Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Jeremiah Sirles thinks the Vikings let down Sam Darnold

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Matthew Coller and former Viking Jeremiah Sirles talk about what happened in Detroit and the challenge ahead for the Vikings against the Rams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and it is once again time for Tuesday Morning Left Guard with former Minnesota Vikings guard Jeremiah Squirrels, who, you know, you're down a couple pounds from how you played back in 2017. I think you might have had a better performance than some of the guards against the Detroit Lions. Well, really specifically one guard who gave up eight pressures over the left guard position. Haven't seen that quite some time. Jeremiah, I think the underappreciated story as we all focus so much on Sam Darnold's performance is that the Vikings

did not block it up one week after we were just going off last week about how good they were in pass protection what happened from the Packers game to the Lions game I I've been trying to figure the question that answer to that question since the game because I'm watching this Lions game I'm going dude Sam Darnold is getting thrown to the ground bench press to the ground taking big hits early and often in this game what the hell happened like what's it wasn't a scheme thing it was just getting beat thing I mean it was Dalton Reiser not passing off a TE with Brian O'Neill, which they've done many times before. It's Bray Brandle oversetting. And I really do believe that they wanted to target Cam Robinson and Blake Brandle of putting them on the man's side and blitzing

off the right. They did that multiple times in this game where they were sending Anzalone or they're sending Jack Campbell off of the right side of the Vikings offensive line which then makes Garrett Bradbury and Sam Darnold turn the protection that way and then they know they have the isolated one-on-one blocks on the left side with the left guard and the left tackle which they know no Daris all over there obviously Greg Robinson Cam Robinson's done a nice job right but Greg Randall has kind of sputtered down the stretch here and I think they looked at that as weak league hats off Aaron Glenn. You wouldn't attack the weekly. And nine pressures allowed from Cam Robinson,

a reminder of what life is like sometimes with normal people playing the left tackle position. But I think it's so hard to figure out what's going to happen on a week to week basis, because I think that the difference between playing at home against the Packers versus away at Ford Field with Aaron Glenn's defense, throwing something at them that they fully did not expect, which was blitzing 50% of the time in that game.

I don't think I've seen a Lions team do that against the Vikings. I also don't think I've seen a lion's team do that against the Vikings. I also don't think I've seen an Aaron Glenn defense, get that inventive against the Vikings in all the times that they've played against them. And he deserved credit. I saw a tweet that he was at the Pistons game last night and the crowd went crazy for him and everything. He deserves it. He was one of the big heroes of this game. And I think if you're getting pressured on 18 of your pass attempts and a couple more that go along with the sacks, it's going to be pretty difficult to have a consistent and good game. Darnold was clearly off from the very beginning. There were

some plays where he missed, where he was not pressured. The one down the middle of the TJ Hawkinson, where he overthrows him. That's one where he's not pressured and he just has to make that throw. And there's so many – O'Connell said it, but he's right. There's so many sort of different ball games if Sam just makes the throw. But if you can't block that up when a team is sending pressure like that on the road, it's going to be a major problem for them in the playoffs. That was the bigger concern, Matt, is where was our answers? I praised Kevin O'Connell and his Vikings offense last week for their ability to adapt

of, oh, they're taking Jefferson away. No problem. We'll figure it out as we go. After the first quarter, you all should have huddled up on the sideline and been like, boys, throw out everything we did all week. They're going cover zero. They're going cover one man. They're sending six.

They're sending seven. We have to adjust and adapt and receivers, you've got to win. I didn't see any of that. I didn't see any of this real-time adjustment. And that does go back to your statement of home versus away. A lot easier to make adjustments at home versus on the road everything's kind of going crazy the fans are everywhere you've got people behind you slamming boards and yelling things at you right it's it's hard but kevin o'connell can do it i've seen him

do it and i thought sam donald could do it i thought i'd see him do it but when i went back and watched that and i texted during the game i go is he missing guys or guys not open a lot of time guys just weren't open like there was guys I mean you're looking at times where they said that cover zero they sent seven guys and all of a sudden I'm looking going I don't see a clear answer for him to throw the football to here right was there times absolutely so that had been a touchdown to Justin Jefferson in the red zone when he just misses the deep ball in the corner? 100%. But the problem was I don't think Kevin O'Connell gave him great answers.

I think finally the Detroit Lions looked and goes, are we all watching the same tape that Sam Darnold holds his football for three seconds? Like, are we all seeing this? Why have no one really taken full advantage of let's just get to him? And Detroit was like, screw it, all out, sell the farm. We're getting to him, and it worked. Well, I guess my question is, what should have been the answer?

Because I think there's a team in Los Angeles that gets an all-22 copy of the film of the game and is going to see it. And look, it even goes back to the Arizona Cardinals game where they decided Jonathan Gannon, their coach, were going to blitz. They did it a little bit differently, but even some of those second-level type of blitzes

from the linebackers, that threw them off in terms of sorting out who was who and who was going to take who. And I think they also realized that this is one area where maybe Sam Darnold is not elite is adjusting protections and things like that though through this season he's been great under pressure but it's been a lot of athleticism great under pressure I'm gonna avoid the rush roll out then make a throw and things like that rather than Tom Brady style I'm gonna adjust all these protections and make all these changes, especially that atmosphere was Superdome level, US Bank Stadium level type of decibels in there.

And I think that that caused probably some of the issues as well. But what is the adjustment to make if the Los Angeles Rams do a lot of the same stuff? You know, what's one thing we call for on this show all the time matthew what is one play that you and i look each other going no i wish they did more screens just one or two screens like that's the best way to slow down a blitzing team you want a super aggressive blitz happy we're coming for it all, sending safety, sending seven. A quick halfback screen every now and then on like second down. Not when it's third and 18 and everyone knows it's coming, but a second and 10 halfback screen to the boundary.

Or hey, a quick tight end fake like you're blocking screen, get the safety to bite and turn around. And now you've got Brian O'Neill and Dalton Reisner out in front of you. And TJ Hawkinson's got the ball in his hands. I didn't see any of that. Those are the easiest answers of, hey, how do we slow down this team that's just their hair on fire? Hit them with a couple screen plays. Get them to think about it. Get that pass rusher when he thinks he got a beat, like, oh my gosh, did I beat him or is it a screen? And then you buy another half a second or even a full second. I saw none of that.

And then the other pieces, and I don't think this is fixable. We can't run the football. Like we just, we were inept at being able to run the football. Besides that long Cam Akers run, I mean, our average yards per carry had to be 2.5, 3.1, somewhere in there. It wasn't great. And so, you know, you're looking at the, like, they really did make us one-dimensional, right? Aaron Glenn said, we're going to make them one-dimensional. We're going to make them throw the football, and then we're going to come

after them. And we got pigeonholed into the corner, and we tried to fight our way out, but it felt like it was one step forward, two step back every single time that we would find ways to get answered to it. But I mean, that's my easy answer is sprinkling some screens and then you know you have to be more effective in generating push in the run game so they threw a total of six screens in the game for 29 yards not just throw them but be good at them is uh an answer as well and i do think that it was a factor that Aaron Jones was a little bit banged up still from the green Bay game. We knew he was going to play and he had a couple of good plays, but overall he runs 10 times for 45 yards, four and a half yards carry not too bad, but he

only could run 10 times in this game. And it was close for a lot of the game. So it's not like it was just throwing and throwing and throwing. I mean, maybe at the end in the fourth quarter, but there were opportunities to run, but him not having the full week off to get back to a hundred percent, but they're going to need better from him as they go to Los Angeles, then 10 runs for 45 yards. And yes, that one big run, but I thought that that was something that they could have tried to stick with a little bit more. Uh, not just the screen game,

the short passing game was not super effective, but it wasn't all, it wasn't crazy ineffective either. What was crazy and effective was the intermediate and deep passing. They went two for 12, trying to throw the ball farther than 10 yards. And if that's the case and they're sending zero blitzes all the time, you have to stick with something else. But I think that the Vikings are a little bit like a team that's going to stick with the three point shot over and over and over in basketball. And that's kind of every NBA team now. But if we go back, if we go back before every single team played the same basketball all the

time and teams were allowed to have identities in basketball, sorry, I don't mean, I don't mean old guy rant there for you, but they used to talk about live by the three, die by the three. Right. And I think that that's a real thing with this team where it's a little

bit still Darnold has been better at the underneath passing game, a lot better as the season has gone along, but it's still that they sort of are going to live and die on those inches of does it reach TJ Hawkinson's hands or does it go over his hands? that there's just so many plays where you could go, Kevin O'Connell had the guy open. He dialed him up open, and somebody wearing number 14's got to make that throw. And that happened a couple of times in the red zone. There is a slant route to Jordan Addison. He's just wide open in the end zone. Darnold's faced completely toward him, doesn't pull the trigger. And then Justin Jefferson did not step up in this

game the way that they needed him to he dropped two passes where he had dropped one since the last Lions game and dropped two passes in this game it seemed like everybody everybody was was shook in this game yeah I mean everyone looked rattled and when your superstars are rattled just like I talked about on this show, when your superstars rise to the level of superstardom and it drags everyone else with them, if you're watching your superstar rattled, you're going, am I rattled? If he's rattled, I'm rattled, right?

What's going on? And I think that played a big factor to it. And it's why you and I talked about the winner of this game being probably going to the Super Bowl because home field advantage in Detroit home field advantage at US Bank it's a huge difference maker I mean that place I've played that place when they weren't that good and it was nuts I can't imagine the atmosphere I mean you like you said I bet it was playoff the NFC championship level atmosphere if your superstars melt a little bit in those type of moments,

everyone else around them is going to crumble a little bit. But I do think, I mean, Jefferson, he knows he's got to make those catches, and they weren't going to be routine catches, but for him they are. For a $35 million receiver, they are, right? I mean, I watched Jamar Chase making those catches. I watched the greats make those, and he does. I mean, that one in the back of the end zone where he's coming across the back end line and he kind of just jumps up it's not like a jump behind like he would have just caught it and fell straight down and it would have been a touchdown that's a routine catch he's got to make I mean it's just

frustrating to watch that and also I think Addison got really bullied in this game at the line of scrimmage um you and I you you mentioned this you know he's got to play more through contact he's done a better job that this year but I really felt like Detroit their mindset was make the refs call it right like we're going to be as physical with Jordan Addison as we possibly can be and we're going to make the refs call us off the refs kind of didn't the refs let him be physical let him get on him and I think that really frustrated Addison because i did not see him getting the separation on those deep intermediate routes like we were talking about like i've seen this year and a lot of it was

because of the line of scrimmage he was getting a lot of hands put on yeah my friday show the last thing that we did as a topic before the game was what are you irrationally concerned about and the refs not calling stuff against justin je Jordan Addison was on my list of things. And I guess it was not irrational. That was rational because I mean, the refs called it a couple of times, but every single time those guys were at the line of scrimmage, they were getting grabbed and pulled and run into. And they're just not going to do it. The game's on Sunday night football. Nobody wants to see a flag parade. They just not going to do it the game's on sunday night football nobody wants to see a flag parade they're not going to do that but at the same time the vikings have to have

answers for that they usually do they usually have motions and adjustments and things that they could try to get people moving away from some of that stuff and the fact that they were not able to figure that out and execute those plays, I think kind of is everybody's fault. We're coming out of this game going, Oh, was that the old Sam? And when I watched it back and when I looked at the data and everything,

I'm like, there was a couple of bad Sam throws that were a hundred percent his fault, but there was also a lot of people involved that did not support the quarterback. And I'm not sure that a lot of quarterbacks in the league have a great game there. The way that receivers are dropping passes are not getting open. You're not protecting it. You're not giving answers in the run game. And when you get in the red zone and your quarterback has been attacked and shaken all day and you do not hand the football off and pounded into the end zone, well, that that's not, that's not a whole lot of people on the offensive side helping Sam Darnold. Yeah. I do not lay this blame at Sam

Darnold's feet. I really don't like, does he shoulder some? Absolutely. But I I'm with you. It's the, it was the accumulation of the whole, it It was if I don't care if that's Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, pick your quarterback. The way he was getting hit, it's going to rattle any quarterback because they weren't little hits. I mean, they were I'm rolling away, throwing in a D lineman is bench pressing me into the turf type of hits. And any time that happens, everything starts to speed up in your head. Your first read is no longer what's down the field. It's where the rush is coming from.

And now it's like, ow, that really hurts. Now my body hurts. I mean, he was just getting so physically beat up to a point that I'd never seen him get beat up like that this year. I don't remember a game that he's gotten hit that many times. And you have the data and the stats for me, but from a live perspective watching it, I can't remember a game this year where he's had that many hits on him, right? He's taken a lot of

sacks, right? But as far as like the accumulation of the hits throughout the game, that had to be up there with one of them. And like, yeah, you're right. If your receiver's dropping balls and your offensive line's not protecting, it's really hard to be like, oh, that's the old Sam Darnold. It's like, I don't really think anyone could have done, I mean, maybe a little bit better, but that's really hard to say that's his fault. Nine quarterback hits by the Detroit Lions.

And you are correct, sir. He has not faced nine quarterback hits. I think football is so, it's so delicate in the way that a game plays out, and this is why we love it so much, is because one thing has an effect on another thing, and then it goes down the domino effect and all that. And the early misses, I think, caused some of the twitchiness to everybody.

Like, oh, is Sam off today here? Like, what's going on? He just missed that open guy. He just missed, because on the first two drives, he misses wide open Hawkinson and can't, you know, get those drives going. And it allows, you know, Detroit to get up in the game. So automatically right from the beginning,

the thing that you didn't want to happen is Detroit getting up even seven, nothing. You didn't want that after is Detroit getting up even 7-0. You didn't want that after getting a stop to start the game. Because when they got the first stop and Grenard tracked down Jameer Gibbs, it's like, well, okay, all right. Now, this thing could get rolling here if the Vikings go score. And then that was a letdown right there when they weren't able to get going from there. And then I thought that Detroit just got confident and a little more momentum and it built on itself. If you're playing from ahead, maybe Detroit can't send all those blitzes.

Cause I'm looking at this, this is kind of wild. I mean, Jack Campbell rushed the passer 16 times and Alex Anzalone 11 times. I mean, that, that's, that's a lot from linebackers rushing that many times. Yeah. And that, that was my thing is that was not on tape. That was not something you prepared for during the week. I mean, you knew they were going to have a blitz of the day or flavor of the day, but you have to be able, especially in playoffs, you have to be able to adapt in real time because there's not,

there's not a time that you're going to be able to, Oh, we'll check it in the tape next week and come back. That is over, right? Oh, we'll get that cleaned up for next week. That no longer exists. You have to be able to adapt and react in real time, especially now you're going on the road. You want to go to the Super Bowl, you're going on the road, right? And so you have to be able to self-identify, self-scout what went wrong in the procedural stuff on the sideline this week that we couldn't get from upstairs to the coaches to the players onto the field right that's the chain of command of game

day adjustments someone sees it in the box okay here's what they did radio down to the coach he draws it up on the grease board shows it to the players players go got it and then they go out and they have to obviously execute it where was the missing link right and if you have to self-identify that this week going into the playoffs because it's going to be very similar atmospheres i mean maybe not so far because they don't care but i but i mean and you go to the eagles you go to tampa wherever else you have to go it's going to be a crazy atmosphere i will will say do not underestimate SoFi because I've never been there. So that's why I say I've never been there on Thursday night football.

There were a lot of Vikings fans who showed up for that game. They did start to get loud though. Once people got into their seats, which I understand, I understand. I'm not making fun of them. That traffic is brutal in LA. But I also look at when the Dodgers go to the World Series and how crazy that atmosphere is. I think when there's a big event type of thing like this in that town, they go crazy for their teams.

And it will be way different than the last time they went to School 5. Lots of Instagram opportunities. Yes, yes. So that's what it's going to be. There's a lot of Instagram and influencer opportunities for this game. It's Monday night, right? So all the stars will be out. So there'll be a lot of people like, hey, maybe I can go see LeBron James.

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It was like Fred Durst or something. Yeah, no, I mean, I, but I think they're going to have to solve the same problems. And I just looked, Jack Campbell had never rushed 16 times in a game all season long, but that's what teams do in these big games. They have tendency breakers, they have unscouted looks and it is your job to fix them as the coach and as the players. And they failed at that job on the offensive side. Now on the defensive side, I just think they did great. I mean, they give up 31 points overall, but there's a kind of whatever touchdown at the end of the game.

And another point, pivot point in the game is it's 17 to nine. There's still very much in it. There's a fourth and four. And I get a text from a big old lineman that says they need to go for this. They did not go for it. They missed the field goal and immediately Detroit scores. And that was another one of those. You got to match Dan Campbell with Dan Campbell a little bit in one of those games, especially if you're down because they're not going to give you more opportunities. And O'Connell's explanation was, well, you know, I like the way our defense was playing.

They had just come off the field on a seven minute drive against Detroit. Got to go for it. And you know what? Now you're in the playoffs as a underdog. You got to go for it. You're going to have to play maybe a little differently than you've played all year. Dan Campbell and KOC were playing a game of chicken all night long, and KOC blinked first.

That's what it was. I mean, it was we're on the goal line. Field goals aren't going to beat the Detroit Lions. We're going for it, right? Dan Campbell, hey, we're going for it, right? And it went all the way up until that pivotal point where they're on a collision course going 60 miles an hour in their cars, and Dan Campbell's

like I ain't moving I ain't moving and KOC blinked first and I mean that is who Dan Campbell is and unfortunately I mean I understand the the mindset of I like our defense we take three points here it's still one possession game but you have to assume right when you play the Detroit Lions I kind of think of it like when you're playing blackjack. The dealer always has a 10 underneath, right? If I give the Detroit Lions the ball within the 40s, they're going to score a touchdown, right? You kind of just have to assume that with them,

with the way that their offense is, which is why I did not love that call at all. Be the aggressor. That's also the kind of play that can flip the momentum of your team. Right. You go get that and then you get the drive going. Now everyone's back in it. Right.

And that's also the kind of where you miss that field goal and the air was sucked out of that team. Like from that moment on, not the effort. The effort was always there. But like the juice was gone. The oh my gosh, we're going to lose this game looks on the sideline. Guys kind of started to creep in. Right. Like I hated that decision from Kevin O'Connell.

I really did. And it just felt like a decision not to lose instead of a decision to go win the game. That's what I looked at. I was like, hey, if we make this, maybe we won't lose. We'll stay in it versus screw that. We're going to go win this game. And I hate that mentality out of Kevin O'Connell.

I also totally feel you when it comes to trust your kicker and that kind of thing. We're going to trust every player. We're going to believe in him. It's really not the time. It's just the way that Reichert is kicking. And to hear that the ball that he kicked off out of bounds was just a mishit.

That was concerning to me as well. How do you, it's on a t you should there's no one around you you're by yourself like there's no one within like 30 yards of you in fact they changed the rules a little risky just got a little risky got a little hooky there on the wrist like when i left so my we went over to a friend's house to watch the game my wife likes to go to bed at halftime. So we kicked the field goal. And I was like, all right, I'm going to run my wife home so she can go to bed. I'll come back.

I come back, and then the second half starts. And I was like, where'd those three points come from? And they're like, oh, get this. I was like, you've got to be – like, what? Like, those are unforced critical errors. I mean, obviously, we didn't lose by three points, but those are momentum shifters, big time. You score at the end of half. You're getting the ball to come out in the second half.

And all of a sudden, you let them go tack on three points. It's kind of one of those like, gosh, damn it. That three points we just got meant nothing, right? We're right back to it. That stuff cannot happen in the playoffs. And after something like that, too, don't trust him. I mean, you know me. I don't love kickers.

Never had any love for kickers really ever, right, don't trust him. I mean, you know me, I don't love kickers, never had any love for kickers really ever. Right. Don't trust him. And in a moment like that, you'd say, unless it's within 40 and you know, it's a chip shot field goal, like a 53 yarder, you would like to think is routine because you watch guys in the NFL do it all year long. It's not in that environment, high pressure situation. It's not. And so, yeah, you can't trust your kicker in the playoffs right now.

And unfortunately there's a lot of teams in the playoffs right now that I don't think can really trust their kickers. And maybe some of it with Reichard, whether he's still trying to push through or just when you miss four weeks. I mean, look, you know, you made a golf reference, but I go out the first time in spring having not swung a golf club and it's pretty rickety. I know that's not a comparison to a will record exactly, but it hasn't been the same sharpness from him. And when he's even not kicking it off correctly. Yeah. I think that there shouldn't be as much trust as there should be to get four yards in that situation and go try to play for the win. And that is the type of game in game decision that can decide a playoff game. Let's do this, though. Before we talk about Vikings and Rams, let's throw out some silver linings to the game.

There's not a ton when it's a 31 to nine game. But I think that the performance of people like Ivan Pace Jr., like Josh Metellus in this game, the corners I thought played pretty well through a majority of the game. Jonathan Grenard was rushing the passer. Andrew Van Ginkle, very, very close. Just squeeze the football and run the rest of the way. It's that easy. But that might have changed the game as well. I mean, the way that the defense performed made me think if you play Detroit again, it's just not automatically over against them because you still have a defense that can keep you in games. Yeah.

I mean, the silver lining is by far the defense. I mean, what they were able to do, especially in the first half to Detroit was great. I mean, creating turnovers against Jared Goff is incredibly hard to do right he takes very good care of the football they had the fumble with Jameer I mean they forced the ball out of Jameer Gibbs hands and it just unfortunately didn't bounce our way right so you're you're getting the football out of guys hands you're finding ways to have possible interceptions like that's all silver linings that's all in the right part and I think the biggest thing is Grenard is playing at an unbelievable level I mean his ability that to run down Jameer Gibbs

is maybe one of the hardest tasks to do in football that dude is so explosive against the edge and I mean if he doesn't if he runs out of that arm tackle Gibbs is at the sideline for like 30 right and so him playing at that high level, Ivan Pace coming back and continuing to get stronger each week he's back. I thought that Green Bay, he looked really good this week. I felt like he looked even stronger getting back into the swing of things, feeling ways there. I really do believe that the silver lining is the defense,

even though they jumped off sides like a bunch of morons in the fourth quarter there. But I understand it, right? Dan Campbell goes for fourth. You hear Turbo set and you're geared up, ready to go. But again, I do believe that Brian Flores will have this defense ready to go against Jared Goff. And then the other silver lining for me is I have a really hard time believing KOC is going to throw two clunkers out in a row, right? It's hard for me to sit here and think that KOC is on the level of the coach that's going to throw out two clunkers in a row, not have things fixed up, not be able to fix all the things we just talked about for the last 30 minutes of what went wrong. I think that, no, you get punched in the face a little bit,

like they did against Jacksonville. They came out the next week and looked really on point, right? So I do think that sometimes it sucks sucks and you never want to have to take lessons, hard lessons from big time losses like that. But sometimes it's everything you need to just button things up a little bit more, a little bit more attention to the details, a little bit more focused in this week. Obviously, everything's heightened already because it's playoffs. I really do think Kevin O'Connell is going to have this offense ready to go. And there's going to be a lot of angry, pissed off players that want to play better.

I think for me, it's a little bit of a, maybe a data type of approach to the silver lining, which is that can't happen again, right? There's how I don't think I've ever seen a team what miss a field goal go oh for four in the red zone just like the number of things a miss safety call yeah that was a very bizarre one i don't know they said number 80 something was in the area like the one blocking the dn the one blocking the dn over there oh yeah he's wide open i just the one that you hit taylor decker in the calf with yeah and a total loss

uh how that's not a safety i don't know if that changes the game so much but maybe i don't know uh i don't know how that doesn't get that call when you throw it directly straight down into your offensive lineman's legs like no there was a receiver in the area. Who? How? Did he have his hands out? Can you point it out to me? Yeah, that's a weird one. I do think the refs ended up being a factor in that game for sure,

but that's what you get when you're playing at your home stadium sometimes. I just think that the number of things that went wrong in combination at the same time, Darnold's overthrowing people. The offensive line isn't pass protecting, which has been a strength for them all season long. And then suddenly they struggle in this game because the other team had a game plan they didn't expect and et cetera, et cetera. Wide open receivers, Jefferson dropping passes, open receivers in the end zone, either not

being found or not, you know, getting the football thrown to them correctly. It's just stuff that hasn't happened all season long, really. And it's hard to see that happening again. If it does, of course, they will just be eliminated. But I was reminded, and this is a major throwback, but I was reminded of the 2003 playoffs when the Denver Broncos in the

regular season destroyed the Indianapolis Colts and then went to play the Colts in the playoffs and the Colts blew them out. So the previous results don't always predict future performance when it comes to playing a team again in the playoffs, if the Vikings do have to play Detroit. So give me a meter on this one. How tough of an opponent are the Los Angeles Rams? Orange. I mean, they're orange flirting with red, in my opinion. You know, you talk about you've only lost to two teams in the regular season the lions twice the rams once and what teams are similar the lions and the rams veteran

quarterbacks that know how to pick apart blitzes with a pretty good running back right kyron williams is a very talented running back one maybe one of the most underrated running backs in the NFL, if I'm being honest, right? And then you talk about receiving threats of Pukunukua, Cooper Cup, Tyler Higbee. I mean, this team is built similar to the Detroit Lions, right? I mean, they have every tool available to them. The only thing is I think that the offensive line is nowhere near as good as the Detroit Lions, right? And so I do worry mostly about the Stafford versus Flores effect because I think in a weird, sadistic way, Stafford loves games like this. Like he loves the chess match of, okay, Flores, what do you got for me today? How am I going to fight this, right? Those quarterbacks just love that type of challenge.

And you talk about a coach that is unbelievable, has a ring, quarterback, unbelievable, has a ring. I'm very nervous of if the offense cannot continue to come out of this funk that they were in and go, that we might be looking at a similar carbon copy of this if we can't get the things this week we got fixed because LA is extremely talented and we have to stop we have to get the one and four start out of our minds for who this LA team is they've only lost two games since like mid-October or something like that or like they are on a very hot streak here so I am very nervous I am very concerned I don't feel like oh we're gonna be just fine walking to LA like this is going to be an absolute dogfight. The front of the Los Angeles Rams, Jared Verse, Kobe Turner, Braden Fisk, Byron Young.

They got a lot of pressure, a lot of QB pressures this year. Jared Verse had almost as many as Jonathan Grenard. Turner, 54. Fisk, 51. Fisk, man, he killed that senior bowl. I remember that. They got a real steal with him. And Byron Young has also 44 pressures. That's a lot. I mean, that's a lot of guys who could cause havoc against an offensive line that is coming off of by far their worst game. So that matchup right there could be the determining factor. And I thought it was in the game against Los Angeles out on that Thursday night,

other than they ate up the defense with Puka Nakua. At least this time they could prep for Puka Nakua, because last time they didn't. And they were taken by surprise. We all were. We heard all week, he's probably not going to play, and he's barely practicing. He stretched out on Friday

and that was it. And then all of a sudden he's out there catching, you know, 47 passes or whatever. So this time they will have a little bit more to prepare for one of the best wide receivers in the league.

But this team has been hot and they found a way to win a lot of games. They have one of the premier coaches of the last, what, two decades in the NFL, Sean McVay. And going to play a great coach like that who's been to the Super Bowl before, has won the Super Bowl before, that's very concerning, I think, for this team. Now, what are your odds that the Vikings are able to win this game? And do you see a path for them?

Yeah. I mean, I do see a path for them because as much as it's going to be, you are as good as your last at bat. If you look at the product of a hole from the Minnesota Vikings this year, they're a top three team in the NFL. They've gone on the road. They've won this year,

right? It's not like going on the road has been super hard. It's like we defended home field and then we went 500 on the road right we're a good enough team to go on the road and beat anyone you know so i mean i probably give it 60 40 vikings right now you know if i'm saying hey 60 40 chance to win because you know playoffs things are different the records no one gives a crap anymore it's whatever it was on the road but you know i do think that the vikings on paper are probably the better football team here but you start going down of who has the edge at what it's pretty dang even right you say okay vikings o-line uh rams d-line probably slight edge rams d-line

okay vikings d-line rams o-line probably slight edge vikings e-line right Rams O-line, probably slight edge Vikings E-line. You could go and do the compare and contrast of every single position and it's going to ebb and flow a little bit to where this team looks very evenly matched on paper. It's really going to come down to whose superstars make the plays in the big time moments. Is it Jefferson and Hawkinson

stepping up and being our superstars or is it Cooper Cupp who's been awful down the stretch here, figures his life back out, and he's now going to step back up? You know, there's all kinds of different factors that are going to play into this football game. But at the end of the day, the teams that win playoff games are usually when the superstars step up and win games

because they are the best players in the NFL. So if the Vikings are to get past the Los Angeles Rams, there is a potential to go to Detroit, but there's also a potential for a couple of different things, including a home playoff game. If both of the road teams win, I think there's also a chance to go to Tampa Bay is another possibility there. So I think that when Dan Campbell says, we'll see you in two weeks to Kevin O'Connell, it's not necessarily the case. I have to say from my own personal perspective, because I did enjoy Detroit and the atmosphere and the stadium and all those things that kind of want to see it again. I kind of want to see them get a second swing at it. And,

you know, I think that we can't as great as Kevin O'Connell is, and they won't be trading him to anyone. I promise you all that. Uh, I want to see him step up and out coach somebody who's really good at this in the biggest moments out coach McVay out coach, Dan Campbell, put yourself up there with the guys that are the best of the league. Go pull off an upset. Don't just have this end as a, well, it was a, it was a great season and the regular season was really fun. And then it kind of petered out there at the end. Well, that's what happened last time. And we spent a lot of time on how this is different. It is last year there last time they got outscored to the regular season. This time they outscored their opponents by a hundred. I just don't want to look at one game

against Detroit where two weeks ago they're beating green Bay and then go, ah, well it's over. And I guess that was a cute little season. I think that the bar should still be when you go 14 and three, you should go into the playoffs and still expect to reach the Superbowl. So the bar should still be go to Los Angeles, beat an inferior team and go back to Detroit and put a classic in front of us instead of a clunker. Yeah, absolutely. And that's gotta be the mentality of that room of that organization of that building, right? It's yeah, we're going on the road, but we should be the number one seed, right?

Like we have to view ourselves as the number one seed. We are not the five seed. We're not the fifth best team in the NFC, right? We are probably the best team in the NFC, right? And we have to view ourselves like that. And that is the mentality. Cause if you go into the road as kind of like, Oh, we limped in, like you didn't limp't limp in. You came full steam ahead into the playoffs, and you came up that short of getting the number one seed. That's part of football. It's part of life, right? But we can't let the emotional hangover stay with us.

And that's maybe my biggest concern because I was on the end of the Minneapolis Miracle where we had a 100% emotional hangover going into the Eagles game, right? And all week long, everything was about how this game's going to matter so much, and it's so big, and it's so important, and it's the end-all be-all for making the Super Bowl. You have to be able to emotionally flush that and get yourself back up for it's a 1-0 season, or we're going to Cancun, boys, right? And I really hope that they're able to emotionally bounce back from this game

to have the great week of preparation that they need to have to go out and win. I mean, I guess the other silver lining is we made it out pretty injury-free, right, from that perspective. I mean, you could be the Packers and lose your number one receiver to a torn ACL and your corner rack's dinged up, right? Like, we didn't have anything crazy like that happen, right? So emotionally recheck, recalibrate and go back in because yeah, you, you sprinted into the playoffs rightfully. So don't let the stumble there at the finish line, derail the entire race. Love to see it. Hate to see it. Uh, I'll start with a love to see it just,

um, went through the old AFC bracket last night and how that could play out somebody great's playing somebody great and there might be a lot of great teams playing a lot of great somebodies in that we're gonna get jackson allen we're gonna get mahomes jackson or mahomes allen whatever happens in those playoffs is going to be absolutely epic. And then there's, there's a guy that I would say, do not sleep on here for something, putting his name with these guys. And that would be Justin Herbert because the way he's played this year has elevated him beyond where he's been before.

I think not from a fantasy percent perspective, but from a true quarterbacking perspective with Jim Harbaugh, as Alex Smith once did uh and I I just would not be super shocked if Justin Herbert goes out there against Kansas City eventually if if you know they get there and and shocks the world a little bit so I'm going to throw his name in there that AFC playoff, because I'll just be watching that and covering the Vikings. I just can't wait. Yeah. I mean, the AFC is going to be as fun as I can remember in recent history. I mean, obviously you have Houston who kind of dragged themselves into the playoffs there. But I mean, if you look at Justin Herbert quickly, 200 less pass attempts than what he's used to throwing.

I think he only has three interceptions on the year. He's using his legs a lot more. Unbelievable what they've been able to turn that culture around. And it speaks to Jim Harbaugh. But yeah, I'd love to see the matchups in the AFC this weekend. I'm also really curious to see, can lamar get over the playoff hump like that's kind of been the black mark on his thing right i know they went to the afc championship and all that but like he hasn't put together a great string of playoff performances

so that's gonna be another one that i'm gonna watch too super closely there but excited for the afc side uh quick hate to see it Gerard Mayo not making it to Black Monday and then Robert Kraft coming out shouldering the full blame of we screwed this up this is my decision and did you see Rob Gronkowski getting very emotionally upset on the set as that was happening and like Strahan was like let's go to commercial right it going to be a weird vibe because that whole crew up in new England, they're all very tight knit and close, but I mean, new England,

you kind of knew this was going to happen, right? Like, did you really think Gerard Mayo was going to come over here? I hope they hire Vrabel, but absolute disaster piece for Robert Kraft and the new England Patriots right now. When it's just instructive,

and the Vikings don't have to worry about this, but when you draft a quarterback, pair him with a coach who can be his guy and go forward together. When Sam Darnold was drafted, he was drafted to Todd Bowles, who, hey, is in the playoffs again. Maybe he was a good coach

and they shouldn't have fired him in New York. But anyway, that was a defensive coach and they didn't have a great season, obviously, since they were the third overall draft pick and then they fired him and then they tried to bring in somebody else and it never really stuck. The same thing has happened here. They try to do a culture guy. Oh,

we're going to have drawn Mayo call culture guys harder than Dan. Uh, Campbell makes it look, I think by the way. And one of the reasons that Dan Campbell's so good at it is that he's never endingly positive, which was not Gerard Mayo who would walk to the, and not Antonio Pierce who would walk to the podium each week and be like,

yeah, our team stinks and is soft. And I don't know what's going on here. And you're like, yeah, that's just not going to go over too good but having to fire or in chicago having to fire eberfluss is like now in year two we'll teach this kid how to play quarterback you just lost an entire year and i

give credit to drake may for fighting through that and playing pretty well uh showed more resilience than his counterpart in chic, but still just a mess of a decision in New England to pick a completely inexperienced coach to handle your most valuable merchandise in Drake May. I think May will survive it. Caleb Williams has certainly been set back by it. Yeah. I mean, and it's kind of the, it of the coaching carousel with the quarterback. When do you draft the quarterback or fire the coach? Or do you fire the coach and then draft the quarterback? And it's just kind of been a disaster because you're right.

You lose an entire year of your rookie scale contract. You now are trying to overpay free agents to come to your super crappy team. It's the combination of the whole piece there that's going to be really hard to overcome for a lot of these teams so i don't envy the gm of either one of those spots of what they're going to try and do i'll throw out another love to see it uh michael pennix looked really good and i know he's playing carolina and that's a really truly terrible defense he had seven big time throws in that game. Those don't come out of nowhere.

And those mean throwing into tight coverage. Those mean throwing into tight windows. And he threw one on a third and 20, I think, that was traveling 187 miles an hour. That was a Nolan Ryan fastball. And I think that Atlanta, they got made fun of so much when they drafted Michael Penix I think they're going to end up turning out pretty happy with him and they'll just have to deal with the salary cap implications I uh do hate to see it with criticism for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh now he mishandled the clock at the end of the game there against the Bengals, and that's just tough.

Coaches screw that up all the time with not just hitting the timeout, but they've squeezed more out of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields than I thought possible going into the season. The wheels are clearly starting to come off of Wilson, but they also have a number one receiver that I wouldn't put on my peewee team in George Pickens. I would stay a hundred thousand miles away from that person. And he goes and drops five passes or something in that game, completely lets them down. And then, you know, I see, well, you know, Tomlin's

just mid all the time. I don't think he's mid. I think that he's been saddled with Kenny Pickett and Justin Fields and Russell Wilson and Duck Hodges and whoever else in the recent years. Mason Rudolph. Right. And Mason Rudolph and is squeezed as much out of that towel as he possibly can. And it's not enough because their front office has not found a true answer at the quarterback position.

And we just saw some of the shortcomings. Also they've become the diva receiver from a capital, the Deontay Johnson, and now George Pickens. I would not allow him to play another game in that uniform. After what I've said, every time I see him, it's not running routes,

not blocking for anybody dropping passes and pointing at other people running his mouth. I just, that they they've had a lot of toxic stuff there yet. There's still going to be in the playoffs because their coach is good enough, especially on the defensive side to get them there, but it's just not going to be enough. Yeah. I agree. I mean,

George Pickens is everything why I don't represent wide receivers, right? I just, I, I, I can't handle that. I couldn't handle it when I played I sure as hell can't handle it if I'm their manager another love to see it for me and I know we're a Viking Central podcast here you got to appreciate the Detroit Lions number one seed for the first time ever as a football loving fan as a picture of loving the whole like you love when teams that have been the doormat of the nfl for as long as i've been alive and i can remember finally getting a chance to go do something right and so you know love to see it for that city for that fan base for that piece of it gotta love it a little bit there i'll

follow that up with you gotta hate to see the exit meeting of Tyreek Hill in Miami and Mike McDaniel's at the podium that this is trying to not pull every hair out of his head when you have a number one ride receiver that missed the playoffs for the first time in his career being like I'm just too competitive man I'm just too competitive to be here I'm out and then changing his profile picture to the antonio brown doing the piece like what a disaster in miami right now for what was looked at at one time as the greatest hire this offensive genius and pairing with tua and waddle and tyreek to the wheels are coming off implosions everything is very very bad down in miami right now which is uh why you have to respect that tomlin always

finds a way to make the playoffs despite some of that stuff but man there are i was thinking about this uh because there's been it's felt like an ongoing battle with uh the some of the vikings fan base to convince them the team is good all season long and you know they are 14 and 3 but those uh the the critics had their night the other night against Detroit, and I'm looking around on the last day of the season going, how many franchises would you rather be than the Minnesota Vikings? And you just can't come up with all that many. Certainly Baltimore, Buffalo, Kansas City,

the teams that have the all-time great quarterbacks. You always want to be them. Aside from that, though, the superstar wide receiver doesn't do stuff like that. Justin Jefferson, the coach keeps the team on track. You know, the culture that they've built, all those different things that I look around the league and all these things that are happening just are not happening here. So off we go into the playoffs do you have a prediction of how it is going to play out jeremiah i do i do think the vikings win this weekend i really do you know i think the vikings put it together they win this

weekend they go get another crack at it and then we'll see there i think from the afc side i think we're looking at a mahomes allen in k City, Arrowhead AFC championship caliber stuff again. The team I'm really concerned about overall is the Eagles. I think the Eagles, everyone's talking about the Vikings in Detroit and all that. And the Eagles are sitting over there going, we feel pretty good about our football team. And Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts is going to be back. And we're as healthy as we've been in a month and the whole bit there. That's a team that is primed and ready has players on there that have won a

Superbowl before. That's a team that is primed and ready to just kind of bulldoze their way to the Superbowl as well. And go through Minnesota, go through Detroit. Don't really care who's in their way type of mentality. They're a team that we got to, you can't just forget about them over there in Philly. Well, if you're a Vikings fan root for Washington and sorry,

sorry, put on your cheese hats, green Bay, been then hope that you get a home playoff game and that I won't have to do any more flying and booking flights and airport. And yeah, just the, you know, how it goes while you're on the road right now. So why don't you, before we exit, why don't you tell us what you're doing on the road right now?

Yeah. So I'm down here at the hula bowl. So this is pre-draft season for me, right? So I got the hula bowl this week. I'll be in Minnesota next week. And then I've got Shrine Bowl in Texas, Senior Bowl in Alabama. So I'm running and gunning, but I will always make time for Tuesday morning left guard,

especially as we are making a playoff push. I appreciate that so much for you, sir. And I believe this was the bowl game that Levi Drake Rodriguez made some of his noise from last year. So thank you so much. And win or lose next week, we will be breaking it all down once again. So thank you so much, sir.

And we'll talk to you soon. Absolutely. Football. Football.