Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles analyzes how the Vikings will deal with O-line injuries

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Matthew Coller and former Viking Jeremiah Sirles talk about his reaction to the Damar Hamlin situation and his emotions as a former player. Then they discuss the Vikings' injuries on the offensive line, why replacing a center is so difficult and which parts of the Green Bay loss can be corrected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here. And just before we get into the episode, I want to apologize for the audio right at the beginning of the episode. I forgot to plug in my microphone. It happens from time to time, so it sounds a little bit echoey at the beginning, but early in the episode, we got it fixed and went forward, and it sounds just fine. So apologies for that, and here is the show with Jeremiah Searles. Matthew Collar here, along with Jeremiah Searles. It is a Tuesday morning Left Guard show, not on Tuesday morning because we were all traumatized on Monday night.

But I think it's a little bit different, Jeremiah, for myself, a reporter who sits in the press box, or other people who have come on the show, Courtney Cronin, Kevin Seifert, and somebody who knows players on the team, somebody who has been on that field. And I think we should start the show with your perspective of what you saw on Monday night and what that's like for somebody who went through those battles and risked their body many times going out on an NFL field to see that happen to somebody playing the game. You know, it's been said about 100 times, but, you know, I've just been in constant

prayer for DeMar and his family and for everyone involved. And, you know, I just keep praying that God shows up in a big way in that guy's life. Um, and as terrible as it is, you know, just, I just asked everyone keeps praying, um, whether you, what you believe in or not, um, you know, it's just thoughts and prayers to him always. But, you know, to really take a look at what happened from, from my perspective was, it was it was really strange you know you see him get hurt and you see it go down it goes to commercial right and you're like okay guy probably got dinged got a concussion and the inner player in me you have this little voice in the back of your head that's a coach going oh he's fine all right move it up 10 right it's the old saying like in practice guy gets hurt you move it up 10 you just

keep going and you keep going and when they came back from commercial and I could see the look on Stefan Diggs' eyes, on Josh Allen's eyes, Spencer Brown, who I've played with all these guys. I've seen them. I know what it's like when they're emotional. And to see the fear that was on those guys' face, it rattled me in a big way. Because I think people a lot of times are, or they see football players and we are, we're tough. We're in the moment where the men in the arena where the battles, but nothing can prepare you for that. You know, and so many people I know I tweeted right away, cancel the game, right? Like cancel the game. You can't, you can't

keep playing this game. Like you can't ask these guys to literally watch their buddy die and be brought back to life and then be okay to go back out there and play a game and no i had a lot of people surprisingly in my mentions that were like come on they never canceled a game be real like we're not soldiers the only people in the entire world that are trained for something like that are military soldiers and you know where you got to think these guys are 22, 23, never worked a real job in their life. We've played a kid game our entire life. And to watch someone that you spend more time with than your family that this time of year, you see that guy every single day, seven days a week, you go to war with him on the bat on the football field and you fight and you scratch your cloth to see something like that. I don't know how you come back from it even within a week. And as terrible as it is, just watching the images of Josh and Diggs will be ingrained in my brain forever. And I cannot thank and put my hat off enough to Nate Breske and the training staff for Buffalo, the first responders out there who literally saved that man's life and were able to react so quickly. And then also to Sean McDermott and Zach Taylor and them being able to understand the gravity

of the situation enough to just look and say, we're not doing this. You know, we're not putting our players out there. So I think that everyone involved from an administrative part of handling it did very well. I think the medical was great and all that, but I just, I can't even start to think about how those players go back to work today to prepare for a game on Sunday. Right. I mean, that was so hard. They've never seen anything like that. I mean, they've seen people get hurt plenty of times and all football players are hardened to even some pretty gnarly injuries.

You know, I, I was standing maybe 50 feet away from blake prole when he broke his leg in training camp and even me you know we've seen all these things and i was like oh that's not good but you know i mean blake prole's around he's all right and you always know that with this one we had no idea and the more that they went to commercial the more scary it got it's like wait a minute they don't even want to show what's going on and then you have the players and the looks on their faces completely i mean when they were having the discussion about warming up and potentially going back on the field and i'll remember this the same way forever when they showed josh allen and the look on his face just staring

out into the field it was like that was the, okay, they can't continue this game because that's what the looks on the faces of these players are. And I think as we go forward here to play this week, which the NFL is going to, it's going to be really hard for a lot of guys to have complete focus. I think it will help a lot if the positive things keep coming out from Cincinnati and his recovery, which he's still in critical condition as we do this, but every update has been going in the right direction. But still, I mean, I think this is going to be an incredibly

difficult week for every single player who has to go back out there knowing that you can't just erase those images out of your head. Yeah. And I can tell you this, you take an inherent risk to play football. You do. And you hear guys all the time, I give everything to play at the NFL. I give everything. Not once did I strap my helmet on and think I may give my life to this game. It's just nothing that crosses your mind because in a way, it's not that serious. You know, it is not life or death. And it's why I have a huge issue a lot of times when guys compare it to the military at times. You know, because it's like, it's a little different.

Like, I understand the team aspects, but, you know, we're not putting our lives on the line out here. And it's just kind of a sobering thought. You know, it's one hit away. It's one fluke crazy thing of hitting the chest, hitting your head. You know, Tua was a little scary kind of like that this year with his hit and Cincy and it's just sobering you know and it puts into perspective a lot of things and I think there's going to be a little bit of a semblance of kind of getting back into normalcy this weekend with guys going back and playing and sometimes it's good to have a slight bit of distraction but you know I can't even start to think about what

practice is like in Buffalo right now in Orchard Park New York you know the I can't even start to think about what practice is like in Buffalo right now, in Orchard Park, New York. You know, the guy who, and you take it all the way down. I mean, I know for a fact because I play there in Buffalo, the guy's name is Jeff. The guy in the morning who makes your eggs and makes your stuff, he makes it a point of emphasis to know every single person by name and know what they order in the morning. You don't think this is affecting him? Like the guy that lockers next to DeMar. You don't think this is affecting him in a lot like it just it's such a trickle-down effect that it affects everyone in such a big huge impactful beyond football way that it's just really hard to just imagine football season continuing for

the buffalo bills in that form but you know as as it says you like it must go on it must keep going um and unfortunately that's going to have to be quicker than most want it to be. But I just hope that those guys can rally around each other. And, you know, Coach McDermott being a man of faith, it's going to really help this in that situation. Also, just how close that Buffalo team is, because you being from Buffalo, you understand there's not a lot going on up there. So that team really binds together. They live together. They do everything together. You know, so if they're going to be able to pull through this it's because they pull each other through it and i can't believe what that team's been through this year i mean they were a huge part of the community effort following the

mass shooting at a grocery store they've had two deadly storms that have hit them and hit that community and like you said about buffalo now this is true for every community with their football team, but the Buffalo Bills are Buffalo. Like that is what, that it's the entire like fabric of the city is the Buffalo Bills. And so when anything happens, and I've been there for this,

I've seen this firsthand, when there is a storm, when there is a tragedy or something, I mean, it is felt through the entire community, through that team. And so dealing with this, I'm not saying it means more than it would if it was a different team, but I think their connection to the community is maybe deeper than almost any team in the league because of the market size, the size of the city, and just so much that that team is their entire identity.

So it has been amazing to see so many people step forward and donate to his charity. And I think if you're trying to think positive thoughts, it's like when he comes out of this, he's going to check his GoFundMe and really be amazed. And so there is that element that we keep getting positive updates and we'll just hope that this goes in the right way. Even if it's a long way to recovery, if he's able to recover, it'll be, I mean, thank God for all those people who

were able to step up at the right times and be able to help resuscitate him and bring him back and get him to the trauma unit. I mean, it just can't be said enough, the job that those people did. So we have to carry on with the talk. We've got a game. They're going to keep playing the game. We've got a game to kind of discuss that I haven't really talked anything about since this happened with Green Bay, but we got to go over it. So did you want to share any sort of final thoughts before we kind of move over to the football? Yeah, you know, the last thing I want to talk about is just how grateful I am for the NFL community. You know, not just the players, but the fans. You know, I think it's really easy.

You see the videos of the Eagles and the Washington fans fighting in the stands. And but to see the NFL fandom, the NFL communities come together and rally behind something that so often it's about the money and it's about the ratings. But this was about a person. This is about a player, a human being. And to see the ability that football can bring people together in such a fantastic and beautiful way has been really exciting for me. You know, in an era of which people think football is dying and all this stuff of guys getting hurt and whatnot, like this was such a beautiful way of showing everyone still has a lot of love

for everyone involved in the NFL, everyone involved on the team. And I just think it's really cool of other communities. You know, you see Buffalo communities always pouring to Andy Dalton's charity when they beat the Jaguars or whatever it was, but to see the love and pour that's been poured back into the bills and their community from outside all around the United States, I think has been a beautiful thing to see. Um, it's great. And like I said, I'm really excited for when demar can wake up and see um how things have been going in the direction for him so again just thoughts and prayers to demar and his family um and to the bills their entire organization everyone on that team and uh we just keep praying

for this young man it's sort of a reminder to that end of just how many people it takes to get somebody to the nfl i mean the all the, the college coaches and the teammates and everything else, like the number of people who have connections, even with the Vikings where Patrick Jones talked about working out with DeMar when it was during COVID and you couldn't really work out as a team. So you kind of pick a buddy and you know, that kind of thing. So there's so much that somebody goes through to even get to that point and you know people were sharing it i don't know if it's right to share or not but like his his some of his posts before the game and like how big this is was to

him and how much it meant to him um so hopefully it's not long before he's back playing for the buffalo bills all right let's circle back to green because I haven't been able to get your thoughts. And, well, it didn't go very well. Here's my question, though. Here's my question. You know how much gas it takes and how miserable the drive is from here to Green Bay to watch that? I'm just – you know, this is really about me is the point. And, you know, I got there a little later.

I didn't even get the pregame meal. I mean, so at least they could have done was given me a competitive football game. How much does it mean? That's my question for you. How much does it matter? Because teams get blown out, bad things happen, week-to-week league, all that stuff. How much did this one matter? It mattered a ton. And I see people on social media that are like, I'm not worried.

It doesn't matter. I'm worried. I've been saying it all year on this podcast that like i flirt on that line of like i don't believe in this team and they could win it all you know and for this game everything that we've talked about that has somehow fallen on you can call it luck you can call it whatever you want it all went awry this game everything that they, this game. Everything that they've been doing well, everything that they've been able to pull off, it wasn't working this game. That's not what you want as you head into the playoffs.

That's not what you need as you go into the playoffs, especially when you're talking about a team in Green Bay who is trying to limp their way into the playoffs, not talking about the number two seed in the NFL. I think this would be a very different conversation if this was a very close game, competitive down to the end, and one or two things.

But you block a punt, and you have all these things that could have went right, and they just didn't. The biggest loss in this game, the number one biggest loss is Brian O'Neal. That is the number one biggest issue that I had coming out of this game because, yeah, you can fix X's and O's, but you can't fix personnel.

And we talk about all the time, can't win championships without championship tackles. And we've seen it when Derrissaw's been dinged up, there's been a drop off. Now you lose Bradbury and then you lose the second string center, you know, the third string center, there's snap count issues going on now. And then you lose your all pro right tackle. Like that's the injury bug is catching this team at the wrong time when some of the other teams are kind of getting themselves healthy a lot of the chargers you know and so i'm very concerned about this team i'm very concerned about how they're going

to move forward i'm very concerned about their ability to close out games when justin jefferson can't get open and it's just starting to kind of although the point differentials now dip down way into the negatives you know all the things that we've talked about that where eventually we felt we're going to catch up with this team are all seeming to catch up here in the last two weeks of the season yeah i think anytime you have a game like this you sort of try to parse through like what matters toward the future and what doesn't right so you look at okay does it matter that you know they threw a wobbly interception where justin jefferson fell down like no that was bad luck and that really turned the game.

Kick return for touchdown. That probably won't happen again. There's like three a year in the entire NFL, and somehow the Vikings have been part of two of them. So, okay, all right. So some of that badness you can kind of wipe out as random. In the same way we've talked about random events that have helped the Vikings against Indy and Green Bay, that regression to the random came back and hit them in the face.

But what's not random is that opposing teams can pressure the quarterback, and now it's going to get worse. And with Garrett Bradbury, Kevin O'Connell has not been willing to say, oh, yeah, he's definitely going to be back for the playoffs. I mean, a back issue is something that's very hard to resolve, but especially hard to resolve for an offensive lineman because of the amount of just bending and twisting and everything else. And just even like think about anchoring and how much you have to like bend your back just to do that effectively. And oh, by the way, they're probably going to play Dexter Lawrence.

So, I mean, this is really hard. I'd love you to speak to playing center though, because I know you didn't, I don't think you ever played it in a game, but it was something that you prepared to play in your career because you needed to know all the positions to like exist in the NFL. I mean, because Chris Reed got a lot of heat. I just thought that position is so difficult. And if you didn't practice it at all, I mean, I don't know how anybody can just go in and set the protections and snap counts at Lambeau field.

So he'll have some time to prepare for, for this week and maybe that will help him, but that's not a position you could just snap your fingers and you're a center. No, it's the, I mean, it goes left tackle is the hardest position on the field and then right

tackle and center very much tied for second. You know, it's one of those things where if it's not natural to you, and I tell people this all the time, that want to play center. You have to snap so much that you don't think about the snap. But when you're not a natural center, it's all you can think about. It's literally like, I just have to make sure this ball gets from the ground to the quarterback. And when that's your main focus, you're not looking at safeties.

You're not looking at linebackers. You're not looking at things. And things are happening so fast that it's impossible for you to go out there and be able to perform at the level that you need to. Now, you can be serviceable. And that's, I mean, Reid was serviceable. He got the ball to the quarterback and we were able to do things. But in order to win games, especially in the playoffs, you can't just be a serviceable center. You have to be out there and have command.

You have to command everything. You have to be confident in your points. You have to be confident in the places that you're lining guys up and shifting things and changing things. And when that's just not a natural thing, because you haven't done it a lot, it's a lot to ask of a guy, even a veteran like Reed, you know, so as much heat as he's catching, I blame, no blame at his feet, none, you know, that's, that's an impossible situation to get thrown into and asked to go out there and excel. I thought he did exceptional for the position that he was put in. Now there's some things technique wise getting pushed around and those types of

things that he's going to have to clean up, but this is really also the first like live bullets he's seen all year, you know? So that's another factor into it. So one week of getting everything, getting settled, getting more rapport with Kirk, getting more rapport with the snap counts and everything that's going to help a ton and just the operational side of it. But I don't think it's fair to us to expect for him to come out next week and just blow the doors off of being a center and just elevating his game so high because it's just such a difficult position to play and even more difficult to master. Folks, if your New Year's resolution was to treat yourself a little bit better,

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I thought other than actually not snapping the ball on several plays, which you look, I mean, just throw it back there at some point. I mean, watching it live was sort of like, OK, are you going to know? Just not going to happen. Just going to hang on to that thing.

This is my ball. To be fair, I would rather take a delay game penalty than snap it for when the quarterback's not ready or I don't think he's ready. You know, the lesser of two evils is five yards survive and fall back in punt versus, oh, my gosh, it's over Kirk's head and now they scoop and score like I will take that and I do think that's the kind of stuff that will get cleaned up this week yes I do think that but I have to say just from like funny football stuff you would expect that to kind of happen in like a peewee game where you're there like Timmy

snap it throw it to him and you're like no I don't know. I am not sure. Is it the right time? It's the best call in football, the false start, everyone but the center. It's the best referee call of all time. And they throw the flag, and they're just like, it's everyone but the guy with the ball between his legs. It's like, you, shame, shame. Yeah, poor Ezra Cleveland got banged for a couple of penalties there. He's got that on his record.

They're like, oh, you know, it's a tough year. He got penalized like eight times, maybe more like six. Those weren't his fault. But, you know, I do think that a week of practice can help those two, but I don't think it can resolve the issues. Even a game against the Bears, who, let's be honest here, are not exactly sending Leonard Williams out to play against them. So getting Bradbury back seems like it's vital. But the other reason, too, is also that Bradbury and Kirk have been playing together a long time now, and those two have a rapport. They understand how those calls go.

And even Austin Schloppen, I would say that he got pushed around quite a bit in past pro and it was problematic, but it didn't look like the o-line was confused and i mean you know that this is this is also and i'm assuming giants you know who knows but like that's the most blitzing team in the league like there's just so many things that are going to go on there and i think you know bradbury may try to play and you hope that he's healthy enough to do it if you're the vikings but i mean it's just a tough situation if he's not at 100% or you have to play a guy facing a team that sends blitzes from everywhere and he's got to do all that stuff.

Or you have to put way more on Kirk Cousins' plate. Like there is such a domino effect to that. And oh, by the way, your right tackle can't be trusted. I mean, Blake Brandl, we thought, did a decent job and he allowed seven sacks in the time that he was in, in I think five appearances. I mean, Ole Udo was the, I ran this yesterday, maybe third lowest graded tackle in the two games that he played tackle

for those two weeks in the NFL. There's no good answers. The NFL, since your retirement, does not have any backups that are viable that can come in Rashad Hill ain't walking through that door I mean honestly like it's just a tough situation now and there's no like well maybe O'Neal can heal because it's that Achilles thing he's just done yeah there's no he's not coming back this year and rightfully so you know so it's more piecemeal now and and that shifts the offense now right like

we talked about it last week of putting um tj hoxson out as a receiver right having him split out might need you in their chip now bud right like we might we might need you hey dalvin you might have to stay in a little bit more we might have to do a little bit more of max protections type of things right so it shifts everything when you lose a guy that you can just trust on their side to be like one-on-one matchup, block him, move on to the next thing. It now adds something completely different into how you game plan and how you set formations and how you set protections and all that things. And then now you're now hanging other guys out. It's like, hey, we really have to protect our right side.

Now, Ezra, you're going to get way more one-on-ones. Hey, Derisov, if you're good, we understand you're good, but we can't slide to you if you're playing against an all pro guy over there right it doesn't matter you know so there's gonna be pieces that um fall into this offensive line but like you said with the run game too I mean the run game is generated by the guys in the middle you know the tackles can widen the holes they can stretch it with the pin and pull stuff and and do all that but if you can't generate push in the middle against these big nose guards and these three techniques like the run game's dead before it even begins and that's i mean we weren't a very like stellar run

game to start with but going into the playoffs man controlling clock controlling time of possession when running the football is so important and when you're on your third string center and your second string right tackle like it's not something you think is going to be able to be something you rely on as you head into to january uh here's a guess what that stat is i'm gonna have a song for it um but uh where do you think in expected points added the vikings rank in the run game this year? 30th. You are close. They are 26th. What's, put on my Seinfeld hat,

what's the deal with the run game? I mean, I just, is it like, should we pie chart the thing? Like, is it Kevin O'Connell doesn't care about running? Is it Delvin Cook has lost a step, which there was a chart that was out there the other day about rushing yards over expected. And he was toward the bottom of the league,

meaning that even what the offensive line gives him, he's not getting any more, which would just sort of go to the typical age curve of a running back. And he's had a lot of carries. It's like every year we try to tell him, don't overuse delvin cook early in the season and coaches are like oh no we won't we would never and then oh he's got 250 again in december you know and that that has happened to him as well

uh and this would be a game again they're going to play starters but like to sit delvin cook would probably be a good idea but so is it o'Connell doesn't care, offensive line isn't doing their job, Delvin Cook is not the same guy as he used to be, or other? You know, I'm going to lean on more of the offensive line isn't doing its job because as an O-lineman, you know, we tell ourselves and we sit in the room and go, we don't care what they line up in. It's our job to generate push. It's our job to create holes.

It's our job to not allow penetration and all of that. And if you, I mean, look at what Baltimore, look how Pittsburgh beat Baltimore last week. They're like, oh, Tyler Huntley, you can't throw the ball farther than eight yards down the field. We're going to play a six-man front, right? Like teams aren't doing that to us. Teams aren't saying, hey, we're shutting down your run game, right?

Like they're leaving boxes that are light. They're leaving open, and they're leaving boxes that are light. They're leaving open, and they're just not generating enough push, in my opinion. And then on the other side, like, yeah, it's a pass-first offense. So if you're going to rank these in order, I think it's O-line, pass-first offense, or O-line, pass-first offense, and then Dalvin Cook losing a step.

Because when he does get in the space, he still looks fast. He still looks explosive. And I do think that he still has quite a bit of run left in those legs you know i think the thing is we never tell me right now madeline let me i'll ask you this question if you had gun to your head what is the identity for this run game of the minnesota vikings because i've gone on this show and we've talked it's pin pull it's zone it's wide zone like i don't know so in your opinion you say what is the bread and butter for the minnesota vikings run game what is it can you imagine how terrifying that would be and how confusing like why are you putting a gun to my

head to ask me about the identity of the run game do it do it now you know sometimes sometimes when you like pull out of these uh cliches you're like, that's messed up, man. That's probably the most messed up one. And I've used it before myself. I don't know. I think I might pass on use that in the future. That one's psychotic. That's fair.

But at least it's not like a trick. I'm going to shove you in a locker, Matthew. If you can't tell me the identity of the Minnesota Vikings run game, I'm shoving you in this locker. Okay. Yeah, they don't have one. No, I mean, they use outside zone more than they use other stuff by the numbers uh but are they like an outside zone team and that was the thing that was always really honestly amazing to see when gary was teaching that thing was the detail was remarkable and it was it was like watching uh you know what's the sport where

they dive in the pool and they flutter their legs or whatever what's that oh synchronized swimming yeah in a way it was like synchronized swimming watching those guys because they'd all be moving in unison and you knew exactly and then the running back has three options he hits it outside he cuts it back up or he cuts it back and it was like everybody knew what they were doing with this i don't know that they've accomplished that with the outside zone stuff they they call it something a little different like a middle zone zone yeah so it's definitely not the same thing um there are offenses that run super effective out of the shotgun they don't really do that it really is like pass pass pass pass oh it's been a while since we ran uh anybody got a run thing? Okay. Like, have we done a gap thing in a while? Our guys can pull, right? Who cares? Like, it just feels like that isn't quite there and it's just physics it's biology it's

reality of nfl of nfl running backs historically that that jolt that chris johnson one hat once had when he ran for 2 000 yards and the guy ran a 4-2 even though he's still crazy fast at top speed there's just something to that where i expect Delvin Cook to go around a guy and he doesn't get there. And it's like, oh, that's kind of what he had to live on a lot. So I think it's all these factors and at least by the numbers. And I'm not saying that this is just the total gospel, but PFF has graded them as a fairly good run blocking team overall. But that can also mean like not losing. that doesn't mean that you're prolific or that you're like creating these huge gaps because i haven't seen that

but at least they're we know they're not horrendous but i think that i think that it's like a thing that they just don't care that much about in being a total pass offense i also think it would probably go to if you can't find your identity, you're always searching for one. You're always searching for maybe this will work, maybe that'll work. And how much actual time on task do you have on these things? You know, that's what training camp and OTAs are for. And, you know, I think that you're seeing teams that at the beginning of the year are struggling to find their identity because of the lack of

physicality between OTAs and training camp. And trust me, I'm all about taking some load off players. But it's also one of those things that if you don't put a ton of time on task into your details, like you said, of the run game, it just isn't going to look polished. And throughout the year, it's just like we've talked, hey, yeah, they ran gap ski and they ran inside. Don't hey, they threw some pin and pull in there, right? It's just kind of spaghetti. You know, it's just mashed in there, thrown around, and you have nothing to just lay down because I have yet to see this team take a team over on the ground.

Right? Like, if you have a team and you have a lead, that's why I think teams have been able to come back on the Vikings at times because we haven't been able to just be like, all right, we have a 14-point lead. We are going to go to this, and we are going to run this over and over and over again. I mean, even look at what the Raiders were able to do to San Francisco, right?

That team has been lights out against the run all season long, and the Raiders just stuck with it, stuck with it, stuck with it. And then they popped one, and then they popped two. There's just none of that for the Vikings. A lot of it, I think, is just time on task. And the other side of it is offensive coordinators panic. When things don't work, they go back to what what is working which is throw the ball to 18 and then when that's not working i don't think koc had a great answer what to do next this yeah against the pack yes yeah i think

it was probably his worst coaching game overall even starting out with the field goal and not going for it which i i wanted to have some understanding throwing a new center in there but the new center comes in and then they run right behind him. And they also did that with Austin Schloteman against Detroit. Again, it's like he's got this huge menu. You ever gone to Cheesecake Factory? Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.

Or any Mexican restaurant ever. Oh, yeah, I know. That's a dictionary that you're looking through, but then he's got like one card that just says run. And he's like that one, like, and it was like, okay, we want to run Delvin at the goal line here. Like that one, the one that goes right behind the guy who just came into the game. Like there was just, there's just like this. It's like, uh, if you try to learn a new language and you get decent at it and you can sort of talk in it but then you hear actual people speak spanish or something you're like

nowhere close that's that's like kubiak versus o'connell when it comes to the run game it's like yes he understands the language but not influently like this guy and i think that's just made a difference for their offense and it's mostly been because of jefferson that we haven't had to talk about it a whole lot but in that game with that turf that weather that situation it would have been great for them to have a running game to play off and instead like you said once 18 is taken away i don't know what's next and the nfl blueprints the nfl i promise you the bears are going to play the exact same now they might not have the personnel to do it but they're going to play the exact same scheme

that green bay played against this team and see if we can beat man coverage and if we can run the ball into the light box so what is your opinion since it's like uh question one of the questions of the week about this week 18 they're going to play the starters. It's going to be Nathan Peterman, for God's sake. Why does it have to be Nathan Peterman? I wanted to see Justin Fields run around, but instead it's going to be Nathan Peterman. What's your feeling on that? First of all, I don't know how he's still in the NFL.

And he gave me staff, so I have a lot of pain against Nathan Peterman. He threw an interception and I had to make a tackle, and it got in my elbow. And so, to you against Nathan Peterman. He threw an interception and I had to make a tackle and it got in my elbow. And so, to you, Nathan Peterman. But, you know, I think after the performance that you had last week, as a player, you can't wait to get back out on the field.

You know, so I think it's a good thing to play the starters in this game because you want to have confidence going into the playoffs, not I just got my teeth kicked in as you play before you go out in your next snap. And it's really easy to be like, yeah, brush it off, we're in the playoffs.

But there's just something about getting that kind of off your back. And as bad as the Bears are, if you can go out there and beat up on this team a little bit and feel good about yourself as a player, individually, as a team, I think that's more along the lines of why starters are playing versus like, yeah, the two seed's still in reach. Yes, it is, and you do need to win, but at the same time,

there's a bigger picture here to it that you can't have your last at-bat be you struck out swinging and then expect to walk up and hit a home run the next time in football. That's probably a bad analogy because you can do that in baseball, but it's not how it works in football. You don't just all of a sudden turn the light switch on and everything gets fixed that was a problem the week before yeah you struck out walked into the dugout fell face first and then had a gatorade thing fall on you is kind of what happened to them you know what just sort of struck me here

is this is a 12 win team that is going into the playoffs for the first time since 2019 after years of misery. And we've spent a lot of the season sort of waffling on, like, are they good? Is it going to keep up? Are they making you nervous like they were a couple of weeks ago? And then that kind of came to fruition in Green Bay. It's such a strange vibe to have for a team that has so many wins. Like I can't remember.

And of course, you know, I wasn't there covering every team that's won 12, but usually when you get to this threshold, like that's the Superbowl threshold. That's like your average Superbowl team wins 12. Sometimes somebody special and wins 14 or 15. Usually that's kind of what it takes is somewhere between, you know, 11 and 15 or whatever, 16 wins. And yet the whole feeling coming out of that is just so down.

And I guess there's a part of me that does not want to overreact to that specific part of it because of what happened in 2019. I would have bet you my soul they were going to get killed by New Orleans. I mean, I really thought that like they they were smashed by the packers at home same sort of vibes that time we thought people were getting fired and they just the one thing about kirk cousins is he is the most one game at a time human being i've ever seen in my life like he puts it behind him and he goes on to the next game and that's sometimes his his brain being wired the way it is is good for them because it's like he doesn't remember what happened the last week. So I guess I want to know like how much of a reaction we should have to this

and how the vibe should be going into the playoffs. Because I feel like that just talk about like a black cloud and coming in and raining on your parade. Because if they had won that game, it would have been like, okay, here they go onto the playoffs. And,

uh, instead it just sort of feels like, are they gonna blow it? Yeah. I'm right there with you. You know, I'm really concerned about this team's ability to win in the playoffs. You know,

and it's everything we just laid out and we haven't even touched on the defense yet. You know, like that's another, it's been an issue all year, but it's starting to really raise its ugly head right now. And, you know, so I am 20% on if I think they win a playoff game. You know, and I hate even saying that.

And, you know, they did just beat the Giants, and it was a little bit of a Justin Jefferson magic at the end of the game to do it. And, you know, the Giants are going into the playoffs now. That's what it's going to be. And, and you know i'm just really concerned about this ability this team's ability to close out close games at the end and i know that's crazy to say with how many that they have done this year but it's just if everything doesn't go right we just it's not a dominant football team i can't sit here and tell you that the minnesota vikings are a dominant nfl football team because they're not and i don't think anyone listening here is going to say, you're stupid.

Yes, they are, because no one believes that they are. They're a very good football team that has had a lot of things go right for them. But unless they're playing and they're hitting on all cylinders, like it only takes a few things for us to go off the rails. Like you said, a guy falls down or a kick return where we just don't have the ability to overcome multiple errors that happen throughout the game. Right. And that's kind of the reason we look at the point differentials and things because it's like over the accumulation of many games, how dominant are you is a pretty good indicator of where you have a chance to

go when it comes to the playoffs. And if you're playing on the razor's edge all the time, sometimes you get cut, right? I mean, that's just kind of how it's been for them at times. And, you know, they haven't had these wins where you just can play easy either. And I've always thought this, too, that what a team goes through in a season with the way that they play, it does accumulate on them. Like eventually. And I would say this about San Francisco in 2019. It was a very stressful season. Diggs wanted out like a lot of, you know,

there were injuries and stuff happened. And, you know, I thought that they just ran out of gas and it's just hard to see that not happening here as much as you could talk yourself into how random the NFL is. I think as far as the first round goes, I put it much more at a coin flip, but even that is not being like super optimistic because you're the favorite.

Like you're playing at home. It's Daniel Jones more likely than not. And you're like, yeah, I guess I'm still going to go coin flip because that's how they played against the giants the last time. So I understand it. I also think that it's just when it comes to the defense too,

it's just a hard sell to be like, well, yeah, you could be the 31st ranked defense in points against and go to the Superbowl. Like I don't believe that defense is anywhere near as important as offense or predictive. That's just been proven, but you could be like 23rd and get on a hot run. I don't know if you can be 31st. And yet at the same time, there is a part of me that wants to say like, it's, it's, it's just football. It's the NFL, and you just really don't know.

But you don't want to be in a place going into the playoffs where you're kind of saying, well, anything can happen. Yeah, that's the underdog. That's the underdog mentality, right? Anything can happen. We can go in here. We can beat this team. And that's the issue with when you're not.

You're supposed to be the 12-win juggernaut. You're supposed to be the Kansas Citywin juggernaut you're supposed to be the Kansas City Chiefs the Buffalo Bills the Cincinnati Bengals you know the Philadelphia Eagles where it's like the team is coming into you like if we don't play perfect we're gonna get killed right if we don't play at the highest level possible this team's gonna absolutely steamroll us and when you play the Vikings that's not the fear that you have you have the fear of like hey let's drag this team into deep water and let's see what happens at the end right, that's not the fear that you have. You have the fear of like, hey, let's drag this team into deep water and let's see what happens at the end.

And that's where the coin flip piece comes into play. And yes, they've been able to find ways to win at the end. That's going to come and pay dividends in the playoffs at times. But when you get past the first round and you start playing the juggernauts, you're no longer the favorite by any means of any of those teams I just mentioned. If the Vikings lined up against any one of those teams I just mentioned, we'd be sitting here on the other side going, I don't know. I don't know.

And that's just not a great place as a fan you want to go. It's not a great place as a team that you want to be. And I promise you, no one on that team is dumb enough to think that they can just show up and win on Sunday. No one on that team is. They understand where they're at and where they're at as a football team. So they got to find a way to piece it all back together this week, which historically throughout this year,

they've done a nice job rebounding from losses. You know, but we're going to find out a lot about this team on if they just come out and handle business this week. Starters come out, play clean, play good. You'll feel better. But if they waver at all in this game, I'm going to be really, really concerned going into the playoffs okay last question uh i'm not going to do like a bleep mary kill thing with the playoff teams that could be in but do something weird with them though like seattle detroit and

green bay like who are you afraid of whose jersey would you wear and who has the best right guard i'm most afraid of the let's do i'm most afraid of the green bay packers right now you know that is a team that watching them play the last five weeks they figured something out now i will say christian watson is a massive reason as to why and it's hard to be like, well, one player. It's like, well, Justin Jefferson, right? Christian Watson has changed Aaron Rodgers in that defense. A.J. Dillon, being getting more carries now every single game, has changed that offense. And then on defense, they're starting to get healthy again.

No, they had a lot of injuries. Like, I'd be really scared of the Green Bay Packers of a first-round matchup or even just running into them in the playoffs. Now, granted, you don't have to go to Lambeau. So that's a very helpful term for not having to play them. The team that I'd wear the jersey and not be super afraid of is the Seattle Seahawks. They should have beat the Jets by 30 this weekend,

but their inability to finish in the red zone is something that is going to come back to haunt them big time. Geno Smith wasn't sharp. Walker wasn't breaking a bunch of tackles. You know, the Jets' defense kept them in that game, even though Mike White just completely pooped the bed. You know, so there's a lot of teams. The Seahawks are a team that I'm not super scared of.

The team that frightens me and gives me nightmares in the NFC is not the Eagles, but the San Francisco 49ers. Because that defense, and I know that you say defense doesn't do a ton, but that is a smothering defense. Now, the Raiders got after him a little bit, and Jared Stidham looked like Peyton Manning at times. But that's a defense that is a game-changing, ball hawk, ripaway positions defense that that team can win on defense alone.

If there's one team in the NFL that I say, yeah, they can win a 9-7 playoff game, it's that team. But then you look at them on offense and go, they're going to get Debo Samuel back. They have Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Ayuk. All of a sudden, Big Cock Brock has figured out that he wants to throw it to George Kittle. They're putting it all together. They're the best

team in the NFC right now, by far. And Jalen Hurts is going to come back a little rusty. He's not going to be as sharp. He's going to miss a few games when he comes back for the Eagles. So the Eagles are probably second least scary and second most scary. But right now, it's 100% the San Francisco 49ers odds-on favorite for me to win the NFC. And who's got the best right guard?

Probably the Eagles. Landon Dickerson. Landon Dickerson's a really, really best right guard? Probably the Eagles. Landon Dickerson. Landon Dickerson's a really, really good right guard. And the fact that he got called on that holding penalty this last week made me want to reach through the TV screen and throttle that referee. That was as good as a pancake as you'll ever see. And they called a freaking holding penalty on it. I don't think anyone knows what holding is including the referees i mean if

you throw your arms out to try and make a tackle as a d lineman as you're getting driven three yards backwards just do it because they're going to throw holding you might end up on your back but then you're going to stand up and be like holding holding and then you're going to go 10 yards backwards it's a it's it's so dumb but there are also games this year where i've thought there was about 18 holdings and the referees were just like, we ain't calling it today. We're just like from crew to crew, you have to play by different rules. And that's another discussion for a different day.

So we will, we'll forego love to see it. Hate to see it because of the overall, you know, tenor of the NFL right now. But how these matchups end up playing out will be something to see and uh you never know like things can change david blau is the guy the vikings will be cheering on their former teammate against san francisco we'll see how that uh works out jeremiah thanks so much for your perspective of course uh to start the show and for um everything along the journey with the offensive line and the running game and everything else we are almost there we are so close to an actual for everything along the journey with the offensive line and the running game and everything else.

We are almost there. We are so close to an actual playoff game where we can go hardcore into it, and then we will find out what happens. So thanks so much, man. Absolutely. See you guys next week.