Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Grading the Vikings at the quarter mark of the season with Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer

Episode Date: October 6, 2020

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Starting point is 00:01:31 Download TE1 today, wherever you listen to podcasts. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and joining me from the Star Tribune is Andrew Kramer. What's up, Andrew? Well, from my apartment. I'm doing pretty well, Matthew. Good to see you. So, yeah, traveling, are you doing any of it for this year?
Starting point is 00:02:00 Because I missed it yesterday. And one of the things, and I thought the broadcast was okay this week against Indianapolis it was a time uh the kicker for Indianapolis changed names several times and Adam Thielen worshipped Julian Edelman according to that broadcast so yesterday was okay with Brock Heward and Greg Jennings and uh a very upset Chris Myers that the Texans were running so often but I miss going and seeing new stadiums and going to places to eat and everything else. Like, I really enjoyed the travel part of this, and it's kind of sad. I don't enjoy really covering games from my couch.
Starting point is 00:02:36 Yeah, this was the first one I had to cover from my couch as well since I think it was the 2016 season. I had gone to every game since then. Yeah, we went to the Indianapolis game, but sending four people on the road for the Star Tribune just wasn't economically the smartest way to go because, yeah, how much do you get out of it? We're not in the locker room. We're not talking to these coaches face-to-face.
Starting point is 00:02:56 There's nothing you can do pre-game or post-game that really makes it worth it. So I got to cover this one from home and listen to Greg Jennings like you did. It was, you know, I think I need to cover this one from home and listen to Greg Jennings like you did. It was, you know, I think I need to get used to these broadcasts because I had to mute it a few times. I was like, I just can't handle it. Well, when we cover every single tiny part of this team all the time versus people who are going from teams to teams and they have to get everything about both teams and so forth, and they don't know what every guy's aesthetic is. And you're like, that obviously aren't his gloves. So that's not so-and-so. And they're like way up in a broadcast booth. So there's going to be some room for error. But at the same time, it's just
Starting point is 00:03:37 not something that I focus closely on. Because if you're just watching a regular game, it's usually the Monday night football or it's, you know's the Sunday night football game that you're watching. So we don't often watch the number three team on Fox or CBS. And so having done that the last couple of weeks, a little weird. And from a journalistic perspective, you and I, and I don't want anyone to feel bad for us here, but being in the locker room, we have a similar approach of like sometimes just small talk with players on the side while we're standing around will spark a story idea and get something interesting. And I was even thinking today, there was an idea I had,
Starting point is 00:04:16 and I thought, man, if I was in the locker room, I could go up to ask the player, hey, is this a thing or is it not a thing? And now not being able to do that is tougher. And again, a lot of people have more challenges because of COVID than us, but it sort of had to change the way that we do this. Yeah, I have to thank the people that are still following all of our coverage, from me to you to anybody in this market or any NFL market, because it's just so difficult to do, as you said. It's the personal side of it. And it's also, yeah, the kind of way to kind of branch out and do different things. The amount of times that, as you said, that you talk to somebody off to the side, it's not even, it doesn't even need to be a starter. I remember
Starting point is 00:04:56 the amount of times I would have a conversation with guys like Kentrell Brothers. I mean, that would just spark some kind of idea. And you would never quote him. You would never appear in anything you ever wrote. But he would be the impetus for some story, maybe on Anthony Barr or somebody that he knew very well. So it just, yeah, it makes the job so much harder. And again, I have to thank all the people following us because they're hopefully going to stick through this and maybe 2021 we're back to normal. Yeah, we're trying our best here and definitely hope that 2021 is back to normal, but not super confident confident so we'll see uh let's grade some stuff is that cool um so we are at the i mentioned this to you off the air but we are at the quarter mark of the season if you say quarter
Starting point is 00:05:36 pull of the season then horse racing people will get perturbed because it's not doesn't mean what you think it means so important quarter mark of the season so let's assign some grades to some position groups and so forth on this and start with Kirk Cousins now I was just pulling this up Kirk Cousins is rated by pro football focus the 10th best quarterback in the NFL this year his traditional stats not super great though two of his interceptions that go into this is why quarterback rating sometimes is problematic, two Hail Mary interceptions, those go down as the same as a bad interception in the quarterback rating, but it really doesn't mean the same thing.
Starting point is 00:06:15 So how would you evaluate Mr. Cousins through four games? Boy, because the one we just saw, or even the Tennessee game too, if you take it collectively, they were so different than the first two games, right? The way he played against the Titans, it was a different game plan, but he was still able to succeed and have the breakout with Justin Jefferson. And then for them to go back to what they do normally and do well with the play action game here against the Texans when they finally get their first win. It looked like Kirk in October last year when he was winning NFC Player of the Month, but at the same time, it was so poorly to start the year,
Starting point is 00:06:51 and how much do you put on him? That's the famous, you know, that's the question of how much is it on the offensive line dealing with what they've had to deal with, how much of it's on Gary Kubiak for trying to get a feel for what can this team do, and should we be putting Kirk in certain situations like play action dropbacks that lead to a safety? There's just so many different trying to get a feel for what can this team do and should we be putting Kirk in certain situations like play action drop backs that lead to a safety there's just so many different things that you have to take into account so with Kirk I would have to put it at just kind of an average C I can't say any more any less than that because I think the numbers might say that he's in that below average echelon so far and I don't think that the case. I think he's had to deal with some things.
Starting point is 00:07:25 They've had to make some major changes on the fly here with Justin Jefferson stepping in with guys letting him down. They had three key drops in that Colts game. There was other pieces. Drew Samita starting games now at guard. I just don't put so much of it, maybe as much as other people do, on Kirk. But at the same time, he's always that guy that's going to frustrate you if you're a Vikings fan or he seems to be,
Starting point is 00:07:50 and that he's not going to necessarily always make up for those shortcomings elsewhere. And so to me, it's just been average. I think it's been an average quarter of the start for Kirk. It's been extremely Kirk Cousins is what it has been. That, you know, in the games that they lose, there are key mistakes by Cousins in times of the games where you think that's where he should step up.
Starting point is 00:08:11 And that even goes for the Tennessee game. Of course, Garrett Bradbury snapping it right by him is not his fault. And the offensive line collapsing is not his fault. But there were other drives where you could stick a dagger in the Titans that didn't happen. And even against Houston, the door is still left open a crack for them to potentially come back and they are this close to scoring on that throw to Will Fuller and not that you would blame the offense but you would say there were a couple of shots throughout that game that were opportunities missed that were sacks taken, where it looks like you
Starting point is 00:08:45 had time to get rid of the ball and not have a drive-crushing play, and yet it happened. But at the same time, especially against Houston, but I would say against Tennessee as well, there are some terrific throws mixed in. I think his pro football focus grade is too high because they factor the end of the Green Bay game where I think that we don't. Yes, he made great throws, but they don't adjust of the Green Bay game where I think that we don't like yes he made great throws but they're not they don't adjust for the game situation so they're not going to be like throw that in the trash like no he made those throws so they're going to grade them but we are looking at
Starting point is 00:09:15 those a little differently because they were playing back in Indianapolis I also think boy the supporting cast just didn't give him any help. Irv Smith catches the ball and then drops it. He has a push-off penalty. You have an interception where it kind of goes through the receiver's hands. You have an offensive line who looked like they had never played in the NFL before. And then it turns out that Indy's defense is actually really darn good the next couple of weeks. So I think that it's been the typical, if he plays against a defense that's not good, he's going to beat them or play really well. And if he plays against a defense that's not good, he's going to beat them or play really well.
Starting point is 00:09:46 And if he plays against a defense that's good, he's going to have his problems. So we're sort of in the Kirk's just not been that interesting to discuss so far because there's your Kirk for you. He'll make a throw just to, not to cut you off, but he'll make a throw that, I'm thinking of the 19-yarder to Kyle Rudolph, I think it was. There was play action in that game against the Texans. He's got somebody in his face coming at him. He's kind of dropping back.
Starting point is 00:10:12 It's that kind of improvisational on-the-move throw. And then where is that nine times out of ten? Right. And we've seen it a couple of times this year, but I don't think it's been at a higher rate than before. And do you ever think it's funny, just like an oxymoron kind of thing, when someone talks about going off schedule, like you're planning to go off schedule?
Starting point is 00:10:31 Like I don't think off schedule and planned actually can go together. So, yeah, I'm planning to do that. I'm planning to go off schedule. Anyway, so it's just – Planning to have instincts is just not – yeah, you can't do it. It's kind of a funny thing. But those big throws from him against Houston were sort of what we see So it's just planning to have instincts is just not, yeah, you can't do it. It's kind of a funny thing, but those, those big throws from him against Houston were sort of what we see when the
Starting point is 00:10:49 other team is not that great is that he'll find his ways. And especially if he's not pressured that much, which in that game he was not and took full advantage. Now from the running back perspective, hard to give Delvin cook anything but an a, I mean, it starts, at least in my opinion, it starts with his health. So it's always something we're watching through a quarter of the season, a couple of times where he's a little dinged up.
Starting point is 00:11:11 But other than that, he has taken a lot of snaps. He's made a ton of plays. And in these last two games, he has been flat-out superstar-level dominant and led the NFL in broken tackles. I mean, coming off of the huge contract, it's exactly what you'd want to see from Delvin Cook. Yeah. Has he fumbled yet?
Starting point is 00:11:30 I don't believe so. No. Yeah, that's the thing. And so the knocks on him were durability, as you said, and him not holding on to the football. Oh, yes, he did once. Green Bay, right? Green Bay.
Starting point is 00:11:41 Gosh, I'd have to look it up. But either way, the fact that we're talking about this means that he has not had any, like, key big turnovers like we've seen in the past. This guy's phenomenal. I went back and watched the Houston game over again with trying to just get a sense more of Gary Kubiak and what they were going in trying to do. And I had to just keep stopping on the Dalvin Cook plays and rewatching them because they are just so insane. Some of the things this guy is doing, he's getting contacted. One of the plays, Drew Samia was knocked four yards back, and he runs into his own guard, bounces outside,
Starting point is 00:12:11 turned into a 15-yard run. I think that was like in the fourth quarter. One of his 20-plus, you know, was it 22nd, 23rd carry, something like that, 20-plus carries at that point. It's just insane to see from this guy who we know he can do it. And every time he does it, it's still just kind of surprising. It's like, oh yeah, that's right. It doesn't matter kind of what the situation is. He's going to be able to turn something in. And it was, I think too, that seven yard touchdown he had where it was like four or five guys try
Starting point is 00:12:39 to drag him down and he bounces outside, stiff arms the last one. He's doing it every single way. It's kind of a really phenomenal and fun guy to watch. So yeah, nothing more than an A for him. him down and he bounces outside stiff arms the last one um he's doing it every single way it's kind of a really phenomenal and fun guy to watch so yeah nothing more than an a for him or nothing uh he yes it was against tennessee actually that he had the fumble do you remember it now he's kind of running to the right side um that's right yep so he right now has pff's highest grade in the entire nfl for running the ball and averages 5.7 yards per carry, which is nuts. And six touchdowns on an offense that was slow to start the season and struggled, and
Starting point is 00:13:11 yet he still has six rushing touchdowns already. I guess my one question, if I were going to give it an A- and 7A, but I'm not because I don't think this is his fault. I think this is more of the offense and a product, I think, of the offensive line that he just hasn't been involved in the screen game. Now, technically, his one screen was a run because it was thrown behind the line of scrimmage in the game against Houston. That was more of along the lines of what you want to see, but the slip screens were really working in 2019, and it seemed like every defense went we're not going to let
Starting point is 00:13:46 them do that and we're going to be right there ready and also I don't know that Drew Samia really knows how to operate one of those or anything else for that matter which we'll get to but that would be the one criticism I have on his start to the season is just Gary you got to get him involved more in the passing game yeah I like what they did with the one, at least in the beginning of the game, with the Texans, where it was Garrett Bradbury kind of, as you said, slip screen, just the center, only the center, kind of focusing him out there and leaving four guys in the block. That gives Cousins at least a modicum of time.
Starting point is 00:14:17 And then you can get Garrett, who I think is so much better when he's out on the run instead of just sitting back there and getting bulldozed at times. Get that guy on the move. Get him out there against the defensive back. And it was an 11-yard gain on second down. And that's the kind of thing that they need to utilize. And also, how much do you put on Kirk for maybe just, hey, you already want to throw short of the stick sometimes. Just check down to that guy, too, every now and then. And, right, he hasn't done a lot of that.
Starting point is 00:14:42 He's been mostly throwing the ball down the field. His average depth of target is one of the highest in the NFL, which is a big change from 2018, but sort of similar to 2019. But there haven't been as many screens, and it's amazing. Last year, he averaged, when throwing behind the line of scrimmage, eight yards an attempt, which is preposterous. It's incredibly high. Most quarterbacks are usually somewhere between five and seven. And this year that's just been non-existent. Now, a follow-up question on Cook. He's been great. He's super good at football. I don't think any of us have ever doubted that. Two questions. A, does it last through a whole season, do you think? And B, are they wasting, if this season does not turn out to be turned around and they go 13-3,
Starting point is 00:15:25 are they wasting a season of Delvin Cook? And then that's where it gets more tricky. No one was ever against this version of Delvin Cook for a contract, but it's always what happens down the road because of the, you know, Todd Gurley was unbelievable early in his career and then suddenly fell off the edge of a cliff. So I think that's like a consideration when we look forward with Dalvin Cook. Yeah, I looked it up. I think only Derrick Henry and Joe Mixon have got more carries right now than Dalvin Cook.
Starting point is 00:15:54 Those guys have so far proven to have no durability concerns at this point of their careers. Dalvin has a lot of them, the shoulder injuries, the knee injuries, the hamstring he dealt with. I think the shoulders are the biggest concern because when you talk to people a lot smarter than us, they'll tell you that these dislocations, they can happen over and over. And then the more they happen, the more likely to continue happening. So I think the biggest complaint that, at least in the media,
Starting point is 00:16:19 we've heard from fans when it comes to the Vikings about Cook is, well, why didn't you use him more earlier on? It's probably because they've got this thinking of, hey, we need to try to make sure we have a 16-game outlook for this guy and can't just all of a sudden give him 400 carries in a season like he is Derrick Henry. And I guess the good thing is if you're not getting involved in the screen game, those aren't added wear and tear touches right now, but he got 27 carries against the Texans. And that is something where if you want to win, you need to do that. But is it worth doing that this year?
Starting point is 00:16:49 That's a great question. And one that I think really only Mark Wilf and the Vikings ownership should be answering right now for them. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports inspired goods. If you have not seen it yet, you've got to check it out. A couple of my favorite designs are the Duck Duck Gray Duck and the Randy Moss Goat, which you've got to see. All their apparel is screen printed here in Minnesota on super soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies.
Starting point is 00:17:16 You will love it. We're going to hook you up with free shipping on your next order. By the way, use promo code code purple insider for free shipping that's soda stick s-o-t-a s-t-i-c-k.com original minnesota sports inspired goods code purple insider for free shipping 27 carries reminded me of like back in the day like eddie george would get 27 carries you do not see too many guys getting 27 carries in a game. And this is what you were supposed to have Alexander Madison for, but it would seem, and this is no knock on Madison, but the line outside of Bradbury was not run blocking particularly well. And it just didn't
Starting point is 00:17:55 matter because Delvin Cook was going to break every tackle. But when Madison went in, it's just a different story. He's a good player, but he's not good enough like Cook is to make up for complete ineptitude when it comes to run block. That's just that too. And Cook talked about after the game, I think somebody had asked about, you guys have had a lot of the outside runs. What was it about the Texans? He said, well, they're really big. We had to outrun them. We just needed to get to the edge and outrun them. I'm not saying Madison's slow, but Dalvin's faster. And Dalvin was doing that a lot quicker. And even some of these runs that were in the middle, Dalvin would just instinctively bounce it outside and realize, hey, I know I've got the speed to take it on these guys.
Starting point is 00:18:31 And it looked so much different when Madison was in the game. I think Madison's so good as a closer, and he's so good as a red zone running back when you just needed to plow forward and just kind of get some yardage. But if you really need to make up for the fact that you're losing the line of scrimmage, I just don't think Alexander's going to get it done 20 times a game like Dalvin's doing it. All right, grade me wide receivers and tight ends. Boy, I'm interested in your grade here because I haggled over this. Yeah, the wide receivers are tough. To me, the tight ends
Starting point is 00:19:02 aren't that tough because I don't think they've played that well outside of Kyle Rudolph. And really it's just Irv Smith going through some growing pains. You had mentioned earlier, I think it was the Indy game, where he had two penalties that were just boneheaded moves. And then afterward he was asked about the crackback block on Darius Leonard, and he talked like he didn't understand the rule. And for a second-year NFL player, that's not what you want. And then he also had a drop on a jarring hit in that game, too.
Starting point is 00:19:27 He just hasn't gotten involved. And I think fans will just say, well, throw him the ball. Well, you need to do things like not get penalized, run block, be where you're supposed to be to then get those targets. And look at Justin Jefferson. That's exactly what happened with him. He had to bide his time for a couple weeks, kind of got expedited because Ola B.C. Johnson had an awful game. So to go ahead and plug Justin Jefferson in, that's why to me the
Starting point is 00:19:49 wide receivers are doing so much better. We're seeing Gary Kubiak go empty sets. We're seeing him go three wide. We're seeing him go four wide at times. I think it's because he's got confidence in some of these wide receivers. And so I think to them, I would rate them as a B plus right now. And after trading Stephon D's, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. And a big part is because Justin Jefferson fell to you in the first round. The tight ends to me, that would be more of a C, C minus. Cause I think they had big hopes for what that two tight end package can do.
Starting point is 00:20:17 And we have not seen much of it right now. If we're putting them all together, I think I go somewhere in the middle of that. I think I go like C plus, but it's kind of weird. It's almost like if you're giving a test and you ace the toughest essay at the end, like it's multiple choice.
Starting point is 00:20:34 And then the essay, you crush the essay, but you do kind of mediocre on the multiple choice. You should get extra credit for the essay. That's Justin Jefferson. He's the essay. You've crushed that. I mean, that right now is, even in the first two weeks where he didn't play that much,
Starting point is 00:20:50 he still played well when he got out on the field and when he had targets. He caught them, he made plays, and then he finally gets his chance in week three and just sets the world on fire these last two weeks. And based on how he's done it, I don't expect that to change. Natural gifts that other people just don't have. And that's why you caught 111 passes at LSU, because you have different skill from everybody else. And I think we saw that in training camp on the field. It was just, he's probably not ready.
Starting point is 00:21:20 But when you watch, he's moving at a different speed than everybody else. I think I remember standing next to our buddy Sam Ekstrom at training camp, and this was around the time that everybody's writing the pieces of like, oh, the BC, sneaky starter, like, hey, Vikings are going to start him. And I'm thinking that's true, but look at how Justin's over there with Adam Thielen not taking part in any special teams drills. It was special teams point in camp, and the Vikings told this rookie, get out of here. We don't need you. Go with the veteran wide receiver. It's like, they had such big hopes
Starting point is 00:21:47 for this kid. It was only a matter of time before he ended up being that starting guy. And I think it, again, I think it was earlier than they expected because old BC did have a bad game in Indy, but it was also out of desperation because they needed that spark. Like they just needed to find that spark opposite Adam Thielen. And boy, this kid's really lit it on fire. And that's where that would go under the multiple choice of like, well, BC Johnson didn't work out as much as you want, but tough break. I mean, no, I mean like, look for the future of this team, it just doesn't mean anything.
Starting point is 00:22:16 And the same thing with Chad Beebe. And these are guys that we like and they're good stories and everything else. And they could play in the NFL. But if you're talking about difference-making players who win you games, then Justin Jefferson has shown that the last two weeks. They are nowhere close against the Titans without him. They lose to the Texans without him. And going forward, you have to evaluate, I think, the offense with Justin Jefferson
Starting point is 00:22:39 and throw out the first two games in terms of how you evaluate the weapons and what they're going to mean. On the Irv Smith thing, Mike Zimmer was a little defensive about that because he talked about plays that are drawn up for him, opportunities. I know when I looked back at the Tennessee game, there were chances for him to get the ball, but it didn't come out from Kirk or he was sped up in his reads because of the offensive line. But you certainly, when a guy has no receptions in two games out of the four, you certainly can't go like, A plus, good job, Irv. And Rudolph has done exactly what he's supposed to do. I mean, this is like late career Rudolph, is catch a pass here or there, make a big play here or there. The fact that Kirk trusted him on that 19-yard throw,
Starting point is 00:23:22 though, tell me you were not stunned by that that because he has just been the opposite of trusting Rudolph when that's exactly what you should do. Yeah, Kirk was throwing trust around a lot in Houston. I was surprised by that because it was, whether it was the back shoulder thing to Justin Jefferson or it was that play, like you had said, to Kyle Rudolph, where he's got a defender in his face and he's just saying, hey, save me on this one, please go up and get this. Thinking of Rudolph, though, the one-handed touchdown catch in Indianapolis too I mean that's
Starting point is 00:23:49 that's the kind of thing where you don't see those kind of plays very often and if Kirk can just put that in a spot where he trusts himself and they can trust the targets to make those plays hey maybe this offense is going to win more shootouts than we think offensive line where are we putting it uh bad just it i don't know it can't be quite an f because i think reef and uh brian o'neill have both been decent to good but not but the whole thing has not been good at all no and i think garrett bradbury it's so it's so tough too right because if if we'd if we could be person, if we could be in the locker room, maybe that is one of the side conversations you can have with a Garrett Bradbury is to figure out how much did not having the offseason really affect you?
Starting point is 00:24:34 How much did not being in the weight room, an NFL-level weight room, when that was kind of your offseason thing was to go out there and bulk up, get bigger. It's been disappointing this year. It's been so far. I know it's tough every week. You're going to have a Jadavian Clowney, a JJ Watt, but opponents tell you how they feel about you when you go against them. And it's consistently the best guy right across from you. And it doesn't matter if it's Drew Samia, Dakota Dozier, Pat Elfline when he was healthy, or Garrett Bradbury. Opponents consistently put the best guys inside, and that's happened since last year. And it's consistent.
Starting point is 00:25:09 Ever since they drafted Garrett Bradbury, opponents are like, it doesn't matter. We don't think he's that good. And so I think Garrett's got some things going for him in pass protection. It's just the run blocking has been abysmal up front at times. And that's weird for a guy in Cook who's leading the league in yards per touch, but it speaks to how many tackles he's breaking it speaks to how he's creating it does not speak to how this line is blocking necessarily up front they've got good things on the edges you're totally right i like what riley reef did especially in houston um i think brian o'neill's consistently
Starting point is 00:25:38 been the guy we thought he was um so i would have to balance it out at like a C-plus for the offensive line. And I understand I'm giving them a higher grade than Kirk. But I think this whole system is built around negating the damage the offensive line can do. And they're still doing a little bit too much damage, I think, for everybody's liking. Yeah, I was going to go probably C-minus on this because the downs have been so down to just to give up 60% of dropbacks with pressure in a single game any out of four gets you a major demerit and they weren't exactly good against Indianapolis I thought that Kirk was under pressure a lot and didn't have very many of those opportunities to sit back there and throw and of course I mean Houston's pass rush stinks though
Starting point is 00:26:24 I mean they're literally pass rush stinks, though. I mean, they're literally playing P.J. Hall the whole game, the guy that couldn't pass a physical for the Vikings. That is a horrible defensive line. Even J.J. Watt does not have the gas that he used to. And one guy you could kind of focus on. But the fact that they have a player in there who didn't even play the first game and has already given up 13 pressures in three games in Drew Samia and has a pass blocking grade for PFF of 19.
Starting point is 00:26:52 I've never seen it that low over multiple games. So there's that. Bradbury, I think it's almost weird because some of the pressure might go off of him as teams see Drew Samia playing and they're like, oh, okay, this is even easier to get to the quarterback. Let's focus our rush over there. The Seattle Seahawks, though, probably won't test this. Atlanta probably won't test this. Detroit probably won't.
Starting point is 00:27:16 So there are some opportunities coming up in the future schedule where they're going to at least have a chance to give Kirk time to throw. But I think when you go up against the good defensive lines, when they face the Packers again, when they face the Bears, it's still going to be every bit as problematic. Yeah, Tampa Bay, too, has a really good defensive front. That coming in December. If you are a gambling man, take the over on every Vikings game.
Starting point is 00:27:41 Just do it. Because we've seen it. We're going to keep seeing it. This defense is going to give up maybe 30 points a game, and the offense is going to get cushioned to catch up. And maybe they keep pace with teams like Atlanta, Detroit. Maybe these teams that aren't as good. Seattle, I just don't know how they're going to corral Russell Wilson. And DK Metcalf is averaging like 25 yards a catch. It was phenomenal. Anyway, yeah, I guess I might be grading the offensive line a little too much because the lows have been so, so low.
Starting point is 00:28:11 But I do think there are things moving forward that Kirk and even Gary Kubiak can kind of continue to do to help them out too. So let me just ask one more question on the offensive line, and then we'll grade the defense kind of as a whole. Riley Reif, is he coming back next year? Because he's playing pretty well. And do we see Ezra Cleveland anytime soon? Yeah, I would be surprised at this point if Riley Reif comes back.
Starting point is 00:28:38 This is a guy who could not have been happy about taking a $5 million pay cut, is now going to probably be on a losing team or a 500 team at this late stage of his career. And as much as he likes Gary Kubiak and what they've got going on here, I wonder if he's going to try to maximize financially the end of his career, because it's not going to be here. And I know a lot of teams might not have a lot of money to throw around, but if he's able to put a good enough season together here in 2020, there are going to be teams out there that are willing to give him a decent chunk of change,
Starting point is 00:29:10 probably more than what the Vikings are going to be able to do. Yeah, I was thinking from the Vikings' perspective that they might just want to keep him. Now, do you know, because Over the Cap does not have his final year voided, is he still under contract after this year? Because I was confused about that. My understanding is that he still still under contract after this year because I was confused about that oh my understanding is that he still is under contract after this year okay I thought so too so I guess my thinking was that well they might we all had it sort of written down in pen well cut him put in Ezra Cleveland but the fact that we haven't seen Ezra Cleveland and he's
Starting point is 00:29:40 played so well it made me think well maybe they just keep him for next year yeah Ezra Cleveland, and he's played so well, it made me think, well, maybe they just keep him for next year. Yeah, Ezra's a big, that's a big question, Mark. It can't, it's not a good sign. It's just not a good sign that this guy's still with their offensive line issues, specifically a guard. I know how much they have sunk in Drew Samia in terms of a year and a half over four games and a shortened offseason with Ezra, but that kid is supposed to be something special. He's supposed to be what you call the franchise left tackle cornerstone that takes over for Riley Reif. I believe the direct quote from the general manager was, hey, Riley's just going to hold down the fort for this kid.
Starting point is 00:30:15 And then he didn't give him any snaps because the O-line coach says, hey, he works better in tight spaces. And then we're still not getting him in the game, even though we're short a guard and not playing well inside. So I just, I have no read on that one right now. I had known that in the summer he was not doing well, confidence was low, and they didn't really view and feel good about him going into the season. So at this point, I don't know what could have happened to raise his confidence and for them to feel better about him because he's not getting a whole lot of snaps at practice.
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Starting point is 00:31:46 And if we don't see him pretty soon, then yeah, because there's no reason he shouldn't play over Dakota Dozier. And the fact that he is a guard and not a tackle is kind of weird now. Like you're a second-round pick, and I mean, at first, Gary made it sound like, oh, well, you know, we're just giving him some reps there but then he never took any reps at tackle and this sort of goes along the lines of what we saw from Samia where publicly they're like oh no it's fine everything's good you know he's great yep but then when you actually see it in practice and he can't beat out Pat Elfline it's like what
Starting point is 00:32:21 they do tells us more than what they say a lot of times. And in this case, the fact that he hasn't been, I mean, I thought maybe, okay, play Dozier for a couple weeks to get him acclimated, but it doesn't look like he's anywhere close to playing. No, and Dozier hasn't, I mean, frankly, sometimes Dozier's the best interior offensive lineman they've got. If Garrett's got a tough matchup, at least it knows. But I guess maybe the thing is they just don't want to screw with his head anymore by putting him on the right side for Drew Samia and think, think hey let's just try to keep him on the left side
Starting point is 00:32:48 but the fact that they haven't played him a tackle at all yeah that to me that says more than they're letting on all right grade the defense and you might as well just do this as well Mike Zimmer's coaching because it's his defense so grade both of those things for me. Yeah, I'll start with Zimmer because he started out, and he admitted it too in saying that he might have misjudged the defense a little bit and what they were capable of doing, at least in coverage. It sounded like a little bit of coaching hubris and thinking that, I got these corners ready, we'll be all right. And then they went in there, and it was not all right against Aaron Rodgers.
Starting point is 00:33:23 For them to play as much single high as they did against Green Bay to get torched right out of the gate against all that single high coverage, the safeties seem like they've been out of whack because they're being told to do one thing one game, and then the next game they're playing deep. And then they're getting caught shallow because they're still trying to help in the run but while still trying to play deep. I just think the whole thing is the feel for the game has been thrown so off for those
Starting point is 00:33:45 two guys, at least before this Texans game, and Harrison got ejected. So we don't know what that game would have looked like for him. But with Mike Zimmer, I think he's got them on kind of a yo-yo, and that has not necessarily helped their veterans in that secondary. And then the young guys, they've actually played a little bit better than I thought they would. I did not think Cameron Dantzler would come in and play the way he has. So with Zimmer, I would say his coaching is more of like a B, B minus right now. And you have dealt a really bad hand. Anthony Barr getting hurt, Daniel Hunter getting hurt, no sign of either of them coming back this year at all. That's really tough.
Starting point is 00:34:23 But at the same time, you know, this is supposed to be this kind of defensive guru, fixer, all that kind of stuff, and this defense allowed 444 yards and 30 points a game through an 0-3 start. So I think Zimmer's got to wear a little more of that than maybe he wants to, and I guess he's taken some of it publicly, but not a whole lot of it. The players, I don't know what you think, but I think, frankly, the defensive line has been the most disappointing group. To me, we were thinking that, okay, this is going to be Jaleel Johnson's moment. They talk up Shamar Steffen so much. Go ahead,
Starting point is 00:34:55 show it. Be that run stopper. Be that great nose that people talk about and know he was a seventh round pick for a reason. He's physically limited. This is a guy that's just going to be kind of who he is, which should be more of a rotational player. And you just didn't want to admit in the summer that, hey, we're going to be kind of screwed without Michael Pierce. And we're not, you know, Eric Hendricks is not going to have the same kind of run stops up front because he's not going to have Linval Joseph taking up so many double teams. Shamar doesn't require that. And Jaleel hasn't played that well at three tech. I think he's done decently against the run,
Starting point is 00:35:30 but we haven't seen him produce much of any pass rush up the middle. And then Ngakwe's taken a while to get acclimated because, hey, you traded for a guy who held out, and, yeah, he hadn't practiced since September 2nd in all of 2020. So, of course, it's going to take a while, and it's going to look ugly. And, frankly, I don't think Jalen Holmes has been much at defensive end although they bounced him around just in general they've got enough guys on that defensive line where you shouldn't be as porous as you are and when you watch them play against some of these teams it just doesn't look like a good defensive line yeah I totally agree with everything you said there and the fact that you have your defensive line guru and Andre
Starting point is 00:36:04 Patterson who believes that he could just coach him up and hey you know we'll just teach this guy to do this and Andre was almost cocky and talking about how hey remember that Dallas game where Shamar and Jaleel held down the fort right but that's one game that's not week in and week out and I remember Rick Spielman talking about this with players and how they put them in different color categories of a red player a blue player and those kind of things and one of the colors I forget which is a player who can fill in for a couple games and will be fine but you don't want them playing long term and I'm not even sure Jaleel can fill in and be fine but this whole thing of no we don't need any rotational rushers that we need to sign and bring in here.
Starting point is 00:36:46 We have all these guys that we've been drafting and developing. And then when you look back through these draft picks, you go, wow, there is not a whole lot of meat on that bone from what you've gotten out of all of these late picks that you thought you could develop. And I think that they got a little bit maybe full of themselves on, oh, we drafted Everson in the fourth round. He's a star. Oh, we got Tom Johnson out of the CFL, and he was really good. Oh, we got, you know, Linval Joseph on a fairly decent contract the first time we got him, but he wasn't a big superstar, and now he is. And so it's like, look, we have this ability to have the magic touch. You can't magic touch someone who's really bad.
Starting point is 00:37:25 And so I think that's what they've run themselves into here. And with Ngakwe, I think we've seen exactly why Jacksonville, though they are Jacksonville, but why they didn't want to say, okay, you can have Khalil Mack or Vaughn Miller or elite, elite money because even though he makes one play a week it's only one play a week and his run defense is about as bad as anyone's in the nfl he's much more like an outside linebacker than he is a 3-4 defensive end who sets an edge yeah where do they go from here too because that depth is something that they always wanted to kind of accumulate and you talk about a foddy and sure
Starting point is 00:38:04 maybe he's a good rotational guy. Maybe he is that guy that's supposed to be that number three, that Steven Weatherly kind of type that you kind of wanted him to be when you traded for an N'Gokwe. And maybe you were thinking that Hunter was going to come back at that point sooner than it seems right now. Because right now it's going to be N'Gokwe and Hunter. You presume Hunter's going to eventually be able to play football once again.
Starting point is 00:38:25 And what then? Because the defensive tackle situation right now, you need to hope Michael Pierce can come in and solve a lot of that up front. And then you're right back to square one, in my opinion, at three tech, because you can't expect anything out of James Lynch. Because if you can't expect anything out of your fourth year, fourth round picks, what are you going to get out of your rookie or second year guys? Right. The fact that, I mean, Jamesch put him in the same category as ezra cleveland the path is easy and if you can't get through that path of beating out jalen holmes then we're concerned right then even though oh he's just a rookie or whatever but if you can't
Starting point is 00:38:59 get on the field with guys who are replacement level players that might be in the xfl next year then i think it's a little concerning that you were that high of a pick. So special teams, it's fine. Dan Bailey's good. We don't need to grade that. Coaching point, I thought that this week specifically, Zimmer deserves to be proud of his coaching job. They had a lot of things go against them and they went and they were prepared from the very start of the game. They played well. They shut down Deshaun Watson on three straight drives or David Johnson inside runs uh for I mean they've gained 16 yards in their first couple of drives and you should be happy about that you never anticipate your safety getting thrown out of a game they were shorthanded uh really not
Starting point is 00:39:40 anything to do with him when it came to the defense, but situationally they stepped up. And so, yeah, I agree with you that, I mean, him trying to figure this out and adjust is as much of a problem as the players trying to adjust to all the new bodies. And there are regrettable things along the way, but I also think that in getting that win under these circumstances, it tells you that the players were ready to play, that they weren't ready to try and get their coach fired. And so, right? I mean, if they show up and get beat by 40, that to me says, we don't really want to play for you anymore. But the fact that they showed up and played really well, I think it does say something about them.
Starting point is 00:40:21 You're right. It does. The fact that they were down, all the COVID stuff, team facility getting closed, down to practice, having to get retested at game day before getting into the stadium. There were a lot of things there. It's just, I guess I'm stuck in the fact that if Will Fuller catches that ball and then they get a two-point conversion and we go into overtime and then who knows what happens. To do the sports writer thing that fans love of, well, then we might be talking about this the same way we're talking about the
Starting point is 00:40:47 Titans game. It's true. Because it was a very similar game where the offense balls out, the defense doesn't do enough, and they almost cough it up at the very end. Deshaun Watson threw, I believe, for 127 yards in the final two drives for the Texans. You just can't let that happen. And if you're a Vikings fan,
Starting point is 00:41:03 that's why you're white knuckling on the couch the entire time thinking like, is this going to happen again? And then fortunately for Mike Zimmer, it didn't. I agree that they had so much against them that it shouldn't have looked that good for the Vikings because it was still a turnover-free game. They were still able to win the yardage battle. They were still able to do enough things against Deshaun Watson, who should be so much better outside of a Bill O'Brien coach team. I do have to commend them for that. It's just this team's margin for error is so thin, and right there on Sunday, they were able to be on the correct side of that margin. All right, so I have two more things for you. One, I want you to rapid fire.
Starting point is 00:41:39 I'm going to give you a player, and I want you to guess their PFF grade, okay? Oh, God, okay. Okay, Eddie Yarbrough. What? Does he play this year? give you a player and I want you to guess their PFF grade. Okay. Oh, God. Okay. Okay. Eddie Yarbrough. What? Has he played this year? 22 snaps. This is the game.
Starting point is 00:41:51 The game is I'm giving you players who have barely played and you have to guess their PFF grade. Oh. How about- 22 snaps of Eddie Yarbrough is what? How about 71? Oh, man. You are way overrating those 22 snaps.
Starting point is 00:42:04 Am I? You didn't watch the games. You don't watch PFF grades. 30.3 is why he hasn't played, I guess, since then. Hercules Mata'afa in all 18 snaps. Stop trying to make Mata'afa happen, Vikings. No, stop. I guess PFF does more of a 0
Starting point is 00:42:26 to 100 grade. I'm still stuck on the 60 to 100. See, my fiance's a teacher, so I'm still stuck on that. Anyway, is 60 the lowest? Isn't it? I don't know. They don't F. They just give you an F.
Starting point is 00:42:41 60 or below? Alright, because I got much lower grades than that in high school at times, so I wish they had done that. Mata AFA. Mata AFA, 18 snaps of Hercules Mata AFA, zero QB pressures. There's a hint. We'll go slightly better than our Yarbrough, 41. 44, 44.8.
Starting point is 00:43:01 How about that? Yep, exactly. Okay, now how about somebody who sort of matters, but we just mentioned as a disappointment, Jalen Holmes. 64. You are overrating Jalen Holmes. 45.9. Again, these are out of 100, so these are supposed to be much better.
Starting point is 00:43:20 That's pretty bad. That's pretty bad. Right. Well, the Vikings have one player over 70 right now, and that is Harrison Smith. Wait, on the whole defense, one player? Yes, one player. Okay. So, anyway, well, last one is Todd Davis.
Starting point is 00:43:33 Todd Davis is on the team, and he's played nine snaps. But didn't he get a tackle in his, like, one snap? He did. Yeah, they targeted him. Made a great play. So then his grade might be a little bit higher. It's not. No, it's not.
Starting point is 00:43:49 It's a 58.6. This game is stupid, and I meant it. So before we wrap up, what do you got this team at? I don't really think that many people are printing playoff, well, I guess we can't say tickets anymore, memorabilia after one win against the Texans who should fire their coach today. So what do you think? What's the final record?
Starting point is 00:44:16 Yeah, see, if Green Bay and the Bears weren't in their division, I would feel, if they were in the NFC East, I might feel a little bit better because those teams seem just a little more discombobulated. But I think Chicago's defense is such a bad matchup, as you alluded to. They still got to play them twice. Green Bay already beat you once. And then with Tampa Bay, New Orleans, I mean, there's just so many difficult games left on the schedule.
Starting point is 00:44:39 It's not all Tennessees and Houstons from here on out. So I think they're going to be 7-9 at best, and I do not think they're going to make that seventh NFC playoff seeding. I think we'll be talking about 16 games at most for the Minnesota Vikings. And it is remarkable, though, the number of bad teams in the NFC, specifically the East. The fact that you'd be right up there, only a half a game behind the Eagles at this point for the division,
Starting point is 00:45:06 and it felt like a disaster of a season. There are opportunities, is the way I'm going to put it. There are opportunities for the Vikings to have their offense carry this team and for it to be an exciting season. There are not too many opportunities where they're a great team or a very good team after the way they've started. So it's always a roller coaster, though, Andrew. Any parting thoughts before we call it a day?
Starting point is 00:45:30 I'm just interested to see what can go wrong for them in Seattle, because it's one of those House of Horrors almost like Soldier Field, and it's a night game. So I'm just waiting. I think this game is going to be fun. I think it's going to be one of those ones where Russell Wilson is going to game is going to be fun I think it's going to be one of those ones where Russell Wilson's going to have the ball at the end and it's going to matter whatever he does even though they might be up by 10 we're still going to need to see him make some
Starting point is 00:45:53 kind of a play and he's just always fun to watch and against this Vikings defense could be quite the roller coaster I am with you in maybe I'll feel silly after this maybe it'll be 46 to 10 and who cares but that defense for Seattle is not good. And so this could be super fun. And I'm going to spend the whole week really excited about this game and just how ridiculous it might end up being. Because the last two games have been ridiculous. Big plays all over the field and just, you know, up and down.
Starting point is 00:46:19 And I don't know if Seattle is that much better than the Tennessee Titans as a complete team. I mean, they're good, but if you can't stop anybody or pressure the quarterback, that's where Cousins is at his best. But then national TV and everyone thinks the Cousins is bad every national TV game. So, yeah, there's a lot going on here. I mean, we're going to have so many shootouts from Seattle, Atlanta. What's the next one? Dallas.
Starting point is 00:46:43 Dallas could be crazy. Yep. And then, next one? Green Bay. Dallas could be crazy. Yep. And then, of course, Detroit even. We've seen shootouts against Detroit when the Vikings had a good defense. So I think we're going to see a lot of points. Take the over. Yeah, it could be a really entertaining 7-9 season. Andrew Kramer, Star Tribune, always great to have you on.
Starting point is 00:46:59 Great work that you've been doing despite some of our hurdles to overcome. It's adversity, but we're trained on that. You know what? We're used to it. We're used to it. Veterans by now in the game. Exactly. All right, Andrew, thanks for your time, buddy.
Starting point is 00:47:12 Yeah, thanks, Matt. The wait is finally over. Football is back. You might not be at a game this year, but you can still be in on the action at BetOnline. BetOnline is going the extra mile to make sure you can get in on every possible chance to win this season. We'll be right back. futures all day, every day. Head to BetOnline today. Take advantage of all the great sign-up bonuses. Don't forget to use the promo code BLUEWIRE at BetOnline.ag.
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