Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Is there a roadmap to the Vikings beating the Eagles?

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

From a Philadelphia hotel Matthew Coller talks with Vikings fans about Vikings-Eagles. The path to the Vikings winning the game, the potential pitfalls and a story that Baker Mayfield stole the Vikings' signs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here from inside my Philadelphia hotel. How's everybody doing this evening? I have just returned from the hotel restaurant where I did not have a Philly cheesesteak. In fact, I've never had a Philly cheesesteak in all of the times that I have been to Philadelphia, but I have seen a myriad of different types of football since I've been here. So I'm glad for everybody to join here on the night before a game, Thursday night football Vikings and Eagles. We've got some interesting injury stuff to talk about. I also got a bunch of emails that I want to make sure that I answer and anybody else who has questions about this game that we'll talk about on every part of it. Normally we have the, the raggots round table leading up to games where we do

hardcore X's and O's with Will Raggots and Andrew Kramer. But for today you know, since both those guys are traveling and everything, it's just me. So I'll need everybody's help to get involved and talk about every part of this game before we jump in about, I don't know, like 24 hours or less from now. I'm really excited about this one. I have to say that I know that Vikings fans don't enjoy the atmosphere in Philadelphia because it's very unfriendly to them, but I do as a reporter coming here, it's one of my favorite places to show up here in Philadelphia. I think it's one of the coolest stadiums to go to the crowd atmosphere is incredible. And it was interesting to hear Vikings players talk about the atmosphere as well and how they're kind of trying to use it as a let's embrace it, bond together around it and that kind of thing.

So how they react to that will be, I think, a factor in this game and also the desperation of this game for the Vikings. If you want to have a season, well, then, you know, uh you're gonna have to you know win a game that you shouldn't at some point and there's no better time to start than the present so let me get to a couple of these questions that were emailed to me first and then i'll get to everybody in the comment section as well whatever's on your mind with this game um we'll dive right in so uh mitzi sent an email a long time listener she said uh how much do you think that playing the Eagles earlier in the season with a new defensive coordinator will help the Vikings? And I don't really know the answer to that question because last year they played the Eagles early in the season with a new defensive coordinator and it went not so good. But of course, that was Ed Donatell's defense.

And this is Brian Flores. Now, one thing that is a factor here is that the Eagles just played a Bill Belichick defense, and the Belichick defense was very aggressive against Jalen Hurts. They blitzed over 40% of the time, and a lot of Flores' stuff that he does is rooted in Bill Belichick's style of defense. Now, you can interpret that either way you want to, you can look at it as, well, that's great because it had success. I mean, honestly, the Philadelphia offense was not as good as you would have expected against the Patriots defense. The other way you can look at it as, well, they got to see everything on tape and a lot of similarities to what the Vikings are going to do. And they got to spend a couple of days trying to resolve it.

Maybe it helps when you're talking about a very aggressive defense to play a team that doesn't have as much time to prepare. So how that factors in is really hard to say. And we'll probably decide after the game based on the result, did it help or did it not help? But I do think that when you have a defensive coordinator who's going to send a million different looks at the other team playing on a short week, probably benefits the team. That's going to send all of the different looks. That's the way I would think of it.

And you're right to say that they didn't have a lot of time to prepare. They've only got a little bit of tape to work off of against Tampa Bay. And I'm sure that Brian Flores is going to make some changes after that, particularly to the signals, which we'll get to that storyline with Baker Mayfield as well. So I wish I had a good answer to whether that's going to be a factor or not. I would tend to think that it helps the Vikings a bit just because that, you know, you're talking about the offensive line having to resolve a lot when it comes to pass protection. But also, I'm not sure if the new defensive coordinator is a factor or not. But I do tend to think that. I just tend to think that having Brian Flores in general is an upgrade from what they had last year. Jordan sent me an email and said, what quarterbacks did Josh Allen remind you of on Monday night? I'm thinking Jameis Sanchez. I assume you mean a combination between Winston and Mark Sanchez, but I could be

talked out of the Jameis Winston half of that comparison. Yeah. Jeff George is who he kind of looked like to me, where if you're an old school Vikings fan, you remember Jeff George when he would let it loose and throw it in insanely far, sometimes that would work out great. And sometimes that would work out poorly. And that's why Jeff George had a real rollercoaster of a career, but maybe that's a little too much of a throwback. The Winston comparison is kind of ridiculous. I mean, I think Winston is one of the most reckless quarterbacks to play in the NFL, like in the modern era. I mean, just honestly, the 30 interceptions in a league where throwing 14 will lead the league most years. And he threw double

that. He also, Jameis Winston fumbled constantly. So yeah, I mean, on Monday night, he looked like Jameis Winston throwing all those interceptions, but I don't even think that those were necessarily the reason they lost. The fumble was really bad. Um, but a couple of them were arm punts. They were just deep balls that, uh, you know, flip the field. And I didn't think they were that impactful. The, the thing that I would be concerned about if I'm the bills is that, you know, Alan had that one incredible year statistically and hasn't had another year like that throwing the ball. He's a huge factor running, but there have been some quarterbacks in recent years that were drafted high, built up amazing teams,

and then struggled after that. And I mean, like the Jared Goff Rams on his rookie contract, they go to the Superbowl. Carson Wentz, we're here in Philadelphia. I mean, Carson Wentz, after 2017, I think most people would have said that Carson Wentz was a, was a mega star in the NFL that he was just going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league for years and that changed. So we have seen it change with certain quarterbacks, uh, over recent years. I don't think that there's any reason to panic with Josh Allen yet, but being this turnover prone, I think that was something that Brian Dable did a good job of solving with him. And they threw a lot of short passes to Stefan Diggs in Brian Dables

last season there. And I think it seems like that, that, that part of the game has been reduced, that they're trying to throw a lot of intermediate and deep stuff. And Allen is just kind of going YOLO too often. So I think there's got to be a coordinator adjustment there, maybe more than Josh Allen, but him, him turning the ball over that much. You're not going to win many games that way. Uh, Alex wrote me and said, uh, it's got some serious concerns about this team moving forward. His hope is that they start two and four and reality smacks them in the face. Well, I think it's, it's a little bit weird probably to be talking about hoping that they start two and four. Just, I know that that

was a little bit of the conversation after week one is there were a decent percentage of fans asking me like, should they tank? Will they trade Kirk if they go one and four and all these different things? And that's, that is sort of a typical week one overreaction. I think you have to look at this as the section of games you're talking about, probably five or six games and where you stand after five or six games. But should you have serious concerns about the team? Yeah, I think so. I think that there are things that we probably are going a

little too far about and then things that are issues. I mean, how will they run block? Because if they can't run block, and I thought last year that, you know, they graded well run blocking, but they didn't have a successful run game. And then it was pretty miserable in the first week against Tampa Bay. If they can't get a run game going, and if the whole big personnel thing doesn't solve that, then the offense isn't really different than it was last year. And if it's not different than it was last year, it's probably not going to overcome some of the defensive shortcomings. But I also just wouldn't quite go this far yet of starting to think about what do you do if you go two and four and do you trade Kirk and do you start to

tank and things like that. We're on the night before playing the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia in week two. And sometimes nobody loves playing armchair GM more than me. Like this is, I mean, I was the person simulating through seasons on Madden to draft and to pick up free agents and build teams. I played stratomatic baseball for years, so nobody likes building teams more than I do, but it's week two and they're playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Like I just can't get there yet. Um, but your serious concerns. Yeah. I mean, not being able to pressure the quarterback, despite all those blitzes, uh, the fact that Mayfield was able to solve a lot of those issues in the second half. I mean,

there's certainly things there that might be hard to overcome. And then I think that just in general, even during the game, the vibe of Kirk Cousins, of Justin Jefferson, just some of the body language there. I think that's a concern as well. There wasn't a like, we'll be fine. There was a lot of kind of freak out a little bit in that fine. There was a lot of kind of freak out a little bit in that game. And then in some of the biggest moments, they freaked out through an interception or couldn't get a stop. And you just wonder with all the veterans leaving, if there's a different type of reaction to what happens than there was last year. So yes, there are issues with the team, but I thought it was really

interesting that I saw a chart today of a bunch of different ways of looking at offensive line metrics. I think Ben Baldwin of the athletic had this and the Vikings ranked like 10th or something. And I think anybody who watched the game would have said, what are you serious? And I, it tells you kind of about the offensive line play in the league and all the plays that went fine that we forget as well. Like there were opportunities there. And so I think when you look back at that game and the number of opportunities that they had, that it's not time to start saying this team is so bad. Like if you're, if you're a giants fan, then yeah, you might say this team is so bad. They can't make the playoffs. It's going to be a miserable season. You deserve to

say that if they lose by 40. I would not say that after a three-point upset to the Bucs in a game that they could have won. And even if they go 0-2, now if they go 0-3, if they go 1-4, then we're having this conversation, but I'm just not there yet. Jordan sent me an email, said, big deal, little deal, no deal. Baker Mayfield knew the Vikings defensive signals in the second half. And has anyone on the Vikings said anything to address this? Yeah. So this story came out late yesterday that the running back from the Bucs said this to their media.

And we were already gone out of the locker room at the point that this story came out. And of course, the team is traveling today, just like me here in this hotel room in Philadelphia. And so no one has said anything to say about that, that I've seen like on Twitter or anywhere else. And we wouldn't have an opportunity to talk with the team on a day that they're traveling. So we wouldn't be able to address it. Maybe it'll get asked about tomorrow. My guess is that this kind of just disappears. I thought it was kind of interesting, kind of notable. I also think that quarterbacks around the NFL are pretty good at picking up on what defenses are going to do. And that's one of the reasons they're NFL quarterbacks. I don't think that's something you usually hear about. And the running back for the

Bucks probably shouldn't have said that out loud. I'm sure Baker Mayfield went to him and was like, hey, maybe next time, like, don't be bringing this up. If I tell you, I know the signals. But, I mean, Brian Flores has got to address that. I think it was said earnestly and truthfully by the running back that they understood what some of their signals meant. Maybe you saw them waving arms or pointing to each other. And he clearly figured it out like a batter figuring out a pitcher, tipping his pitches. And that probably did help them in the second half. It's part of the job of the quarterback to get a sense of what the defense is doing and read the defense. But if their signals were that easy to figure out, then they have to be changed. And then they can send a thank you note to the

running back for the bucks. Cause they probably would have just kept doing the same thing. If anything, this helps them to know that they were tipping their pitches a little bit there. Uh, but you could kind of see it. I mean, it made sense when you look at the second half of that game and how much more comfortable Baker Mayfield was and how much the Vikings struggled to get the ball to, uh, or get, uh, Baker to, to look confused or to get pressure on him. Um, so, you know, I, I think that that's right, but I also think there's some execution things in there. There's a tackle to be made. There's, uh, you know, a time or two where the defensive backs play too far off. I just watched the tape back yesterday where they're playing too far off on a third and

short and they throw a quick slant to Mike Evans to first down. It's like, well, you got to play a little tighter there, right? You got to play at the sticks, not five yards behind the sticks. So I think it's a little bit of a big deal. I mean, it matters, but it might ultimately help them. And I also think that if that is true now, Baker kind of like, you know, funny way, sort of denied it like, Oh, I wasn't, you know, whatever. But if that is true that they figured out the signals that easily, you kind of have to go. Brian Flores has been in the league for too long for that to happen. And maybe it happens more than we know, and it just never gets put out there.

And the running back shouldn't have said it, but it feels to me like that's surprising to hear for the defense to have that figured out as easily as it was. Um, just a couple more. Daniel asked, uh, does Josh Mattel is spy Jalen Hurts tomorrow night? Yeah, the spy thing can be a little bit overrated. I think, I mean, yeah, maybe. And Metellus is a good guy to have against this team because he's kind of on the bigger side and is a good tackler. But I think it's more about just reducing the number of times that he can escape left or right. And that was what New England did a really good job at is just containing him within the pocket with the pass rush, rushing the guys from outside, making sure there isn't lanes or opportunities to go around

the outside and scramble. And there's not a whole lot you can do when they do the design run game with Jalen Hurts. I mean, they're either going to succeed or not, but yeah, I don't, I mean, spying does exist, but I think it's better if you just stay in your rush lanes and don't give him too many opportunities to scramble, but it's going to happen. I mean, there's really no way with a running quarterback of his skill to just completely stop him from doing that. But I thought that new England did a good job of it. And also just general, like finding ways to pressure him, finding ways to confuse him a little bit, uh, can just slow down the process in general. So maybe, I mean, if there's somebody who's going to do it, it's probably him or Ivan pace.

Both of them are quick, aggressive, smart players. Uh, I just, I just don't see, like, I don't see a ton of this in the league where you have just one guy standing there as the QB spy and kind of going either way, like teams used to try to do with Michael Vick. And I don't know if it ever actually worked with Mike Vick either. Andrew asked if I could magically pluck one player from any other team and put them in a Vikings uniform that would fix most of the problems. Would you go O-line corner? I would go with Micah Parsons. That's not even a hard one. Micah Parsons, to me, is the best player in the NFL that's not a quarterback or Justin Jefferson. That guy just ruins game plans. So all day, all day, Micah Parsons. He can rush from anywhere. He could do anything.

Yeah. I mean, to me, that's the biggest issue facing the Vikings defense. I thought the corners did a fairly good job. It's that they can't pressure anybody without a blitz or without Daniel Hunter. Daniel Hunter had three or four pressures. The rest of the day, you got almost nothing. So that if they do that against Jalen Hurts, he's going to have a pretty darn good day. All right. Last one that was emailed to me from John says, why in the F do we not run a middle screen? Everyone's attacking us up the middle. Seems like a good call. Yeah. I mean, as long as it's not to the tight end, because that did not go so well, I think just in general, the screen game has just been very bad under Kevin

O'Connell. And it's kind of like with O'Connell, I get asked occasionally, like, do I think that, you know, O'Connell's a good play caller? And that is a very hard assessment to make very, very hard because, so I had an offensive coordinator explain this to me one time that play calling is what we always focus on, but it's really a group effort. It's when they go into a week, they put in the first and second down plays, they put in the third down plays, and then they have their card of all the plays they're going to use under certain circumstances. And it's really a team effort. So they know by the time

they're getting to these spots, if they're in second and six in the second quarter, you've got a pretty good sense of you're going to use one or three or four of these plays. So it's not really like Madden where you're just picking from the whole playbook and saying, you know, I think this one's a good idea. Every once in a while, you'll hear a story of like, oh, that was deep in the playbook in the fourth quarter. And that does happen. But for the most part, it's an entire group effort.

But there are a few weaknesses, I think, in his game. And their play action was a weakness last year. It was good in week one, quite good. Statistically 19 for 23 on play action, but the screen game is just not any better. And that's something that I think requires a lot of execution from the offensive line, which could be a major part of the issue when they had a good screen game under Kevin Stefanski. And we have to go back like years for this to happen, but they had Josh Klein in there on the offensive line and he was a fairly quality veteran and they were able to get everybody

coordinated with that offensive line in 2017. They had a great screen game with Latavius Murray and Jarek McKinnon. And the same thing goes like that offensive line played together the whole year. They were healthy, they were veteran players. And I think it's harder when you have some inexperienced guys or, you know, guys who played tackle like Ezra Cleveland, where they weren't really a part of screen games and getting out there in the same way in previous years. So I think that's been part of the problem, but you're right about, you know, occasionally when these teams are running these big, you know, stunts and twists and blitzes that you have to find a way, uh, you know, to make a pay for that at some point. Okay. So now to your questions in the comment section, and this is one I didn't see coming to start the night, uh, from Spencer, you can trade a fourth round pick for Trey Lance or Davis mills. Who are you picking?

Is this for the jets? Uh, if they had to decide who their quarterback is, they should be looking at case Keenum, by the way, has anybody brought up case Keenum to the jets that should be happening? I mean, case Keenum literally brought a team here to Philadelphia, to the NFC championship when he had the exact same situation as the jets are in right now. And he's the number three quarterback there. Uh, for me, it would be probably Davis mills. And that's, that's sad to say, but I just don't believe in the upside. I don't believe in the magical upside with Trey Lance. And so I'd rather just have a regular backup in Davis Mills.

You got to wonder what he would do with Justin Jefferson and a competent team. But that's my answer to that one. T Kubler says, well, Hertz figure out the Vikings defensive signals by halftime. I don't know. I mean, for sure, they're going to change it up now for sure. They're going to change it up. That doesn't mean you won't figure it out. It's not like you can change everything. You've been practicing these signals since the beginning of OTAs and mini camp. So you can't just say like, Oh, well now point at your face to mean blitz or something. I mean, you can't just say like, oh, well now point at your face to mean blitz or something. I mean, you can't just magically change up everything that you've been teaching. And maybe it's a little, maybe it's

a little overstated. I don't know. Maybe it's a common thing for a quarterback after a half to understand what he's seeing and what they're doing. But it sounded like from what the running back said that he knew all the coverages before it was going to happen. And that's a pretty big advantage for Tampa Bay. And it certainly makes sense with what we saw because second half Baker was a different guy than the first half Baker. He was a legit good quarterback. He was distributing the ball, completing passes, scrambling. I mean, he did a really good job in the second half to have those long drives and win that game. So it does add up, but they're going to, I mean, they let the cat out of the bag that they knew the signals. So now they're going to have to resolve it very quickly, very quickly, like by tomorrow.

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You could turn $10 into 250 with just a few taps. That's prizepix.com slash purple with the code purple daily fantasy sports made easy uh jamie says sorry but the vikings lose by at least 10 points cousins will be hurried all game and get sacked five times i hope i'm wrong but not confident after the horrible offensive line performance on sund. Yes. So that's the interesting thing about the offensive line performance. Now I don't disagree with you that I think the Vikings offensive line is at a major disadvantage, but I also think that Kevin O'Connell did a good job with some of the play actions of getting Kirk cousins protection, the touchdown to Jordan Addison, they had good protection and he was only pressured about one

out of every four dropbacks, which is less than last year. The problem was, and this is the problem for facing Philadelphia, whose D line is even better than Tampa Bay is the turnovers is the hits. So a lot of the pressures were hits. And, you know, I think that we've just observed this over the years that when Kirk cousins is hit early in a game, it can throw him off. And even when you go back to the Netflix documentary there, and they're showing them getting hit in the ribs and everything else. And you remember like that Washington game where he got hit early, it took until late in the game to make a big play and to win that one, even in Miami, where he took some hits, same thing in the Buffalo game, same thing. It took until it was kind of a dire situation for him to kind of find his rhythm after getting beat up

early in the game. So how they establish their quick passing game early and how they deal with this defensive line of Philadelphia is going to be a big deal, but it's always in forever. There's just some truths about the NFL. If the other team's defensive line demolishes your offensive line, you don't win that often. It's very hard to win. If you get demolished, you can survive getting pressured. You can hit big plays to Justin Jefferson, which, you know, they're going to try to do. And with James Bradbury out for Philadelphia, that increases the chances. Although I think Darius Slay is going to follow him everywhere he goes tomorrow night. But it's always been true that a demolition up front makes it pretty darn difficult to operate. And I think especially when you don't have a quarterback who's mobile,

and we've just seen that story many times over before. And like, if you were just picking, if you were just picking games and you went by, does the other team have a great defensive line? If yes, then you bet against the Vikings. You would have made a lot of money over the years. And even against Tampa Bay, we talked about it. Like they have this beast in the middle and you know, let's see how that goes. And Philadelphia or Tampa Bay's defensive line caused problems. And now Philadelphia's is even better. Um, especially since Jalen Carter had such a big game. So I don't blame you for feeling that way. I think the optimism is probably pretty low. I did see the line moved a little bit toward the Vikings to a 6.5. So there's still a touchdown underdog coming into Philadelphia for a reason. And, uh, so, I mean, it's, it's interesting to analyze

a single offensive line performance and by different metrics and things like that. But I think we know that the matchups are not good, especially with Garrett Bradbury out. I mean, Bradbury has his own troubles, but he's a proven starter and Austin Schlotman is a career backup for a reason. And Schlotman last year didn't grade very well, 42nd out of 43 centers by his grade. He was a guard earlier in his career. So he's facing a real uphill battle. And I think that that's, you know, that's the number one reason that you would suspect that the Eagles could win. But I would say that, you know, when it comes down to, you know, this is Steven says, uninformed people blaming

the offensive line. Well, see, in this case, I would not say that it's on uninformed to blame the offensive line or to be worried about the offensive line, because we've seen this happen over and over. It's just the mitigation elements that you have at your disposal are pretty much limited to a run game, which they did not succeed in and a quick passing game because it's not going to be a mobile quarterback. And I mean, you know, Mac Jones was a pass or two away, maybe from putting his team in a position to win, despite how much the offensive line was beat up. Like you do have to overcome it. It's not completely impossible to overcome it. But the only way is I think we know is Justin Jefferson and how you also answer for the attention on Justin Jefferson. That that's

going to determine this thing. Like does somebody else step up? Is it Jordan Addison, KJ Osborne, TJ Hawkinson? And if you let Jefferson get taken out of the game by slay, then it's pretty much over. So it isn't just the offensive line. And it certainly wasn't just the offensive line's fault against Tampa Bay. Uh, coincidentally, I mean, the offensive line played well enough for them to gain way more yardage than Tampa Bay. And they turned the ball over, you know, a couple of times, but there were catastrophes though, like stripping your own quarterback and allowing the strip sack. Like those are, those are catastrophes. Uh, Corey says, so was the first game a bit of a trap game and can they bounce back?

They did that after poor showings last year. You know, you're absolutely right about that. I mean, uh, the way that they played on a Thursday night against the new England Patriots after getting smashed in the face by Dallas was very impressive. And I think that Kevin O'Connell has done a good job, as you mentioned, of having his team ready after disappointing games to bounce back and to put in a good performance. I don't think week one can ever be considered a trap game, but I mean, they knew that they were favorites. I mean, they knew they should win that game. And the only trappy element to me was probably the pressure that they had put on themselves maybe to win that game. Cause you just

kind of felt that there was a lot of pomp and circumstance week one, you know, all the legends were there. They're honoring bud grant. There's a lot going on. And it just seemed like when things didn't get rolling, there was not a calmness about the team on the offensive side. There was a little bit of a freak out at times. And then you get six yards in the fourth quarter. Well, you're never going to win a game that way. So I don't think a week one game after all the summer and spring and everybody waiting to get ready to go can be considered a trap game.

But I think knowing that Philadelphia was on the way, knowing that it's a game that you should win, maybe there was a little bit of that. I think it's more that the most obvious explanation is the right one. It's that if you turn the ball over three times and the other team turns it over zero, you're probably going to lose about 90% of those games. And the other part of it is just that, you know, when you can't run the ball, it's hard to set up cousins into favorable situations. And in the second half, those blitzes just didn't get home and nobody else could pressure. And so they just, they held the ball for the whole game.

So it's, I don't think it was so much that they like overlooked Tampa Bay or anything like that. They would have spent a long time preparing for Tampa Bay, more of just, it didn't go their way and they weren't able to overcome it. And that is something they did really well last year, but they also had a lot of veteran players last year. So, you know, maybe that helped them. And they also had a lot of things just go their way. I mean, they're losing in Washington and Taylor Heineke says, have the football.

Here's an interception like that. I mean, you can, I was talking with our friend, Dane Mizutani the other day and about this and just like, you can't understate how insane things had to be last year for them, even to start the season seven and one, like how many crazy things had to happen. And they just didn't happen on Sunday. So they lose that game and now they have to be better

than they were. And they really have to be better, um, tomorrow than they were on, on Sunday. Uh, Corey says when, uh, Bradbury was out last year, I recall a rough first game for Schloteman. Will we see improvements and do they find a solution? Is there one on the current roster such as Reed? Unfortunately, Chris Reed has been hurt. He was out the entire summer. He didn't practice a single time. I don't believe that he's practiced yet. He's just been hurt. I guess he hurt himself away from the team. It wasn't like a football's practiced yet. He's just been hurt. I guess he hurt himself away from the team. It wasn't like a football injury, which is because he was on the non-football injury list. And so he got to training camp and he couldn't practice. It must've been something

pretty serious and he's just been out. So it's not him. The backup center is Blake Brandel after Schlotman. That's a no for me, dog. I mean, that's, he's a tackle who's been moving to guard and they have talked about it. Like they're happy with how he's played at guard, but he's never played center before in his life. I think that would be extremely difficult. The solution is, and you saw a little bit of it last week, CJ Ham on third down, I think is going to be something they're going to do just to have CJ Hammond as a pass blocker on third down, I think is going to be something they're going to do just to have CJ Hamm in as a pass blocker on third down. Personally, I don't love it, but as opposed to other options, I guess they feel like that

could help with some of the interior pressure that it's going to be his job to pick up interior blitzes and things like that. So that's one option. But to me, it's just the quarterback has to get the ball out of his hands. What we can't see is the, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh. And I'm sacked like from Kirk cousins. I mean, because in some of these games, some of these road games, some of these games against good defenses. I mean, that's what we've seen from Kirk cousins. The one that comes to mind is the 2019 game against the bears on the road or the playoff game against San Francisco.

And there's probably more, uh, 2018 against the bears. I mean, there's, there's just been some of those games where it looks like he's just not seeing it. He's just not getting the ball out. The pressure is speeding him up and against Tampa Bay. And he got into a rhythm eventually, but early in the game, there was a play. i pointed out when i did a little film study for the newsletter purpleinsider.com everybody uh where justin jefferson was running a deep comeback or a curl or hook or whatever you call it you know what i'm saying where you go like 12 yards slam on the brakes come back and he's going toward the sideline and it looked like that was where the play was supposed to go. And cousins

just got off that read quick and checked it down to Madison. And it was like, that's something he does when he's been hit a couple of times in the game. So I think if you're going to avoid it early, if you can get him rolling early and not get those hits, the opening script is going to be really important here. Then you, then you've got a chance because we have seen him overcome games where he's been hit. I mentioned Washington, but even 2018 in Philadelphia, Duke got hit a bunch of times in that game and found a way. So it's not like just by the fact that Philadelphia has this defense or that Kirk has this issue sometimes that the game is just over.

But you have to know that if Fletcher Cox is 100%, if he can play and Jalen Carter and everybody else, they run out there, they're going to cause a lot of problems. I definitely think they're going to cause a lot of problems. It's all about how you solve them. CJ says, I'm trying to recover my mindset after losing to the Bucs. Here we go. If the Bucs could be a trap game for us, why can't we be a trap game for the Eagles?

Well, I think what you're really saying, it's not, it's definitely not a trap game for the Eagles. Trust me. The Eagles want to win the super bowl this year. There's no game that they're going into being like, ah, we're favorites will win. No, definitely not. And especially not against the Vikings. They seem to really enjoy beating the Vikings. Um, as we saw last year, they know who Justin Jefferson plays for. Like there's a target on your back. Anytime you just bring in the greatest receiver on earth. And I don't think that there's any, any, any like, Oh, the Eagles are overlooking you, but here's the reality. I mean, just because you're not favored in the game, doesn't mean you have to lose. Like if you go through the results last week, then you're going to, you're going to find that there were some upsets and there were some games

that we didn't expect the results, including Tampa Bay beating the Vikings. And there is absolutely a world where the Vikings show up and they get the ball to Jefferson and they move the ball and Flores' defense causes a couple turnovers and you win the game. I mean, this is the NFL. It's not like you're Arizona. It's not like you're bringing in this talentless hack team that you're trying to lose with, at least not yet. And you're bringing in a bunch of Pro Bowl players, a Pro Bowl quarterback, an all-world receiver. I mean, I assume Derisaw is probably going to play, so all-world tackles. This team is a little bit worse than Philadelphia, but it's not like they are so much worse

that I would say, oh, guaranteed. I will pick the Eagles to win the game like everybody else will because it makes logical sense, but I just feel like acting like it's over before it starts is a little bit silly considering all of the results that we see from a week to week basis around the NFL. And even last year we saw times where it looked like, Oh, it's about to go off of the, uh, you know, off the rails here a little bit. And, um, like that's, that didn't happen.

Right. I mean, we thought, all right, they started seven and one. Then you lose to Dallas. Here comes the meltdown. Here comes the four losses in a row. And it didn't happen. So, you know, I think that there's there's always opportunities to beat a team that you're not supposed to beat in the NFL. Loaded guitars says, would you trade Jefferson and picks for the first overall pick? No, I, I would not. Um, I would not do that now because the first overall pick is not always the best quarterback. That's why I think in fact, in today's world, and I know Caleb Williams is great. So maybe he turns the tide, but I think in today's world, and I know Caleb Williams is great, so maybe he turns the tide.

But I think in today's world that the gap between the first quarterback taken and the third or fourth quarterback taken, I mean, like, how about last year? Bryce Young is the first quarterback taken. Anthony Richardson is the third quarterback taken. I mean, do you think that there's like a huge difference between those guys as prospects? I don't. I think they're pretty close. So Williams is the generational talent. Yes. difference between those guys as prospects? I don't, I think they're pretty close. Um, so Williams is the generational talent. Yes. Uh, but I also think that when you look around Trevor Lawrence,

when he had a bad situation was not very good. Now he's great. You know, I mean, situation does help. It does matter. Uh, so I, I would prefer to give the quarterback that you draft the best wide receiver in the world and pair those two together because I don't think the odds are so different. Um, but also the draft is so long from now. And I just like, that's one thing about the start to this season. I mean, if they start one in five and you guys are talking about tanking and all that, I'm seeing that all over the place. And I'm like, man, you guys want to talk about the draft now? Like what day is it? September 13th. Come on. We can't be doing that now. Like there's a long way to like, man, you guys want to talk about the draft now? Like what day is it? September 13th. Come on. We can't be doing that now. Like there's a long way to go for this season. There's

a long way to go to be talking about what's going to happen in next year's draft. Tommy says, realistically, if we go in and beat the Eagles, we're one in one, which everyone expected us to be. And I bet that Bucks fans thought they didn't have a great chance to win. Yeah. I mean, that's the whole point I'm making about, hey, are we going to go one and five or two and four or whatever? Like, I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know the answer to that. Because every season that I've covered has been unpredictable. Every single, I mean, you guys root for the Vikings. You're talking about the most unpredictable team. I'll tell you, uh, go back to 2017 and think about after the Vikings lost to Pittsburgh in 2017, the beginning of the season. So they look great against new Orleans and then Bradford gets hurt. And what they go to Pittsburgh week two, this it's like the same week as right now. And they lose and look horrible. And I remember having a conversation with somebody like, what do they even do? What do they do?

A quarterback. Do they make another trade for a different quarterback? Like, what are they even going to do? This case Keenum guy's never going to work. And then they end up in the nfc championship so i i remember this actually before the vikings went in week five to chicago uh my boss at the time brad lane is a good friend of mine he said i'm not gonna send you to chicago this year because i think that the season is kind of about to fall apart and we're, they're going to

have to show us that, you know, we should travel to these games. And so, okay. So I, that was the one year that I didn't travel to Chicago because we thought that it was so done. Like this team was just going nowhere. And then case Keenum comes in for Sam Bradford that night, throws the ball over the place. They win the game. They turn the season around, you know, like you just, it's just talk about it being too early, but it's so absurdly too early is so absurdly too early before this game. I would, I mean, would you be surprised at all if they lost this game and then one, two straight and we're sitting at two and two are the charger special. Don't the chargers look like a team that they're going to throw for 400 yards against with that defense and their head coach who's dubbed as a genius and has never been good? I need like six weeks until we can really start to answer these questions.

But to your point, and I don't mean to get off away from your point, like this is a game that the Vikings can win. The odds are against them. The matchups are against them, but they have the best receiver on earth and a defense that overall is coming off of a very good performance. And I think that they can play well again, especially if the corners are as good as they were in week one against Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

That's what it's going to come down to. Folks, I'm not sure if you realize, but after this week, your hometown football team in Minnesota actually isn't at home all that much the rest of the year. They are on the road nine times this season, which means if you're traveling with the team, then you're going to want to check out Game Time.

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create an account and redeem code insider for $20 off your first purchase. Download the game time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Renee says, what do you make of Casey's first year of draft picks? None of them look all that great. Well, Caleb Evans did.

So there's one, uh, but you're right that when you look at that draft class, it has not produced anything and that's how it goes. That's the way I look at it is look, I mean, they got two starters out of this year's and a starting corner out of that draft class and a right guard who is not any good, but starts and plays. And that's the draft for you. I mean, if you go through every team in the league, you can, I guarantee you there's two things that I can guarantee you that all 32 fan bases do maybe make it 28. They all think their guards stink. Everyone except for the Eagles.

They don't think their guards stink, but everyone else is gone. Everyone else thinks their guards are a major problem. Everybody and your guards are a major problem and probably worse than some other ones. But I promise you, I follow all sorts of beat reporters and everything else. And I see this all the time. Everybody thinks, oh, the offensive line depth need more need better guard play. Our guards are allowing pressures. Like it always happens. And the other thing is that everyone thinks that their one draft class that their team had that was bad is the worst thing

to ever happen. It's just, there's always a draft class. You could ask anyone from any fan base to be like, Hey, what was your worst draft class? They will know it in two seconds flat guaranteed. It happens. Sometimes you have some ideas that you think are going to work. Like if Lewis scene was a good player, we'd be talking about this differently, but instead combine them just had a great week. Like I I'm not, I'm not, I'm looking at it much more through the lens of like who they've got for the future and who's going to make plays for this year than being concerned about the draft class. I mean, I felt like the summer became the summer of everyone obsessing over the draft class. And then when they didn't play much in week one is like, well, but here's the thing who did play like Brian Asamoah didn't play, but Ivan Pace did. And he was an undrafted free agent. Are they idiots or geniuses?

I don't know. That's how stuff works anyway. Uh, okay. Let's see. Matthew says, I think we need to expect that as the defense gets younger, there's going to be ups and downs that come with younger players. That being said, I liked seeing a more aggressive style. Well, I thought in general, now the whole sign stealing thing adds a little bit of a asterisk, I guess, since asterisk is the word that everybody wants to use on broadcast. Now, John Perry, what was he thinking? So, uh, but, um, see now, now I lost my train of thought on that, but, uh, Oh, the sign stealing. Yeah. The sign stealing, but overall on the overall performance of the defense,

if you didn't know Baker Mayfield had figured out their signs, you would look at the overall performance and say, man, you are a fourth and inches stop away. You are a great Chris Godwin stop away from us walking away from that game and saying, what a defensive performance. I mean, they shut them down for an entire half. They gave up 20 points, which I think with this offense, when you give up 20 points, you expect to win. And what I thought

was the most like encouraging sign, and this is going to play into this week as well. And so it's a week to week league if you haven't heard, but the play of the secondary as a whole, I saw Harrison Smith lining up all over the field. And I know that he didn't make like a big play. He didn't have like an interception or a sack, but it messes with offenses when they don't know where Harrison's going to be. I thought Cam Bynum after watching the film back, Cam Bynum was one of the best players on the field. He was terrific in this game. He was shooting downhill, making plays, run stops, stopped a couple of screens. He was terrific in this game. And a Caleb Evans was targeted six times. He allowed two catches.

Byron Murphy can play. It was mostly underneath stuff against him. I mean, I think that you saw a lot from the younger players there. The problem was that you didn't see it from any of the pass rushers. They had no interior rush as we figured would be the case. And the guys who stepped in for Marcus Davenport did not step in. They did nothing. I mean, just absolutely nothing. And that's going to be a big swing in this game. Marcus Davenport's ankle, is he going to play? Is he not going to play? And if he doesn't play, then I mean, that's going to be very tough to create pressure. So they don't have like these future pass rushers that we're looking at.

But as a whole, it was a pretty good performance and against the run. They did a great job. Great job against the run. Absolutely. Caleb asks, last year when we played the Eagles, we didn't have Hawkinson or Addison. No, that's true. It's a good point. And Irv Smith Jr., a few of you have noted in the comments, had a very memorable drop

in that game. Might that be a difference maker? Seems like last year when they shut JJ down, they didn't have an outlet. Yes. Yes, it should be. And that's why in a game like this, we shouldn't be saying like, oh, well, they're just going to get blasted on the offensive line. They still have all the weapons we thought they had. And in the first game, they, those guys made plays. I mean, Hawkinson had that big loss.

So he ends up averaging four yards per carry. And that was just, uh, that was just not good, but, um, or I'm sorry, four yards per catch. And that was not good, but he also had this 14 yard catch for a first down where he got lined up on an outside linebacker, juked him a little bit, went over the middle for a catch. Like we have seen those guys make plays already. We know Osborne can do it. We have seen Addison do it in an actual game. Now we've been waiting forever to see it. And now you did. Uh, and then Hawkinson is such a proven player. Like that's, if you're talking about the path to win, that's the path is that the ball ends up in a lot of different people's hands. They find ways, you know, still

to get Jefferson the football, but to take advantage of the attention, or if they're going to go one-on-one, then Kirk cousins has to attack to attack that, even though it's Darius Slay, and he's one of the best players in the league. So yeah, I mean, that is a difference from last year, is having those guys. And Irv Smith Jr. just did not fit, really, at any point. They also won a lot of games early in the season before they traded for Hawkinson. So there is that, I guess. Do I expect it to be a high scoring game? Yeah. When people have asked this week, I've said, you know, 27, 24, something like

that. I don't know if that's a high, high scoring game, but I think the Vikings will be able to move the football at times. It really comes down to, is there a strip sack? Is there a tip ball pick because cousins is getting pressured? Is there one of those kinds of freak out interception throws that happens to cousins sometimes like that, that to me is a big determining factor. And, uh, because I think that the Eagles are not just going to steamroll this defense and I could be very wrong in 24 hours, but that's, that's how I'm viewing it going into it is that they will be able to get some stops against Philly and they won't just be destroyed.

It's just that, um, you know, they're probably going to have to score 30 points to win the game, even, even if they get some stops. Uh, Daniel says with pace, having a good game, according to, uh, PFF and the eye test is awesome wall train stopping it being the backup or slow it down it's just one game i think ivan pace is gonna play yeah i mean but like this is this is exactly what i mean about that draft class it's like well the guy got beat out by another guy that the team picked up not in the draft but the draft, another young player who could be a future piece. Like, I don't know. Uh, that seems like a good thing, I guess. But yeah, I mean the, the issue with awesome one, I think, and I could be wrong about this, I think is that at least the way that he looked, uh, when he got in the game in the preseason and a little bit last

year, and I made a great play against the giants. That's the one we remember, but it was very much a seaball get ball, like very much going everywhere. A hundred and 10%, just, just going, you know, going crazy, going crazy at the football, no matter where it went. And this is a defense that requires the linebackers to be, I think, very, very smart and in the right positions and in the right alignments all the time. And the thing is that you and I can't know if someone's lined up in the right spot or not, but they know, and they know how much that screws up everything if someone's not, or if they're not going to the right gap, or if they're not in the right spot, then that's when things go wrong. So what we've seen from pace is that he's in the right place, right time.

And the guy can, you know, he can attack people. I mean, he can make plays. So yeah, I think with Asamoah, he probably won't get a ton of work. Now, Brian Flores did tell Andrew Kramer and I were talking with Flores the other day before, let's see, Tuesday, I guess. And he, Andrew asked him about awesome one, whether he's going to play. And he said that they want to get them in more often. Now that could just be coach speak. We don't really know with Flores so far, like whether he's given us sort of,

oh yeah, yeah. I want to get them in the game and then he won't. Or if it's something he actually wants to do. I don't know the answer to that yet. Uh, but I think that pace is their guy and I want a milkshake over it. If you guys remember that my milkshake bet with Andrew was that, uh, pace was the guy that he was going to be the starting linebacker. And even though he didn't play in the first series, which is weird, he was the first linebacker in, and then he obviously played the whole game. So I've been very impressed by Ivan pace. Uh Matthew asks about Pace, given the knowledge we have so far, where do you think he would go in a 2023 redraft?

I would say probably the third round if we know it so far, which is actually where he was projected by a lot of draft people who just watched his game and didn't worry too much about the size thing. It seemed like the NFL was very, very concerned about the size issue and it just has not been a problem so far with, with Ivan pace. But I don't think that the upside is so high with Ivan pace that,

and I could be wrong because Sam Mills is one of my favorite players ever, but that it's high enough positional value wise and what he could be in the league to draft him like in the first round or in the second round. Cause you're usually looking for superstars in the first above average starters in the second. Um, so I would say probably a late second or a third round pick right now, if they could, which is huge, huge value versus, you know, undrafted free agent. It's a, it really is. Normally they will say that it's a, it's a, it's a classic GM cliche to say, oh, well we got an extra draft pick because we got this great undrafted player. And I have rolled my eyes for many years with this.

Can't roll my eyes with that one. That was an extra draft pick for them. Uh, let's see. Girth says quick passing game. Uh, there won't be a lot of time to sit in the pocket. It won't be as bad as everyone expects. Uh, the Vikings are hungry and fully focused. Addison's ready for the bright lights time to get paid. Yeah. Is that what he said? He said that right. Um, Addison. Yeah. I mean, look, this is why you, this is why you drafted him. You drafted Jordan Addison to have more options when the other team's defensive line can beat your offensive line, which is most of the time with the Philadelphia Eagles. That's how they made the Superbowl in part

because they have a great defensive line that can mostly beat offensive lines. So you're going to have to find an answer. And Addison was supposed to be part of that answer. I think a big part of that answer. Bob says, JJ will school Slay tomorrow night. I think that's a great matchup. That's just like one of those why we like football is to watch those two play because those are two of the best, two of the best in the, in the entire NFL. Uh, Thor says is Kirk slow to throw

or doesn't have as much time as others. Well, we have some metrics for that. We can take a look. I don't think he was slow to throw in week one, but let's take a look at last year. Uh, I'll pull up PFF here and we will see they have a time in the pocket metric. Isn't life great. Isn't, isn't the world great when we can look up how fast Kirk Cousins got rid of the ball last year, he was the ninth fastest getting rid of the ball last year. You know what I think with Kirk though, in general, well, let's see where he was the year before the year before it was quick. I think 2020 was slower. Sometimes it's slower when they run bootlegs because you're rolling out and it just takes time and you get a little more time when you're running

those bootlegs. But I think later in his career that he's actually gotten better at getting the ball out quickly. But the problem is that what we saw against Tampa Bay is that 15 times in a row, Kirk Cousins can get the ball out quickly. He can make a row, Kirk cousins can get the ball out quickly. He can make a quality throw. He can move the ball. He can bring it down the field. He could find Jefferson. He can find Hawkinson. He's making plays, but it's the one that goes badly. It's like, that's what I was talking about a little bit. The pressure rate for Kirk cousins. I was talking about this in the off season was not that much different than anybody else. I think he was like 2% above somebody else, right? Like, uh, in who is in the middle. So he was maybe top 10, but he was like 2% more than somebody who was 17th.

So it wasn't even that high of a pressure rate that he faced last year. The problem is that the pressures that he gets, the hits that he gets, they do impact him. And a lot of times it will result in a turnover. And when that happens, like that's, I remember when he signed, he had one of the highest fumble numbers and it feels like he has continued to have high fumble numbers throughout his entire career. And that's something that would never go into a quarterback rating or anything like that. But if we put fumbles into a quarterback rating, it was his would probably go down more than some other people. So it's, do you let that impact how you play those early hits?

Do you let it impact how you turn the ball over? And so even if the pressure rate isn't different, how he's affected by it might, might be a thing. I think it is after seeing him for so long. 44 Rhino Man says, I feel like the key to winning this game is TJ Hawkinson. Teams usually hurt the Eagles with the tight ends. They are hurt at linebacker and safety. That's a great point. Yeah, that's a good point. I agree. This is why you signed him. This is why you signed TJ Hawkinson to be this guy. You drafted Jordan Addison to be this

guy to win games like this for a long time is what you're hoping, right? Like their hope is to have Jefferson Hawkinson Addison to be answers. And we'll see about Osborne, but for those three to be answers against good teams for a long time, that's why they signed him. And I agree with you. If those guys aren't answers, then we have to ask like what happened, right? I mean, that's why they signed him. And I agree with you. If those guys aren't answers, then we have to ask like what happened, right? I mean, that's why I think like they will score in this game, but it's just probably a little bit of a mismatch for overall team strength. Uh, AS says I like ham and he can block, but that was a lot of ham. Yeah.

Yeah. That was Easter the other day. 22 snaps. I think on offense. I don't want him out wide or as an outlet on third down. Yeah. The one trouble with CJ ham being on the field is that Kirk cousins will throw the ball to CJ ham. Also CJ ham slip screen.

No. Like when I was looking back at the tape, I was like, I forgot about that one. Don't be ever doing that again. I think they were trying to catch Tampa Bay off guard. Like, Oh, they'll think he's in there as a blocker or whatever. And, uh, they didn't. Yeah. So that, yeah, I agree with you. There's like this element of cousins where if CJ ham is out there, he will throw ham the ball. And there was another one that he dropped that it should have been like an eight yard gain, which would have been fine. But yeah, I I'm with you. And I have to say about CJ ham, it's hard to be objective about the fullback because it's something I grew up with and it's something I care about very much is the,

the fullback. It means a lot to me. That was a horrible game for CJ ham. It did not go very well. I mean, he was one of their lowest graded offensive players. I don't think he was successful in the blocking game on the run game. And I don't think he was that successful in helping Kirk and pass protection either. And they've got to decide, is this going to be a thing with CJ Hamm where you're going to keep trying it? If it doesn't work, like if it's not as successful to use him more as it was under Kubiak going back a couple of years. Are you going to stick with it or are you going to try to, um, you know, uh, or are you going to try to like move off of that and do something else? Uh, Lee says teams rarely tank in the NFL. It's not part of the culture of the NBA. Oh, that's just not true at all. I mean, suck for luck. What was that? Yeah, this has been going on for a long time, man. Yep. I mean, really since, I mean, the, the,

the 2010s and so forth is when we've talked about a lot more. The big thing about tanking is, is every team's working on a timeline and they know it. So if teams like, are you telling me Arizona's not tanking? Like they are tanking. Uh, I, I think that it's a little more aggressive maybe in basketball. I don't know, but every team is working on a timeline and there, and there are not 32 teams that are trying to win the Superbowl. There are some teams that are trying to look a little bit better than others, but every, I mean, teams come into seasons realistic about where they're going to be. And a lot of times they act that way. Uh, tanking doesn't have to mean pull your quarterback and put in a kicker at quarterback. It doesn't have to, it doesn't have to mean something ridiculous.

It could just mean not signing anyone like going through an off season and just letting some players go and not signing anybody and whatever happens happens. So yeah, it's, it's, it's every, every sport teams have gotten very savvy to timelines when you have your chance to win. And when you have 32 teams, you really have to build up for those couple of years, unless you have Patrick Mahomes, you have to build up for those couple of years where there is going to be a chance. So yeah, it's tanking. Tanking is going to exist. Like there's a lot of people who want to fight against it or say whatever. It's always going to be a strategy to try to win in the longterm, always in every sport.

That's, that's how it's going to be. So it's, it's not just tanking. It's really like living in reality is what I call it. If you're Arizona, what were you supposed to do? Sign Andy Dalton and try to win four games instead of two. And that would be silly. So anyway, it's not something we've got to talk about yet. So I don't want to talk about tanking yet. We're not going to do that. Uh, let's see. James says Louis scene was never going to start over Harrison or Bynum. Yeah. That's kind of the problem though. Right? Like, I mean, I can Bynum was terrific. He was terrific, but it's either it's bad on either level though. Like if can Bynum is good, then you didn't realize can Bynum was good and drafted a safety. And if scene can't beat out Cam Bynum,

then he's not like going to be a really above average player because we know what Bynum is. And I have a lot of respect for Bynum. I thought he played great in week one, but if you're not good enough to beat out Bynum or Josh Metellus, then you're not leaning toward being a star. Right. But that doesn't mean it's over for Lewis scene. It doesn't like Lewis scene could next year. If Harrison Smith retires, take over as a starter, and then we'll decide what his career is. It's not, it's not over yet.

That was part of my frustration as, um, you know, throughout the summer was that because the 2022 draft class wasn't starting, that there was just this assumption that they're all busts and it was the worst draft class in history and fire the general manager is like, Whoa, uh, we're not there yet. We're going to, we're going to wait and see. And if, and if a Caleb Evans plays really well, then we're, you can't ignore that. You got one of the most valuable positions on the field in the fourth round. Horse Feather says, how much do you think missing Bradbury will affect this game? Also possibility of Davenport and Derrissaw being questionable. I mean, I don't know about Davenport or Derrissaw. No indication yet of what's going to happen there. I would guess Derrissaw gives it a shot. We'll see about Davenport. Both of

those are gigantic. If you're missing Derisaw and Bradbury, I don't have a lot of confidence with Davenport. I mean, they need somebody else to rush the pass or they like that's gotta happen. It's gotta happen soon. Um, but with Bradbury, I mean, this is a big one. Like one of the hard things here is Austin Schlotman now has to come in and he has to play in the most hostile environment. You know, top five, probably in the NFL of hostile environments is the center. I mean, it's a huge, huge factor. Uh, Bradbury, you can, you know, criticize that he's not good at this or that, and he's not perfect and he's not like a great, great center or anything like that,

but he's a solid NFL starter. And the thing is that, you know, Austin Schlotman is not, he's not, he's not a solid NFL starter. He is a backup that you really don't want to play too much. And having him play against this team is pretty, pretty tough. Uh, rock Howard says the Vikings will start. Oh, and three, uh, can they even beat the lowly Panthers? I mean, I, I don't know if they'll start. Oh, and three, uh, can they even beat the lowly Panthers? I mean, I, I don't know if they'll start. Oh, and three, man. I mean, the, the chargers are the like, aren't the chargers, the West Vikings or worse. Um, so that's the thing that, that is the, that it plays psychological warfare with when you lose in week one, doesn't it? It's, it's remarkable. I mean, the season had just ended in week one. Tough, tough. Don't do this to me, people. I waited a long time for this. I waited all summer.

We talked every night during the summer about everything that was going to happen. And then all of a sudden they lose one game and it's like, it's over. It's over. Uh, Delton says, do you think Kirk will come off his primary read more this week? Do you think KOC should cover his mouth when he calls plays? I don't know about covering his mouth. I don't know. Has that ever been a thing? Like even if the other team knew your play call, would they know what you were going to do? Actually? Maybe they would. I don't know. Do they know your verbiage for all the different things you're doing? Probably not. I always thought that was just a silly coach thing. Maybe I'm wrong. Uh, but, uh, do I think he'll come off his primary

read? I thought at times he came off it too soon, um, in that game against Tampa Bay and, and was, was getting rid of the ball maybe a little too quickly, but yeah, it's, it's just, it's hard to, it's hard to go too far with Kirk Cousins' performance in week one because he put up a lot of passing yards and moved the ball successfully. He made a bad throw or it was a bad catch. I'm really not even sure with KJ Osborne. I looked at how PFF graded it. They graded it against Osborne and not against Kirk. So I don't know. I thought it was a, I thought it was a pretty fine game that they usually win under Kirk cousins, the way he performed in that game. And it just, he didn't get another chance at the ball at the end. So that's like, that's a Kirk cousins performance where there's ups and downs and there's

inconsistencies. And usually you win against a team. That's not that good. That's why I think it hits so hard that they lost. It was like, Whoa, like that's didn't they play well in a lot of areas, but still found a way to lose. Like what happened there? Um, so, all right. Uh, two more, two more, a couple more questions here. A couple more questions. I still got an article to finish, but, um, and I got some more WNBA playoffs to watch poor links. Not a good night. I've had it on over here.

Not a good night. Uh, Jordan says, Justin Jefferson looked pretty lonely after losing on Sunday. How can he possibly want to play with this loser team in the future? My gosh, we have gone off the rails here. We've gone off the rails. I think he likes winning more than free smoothies. Is that a commercial or something? Uh, he, uh, Justin Jefferson cares a lot. Yes, he cares a lot and we've seen them go through it before. It's not his first time going through stretches of losing.

I think that the game matters to him a ton and that he's going to be frustrated when he loses just like Stefan Diggs was, but maybe in a little more, uh, calm manner than with Stefan Diggs. But I think it crushes him to lose games, especially when he thinks that they should win, or he thinks he should have gotten the ball more and things like that. I don't think with every loss, we need to decide that Justin Jefferson is leaving the Minnesota Vikings. I like this loser team. Like, wow. I mean, like, I don't know what to say at that point. Like, okay. Yeah. They lost one game, their own one in the, in the Kevin O'Connell era, they're 13 and five in the regular season. I don't think it's impossible that, you know, he can have a good game and they can win and they can be in the playoff race and things like that. We haven't,

like we've already gotten to the point. This is why, I mean, some of you have just been watching way too much Minnesota sports in your life. Cause we've already gone so far off the rails that Justin Jefferson is tired of this loser team and he's leaving and he's, I don't know, I'm going to go play for the Bengals or something like let's play the game tomorrow. Maybe, uh, is Kevin O'Connell's play calling an issue? Ben asked. Good to see you, Ben. I personally think that it goes under the same category as guards and draft classes and play callers where 28 fan bases think their play caller screws up. I do think there is an element of too cute. Definitely that.

I mean, I mentioned like if you're throwing screens to CJ Hammer, TJ Hockets, and you need to stop it, you need to look yourself in the mirror and say, stop it, please. But I also think that like, let's not ignore like wide open Justin Jefferson running 20 yards down the field. What do you have catches of 30, 20, 40? Like he, you know, they found ways to get him the football.

I think they have struggled to figure out what a run game is since Kevin O'Connell has become the head coach that, you know, uh, I mean, Mike Zimmer was obsessed with the run game, but he wasn't going to have a terrible one. Every year, you know, they, they had a serviceable, uh, or great running game under Mike Zimmer. And I don't think O'Connell has ever quite grasped when, how the scheme exactly in the run game, but I think their passing game is very effective. And I liked how they mixed up with the play actions in this last game. And they, I mean, they had a lot of, a lot of good throws, a lot of good plays in that game, but they just didn't make a couple that they needed to get in the end zone and win. Mr. Wonderful says, why is it so hard to draft and develop guards? Well, it's hard to play offensive line. It's

damn near impossible to play offensive line in the NFL. There's like 12 good offensive linemen in the NFL and everybody else is just hoping to survive. It's the least glamorous. It's the least fun position probably to play in the entire sport is guard. The guard never gets anyone excited about a guard, except for you guys. If there was somebody who was good for the Vikings, you guys would love them. But I mean, I think that if you're a great athlete, a lot of times you're playing defensive tackle. A lot of times you're playing defensive end instead of putting on,

you know, 75 pounds to play guard or something. Right. So there's only a small number of humans. Like it's a, it's a sample issue. Think about the number of humans you're drawing from that are great athletes that want to play defensive end and sack quarterbacks. How many people want to be offensive guards? Like there's just not that many. I also think it's an unbelievably difficult position and they're, they're just hard to find. There's just, they don't get paid that much. There's not many guards who are getting paid a lot. So, uh, you know, I think that's, that's the main reason why. Daniel says, last year, leadership was a big reason.

I feel the team stepped up in big moments. Now, with the changing of the guard with leadership, I'm curious who the team looks to after to answer a bad loss. Yeah, and this is the thing about last year's team is they had a lot of players like that. Eric Hendricks, Patrick Peterson, a lot, a lot of players like that. Eric Hendricks, Patrick Peterson, a lot, a lot of guys who you could look to as leaders. They need Kirk to be the leader, not just when they win. And, uh, I don't know, like I I'm not in the locker

room. I can't tell you if he was that for them last week or not. Uh, he seemed very fiery last week. And if Tom Brady was yelling on the sideline, we would have said, Oh, wow. What a great leader. And when it's Kirk, it's like, Oh, Kirk's melting. So I, you know, I don't know, but, um, D Dean, you might be right. Some of these questions are just to mess with you. You might be right about that, but I don't know. See, I've been around these Vikings fans for so long that I know, I know that a loss like that against Tampa Bay strikes deep in the souls of Vikings fans because they've been hurt so many times along the way. So I try to do a little talking off the ledge,

I guess sometimes, but maybe you're right. Maybe some are just to mess with me. But anyway, the point about leadership is just that, well, it is true that they lost a lot of leaders and they do need, uh, Kirk cousins to be that guy. They need him to really be in command and probably not talking. At least it sounded to me like a little passive aggressively after the game. Like they don't need any of that. They need him to be calm. If they lose this game, they need him to be calm. Uh, they don't need a finger pointing and every man for himself. It is a little more prone to do that with a younger locker room, but also they have a lot of veteran players, still Harrison Phillips, Dean Lowry, Harrison Smith, Justin Jefferson is a captain on this football team. Now it is his job to be in command as well of how they handle things and

how they prepare and everything else so there's enough there was a lot of turnover though and i think just in general when you have a lot of turnover it is hard to sort all that out from having most of the team back from 2021 to 2022 well and and have the chemistry that they had but i think that's a great it's a a great question of how will they handle it? Will they have resilience? It's funny because, though, resilience is tough to put your finger on. In 2021, the world was falling apart. And then they won some games.

Remember, they went out to Los Angeles and won a game there. And we all talked about, like, wow, this team's really fighting. They're staying in the race. They're going to fight back from that bad start. They're so resilient under Zimmer. They never give up under Zimmer. And that was true. I always thought that Zimmer's teams would not let it die. They were always going to be in the playoff race to the end, but then things really fell apart there. So it's always hard to figure all of that out, right? It's hard to sort all of the issues through of a locker room, and it's a delicate type of thing.

And a lot of times, and I'll say this forever, if you win games, Kirk gets chains put on him, and everybody's dancing, and everyone's excited, and everyone's talking about what a great leader he is. And when they lose, we all say, well, they didn't have enough leadership from the quarterback. And that's just how it goes. When you get the final drive that you win, you're a hero. And when you don't, you're the goat. So in a bad way, that's how we used to use the word goat. When I was a kid, it meant bad thing. Anyway, it's the, well, it's been, it's been fun as always talk with you guys.

And I wasn't doing anything anyway. I went to eat and then I'm going to work on some stuff and we got a football game for tomorrow. So maybe I will, um, I will find a Philly cheesesteak tomorrow. Although I, I try to avoid eating too much before a game. I don't want to like fall asleep in the first quarter, just like the Vikings offense. Am I right now? Okay. Well, you guys are the best. I mean, so many of you coming on here to watch and talk tonight. Hopefully I bought the extra powerful internet. Hopefully it all worked out. Okay. From an internet perspective

and everybody had a fun conversation. So I know that you all are anxious to see what happens here. And, uh, I'll tell you the, the, what if we win? What if we lose game is always a fun one, because if the Vikings win this game, it's season on it's here, we go. It's a couple of games in a row here before Kansas city that they can reel off some wins. And if they lose, I'm going to get those tanking questions again, uh, next week. So we will see what happens. Thanks everybody for joining. This was a really fun time and we will see you really late tomorrow night. Definitely late. I think we're going live. I don't know. It might depend on the Philly press box, wifi and see how that works out. But there'll

definitely be a show tomorrow night after the game. So we will talk to you all then. Thanks so much, everybody.