Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - How can the Vikings get to 2-2?

Episode Date: September 22, 2021

Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom talk about what needs to happen in order for the Vikings to win their next two games and kick start their season again. Would we be giving the same criticisms for the Vikings if they won their two close games? Does it come down to the offense carrying the team or can the Vikings be better on defense? How would we assess the defensive line so far? Where does Russell Wilson rank for things that haunt the Vikings? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome into another Purple Insider and bring me the news live stream. Matthew Collard here along with Sam Ekstrom, who has returned without a tan from Arizona. Hey, now. You don't look I mean, you're a Minnesotan, but you don't look like you spent a week in the desert. The the computer webcam takes off at least two layers of tan. You know, I did I did try to avoid too much outside exposure, except when I was golfing. And when I was, I did use ample sunscreen.

So maybe that, that, that killed my hopes, but I'm a little offended also. Well, I also think that we work up our tan during training camp where no matter how much sunscreen you put on, you still end up with the farmer's tan thing of around the neck and the arms and so forth. And my legs look a completely different color from my feet by the end of training camp. So I think you're good building that up. But what I want to talk about in the show here today is two and two and how the Vikings can get to two and two, because we have moved on from kickers, missing things. We don't need to break down how greg joseph said i don't want to miss again whatever like i'm so sad at the number of kicker press conferences i've covered where the guy's

like yeah i think i'll make the next one you're like we'll see buddy um and that's the only takeaway uh but i want to talk about the things that have gone right for the vikings and how they can carry over to two wins against Seattle and the things that have gone wrong that need to be fixed and not just bad luck. Because a closer look at either one of these games would reveal that they are responsible for being 0-2. It's not just the football gods reached down and touched the Vikings and said, no. I mean, they kind of did, but in many other instances, they put themselves in those positions. So give me at the top of your list what the number one thing the Minnesota Vikings must do

to be two and two after these next two football games. I think a continuation of what we saw offensively and a reduction in disastrous breakdowns defensively. I think about the season in halves so far. There's been four halves of football. I think you could make a case that they were the better team in the second half against Cincinnati. First half against Cincinnati was so marred by penalties that they probably don't deserve any accolades for that one. But in both halves against Arizona, honestly, they might have also been the better team. They just had, and Xavier Rhodes, his words, not mine, they have sucked before halftime and after halftime.

And I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Xavier. Xavier Woods. I haven't made that mistake since March, but I made it there. So play for play. The Vikings have played well, but they've also melted in some key moments. And obviously late in both games, they have not made the play they needed to make um so i i think that the progress made from game one to game two certainly that's

why mike zimmer is speaking so encouragingly and i think that fans if they want to grasp onto that they can we also mentioned on sunday's podcast that i don't know if it's a good time for slapping your team on the back when they gave up 34 points. But the offensive progress was terrific. And now the last three halves, I think, are pretty solid for that group. I think the special teams, other than the missed field goal, has been great. I think all three phases have actually kind of shown their potential. And they've also shown their basement so can can you raise the floor of those groups and just play a little more consistency

but the problem for last year's team was the inability to get all three phases on the same page and that seems to be what's happening this year as well so maybe home is the tonic. Maybe US Bank Stadium kind of gives the defense enough of a lift so they don't have those breakdowns. And maybe that just elevates everybody's play. One win will make a huge difference and one loss could bury them. Like we said that week two was getting closer to a must win, and now we're pretty much there because 0-3 is pretty disastrous. Right, and think about what, when they went to 0-3, what they had to do last year to even get in the hunt graphic.

They had to win, what, six games in a row last year, and they were handed a very favorable win situation in Green Bay, a very favorable schedule against some of the league's worst teams last year. That does not happen this year. San Francisco is on your schedule on the road. Baltimore is on your schedule on the road. Green Bay, guess what? Aaron Rodgers is not tanking the season. It was a big shocker, right? 22 for 27, four touchdowns. You're still going to have to deal with that guy two times. And if Justin Fields plays and Andy Dalton is hurt, then Justin Fields may never give that job back. Chicago is not just going to hand you wins. They never do. And so the schedule does not have that section where you just roll out the red carpet and win six games in a row, which means that you need to

get those wins back right now. And also after this weekend, you're now down in the division. Everyone talked about, well, you lose the first one, but everybody's sort of zero and zero in the division. Well, not anymore. Now the two tougher teams have a win up on you that you have to chase from behind. And so if you go to 0-3, then it's really hard in a 17 game season. I don't care how many teams they're letting into the playoffs these days. it's really hard in a 17-game season. I don't care how many teams they're letting into the playoffs these days. It's really hard to see any path for this team to have a good season after going 0-3. And when you look back, we talk about how many teams go 0-2 and make the playoffs. 0-3 is just like none. I mean, maybe like two or three over the last two decades. And there's a

reason for that. Because if you lose three straight football games, you're not good. And it doesn't matter how you lose them. That, I guess, is the thing with the back padding from Zimmer, which is fine for a message for his team and to the public. But, I mean, if he comes out and says, panic, panic. Oh, my gosh. It's over, everyone. Defcon 5.

Don't come to the game like before the first home game. He's already announcing the season to be over. But in terms of how we should view this broadly, it's like, this is kind of it. If you go to Owen three, there's no shovel in the world that digs you out of this hole. Especially,

you know, with the schedule that you have coming up. So the circle back, their defense needs to be a lot better. I think that that's what this comes down to is the offense is exactly what you'd expect from the Vikings offense, which is there are times in the game where you go, what's going on there? Why are you running on second and 10? Why are the same things we've talked about for a long time with Kirk Cousins offenses? Why are you stale for sections of the game? Why are you converting third downs and so forth? These still happened against Arizona in the second half of the game. There

were still unimpressive sections and Kyler Murray gifted them a touchdown. But overall in the second half, there was some underwhelming elements. I don't think that ever changes, Sam. I think it is entirely, can the secondary figure out how to cover people? And that's got to start this week against two of the best receivers in the NFL. Is there a change? Should Cam Dantzler be starting instead of Bashad Breeland? Is that the change that needs to be made? Potentially, because Breeland is playing hurt. I mean, he's playing with maybe a couple things right now. So if Dantzler healthy is not more effective than Breland unhealthy, which is very ineffective, um, like bottom of the league and PFF grade, uh, clearly having a hard

time tackling and like holding onto guys, probably a little gun shy about the shoulder. Um, I think Dantzler needs to be the one you have in there. And he looked pretty good against Arizona. Missed a tackle, which Mike Zimmer was quick to point out, but was otherwise pretty good. Had a key deflection on third down. And that's obviously been your weakest link. Like your weakest singular player has been Breland.

So that's a logical move. Defensive line. Let's talk about them for a second. Will Raggett's posted some interesting stats. They're bottom five in pass rush win rate. And I do get to thinking, well, Daniil Hunter does have most of your sacks this year. But what are other people doing? The Michael Pierce sacks against Cincinnati, outstanding.

That's huge. It's also probably not sustainable. Your pass rush win rate is going to be low when your two interior defensive tackles just aren't big pass rushers. Tomlinson hasn't done a lot of that so far. Michael Pierce did do it in game one, not as much in game two. Where's Wanham? You asked that before game two, and I don't think we saw much of him where's Weatherly again not really that well known as a pass rushing threat so you're putting your Daniil Hunter thank goodness he's around if you're a Vikings fan because he has been absolutely what you expected him to be 2019 Daniil Hunter gonna get a tremendous windfall of cash in his pocket after this season,

whether it's the Vikings or somebody else. But you need to do and get a little more rush, I think, consistently from everyone else in that group. And obviously you got to cover better. Oddly, I don't think we're talking about linebacker because Anthony Barr's replacement has been so good. Nick Vigil's been great. Eric Hendricks took off the quadriceps injury. He's been great. Not worried about them. I'm worried about that Breland spot, and I'm worried about your depth pass rushers. And I think that when we look at how this was constructed, the things we were concerned about have come to fruition in the first two games, that they wouldn't have anybody else on the other side rushing with Daniil Hunter.

And they wait till the last minute to pick up Everson Griffin. Everson Griffin, tough break, ends up in a car accident. But injuries happen and guys have to be out. And Everson was not supposed to be the one who changed the universe at that position for this year. They really put all their eggs in the DJ Wanham basket and said, he's ready to take the next step and become a very good player. And I know it's only two games, but you needed that to happen right away. And that's the tough thing about rebuilding your defense in the snap of a finger with

a bunch of free agents and then hoping that a fourth round pick emerges is, yeah, by week 12, that might happen. Everyone might gel together and so forth. And DJ Wanham might develop, but they need it now. They don't need it in week 12. I mean, they'd be lucky to need it in week 12 at this point. And so I guess we start asking already on defense, are there things we should wonder, Hey, was that really a good idea? And I mean, even with the secondary Bashad Breeland, I think we liked that signing, but clearly he's had some injuries right away on the, on Xavier Woods has been fine and so forth. So not every signing or decision has been poor, but on the defensive line, Sheldon Richardson has not shown anything. And now we may be getting a sense for why Cleveland

walked away and why nobody was willing to pay someone who's been successful for a big part of their career. And the two nose tackle idea, you're giving up like five yards to carry rushing so far. So they haven't stopped the run and they have not gotten after the passer aside from two very nice plays from Michael Pierce Delvin Tomlinson has been a ghost and that was your big signing in the offseason and we so often we're told where it's like well you know we'll move him from this position to this position it'll be fine and we get this all the time with this team and how often does it work? So far, we haven't seen it work. And so if you don't pressure Russell Wilson with your front four,

that seems like a recipe for a disaster and Baker Mayfield too, with a clean pocket, he's terrific. So I guess what you're bringing it back to is your point is these guys have to play a lot better. If you're going to be two and two, you need a lot more from this. And I guess what you're bringing it back to is your point is these guys have to play a lot better. If you're going to be two and two, you need a lot more from this. And I guess I wonder if there's a path there for a lot more from that. Yeah, I think it's possible. I mean, I think as, as new players continue to gel, there's certainly a spot for improvement. And I think your scoring average on defense will improve with the home field advantage. Once you get, you know, two home games to even out the two road games, that's always been the case. Even the 2017 Vikings struggled sometimes on the road.

The 2009 Vikings with Favre, like that was a stifling home defense and a pretty average road defense. So, yeah, there is going to be an advantage coming home. I don't necessarily think there are reinforcements coming along. I'm not sure James Lynch is going to become a catalyst or Patrick Jones. I think you might see, and you predicted this, Everson Griffin just becoming the other starter. Once his concussion symptoms fade, maybe he plays this week, but maybe not. We're not sure of the severity after that car accident. It sounds like he, I think he walked away from the scene. So he's probably going to be all right pretty soon. He might take on a bigger role. And I think he's looked pretty good so far in one preseason game and one regular season game. So does Mike

Zimmer, you know, reevaluate what he's doing with the secondary or does he just say, hey, we got to make better plays? Because Patrick Peterson has been fine, in my opinion. Mackenzie Alexander, other than the breakdown on the long pass where he just didn't track the ball, been fine. I mean, I'm trying to evaluate people more on a play-to-play basis than like who gave up the longest reception, because I don't think that's a healthy way to evaluate. Breland, on a play-to-play basis, seems like he's on the wrong side of just so many plays from a run standpoint, from a coverage standpoint, tackling standpoint. So that's where a lot of my gaze is focused. But think, Collar, of when this team

was playing its best, like 15, 16, 17, 18, when the defense was good, they didn't give up leads. I mean, you get a 7-0 lead, you win. You get a 20-7 lead, you certainly don't lose. And both of these first two games, the early lead evaporates before halftime, just like that. So the formula to victory, which they brought Kirk Cousins into this environment, assuming this was going to be a deal where he scores 24 points and it's going to be a W eight out of 10 times. And now it doesn't seem like a sure thing. So, I mean, the defense has to carry their end of the bargain so that Kirk isn't asked to win shootouts, because even though he almost did on Sunday,

that's probably not going to happen too many more times. Right, I ran into an interesting stat about Kirk Cousins that I looked at his first two PFF grades, and they were both over 80. It's out of 100. And when you look at how many games he's had over 80 in a given season, the highest as a Viking is seven. So you just had two that went sideways and you didn't take advantage of those two decent

to good showings from your quarterback because your defense wasn't strong enough and because bad luck struck in a lot of different ways. But now you need him to even play better or just as well. And your defense to play better to beat Russell Wilson, who's a great road quarterback. He's not just going to roll over. I mean, they're going to score points. They just put up 30 last week. They put up 30 something in the first game on the road against the decent Indianapolis defense. Like Seattle's going to be tough and Cleveland's probably going to be tougher. They have one of the most efficient offenses in the entire NFL with Cleveland, and they're going to put points up on you. So this is where it circles back to me is

I don't think that the issues the defense has are going to be easily changed. That Daniil Hunter is going to have to operate as their lone true pass rusher, along with however they decide to run their blitzes. It doesn't look like Anthony Barr is coming back anytime soon, so Nick Vigil has to continue to play very well. The secondary has to get on the same page a little bit better. I mean, Xavier Woods broke down how they completely lost sight of Rondell Moore, but that just can't happen. And Bashad Breeland just can't allow in a big situation, Jamar Chase to run by him in a situation where he should be playing off coverage instead of tight and jumping on a route and letting him go for a touchdown. But I think these things are going to keep happening. It's just, it's, we are so far

removed from the 2017 Vikings defense. If we go any type of comparison, you have two elite pass rushers, two interior guys that could get after the passer and Linval Joseph in 2017 is the most dominant nose tackle in the league. You have Harrison Smith playing at his absolute peak all pro level. Barr and Kendricks are healthy the whole season. Rhodes is the shutdown corner. One of the elite ones in the league. Like we are not close to that. So what it comes down to for me is how aggressive are you willing to be on offense? And how much are you willing to lean into the Kirk, as we've talked about, and lean into KJ Osborne, and lean into Jefferson and Thielen more? Because in the second half of that game, they almost gave it away by being conservative

in several different places. It doesn't seem like the trust between the coach and the quarterback is ever going to change. But it then comes down to, can you block like that? Can you run like that? And can you hit big plays? Because if you can't, I just don't see you getting to two and two against these very good teams. Yeah. I want to see what happens in that Cardinals game. If they don't kind of, kind of put the bars on the offense in the second half where they were really conservative, they ran it on some second and longs. They also had two penalties too. Like they didn't score on three of their four drives in the second half from three out of four to five. At any rate, two of those drives, you had a penalty that set you back and

put you behind the chains again, which is always going to make things tougher. And this team is not one to aim for the sticks on third and long. They're more of the check down, hope for a yak, and usually punt. So I would love to see this offense get aggressive if they feel like, okay, Kirk is locked in. This is October Kirk showing up in September. We should see what we can get out of him. Otherwise, it's last year where you're sort of aspiring to be a 25 pointpoint-per-game offense when you could be so much more. Dalvin Cook may not be healthy for the next couple of weeks. We'll have to keep our eyes on that. And does that enable this offense to lean more heavily into the pass? That'll be curious to see.

Kene Wongwu is coming back in two weeks. If he's healthy and Dalvin Cook is not, I want to see can a Wong Wu is coming back in two weeks. If, if he's, you know, healthy and Dalvin cook is not, I want to see him get involved because what are the Cardinals show us? If anything, caller speed is good. You want speed all over the place and Wong Wu might be their fastest guy. Like there's no need to redshirt him, like use the guy, look at what Rondale Moore is doing for, for the Cardinals. I mean, he's an incredible talent and a little more highly regarded out of the draft, but try to use your weapons and try to just, you know, beat teams 40 to 39. Which is not how Mike Zimmer wants to play, which leads me perfectly into the question I was going to ask you, which is,

in 2017, the year we sort of all come back to because that's when everything went right for them. Mike Zimmer was the perfect coach for that team. They needed to play mostly a conservative offense that ran the ball play action because of who their quarterback was. And Case Keenum would sometimes go full gunslinger and drive Mike Zimmer crazy. But the philosophy that was deployed by Pat Schirmer and Mike Zimmer that year was a really good fit for what they had. Let's try to hit big plays to our good receivers. Let's try to run a lot of screens. Let's try to help Case Keenum out as much as we possibly can. And it worked out. And then let's completely shut everything down

on defense. I mean, the game against Atlanta in 2017, where they score, I think, nine points, seven points to the Los Angeles Rams, who were number one in the NFL in scoring that year. I mean, just that's perfect. Mike Zimmer for his team coaching. I wonder if Mike Zimmer does not fit this team right now, because you have a quarterback who is capable of putting up numbers, throwing the football. You have wide receivers. Now, I know Justin Jeffers is not off to a great start. I'm wondering about that shoulder through two weeks, but you have receivers that are capable of getting open and making plays. A running back who can do just about anything. A third wide receiver who all

of a sudden has emerged as a playmaker, a legit playmaker. And I know you're grinning over this, but KJ Osborne has proven he can play football in the NFL. He's done more in two weeks than wide receiver threes have done for the Vikings in years. And yet you get to a fourth down where you really need a first down to keep this game going and you punt it away and hope your defense gets a stop. You get to the end of the first half where you should put it down to the floor and try to score a touchdown. And you say,

whoa, whoa, whoa, let's hold up. Let's make sure we get our end field goal position and don't turn the ball over. Like I've just been thinking more and more about, we always look at things as, is this person good or are they bad? And I haven't thought about it really until today of like, does this person fit? And does Mike Zimmer for this team fit? And is he willing to change his thought process on his overall philosophy to beat teams who have great offenses like Seattle and Cleveland? And I just can't see the answer being yes, since he's had such a definitive way of wanting to play offense for years.

Yeah, if the answer wasn't yes, change things last year, then it's not going to be yes, change things this year. So, I mean, I can't remember how you phrased the question, but the answer is I don't think he's going to change. And I'm glad you pointed to the situation, the situational things, because if you look at win probability, there were a handful of fourth downs in that game that were among the biggest like win probability swings in the nfl uh that particular week when the vikings chose to punt instead of going for it and one of the

examples was was pretty ludicrous it was like going for it you know like at your own 30 or something in the first half which that might happen more commonly someday, but still isn't mainstream. But the other two, like going for it on fourth and one, I want to say pretty close to midfield. It was like the 40 or 43 yard line when the Cardinals offense was torching their defense. I think that's a huge mistake when the Vikings were averaging eight yards of play at the time and the fourth and six at the end, even if you don't get that, you know, number one, the Cardinals probably end up, you know, settle for a field goal and you still have a chance to get it back. You know, or you punted it away, that was good for that team. Because they might get a pick six. They might get a fumble recovery, a sack, and they might totally flip the field.

I don't know if you can trust this defense to do that. You've got to think to yourself, who's the better unit? It's the offense right now. The expected points added is going to be better for any play they run than the defense who almost gave up a cardinal's record in uh yards per play it was like nine and a half at one point that's absurd that's crazy and they're not even that good in the red zone right now like the the red zone defense is struggling. Third down defense has been okay, but overall it's been, it's been pretty bad. So it's going to take some, some evaluating and they can't wait till the buy to self-scout. They've got to self-scout right now and recognize

what reality is and that it's not 2017 anymore. And it hasn't been for a couple of years. Fans are going back to stadium., so you have to be ready with the best Minnesota football gear. That's why you have to check out Soda Stick. I saw a ton of Soda Stick gear around training camp. I expect to see it in the stadium as well. There are so many cool designs on hats, T-shirts, and hoodies for the fall weather,

including the John Randall design that is extremely cool. There's also the straight cash homie Randy Moss homage. Can't stop the Thielen hats and a personal favorite, the old video game designs that Tecmo fans will appreciate. Check it all out at SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Everything is screen printed here in Minnesota, and I can tell you that the shirts are comfortable and they last because half

of my closet is now soda stick at this point. Again, that's sodastick.com, Minnesota sports inspired goods, and keep your eye out for our soda stick giveaways. And it won't be, I just think as we went through the defense and what you have there, I think people sort of looked at it on paper. And I remember there was an athletic article projecting them as the number one defense. And I just thought, like, just don't see it.

I mean, we thought they should be better, of course, and they're not better so far. But they will be better, I think. But to say that they would take a huge jump forward from one of the worst to one of the best, that takes a lot more than signing guys at two and a half million bucks to fill spots. That would have taken a draft pick being an instant superstar. Remember when this happened to new Orleans, when they drafted Marshawn Lattimore and all of a sudden they just like shot up in their defensive ability. Like that would have had to have happened here. You draft somebody, they become an instant superstar. You sign a,

you know, Trey Hendrickson or something. He becomes a superstar. They were signing players that were all lottery tickets that you sort of hope work out. And so far some of them have, and some of them haven't, which is kind of the expectation. So you have to lean on your offense and aggressiveness. And it just doesn't feel like the coach is ever going to trust the quarterback in order to do that. Now, here's another question that came to mind as we were talking, because I think the answer is yes. But you tell me if it's no. I think if the Vikings are 2-0, we're still saying everything we just said. Do you agree with that?

So in that scenario, we're, we're saying that Dalvin cook doesn't fumble. Greg Joseph makes the kick. They win. And you're saying that Greg, basically Greg Joseph makes the other kick. So Greg Joseph makes two kicks that he didn't make. Um, yeah. So the only conversation we're not having is the kicker conversation. We're still talking about, like, we're probably framing it a little differently. We're saying, why didn't the offense keep their foot on the gas in the second half against Arizona? Or why did the offense take so long to put their foot on the gas against Cincinnati? And we're concerned about the defense, too.

We're concerned about Breland. We're probably speaking a little more glowingly about you know Daniil Hunter and Nick Vigil and Xavier Woods and some of the standouts whereas now I think you know every the the opinion sours on everybody when you're 0-2 but we'd probably be focusing more on the positives. We'd be talking about the offensive lines progress um but the problems would still exist you are absolutely right about that um what we uh we'd probably be giving kirk a lot more credit right we'd be we'd be saying this guy just led two game-winning drives this is something something's happening here and uh we can't say that now and that's probably not fair to Kirk, but that's just the way the ball bounces.

I think of it as the only difference would be that instead of saying these next two games are people's jobs on the line, we think. But instead it would be, are you really a true contender? Because when you see what Tampa Bay has done their first two weeks, they're far and ahead of everybody else in the NFC, but the rest of the NFC Packers are going to have to beat other people than the lions to prove to me that they're a great team. We'll see. San Francisco barely got away with their game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Seattle lost in overtime. Like you're looking at these other teams and saying, well, who's great. New Orleans is clearly not great. Uh, Carolina, I'm not buying that. There's some magical, great team that's exploded onto the scene. I think they've gotten some favorable situations, uh, in the NFC East is still bad. So the door still would, you know, feels open now to getting back in this, to go two and two then you know get to three and three by the bye and you're back in that playoff race and that's what we're talking about each week um if they're two and oh i think we're saying hey don't they have to do these things to

be a great team and i guess when i go through all those things that they would have to do to get to two and two or that they would have had to do to get to 4-0. I'm just not sure which one of them I can solve. When we go through, this is an off-season process that we get to the end of the season and we break down everything, position by position. We break down everything and we say, these are the problems you can solve and here's how you can potentially solve them. Drafts, signing players, trades, right? When we're in the season, it's very hard to say what can solve it. And I think the answer to who can solve it is a guy that might not be allowed to solve it. And that's Clint Kubiak. And I wonder,

because I saw some things I really liked out of Kubiak. I wonder how much freedom he has given or how much we should put on him when they go ultra conservative and when they're not more aggressive with Kirk Cousins. And when they do have, what did you say? Three of four drives did nothing in the second half. Like, are we looking at that and going, oh, well, Zimmer put the choke collar on again. Or are we looking at it and go, Clint Kubiak, what happened in the second half? Yeah, you know, we've talked about how there was a path for this team to be elite, like in the 10% of scenarios where the offense just balls out, top five offense, and they win games that way. And we would immediately in the next breath say, no, it's never going to happen,

not with a first-time play caller, not with Mike Zimmer coaching. Now I will say this in the first half, they got away with some, some questionable play calling as well. Second down runs, you know, and, and the, the runs that were working were incredible. Like Dalvin cook was running for 12 yards a pop there for a couple of drives. They had one third down on the three touchdown drives. It might've been zero. It was either zero or one third downs on those three touchdown drives. That's incredible efficiency that's hard to sustain. Some of the same things were happening in the first half. They were just working incredibly and reinforcing those play calls. Then it didn't work in the first half, they were just working incredibly and sort of reinforcing those play calls. And then it didn't work in the second half. But we've also talked about the third wide receiver thing, helping this offense a little bit. And it seems to be like, I mean, Chris Herndon

did not increase his role in week two, even though we thought he might. They gave those reps to KJ Osborne. So we might be seeing a little bit of a transformation to a three wide receiver offense. They might feel like there's value in having Osborne out there. And then you wonder how it'd be different with Irv Smith, but we can't play that game. So your original question,

can Clint Kubiak be someone that progresses this thing forward, helps them get to two and two. And that's only going to happen if Mike Zimmer watches the film and says, and has to humble himself. They'll have to say, I don't have this defense where I want it to. Clint, you're doing a great job. Continue more of that, more passing. Let's let Kirk try to do this thing. Do you think that that will happen, though, Matthew? is that it feels like there's just no way that there's a button pushed and things are suddenly different because the philosophy is not going to change. And it made me think about like the head coach and the roster fit and what you have and what it takes to win and how, if you flipped, who's the offensive equivalent of Mike Zimmer. So we assume that like Sean McVay is maybe like, he's a younger guy,

but he's like, is he similar? Like someone who's not a perfect coach. I don't think Sean McVay is just like this magical genius wizard. No one can possibly ever offense like Sean McVay. So maybe if like Sean McVay is the Zimmer, someone who's been innovative, effective as a head coach and so forth. If you switch them and Sean McVay is the coach of this team, like where is the offense at? Where is the offense going? And is it going to drive the success of the team rather than sort of hoping that the defense can do its job from a week to week basis? And some weeks it will, and some weeks

it won't. And that's how you end up as a 500 football team. So that's what's been on my mind is that at one time, this was a perfect fit. And right now, it isn't, even though they tried to make it a perfect fit in the offseason by just pouring assets into the defense. But through two weeks, that has not been very successful. And I guess that's what's been on my mind. Let me change the subject real quick. Russell Wilson is seven and O against the Vikings. Okay.

This is a stat you will hear many a time, several times on this podcast, possibly. What do you make of that? Like, is that a thing? Is that like the Monday night football Kirk thing, or is that different? Well, he's, he's absurdly good so it doesn't it doesn't surprise me I bet he's got um gaudy records against other teams too um I think it's five and oh against Zimmer if I'm not mistaken okay seven against the Vikings yeah yeah because he he beat him in 12 when the Vikings were actually pretty good. He beat him in 13 when the Vikings were very bad,

then twice in 15, and then 18, 19, 20. So each of the last three years, pretty bad memories in Seattle. And that's the caveat is that the last three have been on the road. You haven't gotten him ever at US Bank Stadium. So therein lies the hope that you can slow this guy down. Seattle choked the game away

against the Titans. They should be 2-0. And they should be 2-0 convincingly. It was a bonkers game against Tennessee. And as we all know, Seattle doesn't play normal football games. So I'm expecting this to come down to the wire. But hopefully you can tap into what you did

last year in the first half. If you recall, when Seattle was going nowhere in that game, they sacked Russell Wilson four times in the first half and the Vikings had complete command before they turned it over to a couple of times, Dalvin Cook got hurt. And I think they were behind by seven or something within six minutes of the third quarter. It was a really unfortunate turning of events, and they still should have come back to win the game. That game will probably receive a lot of publicity this week as we kind of think back to it and how close they were to beating Wilson. The Seattle defense can be had. I think that's where you have to. And again, more support

for letting the offense loose. There are some bad defenses in the NFL. The rules favor the offense. That's another thing. Mike Zimmer doesn't always take into account is that the offense has more advantages than they ever have. So if you can go after the Seattle defense by all means do it because that's the vulnerable group. Russell Wilson, if you watch the highlights from the Tennessee game, does some Kyler Murray things and you didn't do a great job of slowing Kyler Murray down. So I think they're going to need to just brace for the onslaught that Wilson brings and they're going to have to try to outscore him. Okay. We need to talk about where Russell Wilson ranks in terms of things that haunt the Minnesota Vikings. Like number one is kickers, right? We saw this again this week. How about Chicago?

Just like soldier field vibes. Yep. Yep. Knees. Players' knees. You know, Teddy, Culpepper, Adrian Peterson in 2016. Just always some knee issue. Was it? Percy Harvin never had a knee issue, though, did he? He just had other injuries and stuff. Yeah, Percy was headaches and then I think an ankle at the end. But how about, yeah, 12 men in the huddle.

12. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Penalties at the end. But how about, yeah, 12 men in the huddle. 12, yes. Yes, yeah. Penalties at the worst possible times. Drew Pearson. NFC championships, just in general. Like things that haunt, 41 donut, things that haunt the Vikings.

But Russell Wilson belongs somewhere in that category. And if he wins this game against the Vikings, plays well, and puts them at 0-3, essentially, I mean, a nail in the coffin of a team NFL season when you go 0-3. I mean, he might move up the list. He might move to even with the knees if he ends up winning this game. But do you find it interesting, though, that he has not been super great in the last couple of games that he's played against Mike Zimmer defenses, even last year when the defense was bad.

Yeah. In the, the D Filippo fired game, that was like seven, seven offensive coordinators also haunt the Vikings. Yeah. That's, that's a different,

a different story, but yeah, I think, I think the Seahawks had 14 points in that game plus a pick six. So very low output the next year year, the Vikings, again, had a lead, let it slip, turned the ball over. Again, a haunting third quarter, but they had a pick six of Russell Wilson. Anthony Harris took one back. And last year, like I mentioned, first half, abysmal. So yeah, there's something about the way they've

approached him that might work. And it's more, I think about slowing him down than shutting him down completely. You just want to try to give your defense that lead, which sometimes I think plays into Wilson's hands. Like when he's allowed to start freelancing and just dropping back, spinning circles, throwing it to Tyler Lockett, throwing it to DK Metcalf. That's what worries me. No lead is safe at any point in the game. So you're almost better staying in a slugfest where they feel like they can still give it to Chris Carson and Travis Homer while you sort of bide your time. And then hopefully you can out-du duel them in the

fourth quarter yeah that game in 2019 was rare because they just handed it off a bunch and ran for over 200 yards which was so unusual george fans but yeah that's right that's right the sixth offensive line six offensive linemen yeah i don't think we'll see that again but my theory on this is that zimmer is just generally very good at confusing quarterbacks. And Russell Wilson, what he does best is if he gets confused, he just runs and wheels back and makes a play. And they've had people in previous years who are just good at coming after him. And especially Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, sending fast linebackers after him. And so I guess I would expect a lot of that.

It really comes down to also whether you give up the big play or not, because that's Wilson. He can be bad for three drives in a row, and you go like, oh, Wilson's having a brutal game, and then 70-yard touchdown. That's just Russell Wilson and how he plays. And that's what they had with these last two weeks has been, there were times where Kyler Murray didn't look great. And yet he throws for 400 yards because of big place.

Joe Burrow had a long portion of that game where he just didn't look all that good, but big touchdown plays. And it's hard to see them completely shutting off that spigot for this game. So this one, I think is a very interesting matchup because of how familiar the quarterback and Mike Zimmer are with each other and the recent history between these two teams. So give me,

I've got a bunch of these for people tweeting me totally unprompted. I didn't ask for this. I just got a bunch of these tweets of what the most ludicrous way the vikings can lose is i i think i've got it you you want me to answer oh yeah yeah what do you have i think i i think i i stole someone's but like i think this is the best answer but oh um because we've seen it all in the first two weeks here yeah like what would be original at this point i mean i i thought the um like the double deflection into max williams arms like an immaculate reception kind of thing yes and two straight games dude like mckenzie alexander had a ball go off what his head

in the cincinnati game that led to a first down which I think led to a touchdown and the Cardinals deflection also led to a touchdown. So again, two breaks that happened in the middle of the game that could have swung things that just went against the Vikings. Can I just hear what you've got? Because I can't think that like nihilistically it's hard for my brain to even think of the lengths to which this could go.

Okay. Final drive of the game Vikings down by six. Okay. So Kirk's got it. And he throws a deep pass to Justin Jefferson, catches it, goes out of bounds at the one yard line, setting up for a Delvin Cook touchdown, but Jefferson jumps up and spins the ball excitedly near the Seattle bench. The flag goes up. A taunting penalty moves the Vikings back. Three and out after that, they lose the game because of a taunting penalty. Not penalty.

Taunting penalty. That's really good. That's it. It's topical. That's the one. Yeah, everyone's talking about it. I love it. I think that's really good that's it it's topical that's the one yeah everyone's talking about i love it i think that's really good or or something where you know jefferson dives for the game winning touchdown the go-ahead touchdown but the ball gets jarred loose before it goes across the

line and bounces through the the end zone um or no someone starts doing the gritty before they get in the end zone and someone Don Beebe's them and bounces it out of the back of the end zone. Or better yet, the exact mirror of last week where he reaches for the goal line, ball comes out, a Seahawk secures it and gets one foot in, but he is considered to have possession and Seattle getsattle gets it that would that reminds me of like what happened in green bay where delvin cook somehow committed a pass interference upon review in the end zone and then we never saw that again the whole rest of the season we never saw anybody else get called for that pass interference in the end zone that would be exactly it and then

and then instead of mike perera saying, it's got to be two feet, it's Dean Blandino says, it's clearly one foot is the rule. That would be exactly the most Vikings-ish way to fall short and go to 0-3. Sam, great stuff, as always. And you and I will be together for videos on our YouTube channel, by the way. Purpleinsider.substack.com. We'll be breaking down things in written form from TCO Performance Center and, of course, on our podcast, Purple Insider, every day. So I'm looking forward to another crazy Vikings week.

See you, Collar. See you, everybody. Goodbye.