Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles talks us into Josh Dobbs leading the Vikings to the playoffs

Episode Date: November 15, 2023

Former Viking Jeremiah Sirles joins Matthew Coller to talk about his perspective on Josh Dobbs' win over the New Orleans Saints and how Kevin O'Connell's message has resonated in the locker room Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here inside TCO Performance Center and joining me as always for Tuesday Morning Left Guard, Jeremiah Searles. And hey, look at us. Who would have thought? Not me. Six and four Minnesota Vikings, five wins in a row without Justin Jefferson. That's where we should begin and then we'll get to Anthony Barr who you have a ton of experience with as a player when you were

teammates but this run what of what do you attribute to something as special as this has been to put them right back in the middle of the playoff race, Jeremiah. Yeah, there's a couple things. The first thing I want to attribute it to is this locker room and how they all care for each other and love for each other, and it's so apparent on film. When you're not in a locker room, it's really hard to get a judge of, man, do they all love each other? Do they work for each other?

Do they play for each other? But when you watch the game and you see the emotion on the sideline every single snap, guys on the offense celebrating with the defense and defense celebrating, it's just this giant party on the sideline of emotion. And yes, you're winning, so it's a lot easier. But that carries over through the week. That carries over through how you work for each other through the week.

And guys eating lunch with each other with smiles on their faces. And then when that goes into the playing field, you're like, man man i'm playing really hard for that guy because we had lunch on wednesday and we talked about his wife and i love that guy and i love how he loves all my kids or whatever it may be right there's so much that can go into that and then the second thing is just how much koc has matured as a head coach this year you know with way the year started people some going man maybe he was a one-hit wonder maybe he wasn't the guy maybe this and to see the way the year started people some going man maybe he was a one-hit wonder maybe he wasn't the guy maybe this and to see the way that he's been able to wrangle his teammates wrangle his staff lead them by example stand in front of the podium take the

arrows when he needs to you lose your franchise quarterback like he has taken everything in stride and found a way to keep that team while also putting together brilliant game plans week in and week out offensively. So those two things combined are the two things that I look at and go, wow, that's a really special thing to have. And it feels a little 2017-ish at times with the ability of adversity hits you in the face. How do you respond? Well, we just keep going next man up and going and going and going. And when you can get in that kind of rhythm as a team, you're really hard to beat when

you have the talent that this team has specifically. Yeah, I'd really like more of your perspective on Kevin O'Connell here, because we've spent a lot of time talking about him as we should. I mean, considering that he pulled them out from the depths of tanking and look, they lose any one of those games. Daniel Hunter is a jaguar like they were gonna tear this thing limb for limb if they hadn't won in green bay and put themselves in a position even with a different quarterback to potentially go chase the playoffs and then two

games in they've been able to prepare josh dobbs enough i was almost more impressed with this week because the saints had a whole week to prepare for him. There's like the adrenaline rush. You talk about all the time of like, you're thrown into the mix and sometimes you just black out and go wild. But this week, then it all comes down. He also had a ton of attention, a ton of media to all that sort of stuff, pumping them up. And he played exactly the same, if not much, actually much better, much, much sharper than he did for last week. But with Kevin O'Connell, tell me what it's like in the locker room as far as how you receive messages, because I've always been kind of two minds about this. Like, I think that

it matters how you bond your group together and how you keep them all pulling the same rope. At the same time, you have a lot of guys who have been around the NFL and so forth. And sometimes I think your, your culture is only as good as your last win or loss inside those locker rooms. So like, what does he do in your mind that has created this vibe among the team to be able to go through what they've gone through? Yeah. First of all, it's because he was a player. I, and I, I can state that enough. When you play in the NFL, whether it's one game or 10 years, you understand the pressure and you understand how hard it truly is to show up to work and compete for a job and win football games in this league from the player's perspective. And when you can relate head coach to player on that type of level there's an instant respect that is built

there and you know i see it in my business as an agent right when i go and i speak to a scout or i speak to a gm and they know that i played and i bled in between those white lines for the shield there's just a respect factor that goes into that because like man you've been places that very few people have gone and you know what this means on a deeper emotional level and so I never had a head coach that was an NFL player but going in and putting myself in the position of if that guy stands up in front of the room I'm instantly buying and hanging on every single word because he understands the shoes that I'm in and when you can do that in front of the team and then also echo the exact same message in front of the world right that's when you can do that in front of the team and then also echo the exact same message in front of

the world right that's when you go that guy's got our back right and that was an issue with Zimmer at times that's an issue with leagues around coaches around the leagues of time like McDaniels before he got fired right like well I don't know this that like it has to be a continuous message like throughout and that's how you keep the respect to your team and so him knowing how to balance all of those things and knowing how to prepare and the message that he needs to send where he can get a beat on his team and how they're feeling and relate to back to how he felt at those type of moments when he was a player and know the exact right thing to say to get everyone like you said pulling the rope in the same direction or if someone strays how to go and bring them back into the fold the right way whether it's a heavy hand or a hug

around the shoulder like he can do all those things and if you haven't played in the NFL as a player before that's a really hard thing to do but as we know not all players are great coaches and he's proven that he can do the X's and O's piece of it as well. And that's why I think he should be in candidate for coach of the year this year. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think if they carry this on into the playoffs that he shoots up to that, the top of that list. D'Amico Ryan's is obviously going to have a great, great case for it. And hey, I mean, we almost never give it to the team with the best record. So like Nick Sirianni is going to be like, what?

We're 14 and three. And like, you're not, but I guess that happens all the time. And Hey, I mean, even like the 49ers, if they kind of battle through that rough stretch.

So there's other guys that are deserving. One thing that I think of with Kevin O'Connell though, is if you ever saw the clip, I don't know if you have of when he got cut on hard knocks. Do you ever see that? I haven't known. Oh man. It is the most awkward thing would not suggest regret watching it it's so uncomfortable and not because of him he walks into the room and the gm cuts him before he even sits down he and the gm follows with berating him about how they wasted a draft pick to get him and i was like

oh man did they trade a high pick for o'con? It was like a pick swap of like sevenths or something. And he was like, we traded a draft pick for you. And you just like, didn't deliver on what we thought he was like. So incredibly mean to Kevin O'Connell where you're just like, dude, what I'm sure he was trying like, wow. And I know it's a harsh business, but you don't have to like put it that way anyway so i've always wondered if that that treatment where the nfl can be ridiculously harsh and look it's football okay we're all tough here but so i'm not you know whatever he didn't make the team and they expected him to i get it but i always wonder if that stuck with him how harsh the nfl could be from a player perspective and say you know i don't want to be like that like because the guy I wrote about his relenting optimism and sometimes it's been a little bit like, Oh, come on, come on guy. Like, what are

we talking about here? We got to, but I don't think it's been, I think the key is, so I always wondered if that impacted him, uh, and thought, you know what, if I get a chance to coach people, I want to do it a different way, uh, in a way that would have worked for him. Right. Um, but I also think it's not delusional. You know, there's been only a couple of times where I've thought, uh, in a way that would have worked for him. Right. Um, but I also think it's not delusional, you know, there's been only a couple of times where I've thought, okay, let's not just say it was only the fumbles or whatever. Um, but I also felt like when things have gone wrong last year, maybe he was hesitant because he is so optimistic to move on from Ed Donatel, make a change. Uh, but I think that they adjusted and

adapted really well after the own three start and acknowledge how bad it was and acknowledge how far up the mountain they had to climb. And that was a part of it too. It can't just be like, I believe in us guys, but I got no answers. So best of luck next week. Like, I think that he's found a good balance between those two things. Yeah. and i think you're spot on with you when you get cut from the nfl which if you played in the nfl 90 of us have all gotten cut at one point in time like it's very vulnerable position to be in it's a very tough place to be and you remember those conversations as vivid if i close my eyes i can remember sitting in front of marty herney and ron rivera when they cut me in, right? It's something that sticks with you as a player forever because it's someone telling you you're not good

enough to do this, right? And how you can perceive that and how you can look at that is a couple different ways, but the way that it's like given to you is so important, right? Because that is then how you look at yourself at times because those are the last words you heard from your NFL team of like you were not good enough and you did this and you did that versus like hey man it's a tough business this guy we felt was better than you like there's a truth there's a truth measure to do like don't blow smoke like ah you were so close you're right there right like well don't do that but just be honest with me and if you can carry that over into hey i'm gonna be a head coach that cares about my players and be a player's coach like i think that term gets thrown around a little bit of like too loosely of like,

oh, he's just about his players as a players coach, right? Like, no, at the end of the day, you have to be a boss, right? And a boss can't be loved by everyone because you have to make the hard decisions. But a boss can be really well respected and he can be loved by his team because the team, like you said, he's not, he's optimistic, but he comes in with like, hey, man, we can do this. And here's how, right? Not just like, we can do this, and here's how. Not just like, you can do it. Figure it out.

You got this. When he has a plan with it and he goes through it, and then the team can go, yeah, okay, I can see your vision. I can see clearly what you want from us. Okay, now it's my turn to go execute it, and I'm going to do that for you. That's a big piece of what this team is doing for him, and you see it afterwards in the locker room. He's like, man, I told you this during the week. how many times do you hear that in his post-game speeches like i told you this throughout the week if we did these things and i told you if we did that we would be this it just goes to show that he's staying on message throughout the week and he's not pivoting where i've had coaches out on a friday that'd be like man great week of practice

man we're ready we're gonna go out and do this and then on monday you lose the game on sunday and on monday you come in he's like i knew after thursday're ready. We're going to go out and do this. And then on Monday, you lose the game on Sunday. And on Monday you come in, he's like, I knew after Thursday's practice, we weren't ready to go boys. And it's like, okay, like, don't, don't speak and don't say that. Right. And you can tell O'Connell doesn't do that. And that just goes to just keeping ahold of the team and his ability to adapt and pivot in game is something that I think has grown from last year. Right? You have a now mobile quarterback. And if I watch back this Saints defense and they started out, they started out the game with like, eh, we'll just rush. We'll be fine. We'll get to them. Right. But then as they

started figuring out, okay, Dobbs can run, he can run a lot. They pivoted to dropping a guy into a spy position or they pivot only rushing three. And O'Connell was able to then pivot how he called plays like on the run with a brand new quarterback and that just shows the preparation and the time that he puts in as a play caller and not just as a head coach I mean that dude has to sleep three hours a night like the amount of preparation that dude puts into every single game plan as well as holding his team together as a head coach is really incredible well it has been too long in the show since we talked about Josh Dobbs. So why don't we do it now? Uh, it more in detail, but it was quite a game for him. And each game, each drop back, each time I go back and watch the film, I'm learning new things

about this guy too, because I didn't know it was Josh Vick. Like I, I mean this and there, when he actually had the touchdown run, I tweeted like that's Lamar Jackson stuff because it was like, normally if a guy is in a position in the NFL, like, Hey, I'm ready to tackle you for a quarterback. It's going to be very hard to get to that edge and get into the end zone. I mean, I know Jaron Hall got hurt on it, so I don't mean to like bring that up, but Jaron Hall had a lane and then the lane closed very quickly and a guy hit him extremely hard. And with Josh Dobbs, like his, his velocity, like his acceleration, his agility is quickness. I mean, I guess, you know, look, I went back and watched some Arizona, but this is some special running ability that has added a new layer, which I think adds not only like fun, it's fun, right?

I mean, everybody was enjoying watching that, but sort of a layer of like, well, let's see where this can take us because it's not just that the guy threw some Hail Marys. I remember I took some flack in the comment section for saying that will Levis threw up four balloons for touchdowns. He did like they were four bombs that were just thrown into the atmosphere and fell in somebody's hands. That's not how Josh Dobbs is winning. He's winning with like his skill set. And the one thing that I really noticed in this game was he actually used the pocket

at times where he has like very good vision peripherally and would sense rush and step up into spots and then deliver a ball that's something i would not have guessed for a guy who's just been basically a journeyman backup quarterback yeah and you can i mean it's weird when i think about it i've actually feel like i've watched quite a bit of josh dobbs just throughout this career because i was like oh he's playing today right like when he was with the steelers and then when he was with the other team you're just like oh okay and then I remember I was watching against the Giants this year and you always kind of thought man this this dude's pretty all right right and then they end up losing or giving up a huge lead it's like oh it's his fault whatever but when you really go back and

study his tape his development of a scramble running quarterback to a movement quarterback that keeps his eyes downfield is the big thing that's helped him come to where he is today right a lot of times early in his career he would step up like you said in the pocket and just take off right but now you're seeing he's stepping up in the pocket he feels the rush back up and then he's escaping out the side of the pocket or then he's backing up his first move which so many quarterbacks that are movement guys are are usually trying to roll out behind outside the back of the pocket and you know you see hurts do it you see my homes the lamar jackson do it and sometimes it works other times we're getting crushed by the backside the

end right but he understands and i think because he took so many sacks in arizona he has figured out the way to move in the pocket the best but what i loved is the way koc got him on the edge with bootlegs right he got on the edge with bootlegs. He got on the edge with bootlegs a lot, giving him, as a guy that's really new to the system, new to the play call, it cuts the field in half for him of where he has to deliver the ball, and it gives him the option of using his legs if all things break down.

So for him to do those things and deliver a few absolute dots to Addison and dots to Hawkinson on the move on the run with something that's a new element to this offense that's going to make defenses really have to start paying attention and what they want to do against those type of plays now you make a great point about those I'm not sure what I know what they're called in Madden like the levels plays or whatever where you have an underneath an intermediate, and then a deep option on those rollouts. And there's a lot of times and like, look, Kirk is amazing on those rollouts, but there are a lot of times if that isn't like right there, right away on the deeper intermediate, he's taken the short. And that's probably the smart play where I was impressed

with Dobbs is that he got it to the second level of that play and it took a little bit of patience it took a little bit of like okay wait it's developing but I'm on the move and there's this confidence of like no one's chasing me down from behind because I'm fast enough so he's kind of rolling out and then finds I forget who it was maybe TJ Hawkinson across there and like those are those are more starter throws like. That's a play where he could be like superstar starter backup level for the three levels of, of the options there. But the, the fact that he's come in and done truly starter stuff to me adds a different level of intrigue about what is going on here.

So I think that now I was going to ask you for like a meter for like the blue yellow whatever on dobbs but i think i know where you're going to be so how about this how about a quick rapid fire talk me into you got to talk me into stuff okay so normally this is like the whole the whole episode but we're going to do rapid fire because i've got like a few of these all right okay. So one is to talk me into Josh Dobbs, not having a fall off the cliff at some point here down the stretch. Yeah. KOC continues to give Ty Chandler the football,

take some run game, give him a chance to get the pressure off of him and then not in the line, this defense, not having played from behind. No, I think that will be the true test of when he has to lead a mounting comeback in the fourth quarter or those things. But if we can do those things and say, hey, let's let Josh Dobbs operate

within this offense, let's continue to get him on the edge, let's continue to make him work, he's not going to have a fall off in the moment cliff. But if we let him throw a couple interceptions early because we start to get too cute in our schemes because we have too much confidence in him or, hey, we're trying to throw too much at him or defense are starting to adjust and he's having to adjust. That's when it can go off the rails.

But I think if we let him play within the scheme, keep Ty Chandler in the game, keep handing him the ball, I don't think Dobbs has a fallout. Folks, I hope you've enjoyed listening to us talk about prize picks this year. But if you've missed it, here's how it works. You go to prizepicks.com and it is simple. You pick either more or less between two and six player stat projections and that's it.

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One of the reasons I like PrizePix, it is very simple to use. You'd see how we do it on the show real quick and easy. And then we talk about our picks and also not expensive either. You can turn $10 into $250 by nailing just a couple of picks. So go to prize picks.com slash purple, the code purple daily fantasy sports made easy. Talk me into Mike McCartney, who is also Josh Dobbs, his agent and Kirk's agent. And let's be honest here. This man is a legend.

Talk me into a situation where Kweisi and Mike McCartney sit down at a table and they say, all right, let's talk about the quarterback. And Kweisi says, all right, let's talk Josh Dobbs. Let's talk Josh Dobbs' future. Talk me into it. He leads this team to a playoff, and especially if he leads this team to a playoff and especially if he leads this team to a playoff win you can't let him walk out the building you can't you cannot let him walk out the building and say we'll find better in the draft because you got to think if we lead to a playoff we're

not picking in the top 15 anymore right we go to the playoffs we're down the list a little bit and yes there's quarterbacks you can find down there but if you truly think dobbs can give yourself a chance to win yes you're gonna have to pay him some money because he's a free agent, but you're not going to have to pay him Kirk cousins money. And that's the difference, right? Kirk cousins is established in this league long enough. He's going to be more along the lines of a case Keenum type of deal when he went to the Broncos, right? Which I think was three for 36, right?

Which is still a big chunk of change. It's not a rookie deal, but if you can say, I have a quarterback that I have a lot of faith that I can build around, that can operate this offense with Justin Jefferson, can operate this offense with TJ Hawkinson, let's get him a weapon or let's get him another line, let's get something else for him in here. Let's just take one in the hand instead of two in the bush

and really believe that we can go forward with him. Talk me into the last week of the season is for the NFC North versus Detroit. Oh man. Uh, well, first of all, Detroit is pissed off because we've already beat them beforehand. Right? So they're upset. Um, oh man, that's going to be a tough one to talk you into. A lot of it's going to come down to, can this defense keep their historic run. It's not as much about Josh Dobbs. I think that if this defense can keep the historic run that they're on,

that's going to be where this conversation goes, and it's all going to come back to this defense has found a way to shut down Amon Ross St. Brown, Jameer Gibbs, Montgomery, Sam Laporta. That offense had no juice against the Vikings, and somehow Dobbs has found a way to continue to operate at a high level in efficiency. That's how we go win the NFC North. All right, last one.

Talk me into, even if they make the playoffs, you still draft a quarterback. We'll talk about Jalen Daniels later, but we've got a new man in the mix, folks. But talk me into, even if Dobbs reaches the playoffs even if they win a playoff game still draft quarterback anyway yeah you you take the Kansas City Patrick Mahomes model you say hey we got a guy in Alex Smith let's bring a guy in let's have him learn under you right you're on a three-year deal let's see if you if you're really the guy let's bring this guy in mentor him coach him teach him not put him in a position to fail of trying to make

him play before he's ready if we're picking late in the first, right. Or maybe even early in the second, if a guy's there, like let's bring in a guy that we think has the intangibles to be a starting quarterback in this league, but maybe still needs a little technical development. Still needs a little playbook development coming from these Mickey mouse college teams. Like let's bring him in, bring him into this quarterback room. You were one of these guys at one point. So you know how to help him. And I know it's not your job, but based off what I've heard and know about the guy, he would take it as, let me help you. Let me coach you because you never know where you might end up in this league and let's have you two work really well together.

And if you get injured, then you have a guy that can come in, but if not, you're still our guy. Okay. So just to take the record of what I've been talked into the last one. Absolutely. You, it's not hard because that would be my plan that look, I don't care where you're drafting, find a way to still take the franchise quarterback because look, I mean, Josh jobs, we're going to ride this roller coaster and everything else. But when people want to talk about the future, I'm not ready to say, oh yeah, well, you found your franchise quarterback here. Great pick swap, Casey franchise QB Superbowl. Let's go. And I also think, I mean, maybe you found also a Daniel Jones situation where the guy wins just enough and then you got to pay him and then you regret it because you didn't, you know, still draft a quarterback and

put yourself in a position for the future. So that's what you want to avoid. So I would still be talking about looking at that draft class. I am not convinced yet that they can play Detroit on the last week of the season. This Detroit team is really something. I think they can win in a lot of different ways. I've seen weeks where their defense is good. I've seen their defense be terrible and they have to score 38, 40 points to win. I think they're one of the best teams in the NFC. You got a lot more to prove in order to get to that point, which includes, hey, we could say the schedule is easy, but you got to win the games, right? And if you don't, then I'm not going to buy into it. If you don't go to Denver and win, if you don't take care of business,

yeah, you never know, right? So the one's going to be tougher than we thought i think just a couple of weeks ago and uh we'll get to kind of how you feel about that uh let's see talk you uh talk me into him being the quarterback next year which i don't think is a hard one because he has more physical and raw skill uh than i would have expected for a quarterback like this. And honestly, like with Keenum, I was all about don't sign Keenum to another contract unless you're drafting Lamar Jackson, which they could have done. But if you're not doing that, like, don't like go get Alex

Smith. I guess, you know, cousins ends up here, but it was clear that his physical skill was not going to sustain for a really long period of time and what was the other one uh what was uh was that all of them that you talked me into i think that was most of them i think that was most of them i think that was most of them i think that was most of them that was the important ones those were those were the important ones there yeah okay so so you did a good job i i thought there's some softballs in there is there anything before we move on that you want me to talk you into? Talk me into why this thing went off the rails if it did. Oh, if it goes off the rails?

Yeah, if it goes off the rails, then how do we handle it? Yeah. I mean, I think that it's very clear how it's going to go off the rails if it does. I don't expect it to. So not a prediction, but talk me into. First of all, he starts giving the ball to the other team because in Josh Jobs' past, which is not robust of a sample size to look at, but still fumbles, sometimes scrambles turn into fumbles,

maybe trying a little bit too hard. You know, you have it work for a couple weeks in a row, and then it's like, hey, maybe I need to push a little harder to make that great play. And, you know, when I went back and looked at that first throw, that was a little risky that got tipped. I did not think, but I didn't think that anyone really had a chance to pick it off, but I did think if you throw it into coverage too many times like that, it will get picked off. So he threw, I think five interceptions in his last four games in Arizona.

That's been there. So first you start turning the ball over the last couple of weeks. We talked about their bad turnover luck at the beginning of the season. Nobody look at it over the last five weeks because it's everything is gone in their favor. James Winston just throw in hail Marys on third and three as one does. I just want to know from the James Winston freaks like what? What are you seeing that it makes you think he was supposed to be good, uh, or that he was wronged in Tampa Bay.

So there's that also like, look, you know, Russell Wilson is playing better and you have Cincinnati and you have Detroit twice. And if you don't beat any of the decent quarterbacks, because your defense has been beating up on worse quarterbacks. If it turns into a pumpkin a little bit, especially without Jordan Hicks, you could end up still going like eight, nine or seven and 10 if it starts to really come apart. But that at this point though, it would really have to fall off the rails. But I think that's, I think that's pretty straightforward. It's kind of the defense runs out of gas. They've had to expend so much energy to get here. And then, you know,

Josh Dobbs starts turning the ball over the running game. Doesn't work. And then we're back where we started. Yeah. You talked me into it. Cause that's all. What are the odds? 70,

30 that it does that. It does that. It does not. Right. So 30% chance it goes off the rails, you know, and all the things you just said, but the running game is the one thing in there that you mentioned

that is really concerning. Because if we can't get the running game going, we saw flashes of it last year. I love Ty Chandler. I'm all aboard the Ty Chandler wagon. Madison, take a seat. I'm ready to see what you can do. If we can't continue to get that going in the right direction,

I fear we're going to ask josh jobs to do too much and he's not kirk cousins like he doesn't have what kirk cousins has had for so many years of like hey man we need you to throw up 57 times a day got it cool like we asked josh jobs to do that much we're putting him in a position to fail because that's not who he is well i'm glad you didn't ask me to talk you into trading Justin Jefferson after winning these games without him. Because there have been a few questions about that in my inbox. But why? Why would that be a thing?

Well, you know, I think what it is, is sometimes we focus so much on armchair GMing and like money ball and efficiency and everything that we lose sight of the fact that there is a salary cap that you can spend up to and you pay players who are very, very good. And, uh, I don't, and, and one of the things that there was,

I could always tell when someone like peaked in watching football, like, or, or when they were like 14, you know, when you're 14, you're right. This is my immaculate grid.

I, every player when i'm like 12 to 14 is from that era yeah because i've gotten a few of like well how many great receivers have won the super bowl i'm like um aj brown was in the super bowl last year cooper cup had an historic season jamar chase was on the other team i mean how far back do you want me to go? We got Julio Jones in 2016 helped Matt Ryan to an MVP season. These receivers are a pretty big deal. So we won't, we won't worry about that, but I am interested to see the extra layer of Justin Jefferson working into the offense now that Hawkinson and Addison have done so well. And this is where I wanted to go next.

This is not a talk me into into but i want you to talk about the offensive line and how it has come together with dalton reisner and it seems to me that we just don't see those reps anymore where you're like oh my god guy like coming through like but no one touched him where did that come from that is cleaned up massively in the last few weeks and against some pretty decent defensive lines last two weeks yeah i mean the saint steve line is nothing to nothing to joke about i mean they got deuce cam jordan's an all-pro player he's fantastic and i thought brian o'neill handled him really well except for the one sack he did i mean cam jordan's really good he got on his inside shoulder it's gonna happen right but for the most part they're playing together enough that they know

how to help each other really well. You're seeing Reisner and you're seeing Ed Ingram understand when they can pass to Bradbury because they have confidence in Bradbury's pass blocking this year because it's been so much better that they don't have to sit in there and sit on that nose guard for that half a second, which allows the DN to get that extra half second, a one-on-one rep at the tackle. So they'll be able to get out there and help those tackles against those werewolves making a lot of money out there to kill people.

So that's been a big piece in the pass protection is how well they help each other. And then in the run game, I like the scheme that we've gotten to of the more the downhill, downhill, downhill, get to the edge. That's over the last two weeks. I think KOC has understood

Derrissaw and Reisner are bits of brutes. So let's get them on double teams. Let's get them moving North and South. And then both O'Neill and Derrissaw are extremely good athletes. Let's pin and pull and get them to the edge. That's been the bread and butter of the run game over the last few weeks where, I mean, there was a few times in this game where Madison was actually really close to breaking some big runs if it was just one more guy hung on for just another half second on that defensive lineman there was a huge gap there or you know that tight end just reaches that guy just a little bit more right so the run game is getting closer and getting there and I think it's because we found more of an identity and KOC is pivoting again like we talked about earlier in the show he's pivoting to the strengths of his players.

He understands what he has on the both tackle positions and especially what he has on that left side with those two guys. Cause they're very good double teamers. Henry Bradbury and Dalton rising are very good in like the combo blocks. And then Darison rising are very good on their, their combo blocks as well. So seeing how those guys have started to work together. And like you said, the quick beats are gone.

The quick beats of throw your hands, DeForest Buckner's around you before you can blink, Kirk's getting picked up off the turf as he throws a 500 ball up to Jefferson. Like, you aren't seeing those plays on a consistent basis. Now, there was times where Josh Dobbs got smacked in this game. Like a few times where, yeah, there was a clean rusher, a guy smacked in this game like a few times where yeah there was a clean rusher a guy did get beat but it wasn't late he took some really good hits but

it's not the guy screaming into his face where the quarterback's first read is how do i avoid this rusher the first read is still let me get my eyes downfield and then if i take too long delivering the ball then i have to start worrying about who's getting beat, where that's going. But that's everyone in the NFL. That's every single team in the NFL. Yeah, I think that, I mean, of course it helps when you have a quarterback that does move off his spot. I think that the offensive linemen appreciate that. Well, sometimes depending on if they roll themselves right into the rush, then maybe not as much. but i was just pulling this up ed ingram and how much better he's played this year especially after a really terrible start and seemed to be inspired when they got dalton riser he is up to right now a 60.9 almost nice uh pass blocking grade now the thing is about

a 60.9 grade is that is dead on like average sort of mediocre. It is what it is. Kind of. He's just a guy. But him being just the guy as your weakest point is way better than him being the floodgates that fly open and let someone kill your quarterback, which was happening last year. This year, his lowest graded game is like a 47. Last year, he had graded game is like a 47 last year. He had like five games below 20. I mean, where he was just getting killed to the point where you couldn't

operate as an offense. If you, if you have guys getting beaten normally as mid pack run of the mill guards, this is pretty good. I used to make this argument about another swing tackle guard who played backup for the Vikings and it was you I used to say the same thing like hey this guy's not perfect but he could come in and hold on and that's if you have four guys who are good and one guy and Bradbury is taking this massive jump over the last couple years and one guy who's kind of like man all right well that's that's your Nick Easton like that's fine that's like you could survive that that's been of like, man, all right, well, that's your Nick Easton. Like, that's fine. That's like, you can survive that.

That's been a major part of why all of this can happen. And I think that can't be overlooked. That one, if you drafted a guy who's just a guy, but plays every single game in the second round, that's an okay pick for you. That's probably a good pick for you. And if you look at now the draft picks across this line it's taken years to get there but I think we're there like this is code red good offensive line now and we're really seeing it when a backup quarterback is not pressured instantly and has time to go through his progressions as Josh Dobbs has yeah and I mean you look at some of the backup quarterbacks that

have had to come in in the league I mean Ty taylor goes in there with a banged up offensive line and he gets hurt now you've got backup backup tommy devito in there whose head is swimming and doesn't know what color the like the turf is because he's just getting murdered and you're like you're not giving these guys any chance right i mean josh dobbs struggled in arizona because they're a pretty bad offensive line right and it just goes to show you that every quarterback in the nfl is talented enough to make something happen but it's the great ones right the great quarterbacks can make something out of nothing or when they got dudes in their face like watching russell last night like vintage russell at times where he's rolling going throws a dart to the back of the end zone like those are the great quarterbacks but when you have a backup journeyman quarterback and you can keep him clean and you

have weapons on the outside they're serviceable enough to get things done right and that's what Josh Jobs is showing us but none of that happens without Christian Derrissaw, Brian O'Neill, Ed Ingram, Dalton Reisner, and Garrett Bradbury like and even I'll throw Josh Oliver in the mix because he's basically an offensive lineman right so those guys have shouldered the burden of understanding. We have to be at our best at all times in order to give this guy behind us a chance to succeed and really just to give our offense a chance to move the football. And they're shouldering it as we are the best unit on the field. We are the best unit on this team.

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Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. I can't disagree. And I also can't help but point out the irony that the entire time Kirk cousins was here, they were not that good. And then he gets hurt when they are that good. and we don't get to see the full season of uh kirk cousins playing behind an elite offensive line and look if you bring back dalton reisner nobody's got to leave they traded away the one guy in ezra cleveland so this can stay together and this can go forward and also talks about you know or speaks to the rookie quarterback young guy like these are all young offensive linemen who could be together for quite some time.

And you try to put together like a Philadelphia type thing where it's year after year after year. And then, boy, a play caller can do a lot more when he's got four seconds to throw the football. It's just remarkable how much that changes. So that all, again, makes the argument, can this keep going down the stretch? If it's going to these next couple of games are so vital. Like you, yeah. Do I expect them to reel off eight wins in a row total? No, I think probably two out of these next three, maybe you have a clunker mixed in there. You come out of that bi-week Vegas and you've got down the stretch, then a very difficult schedule at the end of the season.

Denver, what is your feeling on facing Denver? Because this team is really emerging. They got a little bit of help from the bills, like a ton of help, a truckload of help from the bills. But that wasn't their only win. Wilson looks a lot more like the old russell wilson than he did looks like that team has kind of fought through it when they were miserable before this becomes something we looked at as a gimme game that is now quite another test for them to go on the road with uh josh jobs yeah this broncos team baffles me a bit because against Kansas city, right? Everyone

was like, Oh, my home's had the flu. The five turnovers were a fluke, but then they go and they do the same thing against Josh Allen. And so at what point do you say it's not as much about the other offenses and the flukes and the poor decisions, but maybe this defense has figured something out. Right. And that for me, it the Broncos' defense that has really kind of turned them around for me. They've always been pretty good, but them taking the ball away is what's given the offense a chance to go score. And at times last night, you were like,

there's vintage Russ, but then at times, there's the Russ we all know from last year. So you don't really know what you're getting from him, but the emergence of Courtless Sutton has had a great year. Jerry Judy, ever since he got called out by Steve Smith on the fieldgent courtless Sutton has had a great year Jerry Judy ever since he got called out by Steve Smith on the field seems to have figured it out a little bit um you know and then they've kind of had a running back by committee thing going on with Pierine and McLaughlin's the speedster like there's not really a guy on that offense where

you can point like there's the Justin Jefferson right there's the dude that's going to beat us but they're playing complimentary football on the offense they're running the football well you know they've got two pretty solid tackles and McGlinchey and Bowles as well and then they brought Ben Powers in in the offseason so they have on paper a very competent football team they've been the team that's gotten in their own way and in the last few weeks they've started to get out of their own way a little bit and operate within that Sean Payton scheme. And they have a ton of confidence. Like their confidence is through the roof.

Yes, they lost on it. They won because DeMar Hamlin was out on the field. Unfortunately, it's the 12th man and they lost a football game. But as you know, that's the nature of the NFL, right? That happens. The ball bounces your way or it doesn't. And finding a way to win week in and week out is extremely difficult to do. And they have a lot of confidence winning two games coming in here. This is two very confident football teams walking into this game.

And I also think that Denver is an extremely hard place to play. I mean, you've got, you know, the air and the atmosphere and everything else. And when they've been a good team, they take advantage of that and their defenses, even as they've been a good team, they take advantage of that. And their defenses, even as they've been a bad team, like usually their defenses have been pretty good. And I think that building plays a role in it as you know, there's something I've been thinking of lately with Kevin O'Connell and how this team turned around is when you have a really good coach, if you have a top seven, eight coach in the league, you're probably never going to be truly terrible. Unless it just goes off the rails and Bill Belichick is old now and doesn't know what he's doing anymore and whatever.

They have terrible quarterback play, but for the most part, these coaches are going to find a way. And we have seen that, I think from Sean Payton, where he is battled through and found a way. So this is a guy who is as good as anybody at scheming against your defense it's not the first drop eight or the first blitz that he's had to scheme for so that battle will be very very interesting uh do you think that they win the game i do i do think i i think that they win the football game based off of their confidence their ability and they are more talented on offense than the denver broncos the denver broncos have taken the football away but they have yet to take of their confidence, their ability, and they are more talented on offense than the Denver Broncos.

The Denver Broncos have taken the football away, but they have yet to take advantage of those turnovers and really kind of light up the scoreboard. I mean, you have as many turnovers as you do against the Bills last night. You should score more than 23 points. That's just the nature of the business. I think if we can take care of the football, we're talented enough that we should go out there and be able to outscore this team as long as the defense continues to play the way they have which I don't see any reason why they shouldn't like

they have proven me and us wrong time and time again of when's the letdown when's the letdown was locked down I see no signs of letting this down especially with bringing Anthony Barr back oh yeah that's right we did not get to talk about Anthony Barr that I forgot about that okay all right quick quick take that we got too caught up on. Talk me into quick take. Uh, he's been, you know, kind of a debated player over the years. I always wanted to defend Anthony Barr because I just believed Mike Zimmer's explanation of his intelligence, the green dot, the games that linebackers and quarterbacks play. He was the master of that. If there,'re to me it's really hard to find anybody better than this guy with his experience and what he's done in the league to replace Jordan Hicks

when it seems like you know he's just coming out of surgery it might be a few weeks if at all with Jordan Hicks considering the severity of his injury so welcome back Anthony Barr I'm excited to see Brian Flores with Anthony Barr because you talk about a guy physically this dude looks like a defensive end like and he played in college I played against Anthony Barr at UCLA when he was a defensive end but then he talks about the range and the speed and yeah he's a little bit older now but like the range that he used to have when he played linebacker was pretty incredible so now you're gonna blind Flores be like hey listen we're gonna line you up over the b-gap and you rush the guard and then on the next play you're gonna be over here in the slot

dropping over into cover two right like and he can do all that because of the experience and i am excited to see the key roles that he plays in this defense i also think it brings a little energy back to the city right you talk about like from 2017 what is cj ham harrison smith and daniel hunter right you bring back some of these guys that he's not going to ask to be in every down linebacker right i don't think that's why they brought him back but you bring it back in like imagine the first sack anthony bar has in u.s bank stadium right that place is going to absolutely explode right and so you bring back a little bit that to the fan base too on top of what a great player he can be in the schemes that he can be

like i thought he played pretty well in d last year. Like, I don't think he lost the whole step. And I think that he's just getting a little bit old, older here, but I think it's a great signing. Super excited to see him back in purple. There was another thing just with Anthony Barr, the way that he left, he kind of in his final press conference kind of let out a little bit of his frustration about i think being criticized for his contract and how he was used and so forth and i always kind of thought like man do you know how many people in the stands have these 55 jerseys and social media will do a weird thing to people sometimes and i think anthony barr was on twitter a lot and saw a

lot of stuff that was said about his contract and hey some quote you know quotes from his own coach that maybe could have been avoided probably uh you know and things like that and it's a little bit of a i don't know like it's a chance to have another shot at it to to go out as a viking in a different way for a guy who made four pro bowls and was a really really good player for a very long time. And I guess sometimes I think of like, I wish that these guys wouldn't look at Twitter at all and they could just, you know, it wouldn't get in their head and they could enjoy their millions of dollars and how pretty much everyone in this 60,000 people likes you. You know what I mean? But Twitter

has a way of making it feel like everybody hates you. That is a good segue into love to see it hate to see it I mean do you want to say it or do I want to say it uh Buffalo Bills hate to see it your thoughts yeah man that's tough to see when you see a team that it's like one week they've got it figured out and then the next week just total and utter implosion and I really don't understand the Ken Dorsey firing I really don't like Ken Dorsey's not really don't understand the Ken Dorsey firing. I really don't. Like, Ken Dorsey's not throwing the interceptions, right? Ken Dorsey's not fumbling the football. Overall, I feel like Ken Dorsey puts together pretty good game plans.

He spreads the ball around between Diggs and Davis and Kincaid's emerged. Right? James Cook is starting to get a little more confidence in the run game. I feel like they just kind of felt like, who has to fall on the sword here? It ain't going to be Josh Allen. It ain't going to be Sean McDermott. You, Ken Dorsey, you drew the short straw, so now you're out. Like, that's just, you fire an offensive coordinator mid-year,

you're basically turning it in. You're basically like, all right, well, we're not making the playoffs. This isn't going to work. Like, this is kind of a panic move by the Bills, I felt like, and it's not going to end well. You got Trayvon Diggs tweeting at his brother he's got to get out of there like this is where you start to see teams start to unravel a little bit and Sean McDermott's gonna have to really earn his paycheck over the

last half of this season here I think uh there's a moment that Sean McDermott's gonna regret for his entire rest of his life which is after the 13 second thing he took basically no responsibility at the podium everybody saw it everybody read about it everybody heard it and i don't think the trust factor with him has been the same since and it feels like every game where they're in the big stage they melt since then and you just wonder like i don't know you don't you know you didn't get a ring that was maybe the closest you're ever going to get and then every loss is armageddon for you every you know you lose to the jets and it's like should mcdermott get fired like it's a conversation and i trust me i've been at

the center of those in buffalo they're not like minnesota okay they are not like minnesota it is fire this guy now get Get him out of there. Yeah, I guarantee you he got pummeled on the local media circuit after that game, which he, of course, deserves. But it seems like he's lost them a little bit. And it's so funny, though, to look at the numbers and see them as the third best EPA per play offense and be like, get out of here. Offensive coordinator. Now that seems pretty silly to me, but kind of reminds me of a couple of situations that I saw in the past of what a coach freaking out is basically what we saw in 2016 and in 2018 for Mike Zimmer. So I have seen that before, but my love to see it is jayden daniels 350 passing 200 plus rushing

what i also saw a former uh scout who now does content stuff dan shanka had daniels as his qb2 what all right let's go let's let's turn on the fire let's uh let's get the hype train going and he's the most fun player in college football right now, which I think you wouldn't have predicted before the season with Caleb Williams playing. But I enjoyed the absolute heck out of that football game, and I am intrigued. He's undersized, but it's not undersized Bryce Young undersized.

It's like runs a 4-4 undersized and uh pretty pretty special i think what he's doing at lsu yeah i'm a big fan of him i'm a big fan of that whole lsu team you know i like the way that they play the game they got talent everywhere as to be expected but he is a linchpin of like he could be a game changer in the nfl but he has a lot of risk that comes with him and that's the scary thing when you're talking about drafting guys high like that of like the argument of ceiling versus floor his is very very large right it could be next Lamar Jackson running out this thing or you could be looking at him going oh boy we made a mistake this isn't gonna end well for us right and you just don't really know but that's what makes the draft so much fun and so unpredictable,

but he's definitely earned the right to be in the conversation with Pennix and Caleb Williams and Drake may, and those types of guys based off of his play this year. Hey, if I'm going down, this was my feeling on Anthony Richardson. If I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail with a dude who is an absolute psychopath athlete.

Like, Hey, look, would you, you know, like Anthony Richardson had the best combine ever. I'm going to fail with a dude who is an absolute psychopath athlete. Like, hey, look, would you, you know, like Anthony Richardson had the best combine ever. I'll take it. I'll take my chances. And if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. What is yours? Love to see it. It's kind of a weird thing. My love to see it is Bill O'Brien screaming, screaming at.

Oh, my gosh. Why am i blanking on his name mac jones mac jones after he threw that like little shovel bubble pass that should have been a touchdown and leaves it 12 yards short i mean and to see him on the sideline just back to i was just like i i don't i don't know what happened like and then you see like belichick's like rubbing his temples like it's it's not a love to see it on the fact like i love to see the patriots implode but i I don't know what happened. And then you see Belichick rubbing his temples. It's not a love to see it on the fact that I love to see the Patriots implode, but I just love to see when coaches are still getting after players like that at the next level because it's very rare you see a quarterback coach get after a quarterback in-game like that. And it was 100% warranted.

And Bill O'Brien's always kind of been a hard ass like that like and to see him be able to go and get after him it kind of was a love to see it for me of like all right there's still some there's still some fight in some of these offensive coordinators out there that'll push back well you know how I feel that that Tom Brady not overrated not overrated you know what what Bill Belichick failed to understand was that when you have Tom Brady, you can go get like Dante Stallworth or Jabbar Gaffney and just be like, all right, make something out of this. And then he would.

But when you do not have Tom Brady, you can't go get Devante Parker and Juju Smith Schuster and just be like, we're good. And the crazy thing about that team is they've been in a bunch of games that they should have won. This should be, and the East isn't as tough as we thought it was going to be. They should be right there, but they've just put, they have run out one of the most atrocious offenses in the league. And their quarterback has lost all confidence to the point where he doesn't even know where he's going with the football that is a total disaster and it's hilarious that you use that for your love to see it yes it is it's my love to see it just because i don't know maybe it's because i grew up hating tom brady and there's just something about like hating the

patriots that's like in my subconscious but i watched that and my wife was even i was like look look at that like i had the red zone on those four things. It was just flashes to just Bill O'Brien just berating back. I was like, ah, look at that. That's so funny. So, I don't know. Love to see it from you on that end. I got one more for you. The love to see it is the Big Ten just pointing fingers at everybody, right?

Like, Michigan gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and then they go, well, Ohio State put the cookies in there, right? And then everyone else is just like, it's your fault, your fault. Like, we're going to try out TRO against you, but you can't coach during the week, or you can coach during the week, but not on Saturdays. It's such a disaster, and it's so fun to just sit back and watch and just go, all right, what's going to come out today? Like, who's going to finger point today?

The whole Michigan thing in the Big Ten has just been pure comedy over the last six weeks. I want to shout out. I believe it was Jenny Taft on the sideline where the coach comes over after the game and he starts crying and swearing, right? Balling and swearing at the same time. Like, okay. And Jim Arbaugh, as far as I know, is alive still. So like that made it weird. Uh, but okay. I mean, wow. Emotional game, emotional game. But so she holds the mic up and even as he's F bombing, I love the bleep out of these guys, whatever she's leaves the mic right there. Like, let's just see how this plays out. And then like, I can't pull it away now. He's already

cussed four times. What difference does it make? Like the, you know, and then she goes, thank you, coach. And I'm like, that's amazing. She didn't even turn to the camera. Like, oh, sorry about the language. She's like, I don't know. Like you saw it. You saw it. Blake Corham.

What do you think? Like it was, it was super well done by her. Just low key, not moving the mic at all. And then just not even like trying to play it off. Like, oh, I guess he's emotional. He's like, thanks coach. Just perfect. Love to see it.

I'm with you though. As far as like after that game, if you were to just put that on for a random football, like a random person that's like a casual football watcher, right? Like doesn't follow college football and like, be like, oh my gosh, what happened to their head coach? Like you would literally think like he died on the way to the stadium right like he was walking in and fell and hit his head and died and these boys had to go out and play for their coach like the dude's still there six days a week like it by the way game days not that hard as a head coach like in college you just like especially

he's not even a coordinator he's just kind of running up in his cleats and a hype man. Like in college, he's just kind of a guy. And everyone else made it seem like he was dead six feet under and never coming back. Also, remember those cell phones that used to have the walkie-talkie built in? He's up in the stands with one of those anyway. You know he's wearing some big old sunglasses, fake mustache. He's just like, hand it off again. J.J. McCarthy's not that good out

hardball out yeah hey 27 runs in a row go we did that with neil anderson 80s out oh my gosh i mean yeah in today's age to think he doesn't have some way shape or form communication one of my buddies was like remember those aws commercials for the for the deaf kid that has like the thing and it's like it is helmet they're like harbaugh's got one of those somewhere on the sidelines just speaking to someone in complete code oh man i college football has absolutely blessed us this year so i've tried so good it's so close to being over too which makes me so sad. Well, what's not over is the NFL season.

Nowhere close. We have many more Tuesday morning left guards to go and I look forward to them. So great stuff from you as always, Jeremiah. And every Tuesday we will be here. So thanks everybody for watching and we will catch you next time. Football. Football.