Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy will NOT start for Vikings vs. Chargers -- is he close??? (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Matthew Coller talks with Vikings fans about the news that Carson Wentz will be back under center against Los Angeles on Thursday night. But did it sound like JJ McCarthy is close? 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 Fandul. Adrian says KOC praised JJ for practicing Friday, saying the missing Thursday was not good. Yeah, just going back to that, the missed practice that's been brought up so many times by KOC. My point is that that week, he had talked about how well he practiced that Friday when he came back. I think that it's only been because he saw the results that he understood what happened better, that in the moment, I think it was a lot harder to understand that missing that Thursday practice, which is a huge practice in the week for NFL teams. But, you know, I think that in hindsight, he saw that and said, well, I don't want to do that

again. That's the way I've interpreted this is some people have interpreted it differently, but I've just interpreted as, okay, we saw what happened when he had a shorter week. We don't want to do that again. And that's why you're not playing him on a Thursday. Blanco says KOC needs to worry about coaching, maybe do a better job of putting people in positions to be successful. That's what separates him from McVeigh.

Yeah, I mean, look, McVeigh is one of the best coaches of all time. I think we can pretty clearly say that right now. It's not, I mean, that's, you could look at 28 other coaches and be like, you're not McVe. But here's a crazy thing that I noticed today. When I was looking at a chart, the internet's got a lot of these of expected points added when Carson Wentz has been in versus his PFF grade. No surprise. He's one of the lower graded quarterbacks in the NFL. And yet their expected points added as a passing game has been like around average since he's been in, which to me that gap tells you even when your quarterback hasn't played well that you're

still able to produce a lot of drives. The Vikings are sixth in explosive plays this year, despite the gestures at everything. Like, I think they put a lot of people in a lot of good positions to succeed. I really do. I mean, you can't tell me that Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison haven't been put in a great position to succeed from Kevin O'Connell. You can't tell me that Sam Darnold wasn't or Kirk Cousins wasn't or even J.J.

McCarthy, you know, in that fourth quarter against Chicago. but then it's always, what always happens is when I don't like the results, I just say the coach did it wrong. I've seen a lot of this. We talked about a little last night about, well, he should have run a lot more against Philly. Their running game was terrible against Philly, 3.8 yards per carry. The EPA wasn't good at all.

I saw that from Sumer Sports today. They were moving the ball through the air with the quarterback. Now, if you're saying second and one specifically, this is always my rule, right? If you're going to complain about when you just make a bro, statement of, well, he just doesn't put people in a position to succeed. Well, who do you mean? Like, we got to be specific here. That second and one, run the ball three times, my dude. Run the ball three freaking times. Don't put it in Carson Wentz's hands. That's why you got Jordan Mason. I'm sure that he might respond with, did you see the way that Jalen Carter was playing?

Did it look like you could just run past him, right? I don't think so. I don't think that you could just run up the middle but still like yes they should have run the ball there that's specifically that situation but the way they were throwing it and moving it through the entire game it made sense to continue to throw the ball the way that they did so all these things are kind of game to game specific um bigger picture like you got to kind of show your work of what what is it specifically that we're talking about because i think that getting if they could get get a three and two record with a backup quarterback in. That's about as good as you could possibly do.

That doesn't mean I think every call is right. Or, wow, like, what a flawless play caller. He's better than McVeigh. Like, I don't think that. I just feel like in this last game, the most obvious answer was that they move the ball extremely well. They threw the ball, the open receivers all day long. You know, Jefferson gets 40 yards down the sideline.

Addison's getting 30 yards down the sideline wide open. Addison was open on every route that he ran, that they were succeeding in doing that. Finish a drive. Man, finish a drive. Like, that's what they needed to do. I mean, they needed to catch a fade pass. They needed to not get a holding penalty, even though it wasn't really a hold. They needed to have Wentz make better throws and hit Hawkinson in the numbers.

You know, there's a lot of things that happened there. So let's see. Rob says, remember when the Cardinals started six. snow and miss the playoffs, the darn old Jones and JJ stories might look different. Yeah, no, that's true. Seattle's a good team. I don't think they're going anywhere. I could see Indianapolis maybe drifting back a little bit, but I think with the amount of talent that they've put around Daniel Jones, probably can protect him enough. That's more of a case Keenham situation, I think. And Jonathan Taylor is the real freaking deal. That guy is

unbelievable. And he has been forever. So that, I don't think that those teams are going to off quite that way. But your point, Rob, is that there's a long way to go here. There is a very long way to go here before we decide, hey, you should have done this. You should have done that with the quarterback situation. But I am not shocked that Sam Darnold's good. And if I recall, and maybe I'm being the Fox guy, I recall saying that maybe it wasn't the craziest thing of all time to let J.J. McCarthy develop for another year behind Darnold. But But that is, it's not to be determined yet. It is truly not to be determined how to make that comparison.

We need another 10 starts from J.J. McCarthy to at least have a sense for it. War Eagle says, I'm not a quarterback whisper, but if you look at how JJ played in college and his physical style that doesn't translate to the NFL starter, research similar quarterbacks to J.J. busted 11 and 3 did not. Well, I mean, I'm not sure. I mean, that seems a little arbitrary of, so let me, let me like back you and also disagree with you in some way, like similar quarterbacks, like in what way? So it seems very arbitrary to just say, well, like, this guy was like him.

Now, here's my research on that was I looked up all the quarterbacks who threw less than a thousand passes, or I think maybe I cut it off at 800 because he had 717. And the commonality there was not that they all busted. Some did, some didn't. Like Mitch Trubisky didn't work out. Alex Smith did. And if you tell me, Alex Smith didn't work out,

go look at his career a little bit closer. That guy won a lot, a lot, a lot of football games and came very close many times. It's just that he kind of got known for not being an aggressive quarterback. So, of course, people just decided,

because the world has to just be sucks or great. Like, those are the only two options, but I tend to think it's more complex than that. So anyway, the point is that, you know, Alex Smith, Ryan Tannahill,

these were quarterbacks that ultimately worked out and won a lot of football games that didn't throw many passes in college, but they did so after years of development or under the right circumstances. And that's where J.J. McCarthy needs a lot of development fast, but he, you know, he also needs the right circumstance, which I think he has. And that's where some of those quarterbacks who had less passes did work out. And I think that's the bet that they were making here. but here like when we think about the plan when we think about the plan it was to draft mccarthy 10th overall and to develop him behind the scenes for an entire year and be ready to start in 2025 that plan was immediately blown up by a meniscus so right from the outset your plan

of development behind the scenes running scout team and working on technique every single day actually throwing a football not strapping on VR goggles and being like yeah i can see it i don't know if that stuff works at all. I mean, some guys say it does, but I'm not sure. Here's what I know is a lot better. If I put on VR goggles and with my golf swing and just pretended like this, I'm not getting better as much as I am on the driving range. I know that. So that was blown up and there's nothing anybody could do about that. And then here, the idea was this year to fight through the ups and downs with great receivers, great offensive line. Look, the starting five looked awesome, but they haven't been able to use it.

And it was also that when the quarterback has bumps along the way, the defense will bail them out with turnovers, with sacks. They haven't done that either. So the plans that made sense, in theory, have not worked out in practice. Trade Naler. Yeah, you know, if they go to three and four, that's a good one. I was having trouble thinking of who would be the guy to trade. I think some other team could make a lot more of Jalen Naylor.

I've been watching a lot of tape of this offense and seeing Jalen Naylor do a ton of good things and thinking like this is the best version of this guy we've seen and he's got like no catches to go with it. I would if some other team, not that they do this, asked me or was listening to the podcast thinking about trading for Jalen Naylor, I'd say, do it. I think this kid, I think this kid is really improved. Is he a kid anymore? this gentleman has really improved and yet just can't get the football thrown his way for whatever reason. So he had a couple catches last week. I just think Naylor's a good name, but you're not, I mean, you're not getting much, but you'd like to see Felton move up into that spot.

I thought Felton developed throughout the off season, but if you're three and four, like play Thielen, mix him in with Ty Felton and just go from there because you're probably not bringing back Jalen Naylor. Although the thing that you have to work through, and I know, you guys make fun of me for this. But what you have to work through is if someone pays Jalen Naylor a significant amount of money, you get the comp pick. So you've got to do better than the comp pick, that kind of thing. War Eagle says people should not criticize Wentz.

They need to criticize Quasi and KOC for going into the season with JJ and Wentz as your only two quarterback options. See, I don't agree with that because Carson Wentz is a great backup quarterback. Find me a backup quarterback in the league with that kind of resume. What is there three of them? I mean, Teddy's in Tampa Bay. So he's a pretty good backup, assuming he could still play. Tyrod Taylor is a pretty good backup.

How many backups in the league can do this? Not that many. I mean, I'm not saying he's been marvelous, but just like win games and have a resume like this. And going into the season with the guy you drafted 10th overall to be your franchise quarterback and who impressed you. I mean, it doesn't seem all that crazy. Aaron says, how is,

Grinard living up to preseason hype. So yeah, that, that was something we talked about a lot that Jonathan Grinard had had a tremendous, tremendous training camp. And he was, I mean, just probably the best player on the field. Kind of the crazy thing about Grinard. So right now, this ratio of his of pressures to sacks, I mean, he has 26 pressures, which is 17th in the league, that's one behind Miles Garrett. And it's tied with. Brian Burns, and it's ahead of Max Crosby and DeNeal Hunter. So that's who you're talking about there. And I can look for some more detail here, like pass rush win rate and things like that.

But he's got the same number of pressures as numerous elite guys just hasn't been able to finish it. And I think a major part of that is pretty simply the fact that they've played some quarterbacks who have been able to escape. Granard is 16th right now on pass rush win rate, which puts him right next to Joe ebosa so 16th out of let me see how many 16th out of i'm still scrolling 116 so he's 16th out of 116 edge rushers in pass rush win rate i mean it should click it should click for jonathan granard like yeah he doesn't have the sack numbers but this is this is why we use that advanced statistics so we could be like a little sharper here now he's got to finish and he's got to make

set like if you if you get a gazillion pressures and no sack then look, it's not the same. Sacks are game-changing plays. But this means to me that Grinard is playing really well and is getting the pressure that Jalen Hertz is escaping and Aaron Rogers getting the ball out quickly and that kind of thing. We may see that again from Justin Herber. But I think as far as the process goes for him,

he is winning as much as he was supposed to win. He just has to finish some of those plays. War Eagle, Quasi likes to sign free agents who have injury issues and guess what happens, they get injured, Davenport, Zadarius. Zadarius played the whole season. Cashman played the whole season last year, except for a

couple games, Andrew Van Ginkle played the whole season. Now, I mean, that just feels like kind of look, I like on some level I get where you're saying and I agree with, like, you need to have a backup plan for Ryan Kelly because he had been hurt so much. Now, he also had played like

700 snaps last year. So, that's a bad break. I mean, Davenport, it was like a one-year contract for no money. So I'm not sure we really throw that one in there. Aaron Jones played 17 games last year. It's pretty easy to go back and say it now.

Cashman's been healthy and I think hasn't had this type of issue for years. Andrew Van Ginkle played the whole season last year was a second team all pro. So I think that worked out pretty well. But you're right. It is a thing. that you're taking a risk on. And there's a range of outcomes with everything. And what they've done with players with injuries in the past is the range of outcomes,

the high end is higher than if you just sign a bunch of average guys for reasonable money who have good health. Hey, you're a healthy guy at age 27, but you're a free agent because your team didn't really want you that much. So let's pay you. Okay, well, that's probably fine. But what's the high end of that? The high end of Ryan Kelly was that it was like all pro caliber type of play or a pro bowl caliber type of play.

We saw the high end of Van Ginkle. We've seen the high end of Cashman. But the low end is that they get hurt. I also think a lot of people can get hurt. Dilly with the huge super chat. I'm sorry Dilly that it took me so long to get to this. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

And all of the support you guys give me. Really, really appreciate it. But just watching is enough. I try to answer as many questions as I can, but if you do want to throw in a super chat, I really, really, really appreciate that. Folks, this year is the year that I actually get my holiday shopping going early for all of my friends and family, and there's only one place on the internet that's going to help me best.

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safety effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information. So Dilley says all for keeping Addison on the team. Don't think people realize how important it is when you have really good wide receiver number two. But what would it be worth to trade Addison? So I've been mostly out on the idea of trading Addison because I agree with you that just look at Sunday. I mean, the guy is extremely good. As far as headaches go, I don't want to give him a free pass on anything, including whatever it was that happened in London. And it's as concerning as everybody thinks it is that there would be another strike against someone who already was suspended.

I don't think he's a bad teammate, which matters to this entire equation. If they were trading him, you're asking for no less than a, at least one first round pick, but probably more than that. First round plus, even with his issues, receivers are so valuable. There's so many of them around the league who are coming up short, so many quarterbacks. I mean, look at Buffalo. I mean, you can't trade him for anything less than you got for Stefan Diggs.

I mean, Buffalo is just desperate. Like, they've drafted Keon Coleman. He's not any good. They're leaning on, you know, Khalil Shakir, who's like a screen pass guy. Curtis Samuel, who just hasn't been really a great NFL player. I mean, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of desperate teams who could really use Jordan Addison. So you're starting with a first round pick, but it's probably even more than that. Rache says, Darnold worked very hard for a long time to get better.

He worked with Josh Allen's trainer. Is that Jordan Palmer? Is that his name? It was a matter of time before that hard work started to show. He's too talented. Yeah, I mean, the thing with Darnold. Every box that you want to check, and I heard this just talking with people last night about in Seattle, how impressed they are with his professionalism, his work ethic, all those things. With Sam Darnold, like, you're just not, look, he didn't play well in two huge games.

It was a massive disappointment. I was there. I spent a lot of my money to go to Glendale, Arizona to cover a terrible football game. But I couldn't have been more impressed with Sam Darnold, the way that he developed. himself over the years. You talk about working with the quarterback trainer. You really have to develop yourself. And I thought that too much credit, look, I mean,

O'Connell deserved coach of the year. It was a phenomenal job. But sometimes people acted like, oh, O'Connell did it. Like, no, Darnold did it. Like, I mean, the offense was perfect for him. And the receivers were perfect for him, but he made those throws.

And I felt like last year so much attention went to, oh, it must just be the coach that, like, let's not forget that this guy is supremely. talented, as you said. I think he still has his flaws. Those flaws will probably still get him at some point. But it's been enjoyable to see how he's playing that I don't think any Viking fan should ever have a bad word to say about Sam Darnold in the way that he handled himself last year because the expectation for the team was super low. And they ended up with a top 10 offense that gave them a chance to be in those big games. So, you know, I, I think it does.

really speak to, speak to him and his personality of how much he's been able to improve, his work ethic. Jay, what is your thoughts to win with Wentz on Thursday? That's a good question, Jay. So I think with, in order to win on Thursday, we've talked a lot about, hey, sticking with the run and all that. The chargers are terrible, terrible against the run, absolutely terrible. They got steamrolled last week by the Colts.

The other thing is with the chargers, their linebackers are brutal. They're awful. They can't really pressure the quarterback, but they're really, really bad at the linebacker position. They have good corners, but I don't think those corners can cover Jefferson and Addison. What they do is they play a ton of zone. So I think if you're Kevin O'Connell, what you're looking to do here is to get that play action game going. If there was one thing that did work for them last week, they did have a lot of play action success. and I also think underneath.

Like I asked Justin Jefferson about today about those underneath passes to him and like how he likes being able to get the ball in his hands and yards after catch. Like he wants to be that guy. For Wentz, I think it's absolutely needed to have a lot of those plays in there that if there was one criticism and you're playing from behind, so I have a trouble with this. But it's always that, hey, look, you're out of shotgun. They got a big mismatch.

and you're asking him to read the field and go through progressions and all that stuff, like, don't lose what worked against Cleveland, even though you've got a better offensive line now and four offensive linemen played really well. Like, don't lose sight of that, that, like, I know you want to hit the big shots and so forth, but don't lose sight of the easy button stuff, which I think when you get behind, it's very easy to be like, ah, got to get chunks, got to get explosives back. But I think to win this game, this is where you have to have the play action stuff. going, for sure.

I really think that that's a big deal in this game because you saw them, they were chasing their tails against Indianapolis, just run around with the chickens with their heads cut off, trying to, you know, go after their play actions. Tony says Darnold's the, oh, he's the 18th highest paid quarterback in the league. The trouble with that, Tony, is that Sam Darnold wasn't going to sign the contract here with the Vikings that he signed with Seattle that was very team friendly

because he was well aware that J.J. McCarthy was called the franchise quarterback by Kevin O'Connell. Now, if they had said, and you think about how this world could be very different, if the Vikings beat the Rams, then we are talking about, I mean, maybe even, possibly even a trade of J.J. McCarthy? Like, I don't know. Or at the very least, an extension. I don't know if they would have traded McCarthy, but you'd be talking about an extension for Darnold that would have looked that way. They would have, I'm sure, come to him and said, you're a guy. But him knowing, like losing those games and knowing that they wanted McCarthy and also knowing the fans want to McCarthy, Donald's not a dummy. I'm sure his representatives

aren't stupid either. They, they know that as soon as he lost that game against the Rams, the entire fan base, if he struggled in a game at US Bank Stadium, they were going to boom off the field. like he wanted to go where he was wanted and he did with Seattle. So in order to keep him, it would have had to have been a bit of a hostage situation where you franchise tag him and say, you know, too bad. But you're going to have to play

here. Aaron, when is Andrew Van Ginkle coming back? That is a question I do not know the answer to. But I can tell you that Van Ginkle was still limited in practice today. I don't know if that's a great sign. Also, talk about bad signs. We haven't even brought this up. There's just been so much discussion

and I don't know if Brian O'Neill what the situation is, but he has not practiced in either one of these. Well, Monday was like a guess practice. And today was more walkthroughish. So I don't know. But maybe I don't know. Like that's up in the air for Brian O'Neill, I suppose. But we'll find that out when they have the official designations.

But I don't know if it looks great for Andrew Van Ginkle to not have practiced at all. And then possibly be trying to come back here. but sometimes veteran players can do that. Reminder about that Fandul question of the day. Over under for this game, 44 and a half on Fandul. How many points do the Vikings need to win this game? Crawl, Crowell, Crowell, do you trust Quasey's evaluation of talent? So this is the thing about the Vikings is, and what I notice from the fan base sometimes,

is when a decision goes right, it's look at, how great Brian Flores is to bring in Andrew Van Ginkle. And when a decision goes wrong, it's look how stupid Quacey is. Jordan Addison is a phenomenal draft pick. It must have been KOC. But when it goes wrong, then it's, hey, Quacey picked this guy or that guy. It's, I don't know why that is. But the way that this works for the Minnesota Vikings, and I can't speak to other teams.

And look, with, you know, other teams and maybe when Rick Spielman was here, I think the front office was going and get to the groceries and the coach was cooking the meal. But in this case, they are all responsible for every move. And so we put it on, you know, one person or whoever. But yet when Isaiah Rogers, this is the funny thing, right? Isaiah Rogers has this incredible game. And we all go, well, Brian Flores, everyone, what a genius. He found Isaiah Rogers.

And then when Rogers gives up two horrendous deep balls to the Eagles, and gets roasted, then it's like, Quasi didn't get the right free agents. And look, I truly don't understand why this is. It is a complete franchise effort. The bigger picture of this of getting a lot of older veteran players is a franchise decision. Quasi didn't make that on his own.

The coaches didn't make that on their own. And if they get a hit with Andrew Van Ginkle or Cashman and they become an all pro or a pro bowler or a star, then the entire front office and coaching staff did this. The coaching staff is very involved in everything when it comes to the draft and when it comes to the player evaluation. That is extremely clear. And general manager does not mean in this franchise sits in his office with a laptop and picks the players. That's not what it means.

I mean, it is a cumulative effort. So I guess what we'd be really asking is the evaluation of talent of the Minnesota Vikings front office and coaching staff. how is it? I mean, I think they've built a really good roster. I think that they needed more of that roster to play, and I think they need their starting quarterback to play. And I also think that they made some missteps, and maybe we could say that they believed in themselves too much in some ways. The Jeff Okuda thing, I think is, I'm all for a Jeff Okuda signing, by the way. I'm not against that. What I am against is no net.

Hey, like you just, you're bringing in Isaiah Rogers and you're just saying, hey, you've got the job. You're all set there. And Okuda, you're moving on from Blackman and getting nobody else. Like, hey, we like what we saw in camp. Good to go. That to me is no net. They gave themselves a net with Eric Wilson if it didn't work out at linebacker with Ivan Pace this year, but they didn't give themselves a net in the secondary.

That's what it felt like. And so I think that was maybe a poor decision. Also think that you roll the dice. on guys like Allen and Hargrave, the Allen contract, he played really well the other day. So I think that there's still something there for him. And his pass rush win rate is also pretty good this year and just not enough opportunities. But these are team decisions, the way that this particular thing works and not just one person. So you're evaluating based on your salary cap guy, Rob Brzezinski.

Can you afford it? How is it going to work long term? and you're using your coaches to how does this guy fit. And we've gone through this with the coaches a million times. They look at how does this guy fit? And with Flores, he talked about meeting with Isaiah Rogers and having this discussion of here's how we think you would fit with our team. This is why we think you would be a good starter and all that stuff.

So when Rogers has a great game, you know, it's on the whole team. And because they had to sign him to a contract, they had to make that decision. and when he has a bad game, it's on the whole team. And that goes for everything. It goes for the draft as well. I certainly notice that a lot of people put it on one person, but I don't think that that's fair either. Maybe the first one, yes.

The first one was overthought. The first one was reachy. It was positions that didn't make a lot of sense. That one, okay. Like that one I get. The rest of them have produced some good players. They haven't had a lot of draft picks overall. But you can even say that for,

like the, the bigger picture, I think if you want to make a question mark, you could make it that. You could make it like, hey, trading away all your draft picks to try to win now every year, it does have some implications to if you're going to trade them away to go get this player, that player, or a Dallas Turner that you really love. Like there are implications to that when you decide to do it. And now they could be facing some of the, you know, those. problems that happen when you move draft capital.

So as much as it is who they drafted, the draft capital that was spent to get a player like T.J. Hawkinson or so forth, like that also matters too. And T.J. had been really, really good for this team. But right now, a second round draft pick, the amount that was spent, it's just not adding up when we're just talking. And I think TJ's really good, but we're just talking assets and production and all those things. So that's where I think that I would focus. maybe more than I would say, well, hey, you know, they just can't draft or he can't draft or whoever,

as if he's just doing it all himself. By the way, Ed Ingram had a 40 PFF grade the other day. Just wanted to point that out. So we could maybe dispel the, hey, did the Vikings let go the next great American guard in Ed Ingram? They got crushed by Seattle. That was a little bit of a nod. sequitur there. But anyway, so let me answer a few more questions that I know I've gotten

way behind tonight. I'm sorry for that. You know, Dallas Turner, I know is another part of the discussion. I think that's one where I've seen good and bad from Dallas Turner. We haven't seen what it was supposed to be. And doesn't that feel like the theme of this season is we just haven't seen it the way it was supposed to be? During all of training camp, Dallas Turner, who had a really good camp was lining up next to Andrew Van Ginkle and rotating with Jonathan and Grunard, but they were having the three of them on the field at the same time. And it looked like it was going to be pretty nasty. Just haven't been able to do it.

And there's a trickle down effect when certain injuries happen where like you lose somebody like Andrew Van Ginkle and then all of a sudden you're asking a guy to play a position he didn't really practice at for the entire year in the off season. and I think he's still been okay. Okay. I would not say, I would not say good or great. I would say he's been okay. And when they get Van Ginkle back,

I think we'll get a better look at him. But also these guys need an opportunity to rush the passer. Teams are throwing 20 passes against them. When can they, this is the game. So let me make that point. This is the game with backup tackles and a team that is going to have to throw probably 40 times with Justin Herbert. Like this is a time to have some of the production from Gernard, from Allen, from Hargrave, from Dallas Turner. Like, this is a game to do it.

If they struggled to do it against this offensive line, ooh, you got some problems. Reconnected, do you think they're going to stick with Brandel? I do think that. But if they don't, I mean, to me, it's just, it's six or a half dozen. It's like pretty much the same player, except for one has more, one has a little bit more athleticism. in the run game, and that's Jurgens, and the other has a little more experience in identifying blitzes and things like that. I don't think either one of them is giving you average play. I think they're both going to be pretty well below average.

When they face tough competition, they'll get beat. When they face good competition or a bad competition, they'll be fine. That's pretty much how it goes with guys like that. James says, remember fourth quarter in Chicago, JJ has the talent to develop. We need to see what we have in him. I'm not opposed to playing Max for next week. We have a great opportunity to explore. I don't think you're an explore mode. If this team was winless, then you're an explore mode. They're not an explore mode. But does he have the talent? Well, that's why he was drafted top 10, just needs to get out there. And that will, I think, resolve a lot of the angst of all this discussion is just actually seeing him play in actual games. So GA007, don't

think people realize how good JSN is now. Yeah, well, I mean, he's, he's really, really good. And I also think Darnold is really, really good at throwing the number one receiver the ball in a lot of different circumstances. So, yeah, I mean, clearly Brandl had a tough game against Jalen Carter. There was, there was no, there was no winning that matchup. No winning that matchup. War Eagle says you can't spend the most money in the NFL. And, and, you know, and have the lease cap space next year. You can't go into the season with JJ and Wentz and Howl. I mean, I just don't understand.

I don't really understand. I don't really understand that. Wentz is an elite backup quarterback. Tell me, go through him. Go through them. Go through the backup quarterbacks and tell me how many you're taking other than Carson Wentz. I mean, Daniel Jones didn't stay here

because he knew he was going to be a starter with the Indianapolis Colts. That's why he didn't stick around. If he did, then he would have been the best backup in the league. But they, you know, they have went and saying that you can't go into the season with spending the most money and having J.J. McCarthy, but those two things are intertwined. You can only spend the most money because you have J.J. McCarthy. What you can't really do is have a season like this completely come apart on the things that you spent the money on.

And so far, a lot of the money's not been worth it. And I think that's where it ties into the darn old thing is that, a lot of the money that was spent is just not matched up to their production. Okay, Massachusetts Dan with Mullins, Nick Mullins would be better than Wentz. They didn't win a game with Nick Mullins. It's about the same, but they didn't, they didn't win, they did not win a game with Mullins. Rage, too, I think a lot of the local media did the fan base a disservice by acting like the team was foolproof. Is this the first day on the show, Rage?

Come on now. is that a lot of analytics have this team around 7 and 10. Well, you know, the Vegas over under, I think, was 8.5. So maybe there were analytics. I don't know, you know, different projections that teams have or that media outlets have may have liked or not like this team. Didn't some of those same metrics produce a 6.5 over under win total for 2024? And ESPN projected the Vikings to pick second overall, I think.

Same metrics, same people. So, I don't know, some of the metrics people at ESPN also had Sam Darnold as a terrible signing. So I don't know if, I don't know if preseason we can predict the NFL season. Tell me which metrics had the Indianapolis Colts at 6 and 1. I think a lot of that is just for fun. It's just for fun. It's not actually good at predicting things historically. But here's, here's the point.

The local media, the local media, including myself, analyzed going into the season this way. They have a very, very talented roster. I don't think there's any debating that. When you look across the offense and defense, one of the best wide receivers to ever play at this point with Jefferson, elite at the number two, a tight end who historically has been good, a running back who was very good,

an offensive line that was completely rebuilt, a defensive line that could pressure the quarterback with an all pro, a pro bowler, two other guys who have great histories of pressuring the quarterback. And the thing that we talked about a lot was here are the pitfalls. So you have a super talented team, but here are the pitfalls. If McCarthy's not good or is hurt, you're going to have a tough season. If the secondary falls apart, which borderline against good quarterbacks,

you're not going to have a great season. If Ryan Kelly doesn't stay healthy, it's going to be really tough for you. If KOC isn't in an opportunity to stick with the run because they're not ahead in games and they're having to play from behind, you're probably not going to win a lot because this isn't Darnold and it's not Kirk and it's not guys who have been around forever that can play from down 10 points and come back and win those games, right? If you told, certainly if you told me that half the roster would get hurt and they would never cause any turnovers, I would have told you, yeah, well, that would be pretty surprising considering who they've been. And it has been surprising. I think what was laid out was

here's the plan it's worked before for other teams it's got a good chance to work but j j mccarthy has to be good and in training camp he was good and then he got hurt and i don't know what else to tell you i don't i mean i don't know if that's i don't know if it's a dis it's a disservice to look at the full picture like i don't know i'm not sure who you're talking about if it's me or other people but i i mean i did a live show every single night coming out of training camp so there was a lot of things that were said. But I don't think that looking at a team with this many players with the resumes they have, that it was silly to say that they should be in competition.

And the other thing is, too, that, you know, I like to use outside sources on this show and have people come on the show and talk about what they think of this team. And Matt Verde Ram, who was a national NFL reporter, came on, said he was picking the Vikings to win the division after, you know, coming to training camp, talking to people and everything else. Like, there were also a lot of analysts that thought that this should work. Mike Clay ranking the outside of the quarterback, the positions had the Vikings, I think second or third outside of the quarterback for most talented teams. We just haven't seen a lot of those players on the field. And I'm sure that the Chargers feel the same way. Like, when have the Chargers

been the Chargers for the first three games? And then they've been totally washed out by injuries. Sometimes that's football. The good part of that, I guess, for them is that, in front of them is still an opportunity. Now, Ryan Kelly, I don't think is coming back soon, but there is an opportunity to come back after this Thursday night game if they could get to four and three and still have a lot of the success that they were supposed to have. So that's still potentially in front of them.

But, you know, as of right now, a lot of things that we didn't expect to happen have happened, and then some that we did. The secondary being flawed was something that, we expected we didn't expect Harrison Smith to miss most of the season due to a health issue that's for sure couldn't have projected that one couldn't have projected van ginkle would be out basically the entire year like there's a lot of things that have happened that you just i don't know if you told me all that stuff beforehand because i you know i guess you knew how it was going to go just

not us but when if you had told me beforehand while i was watching this really talented roster and training camp you said all right kelly's gone van ginkle's gone jones is gone Harrison Smith is gone. Darisaw is not 100%. Jackson misses time. Then I would have said, okay, well, it's going to be pretty hard for them to be the version that we expect it. So can't project injuries.

Anyway, well, it's been an enjoyable chat here. You know, J.J. McCarthy, I think, has got a great chance to start against the Detroit Lions in a week. So grit your teeth through one more Carson Wentz game. and I say, you know, for those who have kind of been hit with the backup QB malaise, I think you need to get out at least for one game here, you know, your Carson Wentz jersey because if they win this game, it feels so much different than if they lose.

If they lose, it's going to feel like the mountain is incredibly steep to get back up. If they win, then you're a winner two away from feeling like you're right in the mix. So one thing we do every Tuesday night is have a conversation with former intern, now special contributor, Maggie Robinson. Oh, and just a reminder to answer that Fandual question of the day. 44 and a half is the over under. How many points do they need to win this game from Carson Wentz and the offense? But Maggie Robinson special contributor does her segment every Tuesday where she asks questions about things going on around the league and reacts to the games and looks. forward. So we'll do that right now. But thanks everybody for watching and listening. So after the

Maggie segment, that'll be the end of the show. And tomorrow we'll have another show. We'll get, I think we'll get the injury designations and stuff. I am flying to Los Angeles on Thursday. So we'll have a show tomorrow night with Stephen Hagland, who covers the Chargers. And we'll do some hardcore previewing and have some more discussion then. So thanks again, everybody, for watching and listening and we'll see you later. Here's Maggie Robinson. All right, it is time once again for the Robinson roundup with Maggie Robinson. We do it every single Tuesday where Maggie looks around the league and we run through a lot of different things that happened over the weekend and things that are newsy in the National Football League. Of course, former NFL producer, former intern, now special

contributor here with Purple Insider. Maggie, we're going to have to come up with a shorter intro at some point. How are we doing? I'm doing pretty good keeping busy at school, you know, and games are happening in the NFL. The ball is moving. Endless drama in the national football. You could always count on that. And today, as in like maybe 30 minutes ago, new fresh drama from none other than the Dallas Cowboys, they're apparently interested in Max Crosby. They sent over a little like, hey, we're interested note. Probably didn't say that. Doubt Jerry Jones wrote that. But clearly they booped it with Micah Parsons, letting him walk. And now they're looking pretty good.

And they're looking for their final piece on the roster to really solidify it. So like Max Crosby to the Cowboys. Yeah, I mean, they have to be regretting even more allowing Micah Parsons to walk because they are a, or well, at least to buy a trade, because they are a competitive team. They're not going into full rebuild, in part because one of the most overlooked moves in the NFL was them trading for George Pickens. And I think that people kind of felt like, oh, George Pickens, he's just another one of those problem wide receivers, but he's become a problem in a different way with an actual quarterback when he was playing with Russell Wilson, when he

was playing with Justin Fields. He was just having to make jump ball catches. Now that he has a competent quarterback, he's becoming a star. And now C.D. Lamb coming back. That offense is looking unstoppable. And even Javante Williams in the back field has become a weapon for them. after losing Tony Pollard and so forth. So their offense looks so good. They should be buyers and it actually would be comical at the end of the day. If they ended up moving out one elite pass rusher, ultimately acquiring another elite pass rusher and being a top contender.

And with Washington sputtering and the Giants blowing 20 point leads in the fourth quarter or whatever, here's the Dallas Cowboys sitting fairly relevant, even though that makes for a media nightmare for everybody who watches the major network. works it is it is a fact in the nfc if you have a great offense and you're hanging around you're a contender because everything is up in the air in this conference i do pause though like is it actually realistic that max crosbie goes because he just signed this huge three year contract for a hundred and six million and what trade trade deadline is november 4th so it's coming up so if moves have to be made they got to be made fast but like las Vegas also went scoreless so i see both sides where max crosbie could

be frustrated and being like, this team sucks. Give me out. But also, you're paying me a lot of money and like I could just sit for the next three and be comfortable and do what I can. Right. And it's possible that Max Crosby doesn't want to leave the Raiders organization in Las Vegas. He's had a lot of success there. He's become a superstar there. But if you're Crosby, why wouldn't you at least want to go to a team that's competing? Because if Dallas's defense even takes one step toward mediocrity, they've been horrendous. If they even become mediocre, that team, could be kind of scary to go up against with their wide receiver duo and their offense and DAC playing like an MVP.

I don't know why you wouldn't want to do that if you were Max Crosby. The Raiders, though, I think that they overplayed their hand thinking that they could just acquire Gino Smith, oh, we'll just get Pete Carroll and then, you know, profit. But I think that they were farther away than that. And that's what we're really finding out is that they just were not that close. And now they're saying to Gino, hey, you got to come in and, and Ashton Genti drafting a running back when your roster is really, really short on talent. I think that they believe by just hiring an experienced coach and getting a veteran quarterback in

that they could just snap their fingers and they would be in the race in the AFC West. They're not. They're not good. They're nowhere really even close to good. This move makes a ton of sense to me. But I also think it's the move that nobody else in the NFC, including the Vikings who play Dallas in a few weeks. I don't think anybody actually wants to see them do that because Crosby truly is an elite player. Yeah, I mean, he'd be a monster on their team. Definitely someone that would bolster their

defense, but, you know, I don't know, it's Jerry Jones. I never write the man off because I literally never know what he's going to do. It feels, right, it feels like a Jerry type of move. I mean, they're going to do something at this deadline because I think not only do they feel like you have the offense to really compete, but I also think that

Jerry would love to look like a genius, like ah, yes, we let go with our big brain, the very expensive rusher, but we got this other one with this super smart trade. And I'm just that wily old businessman who's tricking y'all. So I wouldn't be surprised in any way. But I mean, I also think the Raiders, you know, they must think if they're not going to make that trade, because there's been reports that have bounced back and forth. If they're not going to make that trade, then that means they think that they're close to even maybe next year being a contender. And I just don't see a whole lot of evidence of that.

They should make that trade to the Cowboys. Yeah. So we will see on that one. You mentioned Dak Prescott in MVP contention. Let me hit you with another question here, though. Daniel Jones? MVP talk? What do you think?

I don't think the Colts can be overlooked any longer. I think the Colts for sure deserve all the attention that they're getting. I think they're that good. they're a great team in terms of their play action game, their running game, their offensive line, they've got enough weapons to be dangerous and their defense has been downright excellent at times this year. I would not be looking at Daniel Jones really as an MVP. I'm going to pull up here where he's at in terms of Fanduel. In the league in passing yards. This past weekend, 288 yards, two touchdowns. Although Jonathan

Taylor also stood on his head and you can't overlook that either. Right. And that's That's the thing is right now he has the ninth best odds on Fanduil at plus 2,200. Actually, the same as Dak Prescott, which I would go Prescott way over Daniel Jones if I was putting the money down there because I think Daniel Jones is a good enough quarterback as we saw him beat the Vikings in a playoff game, a good enough quarterback that when the supporting cast is great, the running back is unbelievable, that he can do his job. I don't think that that's, I mean, you can win with that. You can go to Super Bowls with that. Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy did in San Francisco. It's kind of reminding me of that in Indy. But I don't think you give those quarterbacks MVP.

I still think that Mahomes guy who's the favorite on Fandul at plus 125. And, hey, Drake May is up there at plus 700s. I think it would take an incredible performance from Daniel Jones. But when his running back is scoring three touchdowns a week, they're just going to kind of split the vote. The one that would be the real long shot. because this never happens anymore is Jonathan Taylor. But if no quarterback really separates themselves, I think the Taylor's actually got a shot.

Let me look. Is he even in the conversation? It just never happens that it's a running back. He is plus 5,000. And that I don't think is the most crazy thing is Jonathan Taylor MVP at plus 5,000. You heard it here first guys from Matthew Collar into the world. Jonathan Taylor MVP of the 2526 season. Yes, not gambling expert, but just saying.

Like, I mean, that, but look, I think it really shows you that in today's game with, there are some elite quarterbacks, but if you're the team that can build the roster around the not super expensive quarterback and then get great coaching. And really, Shane Steichen, we were talking about Hotsie after last year in the way that Anthony Richardson played really proving what a great offensive mind he is. He took the Eagles as their offensive coordinator to the Super Bowl in 2022 and now has gotten in his bag so far. this year. That Colts team, after last week, so I had kind of been holding out, like, I'm not really

sure they've kind of, they lucked into a win over the Broncos. They hadn't had a good schedule, but they really beat the tar out of the Los Angeles Chargers. And it's, we can no longer deny how good that team is. You are not the only member of the media to have been a little hesitant on them. Daniel Jones got asked by a reporter after the game in a press conference. Like, what do you want people to know that they maybe didn't know? And he goes, sounds like Yale didn't know much. So He kind of shun her up. I was just like, listen, we've been here, but the reputation has preceded us,

and the reputation has been quite poor, understandably. But I do think this is a team to keep an eye out for because they've just been rolling. Like, six and one is nothing to laugh at. Here's what's really crazy. And I will put my name on the list of people who were wrong about Daniel Jones. Even with the Vikings acquired him as a backup last year, I thought, what's the point?

I don't really, I mean, he had, he had won three of his. his last 16 games when he had gotten to the Vikings, had more interceptions than touchdowns. And I just think that more than ever, it's rosters and schemes. And this has always been true for quarterbacks, but when Manning and Brady were at their best,

and we've seen it from Allen and Mahomes and so forth, like if you got that guy who's that good, you're pretty much going to be there every single year. But I think that how rosters are constructed and how schemes are going these days, especially if you could build around the run, is more than ever pushing teams to the front of the line. And the AFC also just has a ton of flawed teams,

which also might be helping them. But I think many of us, oh, Daniel Jones, an apology, but also he was cut by his own team. The Vikings didn't even have him as the backup quarterback when he was here. So who would have thought he's going to go to another team and be one of the best quarterbacks in the league to fickle sport this football? Yeah, he really clawed his way back.

and we've been dancing around this for a little bit, but let's talk about someone else who's back. The Chiefs? I mean, come on. So is Rishi Rice. Two touchdowns in his debut. 31 to 0. This is Andy Reed's first ever shut out in the regular season.

That's just an insane stat line. Like you look at that and you're like, what happened and what high school team did they play for it to be a 31 to 0 game? Yeah, and that's kind of how the Raiders defenses look these days is kind of high. schooly. It honestly looks like Pete Carroll at the end of his time in Seattle was falling behind schematically with some of the newer innovations. And it looks that way now defensively for them. But they got 60 yards passing or something. Like everything is just falling apart there. But the chiefs now are the Super Bowl favorites on Fandula plus 500, Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay,

and Philly right behind them in Indianapolis where we just talked about with Kansas City. I thought it was always a bit of an overreaction. if you watch that loss to the Jaguars, it was just one of the goofiest games you'd ever see. I still think despite as great as they played defensively against the horrific Raiders, I still think that they're flawed on that side. And I would be curious if they're one of the teams that's going out into the trade market and looking for help on defense because they have not been the same defensively, again, aside from that game throughout this year. But this is what Mahomes looks like when he has real star wide receivers with.

talent for a couple years now he has just been trying to glue it and tape it together um it's kind of like if you go back when tom brady had you know a bunch of random wide receivers that he was getting to super bowls and then oh randy moss shows up and then he throws for 50 touchdowns or whatever it's kind of that way like even he's not immune to having a lack of talent impact him in some way rice is a terrific player worthy is one of the fastest players in the league so now you can have those guys who were acting as wide receiver one, just be supporting cast members and also, you know, maybe Travis Kelsey is

less distracted. Maybe there's once they got the engagement out of the way. I don't know. I'm trying to tie this into Taylor Swift, but his chemistry, now all of a sudden, you can't pay attention to just Travis Kelsey and his chemistry looks a heck of a lot better than when opponents could really focus in on him. So I have to ask you,

a lot of reporters were saying that the chiefs are the best offense in the league. Do you agree with that statement? I think the best overall offense, like top to bottom, is probably the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. And I might throw Indianapolis in there. I mean, we saw Detroit dismantling Tampa Bay on Monday night football. And, I mean, the idea that they were going to, like,

regress made sense. And I know you went there in the offseason. Regress made sense, but fall off the map with Jemir Gibbs, with Amon Ross St. Brown, with Jameson, William. no, they were not going to disappear into the ether of the NFC just because they lost their offensive coordinator. And I also think when you, that people just want to keep denying how good Jared Goff is. And yet now I think you have to acknowledge it's not just Ben Johnson. It's not just this, the interior O line. Like, he's really that good. And so is their run game. So I think I would

probably put Detroit at, although, you know, Kansas City did beat them. But still, I would probably put overall Detroit a little bit higher in Dallas a little bit higher than Kansas City. But highest ceiling, I mean, we're talking about somebody that when he played it, his absolute best in Mahomes is some of the best football that has ever been played in NFL history. So if they click like this for a few more weeks, then we're going to start talking about them as the best of the best. I do have to apologize. I was for sure a Jared Gough denier. And you know what? It is what it is. I stood on it. I said it with my chest and I was wrong. And I can own up to that.

Well, we all get quarterbacks wrong as we were talking about with Daniel Jones. I just have a thing about Jared Goff because every time he plays the Vikings, he's great. And I look around. And then at the end of the season, he's got 4,000 yards, you know, X number of touchdowns. They rank number one or two in offense. And then people are like, oh, you know, golf's just an average quarterback. Like what? What are we talking about here?

So anyway, that's just been, that's been my hill to die on for the last few years. Talk about quarterbacks who I wrote off. Monix must have heard what I said about him last week because he kind of let loose this weekend, but only in the fourth quarter. He really like packed it up and let the games slide away from him as much as possible. And then just like went crazy in the fourth quarter,

33 points to beat the Giants 33 to 32. Insane game. That was one of the craziest games I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean, even like when the Vikings came back and scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Chicago, I was like, man, how did they even do that, much less, although it really, really helped that the Giants missed an extra point through an interception.

I mean, if they had just picked the ball up and walked it over to the Broncos and said, can you just run this into the end zone? It might have been better than how they actually played. Bonix is a curious case because kind of like Jared Goff, he doesn't get very high scores from people, even the PFF grades, don't always like him very much. And yet he's won a lot of football. games. And I do think with Bo Nix, the critique is very real about him pushing the ball down the field that he basically just doesn't do it. And even in their comeback there, if you watch

the fourth quarter, it's not like he's dropping back and ripping 30 yard completions down the field. It's a lot of yards after catch, a lot of short stuff. And he's still only averaging 6.1 yards an attempt. It feels like the Broncos have this don't screw anything up, Bo Nix type of offense and almost like they're afraid of him making mistakes with the way that they set it up, even when they're playing from behind, which is hard to win with. Like, there's limitations on that. And I think that's who Bo Nix probably is, which is a good enough quarterback to manage a game, but not someone week after week where you're going to put him up against the best

quarterbacks and be like, oh, you're, you're fine, just throw us into victory. But the giants, I mean, they should be ashamed of themselves. They just, they gave away a game in ways that I feel like, you never see in the NFL. I don't know if you ever watch Maction when they play the Mac conference on Tuesday nights. That's what it looked like. It looked like Northern Illinois versus Kent State or something from that game in the fourth quarter.

But it's just hard, it's just, you know, it's hard to know what to make. Like, Bo Nix kind of reminds me of Daniel Jones in a lot of ways, like doesn't have the most physical gifts can run, can make some plays. And with the right team and the right defense and the right playmakers and the right luck, there they are right in the race if everything falls in their way is whatever you're hanging then maybe it could happen

it also to me sounds like he doesn't have the most trust in himself he was quoted after the game saying yeah you know I was really thinking about what I would tell the media if we were shut out in this game and like I was already thinking about what was going to happen at the podium if I really didn't have a good performance

mid game he was thinking this that doesn't give me a lot of faith in my quarterback but this guy's like ruminations in the third quarter like damn I guess I figure out what I'll say to the mic today. Hello? Right. He is kind of an odd duck with when he talks to the media.

The times that I've seen him like, it doesn't seem as polished as you think for a guy who did a lot of press conferences. But and even look at his last three games that come back against Philadelphia, they barely hung on versus the Jets and then the Giants, 6.2 yards per attempt, 5.8 yards per attempt, and 5.6 yards per attempt. I mean, these are these are basically like, uh, like, earmuffs, Vikings fans, these are like Christian Ponder numbers, if you're not aware,

Christian Ponder was like the biggest busts the Vikings have had as a top draft pick quarterback. I mean, that's what those yards per attempt numbers are like. And yet they're finding ways to still win. It's kind of perplexing. But last year, Nick's kind of clicked in in the middle of the season and played really, really good football. So maybe it's just that they've survived some of the lull with him. I mean, I don't know. This is one of the harder teams to put a finger on because one week you think this team has the best defense. They're going to win. And then Jackson Dart has a great game against them and gives it away.

I don't know. Sometimes you aren't exactly who your record is. But this is a weird, a very weird Denver Broncos team. Yeah. And the only good thing to come out of this for the Giants is the fact that they are not the worst team in New York. It suggests because they're the only winless club loved in the NFL. Congratulations.

I don't know if you saw, but their owner said when he was asked Woody Johnson when he was asked about Aaron Glenn, he said, well, I don't know any coaches who can win when the quarterback plays like that. That's not the exact quote, but basically, which is something I've never heard an owner, we're making fun of Jerry Jones. I've never heard an owner say something that crazy. And I think you could tell kind of where it starts with the New York Jets. But that, yeah, if they go on a fire sale, that'll be interesting. The Jets, I always thought that they were going to be really brutally bad. But to have Justin Fields last year, look halfway competent and win a handful of games and then now look like the worst quarterback

in the United States of America, I think we can pretty clearly point to coaching. And I just, I don't know if Aaron Glenn is made for this. Yeah. And he has the backing of his owner. Like, he's come out multiple times and defended Aaron Glenn said, no, I believe in him. I trust in him. At what point do you stop trusting? And do you trust the fact that it's 0 and 7? Right. And I mean, when are they going to win? I mean, I guess they haven't lost by that much. the last couple of weeks against Carolina. Bryce Young did get hurt midway through that game. They, if they try a field goal late in London and make it,

maybe they could have won that game. So it's not like they're getting murdered, but if they trade away key defensive players, they might actually get murdered. Owen 17 is hard to do. But I think even if you win two or three, it's very hard to keep the coach. And some guys are just in over their head.

And this is why when we talk about like Kevin O'Connell, We can analyze, criticize. That's what we should do. But like, let's not go crazy because there are so many coaches that the minute they get into that seat, it's so clear that you just can't do it. And to me, that Jets team is not so lacking in talent that they should never win. Yeah, it feels like, okay, at what point is this kind of on the coach? And I'm always one to defend the coach because you can only do it as well as your personnel,

but like you're saying, the personnel is kind of there. but they're not being activated. And at some point, that falls on the coaching staff to figure it out. Yeah, I totally agree. And I do feel bad for Aaron Glenn, but also in recent years, when the Vikings would play the Lions, I felt like they had a pretty good idea of what the Lions were doing defensively, that they were predictable. And I'm watching the Lions defense play without a lot of their secondary against Tampa Bay.

And they just look better coach. They play a lot more zone now than they did before. Calvin Shepherd is their defensive coordinator. it just looks more organized, even if it's a lot of backups in there. And I guess you wonder if Aaron Glenn was the typical former Jets player. Everybody loves them. It's going to be one of those. You get high ratings when you hire that guy because he's been with a good organization.

But now they kind of look better defensively without him and the Jets can't win with him. And you start to ask the question, like, did they kind of hire the wrong guy there? But I also, I will say, I don't know anybody who would win a ton of games. How many coaches has Justin Fields either gotten fired or put on the hot seat? I mean, even Mike Tomlin going into this year was probably for the first time on the hot seat after playing Justin Fields for half the year. So stop doing that. Like, I don't know. I don't know.

There's not, there are not 32 human beings that can effectively play quarterback. And in the long run, the Jets will do the right thing in tank. But I don't think that Aaron Glenn's going to be around for it. I truly have nothing to say. You just summed that up so, so well. That's the Robinson Roundup, marked by Matthew Collar's fantastic savings there at the end. That's all I got for you.

Okay, Maggie Robinson, every single Tuesday, we go around the NFL, break it down. And I guess we are getting to the point where some of the questions are going to be who's getting fired because it's kind of going in that way. We've already had one coach firing in the NFL, and more could be on the way. So thank you, as always, for the rundown, Maggie, and we'll talk to you next week. Yeah, football. Football.