Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is Justin Jefferson going to go off on the Lions?

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill talk about Jefferson vs. the Lions and then the Vikings Pro Bowl situations and project each skill player in Vikings-Lions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 🎵 Hey everybody, wait a minute, why are we on the wrong side? Hold on, get out of here Manny, now come back. There we go, okay, now. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Manny Hill on the correct side of me. Manny, I want to tell you a little story from today, from TCO Performance Center, where I spent the most of my afternoon as the Vikings get prepared for their Sunday night matchup

with the Detroit Lions. So all week, Vikings players at the podiums, at their lockers, they've been taking a very similar type of tone about the magnitude of this game because sometimes the very obvious and basic question has to be asked which is how big is this football game talk about that football player now normally if you're just talking about a regular game against anybody chic Chicago or something. Okay. Well, every game's big, you know? Right. And so every player has taken a very similar tact to their

head coach, which is we understand the stakes, but we're approaching this week exactly the same as we always would for any other game. Okay. That's fine. That's sort of a version of one and oh, this week or one day at a time, uh, which I'm sure that they are. And then Justin Jefferson comes up and someone asks, Hey, uh, Justin, how are you feeling about this game? And Justin's like, I'm pumped, man. I can't wait to play this football game. I'm not going to be able to sleep on Saturday or take my Sunday nap. I'm going to be so excited to get out there on national TV, play for the conference, play against the lions. And, uh, his enthusiasm and his

earnestness has always been something that, uh, I think people appreciate about him that he really isn't all that capable of being Mr. Cliche. He wants to play this game. He wants to shred the bleep out of the Detroit lions. And you know what, Manny, I think he's going to, I think that, uh, Justin Jefferson is set to have an enormous game against the Detroit lions. What do you think? Yeah, I agree. I think he is going to have a field day, pun absolutely intended there. I think he's just going to, because he has historically torched this defense.

I was just looking at his numbers in nine career games against the Detroit Lions, and obviously this goes back to the Mike Zimmer era as well, but nine games against the lions he's got 69 catches for 1154 yards only four touchdowns but still you just see the production level that like that's nine games that's half a season so basically take those numbers and double them and you've got you know essentially like a full season of statistics so he's been he's been absolutely

roasting this defense ever since he came into the league. It's been really impressive. And I think it's going to be the same thing on Sunday night. I had a thought as we were talking to Jefferson today, cause I asked him about just some of the plays that he makes away from the football, not just when he's not getting catches and running routes out there to draw attention away, but also the plays that he makes like blocks or hustle plays. There's a lot of them when you watch back on tape. And he was talking about how he takes out his frustration from not getting the football or the double teams by having a chance to hit somebody. But when you watch back cam acres touchdown and screen pass, he punches a dude in the chest as hard as you can hit somebody as a wide receiver. He sends the corner flying back into the end zone and allows cam acres to get in. And I think that where he is really emerged as true all time greatness is things like that is the way that he approaches every single play with

that type of high motor. You saw that from someone like Larry Fitzgerald, who I think is a good comparison for Justin Jefferson. Jefferson's like a faster Fitzgerald. He could track the ball. He can go underneath. He could go deep. He gets open no matter what type of coverage. And then when all the chips are down, he's willing to do whatever it takes and supports his teammates, handles himself in the public. And the thing about somebody like Jefferson, who was not, by the way, making noise about his contract at any point last year, who was not making noise at any point this year when there were a few games where he didn't catch X number of passes. And the thing about Jefferson, just like Larry Fitzgerald,

is that they both went so consistently to, to the top and stayed there and didn't fall off. And year after year, after year, it's just excellence, excellence, excellence, that they become very boring in the national eye. And the fantasy people love them because they have the same season almost every single year. And the conversations are never surrounded around this person. When he's negotiating his contract,

they were trying desperately, should they trade Jefferson? Is he going to hold that? Oh, he just signed it. So now we got nothing. Who else can we look to, to be our diva receiver, to argue about on television or wherever it might be. And I think that he has become underrated now because of this. And I know everyone calls him the best receiver in the league, but to truly appreciate the value that he brings to a team, I think goes way beyond just, Hey, he's, he's the best or he's really good, or he has big numbers or so forth. And I think because so little of that

gets highlighted because it's not controversial, it gets ignored sometimes. And so what's great about this game is this is the stage. The whole world is watching this football game. You can get ready for Monday. There's going to be records. There's going to be most watch football game, most watch, whatever, most hours watched, watching football, watching or whatever, whatever it is. There's going to be a press release that talks about this being the highest Sunday night football game. And that's where Justin Jefferson belongs

on that stage to even elevate his profile beyond what he has ever been for. You know, and you think about, you know, as you were talking and kind of describing, you know, just all the little things that Justin Jefferson does, it really kind of, when you think about the receiver documentary that he was a part of that, you know, followed him around last season, you know, I remember thinking, watching those first couple of, you know, scenes, so to speak, with him, and I was thinking to myself,

this guy's actually kind of boring, but I like that. You know what I mean? It's, it's almost like it, that's what makes him so exciting is the fact that he is kind of boring and that he doesn't, you know, he has a terrific personality. He's very outgoing. He's very dedicated to his craft. He has a great work ethic. He's done a great job of turning himself into the player that he is. And he's got little quirks about him that add to his personality. But he is, for the most part, in these five years that he's been here now, has been a very boring player. And I think that has been a really key intangible part to, you know, the team being able to have success and not being, even in years where things weren't going quite as well, they didn't

completely fall apart because he's complaining about not getting the ball enough or, you know, other things off, there's off the field things and all of that stuff. He's been a very drama-free superstar player that just goes about his business and is damn good at it. And I think it fits in perfectly with, I think, this fan base. I think it fits in perfectly, obviously, with the organization. And it's a big part of why this team is 14-2. He just fits in correctly with everything else that's happening in the organization. I used to listen to Zach Lowe's podcast religiously until they took it away from me. And I hope Zach Lowe comes back so I can keep listening to it. But I remember he was having a conversation with somebody about the San Antonio Spurs and what had happened to them post Tim Duncan. And they

kind of fell apart and lost Kawhi Leonard and all that. And his guest said, well, it's really not that complicated. Your culture is only as good as your best player. And this is another thing that I don't think is given enough credit to J to Justin Jefferson is that he sets the tone for the entire organization. He is the highest paid player. He is the most important player. He is the one that drove them to 13 wins before as offensive player of the year. And he's driven them to 14 wins this year. The quarterback has played phenomenally well. They've gotten good running game, good pass protection, good coaching, good at defense, good everything. They do not win 14 games without Justin Jefferson.

They might win double digits, but they ain't winning 14. It's his performance in big games. It's how much attention he draws away. I mean, think of the game in Chicago. He gets two catches, but as a 40-yard pass interference, Addison gets big plays down the field. You end up with Hawkinson having a huge game. That all, and if you watch it on the tape,

you just see it so much. The Packers just shifting everything his way. And then, uh-oh, we're getting crushed by everybody else. Jalen Naylor's now killing us. Well, let's give him a little more opportunity. And then here comes Justin Jefferson in the middle of that game. And I think that

his enthusiasm, which just connects back into what I was talking about with asking him about this game, his enthusiasm for football and his genuine love for competition and the bright lights and everything. This guy was forged at a national championship team in LSU. He still talks about it, about how much he loved being on that team that won a championship. And it's been a kind of a rocky road in his NFL career, not for him, but for the organization where he first gets here and they're rebuilding and the rebuilding is not going well because they don't know they're rebuilding. And so they missed the playoffs his first two seasons. So imagine you're him coming off a championship at LSU and your first two seasons are full of, well, you had COVID, no one in the stands,

then drama with Zimmer the next season and the quarterback and all those things. And finally, he's reached the point where he always viewed himself on a team, driving them to a game like this. It just seems like he, he, he reminds me of somebody like LeBron James in this way that is so singularly focused on this type of thing. It's like LeBron James during his career belonged in championship level games, playing for everything, right? And I look at Justin Jefferson the same way. But when we think about it, Manny, how many games in Justin Jefferson's career,

there's no games that are like this in the regular season. How many has he gotten some sort of stage that's anything like this? Trying to think. Playoff game. I mean, yeah, the playoff game against the Giants was a stage this big because, you know, almost by default because it was a playoff game. But, I mean, the Buffalo game in 2022 kind of turned into that, the way that game kind of played out um but even then there were

still i think there were still some question marks about like is that team really this good they've been winning so many close games against mediocre to bad teams like we know justin jefferson's great but how serious is this vikings team um and for a little bit after that game, they looked like they were serious and then next week happened. But yeah, I mean, this is, I think as far as regular seasons go, this is by far and away the biggest stage, biggest moment, biggest opportunity for this team. And he's going to be at the forefront of that.

And the fact that he is really embracing how big this game is, um, I think speaks to his character as a, just as a teammate, as a leader as well. Um, it's just really impressive and I'd love to see it. Uh, I think, would I even say that the giants game even approaches this? Because I think the way that most people felt about that Giants playoff game was that they could win it, but that was going to be it. And when they lost, I don't think anyone was all that shocked. I mean, I remember going into it. A lot of people were picking the Giants because in the second half of the season, the Vikings had fallen off. They weren't the same. They had the negative point differential that everyone talked about.

This is the difference between having a very high percentage chance to go to the Superbowl. If you're the number one seed historically and having to fight your way through the playoffs, but even if they have to fight their way through the playoffs, I don't think anyone would count them out considering how good they are on offense and defense, how complete of a team they are and how far they've come to be here. So I think that this makes it even bigger though, because they've never been a real true contender since he's gotten here until this moment. So I'm curious about everyone's questions, comments, thoughts. I want to start

this out with Jefferson because sometimes I feel like even we take him for granted and we don't talk about him that much. It's a lot about like, well, you know, Jefferson will be great and onto the next thing that needs to be solved or end of the future or whatever else. Like, well, let's just stop for a second. This is the stage that Justin Jefferson belongs on and he's going to get. And I just get the sense against this lion's defense that he has an opportunity to drive their success on Sunday. So questions, comments, thoughts, what is on your mind as we are now just days away from the Minnesota Vikings playing against the Detroit Lions. So how about, Manny, the Pro Bowl selections here?

I thought that what they really did, if you didn't hear, if I can do it off the top of my head, of course, Jefferson and Darnold, but then Byron Murphy, Andrew Van Ginkle, and Jonathan Grenard. Is that everybody? And DePaula made it. And DePaula, yep, yep. Don't want to Ginkle, and Jonathan Grenard. Is that everybody? And DePaula made it. And DePaula. Yep, yep.

Don't want to forget him. The long snapper. One of the best of the best in the league. I think all that it does is highlight this Pro Bowl selections because Blake Cashman was deserving as well, considering how valuable he is. I think all it does is highlight once again, the way that this team was built is not always the way that championship teams are built.

Sometimes like Detroit, it can be over years of drafting and building it up. And sometimes it can be finding the right players with the right amount of cap space from free agency and putting them in the right fit and getting more out of those players than they ever gave their previous teams. Grenard setting career highs. You have in pressures as he's only behind miles, Garrett, Andrew Van Ginkle, the high end sacks, Blake Cashman has had so much success. And that's not even to leave out the signings of Stefan Gilmore and Aaron Jones, who has been banged up at times and slowed at times, but really a revelation in the backfield versus what they had before.

And I think that going into the season, this, the Pro Bowl selections are a reminder of what everybody missed about this team is just how much talent they were able to bring in and how the competitive rebuild idea worked. And the other thing is too, Manny, that veteran teams usually win. It's not often the youngest team in the league is in the NFC championship. You really don't see that a whole heck of a lot. And the way that they brought these guys in worked with Brian Flores for how complicated he wanted to make things. It worked with, uh, you know, Kevin O'Connell and his offense to have a running back that could line up at outside wide receiver, but also could lead for a team that was taking

on a new quarterback in Sam Darnold to have one of the best leaders in the NFL to be there in Aaron Jones. And just again, a reminder of how masterful that offseason was with the players, the personalities, the fits that they brought in and how that really changed the trajectory of this franchise. And I think, you know, we were just talking about Justin Jefferson and his leadership a minute ago, but I think it is very, I think that leadership trade is very palpable with this team. Cause I think there are a lot of, you know, not just veterans, but like veterans that know how to lead. You know, I've noticed it just from watching, you know, I like to watch those videos when certain players are like mic'd up during games

and just see how they kind of interact with each other and everything. And you see a lot of leadership from guys like Jonathan Grenard, guys like Brian O'Neill, who's been here for a long time now and has established himself as a terrific player. You mentioned guys like Blake Cashman, leadership qualities like that. And Aaron Jones is another guy that has been on winning competitive teams in Green Bay for a number of years and has been in positions on teams that have had a chance to go to the Super Bowl. And you can kind of see it spread out to the entire roster as well.

When you have that many guys, and then you include the guys that have already been here. We talked about Jefferson. A guy like Harrison Smith obviously is maybe not quite the player he once was at his peak, but he's still a guy that has been in this league, knows how to play, knows how to lead, knows the ins and outs of this organization really well. I think just the amount of leadership on this team I think has been every bit as important as the talent that we have, that we have been able to see with this team. But the leadership has just been incredible. And the way it's kind of

spread out to everybody has been really, really impressive. And going back to when Kwesi D'Affomensa and Kevin O'Connell were hired, we all wondered in comparison to the Chicago bears, how is this going to work? And I truly think now that no matter what path they had taken, because they have Kevin O'Connell and they eventually landed on Brian Flores and they have crazy at off elements and Rob Brzezinski in the front office that has been successful, that they would have taken whatever path and, and made it right.

Because Chicago is such a tire fire. They're so bad at everything. If they had a better coach, if they had fired Eber Flus, they had brought somebody in. If they had somebody of Kevin O'Connell's caliber, Caleb Williams is probably being talked about as the next exciting quarterback and so forth. They're just so wildly incompetent from the very top that I'm not shocked that it didn't work for them. But I will say that I did not think that this was really possible to do it this way. Because now I knew that a lot of teams

add flavor through free agency and sometimes a key player through a big trade. But normally the best way to do it is to go to the bottom like Detroit did restore the roar over a couple of years. And they did it perfectly. They went to the bottom, but they got a good enough quarterback to make sure that they were still competitive and it just didn't become a trash fire. And they got a coach who would keep everybody

in line and Dan Campbell and excited about football and so forth. And then they slowly built and slowly built. I thought that the Vikings should have done it that way when they fired Mike Zimmer, that they should have said, all right, this whole competitive thing, trying to win every year. It's silly. It's not, it's just, you can't do that in football, right? And even as they went into the competitive rebuild after last year, I had the same thought to myself. Well, if you had tanked, then maybe you would have been drafted higher and maybe you would have Drake may and that sort of thing.

And I guess what I did not anticipate what I missed about this was their ability to identify players that would fit for this team. But there's another thing too, also to become the premier team that everyone wants to play for. It gets out. The word is out. If your team does not pay from the ownership, which means the cash, the signing bonuses, if they're not going to put those signing bonuses means the cash, the signing bonuses. If they're not

going to put those signing bonuses in your pocket, if the team doesn't have the facilities, if they don't have a coach that you want to play for, if they don't have potential and stars and schemes that you think you can succeed in, they're not signing with your football team. And you don't get the day one guys like Van Ginkle and Grenard and Cashman, unless you can present to the world, you want to come play here. And that, that all plays into it. It all plays into how this happened. I just thought it was worth looking back and saying, how did this happen? How did they get all these guys that are pro boards and not even to mention, uh, Byron Murphy and the progress that he's made, which I think should also give us confidence too,

that they can continue to do this in the future. When they were working with almost no money, they were trying the Dean Lowry's and the Marcus Davenport's. Okay. Well, uh, those were just kind of, how can we sign some guys to just be bodies in here? But when they were in a mode of signing guys to be difference makers, they found complete game changers. It is the difference between teams that know what they're doing.

You know, teams that have people in the front office and in the head coaching department that know what they're doing. know teams that have people in the front office and in the head coaching uh department that know what they're doing you know i mean you because you do see a lot of teams and i know like when when you and i were kind of making that argument that you know maybe the vikings should go the route of tanking you know people always came back with uh well what if they you know what if they end up like the browns or the, or the Jets or how the Lions were for so long? And the thing is with, with all of that, it's, it's not that the tanking part of it was wrong. The, the, the Browns and the Jets and all those teams that have been bad for so long,

they just, they just never found the right coach. They never had the right people in the front office making the right decisions. They, they were signing players to bad contracts that were crippling them, making bad trades, bad decisions, controversy left and right with players getting involved in things off the field that were detrimental to the operation of the franchise. What the Vikings have done under Kwesi and KOC is these guys just know what they're doing. So it's almost like no matter what path they decide to take, it's going to work because Kevin O'Connell is a terrific coach and Kweisi Adolfo Mensah is really good at his job. And

it's shown. And I think if they would have gone the route you know three years ago or two and a half years ago when they came on board of tanking i think it would have worked you know now would they be 14 and 2 this year and potentially the number one seed in the nfc playoffs maybe maybe not but i think we as observers and fans as well would be looking at this team. If they had gone that route of tanking, like, oh, yeah, these guys know what they're doing. They're heading in the right direction. This is going to work. This is going to work for a long time.

So I just think that they've got, you know, a really good head coach and a really good guy in the front office making all the personnel decisions. And I think that those two guys being aligned the way that they are has been a big part of that as well, because we have seen what it looks like when the head coach and the GM are not maybe necessarily on the same page. And we've seen the end results of that and they're not good. So I just think that they've got people at the top that know what they're doing, and I think it should definitely be celebrated more because I don't know if people like you and I are giving them a lot of credit, but I don't know if the masses, the national media, is giving them enough credit for actually the way

that they've been able to turn this around over the last couple of years. Well, I think because Kweisi Adafomenta doesn't put him out himself out there very much he's not a big guy in the media he doesn't talk to us all that much doesn't do any national spots i've ever seen doesn't do sit down articles and things like that only when he first started that kind of burned him a little bit i think he's wanted to stay away from the spotlight since then. You never hear his name get brought up with why this team is where it is, but he was the one that was guiding this plan from day one when they hired him to bring him in.

He was the one that pitched, this is the way we can be a competitive rebuilding team and get back to the top. I guarantee you Kweisi and Alphamah didn't expect 14 wins out of this, but he did see the path of taking apart the previous roster. And you could get the sense, even when he got here, that that's what he wanted to do. And I think he may have been a little too honest for everybody's liking

about how much he wanted to take apart the roster and get it back to the top in a couple of years. But the way that he has, I think, made really good bets on certain players and their timelines, like even with Daniil Hunter, who's been amazing this year for Houston, had Daniil Hunter stayed here, then he still would have been extremely good. But instead decided, you know what? There's another guy, which is Jonathan Grenard, who actually might be a little better fit in our system.

And we can project him forward as someone who's ascending and is what? Seven, $8 million cheaper than Daniil Hunter. And with less of a serious injury history history when it comes to the neck injury. How about even moving on from someone like Zedarius Smith or Patrick Peterson, like moving on at the right time from all of those players and then bringing in guys that were sweeping into their primes. I just think it was really, really well handled to be able to do that. But, you know, you're always going to hear Kevin O'Connell's

name come up first, but the craftsmanship of the roster is every bit the reason that they are here and they've acquired a lot of players in different ways. I mean, spending a draft pick on TJ Hawkinson at the time, I thought it was kind of a, Hey, we're going to win the division. We got to just take our shot, trade for a guy and see what happens. But now he's like a staple of the organization. That's a great trade for them. That's a great usage of what? It was a second round draft pick.

It's a lot to give up, but they got a Pro Bowl tight end who has been huge for them. Even if you go to the Jordan Addison draft pick, everyone wanted them to draft on defense. At that moment, they decide that it's better to stack around your quarterback and go with a wide receiver. So, you know, of course the draft thing is going to get brought up because they had a bad draft in 2022, but also spending the money on the undrafted free agents is how you land Ivan Pace Jr. And that's how you find players like Dwight McClothern and Gabriel Murphy who got on the undrafted free agents is how you land Ivan Pace Jr. And that's how you find players like Dwight McClothern

and Gabriel Murphy who got on the field this year and these developmental players for the future. So I think that they've been able to do it in a lot of different ways with this team to stack around the players that they have and create this roster that is 14 and two. And the Pro Bowl selections just sort of point to one part of that.

But there's a lot of different elements that have gone into building one of the best rosters in the NFL without having to go all the way to the bottom. Imagine watching this team all season and they're 14-2, and they're playing the Detroit Lions for a chance to be the number one seed in the conference, which dramatically increases your chances of going to the Super Bowl if you're the number one seed. There's proven data to show that. Imagine seeing that and still complaining about the 2022 draft, it is mind boggling to me that that is still happening. Yeah, it certainly is. I, you know, I guess, uh, I've been doing a lot of ignoring of the chat tonight. Um, for some of that reason, I think, uh, when it comes to

those criticisms, those are people who never wanted Kweisi Adafo-Mensah hired to begin with. And no matter what he does, even get his team to 14 and two, it's just not, it's just not going to matter. Uh, that that's, and that's sports sometimes,

right? That's, there are media people who have made careers by doing exactly that. Like Skip Bayless would never give LeBron or Terrell Owens any credit. And he got a lot of TV time by no matter what they did, he just went on TV and said he stinks. And that's a strategy if you want to do that. If you want to be the person who just says everyone, somebody's bad, no matter what they do, you're allowed to do it.

It's America, but it's not true. Especially when you look at the value that they've brought in. What is the value in terms of your wins over replacement of a number two wide receiver that has, what, 19 touchdowns in his first two seasons? Or the, I think the premier receiving tight end in the NFL. I would even include Travis Kelsey and say that Hawkinson at this point in his career is a better player. I mean, he's got the thing with Mahomes. No one's questioning Travis Kelsey, but you got a guy in his prime. He's the premier receiving tight end in the entire NFL.

What are those things worth? What is it worth to have a linebacker that you found as an undrafted free agent who is a massive part of this defense. And you saw how hard it was to make up for that. And then what you always have with, with anyone, with any team is there's going to be draft picks that work and there's going to be draft picks that don't work. And the question is always, how do you make up for the draft picks that don't work and what they've been able to do? And this is where it all has to fit together. What people like to do is sort of say, well, the coach did this, the GM did that, but it has to go all together. Brian Flores, one of my

favorite stories in the last two years of Brian Flores is that he came in and Josh Metellus told me this last year when I wrote an article about Flores. He came in and he met with Josh Metellus told me this last year when I wrote an article about Flores, he came in and he met with Josh Metellus, who was basically a special teams player at that point. And he told Josh Metellus, I see you as a key part of our defense. And Josh Metellus went, you do like he said, I didn't even play much. How do you see that? And he said, I see your intelligence. I see your physical nature. I see your versatility.

And so guess what, Bucko, you're playing. And then we started to see it more and more. I'm like, what's Josh Metellus is getting on the field more and more and more and more. And he goes from a sixth round draft pick who was cut out of his first training camp to a thousand snap player who can fill in at linebacker, play safety, rush the passer, stop the run. You failed on a draft pick who was a safety, but you found somebody who's playing one of the most unique and valuable roles. I don't care where they got drafted or how you found them. You just have to find them. And that's what Brian Flores was able to do. And we're already seeing

little hints of this. Jalen Redmond has a very high PFF grade because he's making plays XFL guy. And you you've seen a little, like a little bit in the preseason and in training camp of someone like McClother and who might become a guy in the future and things like that. So I think that what you have is a really good defensive player, or I'm sorry, defensive coach at identifying players, even understanding that Cam Bynum was a better player than someone like someone like Louis scene that he was a better player. They weren't going

to play the first round pick, uh, Marley. I'm going to, I'll put it on the screen because of the super chat, but I'm not going to agree with you. And I hope you understand that, that Marley says I was a huge fan at the time of hiring Kweisi Adafo Mensah, uh, or was, uh, I guess you, you mean not, not a fan. Uh, you can't ignore the fact that long-term inability to find talent in the draft equals long-term success. Here's the, here's the problem with this take that I hear over and over again, this, what, what in the world there's what do people fake worry about Manny? What like what's concerned trolling? Is that what they call it? This is concerned trolling. I'm what they call it? This is concerned

trolling. I'm it just is. I'm sorry. I love the super chat and I know you join a lot of these and I, and I love you for that, but it's concerned trolling. Like this team went from F F when Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman were fired to 14 wins. And you're like, how are they going to do it long-term? Like, I don't know. Here's the other thing to study the draft, like do your homework, study the history of the draft. How does it always work? It's up and down. 2015 is unbelievable for Rick Spielman. And 2016 is the worst draft ever. That's life. Kweisi Adafo-Mensa has drafted all of 20 players in three years, and he's going to make it like 21 next year. Not only that, they didn't have Brian Flores here when they failed on most of these draft picks. Not only that, but they have found undrafted

free agents who have made up the difference. Not only that, but it is not at all a finished product about any of these drafts. Josh Metellus didn't become a thing until three years into who have made up the difference. Not only that, but it is not at all a finished product about any of these drafts. Josh Metellus didn't become a thing until three years into his career, which happens all the time with these players. Not only that, Jalen Naylor looks like a key part of their passing game all season long,

but especially in this last game, that's how it works sometimes. So I think that this idea that he has just lost at the plate up there trying to make draft picks because one draft went wrong is, it's concern trolling. It's not a real take. It's only to just be like, I'm still mad at him for one draft, and I'm going to point that out every single time it comes up.

They are effing 14 and 2 because of the moves this general manager made and you're sitting here crying in your cheerios over drafting a safety who doesn't matter at all it's the strangest thing to me he is gm of the freaking year get over it i mean my thing like, what, what is going to happen if this team runs off like a couple of Superbowl wins over the next five, six years? Are we still going to be talking about the 2022 draft? Like, I mean, I, I just, yeah, I don't, I'm with you. I don't, I don't really get it. And to your point about the undrafted guys,

the guys that they've found that have been major contributors to this team, especially on the defensive side, and part of that is Brian Flores being able to identify those guys and find those guys. And Josh Metellus, you brought him up. He was a guy that was already here but hadn't really done much of anything. And then Brian Flores gets a hold of him and he turns into a really, really good and important part of this defense.

So that to me, again, that goes back to people being in place that know what the hell they're doing. And these guys know what the hell they're doing. They're 14 and two. They have a chance to go to the Super Bowl this year. When you have a team that has a chance to go to the Super Bowl, you know what you're doing. You're not idiots.

And none of those guys are going to bat a thousand. None of these guys, none of these guys, the great Andy Reid has never batted a thousand. Bill Belichick never bad at a thousand bill belichick never bet never bad at a thousand if you're wanting them to nail every single draft pick that they have they've got seven picks in a draft and they got to nail all of them and all of them have to be pro bowl players that you're going to have and be a key part of your your team that never happens on any team even the best ones in the league that never happens they've got a really good team how they've gotten to this point who gives a rip they've got a really good team it's all that

matters i'm only annoyed that i allow myself to get trolled that way because there's no fact behind this at all. How are they going to win long-term? Is Justin Jefferson leaving? Is Christian Derrissaw leaving? I mean, I think the quarterback's probably going to be here even. Is the coach leaving? I don't even think the other coach is leaving. How about Cashman, Grenard, even Van Ginkle, multi-year contracts. Pace, is he going somewhere? Who's leaving? I mean, Harrison Smith may eventually retire, might after this season, that's true. We'll see about Cam Bynum, Byron Murphy. These are players that they were able to develop or bring in anyway, but the roots of this team are in really good shape.

And I'm, you know what I've noticed too. And this is just, I'm going to move on shortly. The better Dallas Turner plays, the less I see his name in the comments. It's pretty funny how it works like that. So I've just taken notice notice of that addison's probably not going anywhere hockinson's probably not going anywhere o'neill's not going anywhere i mean the whole the whole team and even if they franchise tag sam darnold they're going to have 30 million dollars to work with and they can extend contracts out and And I mean, it is just concern trolling to be like, how are we going

to do it long-term by throwing the ball to Jefferson and signing good players. And you know what they draft Jordan Addison, who's becoming one of the better receivers in the league. And you pretend that it didn't happen or something. It's just a, it's just a, a strange hill to die on three days before they play the biggest game that the franchise has played in a really long time. And you guys are popping in here like, what about 2028? I don't know. I guess check in then. Anyway, so I give you your 10 bucks back if you want it.

When it comes to this team, though, Manny, let me just take a deep breath and, uh, talk about something I wanted to talk about with you, which is there have been some similar teams to the, this Vikings, uh, 2024 team in recent memory, you all know what they are. 20 we'll throw 2022 in there. Cause they had 13 wins 13 wins. 2017, 2009, 1998. Would you nominate anybody else in that sort of big list of teams that had a legitimate shot to win the Super Bowl? I'm trying to think. They did go to an NFC championship.

Was that an 8-8 team that got there? An 87. Well, I was thinking about yeah 87 it's going a little far back for me because i didn't really see 87 i was born there before but uh i was thinking about 2000 yeah 2000 when they lost the 41 donut game oh yeah they were they were 11 and 5 that year oh 11 and 5 okay yeah yeah so okay we'll throw them in there too so we got 98 2000 uh 2009 2017 2022 those are the best teams since 98 including 98 where would you rank this team in terms of how much you trust them to win a game like this? Oh, let's see.

Yeah. I would trust the 98 team to win a game like this because of the high powered offense. I would trust. I would trust 20 when I trust 2017. They always scared me. They scared me the whole season long, 2017. But that defense was so good.

Yep, yep, that's true. That defense was so damn good. Yeah, I mean, I would take this team, maybe with the exception of 98. I'd probably trust 09 too as well. That was a really good team in 2009. Favre was playing some of the best football of his career. That defense was pretty good.

Yeah, I would trust 98 and 09. I'm not entirely sure i would trust anyone else even probably not even 17 just because even though the defense was great i don't know if a game like this against this type of high powered offense like the lions are just going to score points because they have so much on offense and they're almost unstoppable and i don't know if like case Keenum would be able to keep up with that. You know what I mean? So yeah, I would say 98 and Oh nine for sure.

I would trust. But then, yeah, then it's this team, obviously. Interestingly in 2017, the biggest game that they won in the regular season was against Jared golf. And it was against the number one offense, the NFL that year. And they won 24 to seven,

I think in that game, Keenum didn't even have to be great, but throughout that entire year, Mike Zimmer's anxiousness became all of our anxiousness for the right reasons because we saw case keenum throw the big interception in philadelphia that swung that game and it may have turned out the exact same either way but that interception that he threw kind of hucking the ball up toward the sideline there was no philadelphia miracle uh that one they end up picking it off he threw a bad pick in the in the miracle game against the saints as well that allowed the Saints to get back in the position to win the game. Yep. No, he absolutely did.

And that was when that happened. Our friend Judd Zolgad, I remember turning to him and going, that's the one Zimmer's been afraid of all year against the Saints. Like we knew it was going to happen. That's the one that they were worried about the entire season with him just throwing the ball up for grabs and it turned that game. And it eventually made for one of the great moments in team history, but had it not, it would have been the one we talked about forever. Like,

oh, the big interception that Zimmer was worried about. So I never trusted that team the whole season long. And I don't think anybody really thought that Keenum was going to keep getting away with it. 98 is the best team. It's one of the best teams in NFL history by offense, defense point differential. They blew out everybody the whole season long. And so the answer feels like it should be them. And also Favre threw away a lot of games in his career for all the ones that he won. He also had as many bad interceptions. But something makes me want to lean a little bit toward 09 because the defense was good and they had Jared Allen. And the fact that Favre, he was always making mistakes in huge games

because he was always in huge games. Like that takes you a lot of winning to get into huge games and i think i would have just take plus he was safe with that's the ironic thing he was safe with the football that year he threw like seven picks yeah seven picks right so i think had we not known the ending it would be very close between 09 and 1998 but i think i would have leaned more toward this version of brett farr versus that version of Randall Cunningham. Yeah. And I think about, you know, the old nine team had to, I mean, for specific reasons, because it was far playing the Packers, but those, those two games against the Packers that year were really highly anticipated against a good Packers team. Aaron Rodgers was

starting to really emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I think the first one was the Monday night game at the Metrodome. And then the game where he goes back to Lambeau, that was a huge game too. And that felt like a playoff type of atmosphere. And they answered the call. So I mean, that, I know for like the 09 team, it's easy to kind of look at what happened in the Saints game and the NFC title game and think, oh, they would just choke away a game like this. But I think if you put that team in a similar type of game like this in a regular season, I think they would answer the call and I would trust them to show up and play really well. And the thing of it is with the Saints game, the NFC Championship game, they turned the ball over a lot, but they actually played really well in that game. They moved the ball up and down the field on the Saints.

The defense really kind of shut the Saints down. Saints were able to score a lot of points because of short fields, because of turnovers and things like that. But that 0-9 team was really, really good. And I think they would be able to handle, certainly handle a game like this of this magnitude. Ryan says, Darnold is playing exactly like Stafford did with O'Connell

in terms of taking care of the football. Let's see, they have similar arm talent. I just don't think we've had that type of sample from Sam. Yeah, actually Stafford turned the ball over more that year than Sam Darnold has. He had that kind of run that was pretty tough in the middle of the season and then got it together at the right time in the playoffs. But as far as what fits with Kevin O'Connell, Sam Darnold just fits so well with what he

wants to do. And they can run a lot of the same stuff that Matthew Stafford can run. I think that when they drafted JJ McCarthy, they were thinking sort of along the same stuff that Matthew Stafford can run. I think that when they drafted JJ McCarthy, they were thinking sort of along the same lines of this is a big arm kid. Who's going to be able to make those throws into tight windows with the timing that Kevin O'Connell wants. It just turns out that it's been Sam Darnold instead, but that's the reason they got him. If they had gone and gotten Ryan Tannehill, if they had gone and gotten Jacoby Bursette, somebody just keep the train on the tracks, hope to survive.

It wouldn't be like this. And that's really part of the conversation too, with comparing it to the Brett Favre season, comparing it to the Keenum season. The 2017 team inside the locker room was saying the same thing as we were on the outside. Like, how much longer can he keep getting away with this? I'm sure in the 09 locker room, they were thinking we're going to win the Super Bowl

because we have Brett Favre. And I know that it's not the history that Brett Favre had, but the arm talent and athleticism and ability to make plays when you're down and out or when something is broken down, they all notice the same way you do, that they never feel like they're out of a game when it comes to having Sam Darnold as their quarterback, which is quite a change from previous years, but the talent has never not been there. Preston says, does Goff have anything against KOC due to LA trading for him for Stafford? I have no idea.

He probably has something against everybody who traded him, but I think golf probably more than anything takes these moments personally because a team moved on from him. And I think that we've seen him really elevate his play in these big games. And this is why from the Detroit perspective, they deserve so much respect going into this game, not just because they're good, but also their quarterback had to go through a lot and a lot of narrative and a lot of this guy's not that good. And they should draft Malik Willis number two overall and all that sort of stuff. And then he comes out on the other side of that.

So Darnold and him are going to kind of look across each other like we both relate. But each team has so much motivation going into this, Manny. 100%. I mean, and the Lions, you know, the Lions have turned themselves into a great team and a well-run organization the last couple of years, certainly since Dan Campbell got on board as head coach. But there is still kind of that stigma with the Detroit Lions

that some people I think are still maybe having a hard time coming to grasp with the fact that the Detroit Lions are legitimately this good and a team that can go to the Super Bowl and win it. Even now with all the injuries they have on defense, this team can still go to the Super Bowl and win it because of the high-powered offense that they have. And, you know, on the Vikings, we know about the Vikings' history locally here as well. So, yeah, these are two organizations that I think, you know know they're both being well run right now but there is still like that history of choking not winning enough not being good enough always making the bad decision always you know kickers missing field goals and big moments and things like that

so um it's it's they've they've taken different paths to getting to this point. But the fact that they're kind of meeting at this point is is really intriguing. And it's what makes this game really exciting as well. All right. Let's get into the predictive portion of the podcast. This is the I don't think. Yeah, I don't think it's going to work out with my flight to do a live show on saturday night before because i get in kind of late so this is probably the the last live show for some predictions uh still got a uh a conversation to come with eric edholm nfl.com had a really good discussion

today with ben gessling of the third tribune and one more podcast with andrew kramer so you guys will be packed up all the way to game day keep your eyes out for that and ben and i talked about the whole future thing for a little while today so make sure you go check that out but let's get in our thoughts here on how this game is going to go and we will do so by looking at the underdog fantasy pick'ems the easiest place to play fantasy sports my friends also the underdog fantasy pick'ems, the easiest place to play fantasy sports, my friends, also the fastest growing fantasy app in the industry. The pick'ems are easy to play. You just pick between two and eight stats of your favorite players,

choose whether they go higher or lower. We've been doing it all season long. And you know, Manny, it always feels like we're one away from nailing it. We've been very close so many times on these pick-ems, uh, sign up with the code purple to play along with us. You get a special pick. You get a first time deposit offer up to a thousand dollars bonus cash must be 18 or older terms apply concerned with your play call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org. So let's get into it with these, uh, here uh maybe i could screen share i should i should screen share i haven't been screen sharing the pickums because i never thought of it but now i

will do that let's get our little heads now let's get our heads into the bottom corner there we go okay let's take a look at some of these we got got Jared Goff. This has actually changed a little bit since the other day because I looked at this maybe two days ago. Jared Goff at 271.5 yards passing. Manny, would you go higher or lower on that number? I will go higher. I would also go higher. It seems almost impossible to me that Jared Goff would not throw for more than 271 yards. There is no game script I can think of unless they got up by 34 points that he's not doing that because Dan Campbell, even if they're up by 20, is still going to keep throwing. And if they're losing, they're going to throw like crazy. Now, how about this one? Sam Darnold, 280.5. That is asking for a big day

from Sam Darnold. Higher or lower, man? I'm going to go higher because I don't think the Lions defense is going to be able to stop this Vikings offense. I think we're going to see a lot of points on Sunday night from both teams. I think the same thing. And I think a lot of these might end up with hires, but we're going to, we're going to keep looking at them, but I could definitely see Sam Darnold and Jared Goff having a wild shootout between the two of them and both going over 300 yards and it coming down to who has the ball last, because that is why the national football league is great because of stuff like that. So let's look at the two top receivers. I'm in Ross, St. Brown, Justin Jefferson,

St. Brown is on that list. The Kenny Clark, Akeem Hicks memorial list of players who kill the Vikings. Um, and Ross St. Brown is on it. He is at 75.5 yards and Justin Jefferson, 92.5 yards. I'm just going to bang that higher for Justin Jefferson. Cause I think you will too. How about a St. Brown? He's been a bit of a Viking killer for sure. Um, I'll say higher 75.5. Yeah. I'll say higher. I don't know how we could go any other way. This is an interesting one here though, because this game, if it does turn into a shootout, how much does Jameer Gibbs run the ball? Because I think if Jameer Gibbs runs the ball for higher than 88.5 yards, which is his number, then that means that Detroit is probably doing really,

really well if they're able to just rest on Jameer Gibbs. So would you go higher or lower on 88.5 rushing yards for Jameer Gibbs? I'm going to go lower because I think that, you know, to, to the point about the quarterbacks, I think that this is going to be a throwing like crazy game. And I think both quarterbacks are going to put up big numbers. And I don't know if there's going to be a lot of running. I think both teams will try to run the ball, but I don't know if we'll see a lot of yardage in terms of running the ball in this game. Because it's going to be really close and both teams are going to be throwing a lot. Okay, one more.

Aaron Jones, 60.5 yards. Aaron Jones has been a big play player, but we do know that Kevin O'Connell is not always apt to lean on the running game. Do we think that he gets to a higher number than 60.5 rushing yards? I'm actually going to say yes, because I think 60 is a little bit low. Yeah, I think so too. Yep. Yeah. I feel like it's going to be higher, so I'll say higher, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think he's going to run for like a buck 20 or anything like that. But, but yeah, I'll say, I'll say higher. I think where Jones could be actually big is this receiving number, 18.5 receiving yards.

They've really utilized him as a receiver this year, coming across the middle in the last game for a first down, you know, the screen game has sort of gotten a little bit better recently. I think that could be a big number for him, but I would go higher on that as well so all hires for the vikings and lions on underdog fantasy again use that promo code purple helps the show and we enjoy doing the pickums here on the show and now the final prediction from you mr hill people have probably heard mine throughout the week i I'll give it again, but, uh, give me your score.

Give me your results. What do you think? I'm going to take the Vikings in this game and I'm going to take the Vikings winning 38 to 35. It's exactly the same prediction that I had. Yes. I love had. Yes. I love it. Yes. My prediction has been will Riker lines up from the lion logo and boots in

the game winning field goal after Sam Darnold has thrown an underneath pass to Johnny Munt to get them to the 40 yard line. And the Vikings end up leaving Ford field with the conference. This is one where everyone's opinion is probably how it will work out, right? The whole world is predicting big scoring, super exciting game, instant classic, and whoever has the ball last. And I think that is probably going to turn out to be right. Sunday night football will not let us down on the big stage. So I will be there in Ford field. Uh, it's, you know, it's funny because they've been a lot of games with the Vikings and lions, but nothing really this relevant. So I haven't gone before. It hasn't been on my list of road trips. Uh, also the numbers, uh, haven't been good enough

in the past with losing teams of Purple Insider history to travel too much. But this year has been great because of all the support that I've received from Vikings fans throughout this 14-2 run. Cannot thank all of you enough for that. Me going to Ford Field for this game

is because of you who are watching this right now. So I greatly appreciate you. If you want to support more, sign up for the newsletter. That's always the best way. Go to purpleinsider.football. You could sign up for it over there and just showing up

and listening to the show and having a good time with us. So I'll be there to do the post game. Like I said, the week's not over as far as podcasts. Got two more that I'm recording tomorrow to lead up to this game. So you guys should be set for the lead up to Vikings and Lions.

Thank you everybody for watching. Thank you, Manny, for your time as always. We've got some football here, folks. It's been a super, super fun week leading up to this game. You want to say football one more time, man? Go ahead. Go ahead. Say football.

Football. Football. Football. Thanks, everybody.