Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy: 'Not 100%' but will he start?!?!? (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Matthew Coller breaks down Kevin O'Connell and JJ McCarthy's comments about whether McCarthy will play this weekend versus the Eagles. 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.

This episode of Purple Insider is presented by Fanduel. Let's see, Patrick says Green Bay did not look convincing against Cincinnati. I agree with that take. I do agree with that take. And well, that's, you know, part of the point about the complexity of this season, which is when you look at the NFC North, look at who Detroit has beat. Now, I'm a Detroit buyer overall, but look at who they've beat. They've beaten Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore.

Those are, I mean, Chicago's gotten better, but those are overall not great teams. And three of them are terrible. And when they've played Green Bay and when they've played Kansas City, they've lost. And fairly convincingly in both losses. So Detroit's not perfect. Green Bay's not perfect. Green Bay's passing game still has its ups and downs. Their defense, well, Micah Parsons is playing.

overall. Look at Sacks. It's not that great. But if you look at pressures, he's amazing, as you would expect. He's been good. But he hasn't changed the fact that there is some weakness in the secondary there where Joe Flack almost brought Cincinnati back. That's a reason to also when people talk about bailing on this season. And I'm like, I don't know, like, they're three and two. If they were one in five and talking about starting Carson Wentz, I would totally get it. But they're right in the same race as the other NFC North teams. I just, and Brian brings this up, is Detroit truly as good as everyone seems to think they are, they haven't beaten anyone of substance.

Also, don't believe that the Green Bay team, yes, you're absolutely right. And this is a wonderful NFL season for parity. Last year, I thought last year was miserable because you turn on games and be like, okay, this team has no chance. And there's really only, what, two teams that are like that this year, the Jets and the Titans, everybody else, I mean, even the Saints are watchable. Like the Saints beat the bills. They played a decent game against the Patriots, right?

Didn't they last week? Yeah, they did. Spencer Rattler played pretty well. And they've been in games. They beat the Giants. Like even a bad team has sort of been in games where last year it just felt like certain teams had no chance at all. But that also means that the door is open for pretty much anything to happen with the Vikings.

are one of, I think, the strongest defenses in the NFL have some of the best weapons. Like, they've got the goods to be right in that discussion. Trone a guy who's the backup, Wentz's shoulder won't last if he keeps taking hits. I know. Yeah, he talked about that today. He kind of said, like, I tell myself I'm supposed to slide, but then I just don't. And that's not what you wanted to hear, I think, from Carson Wentz. You wanted to hear, yes, I will be sliding.

But if you were his size, and I wish I could get you. like a cardboard cut out to show you how big Carson Wentz is. This man is enormous. You probably would not back down to anybody either if you were this guy's size. So I get it. But to your point, that will be an interesting decision whether McCarthy is the backup or if he's inactive, assuming that this doesn't change completely from where I think it's going. And is it Max Brosmer?

I want to tell you, man, I think they feel great about Max Brosmer. I really do about what he's shown them against the practice squad, about what he showed them in preseason, about what he showed them in training camp, minicamp, OTAs, behind the scenes. I think they love that guy. And I would never count anything out when it comes to the NFL, not in a league that produced Kurt Warner and Brock Purdy.

I would never count anything out. The way that Brosmer sees the game and throws the football accurately and process, this is really quickly, throws with anticipation. I mean, we saw that in mini camp. We were like, wait, is this really happening? And the answer was, yes, it really is happening.

And then we ask Wes Phillips about it this week. And West just raves about this guy. And it matches up with everything we've seen. So I wouldn't be shocked if they feel like Brosmer at 100% health would be the better backup than J.J. McCarthy. And to tell you the truth, I mean, technically speaking, he's probably farther along. He's played way more football. He probably is farther along than McCarthy.

He's thrown a lot more passes in real games. Rob says, looking like Jalen Carter, Landed Dickerson, will be back, possibly Quinyon Mitchell. Right, on the injury report, Jalen Carter was a full participant, which would mean very likely to play. Quinion Mitchell was limited. Dickerson was limited.

So I guess we'll see on both of those. But not really, well, this is another point about playing Wentz instead of McCarthy, right? Jalen Carter, if Jackson's not out there and he's still a rookie and Blake Brandel is your center and I like as much as anybody else, how Brando played, really, really liked it. Respect the heck out of it. Jalen Carter is all universe at football. That means pressure up the middle.

It's not what you want when a guy's trying to get his footwork down because to me, pressure up the middle is the best for throwing off a quarterback for his timing and all that stuff. So that would be pretty scary. let's see oh so let's see Rob says good news on Van Ginkle O'Neill and O'Neill are limited means they might have a chance yeah we'll see I don't know about I don't know about either one the one

O'Neill you know is going to try as hard as he can to play I think he's played through some really crazy stuff before and I'm not sure that they want to rush him out there because you need him for the long term. And if there's a team to play him against, it's actually Philadelphia. Their interior is phenomenal with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, but their outside rushing is bad.

Without Zadarius Smith, without Nolan Smith, they're not in a good place for outside rushing. So maybe you can survive a game with Justin's school in there rather than playing Brian O'Neill banged up because it's not just limited this week. It's like coming off of an injury. So not playing and then being limited makes it really hard to come back.

Norse Force is Aaron Jones practicing? He is not at this moment. So not really sure when he's going to come back. He is on IR, which means when they open the window for him, then we'll find out. Marauder says 21 teams with three or more wins. No sellers at the deadline will be a weird year. Yeah, I mean, the way that the next couple weeks go will strongly,

impact that. I was actually looking at this, if you don't mind, give me a second and I'll pull it up because I was looking at this two days ago about a list of ESPN potential trade targets and was thinking about this for the Vikings. So ESPN did an article by Adam Schefter where he listed probably 25, 30 players. Some of them were at positions that the Vikings just wouldn't go after but there are some that are kind of interesting and the position that's kind of at least somewhat intriguing to me there's there's two positions that i could see the vikings having some interest in throwing a draft pick and it'll all depend on what they do in these next two games if they win both games and they are sitting there at five and two then hey trade

deadline unless i'm missing the timing of the trade doesn't it must be after that right they moved it back they keep messing with that but uh how the next, at least this game and maybe beyond goes will impact that. But I could see them looking at corners and I could actually see them looking at an edge rusher potentially because they do have a lack of depth there without Andrew Van Ginkle. But even if Van Ginkle is in, you're still really talking about three guys. And they've elevated Gabe Murphy. They've used Bo Richter a little bit.

But when you look at some of the names, Arden Key from Tennessee is an intriguing one. Jalen Phillips from Miami. that would probably take a lot. But even Anthony Jennings from New England, they would have seen him in the joint practices. Could be a rotational player. I think it would be nice for them to have another rotational player. Corner is the other one where Tennessee,

Roger McCreary, Seattle, Rick Wollen. I don't know if Seattle would trade Rick Wollen to the Vikings knowing they're going to play against each other. The one that I thought that would be a really cool legacy play would be to get Cam Jordan because he's Steve Jordan's son. And then a real reach for me, I wrote it down anyway. A real reach would be Brees Hall because, hey, look, you know, you've got Jordan Mason and that's great. But if Aaron Jones is going to be out a really long time, would you maybe be interested in getting another running back?

I really love the way that Xavier Scott has played, but he's kind of a play wide receiver a little, play in the back field that you mix in. you use on third downs, if you had a chance to get somebody really exceptional in the backfield, maybe you do it at the right price. Had a great conversation with Xavier Scott today, by the way, for an article that I'm doing over at the newsletter, Purpleinsider. Football, so that's going to be coming out probably Friday or Saturday, so make sure you check that out. Let's see, reminder about that fan duel question of the day, Vikings plus 950 to win the NFC North. What do you need to see from them the next two games to be convinced that they can

still have a chance to win the NFC North? But I think Marauder, you make a good point that overall so many teams are going to feel like they're competitive that there isn't going to be a lot of tanking. It's going to be four or five teams that are selling. And, you know, other than that, everybody's going to say, hey, we're right in that. So yeah, Trona guy saying any trade possibilities, I mean, I think that there are because we've seen. this team do that before where we've seen them make plenty of trades what is uh i'm going to look up the deadline date what is the deadline date Tuesday november 4th so yeah they'll have both games in the i mean look if they're sitting there at five and two i mean make phone calls because you're

right in the mix regardless of whether it's wence or mccarthy or what your quarterback situation is if you're five and two and you're going to play the detroit lions and you've got to chance to have a really good season still, no matter what happens at QB, you should be looking to do everything you can to improve. Stephen says we can't be trading for anyone. We need draft capital next year because of our cap situation. We need as much cheap talent as we can get. So I don't disagree with that, but sometimes some of these trades just end up being like pick swaps, late round. And I mean, yes, you need more cheap talent. But they've also found some guys that are that too, like Jalen Redman, like Xavier Scott, who I mentioned,

they found some guys there. But I mean, overall, yeah, I don't, I mean, I'm not saying like, hey, sell the farm, sell all the second and third round picks. But if you're telling me, hey, they can get one more corner to take the Okuda spot where they can actually play a nickel because they really haven't been putting them on the field or if they have an injury to one of those positions and, hey, you can make this trade and get somebody that is going to be a difference maker and you're five and two, then I say absolutely do it.

Brian, Max watch has begun. Yeah, well, look, he's got in the game against the Browns. He had to come in for a minute there. I would be very interested to see him play. Because I think that he's had so much development over his life with playing, what do you play six years in college and then got a lot of reps in the preseason. I mean, I think that he could go in there and play and be fine. and deliver the ball on time and be accurate.

I think he, I mean, can he be a superstar? Like, I don't know, but I think he could play. I would not be terrified if Max Brosmer had to play. John says, I like where the Vikings are at. I do believe they will improve as the season goes along. Well, I mean, just like looking at that injury report, if you get Jackson back, if you get O'Neill back, even going four for five on the offensive line,

let's say that they don't get O'Neill back by the game against Philly, but they get them back against the Chargers. If you're four for five on the offensive line, you have Addison back now. And then Van Ginkle, like, hey, look, it's the Vikings. It's the team we expected because, gosh, they just have not been that team. They have not been the team that we watched in preseason because everyone got hurt or in training camp because everyone got hurt. The team that we were walking off the practice field going, you know, this team looks

like it's pretty darn good. We just haven't seen it. We've seen like 60% of it so far. Mama says, could Brosmer win a quarterback competition next offseason? Would he even be considered? So it's a little far down the road there, I think, when we're talking about that. But, I mean, just to go there, because you asked, if you think about just how these things have worked with young quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson or Trey Lance, guys who didn't have a lot of experience and it didn't go well, that is what usually ends up happening, is that there's a quarterback competition after year two. And if, let's say, J.J. McCarthy gets in, struggles, finishes the season, they go 8, 9, 7, and 10, and it's just not great from McCarthy, then I think next year

that they would go into the offseason with a wide open competition with three quarterbacks. and it would be McCarthy, Max Brosmer, and whatever veteran that they brought in, the Daniel Jones of the program or whatever, or the Carson Wentz of the program, maybe you would consider bringing back Wentz if it went really bad, but, you know, I don't know how big,

how high the ceiling is on that, but you'd be looking for somebody. I mean, Mack Jones would make a lot of sense. He's playing really well for San Francisco, but they've got Brock on a big contract, and it really worked last time to have a backup from San Francisco come in and play.

So I think you might just try to create a wide open competition and see if Max Brosmer wins it. And he should get every bit of an opportunity based on what he showed in the offseason. So I think he would get consideration. The way they've talked about him is that they have just raved about him. And if that was just lip service, then we wouldn't have seen him look great in the preseason and look great in practice. So I'm going to say yes.

but we are way, way, way down the road from that actually happening. Eric, is it possible inside TCO? They think higher of Brosmer than McCarthy. Well, I mean, they drafted McCarthy, 10th overall, started him as QB1, didn't have any real competition, turned down Sam Darnold, turned down Aaron Rogers, didn't tell Daniel Jones he would be QB1. Like, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that they very much want J.J. McCarthy to succeed and to be their franchise quarterback.

Like, let's not lose total for us through the trees. But as far as a guy coming in as an undrafted free agent and playing and acting the way that he did, because that matters a lot with Brozmer, like his knowledge, his professionalism, I was so impressed with him from day one for the first time we talked with Max Brosmer. I think that I probably said to somebody, like, I think we just, did we just talk to Max Brozmer or KOC like he has the same sort of approach and thought process to quarterback plays very mature guy so I mean I think that they love that about him that doesn't

mean that they want him or favor him at this moment over JJ McCarthy otherwise we'd be having the conversation about Brosmer starting over Carson Wentz and who is taking those reps but I'm sure inside that building they love what they see so someday down the road if that were to happen. It wouldn't be the craziest thing in NFL history. But Brozmer is just so much older. He's so much farther along. I mean, that's where we talk about the ceiling. The reason you talk about the ceiling is because McCarthy is so young in his career that he can develop and get to the point where he is a franchise quarterback where someone like Brosmer is just less likely based on being undrafted. It's certainly not impossible. And I would never say that. And I think

someday that guy will have a season where he's starting games for somebody like he just i don't know why kelly holcomb comes to mind for me when i see him but holcomb was like very tough and smart and works super hard and he's got an entire chapter in bruce arian's book about just how much he loved coaching him and it sort of reminds me of the way chaos he talks about brosmer but there's limitations physically that are just realities of the NFL so you're looking for the the guy with the arm the guy with the legit speed like J.J. McCarthy to make a difference as a runner, that's clearly required in the NFL today. So I do get the sense that they are very, very high on Brozmer, but you kind of have to be realistic about, like, how much different the age is there. And by the time

McCarthy is 24, he's probably going to understand a lot of the things about the NFL that, you know, Brozmer got quicker. But, hey, I mean, when it comes to Brozmer, I feel like I was very early, like on, hey, this looks like a real thing. And it's continued to be that way. Mr. Mayor says, Fandall question the day,

don't believe we'll win the division. But if we were to win it, I'd need to see McCarthy out there by Thursday. And he'd need to be excellent. Well, I mean, you could go down a different road with that, a different scenario, which would be, say, that Carson Wentz is just okay and they sort of escape with a win.

They get a pick six and they win 13 to 7 on a horrifically ugly like Raiders style win from two years ago. Let's say that happens and they go back to McCarthy. So it doesn't have to be by next Thursday, right? I mean, it just, you're probably right though when it comes to the best version of this team very likely exists in J.J. McCarthy getting back and playing and being really good. That's the best possible version of this team. But, you know, I have had a couple of those decodents say to me like,

hey, why couldn't Carson Wentz just end up being great? He's not that old. And it's hard to see greatness from this offense with Carson Wentz in it. Now, competence they could have, and this is where it might get tricky, is what Carson Wentz did against the Browns, and that's not a good defense, that's a great defense. That is, I mean, those guys are monsters. What he did against the Browns, being able to just do enough, get the ball out, hit downfield to just Jefferson a few times. He was talking about how a couple throws that he made to Jefferson probably would not have been caught. And he said maybe even would have been caught by the other team if Jefferson wasn't the last.

wide receiver. That's where you could get case Keenamy. So I don't want to write that off either because Keenum wasn't very accurate and, you know, had his ups and downs in 2017, but they had a great defense and you just threw the ball up to the top receivers. So it's not, it's not impossible that that could end up happening, that they could be a really, really good team on a week to week basis with a very much a game managing Carson Wentz. A man says, forgot about the revenge game for Carson. You know, KOC said today, like, well, he has played for a lot of teams since, which I think is a fair comment.

Like, he's, you know, he's got a revenge game against a bunch of different squads. It's just been so long that I think you probably don't feel that anymore. I mean, it's not the same coaching staff. It is the same. Well, okay, it is the same general manager, though. So maybe you have that. Yeah, I could buy that because it is the same general manager that drafted Jalen Hertz to move on from Carson Wentz. And also, if Carson's got a beef, it's that they kind of tanked on him, tore the roster down,

and then another quarterback got to benefit from the tearing down and the rebuilding with all the assets that they got from tearing down. And that's how Jalen Hertz got here. in a lot of ways is that they tanked and they were bad for a couple years and then they ended up bouncing back. They didn't completely go all the way of the bottom and win one game, but they just pulled him from a game to lose on purpose at the end of Doug Peterson's tenure there and clearly we're not looking for to fight for every inch at the end of some of those seasons. And at one point, I remember Carson Wentz was throwing to some backup former quarterback

or something wide receivers like a fifth wide receiver on the roster so if there's anything for him to be revengy about it's probably the way that it ended there then they trade him to the indianapolis colts and move on to hertz then hurts gets to benefit from having this amazing roster and if you go quarterback for quarterback i think a lot of hurts overall so i you know hurts is the better quarterback of the two but he also it's very obvious has that in his pocket and that they've been an amazing offensive line, an amazing running game, awesome first round wide receiver,

and Devante Smith, a guy they trade a first round pick for in A.J. Brown. They've had good tight ends. So if Carson Wentz had kept playing for them, and they just sort of fought their way through his contract and all that, they probably can't build quite the roster because of his contract, but maybe it would have been different. Maybe he would have been the one leading them to a lot of success.

So I, okay, you, you're, talked me into it. You talked me into Carson Palmer revenge game. Stephen, why don't we give Walter Rouse a chance over school? School has regressed from where he was in Tampa and Rouse hasn't looked bad. Can't be any worse than school. I like where Walter Rouse has been at the last couple of weeks when he's gotten in. I think he's done a good job. I think the experience is probably a factor there that maybe they would lean on heavier than us. So so far, yeah, Rouse has taken 48 snaps. I thought he was excellent.

He's taken 48 snaps and he's allowed two pressures. That's a pretty good rate. His pass blocking grade by PFF is 70.1. And that was really his specialty coming out of college. And against Cleveland, you know, with that team, how good they are to allow one pressure in the biggest moments of that game, 23 snaps at right tackle, 18 of them, or 24, I'm sorry. you know, 23 at right tackle and then randomly won it left tackle. 18 pass blocking reps, one pressure allowed against that team was very good.

Now, I've liked where Rouse is at. I mean, I think early in training camp, I was a little bit shaky on where they were going to use him and what they were going to do with him because they had Logan Brown playing the left tackle and then something happened there where they just fell out of love with him. And Rouse sort of took the reins and then has played well. when he's gotten in it's very very small sample size but his pass blocking ability has matched up with what we saw previously so i i don't disagree with you it just might be a like this guy knows the offense more i mean some we've ran into this sometimes before where the guy that's

performing a little bit better doesn't get the opportunity it might be something that we just don't understand uh because i tend to agree that it feels like they're kind of going with the sure thing that isn't quite as good. School hung on for dear life. I will give them that against Cleveland. But, yeah, no, I like the way Rouse has looked. Can they use Rouse as a 6th O-Line guy? So that's something they haven't really done,

and I want them to do. I want them to do that is put in Josh Oliver and a 6th offensive lineman and hand the ball to Jordan Mason over and over again and see what happens. Hey, Philadelphia, can you stop this or whoever? Hey, Chargers, can you stop this? Because, you know, who's doing it is Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is putting in six offensive linemen all the time. And teams just don't know what to do with it. And I was watching that Carolina game the other day where they kept handing to Rico Dowdell, they got tight ends that are very good blockers. And they're just moving bodies. And I know it was Dallas, but they're just moving bodies. And it's, I think it's a cheat code in the NFL right now to use six offensive linemen or huge tight ends.

KFT says Vikings were three and two against teams with winning records last year. They feast off beating bad teams. I question how good they are. The online hasn't been good. The next few weeks we'll tell at all. Yeah, I mean, so I agree with how good are they really when you look at two of their wins come against Cincinnati and Cleveland. And the other one against a winning team in Chicago that they were down all the way until the end. So not a mind-blowing win.

When they've lost, they've, they've really truly lost. I mean, they've been outplayed by Atlanta, outplayed by Pittsburgh. So that those were two very legit losses, not, oh, well, you had a bad break or something. And they weren't winning most of the Cleveland game. They're playing from behind for a lot of the Cleveland game. They're playing from behind the entire Chicago game. Like, those are not great indicators. On the other side of the coin there, they have been playing with half a team.

I mean, four backup offensive linemen at one point is just not like really having the full version of the Minnesota Vikings, not having Van Ginkle and Cashman is not, or Harrison Smith out there. It's just not the full version, which I thought there was a little concern from Flores about getting Harrison Smith back up to 100%. He just might not this year. He might just end up being totally rotational. But how good they really are, you're going to, you're absolutely right. you are going to find out in the next three weeks. We'll tell you everything because it's three good teams, but they're not perfect and they're somewhat beatable.

But that didn't quite answer the Fanduil question of the day, my friend, which is what do you need to see the next two games to believe that the plus 950 Minnesota Vikings to win the north can actually get there. That is the question. But I think that we don't really know how good they are. let's see KFT said when school moved to the left side

he was good but before that he had been awful you know it just has not looked like anything except for very replacement level tackle play and what they need from school is to not have those fast losses and I think that that's where David Kessenberry and Rashid Hill or Rashad Hill sorry Rashad I covered Rashad way too long to call him

Rashad Hill, a really, really nice guy, one of the all-time awesome dudes in the NFL, Rashad Hill. What he was good at was just hanging on for dear life, not losing fast. If you can keep the guy in front of you for three seconds, then you're probably going to be okay, but school had too many just looking like a turnstile. And that's where I think Rouse has been a little bit better. Is Rouse ready to play the entire season that the rest of the year if they need him to? Or I should say entire games, if they need him to, maybe they don't think that.

He shouldn't have to play the rest of the season. I just mean the like full games. Could he come in and play as opposed to, hey, 18 snaps? But I mean, at this point, he's had two years to develop all of last year and then this off season and has gotten into games. So maybe there might be more confidence. in him. I think that just school is the veteran player who understands the offense extremely well. And sometimes coaches overvalue that overvalue the, hey, this guy, this veteran gets it

versus the younger player who is more gifted. At that position, it's really a talent type of position. Rob says Tyler Batty, full practice, maybe put him in for his size. We'll see about Tyler Batty. Another guy that needs to get up to 100 percent missed a lot of time. undrafted free agent is more though of a true kind of outside linebacker edge rusher type moved inside a little bit throughout the summer but he's got some size that could make a difference but what you're talking about is exactly why I think it's not crazy to look at that outside linebacker position as a spot where you could potentially make a trade for somebody if it's an Anthony Jennings, and they're just going to get rid of him anyway, then, you know, maybe you're

thinking about, okay, well, you know, you're not going to do anything with that guy. But there were a couple Patriots on the list. I think that those guys might be off the list. We'll see. Kyle Dugger was also mentioned. Those guys might be off the list because the Patriots are just good. They get another big win this week, and they're in that competition. So they might not trade anyone.

a skywalking mccarthy wants geoffrey simmons or madabike from the ravens i think he's hurt i think he's hurt but geoffrey simmons sounds like geoffrey simmons doesn't want to go anywhere maybe he's just the family type of thing because i don't know why if you're geoffrey simmons you would not want to be traded but he said that i think a few times uh dante a breeze hall jordan mason combo would be amazing that's that's what i'm saying if if aaron jones is out for a really long time and there's a running back available for not very much, you know, let's say fifth round pick or whatever. I don't know offhand what picks they have.

I haven't looked at that since the Thielen trade, but whatever it might be, you know, a couple draft picks to get Brees Hall because the Jets know he's not going to resign there and they're a mess and they should be trading away everything. I'm in on that. Weapons. I'm always in on weapons. You know, remember when the Eagles. since they're playing the Eagles this week.

Remember when they traded for Jay Ajay? And we were all like, huh? And then, yeah, that turned out to be a pretty good idea. Deplorable Neanderthal, if they win the next two games without another injury, I'm convinced, oh, you're responding to someone else, convinced of what? Sorry, I missed what you were responding to. Maybe convinced that they can be good? Maybe it's that.

Rob's says Breeshall for a $3 million cap hit in future deal is an interesting idea. Running back would be on the draft list for 25, 26, or 26 or 27 anyway. Yeah, maybe. I mean, I think Breeze Hall is an incredible talent who has just been on a horrible, horrible team. And it really depends on Jones's injury. We haven't gotten any sort of update on that. When he's going to come off, I are. I mean, it seems very serious with that hamstring.

Deplorable Neanderthal on the Fandul question of the day, if they win the next two games without another starter injury. Oh, okay, okay, okay. I get you. I misread or you had to retype that answer. Gotcha. If they win the next two games. If, look, yeah, if they win the next two games with Carson Wentz starting,

then they're in the mix and they've got a chance. And then they've got a very tough decision of whether to play J.J. McCarthy against the lines or not. that will at least give them the option of giving McCarthy as much time as he needs to really get practice in. And that's a plus. And then even, gosh, even if you're halfway through a game and Carson Wentz is struggling, you could go to J.J. McCarthy at that point. KFT, if they go three and two over the next five games, they might make the playoffs. I still think the Lions are the team to beat.

We don't seem to match up with them very well. Historically, that is true. I do wonder about their secondary if it continues to be this banged up if Jefferson Addison gives you a chance because they've been in so many close games. KFT, what happened to the positive Okuda talk? I thought they thought he was going to be really good. He hasn't played a lot of snaps.

So, I mean, there's a couple of things that have happened with this, secondary that raise an eyebrow. So he's only played 71 snaps. We don't have much of a sample size there of his performance. But I mean, how much is Mackay Blackman played for Indianapolis? I kind of think it's a lot, isn't it? There's been a few things. Yeah, okay, he's played. Yeah, no, he's played a lot. 277 snaps and doesn't have a great coverage grade, 50 coverage grade. He does have two interceptions, but he's allowed. 17 for 24 for 271 yards. So that's kind of a lot.

And overall has been a decent tackler as we knew that Mackay Blackman could be. Still that one, he never looked quite the same in practice. So I get that part of it. But we were all looking for, are they going to replace him? Is there another corner? They get Fabian Moreau, who's a good veteran or an average veteran who's been around. But that's why the cornerback position would still be a little on my race. I mean, they must have known something about Mackay Blackman that we don't and never said it because otherwise it just seemed odd that they would trade that guy away when he could have been a backup nickel, even if he's not at his absolute best, still someone who knows the defense and can play.

That one is a little bit actually might be even more eyebrow raising of what happened there than Harrison Phillips. I think I know what happened with Harrison Phillips, which is that Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez played better. and I ran across a real interesting stat from yesterday over at purple insider dot football every day the newsletter comes out lots of stuff over there let's see I had this stat yesterday about yards after contact yeah so how about this because we've talked a lot about the defensive tackles the Vikings are seventh in terms of yards before contact for the opposing running backs in a good way so that means that

they are making contact in terms of how many yards the running the opposing running back goes until they make contact. So that's the front seven, at least getting to that player. But then when it comes to yards after contact, which means broken tackles, they're 27th. So they're getting their hands on guys pretty quickly and stuffing enough gaps and getting guys to the right spots and then they're just not tackling them. To me, that's much more of a safeties and linebackers stat. I think Theo Jackson has struggled with coming downhill and making tackles. I think that Van Ginkle being out and Cashman being out is absolutely enormous.

And that's what's caused a lot of the problems there. But just the point being that with Harrison Phillips, I understood it. I watched practice. I saw how good Redmond was. I saw how good Rodriguez was. All right, you trade him away if you're not going to play him as much. Blackman was the one where all summer it's something just didn't look right. And he's not played that well, but, uh, for Indianapolis, but he's certainly

played a lot. Uh, Oak Dog says, uh, I think we would need to see four sacks per game and one and a half turnovers, maybe even more from the Vikings defense. Oh, the Fandul question of the day to believe that they can win the division. What you're talking about is you need to see absolutely dominant defense, not just good defense, phenomenal defense. That's what you're you're looking for i agree with that i think that's right uh skywalking mccarthy draft a quarterback and have a three-way competition let's not go all the way to next year's draft let's just see if he plays in two weeks let's get there first let's just get there first

that we don't have to get to uh the next year's draft just yet i i did kind of figure that even answering the Brosmer next year QB competition question would open the door for that. But we can't, we can't really get very far down the line until we know what he's going to do when he returns, if he returns. Then we can start to figure it out. The one thing that we all have in common, so I'm much more patient on this. I've got nowhere to be. I'll be here every day, no matter what happens.

But I know a lot of you have put so much heart and soul into this team and you want nothing more than the franchise quarterback you want to see him. But one thing that we do know is that we don't know. We just, none of us can ever predict what's going to happen next with a situation like this. So we're all going to have to just wait and telling you to wait after you've waited a really long time, including all of last year, all of this summer. I saw the response to my training camp coverage and how much you guys consumed that and enjoyed that. that and that was about the excitement for the young franchise quarterback and then having me sit here and be like, guys, you have to wait longer. It's okay. I, that I totally get where

the frustration would lie. Stevens says, I think Brosmer would perform well in a West Coast system like Shanahan's accurate, but lacking high-end arm talent. I agree with that. Mac Jones. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could see that comparison. I could see that comparison. Let's just call you Bluntz, says Fandul. answer get better at stopping the run yep and that's where those guys coming back could be huge they can't get run over they cannot get run over against philly and against the chargers and against the lions and have any chance to win this division uh man says is uh there are world cars and wents gets better um but yes and no like there there's no world where carson wence

becomes a better quarterback he is who he is the flaws are the flaws the flaws the strengths are the strengths. There is a world where he plays good football. Philadelphia doesn't have good corners. They don't have the best outside pass rush, edge rushing pass rush. The Chargers have not been a great defense. I could check on how good they've been, but I don't think they've been a great defense. I think they've been okay, right?

Chargers, let's see, they have been, okay, 13th in points allowed right now. so just okay as a defense. The Lions have not been a good defense when they've had to play anyone reasonable. So could Carson Wentz these next two games play better than he did the first two? Yeah, he could. With these receivers, that is 100% possible. Let's see, Tronegeist is thinking we could get offensive tackle depth,

linebacker depth, and a run-stopping DT for trade possibilities. I was having trouble finding that, the run-stopping DT. I think they're okay with linebacker depth at the moment. It's just not a lot of guys who are going to be better than Eric Wilson. Like, he's a premier backup linebacker. It's just the drop-off from Cashman, he's an awesome player, is pretty big. Tackle depth, I think that's Rouse if they don't like where it goes with Justin's school.

Again, not many tackles are going to be out there. We could just trade for them. could be a center if they don't like what happens here. Could be the, some of you brought up a couple of different players, the guy from Cleveland, their center. I mean, Cleveland should be looking to trade. Two dog dad, they have beaten the Eagles since they lost to them. They've beaten them twice.

2018 and 2019, I was there for both. Lindvald Joseph intercepted the pass, ran it back for a touchdown. One of the craziest things I've ever seen. also wore a pink suit after the game. And in 2019, that was one of Kirk's best games. That actually might have been Kirk Cousin's best game he ever played as a Minnesota Viking 2019 against the Philadelphia Eagles. They faked a field goal at the end of the half.

And I think that their kicker through an interception or something, it was brutal. Maybe it wasn't a pick. Maybe it was just an incompletion. But Philly could have just, you know, put another three points on the board and tried to get cute and faked a field goal and it was absurd. so but they couldn't stop anything they were terrified of delvin cook that day and digs had a massive massive day against philly 2019 the last couple times they played them not so much not so in the k o c o'c era it hasn't not gone super great uh rob says love the way rouse is developing seems

very strong yeah i think that uh he has a basketball background and that's been good for him there's a natural athleticism to Rouse that is impressive. And he's another guy, letting people develop is a good thing. Letting people develop is a good thing. And I think that he's done that. Brian says, to take this further, who has the entire North played? We're all fake. Well, the win for Chicago was pretty big the other day against Washington.

That might be the best win that we've seen from any NFC North team this year. except for when the Packers beat the Lions. So, yeah, the Packers beating the Lions is a good win. And then the win against Washington for Chicago was kind of goofy. But, you know, if your team did it, you'd celebrate every part of it. So you got to give them credit for them or for that. Trona guy with the Fandul question. We need to see the run defense step up, third down conversions, less penalty.

The penalties have been out of control. Yeah, that's 100% true. can't have fumbles, can't have big mistakes. Those are things where it's not really actionable. It's not really like they should do this. It's just stop doing that. Stop penaltying. Stop fumbling.

But there's not really like a strategic thing that you could do. A couple years ago it was the pool toys or whatever, but I don't know if that really did anything. But when you're talking about the run defense, it'll really be tested these next couple weeks. And they know it's not like Brian Flores was like, what? Run defense.

Now, the other day, they said that was a major focus of the buy week. So figuring that out is something that they're going to be looking to do against Philadelphia. I just think it's, I just think it's players. I think it's players. They just need their guys right. Let's see.

Just the Super Bowl, Vikes says, you think if the Vikings didn't bring back Fran Tarkaten when he left the Giants, that if the Vikings kept Joe Cap, they would have a Super Bowl ring. I actually think that if, well, considering that Joe Cap played for New England after that and had a horrendous season, I'm going to say that the answer is probably not that there was regression on the way, that it was a Case Keenum-like season and it was never going to be repeated ever again.

Every ball that he wobbled through the air turned into a touchdown. it was just magical and these Vikings fans from the back in the day always talk about how wonderful that season was. I don't know if it was ever going to be repeated again though to put him in that position. Maybe he just, I mean, when you look at their quarterback play after that in the early 70s, maybe he could have just been the 15th best quarterback in the league and still won a Super Bowl, but I'm not sure. I always think about just the trade of Tarkinton and how he missed those elite defenses that would have been. been the all-timers.

And when he came back, they were still great, but they weren't quite as on the same level as when he was away. And they weren't able to win after Joe Cap. So, you know, typical Vikings history is you kind of just missed by a little bit. If they had kept Targetton, then they probably get a couple of Super Bowls back then. But the ifs and butts are the Vikings entire history. Uh, Jacob with a call back to the summer here to defend my fellow truck drivers, uh, from Matthew's takes. That, that means you've been watching a lot, Jacob, because that is a call back to the summer where

people thought I didn't like truck drivers for some reason. I can't remember exactly what happened, but, uh, we're very pro truck driver here on the show. Well, I mean, a lot of, I mean, if you're a truck driver, you must listen to a lot of podcasts, right? So, uh, so those are my people. Uh, let's see, Jacob adds to that with JJ taking as much, okay, with JJ taking as much time as he's needed before starting again, easy to overreact, but just got to let people develop at their own pace. That I agree. That I agree. That's where you can't force it.

J.J. McCarthy is only going to, as you said, be able to develop as fast as he can. Just because you set up your timeline hoping that he was going to be totally ready doesn't mean he's going to be. So if it's only a couple more weeks, then that's perfectly fine. If it's not this weekend, which it doesn't look like it's going to be, that's perfectly fine. And it's not going to ruin his career and it's not going to ruin the franchise because

here's the thing about the timeline. Here's the thing about the window. It's a like, it's very true. And I've dedicated so much of my career covering this team to the window. And it's here. So you would think that I would be the one saying, oh my gosh, you have to play him or the window. but next year there's a lot of these same people on the team and then you start to get to a point

after that where you're creating more cap space guys are leaving contracts are coming up and you can do a lot of the same stuff and when you do sign a quarterback to an extension the first couple years of that extension as you've seen from a Jalen Hertz and theirs is ridiculous the way they set it up but still are manageable they're still manageable so you you It's not like, oh, my gosh, if JJ develops in 2025, the franchise goes into Lake Minnetonka. Like, it's not what's going to happen here, more likely than not, is it will remain stable with a lot of franchise type players that they have who are still in their primes and then adding in and building other guys.

They need to hit on some draft picks. You guys have mentioned that in the past, but it's, it is absolutely true. They need to hit on some draft picks to make this work. I think Jackson is headed that way. Turner can play. It's just what the ceiling is. Having him out there, he's not lost. He's not clueless. He's not awful. It's just, where's this going to go from here? I think he's had an okay start to the season. There's been some flashes. But long term, you're talking about much more with McCarthy of three or four years into the future before he would get paid and not just,

not just, hey, it needs to happen right now. Hunter says the Mackay Blackman thing is strange, even with a somewhat poor performance. Yeah, because that was somebody that they drafted. I just wonder if there was something that didn't gel right with them or something that they saw physically that really concerned them. And he was not playing the same type of football. But to basically choose Dwight McLeathern over him and then add Fabian Moreau at the back end,

that's a little on the light side. So the corner is on my list. Aaron's Pace is in helping that stat. Oh, yeah. I mean, Ivan Pace is he's just not built for playing with guys like Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen in front of him. He's built for playing with guys like Harrison Phillips and Jonathan Bullard in front of him. And it's really impacted his performance, I think.

Eric says, how do we stop the tush push? foe pray get the refs to call penalties on it i don't know i have changed my mind a little bit on the tush push i mean so the tush push i think if your team was doing it you would love it and you would be like ha ha rest of the league right and there's nothing illegal about it they line up in the right formation and they cuby sneak i've always been very cuby sneak because the pro sneak the statistics are really good on it there aren't too many quarterback injuries and tom brady used to convert 90% also one of my favorite moments of my reporting career happened well doing a story about cuby sneaks so the patriots had this absurd stat about their success cuby sneak they

actually what they did was they would spread it out so they would take four receivers and they'd put him out with Tom Brady and empty, so they'd have nobody in the box and then he'd just sneak it up the middle. It's kind of the opposite of the tush push. So we used to do these conference calls with the opposing head coach every week. We would get on the phone and they would get on their phone and we would just ask them questions and it was insightful sometimes, extremely boring other times, and eventually they just stopped doing it because it was probably taking up more time than it was worth. But that's what they used to do. So when the Vikings played the Patriots in 2018, I was working on a story about the QB sneak in the NFL, how successful it was, how the Patriots were the kings of it.

And we got on the conference call with Belichick. And I asked Belichick, I said, you know, I don't know if you know this bill, but your team has the best QB sneak success percentage, like, ever. I mean, whatever the statistics were about Tom Brady and QB Sneaks. so why is that you think like what's the key to cuby sneaks and i there's a long pause like three or four seconds of silence nobody says anything we're just looking at each other and he just goes execution that's it's all he said and i loved putting that in my story he just said execution that that was the key to the cubby sneak and he's right so i've always when I see a QB sneak, I think of that.

And I think, what a, it's a great play. Third and one, don't mess around. Just jam it up the middle and usually you'll get the first down, right? And when Philadelphia did it with such success, but nobody else could. I thought, well, this play is it cheating. It's not a cheat code. It's just one team is good at it because probably their quarterback can like lift a 18 wheeler over his head.

He's so freaking strong. And that's probably why they're able to do it. he's also short, but he's super strong. So maybe there's something to that whole thing. But now that I see that the referees cannot spot the ball and they can't even see when guys are jumping before the defense and false starting, that's where I think, all right, maybe something needs to be done here. But even if they don't have, if they're not pushing hurts, it's just a QB sneak.

So couldn't you still do the same things with the QB sneak? even if they ban it, won't they just run a QB sneak and not push his butt? Eric says, how are we going to stop Barclay? Barclay's been so poor. I mean, this is going to be a great test for them because they really are not a great run blocking team right now. In terms of PFF run blocking grade, where is Philadelphia? They're not.

I don't think they're that high. They're 16th. They've been a very average run blocking team. And any time, so last year was Saquan, he had, a million 80-yard runs. Anytime that happens, you're just asking for a regression. There's just been a lot of regression. Mel Kill says concerns that the young quarterback can't stay healthy.

Very big. Very, very big. Very big concern. And that's why you can't rush. Because we've seen this happen with Trey Lance. We've seen it happen with Anthony Richardson, guys that were project quarterbacks, which I think would fall under the category of McCarthy,

that get pushed out there, they don't see things or they don't have technically locked in. I mean, this happened to Richardson in the preseason. They take big hits and they end up getting hurt or they have to scramble a lot

and they get hurt scrambling. So that that is a major concern, yes. Norse force has got to fly over the top like Troy Palamo to stop the tush push. There really hasn't been anything that anyone has been able to do. I guess my one thing would be hey, don't let him get to third and one.

If you don't let him get to third and one, then you're fine. But if you let him get to third and one, then you're in trouble. Marauder says, felt it should play for Speedy. He is the future. I'm sure he can match speedy's 21 yards a game. I think Jalen Naylor has been much better than you think. When I watch the tape back, I see one, he's done a great job blocking. He's been open a lot, and quarterbacks haven't found him.

I mean, I truly think he's actually had a pretty good year. And it's just evidence that sometimes fantasy stats aren't always the truth. I think Naylor's played his best football, even though he hasn't caught too many of those passes. And he had a great catch down field last week that got washed out by a holding. Brandon says if JJ is still hurt, will he be QB2? That I don't know. I'm guessing that Brosmer would be QB2 if they don't feel like the. ankle is ready to go. That would be my guess.

Dustin says way back on the stream, but I don't know if I want JJ being heavily influenced by Wentz. Totally disagree, my man. Carson Wentz is a seasoned veteran quarterback who understands everything there is to know about the NFL. Now, that doesn't mean Carson Wentz to be that guy and have that knowledge and help McCarthy. You have to be awesome yourself. There's a lot of backup quarterbacks throughout history who have been amazing when it comes to being mentors that when they go in the game, they're not flawless. You know, Ryan Fitzpatrick's, the all-time guy, Josh McCown, but the physical talent,

you know, even with Wentz, like accuracy, decision-making, not always the best, but in terms of understanding football, this guy came in here. I mean, this guy came in here a month ago or whatever, a month before the season, learned the whole offense and won a football game. I mean, right away. that's that's impressive uh blinky i personally love donovan's mentality and uh uh going to say this is too early but yeah i mean when it comes to him returning we're going to see as far as him practicing you're right you don't want him to push it too far

they also kind of could really use him so it depends on how stable that wrist is and how they assess the chances of him getting re-injured that would be how they're going to approach that. Him being limited in practice is not the greatest sign. I also would not want to see them have to play Joe Huber against Jalen Carter because that would be very scary. You might have to put in C.J. Ham and line them up behind the guard. Bryant says Philly's 30th and yards per play on offense.

That's bad. No, you're right. Their offense has been bad. It's just been straight up bad. year so far. But it's only a handful of games. And it's very possible that just he just hasn't clicked for them. Last year they were struggling on offensive times and then it clicked and then then, uh-oh. Then they were great.

Jay says, uh, Fandall question, uh, Wentz manages a good game, better offensive line, defensive line play. Uh, also stop Hertz and Barclay. Uh, in terms of winning the next two games, their question is really more of, uh, What do you, oh, I see, no, you're, okay, you're answering it. Yeah, no, you're answering it. Fan dual question of the day was just, what do you need to see in the next two games? Right, you're answering it. So if they stop Barclay and Hertz, then that gives you confidence that they can go forward and stop other teams.

Okay, I buy that. I think the run defense point is really significant here. Okay, so there you go, an hour that wasn't just yelling at each other about the quarterback position. Well done by everyone. I appreciate it very much of the respectful conversation. And you guys have done a very good job of that. So I appreciate it.

That's why I like doing these Q&A live conversations with you guys because it ultimately takes us in a lot of different ways and helps us see what we're talking about a lot better than if I just talk at you. So great stuff from all of you in the comments this evening. Really appreciate that. Tomorrow night, Manny Hill will pick the schedule and man, he's going to have to say who's the quarterback for each game as we pick the schedule.

That will be a good time as well. And also working on an Eagles guest to break down the hardcore elements of the matchup from Philadelphia's angle as well. And then we'll have Andrew Kramer for Friday nights with the hardcore breakdown with him, Andrew of the Star Tribune. So a lot to still come here. and when they do announce a quarterback, well, if they do, if that, if that's what KOC does on Friday, then I'll plan to go live and break down the announcement of the quarterback as well. So I'll have to see how it plays out. Maybe I'll do that anyway.

So thanks again for the great discussion tonight. Really appreciate all of you. And I will catch you very soon tomorrow night. Football.