Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy's surprising award and a Blake Cashman injury update (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about JJ McCarthy being given NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the serious nature of Blake Cashman's injury. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode here of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. And there's a lot to talk about this evening, a award for the quarterback, a very long injury report. It won't fit on my screen. It's so long that the Vikings put out, but I want to talk about which injuries you should have your eyes on for the The Minnesota Vikings and which ones are probably not as big of a deal based on what we heard from Kevin O'Connell today. Also want to bring you some of O'Connell's comments, some of J.J. McCarthy's comments, and of course your questions.

And later on in the show, Robert Mays from The Athletic Football Show. And I asked Robert to play a game with me. It's either, yeah, I think it's a yeah, dog or nah, man. So I gave him a bunch of statements. Some are a little bit aggressive. has to say, yeah, dog or nah, man, and answer him that way. So that's coming up a little bit later on the show. But I do want to start with J.J. McCarthy, NFC, offensive player of the week in his first game. Don't ask about the first half of the game. It was the final result in the fourth

quarter that mattered the most. And of course, naturally, I saw a lot of people talking about today, how can he deserve this? It was really just one quarter and all that sort of stuff. and there is a part that we have to acknowledge that your team doesn't get extra points for NFC player of the week awards. So if other teams are unhappy that it wasn't their guy in fans or media or whatever, there's no point system. You don't get a tiebreaker. I know it's complicated the NFL's tiebreaker system,

but you don't actually get tiebreaker points based on your NFC offensive player of the week. So take it for what it is. And the fact that, look, the Vikings are on national TV again this week. And it's another way to put J.J. McCarthy's name in the headlines. I don't even know how it's voted. Nobody asked me who the NFC offensive player of the week is. I think it's decided by some folks in the NFL office and they just say, this is the guy we're going to give it to. Now, here is the thing, though, that I noticed.

So, of course, I was like, oh, I wonder who. else was potentially deserving of this award. And I started going through the NFC, and I'm looking around and I'm going, NFC, what the heck happened this week? If you had NFC players on your fantasy teams, you were not very happy. So I was just looking at in terms of most passing yards for this week, Josh Allen, Gino Smith, Justin Herbert, Michael Pennix head 298, Joe Flacco, Drake May, Brock Purdy.

but he threw a couple of interceptions. Daniel Jones, Patrick Mahomes, that's a lot of AFC quarterbacks. Matthew Stafford had a very good game, 245 yards, and Jaden Daniels had a very good game, 233 yards. That's not a lot of special NFC quarterback performances. And then you go to touchdowns. Okay, Aaron Rogers had four.

That's an AFC quarterback these days. Baker Mayfield had three touchdowns, but 167 total yards, Herbert, Jackson. Jordan Love only threw for 188 yards, which of course, he didn't have to throw for a whole lot with the way their defense played. Kyler Murray, two touchdowns, but only 5.6 yards per attempt. Brock Purdy again, there just wasn't a lot of outstanding, shockingly good showings in the NFC. And I think Matthew Stafford was probably the best NFC quarterback this week. Jalen Hertz was 19 for 23, but only 152 yards.

Stafford was the highest graded PFF quarterback. And when you go to wide receiver, even then there wasn't a lot of great wide receiver performances. Puka Nukua, I think, has a really great case for this, 130 yards, 10 catches on 11 total targets. That probably would have been my choice. A receiver having that type of day, 130 yards is pretty good, not mind-blowing. and then C.D. Lamb, 110 yards, and Ricky Pearsall, 108.

And those are your 100 yard receivers. Bejohn Robinson had 100 yards as a running back, but didn't really run all that effectively. And there's your offensive players. I mean, Donovan Jackson almost got this award, right? I mean, this is just not a week where there was a lot of guys on the offensive side that blew your mind with their performances. is so you go, okay, I'm sure that they had the discussion of, well, McCarthy scored three

touchdowns. He ends up getting the game winning drive, and it's an exciting moment for everybody. And viewership, I saw that email today. Viewership was up, et cetera, et cetera. And, okay, he's offensive player of the week. Yes, there is certainly a discussion. Oh, yeah, you're right. Jackson Smith, the Jigba was in that conversation as well. And I think that those guys probably are more deserving because of the outstanding showings that they had as opposed to it was a furious comeback and they find a way to win and they got some help from the Bears and it was very exciting and it's a great way to start a career. But I just think that this speaks, this right here speaks to the NFC this year. When we just go through the NFC and start looking

around and saying who's special, who is truly special, especially on the offensive side. Okay, I think Daniels is. And Jaden Daniels had a, I watched the game. I thought he had a spectacular game. But they were just beating up the New York Giants. And there was no real reason for Jaden Daniels to do much more than he did, which was throw for 233 yards, got some rushing yards. And then, you know, they get up by two scores and the game is over because the Giants are playing Russell Wilson. But, you know, we know Jalen Hertz is an excellent quarterback. We know what he can do with that offense. And it looked like until the lightning delay, they were doing a lot of that offensively for the Eagles. Dak Prescott on tape had a very good

game, but had a lot of drops. You're not going to give offensive player of the week to somebody who had drops. Like, you got to have a stat line or a storyline or something there to go with them. So I don't think that by any means J.J. McCarthy was the best quarterback in the NFC. I think that Stafford played better. Hertz and Prescott both played really well. Daniels played better. But after that, I mean, Jordan Love played really well. They got him ahead in the game. He did his job, but didn't have a big stat line, didn't have a lot of scores in that game. I thought if you're giving it to a quarterback with less than 200 yards, then people are going to say the same stuff. So maybe a wide receiver was more deserving this week. But to have

J.J. McCarthy, go out and pull off a game winning fourth quarter down a couple of scores, lead a couple of touchdown drives, make some spectacular plays. That was the other thing, too, is that all the touchdowns were highlight real plays, which I don't know if that factors in to the NFC player of the week award, but it certainly should, I guess, right? You're an entertainment product. National TV, who was fun, who made exciting plays? I mean, a, what, 27-yard touchdown, the laser beam to Jefferson and then the scramble. So sure, I don't know. I mean, if you're mad about that,

then you're probably just mad about a lot of things. I know that Vikings fans, of course, aren't. But I just think that the people who instantly ran to their computers or tablets or iPads or iPhones to fire out into social media, how dare you national football league? They really just didn't look at what happened in the NFC. And that's the nature of the NFC this year. It's completely wide open, and I'm not sure that anyone is special.

Philadelphia is the champions, and they deserve the benefit of the doubt. They didn't look quite as special offensively as they did last year. It's one game. They'll probably get it together, so they deserve to be up here. The Lions, who were the offensive kings last year, number one in the NFL, they got knocked off, and they're going to have to prove that they belong up there. who else offensively in the NFC makes you go, oh, man, you got to watch out for that team.

There really isn't that many teams like that. The Packers, I think, will have a good offense, as they always do. I don't think it's going to run people out of the building. I think in Green Bay, what they're talking about is, hey, let's run and play defense and ask Jordan Love to hit two or three shots a game. I think they're going to be talking about it that way. And then Washington, they have a special quarterback. Do they have a special complete team?

I think that they're closer than they were last year. They have the most potential for that. The Rams with Stafford have potential to be really good, but they scored, what, 14 points in that game against a really good defense. I think the Rams with their weapons could be really excellent. Who else scares you? San Francisco, Brock Purdy's hurt now,

and they don't have Debo Samuel who looked like he could play. It's really Washington, right? Like, who's special in the NFC? It's Washington and it's possibly L.A because Nekua is a top five wide receiver who just doesn't seem to be talked about a whole lot. Everything else was in the AFC. It's Lamar, it's Alan, it's Herbert, it's Aaron Rogers, it's even Justin Fields over in the AFC. The NFC, it's going to be black and blue, I guess, this year. I guess we should get used to the type of game that we saw on Monday night with the Vikings and the Bears.

there's just not a lot of offenses with a ton of firepower. And at the end of the year, would you be shocked if the NFC has two out of the top 10 offenses or three out of the top 10 offenses? I would not. And Stafford's got to stay healthy all year and play at a high level all year and he's dealing with this back injury.

So is he even going to be able to do that? Daniels is the one and that offense with Samuel and Laramie Tunsell that you go, okay, they've got some superstar talent, They've got, I think, the most gifted quarterback overall when you include processing, the most gifted quarterback in the NFC. And then after that, it's wide open, which leads me to the next part, which is the kind of take a part of the game. There's always two games to me. There's the game that I went to and that I covered and that I talked to everyone after the game and everything else and got everyone's reaction.

and then there's the analysis part of the game where you go home and you watch the all 22 and you watch JTO Sullivan's all 22 and you read the smart people who do football film and you try to come together with this complete what actually happened in this football game and it was very very interesting to look at this through a new light because so many things are happening at once in a live game and for a lot of you guys who aren't at the game it is so hard to see on television what's going on down the field. And they give you an instant replay that's right up here next to the guy, you know, fumble the ball or not having something happen.

It's very difficult to see until you slow a play down, watch it two or three times, and then you go, oh, now I get it. Now I see what happened. And after you do that, and I highly recommend JTO Sullivan's QB school breakdown of J.J. McCart that you're not going to find anybody doing it better than him. I promise you're not. JT, in fact, so many of the things that JT says will match up with things that KOC says. Just a small example, JT said in his breakdown that the Vikings motion was off.

Like they weren't timing it right. Guys will be going in motion and they're supposed to reach a certain landmark and the ball is supposed to be snapped and it wasn't happening or it didn't on a couple of plays. KOC brought it up today. So this breakdown, I think, was excellent. JT is a former NFL quarterback played for a bunch of teams. including the Vikings. I wrote a story on him two years ago about his kind of rise to being one of the top YouTube analysts.

And the big takeaway from that for me was very similar to what Kevin O'Connell said today in his press conference, which was it's definitely not on the, on the quarterback. And I know that sounds like something we said time and time again in the Kirk Cousins era. But this one was everybody different making a mistake on every place. play that was those third downs and plays that didn't work out. Some of the run blocking early on was not what you'd wanted to be. There is a play where they run something called mesh, which I'm sure a lot of you as big football fans understand,

but I'll just explain it anyway, where you have two wide receivers coming from opposite sides and they run right by each other. And what they're supposed to do is run by each other, not into each other, which happened in a key down right in front of J.J. McCarthy. And what O'Sullivan points out, it's a great observation is that McCarthy, he goes to throw it. And then the two guys almost run into each other. And you go, well, I can't throw it now.

And then he ends up kind of making a small sack out of the play. But where was he supposed to go with that football? What was he supposed to do differently? And the most fascinating part of the breakdown. So there's a bunch of examples of that. And there's examples where he points out that, hey, McCarthy's got to be faster on this. they got to have the play clock is counting down that was something O'Connell talked about today with the lights and the noise and everything else

it's harder than it is to simulate at home basically when you're going on the road to soldier field but you know so McCarthy is not like exonerated by the tape I mean there's definitely times where things are off for him running the operation the most fascinating was the pick six because all of us see a pick six on an outbreaking route and you go, man, you were late on it or you telegraphed it or whatever it was that you did wrong because that guy's running for a touchdown. And what JTO Sullivan said was that was the right read on the play and the throw was in basically the right location.

And Nashon Wright sold out completely to intercept that pass. And Nashon Wright is also 6'4 and he probably doesn't get the ball if he's not 6'4. because he caught it way up above his head. And the point was, sometimes you do everything that you're supposed to do as a quarterback. They got the protection set up correctly. They threw to the read

that they were supposed to throw to one on one on the outside between Jefferson and Nashon Wright. And the ball is in the general area. Maybe, you know, maybe, you know, in hindsight, you'd push it a few yards off. But essentially, Nashon Wright, I don't know if he just knew the route

that was coming based on being a Viking for a year. year or if he just totally guessed and he ended up being right and that's how he gets to pick six and that's why it's great to have former quarterbacks and people who know the game at that level who have run those concepts to break them down because as bad as it was result wise the process was exactly how KOC taught it and then McCarthy goes over to the sideline and O'Connell tells him you did the right thing there shake it off get back out there keep running our offense and it's going to work out for you.

So that was very, very interesting. And you come away thinking that the first half was everyone's fault. It was McCarthy. It was the protection and the left tackle problematic there. It was the play calling with some of, I mean, some of the concepts were a little bit more. Mesh is something I just don't see the Vikings running a ton. But I think it was to try to get him a completion.

Justin Jefferson running four yards on a third and five is, unconceivable. Like I would have never guessed that he would make such a basic mistake like that. That sounds like something that an undrafted free agent would do. And I think everybody was a little bit too amped up is kind of the takeaway. So that was my first question to Kevin O'Connell in today's press conference was just his big takeaway from the first half. Kevin, when you rewatch the first half, what was your kind of takeaway about why things

weren't working and what you can build off of there? Yeah, I thought there were some sloppiness to how we played. And what I mean by that is really, you know, we talk about all 11 and how many snaps did we actually have all 11 guys just simply doing their job and doing the things that fundamentals and technique, schematically, things they were coached to do. And it was kind of moving around a little bit. And we just weren't on the field enough.

We weren't able to sustain any sort of momentum to allow ourselves to stack some play. and then luckily we were able to, you know, get the stop the defense did late in the first half. Murph made a great tackle and they make the field goal and then we get speedy on an explosive to give Will a chance at. And I thought those three points clearly ended up being pretty huge. So there you go, Kevin O'Connell on the sloppiness of the offense in the first half. And JJ McCarthy, when he talked about going back through the tape, kind of talked about the same type of thing. You had a chance to go back and watch the film.

What are your big takeaways from Monday night and how that helps you improve going forward? Big takeaway is, you know, just all the little fundamental things that, you know, we kind of lean on is something that, you know, isn't 100% there. So just being able to go back onto the practice field and keep, you know, making those concrete habits.

And, you know, I feel like the way we adapted as an offense throughout the game when it wasn't going our way, you know, in those first three quarters and, you know, being able to, experience that and know what we have is something that was huge to take away from. But, you know, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And we're definitely not even close to where we want to be as an offense. So it was a lot of things that we learned.

So I do think that when it comes to grading coaching staffs, how good are you at your job? Your ability to have a horrific first half where everybody is playing badly for the most part and then come out in the fourth quarter with the game on the line and put together some really excellent drives and find a way to win the game and have nobody freak out, nobody lose their minds over on the sideline. That was why they won this game because I think if they had seen any of your guys social media posts and how much a lot of Vikings fans were freaking out at that moment and not just Vikings fans, but media around the universe. It's one of those island games that everyone's watching.

There was a huge freakout going on. And yet on the Viking sideline, even after a pick six, it was calm. And I asked Aaron Jones about that today. Kevin was talking about how important it was that the sideline was calm and in control, you know, despite some of the chaos there early in the game. Just how important was that in your mind to have that be the atmosphere around JJ in his first start? I think that was important. You know, you never seen any guys get.

low or too high was even kill even when things weren't going our way and like plays are being made in Chicago like the Chicago players are over there kind of celebrating towards our sideline you see the guys just stay even kill and we just continue to communicate with each other that hey our time is coming let's take it one play at a time deep breath and once we make this one play is going to avalanche and it's going to start going and it's a game of momentum so we we We eventually got that momentum on our side and we worked out. It's crazy, you know, how easy it is to say, well, you guys should just stay calm on the sideline.

And then when you're in that building and even us in Press Row are going, what is going on here? And everybody watching, what is going on here to stay calm is harder than you think. And you've seen a lot of teams melt down over the years or not be teams that can fight their way back. And it is a staple of Kevin O'Connell's teams that you should never, as my friend, Judd's Elgad did once, never leave the stadium early and never turn the TV off when this team is playing because they're probably going to keep fighting the way that they did and J.J. McCarthy did. I think that it's in McCarthy's nature, but I also think that it's in the nature of a veteran team. And that's why when in the off season, I hear people talk about the Vikings and go, well, you know, they're an old team. And it's like, okay, right. But when you have something like this happen and it's Hawkinson and Jones and Brian O'Neill and Ryan Kelly, those guys aren't losing their minds.

You're not having players freak out who have been through so much in the NFL before. And that matters around a young quarterback. I think it makes a very big deal for J.J. McCarthy to have a coach who doesn't lose. it and to have players who don't lose it. And I think this is where Kevin O'Connell talked about it. He had a great quote about flipping a Gatorade. I think this is the one where he talked about just staying calm as a team. When things were going poorly there in the first half, it didn't seem like his demeanor changed. No. I mean, you obviously play an emotional game. How do you not let negative emotions kind of creep in in those situations? It's not just him. It's our whole team.

It's one of the people I was most proud of on Monday night was Justin Jefferson. You know, this is a guy that expects to go out there and make a play every single play. And we weren't necessarily doing the things across the board, myself included, to have the success that we wanted. And I just felt like throughout the whole game, although maybe at times, you know, people want to see a Gatorade Cooler Throne or, you know, a bench, you know, knocked over or something, it was just about poise. It was about understanding if we, you know, the things. that were happening were as much to do with things we could correct by just doing our jobs a little bit better and then just trying to sustain that level of execution. And that was what the focus was on. The focus was on dialing in on some of these looks that maybe we were talking

about for the first time. The focus was on how am I making sure my technique and fundamentals apply to how I'm being played today in this football game, regardless of what our preparation might have been. And he was a great example of that. I mean, his sideline demeanor was outstanding. So there you go. This team, I think no matter what happens throughout this year, you are not going to see them turn on each other.

You're not going to see them melt. You're not going to see them when they're down 10 points, pointing fingers or anything like that. And I was thinking about today, like how much is Kevin O'Connell worth to that? How much is the roster build worth to that? there is very real value because not a lot of teams are able to do that. So that was one of the biggest developments that came out of that game is you could talk about it. It's the Mike Tyson quote.

It's everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face. Everybody can go into that game saying J.J. McCarthy, nerves of steel. I know that you guys were talking about this in the comments at times of, hey, he won the national championship. He's going to be fine. he's not going to freak out and you know look it's not the same man it's just not the same when you go in front of soldier field but you're also playing uh against the best in the world on the biggest stage in the world and it makes college football look a million miles away and o'connell did kind of joke about that a little bit like yeah the uh what are they called

the f8 18s or whatever the jets were that flew over the national anthem all that stuff happens And you got ESPN in the house and all that sort of stuff. The Bears fans were liquored up by the time they got there. It was very loud. I mean, it's just different. And for him to work his way through that and for the team to work their way through that, I know that Aaron Jones said today, he didn't have to prove anything to us. That's a you guys thing, like media, not, you know, me in particular, but that's a media thing,

not to us. But you can't tell me that every player coming out of that game wasn't like, okay. Okay, we got one. We got one that we can work with here at the quarterback position. They do have to prove it. Every player has to prove it. McCarthy does. Donovan Jackson does everybody.

So that's big takeaways away from TCO Performance Center and the award that set the Internet on fire this morning. Oh, no. Oh, no, Packers fans. What if a Viking gets NFC player of the week? What will you do? Can you even feel the team the rest of the year? Relax. Anyway, so the injury report, though, maybe you might not want to relax looking at the injury report, not ideal. So it was not good news on Blake Cashman. And Kevin O'Connell said multiple weeks for Cashman to be out. We'll really get a sense for this. If they put him on IR, they haven't done that yet. We'll see if that happens. Maybe they'll be hopeful that it's just a couple of weeks for Cashman. And this right here is why you sign Air.

Wilson because the drop-off is there, of course. I mean, Cashman's one of the best linebackers in the league. But the drop-off is not enormous. Last year, the drop-off was so big when they had Cashman down that they just played Josh Mattelis at linebacker. They just had nothing. And I think that that was one of the big things this year for the front office was, okay, that really heard us. Let's go find somebody who's a veteran that can play there. And of course, Wilson has familiarity with the Vikings and this organization and comes into a completely new defense. And this is what an impressive guy, Eric Wilson is. And this is what I've always heard about Wilson from the time that he got here, made it as an undrafted free agent from Cincinnati,

is that there is just so much respect for him in the way that he plays and the intelligence and the work ethic and all those things that come along with it to be ready in that moment to go in, put on the green dot helmet, and start calling the defense when you've probably only done that in training camp and in practices and maybe in front of the mirror, at least for this defense. Now, it's not the first time for Wilson ever, but for him to go out and do that was so impressive. So at very least, there's not a monumental drop from Blake Cashman, but Cashman getting hurt is a big loss because he is the play caller, because he's a heart and soul guy on the defense, and it's another injury for him that kind of comes when he's just running at 110% trying to chase down Caleb Williams.

So they'll need to give him proper time to come back. Not a lot of depth behind that with experienced Kobe King and Austin Keys, but at least having Eric Wilson allows for a starting caliber linebacker, a guy played over 600 snaps last year to be in for cashman also tie chanler got hurt which opens the door for zavier scott to potentially be back there with miles price uh in terms of the return game and i would expect because zavier scott practiced in full today and is is back from his ankle injury so i would expect that zavier scott just gets elevated and uh on the depth chart he was already you know on the roster but gets elevated on the depth chart and he takes over back there and they practice that a lot

So I think you are going to see some Xavier Scott. That's the thing about some of these undrafted free agents or late round draft picks. Like you're seeing them. You're seeing a Ty Ingram Dawkins. You're seeing a Miles Price. You're going to see a Xavier Scott get an opportunity. Sorry, I have to pull up my phone here to check the rest of the injury report. Oh, Jeff Okuda and Andrew Van Ginkle dealing with concussions did not practice today.

Really going to wait and see on those for tomorrow. And whether those guys are out of. of the protocol. Kevin O'Connell said that they are both in that protocol. That's where if the concussion with Jeff Okuda, all concussions are serious. So don't misunderstand me. But if it is a injury that could keep him out multiple weeks, that's where that discussion of adding another cornerback does have to crop up here. Because not that there's a lot of people out there to get, but you have to make a phone call to somebody if that ends up being the case that, Okuda is out for multiple weeks and just that room can't handle injuries.

They don't have the dudes. It might mean if he can't play this week that we do see Dwight McLeathern. It might mean actually we'll learn. If he doesn't play this week, we will learn about their trust or lack of trust in Dwight McLeathern because if Okuda can't play and they put McGleathern out there for even if it's 15 snaps, well, that shows that they trust him. if they put Fabian Morrow out there, well, that means they probably need to go add somebody else if they can because that means that they really don't trust

Dwight McGleather. I mean, you know, Morrow knows this defense from last year, but he wasn't in camp at all. And McLeatherin's been in the last two camps. So we may learn a lot about that. And if Andrew Van Ginkle can't play, then it is Dallas Turner time. It's a big game for Turner, although this is a tough one with this quarterback because if you're expecting seven pressures from Javon Hargrave and six from Allen and seven from it's not going to happen with Michael Pennix he just gets rid of the football it's his superpower he's so good at avoiding sacks i think he was sacked like 13 times in college and he played five years or whatever I mean it was crazy how rarely Michael Pennix got sacked he's carried that over to the NFL

but pressure when he is flustered at all or confused by the noise The get-off advantage when it comes to that should benefit Dallas Turner. And when I looked back at his game, what I thought was two things. Number one, Dallas Turner did a really good job in the run game. There was a tackle down in the red zone where Levi Drake Rodriguez got into the backfield pretty quickly. And Dallas Turner just shot out to D'Andre Swift and took him down. And there's a couple edge-setting situations where he does a good job. had a couple of pressures,

PFF gave him two pressures in the game. I think with Dallas Turner, and this may end up how he always is or it may be just a progression throughout this season and into the future, there's going to be, because he's not the biggest guy, some snaps where the tackle just gets him and he can't do a whole lot.

But then when he hits the right move at the right time, there's no stopping him. That might end up being who he is because he's got the lightning burst but he doesn't have the strength to just grab a guy and throw him back. I mean, he's not Everson Griffin, who could just, all right, if the first move doesn't work, how about just I throw you at the quarterback? And that's not going to be Dallas Turner, but it will be an enormous test for him if Andrew

Van Ginkle can't play. So him and Okuda are definitely worth watching this week. KOC mentioned that a couple other guys are on this report that might not be serious injuries. Josh Oliver mispractice with an ankle. Ryan Kelly with a toe. And the other big news is that Christian Derisaw practiced in full and Harrison Smith, who I'm going to get to, was limited. Christian Derisaw practicing in full is another big step.

It's so clear how badly they need him. And if Christian Derisaw is in that game, now this was another takeaway of watching the tape, if Christian Derisaw is in that game, we're not talking about how bad he was in the first half. because there were three or four plays where it was just the left tackle straight up beat in seconds in here's the snap one Mississippi two and he's beat that's what can't happen you can be a bad tackle and just get in the way hang on just push the guy by the quarterback

and it'll be okay you could survive that you can't survive one point five seconds and your edge rusher is at the quarterback, and there's nothing J.J. McCarthy can do. So Christian Derisaw's status remains huge, him practicing today, even though it was a walkthrough still big. And I think it's based on, you know, if they had practiced in full, like what would it have been? As far as Harrison Smith, we talked to him for about a minute and a half in the locker room. There were meetings that were about to happen. And he just said that his absence was a health issue. And this has been my stance on this is if it's a personal health issue thing, I'm just going to leave it at that with Harrison Smith. I think that players don't have to tell us

their medical histories. I think if they get an ankle injury, then it has to be on an injury report. I think if they get an arm injury, but if it's something health-wise that he didn't want to divulge to the public, I respect that. And he's also back. If he was missing for the entire season, then I think we would be talking much more about it. But he's back. He's here. He's with the team. So it's just something he doesn't want to discuss in public. And again, I respect that. As far as his ramp up, it sounds like that's the biggest thing. And what he said was that he didn't go on IR and he expects to be back before week four, which would have been the four week I are. Whether that's this week, we're going to have to find out. Maybe it's in a limited

capacity if he doesn't feel like he's up to 100%. And you have to also credit Jay Ward, who played extremely well in that game in about 25 snaps or so. And they were able to fill in for him. So that's kind of the injury report, but a lot of relevant things. Oh, and Drake London, who a lot of folks in Atlanta thought wouldn't practice today was limited. And maybe that's like a Jalen Johnson thing.

Teams are going to play games with limited. I mean, if the guy ties his shoes, you could put him down as limited. so maybe they're playing games over there in Atlanta with Drake London's injury, but that is one to watch because that Atlanta team does not have a lot of talent outside of Drake London in the wide receiver room. Darnell Mooney last year was really good with Kirk. I don't think he's a great wide receiver overall and kind of just guys after that. So they rely on pits.

They rely on Robinson. But London is their workhorse. And if he is out, that will be a big problem. So you know we're back, guys, when officially we're talking about. injury reports are a huge deal and we're going to go through them and we're going to watch them closely and take it down to the final second and sometimes get surprises like we did with Kyler Gordon. So there you go. A lot going on in Minnesota Vikings land. What is on your guy's mind? So what do you what do you think? Oh, before I forget,

I will get you the Fandual question of the day because sometimes I can get a little caught up here. So let me do that. Tell you about one of our sponsors. Put your questions in the comments. What are you, what's on your mind now? You got the game is over with. The picking a part of the game is over with. National TV again, Atlanta Falcons. What are you thinking? A fan dual question of the day is Jordan Mason was a standout from the game. After seeing him in action, how many carries, would you like to see Jordan Mason get this week? How many would you like for him this week? I don't think it's a good idea to overreact to Jordan Mason having a great game and say,

hey, stick Aaron Jones on the bench because you saw what Aaron Jones can do in the passing game. I also don't think we can tell if Jones is cooked or something based on a couple carries. I think it was just Mason's night. I'd like to see them play it that way. It reminds me so much of Latavius Murray and Jarek McKinnon where they have different skill sets and they each can bring something to the table. And if one guy is rolling, then put that guy in the game,

especially if you get ahead in the game, Jordan Mason, if you have just tossing it out there, a two-point conversion you want to convert. And you're at the one yard line because the other team committed a penalty. Feel free to give it to Jordan Mason and use that interior offensive line, which in reviewing the film last night again, I thought that the PFF grades matched up with what I saw. There were just a lot of really terrific moments with the interior offensive line. And imagine me having been here for a decade talking to you guys

about how bad the interior offensive line is watching this film like, look at them, look at them block against the stunt. I can't believe it. Do you believe in miracles? there was a there was a play where Chicago ran a pretty nasty stunt where their edge rusher was way out wide and he comes flying in full speed and I think this actually might have been I think this was the touchdown to Aaron Jones and Ryan Kelly sticks himself in the ground slams into that guy and buries him and you're like I have not seen a center do that in Minnesota in a long time

So Ryan Kelly and his health, toe injury, is pretty relevant. Keeping him on the field for 17 games is pretty relevant. And Donovan Jackson, I think after watching it, there was the one thing that really made me think there is something there. Some of his PFF grade, he was not always challenged the most on some of the best rushes that Chicago had. Some of them went the other direction. But he did a good job picking. up the stunts. He did a good job one-on-ones in pass protection. There wasn't a lot of dropbacks,

so that matters too. But there were a couple plays where his athleticism was so on display, and his physical nature was so on display. And there was a play where he got beat a little bit, and the edge rusher was on a stunt. And the edge rusher was able to get around him enough to knock the ball out of McCarthy's hands, the one that was almost a fumble, where it was like the arm is going forward. That was against Jackson. But even then you saw him take the initial punch and hang on. And I think that probably McCarthy, if he's like a millisecond earlier, it's fine.

But he was able to hang on even on one of those where it wasn't the easiest. And he was kind of getting beat there a little bit. But there was an outside zone or maybe it was a duo. I guess it was a double team block. Yeah, it was a double team block where they're moving left to right. and Ryan Kelly is blocking the nose tackle and Jackson is supposed to be running to his left but turning his hips and double team blocking

while moving to his left and the way that he moved, we haven't seen a guard move here in a long time. So Donovan Jackson had a great debut and that tape was worth watching. So what was it? Oh, Fandu question of the day, though, is how many carries for Jordan Mason this week

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Questions, thoughts. Jay needs a cornerback now. Okay. Well, yeah, I mean, they might. They might. It depends on how far along they feel like Dwight McLaughern is. because Dwight McLeathern has been developed over two years and he is knowledgeable in the system

and he's made plays in training camp. I mean, it's a daily thing of making plays in training camp. And what it comes down to for McLeodern, if he's the one who has to play, is just how much are you locked in to the system, to the fundamentals, the technique and all that stuff that matters so much to them, but it's boring to talk about,

but it matters. How much are you locked in on that stuff? And they can also, in this game of Harrison Smith comes back, they can play a ton of three safeties. I think that Jay Ward earned some trust the other night as well. And remember, Jay Ward also is a guy that used to play corner in college and has played safety. So he's a bit of a hybrid type of player.

We might see more of Ward and Theo Jackson and Josh Mattelis playing that nickel role that he's typically played if Jeff Okuda is not ready. It feels like the cornerback room is a little rickety, and it was not an impressive performance either from the starters in that game. Byron Murphy did have a huge tackle to help them score before the half, but there were a couple plays where it looked like not sure what happened there against Chicago need to be better in this game. But it's just not an easy thing to snap your fingers. And then all of a sudden, you've got another corner. There you go. let's see

sorry I'm scrolling I'm scrolling back to where you guys were first starting to answer or ask questions and comments and so forth Stitch edits says was happy to hear JT bring up the three critical drops as well as Jefferson running that route short on third down

big momentum killers and all big factors to the slow start and all things that you would not expect so PFF didn't give Thielen a drop and the all 22 from that angle makes it look like a drop. I think on TV, when I looked up, because in the press box, we have TVs like up above us. When I looked up, I thought I saw somebody's hand come in and knock it out,

which is probably why PFF did not give it a drop. Adam Thielen usually catches that ball. Justin Jefferson always catches the balls that were coming his way. And you're right. I mean, and that's why it's when you break it down with somebody like JT, and you watch his videos to give you like he's not a, Viking fan. He's a former Viking, but only briefly. So he's not a Viking fan. He's just sort of an objective observer. And he will tell you that he doesn't know all the play calls and the drops,

but at least you get the best perspective possible. Because I like to watch the film. I've done it for years. I don't know what J.T knows about what's right and wrong from the quarterback. And not to that level. So I think it was interesting to see him contextualize. And the biggest thing that JT pointed out that I think is going to be enormous going forward for J.J. McCarthy is that there were very few times, and I've watched 100 JTO Sullivan breakdowns, and sometimes when the quarterback is making bad decisions, there's a lot of critiques when that happens. What are we doing here? Like, why are we throwing this ball? And there were not many decision critiques from him. There was, hey, this has got to get out faster or this ball, you know, maybe could have gone here instead, you know,

the one that they actually got the pass interference, he was having trouble figuring out why the ball went down the sideline to the running back when there were other options that made more sense with that type of play. But even if those things happen where it's a little late or the play call doesn't quite get in and so forth, those things that you'd expect from an inexperienced quarterback, bad decision making is. killer and there just wasn't a lot of bad decisions and all summer long they told them well if it's not there play it safe and just scramble and then he did in some instances and sometimes it was a guy reaches a paw out and gets him where if you get you know if you break that tackle if you don't

get tripped you get a first down you keep moving it was kind of an everything that could go wrong went wrong until it didn't when it started to click and I think those things a lot of them What are you always looking for? Correctable or not? There was a lot of correctable stuff. Justin Jefferson running short of the sticks. That's not going to happen again. Like Justin Jefferson running into somebody in mesh

or dropping pretty easy sliding to the ground catch probably not going to happen again. So if the decisions are there and the reeds are there and the protections are there, but the execution isn't quite there, well, that, that gives you the idea that it should go in the right direction. If it was bad decisions, if it was, if it was Caleb Williams looking like I don't really know where to go with this football so many times, then I would say there's a lot more work to do.

But I think they were, after coming away watching that, I thought they were very close to a lot of things happening that just didn't in that game. Brand says the players believed in JJ prior to the game after the game they were willing to run through a brick wall with him. I think that the reason, the difference is that everything they saw in training camp was a guy acting like a pro. He was leading the offense, getting the calls to them, running practice, getting stuff done at practice, working with everybody, all that stuff. So there's that phase of proving it to your teammates is they need to see you care. They need to see you work the way they work as veteran players.

So that's a box checked. And if somebody works that way, and Jordan, or I'm sorry, Aaron Jones talked about this with Jordan Love. He said that behind the scenes, they knew Jordan Love was going to be a good quarterback in Green Bay before he ever took the field. But then there's phase two, which is you got to prove it. You got to, these guys, these guys have, they have Pro Bowls, they have many million dollar contracts, they have impressive NFL careers, some of them have records, some of them might be in the Hall of Fame someday. like yeah you got it you got to prove it you got to prove it in the moments i i mean what would this this isn't it's not a playground this isn't for fun like these guys are trying to win so they did need to see that i think if it come a little short i don't think they're giving up

on him i just think maybe your description is pretty good like it just it just reinforced what they thought they knew uh let's see mr mayor why was everyone talking about the dude who did the national anthem like it was good. It had to be one of the worst renditions I've ever heard. Oh, so that's a Chicago thing. That guy does the Blackhawks and it's like this big presentation and everybody sings along with it. Like, that's their thing.

That's their thing. Also, if I were to critique other people singing, that would be unfair. That would be unfair. Not an expert in the singing area. But I just know that that's what Chicago, the Blackhawks at United Center, have always done. and their crowd sings along and they clap through it and they all be a part of it

because it is ridiculous and over the top and so it's all part of the thing but that's a local thing just like there's some things in Minnesota that would require explanations about why does everybody

in Minnesota do this, that or the other thing? It's the same thing with Chicago like that's their thing. Rob says Vikings O-Line with a backup rookie to I don't know what this word is uh but guy me i think you mean guys debuting zero false starts bears all line at

home for fall starts oh okay yeah right they got a oh i see what you mean they got a rookie and two guys who are debuting yeah and they had no false starts i think that i think false starts are usually the quarterback i mean sometimes a guy loses his uh snap count but even then like usually the quarterback is supposed to have the cadence right and the cadence was an issue for chicago that entire training camp. It was not for the Vikings, but it's also Ryan Kelly, everybody be on the same page. Donovan Jackson, to me, did not look like a rookie in this game. I didn't, I didn't see any moment from him. I think I watched him on almost every play. I didn't see anything from him where I went, oh, that's a rookie moment, Donovan. Now, he's going to face harder competition as

the season goes along, but it was a really great debut for Donovan Jackson. Jim says surprises me how no one brings up the refs blatantly helping the Vikings in that game. I don't know if they meant to do it, Jim, but you are 100% right. Now, there was debate over the holding call. I think that, you know, people were watching Darnell Wright in his snatch technique or whatever it was that gets called for holding more than it should and pointing out that it was the wrong number, that it was somebody else who was doing it, and that's who they made. to call. I'm not really sure. There's no question about it that they got breaks in that game for

that to happen. They got some enormous breaks. They got a missed field goal from the other team. The luck stuff, it went in their way. The penalties for false starts, a holding at the worst time, a missed field goal, a botched end of game. I mean, this was something that I didn't actually think of at the end of the game, but then when it was brought up, I was like, oh yeah they could have just kicked it out of bounds not out of the back of the end zone out of bounds anywhere and and it would have been a much better idea than what they did which was kick is short and I know ben Johnson said after the game they didn't mean to but if he he could have just kicked it out of bounds or short of the landing area and then it would have wasted no time it was right there

for them so in a lot of ways and I promise if you listen to any Chicago podcasts they were I'm sure talking about how many different ways they fell apart in that game. And the referees did play a role. There was a couple of, I mean, even hands to the face. I don't know the definition of that penalty, but that was one that mattered. A lot of things had to go the Vikings way. And if you play that game a thousand times, they don't win it a thousand times. They probably win it about 10 times or 10% of the time.

If you play it over a thousand times with how much the Bears outplayed them early, and they were able to hang on. At the same time, though, the results are the results. I mean, they took advantage of all those things. And the better teams are going to take advantage. Teams will give you opportunities and the better team is going to take advantage. It's kind of just we were talking about United Center. Every team has turnovers in hockey,

but the teams who score off of them are usually better, right? You're going to get turnovers. You're going to get chances. You're going to get the refs to help you from now and then and things like that. you just got to, you know, you got to find a way to take advantage. But they had a lot of stuff go their way. And what I think Kevin O'Connell was trying to say as part of his answer, maybe it was to me or maybe there was another question where he just said it's not our

standard. Like that game was not their standard. I think we all agree they have to play a lot better through the entire game in order to win against the Falcons and be a legitimate offense going forward. Defense overall, I don't know. Sometimes you chase around Caleb Williams, you get him out of structure that many times, and he makes spectacular plays. You sort of just tip your cap.

But if you have three guys chasing him while he's having to make a play over and over again, you've done a pretty good job. Overall, I mean, the defense kept them in it and allowed them to get a chance to win. Jay says, let's run the heck out of the ball on Sunday night. Mason is a beast. I have not looked at this yet. I'm just turning the page here over to. this week and the Atlanta Falcons,

how many yards did Tampa Bay run for against the Falcons? I'm curious. I don't know if their defense is better this year. I mean, I know they got James Pierce as the first round pick. I don't know if it's been better or not. So I'm curious about that. If the Falcons gave up a lot of running yards in this game,

I'm looking. Let's see. Because Tampa Bay, they were, Yeah, not really, not really. Baker Mayfield had 40 yards. Bucky Irving only averaged 2.6 yards a carry in that game against Atlanta. And then Rashad White had two carries for 14 yards. And I also wonder about Tampa Bay and their new offensive coordinator,

but they didn't run very effectively against Atlanta. So they're going to need a good game out of Jordan Mason. Kurt says Mason downhill should be our number one go-to with everything, or our number one go to because everything else works because of it. I 100% agree that with Jordan Mason, they set up the bigger plays later in the drive and the bigger plays later in the game because when he was in there and you're getting run on and that's the psychological feeling of having someone like Jordan Mason is when you're getting run on and you're getting blasted by this big giant dude

who doesn't go down easy and just powers forward at some point you start to lean into that lean forward get on get on your toes we got to stop this guy and then that's where play action hits you and the biggest play of the game i thought for getting j j mccarthy really going outside of he said it was the throw to nailer and i'm sure that's his feeling thing of hey i just threw that ball really well i can you know i'm feeling good but the biggest the most difficult throw and most impressive was that play action to the outside of for Justin Jefferson that went for 17 yards. I was looking at it on the tape and he threw it from the right hash at the 45 yard line inside the 20 on the other side of the field.

I'm not a, you know, mathematician, but that's a long way. I don't know exactly how long, but it's a long way. And he put it in the exact right spot for Jefferson to come back to it. And I think there was a lot of attention there on the run because of Jordan Mason. so it matters there and it also matters in staying ahead of the sticks which you're able to do you're going to have to have a lot of times where j j mccarthy just gives the ball to somebody else and they do something and then he can come in and make plays but not having him do everything and that's what it felt like in that game in the first half second and eight second and ten

all the sudden you're in third down and it just there was a lot of that in the game that was the exact opposite of what they wanted. They wanted to take a lot of the control of the game away from J.J. McCarthy of stay ahead of the sticks, get easy completions, move on. And then here you are, you know, third down, and the crowd's going crazy, and they're dialing up their stunts and blitzes or whatever. They didn't blitz a ton, but there's stunts and stuff like that. And they're locking in on coverage.

And all of a sudden, you're saying, this is not what you wanted to be. Jordan Mason allows you to play the way you want to play if you're the Vikings. Rob's is Jay Ward played a lot more than Okuda. Yeah, he played about 10 snaps more, 9 snaps more, probably elevate more. Well, that's what I mean. We're going to find out. We're going to find out if they want the veteran to be in there if Jeff Okuda can't play. If they want the veteran or if they want Dwight McLeathern, just always kind of interested in what they really thought of somebody during camp because that's when we're going to find out.

Like, did they really think that McLeodham was. coming along as a development guy or do they not trust them to the point where they have to go with the veteran morrow who can play if he has to play 15 snaps i think you're in okay shape but they would rather have okuda back uh taylor says for all the draft hate on quacy's first rounders uh or his first rounders are looking good and he's finding ways to plenty of ways to supplement the roster with young meaningful guys yeah i mean when it comes to the draft thing i just took that entire discussion and I got out a lock safe and I put it in there and I turn the key and I kept the key because we'll bring it out some other time. But to your point, though,

as we start to see how this thing is playing out and you do see Levi Drake Rodriguez and Ty Engram Dawkins and Jalen Redmond as these three undrafted, fifth round, seventh round, and they're trusting them. And they're giving them a lot of snaps behind Javon Hargrave and behind Jonathan Allen. And, okay, well, those are young players that they're developing that were not the first round draft pick. You've got Naylor as a big contributor in this game. If you caught one for 28, you were a big contributor.

But Naylor, KOC pointed this out. Naylor was the most wronged man in this game. Naylor was open three or four times early in the game. He threw up the Randy Moss hand at one point. And it was pressure because of Justin's school giving us. up a pressure. If Derisaw is over there, that ball is going up to Jalen Naylor for 50 yards. I thought that Naylor had a good game. But, you know, they are bringing along some players here that are supplementing the roster. Just not a lot of them at corner at the moment. But,

you know, Jay Ward stepping up is important. Theo Jackson, another guy that they were able to find and bring in. Rob, I mean, you might be right about Tavier Thomas. They just haven't shown any real desire to play tavier at anywhere except safety i know in his history he's got nickel corner experience but they haven't put him there in training camp at all so that means i think that he's probably more of the backup backup backup safety uh taylor says dallas turner's run fits were amazing i was very impressed by how he played against the run very impressed uh not completely insane i see a minimum of three sacks could happen. Michael Pennix is really, really good at getting rid of the football. But U.S. Bank

Stadium, it causes problems. It really does. Rob points out that the Falcons right tackles out for the season could be Grinard's Day or, I mean, depends on if they are going to have him line up over the right tackle or stay on the left side. This is why I love the data so much, guys. I could just find out. Like, yeah, because my initial thought was, yeah, well, he's probably going to line up over the left tackle all day, but now I can just check and see, well, how often did he line up on the right side in this game? I don't think it was that many, but, um, no, it was, uh, yeah, it was a little bit. He played left outside linebacker, which is the right side of the offensive line, 16 snaps to 38. So you're right. Not having their starting tackle could be a big

deal. It also could be an opportunity for Dallas Turner to win some reps there. Daniel says the pressures impressed me. Caleb escaped like nine sacks. Yeah, they were winning up front. They were definitely winning up front. And if you can win on your defensive tackles and then have outside rushers like this, and they mixed in blitzes with success in the game as well,

I mean, that was impressive how they had, and one of them was, you know, it was illegal with Ivan Pace smashing into Caleb Williams, but at the same time, like, it was a successful rush that they got in there as well. And that will be something that I want to see against Michael Pennix. How often do you blitz? Because he does get rid of the ball quickly. Mr. Mayor, how was Rouse compared to school and camp?

It was, it was just in school the entire time at the starting left tackle when Daryasaw was recovering. Rouse was never given those opportunities. I thought Rouse had a much better second half of the camp than first half. half and started to come along. I mean, there were times in the game where I was thinking the same thing. Put in the other guy.

Experience is great, but it's not great if the guy's just getting beat all the time. And even if Josh Oliver's a little banged up, but you can't just help the left tackle every single play. Although I do want to say to K. Mack, who says he gives me T.J. Clemmings vibes. Not, no, not that bad. Not that bad.

Nope. Clemmings was unplayable to the point where almost every snap seemed like it was an instant loss I didn't think that way for just at school I just don't think he has the athleticism to keep up with guys that are this powerful

and this quick. Daniel says, you know, school is a backup, filling if necessary. Yeah, I mean, there's just not many good backups out there and he had a very tough night. I would expect that he will still play.

though. And he'll be out there for this game. Jay says cool is not as bad as you think. He settled down in the fourth. I watched the film back. It was rough, man. It was a rough game for him. But it's going to be. With the backup left tackle, it's always going to be pretty rough. That's why they need Derisaw back. I don't think that there's other players that they should be playing instead or how dare they get this guy. They don't know what they're doing or anything like that. It's just that's the life when you have to play a backup left tackle. So he had to hang on for dear life. And that's all that he could really do. Yeah, I agree with Brand. He's about as good as you can get. He allowed four pressures. They survived them. But there was some

plays where you went, man, there was something there. School or Cam Robinson. Well, Cam Robinson is a starter. He's a better player than school, especially a pass protection. but he, you know, Robinson in the second half of the year fell off the face of the earth, though. And it looked like Cam Robertson in the second half of the year. Nick says Mason should get, this is the fan dual question of the day, if you're just joining, was how many carries this week for Jordan Mason, would you like to see? Nick says Mason should get more than Jones. He's just a bigger, more physical back.

I'm not ready to write off Aaron Jones, who ran for what, you know, four and a half yards of carry last year over a thousand yards has had a great career but if mason's rolling and they can't tackle them then you play jordan mason and marauder says mason 20 carries erin jones 15 i mean jones being able to line up at wide receiver what i wouldn't mind seeing occasionally is those two guys on the field the same time i've never seen kOC do that but you know feel free to take the idea, Mr. O'Connell, if you want, I think that Jones being so gifted in the passing game, he was saying today that he does stuff where the opposing team's linebacker will say to him, like, man, I didn't know you were running that route or I didn't expect a running back to

run that route. He's able to do that. I think that they should still say, stay closer to 50-50. Mr. Mayor has it at 66% of snaps to 34. I want Jones out there for the passing game, but I also don't think, like we are talking about Aaron Jones here. This is a guy who has average five yards to carry in the NFL. He's been one of the best running backs of the last decade. Let's not go crazy after one game. I just think 50-50 is good.

I think 15 rushes for Mason, 10 rushes for Aaron Jones, and five catches for Aaron Jones. sounds like a really good touch distribution there that's a that's a football term touch distribution uh not completely insane says why no screens to slow down the rush well i don't know and that's a good point because i thought oh especially if your left tackle is struggling a little bit i thought they needed to get the screen game going earlier maybe i just can't stop with stuff that drove me crazy for years. They, they did a lot of what I asked, interior linemen, interior pressure, a lot of stuff

that I've been asking about for you. They drafted a receiver. They got the rookie quarterback contract, but like, can I ask for one more thing, an effective screen game? Can I just ask for that because it's been a while? The screens that they ran, I think they ran three of them, that was it, maybe one to Jefferson, and the one that was another screen that counted as run, I agree with. you i would like to see donovan jackson running at people maybe with darisaw out it's a little harder

uh i would like to see them moving in front of aaron jones he's just got a great ability to find space in those situations with the screens i thought that they should have done that more i agree uh matt says uh 18 carries for jordan mason eight to 12 for jones with three to four catches Giovanni wants 20 plus carries for Jordan Mason. Don and Bethany says not sure the number, but Mason going in the first half more instead of waiting until the third series would be to our benefit.

Now, that is a really good point. Don't worry about who the starting running back is. Jordan Mason right away is a good idea. I think it's a great point that handing off to Jordan Mason right away is a tone setter. These things still exist tone setting, giving it to Jordan Mason. and getting ahead of the sticks to get some play action in.

But just giving this, it's not establishing the run so much as it is. We've got this guy that we'll use all day. And you're going to have to tackle him all day. Josh Mattelis said to me when I asked about tackling Mason, he said, I felt it for weeks after they played San Francisco. I mean, you see that guy. Like muscles on muscles is just a big powerful guy with a lot of burst. Who wants to do that?

who wants to tackle that guy and get that going right away at the beginning of the game. C.M. Boo-Earns says, I would like to see Mason get 10 to 15 and we try to get Jones heated up. He is such a threat when they don't know if he is going to run or take a, I assume you know, if he's going to run a route and take a handoff. Yeah, you got it right. Yeah. So that's exactly right is that Jones does bring another dynamic that the opponent has to pay attention. to, which is where he's going to line up. Is he going to be going out in, or is he going to stay in for past protection? Like, they really don't know when he's in the game. I'd like to see both of them 50, 50, but I like the idea of Mason getting out there early

and just smacking into some people against the Atlanta Falcons, who I think, I don't know, I mean, are they the toughest team? It seems that they did well against the run. So maybe I shouldn't say that they're not. but reputation-wise, in recent years, I don't know if they've had a reputation as being the nastiest defense. So right away, kind of hitting them in the mouth a bit. They're like, let's get footbally, my friends.

Let's get footbally here. Let's see. Is that T-Money? Someone who may be looking for a way out is Dallas Turner highlighting our first rounders, JJ and Jackson, but Turner is getting no acknowledgment. Oh, yeah, yeah, we did talk a little bit about him. you're right that it's I mean with Dallas Turner for that game I'm sure that you everybody wants every game to be a referendum on what every player is going to be we always do

that like the most recent thing we saw is the truth and that's how it always works with every player but I thought you know Dallas Turner and I was thinking about this today with Dallas Turner is that there's always going to be because of his draft status these crazy high expectations, why don't you get, you know, 19 sacks a year. They trade it up for you, et cetera, et cetera. He played a good game and he didn't get a lot of pressures, but he made plays in the run game and stuffing the run against Chicago was huge. If he's a really good contributor on the team, I don't think we have to always do this.

In fact, I'm kind of, I want to ask somebody with the Falcons about how they feel about Bijon Robinson. because there has to be that same discussion like Bijon Robinson is a really good player but there's other running backs in the world but you'd also rather have Bejan Robinson than not have him on your team

but they gave up a high draft pick which is just always going to end up being the discussion round and round but if Andrew Van Ginkle is out this is a huge game for Dallas Turner to step up let's see pro pro Desra beats sometimes you guys have some wild names. What do you think of those missed open throws from Caleb Williams?

We got to tighten up a better quarterback would fit those.