Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin picks the remaining schedule

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

Matthew Coller and ESPN's Courtney Cronin run through the schedule and talk about how things will play out for the Minnesota Vikings. But the challenge to picking the remaining slate is that Courtney has to pick the craziest possible thing to happen to determine a win or a loss. Plus Matthew gives Courtney quotes from the 90s classic Point Break to describe the matchup between the Vikings and the Detroit Lions. What do those quotes say about Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson and Mike Zimmer. And what will the Vikings do at right guard? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider from inside TCO Performance Center. Matthew Collar here with you along with ESPN's Courtney Cronin. And Courtney, we have to do something that we have not done in quite some time. In fact, it's been too long, which is pick the schedule. Are you prepared to pick the rest of the Vikings schedule? There's only six games left. So from a math perspective of making sure I get the right record that I have in my head and what I put down as far as wins and losses this should be relatively easy six is

easier than 17 but I never really fully prepared for this experience that we go through I mean it really is like a religious experience out of body yes because we go through this and you just never know. Sometimes I might just switch it up on you. They might go 0-6 and you would never expect me to pick that. With the nature of this team being so hot and cold, every week is burn it down, fire everybody, trade Kirk in the offseason, trade Jefferson two years from now when he has his truth to all rumors moment and start over. Or it's, hey, seventh seed, maybe the sixth seed. This team is exhausting in that sense, which is what makes picking the schedule so temperamental, I guess, if you want to describe it as that. I thought you were going to say exhilarating. I don't know if it's an

exhilarating experience because I just don't know where I thought you were going to say exhilarating. I don't know if it's an exhilarating experience because I just don't know where I'm going with this. Like, I really don't. So it could be exhilarating, but it could also be like, oh my God, what did she just do? So you just never know what you're going to get. No, that's true.

Well, you haven't seen the movie Point Break, but I was going to say... You've been referencing it like multiple times lately. Yeah, that's... You're like a dog on a bone with this movie. You've been referencing it like multiple times lately. Yeah. You're like a dog on a bone with this movie. You sometimes get on these things. I'm trying to remember what else you've done with this recently. Oh, no, there's a lot of stuff like this.

Bruce Arian's quarterback book. There was a period two years ago where you referenced it, and I'd be like, yes, I know, in chapter three about Ben Roethlisberger, this, that, and the other thing. This is your new thing that you're on. Well, and I just gave you my DMX book, so that might be the next thing. Yes, I'm very excited to read Earl, the autobiography,

after watching the very depressing documentary. Yeah, I got to see that. So, all right, but this, picking the schedule is going to have a different twist, by the way. Oh, what I was going to say about Point Break is it's just like, it's like riding the wave, you know? And then I was going to quote Point Break, but then you made me feel bad about it, so I'm just going to move on. That's like riding the wave you know and then i was gonna

quote point break but then you made me feel bad about it so i'm just gonna move on that's fine the wave though let me just say the wave crashes very hard here if you're trying to surf that thing you're gonna get caught under the rip rip tide rip curl you're probably gonna drown so um we can make well they might uh we'll see there are some games games in here that sort of set up for a potential drowning. But anyway, there's a new twist, though. Do you watch reality TV at all? Sometimes the Real Housewives. Very sparingly. So competition shows, what they're always doing is it'll be halfway through the show and they're baking or they're making clothes or whatever it is. And then whoever the host is will come in and say, contestants, we have a new challenge.

That's what's happening right now with this picking the schedule. I'm not a fan of those. But let me hear it. Here's the new challenge. For every one of these games that we pick, you have to also say the ridiculous way that they win or lose okay so it's not just a w or an l but also the insane way that the game is decided so you do this is every game have to be straight up insanity can i pick any game that's not going to be decided by seven points or less

no they all have to be decided by some crazy thing i guess you could say that a game would turn on something bizarre so that's I can do that it could be it doesn't have to always come down to the fourth quarter because I'm personally trying to like speak something else into existence because you know my stress level cannot handle all of these deadline like analysis is that we have to analyses uh things that we have to file right at the buzzer. So maybe I will will them to actually win a game by the end of the third quarter. I don't know that that's going to happen. If it is, it's going to be this week and we'll get into that. You know, after this, we'll kind of do a little more of a hardcore breakdown of this game against the lions, but just as a teaser, I think they're just going to kill the lions. But anyway,

so let's start out there. Win or loss this Sunday at Detroit. I will have them winning this game. I tend to think this will not be a blowout because the Lions have played teams really close, really since like week nine or week 10. You can go back to early in the season when it took Baltimore kicking a 66-yard field goal to beat the Lions. But think about the game that they tied against the Steelers when Jared Goff was hurt. You know, they took the Browns to task. They lose on a field goal to the Bears.

And, I mean, this team in week five, it took them a 54-yard field goal from Greg Joseph in the two-minute drill to beat them. So, obviously speaking, you can't take Detroit lightly. And I don't, because this has every sort of feeling of, oh my God, Detroit's going to break through. And this is one 10 and one comes Sunday, 5 PM central time. But I have the Vikings winning this game. Now you're going to ask me how. So Kirk is seven and no against the Lions as a Vikings starting quarterback. And what is he against everybody else? Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. 7-1 his career overall. So it's his most wins against a single opponent in his career. And I

think that's good. They're going to be without Dalvin Cook in this game. They don't need him because they've won without him twice against the Lions previously and Seattle. And I think you really lean into the pass-first offense here. This is the chance that you have to get it done against a not very good secondary and just a team that they still need a quarterback. The Lions are never going to be much better than what they are and just almost breaking through with Jared Goff at quarterback. So I think this

is going to be one of those 400 yard passing games like you know Kirk's best stat line of the season it's still going to be close because this defense is you know not equipped to stop a lot of people um won't be won't be as close as that Bears game it's probably gonna be decided by seven points again not a field goal but Kirk will throw for 400 something yards Justin Jefferson two touchdown game Adam Thielen two touchdowns okay what is the crazy thing that happens that's not crazy that's pretty throwing for 400 yards is nuts against the Lions they're 27th in defense all right crazy thing that'll happen you have failed your first challenge damn okay well I gave you Tim Gunn is disappointed in you who tim gunn he's the one from

the designer show what is it called project runway yeah project runway see i know i know some things um what does he say get it get it done or something like that do you say do your job or is that bill belichick that's bill belichick but tim gunn is similar so all right crazy thing so i have to all right well i gave you the real way they're gonna win win. The crazy thing is, Kenne Wongwu is going to return the opening second half kickoff for a touchdown. And that ultimately ends up being the difference. Yeah, I mean, it's just like three of these since week nine. Come on, the guy's amazing. He should have been NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November.

This is his December kickoff for the campaign. Okay, I think you get a three out of ten for your first craziness. Yeah. Okay, here's one. Jared Goff runs out of the back of the end zone as an homage to Dan Orlovsky. Yes. The game is tied. Jordan Berry drops an unbelievable punt at the one yard line. So Jared Goff has a chance to get the Lions their first win by traveling all the way down the field, 99 yards to beat the Vikings and instead he runs away from TJ Smith in the back of the end zone and gets a safety for the Lions to stay

still winless I mean they almost got a safety I think it was last week I mean that's not it's the Lions so okay fine can I just say real quick, the idea that they're better than their record is hilarious. The Lions. And wrong and ridiculous. They are 30th in scoring and 27th in defense. And they have an expected win loss of two and nine. So like, yeah, better than their record by two. Nobody expected the Lions to be good this year.

That's what I don't understand. I think that they've been very, very close in games. But like bad teams can be close in games too. That doesn't make you a good team because you're like, Hey, we almost beat them. Right. And that's why I don't want to hear from the Vikings. Oh, well, we've been in every game. Like, well, the Lions have, I still don't think you can take them lightly though. Someone asked me this on a radio show. Like, can the Vikings bring their C plus game and still get away with this? No, you can't because breaks for this team and manufacturing your own luck or whatever what you want to call it like

the Green Bay game they got very lucky in a lot of circumstances but if you don't play I just feel like don't don't leave it to chance yeah don't leave it to chance not against this team because sneaky bad or bad fully bad teams can be almost, almost sneaky good at times if you leave them a margin to do so. So, yeah. I still think they're a good team. I mean, Buffalo lost to Jacksonville because Josh Allen had a strip sack and interception, and they just couldn't move the ball,

and all of a sudden the horrible Jacksonville Jaguars end up beating the Bills. So it can happen. There's no doubt that it can happen. My point is just that every broadcast you watch is these Lions, they're fighting for Dan Campbell. They're over under for Vegas, I think was five wins this year. So they're like way underachieving, actually, compared to what expectations were going into the season.

Anyhow, Steelers and Vikings, who wins and how crazy is it? Let's ramp up the crazy. So I have a hard time picking Minnesota to win back-to-back games, especially since that's on a short week. Yes, I know that the Steelers have given up 41 points in two games in this 0-2-1 stretch. I still think that the Steelers are going to win this game so I have the Vikings right now at one and one going into what would that be week 15 this is week 13 week

14 we'll do their entire record so you have them getting to 500 against the Lions six and six and going to six and seven with a loss to the Steelers yes how does that happen it will happen because in the fourth quarter the Vikings will be up by a touchdown and the offense is back on the field defense has actually been playing okay all day Steelers Big Ben this might be his last season who knows like he's actually still able if you if you if you're giving him a good situation uh if you put him in a good situation and you I mean not what happened against the Chargers not what happened last week if you support him the way that you need to offensively which I'm trying to like no he's super bad how do they lose they're gonna lose because Kirk will get strip sacked

I like um strip sack fumble return for a touchdown by like Cam Hayward. Yeah, because it won't be. It won't be TJ Watt because I don't think he's going to be playing at that point. So that's what I'm also predicting. He's not playing. It's some no name defensive guy. That's right, because he has COVID. And remember, the Vikings got no breaks this year.

Sorry for the sarcasm. I like it. A fat man touchdown is a good one. I like it. Ball bounces a couple of times, goes through Dakota Dozier's arms because he's in for some reason, and then Hayward picks it up, runs it for a touchdown. They go for two.

They win the game. I like that. All right, so they are then 6-7 going into Chicago where nothing ever goes wrong. It's totally fine. It's a nice evening there in Chicago. No problems, no weather, just a easy street, right? In this one, it actually will be. Oh, you think so? This will be the one game that they win by two touchdowns.

Interesting. In this stretch. You're picking. I'm picking Minnesota in Soldier Field. I know what I'm doing. That's crazy enough. I know. I mean, that probably in itself, I mean, although they did it last year, the Kirk primetime narrative at this point is dead in the water. Like, we don't need to talk about it because he did it twice in back-to-back years on Monday Night Football in the same spot. And the reason this is going to happen is an ode to 2017 with Harrison Smith okay and I

don't he didn't have a pick six in that game interception interception will end the game similarly in similar fashion who will be playing I really want to say Nick Foles just because I'd really like to just like throw you for a loop uh but it'll be I think it'll be Justin Fields at this point he'll be out of um off the injury report trying to make something for the rest of the season okay here's what i'm thinking justin fields is leading a game-winning potential drive he throws to alan robinson who dives for the end zone but harrison smith knocks the ball out of his hands it bounces through the back of the end zone the the Don Beebe classic. And Chicago does not get a touchdown.

Goes back to the Vikings. They kneel out the win. And that's how they win. Do you have that as a close game? Or you have a, I said by two touchdowns. I was going to have that as a close game because it's Chicago. I mean, even last year, Nick Foles put on a complete horror show against the Vikings. It was despicable offense.

And still a pass went through Anthony Miller's hands that if he had caught it and he went into the end zone, the game would have been tied or Chicago would have been ahead. Like it was still that close, despite how much the Vikings outplayed the Bears. I am never, ever, as long as we do this, going to say, oh yeah, just go into Chicago. Easy, go to Chicago and win.

I know. Never. Maybe I'm like feeling my oats a little bit because they won their last year um all right so two and one in this next stretch puts them at seven and seven yeah 500 again yep now it is the Rams McVay has gotten his hair together and Matt Stafford is battling 69 injuries on many different parts of his body did you see that you saw that well of course you did Diana Rossini reporting he has ankle soreness and back soreness and ribs soreness he's always like I mean honestly the guy is like

tar like he's tough I mean tough no nails I don't know tar it tough, no. Nails? I don't know. Tar. He's tough as nails, tough as tar. Tough as nails probably works. I don't know. I just think tar's a good thing to, like, he... I don't know. Sure. It doesn't work. But the guy is, like, just indestructible.

Okay, I've got another theory. He's battled through injuries every single season of his career. It's like, oh, is he going to play? Is his neck fractured? Probably. Like, he's played through back fractures. So this stuff that was just reported seems pretty, like, lightweight compared to what he's played through in previous years

when he was in Detroit. Different theory on Matt Stafford and these injuries is that every time he starts to struggle. And they're fake? There's a reporter who comes out with a report that he's battling all these injuries. I wonder who it is that tells the reporter that he's battling all these injuries as an excuse because he's not playing well.

Okay. Just tell me an NFL quarterback at this point in the season who has not had a couple dings and cuts, who isn't sore here, injured there, beat up there. How about an NFL player? But I found tweets from each of the last five years at this time he's had a lot of injuries that he's battling through this battling through that i just think you know i think a lot of these guys just maybe don't say anything about

those injuries the dings and cuts but matt stafford you always seem to find out about it you always seem to know he's so tough he's battling through injuries it's like well you're either saying this is an excuse to reporters or he's on the other side or not saying the teams don't lie right but but on the other side of it it's also like why did you trade your entire franchise's draft picks for the future for a guy who's hurt every year anyway so uh that's uh december 26th against the rams a noon game so the rams are on a downward slide at the moment they've lost three straight stafford throws picks and i think that he'll bounce back in these next couple games until he comes to minnesota oh on the day after christmas the previous games that they've lost,

especially against the Titans and San Francisco, on back-to-back drives, he turned the ball over. I think he only did it once this past week against the Packers. But they will lose, the Rams will lose the game. This is the first big upset outside of Green Bay for Minnesota this year. The Rams will lose the game, honestly the first big upset outside of Green Bay for Minnesota this year the Rams lose the game honestly pretty early on like in the second quarter he will have had Matt Stafford will have had two pick sixes thrown two interceptions that have been returned for touchdown one by Patrick Peterson one by Bashad Breeland oh okay all right the Bashad Breeland

game yes it is the Bashad Breeland game they Yes, it is the Bashad Breeland game. They finally figured out, like, hey, the signing worked out, at least for this game. There is some sort of, like, Bashad Breeland Grinch comparison. I will say that covering Bashad Breeland has been entertaining. Oh, it's incredibly entertaining. That's what I could say about that. We talked to him yesterday. He actually was pretty insightful. Yeah, he was okay.

And then he said better questions this week as he walked off but uh i'll go with uh how about this one that the rams win on a hail mary that stafford and his mega bazooka arm throws 68 yards in the air that they're like well there's no chance folks the game's over here they're just gonna have to run a trick play or something and Stafford winds up throws the farthest ball that's ever traveled the U.S. Bank Stadium it tips off three people including who catches it Mackenzie Alexander's dome and Tutu Atwell the smallest guy on the field has it fall right into his bread basket so it's not OBJ having his revenge game here at U.S. Bank Stadium after stinking i don't even know

if two atwell's playing is he hurt i mean i just wanted to mention him because he's so tiny i think he's actually on he's been hurt injured reserve right now as most people who weigh 160 pounds are oh yeah but the rams they know better than everybody else you draft a child in the second round i guess that's the argument for them trading their picks is like well they're really bad at it so i guess they should just trade them uh so yeah maybe it'll be odell beckham with one hand the ball is fluttering right toward the the ground slow motion he reaches and grabs it so mark andrews it not yeah we're not even giving him credit for his own like one-handed catch from 2013.

We're calling it the Mark. This will be the catch. This will be the catch. The Mark Andrews Odell Beckham catch. Catching it down by his hip. So that makes them, they get the win there, according to you. So that makes them eight and seven. And now the hype.

Finally, the first time they're above 500 this year. Congrats. And for a long time. So now the hype train, I mean mean is out of control this team's dangerous off they go prime time green bay packers assuming it remains prime time yes it would have to matter but it probably will january 2nd going to green bay what happens there wait a second did that was that game always a 720 game? I think so. Wow.

Yeah. I guess I don't – I'm looking at the schedule right now being like, wait a second. Yeah, another primetime game for Minnesota in the final stretch of the season. I want to pick them to lose the finale to Chicago, just full disclosure here, because I just don't think you're beating Chicago twice this year so you pick the one that could be the most disappointing in crushing yes um there you go I think that they will I mean I'll go ahead because I know what I want the record to be

but I also am trying to be like realistic about ways that you can get to nine and eight and I don't think it's via a sweep of green bay so i'll actually go with like reality here they're gonna lose to green bags aaron rogers is going to just go off he's gonna have a fully healthy aaron jones this time he's gonna have um his defense probably back to full health actually have a defensive line i thought you're gonna say a fully healthy toe maybe that it's a pinky toe i I guess who cares, right? I wouldn't want my pinky toe to hurt or have COVID toe. Yeah, me neither. This game will be the, should we call it the Rasul Douglas game?

Somebody in the secondary is going to have some revenge for all of those dropped picks. Darnell Savage game sure um i think that they're gonna get down early here a la 2018 or 2019 whenever it was that they got down 21 to 0 vikings in in lambeau field and they're not going to be able to recover it's going to be a you know back and forth affair later so like third quarter comeback kirk is what I'm projecting this to be after they're down 21 to 0 okay but I just think that it's so so early on there it's a freezing cold primetime game where it's like lock up this win and then coast against Chicago and you get in but because it's such a critical game they're gonna lose it so Sam Ekstrom here to tell you more about our good friends at

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They play them tight because it's vikings packers so they're just going toe-to-toe and they're throwing blows left and right touchdown drive here touchdown drive there packers defense is overrated you get to the fourth quarter we've got ourselves a tie ball game kick off to kenny wongwu he goes. Ah, but there's a flag. Blake Brandle grabbed a guy on the way there. It's called back. Vikings have to punt. Rodgers leads game-winning drive. Is Blake Brandle playing for Ole Udo at this point,

meaning Garrett Bradbury is still on the bench? We're going to talk about that. Somebody needs to play for Ole Udo. That would be wild in itself, where an undrafted dude is starting over your first-round pick who you need to find a spot for. Doesn't it feel like every time we go to Lambeau, though, there's a crazy penalty where you're like, wait.

And that ultimately ends up deciding the game. Sure. Or, you know, players don't understand the rules. That also happened. Stacey Coley, yes, where he just caught the kickoff. And he tried to hand it to Ref. And Ref's like. I should have referenced that.

I should have referenced that. Like, he caught the ball and just tried to hand it to the ref. And the ref was like, what? It's a live ball. You can't give it to me. And he just dropped it on the ground. What? And then he gets himself cut.

The things that happen to this team. So that puts them at 8-8. And then Chicago comes here. Yeah yeah to U.S. Bank Stadium on January 9th look Matt Nagy's had luck in some good games against the Vikings in years past and this team has you know been a bugaboo for the Vikings I mean last year you look back at that week 15 game against Chicago that's the that's the reason the Vikings didn't end up in the playoffs as the seventh seed and Chicago did um 2018 same thing so season on the line here I don't know if you get in at the as a seven seed at eight and nine granted we'll know a little bit more after the

Saints tonight yeah Thursday night uh football so Saints in in Dallas I think is a pretty big indicator of a team that you know if Saints lose tonight they're probably yep you know they're out so maybe you can get in an eight or nine I don't know I don't think so I have them winning against Chicago because I think nine and eight is this team's ceiling and it's what gets them into the seventh seed in the postseason. So how they win this game, I think that this will be the close one against Chicago. This will be just to make matters fun and to cap off a crazy regular season before they head into the playoffs.

This will take another two-minute drive after the defense. There will be a fumble. Let's say Kene Wongwu because Dalvin Cook is either not playing or they're trying to preserve him for the postseason. Kene Wongwu fumbles in the two-minute drive, similar to what happened against Detroit with Madison in week five.

Chicago goes down and scores this time, and it will take a 55-yard field goal from Greg Joseph. On the foot of a kicker for the entire season. To lift his team into the playoffs. Well done. Because, and then we'll have the Greg Joseph post-game press conference where he's asked about, you know, exonerating all of the demons of the Minnesota Vikings from kicker's pass.

I love it that's happened before I think this is well done so you really recovered after a slow start there like I thought my first one was at least like realistic well that's the that's the problem is that I didn't make it nuts but this season it's never realistic it's always crazy it's never anything that we ever expect I'm gonna go. In 2016, the Bears were the team that came up with Philly special and then Philly copied that in the Super Bowl and the touchdown was thrown to Matt Barkley. I'm going to say that they draw up a Philly special play at the goal line to win the Bears and instead throw an interception to Eric Hendricks who runs it the rest of the way

and wins the game. That could absolutely happen. He's he's in I mean that caps off in all his second all-pro campaign since 19 like yeah I think he's played an all-pro level I think he has too and that would be like the dagger right and we'll call it like the Chicago not so special or something okay am I right sure uh okay so I'm going to read some point break quotes, and we can apply them to Vikings lines. All right. All right. Now, this is Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves. I mean, classic, 1991.

This is a Patrick Swayze quote from that movie. His character is Bodhi. Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true. Apply that to Vikings-Lions. I mean, my God, could that go any more perfectly for Mike Zimmer's aggressiveness on fourth down? I feel like that fits into it perfectly. I could use that for a number of different games,

but they're going to have some fourth down situations and they're going to go for it and not even think twice. A couple fourth and ones at the goal line, fourth and two maybe in, you know, just to get them inside the red zone. Like they're going for it because I know Zimmer kind of felt, he felt like a little bit lighter going into this game on Wednesday. He just got done watching Lions tape.

That's kind of where he looks at it, where he's like, this team is very obviously beatable. But the second they give them an inch, they know that they're back in trouble again because it's exactly what happened in week five. So foot on the throttle, Zimmer on fourth down. I think this also applies to Kirk Cousins, where sometimes with Cousins, fear causes hesitation,

and he throws high or takes a sack. Or lines up under the guard. Where sometimes with Cousins, fear causes hesitation. And he throws high or takes a sack. Or lines up under the guard. Or lines up under the guard. And what he knows about this game is if you lose this game, it's over. Your season is pretty much over here. But also, your time here is over. Because if he loses this game against such a horrendous team like one of the worst teams on paper ever and that's my point about well they played some close games like yeah but their point differential is just like putting them

in like all-time bad category and if you lose this game because you're hesitant because you're not aggressive you're going to put them in the same situation they were before against the Lions, which is needing to kick a field goal at the end. And so the Cousins we saw last week after he threw the interception, very hesitant. Not only him, but also the play caller. It was like they had Jefferson throw a pass. They were throwing some screens.

They really went away from being aggressive after that interception from Kirk like they all got a little they all got a little scared and it made their worst fears come true so I think that's always possible against any opponent for this to happen to throw a pick to take a strip sack conservative right and then all of a sudden Kirk okay here's another one another quote from Bod If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love. You see why I love this movie? I mean, this sounds very dramatic. It sounds like a quote I can apply to the defense.

Yes. Read it to me one more time. Okay. Because I want to apply it to a certain player. Okay. If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love. So this is an Eric Kendricks quote.

Oh. Because I don't think Anthony Barr is going to play this week. You know, he's dealing with a hamstring on top of a knee that's been an issue all season long. The Lions are going to, I think that they're going to still, with Jamal Williams, even though DeAndre Swift might not play, they're going to try to stick with what they know and run the heck out of the ball. And Kendricks is going to feast and have so many tackles for losses,

strip sack maybe on Jared Goff, maybe a forced fumble on Jamal Williams. Like he's going to take over this game defensively because the pass rush itself and the defensive line is still like, they're just throwing guys in hoping that somebody makes a play and just trying to spread the wealth in the responsibility among everybody on the defensive line. So I think this is the Kendricks put them on my back type quote. I'm going to get rich or die trying.

I mean, that's a 50-cent line. That's not a point-break line, but I couldn't remember which your thing was word for word. You want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. And the ultimate price is he's going to be absolutely gassed after this game because he's going to be everywhere because they need him to be. Because we don't know. I mean, they might be down. Michael Pierce is supposed to be back. Willie Dalvin Tomlinson supposed to be back. Willie, I don't think Anthony Barr plays. Who

the hell knows about Patrick Peterson and the COVID thing? So going into this, this is the Eric Kendricks game. I like it. I think that's a good angle. I'm going to go with Zimmer and blitzing and going after Jared Goff because if you want the ultimate strip sacks angle. I'm going to go with Zimmer and Blitzing. Okay. And going after Jared Goff. Because if you want the ultimate, strip sacks, you ain't going to get him from a four-man rush. Okay, they got a little pressure on Jimmy G. That's where you can use Eric Hendricks. Exactly.

Congratulations. You know, Armand Watts had a decent game. But it's very hard with these front four, even with Delvin Tomlinson back, assuming he's good to go. It's very hard to get any pressure with these guys. Tashaun Bauer and TJ Smith and whoever else is running out there. DJ Wanham, he got a sack, but only because Anthony Barr helped him. Should be great.

Maybe if Barr plays that he will be part of this blitz package. If he plays, which doesn't seem likely. But you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price which is give up a potential huge play and that happened against the vikings uh with green bay where they blitzed aaron rogers and you know big plays and it's not tragic to die doing what you love zimmer loves dialing up blitzes third down it's very good at it if you give up a 50 yard play to jared goff because you were dialing up a blitz because you knew you couldn't pressure with four it's very good at it if you give up a 50 yard play to jared goff because you were dialing up a blitz because you knew you couldn't pressure with four it's not tragic it's just football

that's how it goes all right i've got another one uh oh where did it go this was a good one i'm saving via codeos for the end my uh that's a that's at the very end you know the classic final scene. Gosh, I just had a perfect one. Well, maybe we should do Vaya con Dios then. Okay. I don't know what Vaya con Dios means. Live with the gods or something?

Yeah. Go with the gods? How can we apply that one? Ir is to go in Spanish. That's the verb. And Vaya is conjugated, to go. Okay. Go with the gods. Oh, here's the one i've got this is johnny utah talking to bode who's johnny utah keanu reeves okay he says look bode people

are dead the ride is over how's that decent keanu reeves i mean sure okay okay b, people are dead. The ride is over. And Bodie says, oh, no, no, no. I say when it's over. All right. Apply that to the Vikings. I say when it's over. That's a Justin Jefferson line. Oh, I like it. Good job.

He's going, like, in my two-touchdown Justin Jefferson game, 140 yards receiving because they actually stick with, they don't try to compensate for Cook's Cook's loss or not having him they try to stick with what they know and what's been working so this is Justin Jefferson absolutely mossing people on his way to a two touchdown 140 yard game and he's in control he's what dictates the Minnesota Vikings winning this game. So that's him. Vaya con Dios does mean go with God.

Yeah. So good job. I don't really know what that means, like go with God. I don't know how to apply that, so I might just lean on you for picking that quote. But I liked mine for the I decide when this game is over type thing. It's perfect. It's the perfect pick is Justin Jefferson. Because this team outside of Justin Jefferson is not good. They're just not good.

Like the secondary is struggling. The defensive line is struggling. The offensive line is struggling. The running back is hurt. The only cornerback who's competent has COVID. Everything is falling apart. Our Peds heads are falling off or whatever. And there's one guy who can

say this ride isn't over till I say it's over and it's the dude who can go for 200 yards any game and dominate and take you to the playoffs and that's Justin Jefferson it's your only way there

to go through that schedule even though it's easy for the most part there's only one way you get there and it's if Justin Jefferson completely dominates and that's the perfect pick.

I say when it's over. So, you know, maybe it'll end differently for him than it did for Bodie. Uh, or something. Well, look,

I don't want to ruin it. Sounds very tragic. Yeah. Um, give me before we wrap up just, uh, I guess, I mean,

go with God. You could be saying like this whole team, this whole team, like the football gods are just could be saying, like, this whole team. This whole team. Like, the football gods are just throwing one thing after the next at this team on a weekly basis. Well, like we said at the top of the show, it's black and white. Every week is either living and dying with this team and covering this team. It's blow it all up or, hey, hope is still alive. And the football gods will tell us.

The football gods are going to decide. There's no there's no gray area here it's one or the other so go with the football gods is basically what keanu reeves was saying um what what do you think is is like the biggest factor in this game if we're doing that before we wrap up just like what what's going to determine this game and well let me ask you in a different way too like what would be the scenario that's realistic not the like crazy scenario that Vikings fans are cooking up in their heads going into this game saying you know what Detroit's going to do to us they're going to do x y and z and that's how we end up with this horrendous loss

oh god I mean Jared Goff played a pretty good game against chicago all things considered you know what a good game is for jared goff you know coming off the oblique injury like that's you know if you see jared goff shades of 2018 jared goff i guess yeah 2018 jared goff the one that got to the super bowl it'd be like wow okay this finally worked out for them this is what you know detroit had hoped when they made this trade and got all these picks and got a quarterback or at least what they think is a quarterback in the process, that that would be the Jared Goff, the realization type game for him, if that makes sense.

I mean, other than that, it'd be a Kirk meltdown. I really do think that people would look at that and be like, that's the way that Detroit wins. That Kirk has, you know, the trend stops where he's really good against the Lions and he's all of a sudden really bad against the Lions. But I just don't see that happening. I don't. Not against this team. Sam Ekstrom here, wondering if you're stuck on your company's injury report.

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I don't believe the trap game thing. I really don't like that. I just don't like the phrase. Not for a bad team. Not for an under 500 team, there's no trap games. But it does feel like, I don't know, just the nervousness around it. Not necessarily saying, like I'm not saying that players are nervous about this game, but this just carries that sort of vibe like good lord like if you can

you can envision it happening you can envision Detroit somehow with lucky breaks the ball bounces a certain way there's there's penalties it's a 35 yard dpi on Bashad Breeland because the receiver gets behind him and pulls his jersey like I don't know like there's just so many weird things that could happen that have happened this year from a penalty perspective and that's what's that's what ends up becoming like hey we have to go win this game in the two-minute drive or we're done there's one thing that I think could unravel the Vikings against the Lions and one thing pretty much only I mean you could say themselves and Kirk like if he just has one of those days out of nowhere like against Atlanta like against Buffalo a few years ago like that's that's one

way but the Lions one thing they are actually average at is run blocking and if you are average at run blocking that means you're great against the Vikings the only way I see this happening because golf just doesn't have the weapons to have a big no he doesn't but but they could run and control the ball all day like San Francisco did and they can just do it with Jamal Williams I think isn't playing yeah I think they could do it with their offensive line okay like I tend to think that outside of a handful of players every year that running games are entirely offensive line based and pretty much any running back can fill in and do it. If they block it up, it's always possible that they can have long drives and think about San Francisco turning that game and they're not San Francisco, but they're also not terrible when it comes to running the ball and they're running offense. San Francisco turns that game with two really long drives that suck the air out of the football for the Vikings and end up taking the lead at the end of the half.

It is possible that they could do that. I don't see it happening, and I'm still going to pick them to win by 20. But if there's one scenario that's scaring people, I think that's it. Okay. Yeah, I mean, they just got gashed for 208 yards against a very competent run team and Detroit wants to be a competent run team because that's really is their only strength. The reason I said golf is because he did have a good game against the bears in a vacuum. Like let's look at it for what it was, but if they're going to play a close game, Jared golf, having a good game, relatively speaking, could actually factor into that.

As we speak, the Vikings have activated Dalvin Tomlinson as we expected. But activated doesn't necessarily mean, I mean, who knows? He had COVID. There have been players, Kenny Willekes has been activated for a while now, and he hasn't been able to get back. So if you're the Vikings, you hope. I mean, they had some optimism, at least with Pierce and with Tomlinson that they're coming back to practice they'll see but I mean again we'll see with these with these injuries and with the COVID stuff because

I don't know you just don't know this was fun do you want to sing though what does that stat mean before we wrap up I want you to sing it because you do better than me well then I have to ask you about a stat because that's the rules. So let me come up with one really quick and then we can do it. Now I got to remember how it goes. What does that mean? What does that mean? Yeah, that's the part I like.

The guitar riff. You said you record. Wait, wait. Let's just like spoiler alert here. You have an actual guitar riff coming? Yeah. I was working on the other day making this. Oh, I'm so excited.

Like 15 or 20 second version of what does that stat mean? I just want to see you like recording this thing like screaming into a microphone. The guitar part is easy to do. The making it sound like actual singing. You could put some filters over it. You could do a filters over it. You could. Oh, I know.

Do a lot of things. Because we said we were going to bring this up. Oli Udo. Yes, and his bajillion qualities. Yeah. He had a 10 pass block grade last week. And he has now had, I think, I can get this up here, but I think it's like six games in a row without being above average, which is kind of hard to do for an offensive lineman.

It's time, right? It's time to make a change here. It's been time. And I know that their whole thing was we need to put size around Garrett Bradbury at center. Well, Garrett Bradbury is not playing center. And I think for Rick Spielman, if you want to be able to justify that first round pick, I went back and looked. I mean, anybody can do it.

Look at his first round picks from 2015 Justin Jefferson is the only one out of everyone from that stretch that you can hang your hat on you mean yeah since then of the 25th of the first round picks from 15 to 21 Gare Bradbury might be the biggest bust out of that entire group a group that includes Laquan Treadwell so I think you have to do one last ditch effort. Be like, maybe we'll fit him at guard. Didn't he play some guard at one point at NC State? So try it. What do you have to lose? You're right. Getting benched halfway through your third season for Mason Cole. And if Blake Brandel, an undrafted former college free agent who came here. Sixth rounder, wasn't he?

Was he? Yeah, I think so. Damn. I mean, 50 cents or a half dollar, but yeah. Yeah, basically undrafted. Oregon State. Oregon State. Who am I thinking of?

Go Beavers. Yeah. No, I was thinking of somebody else who was an undrafted offensive line. There have been many. Kyle Hinton, maybe? No, he was drafted. He was a seventh rounder. Oh, yeah, he was a seventh rounder.

I remember when we talked to him during the draft, he made it sound like, oh, yeah, I'm absolutely making this roster. i was like they usually do so they do sound like that but yeah i mean like there's no reason that blake brandle should be replacing ole udo at right guard if garrett bradbury is available to play so here's does it happen this week i don't know but it has to happen at some point yeah i think so whether it's a or you could move Mason Cole there. Someone else needs to be playing guard. Garrett Bradbury cannot go back to playing center.

Here's the stat. Week three against Seattle was the last time that Ole Udo had an above average pass blocking grade. And his grades, now it's out of 100. Anything under 60 is like you didn't do so good. The last five games, 43, 38, 38, 57, 10. 10, yeah. Ah, that is super bad. I mean, and it's the most obvious glaring thing, too, with the holding,

with all the penalties, with just how bad he is in pass protection. Like, he's not a guard. No. They tried to make not a guard. No. They tried to make him a guard. It's been established. So, I mean, yeah. The experiment is over. It lasted 13 weeks.

So that's what that stat means. Well, Courtney, this was super fun. I mean, we went from... I'll be more dangerous next time. And from the start, I think I finished okay. Yeah, no, you finished strong. With my wild field goal but yeah I mean they win in Detroit because if they don't you're right season's over even if you

somehow stumble your way back into the playoffs that's not a win in the in the wild card round if you lose to Detroit yeah I feel the same way if you lose to Detroit here the playoffs become much harder but even if you make it you're like you lost the Cooper Rush in Detroit I mean what so uh we will of course see and we'll break it down as we always do so thank you for your time you have to watch point break that is now a requirement watch it on my way to Detroit that sounds good all right we'll see you later