i'm just interested in right you're a journalist not a fan right but i even think from the fans perspective when you're making that miserable trek dodging deer through cornfields trying to get to lambeau field and you're thinking if it was some i don't know craig nall starting for them you'd'd be like, ah, whatever. Yeah, it's a pull. But the fact that Jordan Love, he's their next new great quarterback.

I think it just adds a lot of juice to this game and to every time that they play the Packers. And I love this matchup because you have this great offensive coach, the great defense, the Vikings are playing and kind of the first darn old big stage after two weeks everyone was like oh okay whatever this week every person i know has done an all 22 breakdown of sam darnold like they are suddenly in the spotlight for the first time yeah they're the main character of the nfl right yes so well you won't be devastated i feel like there is an extra layer to this in terms of showing everybody you're for real well there's a few things one is that i would i would prefer that the packers have craig noll as their starter right for like present day craig noll as their starter i i it's not a thing where it's like you're gonna

miss us when we're gone like no i won't like if the packers like cease to exist like if they were contracted next week i'd throw a party i'd be like i'd be so happy like i don't i don't like if the packers like cease to exist like if they were contracted next week i'd throw a party i'd be like i'd be so happy like i don't i don't want to ever see the packers again in my life when we do see them like if it's a good game like like the tie like when kirk forced the tie like that was a magnificent football game right it was but i still wanted to win it like uh and i if if they had won that game by 50 points, I would have been happier for sure because I just went

through literally five years of no blowouts. Now we're running other teams out of the stadium and it feels amazing because we don't do that. It's just a lovely feeling to have, uh,

you know, as, as long as everyone stays, stays healthy. And, and I have to, you know, I'll probably have to go to church for the first time in five years to, to ensure that. Let me circle back to the main subject of this show. Are you ready to talk about, are you ready to talk about the, uh, darn old JJ McCarthy situation? Are you not there yet? So I, in the, it was, like I said, it was lurking in the back of my head, which was dumb because I just want to enjoy the now, right? But then I realized, okay, if he, let's say he wins the NFC, right? Like, I think that's kind of the bar.

Like he has, I think if he takes him to the Super Bowl, okay, you got to keep the guy around, right? But, you know, I had not factored in the franchise tech, right? That they have options at their disposal. Or if they want to keep, it's not an either or thing is what I'm saying, is that they would have the ability to keep both men if they really wanted to. Because I still firmly believe that mccarthy's the guy like i think that i think he's i think there's a good chance that he is the best quarterback in this class

and i'm saying that knowing that i think kale williams is more talented but the bears are doing him dirty right now with their coaching and like they really they need to fix that now like much sooner rather later otherwise they're going to kill the kid's brain right um but i i firmly believe that that mccarthy is the guy like the the guy that we've been the franchise quarterback that i have not had my whole life like dante was the closest and dante was like you know dante did not last that long and dante had flaws. I think that McCarthy can be a better quarterback than Dante and really one of the better quarterbacks this franchise has ever had. But that's still just a guess on my part, right? Whereas if I

have proof sitting there with Darnold, if he goes and he does throw for 40 touchdowns, which I don't think is going to happen. But if he wins the NFC and he is not just, you know, it's not just a sort of, you know, everything fell just right kind of season like Case had in 2017. It's like, this is a legitimately awesome quarterback. Then I'd be a fool to be like, oh, get rid of them. You know, because first of all, you should always have a good quarterback. And we also, we have no leverage. He's,

he's a free agent at the end of the season. So it's not like, it's not like you can trade them for like five firsts or anything. You can't get the Deshaun Watson hall for them. So you may as well, you know, you may as well enjoy the, the guys that you have while you can have them and they're

gonna have the cap space to to do that they want us if they want to do a one-year tender or whatever like if it's like a thing where they're gonna give them the bag that trevor lawrence got well we now know that there's danger to that because like even jordan love's contract like i'm not sold on jordan love and part of that is wish casting is my part on my part. Cause I hate the Packers. Right. But like he played poorly against the Eagles in that game where he got hurt. He did not play well in that game.

And I think that there is a good amount of that in him. And so it's always that fear of, you know, you get that GM brain of, well, I really like this guy, but what if we have to pay him? Meanwhile, it's not my money, right? It's not my, I don't have to spend it, right? But I just get that sort of, you know, you get the sort of mentality where you divorce yourself personally from the player and you treat them more as assets. And, you know, that it's not, it's not going to be as fun for you as a fan. If you do that, it's better to be like like it's just better to want your guys around yeah the the difficult part of the calculation is when we add in kevin

o'connell we talk about what he's been able to do with sam darnold and even the way that kirk cousins played more confidently with kevin o'connell and you try to transfer that over, how much is that going to increase the odds of JJ McCarthy's success? And if you can feel like a lot, there's the answer. And plus what they already saw from him was so good. Then the bar just goes up and up and up to where Sam Darnold would have to reach it because it's not, we always did this math with Kirk. It's not Sam Darnold versus JJ McCarthy. Who's more ready, who has more talent, who could take you there? It's JJ McCarthy plus the top defensive tackle and free agency plus the top offensive guard and free agency, which if you

franchise tag Sam Darnold, you will not be able to have. Now you can mess with the cap and you can pry it open. And maybe that's something that they want to do if he goes so far and looks so good. And the other part of it, too, is, you know, Seattle stuck with Geno Smith. That looks pretty good now. Yeah, he's he's he's balling. He's good. There's there's no rule that says Darnold can't just be really good. Like, right.

Geno Smith. And we've seen plenty of quarterbacks through history. They hit the right spot. Steve Young's probably the all time example. be really good like gino smith and we've seen plenty of quarterbacks through history they hit the right spot steve young's probably the all-time example but not good and then all of a sudden oh my gosh it's the right situation i mean even baker is playing well but i think darnold and gino are more talented arm wise and they're bigger than baker is so there is a threshold where you just go okay i think even if there are some shortcomings to this roster, if we use every cap button we can push, then this can be a three-year attempt and you don't

necessarily have to trade JJ McCarthy. You can kind of just wait the same way that the Packers did, even though that would be unfortunate for McCarthy. Right. Yeah. And I would never, I really wouldn't want to trade him i think ultimately you know my prevailing mindset is you know to quote quasi it's a champagne problem right where it's like you know the the ad is usually oh if you have two quarterbacks you have none actually what if we do have two really good quarterbacks well that's pretty cool like you can't you can't pick wrong because sam donald is still what 26 like he, he's barely started his career. Like he could play another 10 years. So the idea that we would have, um, you know, not just a promising rookie in JJ, but like

this other sort of late bloomer who ends up being a great career quarterback you know that is uh yeah that's that's pretty cool that's pretty cool to contemplate that is i'm not i'm going to discipline myself so i don't view that as like an actual bad thing because look at daniel jones you know or look at look at the browns right now look at what they had to hitch their wagon or they didn't have to but look what they chose to hitch their wagon to. Right. And it sucks. And it's going to suck for a long time.

Um, and this doesn't have that feel to it at all. Everything feels great. And I think that it's again, part of it is the post Kirk afterglow where it's like, okay, like I don't have to worry about this guy standing back there for 20 seconds because he can't move and because he's such a fussy quarterback that everything has to

be just so for him to release the ball right we actually have someone who is just a bit of a more natural passer and has way more physical talent and can do the things that I want a quarterback to do. And I'm not screaming, get rid of it. Every single passing down, like, cause I would do that with Kirk, every passing down, just be like, get rid of it, you idiot. And then he wouldn't. And then he'd get, he'd get brought down to the ground. There were a remarkable amount of strip sacks with Kirk cousins because he was easy to find in the pocket for defensive players.

But to your point, the Jalen Naylor four-yard touchdown was one of my favorites in a long time from a Viking quarterback because Naylor wasn't open and he didn't have a three-step lead on his defender. And Darnold's like, I can do that. And then just put it in a space where only Jalen Naylor could catch it and i was sort of right over top of that in the press box the velocity of that football like whoa i mean that thing got in there so quickly and that's the reason they have strong-armed people playing and like the month touchdown like you didn't even see it in the air he threw it so fast like it was like like if he had thrown that ball to me it it would have gone through my body and like there would have been an exit wound.

So, you know, yeah, that is, it is really good to see that. And it's, it's a thing where you have a quarterback who you feel like has educated instincts that, like you said, like Naylor wasn't open, but it's like, he's a talented player. And Sam is like, okay, if I put it here and I know I can put it here, then he'll, then he's good enough to be able to come down with it. And that is, you know, those are the sort of, those are the hairs you split that, you know, differentiate the best, the best teams from, you know, the merely good ones.

Right. Uh, watching a dude throw rockets is also just like a bunch of fun so yeah i will admit to that as a jeff george enthusiast uh okay how about this one last one last one okay drew is drew mcgary ready to talk about the vikings in the super bowl this year you know i've no because i'm gonna tell you why I have found, you know, because I think in 2022, like I talked myself into it because it was just so much fun. I still love that team. And I was I was pissed when everyone was like, they're not that good. And it was good to break. Like I was like, get out of here. It just irritated me. Right. Even if I knew in the back of my mind that it was like it was not sustainable, I thought we could sustain it, you know, through the Superbowl and then it would all fall apart. Right. And this year we went in, you know, because of, because they lost Kirk and because they lost to Neil and because they

lost McCarthy and because they lost Blackman and because Kyrie Jackson died, um, you know, they went into this season nationally as an afterthought, and I was comfortable with that. I was like, okay, it's house money. They were really sort of building toward 2025 anyway. So this year is just like, it's fun, right? And I know you don't like the word mulligan because it's not a mulligan because if they had gone three and 14,

that would have consequences, right? But if they had gone eight and nine, I think I predicted them to go seven and 10 just because of whatever um i would have been i would have been okay with that and so as a fan i am doing my best to just live in the moment and enjoy it week to week take it you know the proverbial one game at a time um because i think if it's it's counterintuitive, but the better the team looks, the more I want to live in the now because I'm more excited about the prospect

of them playing the Packers this weekend because I'm excited to see them play than spending all my time sort of jumping through a lot of, you know, a lot of imaginary gates to get them to the Superbowl in February. I don't, I don't, you know, it's, it's a lot of effort that I don't need to put in because, you know, it's not, it's not a lottery ticket this time. It's not something where I'm hoping for Powerball. I'm, I'm seeing the progress of this team in real time. that's been the joy and i've

really enjoyed that part i also think uh that i've seen it go either way after the beginning of a season football can fool you it can look really terrible and then yeah they could be shit in january right yeah i mean last year those first couple of weeks even with floris's defense after they got run over by the eagles i was like okay well no defensive coordinators making this defense good and then by the end of the year or middle of the year they were really good and there were other times where they started 5-0 like 2016 and then the wheels came off so i don't think uh i've had the joke like we can't we don't crown anybody because that's what brian flores will say like we're not crowning this guy yet or whatever so we don't crown people on the show.

You don't crown his ass. But you know what? I got the crown in my hand, though. Like, it's not on anyone yet, but it's in my hand. I have crafted a crown. And now we'll see if I get to put it on their head as we go forward. That starts in Green Bay. You know what it is?

It's nice to believe it's a real possibility and to sort of have that ball of yarn that you can toss around in your head. But you don't have to go all the way there just yet because they're playing so good now. Why, you know, why get ahead of yourself? There was it's just so hard not to talk about the ex-girlfriend when you're dating somebody new. So it's just but it's like we can talk about kirk the last few it just felt so inevitable this was my frustration with the show and when i would talk to you about it just every the ending felt determined already i knew the end of the show i had seen this one before it's okay i don't mind watching a rerun of a show i've seen before but if i know the ending

it's not the same as when I don't know the ending. Right. I don't know the ending. Yeah. Or what way it goes. That's, that's more interesting to me. That's what it is.

It's compelling right now. Like it's really interesting and it's going to stay interesting, you know, again, so long as everyone stays healthy and look, they do all they can to mitigate injuries and they, they do a good job of it, but sometimes you get bitten in the ass and there's nothing you can do

about it. But it is cool to know that on defense, they are deep enough. Even if, you know, and, you know, I think Gilmore is sort of an X factor there. But, you know, guys are just, everybody's playing well. And that's no small thing. It doesn't feel like there's just one, one beam holding up the house, right? And like,

it feels like there's a lot of support underneath that holding it up. Is there anything else you would like to say about the national football league, 2024 season so far, before I wrap this up, what's on your, are you thinking about something? It's interesting to you.

I, I, I really mean it. I really would like the bears to, to help Caleb. I know that sounds absurd because if Caleb turns into a world beater, then we're screwed, right? But I am a big fan of good quarterbacking and I want more good quarterbacks than bad. So I can't afford to have this draft class ruined by stupid people, right? I want, you know, I, I want that next generation here because that makes the games, it makes the games fun. It makes them compelling. And I don't hate the way the bears,

the way that I hate the Packers. So, you know, I really, I really want these teams to take care of what they, they have. And I'm glad my team is, is doing their best in that regard right now. Well, getting a, yeah yeah getting a dude smashed in the face a million times and destroying his confidence has happened to uh Bryce Young not better for football overall I agree with that and how teams are handling their quarterbacks this has just become I think story a1 in the NFL how teams are supporting their quarterbacks and the Vikings doing one of the best jobs so uh defector Trumanuma gary a legend of the show now at this point i'm really glad we could do this this was this was by demand so many people sent me messages

when's drew coming on how many times is he gonna swear on the show he's so handsome he should be on more just like looking at him yeah um yeah i don't know if i got that message but uh there were other things that people said that were nice about you. Oh, I love them too. I love my bikes fans. By the way, if they,

if they like, I think I have to go see them at some point this season. And I got to go look at the schedule and figure that out. But you know, I haven't seen them since I lost to the giants. And I bet this team is a good time live. Even if, you know,

even if they lose the game, I enjoyed being there. So I gotta figure out how to be there for my boys. It's a different vibe. It is definitely a different vibe. So thank you so much, Drew. And thanks everybody for watching and listening.

We'll catch y'all soon. Thanks. You want to say football? We always say football. Oh, my God. That's the old Metro drumrome music that predates here i'm really trying to end this so oh okay i'll shut up okay it's over bye bye football