Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy limited in practice again; Vikings-Eagles deep dive (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about another day of JJ McCarthy not fully practicing and a new name showing up on the injury report that is not ideal. Plus Eric Sidewater of Eagles Edge joins and then Manny Hill plays a game of Talk Me Into before picking the schedule. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by Fandul. Matthew Collar here. We've got yet another injury report leading up to Vikings and Eagles. A lot to discuss tonight at 6.50 here, about 35 minutes into the show if you're rewatching. Eric Sidewater, a great, great guest who breaks down X's and O's. He's watched a ton of Vikings film to look at how the teams are going to match up. He generally covers the Eagles, but great, great deep analysis there. And then later on tonight, Manny Hill, as always, picks the schedule.

But let's dive into the injury report right away, J.J. McCarthy, not a full participant in practice today. So that tells you there really isn't a decision for KOC to be made. I mean, earlier in the week, it sounded like Kevin, O'Connell was going to be able to watch J.J. McCarthy in practice, see if he could check off some boxes, and then if he could potentially play J.J. McCarthy on Sunday. But that would have required a 100% healthy ankle, at least for Thursday. This is a big practice day, as has been noted numerous times by Kevin O'Connell when J.J. McCarthy missed it due to the birth of his child. So we know if he's not practicing in full, On Thursday, he is certainly not going to play on Sunday. I think what the question will be that will be answered by O'Connell tomorrow is whether he will be active at all. And my guess would be probably not that Max Brosmer will be the backup quarterback. That's just a guess.

We will, again, find that out probably tomorrow. But if Brosmer's the backup, you are one slammed shoulder into the ground away from Max getting to play football in the NFL, which he's already done a little bit of in the Cincinnati game and then one play at the end of the half in London against Cleveland, but you are that close potentially if J.J. McCarthy can't be the backup with the status of his ankle. And then there's been a handful of folks who have brought up the idea, well, couldn't he start against the Chargers if Wentz doesn't play well against the Eagles? And I would say, no, I mean, not without a full week of.

practice this week. And next week, they'll practice one time before going out there to Los Angeles to play the L.A. Chargers, you're not going to be able to get ready. And it's always a truncated game plan as well when you're talking about that short week. And that's not an ideal time. Even if his ankle got to 100 percent, one practice shortened or tightened up game plan, really not a good idea to start J.J. McCarthy with the entire team on short rest. It looks like now that week nine against the Detroit Lions would be the first possible time that J.J. McCarthy would be able to start. So yesterday when he didn't have the full practice, it looked like, okay, I think we know where this is headed. And then today without the full practice, almost 100% guarantee that

it will be Carson Wentz. In fact, our friends, a fan duel are so sure that they have props up for Carson Wentz. And let me throw the Fandul question of the day at you before I get into the rest of the injury report, which is Carson Wentz is over under on Fandul, 231.5 yards against the Eagles. Jalen Hertz is at 203.5. So 231 to 203, which quarterback needs to hit their over more in order to win this game? So do the Vikings have to lean more on Carson Wentz going over 230? or do the Eagles need a bigger game from Jalen Hertz to win the game at just 203?

I would probably answer Jalen Hertz because it seems like the running game of the Eagles is not the same, and Hertz has not been the same quarterback as he was last year with the past protection issues, issues with getting on the same page as wide receivers. He would need, I think, a bigger day against the Vikings defense in order for them to get a win. But curious about your answers there. So back to the rest of the injury report, a little bit of a surprise name popping up on the report, which was Jonathan Grenard. He was not listed at all on Wednesday, full participant, and then on Thursday popped up with a limited participation due to a hamstring. So that is something to watch for this game.

Now, Grenard was still around. He was still in the locker room and didn't seem like, you know, I mean, he was, I don't know, just his usual Jonathan Grenard. So maybe it was just the smallest thing and taking it precautionary. He didn't miss practice. It was just a limitation. But we'll see about his status tomorrow, whether he is a full participant or if there is some sort of designation, if he's questionable. And I think that it goes without saying that they need Jonathan Granard really, really badly in the lineup. Andrew Van Ginkle was limited for the second day in a row. doesn't give you a ton of confidence that he's going to be good to come back and play in this

game, another one that's up in the air and could have an impact on Vikings and Eagles, but if they were to miss Grenard and Van Ginkle and it's Dallas Turner and some combination of Gabe Murphy and Bo Richter, that's not what you're looking for against some really good offensive tackles for the Philadelphia Eagles. You need Grenard putting pressure on Jalen Hertz. You need him at 100% to be able to do that. So that's something that I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on for tomorrow for sure. So that popping up on the injury report was kind of indicative of what kind of season it's

been. Like nothing necessarily happens other than one day of practice. And then your superstar franchise defensive player ends up on the injury report. But I think it also speaks to they need Van Ginkle back and they don't have depth there. And we were talking last night a little bit about, well, could they consider making any trades? Is there another player that would add to the mix that they could go out and look for? And I threw out there outside linebacker that a pass rusher, considering that Dallas Turner has taken on a great load so far that Jonathan Granard has to play basically every single play and Van Ginkle's been banged up, that if they win this game, if even if they're just a little above 500 going, if they go one and one, going into that mini buy week where the trade deadline will be coming up,

that might be something to look for. And I know that giving away draft capital is not something anybody wants to do right now when you are taking, just considering the quarterback situation, a little bit more of a longer view. But this is still a team that has the potential to win a good amount of games and be in the playoffs and all those things ahead of them. So if you weren't talking about a major deal. So think about even when they got Cam Rock,

We don't know what the comp pick is going to be for Cam Robinson. That depends, I think, on how much he plays. I can't remember the rules on that one. But they didn't trade that much for Cam Robinson. If he ends up playing for somebody else, then you're doing fine in the comp pick area. And you can get that back. So you have basically trade nothing. And you might be able to do that for an edge rusher.

If you were to trade for somebody that was pretty much guaranteed to get a contract with someone else the next year, you can get a comp pick back for that. not lose really anything except for you'll just have to get it back a year later. So that might be something to consider. This might be scaring them into considering that with Grinard, even missing half of practice today with limitations. Brian O'Neill also limited not seeming like that would mean a great chance to come back with no full practices for him.

So maybe just in school will be starting there. Wouldn't mind seeing Walter Rouse. We talked about that last night that really have. like the progress of Walter Rouse and the way that he's played in a couple of games, but just seems like they trust the veteran a little bit more if O'Neill is not good to go. But the good news on the injury report was that Donovan Jackson had a full practice, which would point much more toward the realistic possibility of Donovan Jackson coming back and they need him.

I mean, this is a game where you're facing some very serious defensive tackles and going into it with Joe Huber in there would not very much be ideal, as opposed to the first rounder who's had a very good start to his career. And then you can have Brandel at center. And when you think about that line, okay, it's not quite there yet. Maybe on Thursday you could get Brian O'Neill back. And suddenly it starts to look like the offensive line that the Minnesota Vikings put together. And it's possible it could get healthy and start, you know, being itself again. But Blake Brandel, I think, is very likely to be the center. So if it's Christian Derisaw, who Kevin O'Connell said yesterday is not going to be on a pitch

count anymore, Darisaw did sit for rest today, but they've told us that Darisaw is going to sit for rest pretty much once a week for the rest of the season. So if he's not on a pitch count and he's going to play the entire game and Jackson is back, Brandl's an improvement at center, and Will Fry's, then you really, because I think Brandel played like a starting level center, maybe not a superstar, but a starting level center, then it feels more like four out of five. It's not Ryan Kelly. Ryan Kelly was in his prime, a superstar was still playing really well, but you don't feel like the drop off is the same as it was from Kelly to Michael Juergens, who is still a developing young player. It's now a veteran who

is in there with a lot of experience closer, not quite there yet with the offensive line. So there's kind of your rundown of today's injury report on the other side. Jalen Carter was limited after being a full participant on Wednesday. It seems like that heel of his is not up to 100 percent and landed Dickerson limited both days. Those are two to watch as well because Dickerson is such a key player for them. And Jalen Carter is one of the best in the league, but he has not been the same from what I've seen looking back at these last two games. Well, he didn't play against the Giants. So I guess when was the last time he played?

Was it against the Broncos looking back? Let's see. Let me make sure I've got that right. Carter has just not been the same since he's been going through that injury. Just not the same level. Yeah, it was Denver. Denver the last time we saw him play. He had four pressures in that game, but had a 49 PFF grade.

And that's just not Jalen Carter from a week to week basis. He's usually one of the best players in the league. But that heel must be impacting. him to at least some extent and then him not fully participating could matter to Vikings and Eagles and maybe take a little pressure off of Brando playing center for the second time ever and Donovan Jackson potentially coming back here, but a very good sign for Jackson coming back. So let me get you that Fandual question of the day one more time. And then I got something else that I want to discuss after reading the comment section from

yesterday. The Fandual question of the day again, Carson Wentz, over or under is 231.5 on Fandul. Jalen Hertz is 203.5 for total yards, which one of those guys needs to hit the over more in order for their team to win, because I think that both teams are having a bit of the same discussion. The Eagles are looking to run against a run defense that has some weaknesses. The Vikings don't want to lean too much on the arm of Carson Wentz. They want to be able to run against the Eagles, get to the outside. Denver was able to do that even late in the game against them. Certainly Cam Scadabo was able to do that. So they've given up some ground game. I think the Vikings want to establish that early and lean on Jordan Mason here and maybe a bit

of Xavier Scott as well and get going there and then run everything off of that. But at the same time, the Vikings have played from behind too much this year might need the big arm of Carson Wentz. So which quarterback is going to need that more is the question. I get to your answers in a sec, but I wanted to talk about something that I noticed yesterday based on some of my comments about Carson Wentz, J.J. McCarthy, that kind of lit up the comment section after last night's show. So one of the things I said was there were a handful of commenters last night who declared that they were out on this team until J.J. McCarthy started. And that kind of blew my mind a little bit because, I mean, I tend to think of Vikings fans is impossible to kill.

I mean, just no matter how many flesh wounds, Vikings fans have taken over the years. They keep coming back, no matter what. And I don't think there's any such thing as a bandwagoning Minnesota Viking fan. Not that people haven't hopped on for different star players through the years, whether it was Randy Moss or Adrian Peterson. I hear from people sometimes who are like, yeah, I'm from New Jersey or Seattle, but I loved Moss. So I decided to be a Viking fan or going way back, Tarkington or whatever, whatever, right? So you jump on at some point, I'm sure.

But usually you have plenty of opportunities to jump off, whether it's Favre or it's Gary Anderson or it's Keenum's meltdown against the Eagles or, you know, many, many, many opportunities to say, app, this team's cursed, see ya, jumping off that bandwagon. I'm going to go cheer for the chiefs. And Vikings fans don't do that. The very, very loyal bunch every single year. You guys get jacked up for the season. You get your hopes very high. And many, many times the way that it ends is not the way that you would have drawn it up, right?

So I feel like it's in the DNA of Vikings fans to keep fighting the fight. week after week and year after year, regardless. But I do observe that in recent years, there has been a little bit more, I think, in terms of desperation, not, I mean, look, getting to a Super Bowl is so hard, but to have stability at the quarterback position and going through that Kirk era where he was the promised veteran quarterback who could manage the game and all they had to do is have him play a little bit better than Case Keenham and they could win the Super Bowl. And then it got put all on Kirk Cousins where he had to pick up a failing defense through

the years. That didn't really work. They couldn't really rebuild around him. Believe it or not, the previous regime didn't draft all that well on defense either. It wasn't just the 2022 draft. It was a lot, a lot, a lot of misses in the years before that. And so then you get to a point where everybody kind of looks around and goes, there's only one way out of this. And that way out is by drafting a quarterback and finding that franchise guy who is in Buffalo, who is in Baltimore, who is in maybe Houston

or a number of other cities that we're going to see in Los Angeles, the Justin Herbert, that franchise type quarterback where you can have many, many shots at winning a Super Bowl. You know, I think about, you hear me talk all the time about Jared Gough and how good I think Jared Gough is. And I'll watch analysis that praises a lot of different QBs and I barely ever see Jared Gough, but man, in Detroit, they love Jared Gough. They know that he is a great quarterback who year after year is going to give them a chance to go compete for a Super Bowl. And you can nitpick this, that, or the other thing about his game or Herbert or Lamar in the playoffs.

or Stroud, who hasn't been perfect the last couple of years. But what those franchises know is that you start with a certain baseline of quarterback talent that you can build around. And that's what you've been looking for. And if you're the giants and you draft Eli Manning and you get 10 shots at it over a career, maybe it clicks. Or if you draft a Phil Rivers, it didn't quite ever click for him to win the Super Bowl. But man, they were good, you know, year after year.

every season their fans thought, well, as long as we've got rivers, if we do the rest of the things right, then you've got a chance to really legitimately compete for a Super Bowl. Drew Brees eventually made it happen. And that's what Vikings fans have been lacking. It's chaos at the quarterback position. It's instability. And it's never feeling settled there to the point where we can talk about, hey, how are they going to rebuild the left guard?

I know since we discuss everything, we get there. But the roster, the coaching, the coaching decisions, everything else that gets put under a microscope and it doesn't always have to be what's next at quarterback. I don't think there's ever been a time where I've covered this team that what's next at quarterback hasn't been at the center of the discussion. I got here the day that Teddy Bridgewater got hurt and then it was trading for Sam Bradford. Then Bradford looks great in camping in week one and he goes down and then it's Keenham. And then Keenham had his fans that wanted him to be their quarterback long term.

They go with Kirk. But every year it seemed like it was really 2018 to 19 was the only time where it was totally locked in. Hey, Kirk is your quarterback next year. You're set. And then the rest of the time it was, well, is Kirk going to sign an extension from 2019 to 2020? That wasn't a sure thing whether he was going to sign an extension. And some folks may have, advocated for drafting Jalen Hertz to the Vikings, but instead he's an eagle, but they signed an extension with him. But then after 2021, it was unclear whether the Vikings were going to trade him when Kevin O'Connell got here and draft somebody else. It just happened to be a very bad draft, but I think they would have done it if it was a good draft. The following season,

there were reports that they wanted to draft Richardson or Bryce Young, but they couldn't trade up high enough because they won too many games in 2022. They don't sign Kirk to an extension. He's asking for too much money. And then, you know, off we go into 2023. He gets injured. We all know the 24 draft class is great. And here we are. Right. So the minute that McCarthy is drafted, I remember myself sitting in this seat during that draft and saying, clean slate for J.J. McCarthy, like forget everything from before. off we go into the future. This is the guy that they've been looking for.

This was what they built the timeline around. This is the person that they have set up the entire franchise to support from the coach to drafting Jordan Addison to trading for T.J. Hawkinson. It's all based on this quarterback who was eventually going to, to get here. And at some point, Quasi Adolfo Mensa said, we really had this in mind for a while. Like we knew 2024 was going to be a special draft class. We had our eyes on it for a long time. He kind of let the cat out of the bag there that the plan was never to stick with Kirk Cousins past the 2003 season. So for all of you who have been following in this show, and we've tracked every

single step along the way and followed, you know, my work going back to even 1,500 ESPN. I think there is not just a year of buildup. There is a many years of build up to this situation. So I can understand and greatly empathize with finally having it arrive, then being told, no, you've got to wait another year for it. You see, Sam Darnold play the way that he did. I think a lot of folks did not appreciate how fun that season was last year because they were thinking, don't play too good Sam Darno, we need J.J. McCarthy to be here next year.

And it's one of those, maybe you don't know what you got till it's gone type of situations with not just Sam Darno, but that season. That's where it's, hey, that's Seattle game, that Falcons game. Like, don't worry about the future. Like, enjoy that game while it's happening. and one of the reasons that we talk like that is because you never know what the future is going to hold. So you get here and there is a lot of signal in the decision where if you turn down Darnold, you turn down Aaron Rogers, you don't do enough to sign Daniel Jones.

What that tells us is, wow, this team really believes in J.J. McCarthy. And I've gotten a few times, oh, you sold us on how good most. McCarthy was in camp. I can only tell you what I saw. And what I saw was he looked pretty darn good in camp after a rocky beginning to training camp. I don't believe that I could, I've ever said I could guarantee what's going to happen once the real game start.

But he clearly looked good enough in training camp and in mini camp and all those things to not get any sort of competition for him in the off season and only at the very end bring in Carson Wentz, who was again not competitive. with him to start in any way, but was barely learning the offense when he was asked to come in and play against the Cincinnati Bengals. So then you get the first game. And that is one of the most fun weeks that we have had here after that Chicago win. And yeah, he looked pretty bad in the first quarter to, you know, into the third quarter. But the comeback, the locker room in Chicago, it was all very special. And I remember having the thought of like, this actually happened.

Like this thing that I've been talking about forever, it actually happened. They won a game with the rookie quarterback contract who they picked in the top 10. And, you know, look at all the patience paid off for all of you to watch J.J. McCarthy play that way. And then as so often happens to Vikings fans, the football was pulled out from Charlie Brown. And not only does he have a really tough game, which I don't. think that any of us should put too much weight on overall and the bigger analysis of J.J. McCarthy have said that many times. Just because it didn't go well, doesn't mean his career's over or he'll never be good again. But it was enough to certainly scare the head

coach about the way that he had handled it technically. But, you know, this happens with quarterbacks. They have bad games. I can name a thousand of them from guys who became really good ultimately in their career who had bad second games, including Dante Colpepper, by the way. I think he threw three picks in his second game. Matt Ryan had a terrible second. I started looking these up like, hey, how did everybody play in their first three games? Not everyone played awesome. So you have that happen, the ankle injury, and now, okay, all right, he's hurt, but he'll be back after the bye week. And he's not. And he's not even fully practicing. And, And so, I mean, that's, that is Charlie Brown in the football.

That is wind out of the sales. That's very deflating. And I've definitely sensed that with the Vikings fans, how deflating it is. I'm sure for the organization, it's very deflating after leaving Chicago on such a high and feeling like, wow, this team is going to be able to overcome some stuff and battle. And McCarthy is never going to be too shaken by the atmosphere and all those things. And, you know, he showed off the arm talent, the mobility, running for a touchdown. all those things, and how quick this league can change.

And I know that that is extremely disappointing because now you don't even know when he's going to play, when he's going to be back, and when this team is going to be back on track. So my point is, I get all of it. I get all of it. I have these conversations with you guys. I love them every night, having discussions with Vikings fans. It's a different perspective from mine. So I really like that.

but I also think that it's a very long season and the NFL is incredibly unpredictable. And I think that sometimes we could get too caught up in like we think we know what's going to happen into the future. And some folks left messages of like, well, here's why they're screwed if he doesn't play right away. And here's why you can't be patient and this and this and this and this and this. And to me, it's like, well, look, if we really did have the crystal ball and we could look forward and say,

well, you know, if they don't win in 2025, I mean, there are never, the team's going to fall apart and they're never going to make it. I don't think that that's the case. I think they have a lot of foundational players and they have a baseline level of coaching and they have a franchise that repeatedly has shown that free agent players want to be here. they have a ownership that will spend to adjust the cap in any way that they need to adjust the cap. The NFL has proven that it would sell games to Purple Insider if I paid them enough money. So they are, they would put it on, you know, anywhere for more money.

So that salary cap is going to continue to go up. There are some ascending younger players on this team, including the left guard, Donovan Jackson. So I don't look at it like, hey, if. J.J. McCarthy doesn't come back this week, that this franchise is dust and they're never going to get there and you should just burn your jersey. Like, that seems to me to be like a major overreaction. The way that I think you should look at it is probably that Carson Wentz gives them a chance to win games and keep the season alive. And then we all see what happens. I don't think any of us can actually look any more than two games down the road here for what's going to happen

next with this team. And we don't know whether they'll win or lose against Philly or against the Los Angeles Chargers, but what we can say is Carson Wentz is going to be starting those games until J.J. McCarthy is healthy. After that, we really have no idea. And let me tell you how crazy the National Football League is. Just when it comes to trying to be predictable, the Carolina Panthers, who are a 500 team and look like they're kind of on the rise right now, I don't know, maybe they'll lose to the Jets and that won't be the case. They were receiving phone calls and probably seriously considering trading Bryce Young last year because it had gone so badly.

And they decide not to do it. And I'm not saying they're going to win the Super Bowl, but they look like a competitive NFL team with a quarterback who's making some plays and getting some game winning drives. And at very least, is exciting for Carolina Panthers fans. after their podcasters quit, if you saw that story after they lost to New England, one of their podcasts just shut down. I could promise that won't happen after any loss with the Vikings to Purple Insider.

But the point just being that they were, they were probably close. I mean, they're taking phone calls that was reported by ESPN that they were taking phone calls on Bryce Young and decided not to do it. How about this? The Philadelphia Eagles, who are coming off a Super Bowl championship with Jailen They were calling about Russell Wilson when he was with the Seattle Seahawks. This is how little anybody knows about quarterback play is that the brilliant, genius, wonderful, incredible, magical Howie Rosemann and the Philadelphia Eagles, who have a great front office, no doubt about it. They were reportedly trying to trade for Russell Wilson when Denver did it.

and they had Jalen Hertz already in the building. They won the Super Bowl with Jailen Hertz. The San Francisco 49ers were attempting to convince Tom Brady to come play rather than Brock Purdy. Brady said, no, I'm going to go play flag football and wherever and be a broadcaster and own a team and be an investor in a WNBA team and keep busy that way. That's what he decided to do.

And Brock Purdy took them to the store. Super Bowl. And we think we know. How about Brock Purdy's first year? He was this close to taking them to the Super Bowl. He was on the bench. He was Max Brosmer. And Jimmy Garapolo gets hurt after Trey Lance was either bad or got hurt. I forget which one. It was probably both. And then he goes five and oh and goes in the playoffs and wins. And if he doesn't hurt his arm, he probably beats Philly and probably goes to the Super Bowl and they might have won because Kansas City was flawed. I mean, we have no idea where this thing's going to go. So my point is, if you are a Vikings fan and you have come this far and you've gone all through

this stuff that they've had happened to them year after year after year after year, I just don't really believe that you're going to be like, no, I'm not watching Carson Wentz. For all we know, Carson Wentz could be the guy. Who knows, right? or J.J. McCarthy could be back very soon, and it could be exactly what you wanted. But I just, that is just to clarify the whole thing, because I just don't, I just don't believe it. I just don't believe that you're going to stop watching or that you're really bailing on this team until J.J. McCarthy comes back. I also think none of us really know where this thing's going to go.

All I know is that they have a very good football team and that the NFC is open and that J.J. McCarthy's career is not over if he needs to develop. more. That's what I know. Do I know how it's going to go past two weeks? Absolutely not. So, you know, that's, that's the whole thing. And that's more than I had planned on saying, actually, because in a couple of minutes, I want to get to my interview for tonight. But that's, that's the whole story that was on my mind a lot yesterday after reading the comments there. So, Justin says, is it me or do some fans carry their? anger or disappointment of past seasons into the presence. Why do that? The point of sports is a fun distraction to indulge yourself in a sports fix, deep breaths.

I think that many fan bases probably do this, but I don't know if any do it more than the Vikings carrying not just last year's disappointment in the playoffs. It's this entire fun bag of disappointment that they carry on their backs, going into every single season. And when the first loss happens, it's like, oh, not winning the Super Bowl again this year. And that, that is, has been a bit of a drag through the years, I think, for me, because I think, gosh, like, die hard is that, like is that, or is it, like you said, every single thing that comes up is like, why, why me, that sort of thing. And I get it.

It's part of the identity of Vikings fandom. I wrote about this when I interviewed the writer of the How I Met Your Mother episode where the guy is in a Vikings bar, you know, talking about the Gary Anderson kick and all that. I don't know if you guys have ever seen that. But, you know, that writer is a lifelong Vikings fan, no surprise. And he was talking about it in the same way that a lot of you talk about. I'm not saying lose your identity.

Like you can wear that. I mean, you guys know I grew up in Buffalo. They wear it too. And there's a pride about continuing to come back year after year and believe in your team, even though you've been let down many times. So I assume that that's really there. And these are frustration comments that are being taken out at times on old podcast or me. But I think that it's probably frustration of this is what you were promised, a present under the tree.

And so far it's been a lump of coal. But you got to peek at it, and it's actually great underneath there against Chicago. But it's just been a lump of coal so far for now a year and how many ever weeks. That disappointment is not lost on me. So I didn't mean to downplay that disappointment. My thought is just there's so far to go. The kid is 22 years old. And I look at it as where were so many other quarterbacks at 22 years old who succeeded?

that not too many, we can say were amazing. A lot of them were hitting bumps in the road. A lot of them were on the bench watching. And we can go through all the examples again, but I think we know them, but by heart by now, all the quarterbacks who have done that. So the one other thing that was talked about a lot was just that about, you know, McCarthy developing on the bench

and does he have to play? My big thing here is, A, you can absolutely, develop on the bench. But B is if you go out there and it's too soon, that can have very serious ramifications. And I've got a bunch of examples for that as well. How about Sam Darnold? Do you think he should have played with the 2018 New York Jets? Remember seeing him against the Vikings?

How bad that team was? How bad that offensive coordinator was? how bad those weapons were. And so Sam Darnold's out there. He's trying to face, this is what's so unfair to Sam Darnold. He's trying to face Belichick's defense, peak Belichick.

And he's struggling. And he says he's seeing ghosts, which never should have made it to TV, by the way. And that sticks with him for the rest of his damn career. He gets made fun of nonstop every time he has a bad game, seeing goes, seeing ghosts. And it's like, you think this kid should actually be playing right now? And don't you think that Josh,

McCown should have played the whole season. Don't you think that somebody else, probably a veteran quarterback, but no, no, no, no, no. If you draft him, you got to play him right away. Just and just get your coach fired. And then he gets a, the coach gets fired and the cycle goes over and over and over again. And he shows up with the Vikings and the Seahawks. Many years later is a good quarterback.

Do you think the KOC wants that? Do you think that you want that? Probably not. So, and I've made many comparisons to different sports. but how about how about this if you are a golfer and you're practicing on the range and you can't get it and you're driving it way off to the side you're hitting the cart over here that's out picking up the golf balls you're duffing it over the top you ready to play a tournament on Sunday I don't think so you got to have your technical stuff on the range down before

you can go play on the big course against people right you got to have your practice rounds down let him get his practice rounds down first, and then he will be ready to play. I have no doubt that day will come. I just don't know when. So the best I can do for you is we're all just going to have to wait and see. But when you talk about the essence of watching sports, I think of it as the unpredictability is the reason we watch.

The world is so predictable on entertainment, right? Reality TV, pretty predictable. network dramas and stuff like that. I've rarely been shocked. But sports, that's what does it for me. You turn on the TV, you never know what's going to happen. So I think about we don't know where this is going to go, and there's plenty of chances that it goes in a good direction.

It might just take longer than you thought. But I will not back off that point that he does not, the only development path is not playing him. That is not the only development path is throwing him to the wolves. It isn't. There's way too much history behind quarterbacks who have stayed in practice and gotten their fundamentals down before going back out there. Way too much history on that for me to believe that. So anyway, well, I'll be, I'm going to play you this interview because it's really good. And timing wise, I kind of have to keep it to the right timing here because

Manning Hill's going to come up at 7.30. This is a little bit of a longer interview, but it's really good with Eagles Eric, who does a great Eagles podcast, but watch a ton of Vikings film. It's super insightful. So I got to get to that so we can get Manny in here on time and we can all watch Thursday night football and all that. But I'm going to continue to read and chat with you guys in the comments about what I've been talking about because I think it's an interesting subject of how

the history of this team does shape people's viewpoints. And a reminder about that Fandulul question of the day, which is Carson Wentz is over. over under 231.5 yards on Fanduil, and Jalen Hertz only 203.5, which quarterback needs to hit the over more to win. So, all right, let's get to that interview. This is much more super hardcore breakdown, Vikings and Eagles.

So off we go. All right, we welcome to the show for the first time ever. Eric Sidewater goes by Eagles, Eric, Eric, on the Eagles edge. that's a lot of alliteration. The Eagles Edge podcast. Eric, I'm very excited about this football game. I know that I'm sure as someone who follows the Eagles for a long time, a Carson Wentz revenge game is probably on your mind.

I follow you on Twitter. You're a great follow. You've been breaking down a lot of the analytics of this game, the Vikings offense and defense. So let's dive deep into this from an Eagles perspective. I just want to start. I mean, first of all, welcome to the show great to have you on man thanks a lot i'm excited to talk about this game and i have

a confession so before some games i'll go on to the opposing team's reddit page and i'll say like here's the state of the eagles what's going on with your team and i will say the viking fans were not receptive to this at all i got a lot of hate messages um but i understand there there's definitely some rivalry aspect there um some you know, old wounds. If you can remember, I can remember some big games with Kirk Cousins. So yeah, excited to get into this.

Well, I think the Eagles elevated themselves to a top Vikings hated team after 2017 because it wasn't just that the Eagles won the game and blew them out with Nick Foles, but the way that the Eagles fans acted toward Vikings fans who visited. Now, some of

us who grew up in the East tried to warn people. I was on the radio that week and I said, if you're going to Philadelphia. Do not wear your purple. Do not wear your horns. You might not have a good time if you do. And folks did not listen and they got beers thrown at them and very vile things said to them. But the Eagles crowd, I will say, is like none other in the NFL. They are the only team, I think, that if the first sequence is a three and out, they will boo their offense, their own offense. There's no other place that does that. Also, the best in the

NFL at old school jerseys you'll see brian westbrook you'll see jerome brown you'll see tons of randall cunningham it's a it's a unique atmosphere but i think that viking fans are still salty because of that so but let's say there has been actually a lot of good battles between the vikings and the eagles over the last number of years since that happened uh 2018 and 2019 the vikings won there was that crazy game where justin jefferson fumbled the ball out of the back of the end zone in 2023 at the beginning of the season. But what I've noticed, Eric, is that the Eagles offense at this moment doesn't quite look like some of those other offenses from the past.

So I really want to start there with you. Saquan Barclay is when you get the schedule release and you start going through, you're like, oh, you're going to have to face Saquan Barclay in this game. And yet this year, so far, it has not been anything like last year. They take me inside what is going on. with the Eagles run game. Yeah, and if you study, I remember there was a college kid who reached out to me this offseason saying, I've looked, I've done this deep dive on every 2,000 yard rusher and what

they do in their follow-up season, statistical profiles, injuries, the whole nine yards. And one of the oddities is that almost all of them went right down to exactly like 4.2 yards per carry. And obviously, these are just a non-statistical anomaly. but you know a vast majority of them got injured their production obviously went way down and there was even discussions about sayquan going out to previous 2,000 yard rushers like derrick henry i believe he also talked like adrian peterson at times saying what what should i be aware of what can i do going into the season and by all counts i think sequin has

been pretty much the same um he's seeing a little bit of the ghost of the past where if you remember when he was with the Giants, he would get constantly hit behind the line of scrimmage, maybe over 40% of the time in his last year there. And if you just juxtapose that against what the Eagles did prior to when he arrived, DeAndre Swift wasn't getting contacted until he was like two yards down the field. So if you extrapolated what Sacon was doing when he was actually crossed the line of scrimmage with the Giants to where he was likely to be personally.

contact with eagles you could easily envision he's going to have a huge year as long as he doesn't get injured and he did now coming into this year this is the facts when he doesn't have a crease he's not that great um you know his vision i would say comes and goes he some like you know as much as his jump cut is explosive i wouldn't necessarily call him a shifty back and so there are times where he's trying to make a lot and there's not much to do there but there's bigger problems than him which is the offensive line combined with the scheme so there's been lots of talks about how predictable the eagles are early on in the season it was condensed formations 12 and 13 personnel bringing a bunch of tight ends many of which cannot block like grant calcutara and kylan

for Grantson and then you're running zone oh zone inside zone essentially over and over again one yard in a cloud of dust um now last year they ran like 12 plus percent more gap scheme it was highly effective for them last year they ran more play action last year marrying the run and pass game and they've seemed to get away from that now talking in the offensive line they've landon dickerson has been a shell of himself last year I used hand charted every 10-yard run that Saquan had in 2024. And Landon Dickerson had the key block, or was one of the key blocks, in the highest percentage of those runs.

He's now potentially a below average guard with his injuries. So you're going from an all-pro to a replacement-level player there. Cam Juergens, as much as he's great getting out on the move and gap scheme type stuff, he's getting blown up by nose tackles and big three techs and then when you're like if you're running under center and your center is five yards in the backfield you can't get anything going tyler he's not nearly the mauler that mackay beckton was so between those two elements you're just seeing a unimaginative run game where there's one guy or two guys missing key blocks over and over again, and what you have is actually one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL

if you take away quarterback scrambles. I mean, that's a terrific breakdown, and it's all things put together here when it comes to a running back and their success, and we've seen that so many times where, yes, the running back's talent has a lot to do with whether they succeed or not, but there's also all these other factors, including, I think actually even the passing game can impact the running game as well. If the opposing, because we always talk about marrying the run with the pass as if you need to run first and then work off of that, which I get because you're trying to make them look exactly the same. But I also think that if you are getting downfield success passing the ball, that teams have

to play their safeties back. And they can't be quite aggressive with their linebackers. If they're getting roasted on play action and those two things start to build off each other. And the passing game has been very disjointed. So you have an offensive line that is not getting the same push. You have a passing game that seems to be one of the least consistent in the NFL of more of kind of, you know, boom or bust. And then also when someone runs for 2,000 yards, guess what the game plan is before? Not that people didn't know about Saquan Barclay, but it's all lasers are set at stopping Saquan Barclay. Now, how do you think this matches up, though, with a Vikings defense that has struggled against the run

because my take, so I've kind of torn it down with what's happening against the run for the Vikings. My take has been they're really, really, really missing Blake Cashman. And this is where all the stuff we talk about, sometimes it's just, hey, the better players are not playing. And then this is a different ball game. I think they're missing him. They're missing Van Ginkle.

And they're probably missing Harrison Smith, who has played less than 100 snaps so far. But they don't have the big, giant dudes up front at defensive tackle. So what do you make of the matchup of two teams that really want to improve in this area? Yeah. When I, this may be a bad read, but when I watch the Vikings run defense, I feel like it's, it's kind of a compounding, it's a domino effect where they know they're a little bit soft in the belly there. And so the back seven, they really want to converge, especially when the announcement,

like rush path or the blockers are coming into the middle of the field and they're like oh wait hardgrave might get blown back let me come in there and then the then they bounce it outside and there's no one so obviously if you have you know better anchors in the middle that potentially solves itself i went before blake cashman was signed by the vikings and i was doing some film study for linebackers in that off season because if you remember before the eagles had zach bonn they had no one yeah i was like this guy is a beast um i absolutely loved his film i agree with you i think he would definitely help especially because you know he's the type of guy where if the run does get spilled well he can easily get sideline the sideline he's a good tackler um that

definitely would help them i i think another aspect like in terms of how it interfaces with the Eagles is I also view the Vikings run defense as kind of binary where they are if they sell out I think they're good like you can just see you know they come in like hornets especially in like obvious run situations and they'll make tackles for loss on like key short yardage stuff but then it could be like a first and 10 and their guys are rushing upfield and then boom the guys like out rushing for 15 yards or something so in that sense like remember the one of the criticisms about the eagles has been the predictability oh they get in pistol oh they bring in this formation calcatera in a flex tight end and it's first and 10 everyone knows what's coming

and it defenses that are less instinctive than the vikings defenses like the giants where they're triggering downhill you could have one of the great offensive lines of the cowboys from the 90s but if the entire defense can trigger downhill instantly you're not going to going to be successful. So if the Eagles get in some of these obvious run situations, bring in their heavy package, bring in their vanilla alignments where everyone knows it's going to be a run, I think the Vikings will do well to stop them. But they talked about in their interviews, like they had a team meeting where they talked about

the run game. And you could see Sequan's beaming. So maybe they're going to try to get into more outside perimeter stuff. Maybe they're going to try to get into more Gap Steams scuff. It remains to be seen. One question I'd have for you is what is the likelihood like Cashman plays in this game? I think it's very high. Yep, I think it is very high.

His window opened for return. There was one report from CBS Sports that he was likely to come back. I thought that's a little premature since he needs to practice. But just the way that he was talking when we spoke to him the other day, it seemed like and the way the coaches were talking. Because usually if a guy. is not likely to play. It's kind of like, well, you know, we're working him back in. And there was, there was some smiles on faces of Brian Flores and Kevin O'Connell. So, I mean,

that's just sort of trying to read the room a little bit. But I also think that they desperately need him back in this game and they know that. But to your point, I think there was a great example on a big Quinn John Judkins run where they were having a Dallas Turner on the outside linebacker just spike right into the middle and he goes to the outside. He's got a one-on-one with Theo Jackson. That is a huge physical mismatch. Ends up with a 14, 15-yard carry. I think that the Eagles, if you can get it out,

if you can bounce to the edge, there's a lot of opportunities there if Andrew Van Ginkle isn't playing. We don't know about his status yet. That I don't know. But he's one of the better run defenders in the league can play inside or outside linebacker. I wouldn't say that for Dallas Turner yet in his career, that he's been one of the better run defender.

I think he's coming along and he's made some tackles, but he can also be taken out of a play, not the best edge setter. So I think there will be opportunities for the Eagles to do some of that stuff and get a little bit more creative. But if they're not passing the football, the Vikings will be perfectly fine with just keep handing off because they've been okay with that in other games

and you see what the result is from the EPA, that they're one of the best defenses in the NFL and expected points at it a lot of times because running the football, even if you're succeeding, isn't as efficient as throwing it. So what is the deal with the inconsistency of this passing game? Because it seems like for the last, I don't know, two years, A.J. Brown has been unhappy. I actually think of that Eagles, Vikings game in Philly in 2023, where they just steamrolled with DeAndre Swift all night. There was still like a mini meltdown on the sideline with A.J. Brown.

is this just who A.J. Brown is. I don't think it is, right? Because the number of sacks is pretty shocking for Jalen Hertz. And I mean, I imagine this must be frustrating for Brown to not get the same consistency of targets that a lot of other top wide receivers do. Yeah. And I think a lot of the discussions are reductionists. They'll say it's definitely hurts. It's definitely Kevin Petulow. The receivers are not running their outs. The past protection. is bad and none of this is it's not one thing it's it's a combination of everything um and i think you know if you really want to look at an origin point of blame you can look at nick syriani because it's been his offensive system the whole way through when he had experienced play callers they had they had success when they brought in rookies they failed and i don't think the head coach has the answers to fix their offensive problems. I don't think he's a offensive guru by any stretch of the imagination.

So, you know, it's when they came out in the initial part of the season, they're running their little China concept with the in and the corner over and over again, the wrap in where they have the hook and then the deep in behind it. The same stuff they ran over and over and over again, mesh if they think they're getting man coverage. Like, their playbook, their passing menu last year was not large. But they executed really well because teams kind of had to put a lot of resources to stop Saquan. And so it made it, you know, a lot of space on the outside for those ball winners to win, made reads easier for Hertz.

But when you're the champs, then teams start to study and target you. And they go, oh, well, we can just play too high. we'll still, you know, have seven in the box and have a safety ready to spin down if we need to. And then we can flood those two by two concepts. Suddenly those, the safeties are driving on the corner route and the end. They're completely gone. So the Eagles, after four weeks, they pretty much shelved those concepts. And they started to put in new stuff.

But the timing and rhythm is not there because they would just work the same concepts over and over again last year. and we saw a potential 90-yard touchdown. I was there live at MetLife. They missed that. To me, like, it was a little detail thing where if you watch the week before, they hit a big play against the Broncos, and Duvante Smith was about four yards wide of the numbers,

same exact kind of route. But he was two yards wide of the numbers against the Giants, and then the ball drifts outside, and people say hurts completely overthrew it. But it was more of like a miscue. A.J. Brown, wide open on a double move against the Broncos, against Hufanga, stops his route because he doesn't expect the ball, would have been a touchdown. And in the NFL, you can't just forego 70, 80-yard touchdowns.

In fact, if you remember last year, the Eagles, a lot of their explosive plays were on the ground. Well, that's gone. So if you're not, if you don't have the ground game, giving, moving the chains, and you don't have the explosive class plays, what do you have? really and and now teams have started to key in on the quarterback scramble more the broncos did a great job uh stopping it the giants they what they did is they said if hurts is going to beat us it's going to be when he throws it off the scramble because a lot of times when he goes to scramble he'll just become a running back he doesn't even look up there's three reps against the broncos

where if he simply did this he could have tossed a touchdown um so You could see that they worked on it because in the Giants game, he had like four scrambles where he hit guys on the run, but the running back, the quarterback game was nowhere to be found. And trying to put this all into one puzzle piece, it's they go into a game and they swing towards an extreme. We have to establish this.

We can't have this tendency, but, oh, we have to be prepared for the blitzing. when we go against Todd Bowles, which they did amazing against the blitz. Then Todd Bulls stopped blitzing in the second half, and they completely sputter out. Their second half offense is 32nd in everything. Wow.

So they get into the locker room, and they either said, if they were pretty successful in the first half, they say, let's just keep doing what we're going to do. And if they weren't, I'm sure the players go, it's AJ and hurts,

and they're like, all right, it's just going to be. be us today it doesn't so they don't they need more contingency plans you can't just go into a game and be like think you're going to draw up some master game plan in the half in nine minutes during half time you have to say if they do this this is what we're going to do but if they do this which maybe we don't expect maybe they come into the vikings and they say flores is going to blitz us 60% of the time but if he doesn't what are you going to do because i actually think they're going to play a ton of cover two with four-man rush because they know that the Eagles offensive line is vulnerable.

Potentially, you know, you get Cashman in there, that's going to be tough to pass against. Remember, the Eagles are one of the worst passing offenses against cover two over the last three years. Vikings are by far the best cover two defense. So if I'm Flores, I'm like, oh, perfect. We'll just put a bunch of guys up in the line. We'll rotate into various versions of cover two, Tampa 2 and we're going to confuse the O line. We're going to use stunts and we're going to make Brett Toast headspin and we'll be fine with a four-man rush and we're probably going to trick hurts a few times. I can definitely see that being a major part of their strategy and we've talked a lot about

how Jvon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen have not really made maybe the impact that we thought. I think Hargrave was good against the Browns. But a lot of that has been limited numbers of dropbacks from running teams or just game script in the way that it's played out other teams have been leading atlanta's leading the entire game why would they throw if they've got be jean robinson and they're just winning um but i think this is an opportunity for them with the matchup of the interior of the eagles uh offensive line versus alan and hargrave who there was some really creative stuff that they did against the browns with those two guys lining them up very close to each other having them run a stunt and you saw the browns

offensive line kind of be like, wait, what is happening here with these two on the same side of the line, but very close to each other. So I think that they're going to get creative with some of the rushes there. And I agree with you that I think that the word on Jalen Hertz is probably make him sort it out, like make him sort out the different coverages, because as you know, the Vikings don't just show you the coverage. They're not like, oh, see, pre-snap, we're running, man, we're running zone. It'll be, hey, this looks like it's going to be cover full.

and then all of a sudden it's something else. And sometimes it's something else on both sides of the field. So it's a very creative defense that makes the quarterback think through what he's seeing, which is why Jared Goff is fine, which is why we've seen a number of, you know, Justin Herbert succeed against him, a number of quarterbacks. I don't know that that's hurts. And I've been a big Jalen Hertz guy the entire time. I wanted the Vikings to draft him in 2020, but there are limitations in some ways.

he's not the tallest guy. I don't think he's like Justin Herbert who stands there and looks over the offensive line. So I think this will be really interesting because it might just come down to can they hit on those big plays that you talked about? Because if they do, the wide receivers are as good as it gets in the NFL. Yeah, I agree with you. And hurts, whether it's how he's coached or just how he likes to operate,

he likes to see a guy open before he pulls the day. trigger and the way the Vikings play defense you have to throw with anticipation into windows that shrink really fast yeah and that that's just not something that he does so either he's going to have to make a concerted effort to make some of those throws coming in this game or you have the opportunity like you mentioned to just take deep shots like and in my opinion if you want to do that the way they structure a lot of their defenses you want to do it on early downs because if you get into you know third in longs they put that huge cap over the entire sometimes they play five deep i'm watching so and then they'll like rotate one guy down into the middle to take away

crossers or something like this so you can't get into the situation and be like all right now we're going to bomb it out that won't work at all but if you have some some early situations where maybe you think you can anticipate cover two because as I'm watching their defense and I'm looking looking at passing snaps against shotgun they're in cover two like almost half the time yeah like it's unbelievable some version of it right and I've seen on tape at least like six or seven different versions of it and one thing I'll note there is it quickly morphs into a quasi man coverage because

they're rarely playing spot drop their guys attach their routes really aggressively. So they'll be in cover two and maybe you're the hook curl guy and then there's a vertical boom well that he just attaches that guy for the rest of the play so maybe

there's opportunities where you run guys out in the match zone and then you replace them if you want to get deep I think you have to run at the safety's toes. I think think you have to run like deep stop concepts because sometimes the safeties they'll seed ground and then there's an opportunity to kind of hit it you have to throw it on time probably like a 15 to 18 yard stop route or a double post a lot of the structures that they run I think are vulnerable to a

double post but this is a long developing route right so if you keep like six or seven men into protection, there's a chance that the weak side defenders are going to be able to recover because there's only three guys out in a route, for example. But if you can block up four and then you have five out in a route, then you have a chance to attack it. And I think the Vikings defense would not be nearly as successful if they didn't have a good rush. I think it's highly predicated upon that.

But the one other thing I wrote on Twitter in my film study was that there are ways to attack and beat the defense. But Flores kind of depends on two things. Either one, the way you beat us is a difficult play, like a honeyhole shot against cover two up the sidelines before the safeties can get there. or like or you're not going to run enough running back screens and Texas routes and quarterback scrambles throughout the entire game to continually make us pay. Most teams go into a game and they are like, oh, we'll sprinkle one of each of those in. Well, you might need to run those three, four times a piece if you want to have success.

But Flores knows teams don't run pro style offenses like that. So one of the things in the regular season, in the NFL is if you run unorthodox schemes like the commander's offense like the Vikings defense and it's a you have a couple day three days of preparation really it's like good luck because you're going to have to do a bunch of installs to attack this that aren't typically part of traditional offenses right and you talk about like sticking with something and floor is forcing you to do it i think that's why Detroit has had so much success because well not only do they run the ball well but they also will just run crossing routes and hit them over and over and over again.

They have no problem with running 40 plays to get down the field. I mean, they will have a 10 minute drive. They'll do that to you, but a lot of teams start to get a little lancy. And that's where, all right, we're going to push the ball a little bit down the field, then the pressure comes, then the blitzes happen. And even though they are vulnerable deep against the safeties with less speed there than they've had in the past, it's like by the time you get out to the safety, your quarterback is not standing there feeling really good in the pocket. And that's the entire concept. And it is fascinating because like you always have to kind of give up one thing to do something else on defense just in general. And his choice is to be super aggressive. And if you hit

some of those plays, then you hit some of those plays. But we're also going to get a sack, a takeaway, you know, that kind of thing. Let's just go over. to the other side on the defensive side where there's a lot of guys banged up and the secondary hasn't been the same. They lost Milton Williams, obviously in the off season. I think that's been a tough player to replace. How do you view a Eagles defense that has been much more flawed than it was last year versus a Vikings offense that is very, very likely to have Carson Wentz in there? The main idea for Wentz has just been get the ball out. as fast as possible, get quick completions, get it to Addison, get it to Jefferson,

and then eventually Jefferson will do something deep down the field that will be awesome. But that's kind of been how it's gone. And the Vikings run game has been improved, but I can't say it's been elite. How do you weigh that matchup versus where Philly has been much more vulnerable than last year? Yeah, it's interesting because I think the Super Bowl kind of set into motion, a fake narrative that the Eagles had some kind of dominant pass rush that carried them throughout the season. And really, it was more of the coverage. The pass rush was pretty good, but they had a few pop games. And I think that's where that kind of narrative kind of ran wild. But one thing that

should be noted is the Eagles were really never tested on the ground last year. There was a few times they were like you people remember atlanta early in the season and they ran wild and they lost that game um the packers had success running against them a lot of other teams because they got behind or because they were teams that didn't have vaunted rushing attacks or they had offensive coordinators that love to pass they weren't tested but the vulnerabilities were still potentially there especially out on the edge um i think a lot of times when you run light box teams are like, oh, well, now we can run between the tackles. But the Eagles, they had Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter soaking up double teams

so that Nukobi Dean and Zach Bond could make run-throughs constantly and make tackles at the line or behind the line. And they were able to survive that way. But the few times they got tested with like outside zone, quick tosses, they got beat there. And then coming into this year, they're facing better off. offenses like i mean if you look at the strength of schedule it's a complete it's a 180 from last year and that's part of it um teams have started to not shy away from the run quite as much even denver when they're down multiple scores ran a bunch in the second half with high success so

let's look at the wise their edges whether it's pass rush or run defense they're non-existent and now potentially the best guys did darius smith retired yeah so the edges they're not doing anything um cooper de jean he's being he's responsible for a lot of fills on the outside and he's getting sealed off by skill position players tight ends and good blocking wide receivers so like remember he i mean people forget he's still like in his what 25th game of his career yeah he played amazing but if you expect him to just block destruct every single time and make tackles for loss on the outside you're asking for too much and then you have corners who are struggling mightily to tackle and even Andrew McCuba who's made some nice run stops if any blockers get his hands on

him he's washed out of the play so that that's a big reason the run defense has struggled obviously going from Darius Slay to either Dory Jackson, Keeley, Ringo, or Jacorian Bennett. That's a huge downgrade. And really the big deal there is, I see you. You can essentially leave Slay and Mitchell on an island, and then you can have the rest of the coverage flood routes concepts

for the other eligible receivers. And you're winning the numbers game that way. But when you need to dedicate extra resources to help your cornerback too, well, now you don't have as much there. So then you see guys like the best players on the defense, like Bonn and Dijin, yes, they're good, but they can't make the same impact that they were able to make last year because now they're like, oh crap, I better take this guy away. I can't like freelance and read the quarterback's eyes and be like a bonus dropper.

I'm integral to the coverage. And now you lose the ability to like generate turnovers, stop quarterback scrambles, and so on and so forth. So it, you know, just like the offense, it's a domino effect. You know, they've resorted to trying to blitz more. So when you're blitzing Jihad Campbell or Zach Vaughn, now you're taking potentially a good to great coverage player out of there. Right. And if you replace them, you're replacing them with an edge who just. pretty much stands there with their feet and cement.

So I wouldn't say, you know, I wouldn't necessarily say it's like a huge talent deficit as opposed to they're playing better opponents. Teams have started, you know, not shying away from the run, and then you're not having your stars kind of impacting the game as much. Last thing I'll say on this is Jalen Carter last year, probably four or five snaps a game was wrecking the play completely yeah that number has gone down but more so than that on the place where he was just out there you know because he's out there 90% of the time and he's trying to be like chris jones where they level up for the big

high leverage downs the rest of the downs they you know they're kind of coasting those downs early in the season it wasn't like he was just out there he was the worst player on the field by far like he was hardly even moving at all and like he had his injury uh to his shoulder and he was out of condition and then now he had the heel injury so now you don't have to recruit as many resources to stop jalen carter and now you can help out on the edge but they don't even need to do that because there's no one out there threatening so you have no pass rush and then you have you know, a rookie corner, a bad cornerback to and DeGine and Bond trying to patch all those holes and they can't do it. I think everything you just said there is why defense is so fragile.

And when we're trying to look at the beginning of the season, well, how good is this team going to be or how good is that team going to be? We don't really know when it comes to defenses. I think there's so much up and down. It's not like a quarterback can drive you through like it can happen on the offense. And I felt that way for the Vikings defense to, some extent because that Cincinnati game where they went berserk and had, you know, two touchdowns from Isaiah Rogers. It kind of jacked up some of those expected point added numbers. I think they're still really good. But and the opposing quarterback schedule for the Vikings so far has been not much. And so it's looked a little bit better on paper than it actually

is. And I think what you're talking about is the same sort of thing where it's like the weaknesses for defensive tackle for the Vikings and the run defense caused them to try to patch up that hole, which opens up other things. The same thing seems to be happening here. I noticed that Carter didn't look the same. And I was wondering, like, is this, is he battling through something? And I know he's on the injury report, but it's clear that the injuries have impacted him. And that's where it all starts for them. That's the, that's the terror monster that everybody gets messed up by. I mean, the Vikings for years faced Akim Hicks, Kenny Clark in his prime.

If that guy wins every rep, I mean, it's really hard to run your offense the way you want to run it. So his status for this game and how he performs is going to be a huge deal. And I wonder about trying to blitz Carson Wentz because Wentz has been doing a great job of getting rid of the ball. But at the same time, he has this tendency to think that he's 24 year old Carson Wentz and try to scramble, try to make a play on the run. You're like, Carson, bro, that's not you. You might need to just do.

dirt that ball. And you saw Pittsburgh throw a lot of different looks, tons of different blitz packages and simulated pressures and stuff that was really hard for him to deal with. So I'm curious if Vic Fangio in this game sort of kitchen sinks it, where he throws a lot of different stuff at them that maybe he wouldn't normally. Let me give you the line on this game. Eric, it's two and a half point favorite on Fandul for the Philadelphia Eagles. the over under is 43 and a half points. Are you feeling that the Eagles will come into U.S. Bank Stadium get a win and cover?

And how are you feeling about that over under, 43.5? I actually predicted 1713 Vikings. Okay. So I don't see a pathway to a lot of points unless they are defensive points. If we start to see like, you know, turnovers deep in their own territory that turn in the, points maybe some special team shenanigans yeah maybe there will be some short field scores and then you get to that total but if there's not i could just see constant you know three and outs six and

outs um and so no no i don't expect it to be an offensive fireworks at all you know i think part of that line is that vagus thinks wents is really bad had because if they had, let's call it, an average quarterback, I think the Vikings would be favored in this game. And I do think Wentz is a guy, especially if, you know, Carter is 70% of himself, Wentz is the guy, then they have a backup center in from all accounts. Is that true? Yes, it's going to be more likely than not Blake Brandel because Ryan Kelly is on IR. Yeah. So I think there's. thinking and obviously this is all steeped in the knowledge that the line isn't what

Vegas is thinking but what the how the public perceives the line yeah and so on and so forth but there I think what the public perception is is that the pressure is going to sink whence and he's going to turn over the ball a couple times and the Eagles they can't be this bad running and passing the ball and so they're going to have a little bit of regression to the mean and they're going to squeak out a small victory and all of those are within the realm of possibility. But if O'Connell is smart, first off, he'll try to get the ground game established early.

And it seems like every single game, they'll run those quick outside tosses initially. And then as they get in the second and third quarter, they'll motion across and then they'll run it inside. I think they would have decent success doing that. I think, you know, you see bouts of arm tackling from the Eagles. That doesn't work against Jordan Mason. No, it does not.

they'll have success there if they constantly run those little like hitch routes and stick routes to hawkinson they get jefferson in motion working in stacks and bunches getting free releases um i think they'll have success there if the eagles are able to flood the first read for wence and then he has to either scramble or work to a secondary tertiary guy that's where the issues are going to pop up yeah so i don't know if that's going to happen. I think I can just say if these scenarios do happen, here's what I think the likely outcome is. Um, but yeah, overall, I think both offenses are going to struggle mightily. Uh, and, and that over under might be more based off, you know, defensive positioning and, uh, field position stuff. That makes complete sense, which means it'll be 38 to 35 and, uh, both the

offenses will go crazy because you never know what's going to happen when the Eagles and the Vikings get together. It will be a very interesting schematic watch between these two teams. A lot of talent on the field. And I think both fan base is feeling like, shouldn't it be a little bit better? So this, whoever comes out of this one is going to feel way different about themselves after this game. Goes by Eagles Eric. NFL Oasis is a very interesting site that you created, but also the Eagles Edge podcast. I'm going to tell you the truth. I don't know how many Vikings fans will go listen to the Eagles Edge podcast because they hate the Eagles. Eagles. But you did an awesome job of breaking this down. Great to have you on the show for the very

first time. Really appreciate it, man. Great stuff. Absolutely. Happy to come back if we do match up in the playoffs. I actually subscribe to a couple of Vikings outlets. It's a team I take interest in. So really happy to come on and collaborate in the future. All right. Appreciate it, man. Thanks for doing it. Eagles Eric there. Great with the Breakdown. Really, really good and detailed analysis. You could tell. He watched a ton of Vikings film there before doing that appearance. So I really appreciate him. And Eric X's and O's, I believe, is his Twitter handle. So make sure you go and check that out.