Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - How did Ed Donatell answer questions about the Vikings defense?

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated analyzes how Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell answered questions in his weekly press conference. Did he blame scheme or execution? What did he have to say about changing coverages? Do we think the Colts are threatening at all? Will Justin Jefferson break the single season receiving record? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, still on location, if they call it that, somewhere else other than TCO Performance Center. Joining me from inside of the Performance Center is Will Raggett, Sports Illustrated, for our weekly Hardcore Breakdown. And I want to get into what Ed Donatell had to say about the defense. There's two things I want to mention first, though, Will. First, I don't want anybody to forget this is a revenge game.

I feel like this is going under the radar that this is a Yannick Ngakwe revenge game, and I just feel like people are forgetting. So I wanted to bring that up first as I was looking through what the Indianapolis Colts have done this year. And I was like, oh, yeah, not only Yannick Ngakwe, but also Afadi Adenabo, too. So the revenge is real. There's been a revenge game like every single game this year and i was like oh yeah not only yannick and gawkway but also a fatty adenabo too so the revenge is real there's been a revenge game like every single game this year yeah every single week and sometimes they're like big notable ones like t.j hawkinson or patrick peterson or zedaria smith and then sometimes we're like oh tyler conklin revenge game or yannick and gawkway

who played six games for the Vikings and still led the entire 2020 Vikings in sacks. If Adio Denebo is a good one I hadn't thought of that either so a fellow Northwestern man so it'll be an interesting one on Saturday for sure. Okay so when you think about Yannick Ngakwe led the team after playing in six games in 2020 and yet they allowed fewer yards in terms of ranking than where the Minnesota Vikings rank right now, despite having a healthy Daniil Hunter all season long and Z'Darrius Smith.

But I have to say, you know, there is a part of me that's like a little befuddled just by this entire season, Will, because this week has felt like, okay, they lost or whatever, but it felt like they lost by a thousand and it felt like they lost to be eliminated for the playoffs. Like just how it felt. I mean, we know that you can look at the standings and see where they actually are. And we can remind ourselves, yeah, this team is going to cruise into the playoffs and they've had one of the best

seasons in the NFL by their record but it's so hard not to look around and go you rank 30 second in defense like how are we supposed to get over this so I think that the whole season has sort of been that way we're like yeah I see a lot of things that seem problematic and yet the overall record is so good like how do I balance these things yeah no it it's strange and I think a couple people have said that this week like I was listening to a Patrick Peterson interview he did uh I think with Kay Phan and then he's talking about like yeah we've lost three games you'd think we'd lost seven like we have to remind ourselves we're still potentially going to

clinch the NFC North this week like there's still going to be a top three seed in the playoffs. Ed Donatel will get into many things that he said. There was a very interesting press conference this morning, but he said, hey, we've done some good things. What we want to do is contribute to winning games, and we did that 10 times. We have a lot of interceptions. We have some sacks. We've had some guys make clutch plays.

It kind of felt like, I think there was a Mike Zimmer press conference last year where he came to the podium with a prepared list of stats. And he was like, it's not all bad, guys. There was some of those vibes. But yeah, you're right. This is a team that has 10 wins, still has everything in front of them, but it's just so hard to have any sort of belief or faith that they have the ceiling that they want to have as far as even getting past the divisional round and making a run to the NFC championship game, potentially going to the Superbowl because you get blown out by the Eagles. You get blown out by the Cowboys.

You lose somewhat convincingly to the Lions and it's like I just I just don't know I don't I don't see it and then they're 32nd in defense which is in yards allowed per game which is the stat that's circulating for good reason but yeah it's also I mean the negative point differential they're the only team ever to be 10 and 3 and have a have a negative point differential. They're the only team ever to be 10-3 and have a negative point differential. They feel like this is a 7-6 team that got some breaks to go their way. And if those hadn't happened, we'd be having a much different conversation. So it's a weird place to be right now.

But very winnable t-shirt and hat game coming up on Saturday at US Bank Stadium. Right, yeah. Their third potential in a row t-shirt and hat game coming up on Saturday at US Bank Stadium. Right. Yeah. Their third potential in a row T-shirt and hat game. Yeah, that's where it's been, I think, challenging all season long, because there's so many games that we've come out of, even against the New York Jets, where we went like, wow, you average like four yards of pass and you had to go five for six in the red zone to even win this game and if if these games happen periodically throughout the season and then you won convincingly in a bunch of other games you'd just be a normal team so like a normal good team like the Dallas Cowboys last week they have to be looking around being like oh Houston huh you really let Houston hang in the game well they've got NFL players too and maybe something wasn't working or whatever, but you also have a 40 to three win against a really good team on your

resume. So it's very, very easy to go, Oh, okay. Well, you know, that was just a weird game or something. And with the Vikings, it's like every loss has been by two scores or complete blowout. And every win has been really close except for on week one and a lot of times like just in sports it sort of works this way like basketball is this way too where you kind of look at the teams who routinely blow teams out rather than hey did you win the free throw battle at the end like every sport uses this point differential run differential whatever to grade how strong a team is but the other thing when i wrote about this last week that i'm trying to keep in mind is that these rankings are not

final um they're not the end of the season and when you play a team like the indianapolis colts and this is why i think it's actually kind of a good test case this team is horrific absolutely horrific grotesque i threw up in my mouth looking at their pff grades although by the way hysterical that yanni kingakwe has eight and a half sacks and a 49 pff grade out of 100 like the most yanni kingakwe that one thing you have to give him is that he's always him no matter what uh but uh you know like you can win by 20 in this game and then you have a plus 19 point differential and you can blow out the giants like philadelphia did like i i think that there is an opportunity here to show some teams that are way worse than you and i i think that the giants are way worse the current

version of the giants is a pretty bad team chicago is horrible the The green Bay is not good. Like you have a chance here to do this. So that's where I don't want to like make a declaration, but it's like, if you end the season minus one, if you end the season 32nd, and these are the teams you're playing, then I would be willing to say like your odds of going anywhere in the playoffs are pretty rough. So I'd love you to tell me the answers that Ed Donatell gave to you guys about what they're going to do on the defensive side. Yeah. I mean, before we get into that, I just, I really agree that like normally if it, if you're talking about a 10 and three team and you look at the schedule ahead

of them, you'd be like, all right, this isn't that interesting. Like we're going to show up and, and watch the games and write some stories because that's what we do. And like, they'll probably win three of the last four and go into the playoffs and write some stories because that's what we do and like they'll probably win three of the last four and go into the playoffs and that's where it'll get interesting like no not with this team right now I'm fascinated to see what the next four games hold because there's so much that they need to do to have anyone really believe in them and you're exactly right if they they have an opportunity to come out and they know what just happened in this Lions game they know they can say all they want we don't

we're not concerned about what people are saying they know what the national narrative I think is about them that they're fraudulent the 10-win team and they're not in that class with the Eagles and Cowboys and 49ers and and those kind of teams And they have an opportunity to come out and play a bad Colts team and, yeah, win a game by more than eight points for the first time since week one. There's a prime opportunity to do that. And the Giants, like you said, the rest of the way, I think we're going to learn a lot about this team over the next four games.

And with Donatel, it was interesting. It felt like a lot of kind of Mike Zimmer press conferences over the last couple years where there lot of kind of mike zimmer press conferences over the last couple years where there was just kind of a tension kind of a defensiveness and and i don't know to his credit he answered all the questions and he he said i mean he fully admitted there's no there's no getting around it that it has not been good enough they have given up a ton of pass yards what they've been trying to do isn't working and they needed to fix that and he said that that's what they're working on they're trying to get there and they

have a vision they know what they're supposed to be doing they they know what it's supposed to look like it just hasn't looked like that so far and and that's he says I mean we're gonna get there and he said I don't know if it'll be in five days or six days or seven days, but eventually we're going to get there. And to that you kind of go, well, it better be pretty soon because the playoffs are coming up in like a month or less than a month. And you need to not be where you are right now. So as far as actual changes that they can make,

I think one that came up a bunch was just being tighter in coverage. And I think that's something we've heard about dating back to earlier this season, but there's just too much like playing off coverage and giving up all this, this cushion. And I mean, you look at like the Josh Reynolds touchdown against the lions, their third one where it's just Cam Bynum is like halfway deep in the end zone. And it feels reminiscent of the last time the Vikings played in Detroit and Cam Dantzler was halfway deep in the end zone at the end of that

game and so I think they need to play tighter coverage which was interesting because then the follow-up was so when they're playing off is that what they're being coached to do or what's going on there and there it was kind of a non-answer to that but they need to play tighter coverage they need to figure out this pass rush and Donatello kind of admitted that Z'Darrius Smith has been playing through some injury and he says he's healthy now and I think he had six pressures against the Lions which is more along the norm for him but hasn't had a sack in the last four games so they got to get the pass rush going because that helps the coverage they got to play better coverage because that'll help the pass rush get home it's it's this thing right now where neither of them are working and

they got to find answers quick yeah that's how you finish uh 30 second and yards against is that you don't pressure the quarterback and you don't cover anyone i mean i think that some of the answer is maybe you just have to play some press coverage i mean at some point but they're clearly concerned that patrick peterson is going to get roasted. And he has been a couple of times this year, even playing off coverage, like his speed is not Patrick Peterson from 2011. So they are aware of that. And I think that it's really worked for Patrick Peterson because it relies so much on his

intelligence. But on the other side, you have inexperienced guys or new guys that you're bringing in or cam dantzler who's just always had this trouble and it's like it works for one but doesn't work for the other guys and yeah i mean you you know the harrison smith element i know he didn't play against the lions but that hasn't been a great fit all year except for the big plays he's made in a handful of games but he hasn't had the same impact and i think that's probably usage so you know donatelle seems to be sort of talking out of both sides of his mouth a little bit of like no my scheme still works but like yeah you guys are right the results are bad but it still works but i guess we have to make some changes but still works and i feel like you

guys need to remember it still works and the quote that i saw because i'll be back tomorrow for my usual but you know still away for the moment but the quote that i saw because i'll be back tomorrow for my usual but you know still away for the moment but the quote that uh really stuck out to me was when he said like well we've been close a lot to sacking quarterbacks i mean they're 22nd in pressures they're 17th in uh you know the total sacks like not really not no not so much you know that the whole idea of just like sending four and and the problem that you can run into, though, is now you try to change a bunch of things. And what's working, what's not working,

which was my question to O'Connell the other day. How do you even evaluate in small samples of just a couple games what's worked and what hasn't worked? And I think the answer that we're always just going to have to come back to here, Will, is, yeah, you can make some changes. It could probably be a little better. But you're just going to have to come back to here will is like yeah you can make some changes it could probably be a little better but you're just gonna have to win with offense like i think that's really that's really the story here yes you're gonna have some guys that'll make some plays on defense the run defense has actually been pretty great most of the second half of the season except for the dallas game uh so you're gonna have to stuff the

run but you're gonna give up points and you have to outscore the other team and an astute purple insider follower said the other day like hey man you know they only had 16 points by the fourth quarter at the end of the game like that I mean it's a fair point as great as they played on offense you know they didn't finish some things off and if they want to win I think that's what it comes down to so in way, all eyes against the Colts and the Giants and the Packers are going to be on the defense. But in a way, I want to see the offense crack into the top seven or eight in the NFL in scoring because they're just outside of that. And if they play like they did against Detroit, they can do that.

But if Indianapolis holds them down and Indy doesn't have a horrendous defense, if they hold them down, I think we're still going to say, like like that's where you have to really win yeah no it is and that's what made the Lions game interesting to me is if a couple plays go differently they could have won that in the shootout because Kirk Cousins was that good Justin Jefferson was that good it comes down to when your defense is playing as poorly as it is you have zero margin for error and like when you turn the ball over trying to do a dalvin cook pop pass at the three yard line that completely screws you and when t.j hockinson drops a pass on a third down or you get stuffed on a shotgun round on fourth down like just little plays like that change the entire game because you don't have any

margin for error when you know we turned it over we're not getting this ball back for five minutes unless they well unless they score on a deep pass immediately uh which they did a couple times so that's that's the tough thing that it puts it puts a lot of strain on the Vikings offense and another thing we can get into is I mean we also heard from from Wes Phillips this morning and he was talking about the running game which just hasn't hasn't been working recently I mean they carried it 17 times for 22 yards against the Lions and so that forced them to become one-dimensional if they can get that going that'll really help but but on the defense like you bring up a good point the run defense has been good getting Dalvin Tomlinson back was big for that guys like Kyrus Tonga and James Lynch

and people like that have been playing well in the run and I think their linebackers can still fit the run well and that'll be a good thing to have against Jonathan Taylor because they've been getting killed through the air but the Colts their one strength on offense is running the ball and Matt Ryan has really had a rough season he He's looking pretty washed. So it kind of sets up as a perfect get-right spot for this defense. But a couple more things on Donatel. I mean, you mentioned a good quote where he said, we like our four-man rush and they've been close so many times. We get a lot of hurries from this group.

But it's just that extra little thing, if you can hold the coverage a little bit longer, a lot of those rushes will work with four. So there's always some kind of thing you can point to, like if our coverage was holding a little longer than then the pass rush would get home but then like i said earlier it's like if the pass rush can get home quicker that helps the coverage out and it's just this this cycle that is kind of killing them right now another interesting thing he said i mean he was just asked straight up towards the end after already kind of talking about this for a while that is it scheme or execution and he said which is an interesting quote he said I think it's

really more execution you know what I mean just get tighter and so forth we have a good mixture of schemes and boy I don't know like if I was a player and I and I got a hold of that quote I'm thinking like what I mean you're putting this on us when the scheme is calling for us to play nine yards off and leave the middle of the field wide open and I think there's some truth to it from both sides like if you're if you're Donatello you're looking at it like hey this scheme has been successful before I mean the last 10 years Vic Fangio defenses Brandon State like there's a reason this scheme is popular around the NFL it's not being executed right now very well and maybe they just don't have the pieces

for it at the moment especially at cornerback but if I'm a player I'm thinking like why don't we have a scheme that's tailored to the personnel that we have that can help us win some games so it's it's a fascinating thing. There's a lot of pressure, I think, on this team because of the Colts' matchup being what it is to come out. And if they give up 350 yards passing to Matt Ryan and 450 yards to the Colts, I don't know if you can let Donatello call defensive plays the next week if you even let his key card work the next week.

Like, I don't, I don't know, man. So that's, that's why this Saturday I think is going to be really interesting. Folks. My wife had a great idea this week in the holiday spirit.

We went and got some cases of liquid death and donated them to a local food pantry. Though. I have to say, we did get some strange looks because it's called liquid death and it looks like we were bringing in a bunch of tall boy beer cans. But liquid death water is about helping the world be a better place. Specifically the environment by ending plastic bottles. They donate 10% of their profits from delicious mountain water to end plastic use

and we've become big fans in the household of it as well. So if you want to get some water in a tall boy can, because it just tastes better, or if you want to give back to others, go get yourself some liquid death water, go to Hy-Vee, Whole Foods, Target, or liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquiddeath.com slash insider to find out more. I completely agree. I mean, when you look at this Indianapolis Colts offense, where it really starts is their offensive line,

which has been good in previous years is a horror show at this point. So even as bad as Matt Ryan has looked and it's been really, really bad. I think that in Atlanta, it showed as well that, you know, when he had any sort of pressure, when their offensive line wasn't good, I mean, he just struggled a lot because there's nothing left there is in terms of his athleticism or the arm strength, like in order to make a good pass,

he has to have the whole windup. You know, he's got to look like Greg Maddox, like just doing the whole windup to even get 85 miles an hour out of that fastball. And, uh, he got benched for, for Sam Ellinger of all people earlier this year. And then they were like, Oh wait, Sam Ellinger actually sucks. Let's go back to Matt Ryan. How bad is Nick Foles right now though, by the way, like, does he, is he just collecting checks because he was under contract and he has to, I mean like Nick, I mean, Nick Foles has the Superbowl ring. He can do whatever he wants, but I don't know.

It's sort of funny that he never got a chance as bad as they've looked, but they have, you know, they've got a couple of receivers that can get open. I mean, Michael Pittman is a, is a pretty good player. And as you mentioned, Jonathan Taylor, but this team is horrendous. Like there, there is just no excuse whatsoever that like, even with the jets, you could go like, well, Garrett Wilson, man. I mean, that guy is super legit. Like that's a superstar receiver in the making right there.

First round draft pick. Okay. Like if you're a bad defense, that guy's going to roast you. And it's kind of been like an elite receiver each week and a quarterback who's been able to make some plays. But, you know, there's nothing that gives me total confidence though because they gave up so many yards to Mac Jones and like that Patriots offense just makes me sad inside to watch I mean the other night it was just screen pass after screen but it's like that's that's what Indy's gonna do

to this team as well um but I 100% agree that if if they if they get over 350 yards, that's just like, is Mike Patton available to call plays? And I 100% agree with you that when you say it's all execution, if you're a player in the locker room, and we've seen this happen many times with Mike Zimmer, when fingers start getting pointed. And this is how we know we're not wrong to be acting the way we are about this because we've got fingers being pointed folks a finger has been pointed uh although we've actually no we have multiple because with kevin o'connell he's like we have to look at all the scheme things and then with that donatelli's like no it's the players ah yes yeah yes this this is what you get when you have a team feeling the pressure like they they know they have they have to win here like you can't start a season 10 and 2

and then just sputter and fall apart and losing the first round like that just looks really bad for you that'll look like yeah it was all it was all a scam it was all just luck or anything they know that like they know that's exactly how it's going to look. And I think it'll be super fascinating to see how it plays out and how they make these adjustments. But these quotes, O'Connell's quotes, they're making it very clear that the pressure is being felt at TCO Performance Center. Yeah, and it's definitely different for Donatel and for O'Connell because I think if this continues on the path that it's down and they get bounced quick, I don't think there's any question necessarily

that Donatel won't be back. O'Connell obviously is not on anything remotely close to a hot seat. It is his first year. It's gone about as brilliantly as you could hope in terms of results. And in terms of the culture stuff that you see from the postgame speeches in the locker room and the buy-in. And even if they like, let's say they lose three of the next four and they're 11 and six or whatever, and they lose in the first or second round i think o'connell i think it'll

still be mostly viewed as a successful year for o'connell because they won the nfc north and they got to the playoffs and they were better than they were the last two years but there will start to be some questioning of all right are we are we 100 sure that this guy is like a future hall of fame coach that we anointed him after after 11 games and and so he's feeling the pressure to keep this momentum going and and do whatever it takes to get to a point where they're not going to get sent home in the first round so yeah and i think with indianapolis like we're setting it up and and it's true that it is a good matchup for this defense all things considered.

But they're also not like the Chicago Bears in terms of weapons. Michael Pittman's a good receiver. Paris Campbell, Alec Pierce are fine secondary guys. They've got a few tight ends that are athletic. The Vikings are still going to have to show up, and they'll have Harrison Smith back, we think, and whoever will be playing corner opposite Patrick Peterson. They're going to have to plays and then do some things differently so it's gonna be a test in that sense I mean Matt Ryan is not I think even on the level of like Mac Jones or Mike White or Jim

Goff but they still have some some some NFL caliber uh skill position guys I want to just read a couple more uh Donatello quotes because i find them very fascinating and i've been scrolling through this this transcribed uh doc here and um one of the ones he said where was it um well okay he said how significant he was asked how significantly things can be changed he says i don't think it's ever drastic i really don't think it's drastic you set your plan in april or may of what kind of team you want to, but you also got to know if your injuries or maybe changes in the league, you have to make adjustments along the way. And then he said, there's been a ton of teams that pick up momentum later in the season.

And we have a lot of momentum. And it's like, do you, I don't think you do. I mean, you have 10 wins, but it's not going well at all. Defensively. The other kind of one of the hot topics has been Z'Darrius Smith and Daniil Hunter, who are your two premier pass rushers, like dropping into coverage. And there were some weird moments of that in that Lions game

that just make you pause and think. And he said, you know, I think the numbers, when you look at a 3-4 defense, there are times where they'll drop as if they were just a 4-3 end. They may be dropping some replacement zones. The numbers would maybe come out kind of similar we're pleased with that number we don't over drop those guys and sure but I think the argument could be made that if they've dropped like 50 times or whatever that's 50 too many and they should never be doing that because they are your only really consistently reliable threats to get to the passer so it was just it was a very

interesting press conference in which uh also a certain reporter brought up that there are 30 second in yards allowed per game which i think don't tell was probably aware of and he was asked how he feels about that he said i don't feel good about that yeah you want to contribute to your team winning and pointed out that the vikings are used to having a lot of shutdown defenses which I wanted to say well not the last couple years but you're right that before that and then and then you go back historically it's true and they're just not there right now and so it was it was so interesting to to kind of hear this the tone from this this guy who's been an NFL coach for a really long time and hear him kind of defending his scheme and just to sense that he is feeling the heat right now and he knows that

that things have to get better so yeah they give up uh 400 plus yards of the Colts uh maybe I was joking that maybe they'll send Mike Patton down to do the press conference next week and they're not going to subject Ed to that again but if they, it's just going to be probably the same thing. It's so interesting how he had to handle that press conference, because in a way, if you say, oh, yeah, I've been doing everything wrong. You're like, OK, well, is there someone else around who can do it better? You know, right. But if you also say like you mentioned like oh it's all execution then the locker room goes what uh and you know here's here's one more really quick he was asked about changing the scheme and he goes we're still learning some of our players and their strengths

and working through injuries it's week it's about to be week 15 what do you that one made me like did you did you really just say that? We're still learning our players? That's what you say when it's training camp or maybe like week two. Sorry, go ahead. He poured gasoline on this thing. I mean, right? Like there's no way around it. Not only that, but okay, like I will give you that Harrison Smith

is a big part of this thing. But if you are in December and you're missing one player off of your defense and literally every other player that you started with in OTAs is here. Come on, man. You can't say, oh, we're working around injuries. You missed Delvin Tomlinson for a couple weeks. Like that's not working around injuries. There's a one guy like, and he may be referring to, you know, Zedaria Smith being a little banged up, but even then

Zedaria has not missed a game and he's been in there. And also like you've been drafting rotational pass rushers for how long, uh, you know, and the learning, learning players, also the momentum. It's like, are we living in reality here, Edwin? Like what is going on? I mean, moment they've given up 400 plus yards at five straight games. It's like, are we living in reality here, Edwin? Like, what is going on? I mean, Moment, they've given up 400-plus yards at five straight games. It's never happened in franchise history before. Once you get on the wrong side of those factoids, it's not good. It's not good. So, to me, it sounds like what's being reflected at the press conference

connects with Kevin O'Connell saying we have to be honest with ourselves multiple times, saying we have to be honest with ourselves multiple times saying we have to be honest with ourselves I thought that's a really telling comment it's like who's not being honest with themselves oh I think I found him I think I found the guy who's not being honest with himself so this this tension I you've got to think between Donatello and O'Connell because O'Connell's probably looking at the offense and they rank 10th and 10th is pretty good in points it's not what you know that people imagined in fantasy land when they hired uh O'Connell that they would you know run over the league but they consistently put up somewhere between 25 and 35 points every single week I mean that's a it's a it's like an inconsistently consistent offense that's still at the end of the game always up with the same amount of points, even though it's a roller coaster through our lives.

And if you're 10th in points and you're looking at the defense going, come on, guys. I mean, that's good enough, right? Like that should be good enough. But instead, you're just bleeding yardage. You're not on the field as much. And one small interesting fact, and I have to double check this. Correct me if I'm wrong. Did the colts

have their bye week last week they did yeah it's like they're coming they're coming off about it i just you know like something to keep an eye on there that uh they're the freshest they're going to be all year whereas the vikings play on short rest coming off of a road game where they kind of got whipped a little bit so i don don't know, like this, this one, this one on the schedule all year, I've been like, I don't care. I don't even want to go like, you know, just like all these interesting games, all these like super fascinating matchups. And then there's just this, this stink bomb existing here, like on a Saturday in December, where, you know, everyone would be rather shopping than watching the Colts play and all of a sudden intrigue has arisen which is great uh Will since uh is there anything with uh with the Colts that you want to say about their team um I mean I just think that

they're they're not good but they have just slightly enough defensive linemen to be a little dangerous that's that's the one thing that you look at and they are 31st in dvoa as a team not they're they're close with uh with houston in the race to be last in dvoa and there's like it's those two and then there's a tier gap between the cardinals at number 30 and the breakdown of that is they are 32nd in offense they're the worst offense in the NFL by DVA worse than the Davis Mills uh Jeff Driscoll Houston Texans but they're 12th in defense and that's a legitimate number and they're also terrible in special teams which is I don't know how much of that is random or if that's actually like oh they're bad at specialty but they're 12th in defense and you look at their defensive front and you're like, okay, DeForest Buckner is a really good player. Grover Stewart,

I think is an underrated guy who people don't know as much as Buckner, but he's been really, really good this year. Yannick Ngakwe, he can speed rush around the edge and then not much else, but he's done that to eight and a half sacks and a bunch of sacks throughout his career. And then Quiddie Paye is a guy who we talked about, I think it was, if that was 2020 or 2021 as a first round possibility for the Vikings when they needed more pass direction. So he's a first round caliber guy who's pretty good.

So you look at the front four, and that's maybe the one thing that concerns you. I mean, they still have, they have Stephon Gilmore, who's a former defensive player of the year. He's not quite there anymore. Good linebacker, even with Shaquille Leonard being on injured reserve. So the defense is, it's competent. It's good, in fact. And I think specifically looking at the defensive line, that's going to be a tough front to get your running game going against. And that's the one thing I think that the Vikings, that's a question right now. And that's going to be a focus for them this week is trying to get the running game going. Wes Phillips said they're

going to shrink some things down. They're going to kind of minimize and simplify things in the running game to try to just hone in on the fundamentals and just get the kind of core concepts right. Because there's just been too many zero yard gains and losses and plays that get blown up right away. And I think getting Garrett Bradbury back will for sure help getting Christian Derisaw back will for sure help. He's been one of the best players on his team, one of the best linemen in the league.

So, so that'll be big, but it's going to be a tough front to run against. And he also said, Wes Phillips said that he was showing the linemen and the league. So that'll be big, but it's going to be a tough front to run against. And he also said, Wes Phillips said that he was showing the linemen and the whole kind of running game, like clips of them doing it well and hitting on runs. And just as a reminder, like, hey, we can do this. This is what it looks like. So I thought that was kind of interesting. But yeah, running game will be something to watch. And then they might be able to put some pressure on Cousins as well. And we'll see if he can follow up that absolute gem that he had in Detroit. Folks, you have just days left before Christmas. So make sure you're going to SodaStick.com to get all of your Minnesota sports-inspired goods.

That's hats, t-shirts, hoodies. SodaStick.com. S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Use the promo code purple insider there for your last minute holiday shopping. Okay. Before we wrap up, I've got a couple of interesting fans only questions. If you're down to answer them, I think they're, they're really, really astute questions. And I thought they were good. I wanted to work them in before the end of the week from Mitzi via email. What do you think the reason is for the Vikings third quarter issues in the games that always come down to the last minute? Is it the team

playing down to their opponent's level or perhaps playing not to lose? You know, I think that the third quarter thing is pretty fascinating. I don't know that I have a great explanation for it, for why it seems that that happens on a weekly basis. And, you know, they did offensively move the ball in the third quarter against the Colt or against the Lions, but they came out and went three and out. And that was actually a really big moment in the game because they had just fumbled at the end of the half. And the whole thing was, well, okay, you blew the drive, but you're getting the ball back.

You should be able to go get those points back. You give away the ball, and then all of a sudden Detroit gets rolling and their defense forgot how to play in the third quarter. Is this, I mean, I don't know. Like, it seems like a reach to, say, inexperienced coaching staff. Halftime adjustments are probably overrated like i i don't know i really don't know why this is it's it's been bugging me that i can't like just put some like i you like to we like to talk about football and when there's a problem we like

to like have an explanation for it say this is why this is happening and this is how you can fix it and i think i think with the defense we can kind of see some of that and it's pretty apparent. But the third quarter thing, yeah, it's – I can't really wrap my finger around why that has kind of continually gone so poorly. And they did – yeah, you're right. They did score a touchdown.

They had the Thielen touchdown late in the third quarter. But, yeah, they came out and they had a short pass to KJ a run up the middle to Dalvin Cook and then a one yard pass to feeling on third and two and then they're punting right away and that's that's a big play in the game because then the Lions go down and score to make it a two-score game and I I don't know I don't know if it's if it's a play calling thing it's like an aggressiveness thing and they're not they're not being aggressive enough or if they're not adjusting at halftime. I think there's probably at least some level of randomness to it

and they're not actually like this horrible in the third quarter and that'll maybe even out some more. But yeah, it's been weird. I wish I had a better answer. The funny thing is that when you look at their EPA per play on offense and defense, the first three quarters, they're a bottom third team. And then the fourth quarter on both offense and defense, they've been like the best team in the league.

And I guess I wonder about like the style of play in the fourth quarter when there's like desperation to throw it to Justin Jefferson and to force the ball down the field because you're in a close game or you're coming back. I would have said that a lot of times they've started the third quarter with the lead and maybe they don't know how to put teams away. I think there's pretty good evidence to say they don't know how to put teams away. The fact that they've won all the games the way that they have and against the Jets, I would definitely say that was the case.

But I think the answer is probably like a week-to-week type of thing of what happened when they were up so much against the Jets. What was it, 14 points coming out of halftime, and you sort of have a chance to put them away, and you don't do it, and then you let them hang around. Maybe there is a little bit to playing too conservatively and not pushing the ball down the field and playing aggressively that when this team is aggressive, they can make

a lot of big plays. And we've seen that. And I think that's one of the reasons that the defensive conversation is so frustrating because you're like, I think it's there. I don't think it's there to be the number one defense. I don't even think it's there to be the number 15 defense, but I do think it's there to be better than this. And, you know, and, and I would say even for a lot of times, the offense is the same thing. Like, I think it's there that you could be a little more aggressive than you are, but I also feel like Kevin O'Connell has been very nervous about how bad the defense is. And this is how, like, we always split them into how's the offense, how's the defense as if they have nothing to do with each other, but they are connected in the way that each has to play. And so maybe there's

something within that, or maybe it is completely random and it's just a strange thing that's happened to them. And then, you know, two weeks from now, they'll have a 30 point third quarter out of absolutely nowhere. So it's kind of football. It's a great question. I wish either one of us had like a more distinct answer. Okay another one here for you with four games left what are the odds of Justin Jefferson breaking the single season receiving record he's now within what like 500 yards of that I think I think there's a good chance I mean and more than ever, when you see him coming off of a 223-yard game that could have been 255 if they had ruled that he hadn't stepped out, which I still don't think he did. And it's not like a perfect enough angle where you can say with 100% certainty that he didn't. But it looked to me like his heel was in the air.

So, yeah, he was a little frustrated with that but there's so many times uh this season and in previous seasons where i was like he's gonna break the sammy white 210 yard single game record and because he would have like 85 yards in the first quarter and like 150 at halftime and then he and then he wouldn't and it finally happened and that kind of calls back to what you were just talking about, the aggressiveness of the offense. It's like you see Justin Jefferson do these things, and you're like, he should have 150 yards every week. That's how good he is because the teams can double him,

and he can still get open with his route running, and Kirk can still put it in these small windows, and Jefferson's going to catch it 95% of the time. So, yeah, four games left. What is the Calvin Johnson record? It's like somewhere in the nineties. And Jefferson, I mean, I, I think the real question is that they're, they're similar, but can he get to 2000 and be the first 2000 yard receiver ever?

So the record at Calvin Johnson, 2012 is 19, 1,964. And so he's 464 away he has to average that's the average like 115 a game to get there which is that's what he does i mean i think he's averaging that this season at least uh with buoyed by by last week in detroit so i think he gets there the only question would be like if the packers and or bears games at the end are meaningless, how much do you want to take any chances with playing your best, most valuable player? So I think, I think that would be the only thing that would slow him down or like,

there's always a chance that defenses are like, we're not letting this happen and we're gonna like put three guys on him and then to some extent even if you're Justin Jefferson, Calvin Johnson, Randy Moss there's nothing you can do about that to some extent so I think to answer the question I think there's a very good chance that he breaks the all-time record. I'm gonna say that week 18 probably won't matter and now to quote Zimmer, I care about wins and not records. And we've talked about, I think, I think Kevin O'Connell is not that way and he will understand like this would

be cool to get Jefferson this and he would, he would be happy, but. You can't play him. You can't. The most important thing is to have him cooking in the wild card round. So. You, you can't play. If, if you play Jefferson in week 18 to get him a record and he turns an ankle, Oh my God. It's just like one of the worst Vikings things to ever happen. Right.

And then they, and then they lose by 30 in the first round and we all go, Kevin O'Connell deserves to be fired for playing Justin Jefferson. Right. Like you just, yeah, yeah. I don't think, if they're sitting all the starters, they need to sit all the starters and records be darned. But I think that scenario looks actually very likely. I mean, would you play him in week 18 if it's like the 49ers are on our heels for the two seed

or does the two versus the three not even really matter that much i don't think it does i don't think it does i i think it's sort of like inevitable that we're going to be watching nick mullins play uh in the final game of the season i because like if you're talking about just right now if the playoffs started today i mean you're talking about the difference between like the Giants and the football team, the commanders, I guess, you know, like, does that matter to you? Like, it doesn't really doesn't really matter to me. So maybe he'll just maybe he'll just get it over the next three weeks because it's not impossible. He just had 200. He's had 200. He's at 220. He's at 190. he's at 220 he's had 190 he's had 180 it's not it's not impossible for him to get

470 over the next three it's probably unlikely but so we're both picking the vikings for this that is there even a discussion no and and you picked the lions last week right i did yeah yeah and i i should have i knew i should have, and I was like, the Lions are playing well. It's a bad matchup on the road, all this. They're going to be desperate, and I didn't because I figured the Vikings voodoo magic would work. And if Cook doesn't fumble that pass at the three-yard line, it could have happened.

But yeah, 100% picking the Vikings. If they lose to the Colts, we'll be having a fun. The sky is falling disaster panic mode podcast next week. And I think that would be fully justified if that is the case. Well, thanks for your time as always. And we will get together and do this again, leading up to the giants. We're like going to have to do these on Wednesdays now because of the schedule.

We got, we got two Saturday games in our own. Yeah. It's a, it's a little bit throwing my life off completely. In fact, I mean the, the way that I had scheduled my little family trip was based on thinking it

was going to be on a Sunday. And I was like, Oh, well basically only miss like a little bit out there, just one day out there. And then they totally screwed me up. And I missed this legendary Donatello press conference. It hurts me inside, but I'm glad that you were there to break it down for us.

So the good the good news for you is Matt Daniels did not say anything interesting today, which was rare. He seemed a little not his usual bubbly self, perhaps having to do with a 42 yard fake punt that they gave up in that Detroit game. So you didn't miss anything that you did miss a lot with that. Fair enough. Maybe the first press conference all year that Matt Daniels didn't bring something. Exactly. Yeah,

no, but this is good. We'll we'll do it again next week. All right. Sounds good. And thank you all for listening.