Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - JJ McCarthy's surprising award and a Blake Cashman injury update (Part 2)

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.

Let's see. 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. I think you nailed it. I think you nailed it. That some of it might be pressure, probably is pressure.

Some of it's Caleb's not that good and is not that accurate. and has a lot of wow throws and a lot of bad throws. And there were ones. And look, every quarterback has throws in a game that they're going to miss. So you could go through every game and say, well, they miss that one throw. Like, yeah, that happens. That's, it's not Tom Brady out there.

It's Caleb Williams. But there were, there were five throws in that game that make it really hard for the Vikings to win. And he missed a lot of them. And that's a part. problem that Chicago is going to have to talk about their podcasts and radio shows all week long. We'll circle back to that when the Vikings play the Bears again. But if you're analyzing this individual game, you can point to a lot of moments where the Bears gave it away, including Caleb Williams, missing a lot of those throws. And it was one of those, if only for this,

if only for that, if only for that. And the Vikings needed every single one of them to work out, including Williams not being that accurate. So it was a problem for them. That's really the only way that I view that is just that Williams is still not that accurate of a quarterback even after another year. Ben Johnson is still good at his job and drew up open wide receivers and they needed some breaks to win that game. On a week to week basis, and we've been through this over the years, I kind of look at

the wins and losses from two different perspectives. from the, did you really beat that team and then the result? Did you outplay that team and the result are the two different ways I look at it? And I'll just give you some examples from last year. The Vikings against Arizona, this game reminded me of the Vikings against Arizona because they played very badly for most of the game. And then Arizona kept them in it and they ended up winning. Arizona is not a really serious team.

Chicago's not a really serious team. And this week and the coming weeks, you have to outplay your opponent, probably against Atlanta's got a lot of talent, certainly against Pittsburgh. Cleveland maybe just, you know, make sure that the ball's pumped up and you're ready to go. But I don't know, Cleveland, their defense did a really great job against Cincinnati. So they have to be taken seriously in London. I mean, some of these games coming up, and of course Cincinnati, they are going to be tested. and they have to outplay their opponents.

And that was really the difference between 2022 and 2024. And I know how it both ended, but in 2022, I thought the Vikings didn't outplay their opponents a lot of times were they won games, maybe four, five different times. And last year was maybe one or two. And I thought they outplayed a lot of their opponents. Well, they're 0 for one and outplaying your opponent, at least handily, by coming away with a win.

And that doesn't mean that like Chicago, you know, they don't get like some sort of points for this but they didn't start to finish manhandle their opponent outplay them outgain them hold on to the ball a lot more they played less sloppy they didn't screw up the end right and they and they got some breaks from Chicago but it wasn't a wow you just wildly beat them down and out I'll play them they need to be in that space going forward in these next few games because a game like that where you're in the third quarter and you have 5% chance to win, you just can't count on that being a win all that often. Brett says, I'm going to say 15 carries for Jordan Mason. Jones will get 10 or less and McCarthy

with four times. McCarthy's, his running makes a difference. Trey says I'm late, but they run mesh routes a lot. They do it sometimes, yeah. I mean, it's, they like to run. They like to run. run Justin Jefferson down the field. Usually. I don't, I mean, they do it sometimes with Jefferson. I don't feel like I see all the time. I think they do it with like T.J. Hawkinson a lot and a receiver. I don't see all the time Justin Jefferson coming three yards across the middle of the field. I don't think that happens very much. So that's what I meant. Like they, they do have that in the offense. Every team has that in the offense. But usually I don't see Jefferson. running like right in front of the line of scrimmage too much. So that's, that's what I meant. Joe, JT's common. You can't throw it and catch it.

Yeah, that's one of his favorites. Yep, for sure. Definitely one of his favorites. Zumer Kev says Pennix was my draft crush. So I'm curious to watch him. That QB class is crazy. It certainly is. And, you know,

you listen to Kevin O'Connell talk about him. And I was definitely wondering. and I'm sure he'll never tell but I was wondering if they were both on the board would they have picked Pennix or would they have picked McCarthy there's two just very different situations though

you know Pennix had the injury history and he also was a lot more mature I mean as a quarterback he had played so much more football whereas JJ McCarthy was an opportunity for Kevin O'Connell to form a bond very early in the guy's career and build on that year after year for potentially a very long time and the fact that we saw in their first game together how well they click as coach and

quarterback that was another another big one another big takeaway was just that those two clicking as coach and QB again it can work and practice all day long but can it really work that's where you have to find out in games and we found out in games and those two guys sorting out problems and working together the way they did for many years to come you could see that with those two. But I mean, I'm with you, Zuma Kev. I really liked Michael Penix, too. I thought the armed talent was terrific. The leadership was terrific. He was one of my favorite players in that draft because of all that stuff, although I think I probably said to you guys at the time that all the quarterbacks are all of my children, that, you know, I love them all

equally as the rookie quarterback contract every single one of them if they end up on the Vikings it'll be fine because that's the advantage that you're looking for and all of them had great traits and all of them had some reason or other to question this that or the other thing and as of right now you know Caleb Williams probably the farthest behind though you know Drake may have has anybody ever played worse and just gotten maybe Sam Donald got this early in his career but he's in New York so he got demolish it just Drake may hasn't played that great and it's you know been a lot of well that team stinks that franchise stinks and that's very true it's just Drake may no matter what he does

in any games it seems to be like eh not his fault but also you know no we never let these guys develop you know we we let we give one game and then we got to decide right or one week or one season and then we got to decide so that there's still a lot to be decided on that Susan, Dan Arlofsky said he thought that JJ was throwing to the correct places and basically right timing fundamentals were sound. The throws were a little off. I thought that the timing was a little slow on a good number of them, but I did think it was the right places.

I thought it was the right ideas. And the other thing was, too, that you kind of take for granted the times that he pulled the ball down and didn't get anything out of it. What did he lose in sacks, like six total yards? he didn't lose big gains in sacks, but he also didn't get strip sacked. He also didn't throw it somewhere stupid. Like, he did a good job of not freaking out when the pressure was on. And I think he had a good clock in his head from when it was time to just say,

all right, I got to bail on this play. And he, you know, he bailed early to a couple of plays where he had an 11-yard run that he bailed a little early. But you'd be much better off bailing a little bit early. and then going on to the next play, then you would be making a mistake. So I thought decision-making-wise, that it was right. So Daniel says the refs didn't make the Bears miss open receivers.

Like, we can acknowledge that there were a lot of things that happened that fell into place for the Vikings to win. But also, McCarthy was great in those moments. those are two separate things that are both correct holding penalty false starts screw up at the end with the clock open receivers that they missed all those things that Chicago gave the Vikings they gave them but you don't have to take advantage and the Vikings did take advantage and so taking advantage of the opportunities that you get is a big deal toward winning football games and the Vikings are often a team that has done that under

Kevin O'Connell. Not completely insane. You are what your record says you are. The Bears are 0 and 1. Yeah, it only took one week to get that quote in here. Look, I mean, I'm not saying the bears are good. I don't think they're good at all. I think they're going to be, you know,

maybe like a seven or eight win team at best, at best. I think they have some talent there on the defensive side when they get their corners back. But that's going to be a long. long year for Ben Johnson. I think if he gets to eight wins, it's probably good for them. But you know, you never know. It's just one week that we saw. Brett said people are acting like Caleb didn't escape pressure just to miss passes. He's inaccurate, but he is way more elusive than all other quarterbacks, but one.

His elusiveness is insane. It's insane. I mean, just completely, completely nuts with his ability to get away. I could see why, you know, team would draft him number one overall. and then his ability to throw it. I apologize, Derek, that the flags in the background are a little screwy. As you can tell, to my right here, a little bit of construction going on in the studio. I will fix them when the construction is over with in a couple of days. But for now, you're going to look at sideways flags. I'm sorry. I'm trying.

Anyway, let's see. Javier says at what point did you think that? we were going to start bringing up the forbidden. I think you mean to say punter word. Is that what you're talking about? Is punter the word? Yeah, we didn't talk about the punter because the punter did a good job in the game.

Special teams, the special teams really stood out. Yeah, Dee Smith, I know they had 100 rushing yards against the Falcons, but 39 of it went to the quarterback. Oh, Ponder. I thought you meant punter because there's been a lot of Ryan Wright criticism throughout the off season or them just sticking with Ryan Wright. Ponder. Oh, yeah, I saw, I saw, you're right, that, that word is banned on the show because, but I did see it. I did see it on social media a little bit during the game, uh, that people were saying this looks

like Christian Ponder. I didn't think it looked like Christian Ponder at all. I thought it looked bad. And I was not up in the press box thinking like, which you guys don't realize is that they screwed up mesh you can't see that stuff at full speed so uh i was thinking the same thing you were thinking like what is happening with this offense brutal uh at the same time i think you know i was able to maybe keep a little more context that it was his first half of football that he ever played ponder did not have the things that j j mccarthy has in terms of whatever you want call it gamer ice in his veins guts whatever it is the the stuff that is hard to put a finger on but you know when you see it and everybody knows it when they see it with j j mccarthy now

there's questions going forward which is is he going to execute the offense consistently enough i thought his accuracy was actually pretty good in this game i didn't think oh my gosh he's spraying the ball everywhere, but that still remains a question. He's thrown 20 passes. But can it be consistent? Can they get on the same page and start rolling? And it is worth bringing up that they're without their number two wide receiver and their number one left tackle.

Those are very valuable people that they're without. Rob watched the Falcons game. Rob getting a neck roll here tonight. It was a suggestion, I think maybe from my mom. that we need something to, like, pop up on the screen with a neck roll every time I say that. But if you were, if you were grinding Falcons tape, then, then you get one. Bucky Irving looked good early, but, yeah, he, the numbers were not too good at all for

him. I'm curious about, well, and the game script shouldn't have impacted that. I'm curious to go look and see why if it was maybe just the Falcons, if they were good defensively on their D-line. they haven't been in recent years, but that doesn't mean that they can't be this year on their defensive line in terms of stopping the run.

Let me go take a look at their run defense. Like who graded well for them. It looks like, oh, wow, this is interesting. Oh, Mike Hughes played 58 snaps. Hey, I'm going to tell you the truth. Good for Mike Hughes. That guy, that guy was wronged. The way that they handled his injury,

the way things played out in Minnesota, playing in the game that he got hurt in before, I think before 2019 playoffs, just really too bad. So good for him that he's playing and that he was starting. Xavier Watts, that's a guy we talked about a lot, apparently tackled really. It looks like their secondary and linebackers tackled really well in this game. And that was why they had a lot of success in the run. They didn't have crazy grades from their D-line. It was really their A.J. Terrell, Jesse Bates, Divine Diablo, who's a linebacker, Divine Diablo is his name. And Xavier Watts, yeah. So they looked like they played pretty well against the run, Atlanta in that game.

KFT, not sure why the 49ers traded Mason. They don't have anybody after McCaffrey. I think it was contract related. That's just my guess, is that he was an RFA. Oops, drop my mic. I'm sorry, my mouse, drop my mouse. He was an RFA, so maybe they thought, well, if we give him an offer, then we're going to run out of cap space and we got to use it for X, Y, and Z. I got, I don't know. That's the best I got because the dude can absolutely play. The dude can absolutely play.

I have no idea why you would move on for a player like that. other than just they got McCaffrey coming back. He's going to take 90% of the snaps so they can't. That's probably it is you probably have dollar figures on, all right, we got a backup running back here. Do we want to pay him? Even if it's not a ton of money,

do we want to pay him this? And he was an undrafted free agent. They've developed running backs like crazy. I think that they probably looked at it as just not worth it, but that is the Vikings benefit. That's for sure. Matt says Pennix was seven. or eighth in time to throw last week.

Is that time to throw in a good way or a bad way? I guess I can look at that too. Time in the pocket. Oh, you're right. Yeah, okay, you mean in a good way. Yeah, I've got, let's see, let me sort here. Fifth, I've got fifth. 2.65 seconds.

Penix is going to get rid of the ball. He is going to throw the ball. This guy does not take a lot of sacks. And he's somebody that they're going to have to pay a lot of attention to, he took zero sacks against Tampa Bay, who's got a lot of dudes up front. They're also going to have to pay attention to his ability to run, which he didn't do a lot in college,

but I saw him do it in that game at the end of the game take off. But he gets rid of the ball. And that's where it's got to be coverage in this game that's likely to make the biggest difference. Yes, you want to get into his face. I'm curious about how much he was pressured because it's just when a guy gets rid of the ball and 2.65, it's really hard to pressure them.

I mean, you got to really trick the offensive line. He was under pressure. Well, 36% of the time, 17 of 47 dropbacks. They're just like, kid, just go throw the ball every play. Wow. But yeah, okay, so he was under pressure a little bit, but he's going to get rid of the ball. Pressuring him will make a difference. I think it's going to have to be confusion and then get him to throw an interception because

he's forcing a ball into a place he didn't really want to throw. throw it. Susan says Knicks' game. This week was rough, rough. Yeah, that's a guy that I haven't been sold on the upside to like a lot of people have nationally. In terms of Knicks being just locked in as a franchise quarterback, I thought his last season was good.

But I don't know if he can be one of the better quarterbacks in the league. He seems to me like he's going to have a lot of those games like last week where they win. It's ugly. It was against the bad team. They beat a lot of bad teams last year. That made a difference as well. Andrews says, great game for the interior D-Line,

Hargrave, and Allen were free agency steals. I would not say they were steals because they were expensive. If you pay $36 million a year to two defensive tackles in total, you know what they are? When you were watching Javon Hargrave on Sunday, Monday is when you were watching, but this Sunday, when you were watching J. Vaughan Hargrave, the reason he's here is because J.J. McCarthy is your quarterback. And without J.J. McCarthy in that contract, J. Von Hargrave ain't here.

You could sign a guy here or there. Maybe you get one of those free agents. You can't get all of them. So as you're looking at how strong the free agent classes have been for the last two years, it's all tied into the quarterback. And that's what matters in that equation where you're trying to figure out, you know, do they stay with this guy? And I saw some, and the overreaction is just, it's comedy to me. I think some people take it very serious. You know, they, this is why they should have got Rogers and stuff like that. But I mean, Rogers was not as expensive, but he's, you know, he's Rogers. But even like bringing back Sam Darnold that would have cost $41 million, that's why you do it. So they weren't steals, but you don't need to get steals. You don't need to get,

oh, well, we paid almost nothing for this guy and look how great he is. No, you can pay top dollar and it's great like these two guys are stars and they played like it in the first game that's why you do it uh shan to the fan duel question of the day i don't see mason getting more than 20 carries kOC still loves to throw and has huge love for jones and and he he shouldn't not have love for jones after just the one game and a couple of carries mason is a difference maker though that he i think needs to lean on and be comfortable with that because i just don't see see very often, Jordan Mason ever go backwards. That's another thing, too, is he just doesn't have a lot of negative runs.

He has a lot of three yards that should have been zero, five yards that should have been three, things like that. That makes him easier to play a lot. Chris, his Addison was missed greatly. We're going to be dangerous by season's end. Addison coming back, that was the guy who had the best chemistry with J.J. McCarthy. And I think that that did hurt. do. Look, I see a lot of people. I thought that J.J. McCarthy should have played more in the

preseason. But if J.J. McCarthy played more in the preseason and got hurt, then you'd all say, Kevin, what were you thinking? He got hurt in the preseason before. I was, I've never been a play guys in the preseason person ever. We reverse engineer that thing. That's how I think of it. We just, whatever we see in the first quarter of the first game, we tie in. to, well, see, this is why they should have played more in the preseason or just don't bring it up. If the team has a great first quarter and they didn't play guys in the preseason, then you just don't bring it up. But if they play badly, then you say, should have played him in the preseason to mean that'll never be a thing. And I fully understood the explanation, which was

if you play McCarthy in the preseason, then you have to play the line. And look at the bears. They got half of their players hurt. Do you want Ryan, you know, if Ryan Kelly got hurt in the preseason way what are you doing you need him for 17 games i'll never buy that i would trade a bad first quarter which i don't think is a guarantee because of the preseason i'll trade a bad first quarter for the next 50 years in a row to not play starters in the preseason i just think it's it's not something that you should be doing but what i do think mattered was jordan addison was his dude in preseason he was throwing to addison all the time and then he's out and Jefferson is in it's a different guy and eventually they get together and they start

making plays but that I thought that missing time in preseason did end up mattering to Justin Jefferson uh let's see j using capital letters you know if you use capital letters then I have to scream it out like a psycho jay but I'll that'll be your warning to that what do you think was the best part of our team's play on Monday also what was the worst part uh let's see well the the best the best part was probably of the actual play so not of the hey you know jj kept it together and that sort of thing but the actual play was probably the late game execution of plays that got people open i mean we know that Kevin O'Connell is going to have plays that get people open.

This is proven. It's over three years. We've seen it. Even Nick Mullins found open wide receivers. Like, it works, right? But executing those plays. And my favorite play of the game where you just said, yes to all of this, was the Aaron Jones touchdown.

The design of the play, picking up the stunt, the offensive line, the interior dominated on that play. and McCarthy, even though he sort of joked after the game that I wished he kind of put it a little more out in front of him, puts it right in the perfect place, turns around, catches it touchdown, the execution of the fourth quarter plays. It wasn't when we talk about the bears giving them some things. The bears didn't give them those plays. They made them. And it was excellent overall. I mean, the worst part is if you come out this week and you drop passes and run into each other.

and just look like you're letting the clock wind down. You're going to have problems. I also thought the low key best part of the game was their run defense. Their run defense was terrific in that game against Chicago. Kit says, why did Jay Ward play over Theo Jackson? No, Theo played. Yeah, Theo played. I think Theo played more snaps than Jay Ward.

It's just that Jay is a guy that they can put out there in dime packages. specifically. So he was out there more. But Jay Ward was there. Or I'm sorry, Theo Jackson was there. The defensive backs, uh, or the safeties had a good game overall, I thought. Uh, Chris says we need another defensive back options. That's, that's the problem. Uh, maybe, maybe I can use, uh, AI on Google or something. AI, tell me, tell me where all the good corners are who are available right now. Uh, then the computer will just start on fire. there's not many i mean maybe mike hilton i don't know that he signed anywhere yet i know that he's visited some teams but you know fabian morrow is kind of the best you can do for a corner about

around this time he's a guy who started before he's a veteran and then the guys that you've developed there isn't a lot of very good corners who you could just sign but my approach would be to to wait and see and then there are other options i mean james looking at Gilmore, of course, we've talked about that a little bit of just, I don't know if Saffan Gilmore wants to play, but if he does, you know, maybe that's a more of a midseason type of thing. I think you could let it play out for now. Like, let's not forget the starting corners are healthy. Shack Griffin is on Seattle's practice squad. It was elevated, but you could sign guys off other teams practice squads. I think that they have a plan and that

button will be pushed if they need to. So, you know, Northern Pride says DCS trading for a corner if they need to. Right now, the way that Jay Ward played, Josh Mattelis, Theo Jackson, Harrison Smith comes back, like they got DBs if they need them and a guy they've developed for two years and a former starter in Morrow who played for them last year. But if someone else were to get hurt, if Isaiah Rogers went down or something, then you need to start having that discussion, I think. Am I or ML ML maybe Vikings fan? Let's see. Where is Rouse compared to school compatibility wise, with as much as school struggled, I wanted to see Rouse go in. Well, one of the issues with football always is that when someone's struggling, that we always

say, why are they playing a different guy? And this was the, sometimes we're right, by the way. I'm not saying that's you that you're always just wrong. That was the Brett Jones thing. They should have been playing Brett Jones more than the other guys that they were trying, because at least he could pass protect. Dalton Reisner, you know, sometimes the backup is better. And maybe Rouse would be better. Also, maybe part of it is that Justin Schools played in the league before and you're on a big stage and you need a veteran out there.

You need him to understand how they're going to do a lot of things defensively. But I had some of the same thoughts that I wondered about just the younger guy being a better athlete and being able to handle. some of the plays that school lost on were not even as technical so much is that the other guy was just too fast for him. And that's what we saw in training camp. But I don't think you need to do that just yet. Maybe, I mean, we don't see tackles get benched or anything during a game.

I mean, I think, I don't know. Yeah, it's, it's hard because what are the odds that Rouse comes in and plays like Christian Darisaw? Like, not super high. But when it goes like that, if it can. consistently goes like that, you have to consider it. Because sometimes the other guy is ready, and he's developed for a year. Just as Super Bowl Vike says, I really think the Bears will beat the Lions this week.

We're going to find out about the Packers, and the commanders are no joke. So that Bears team, I think you come away a little conflicted because I don't buy them as a real contender. I don't think they're that good. But I do think their coach is good. and at offensive design. I don't think he's good at figuring out the end of the game. And didn't I make that as one of the predictions? I say so many words, I forget.

I feel like I made a prediction that Ben Johnson somewhere, was it here, a radio show somewhere, that Ben Johnson would have some procedural mess up because every one of those offensive coaches, including KOC in his first year, they always have that problem. They don't realize how hard it is to call plays and manage, 53 people and a coaching staff and a stadium and, you know,

the clock and all that sort of stuff. And they did it at the end of the game where they messed up with that. And also just the general demeanor of the vibe between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, quite weird. But could they go and beat Detroit? Of course they could. Their defensive front was nastier than I thought it was going to be. And they caused some problems for the Vikings at times.

And they're going to cause some problems for the Lions. at times in this in this game that's one to watch because if the lions lose that game it's going to be full on panic uh uh Ryan Wright did have one whiff on a critical punt yeah I know I know give Ryan Wright his credit look I if a guy if a guy goes into soldier field that makes a 59 yard field goal somebody had to hold that thing and then the punt at the end was great. Let's see. Javier says, love to hear about the experience in the press room, like the anxious, quiet,

uneasiness building to a cheer. Now, it never builds to a cheer. That is certainly not the case. Never builds to a cheer because there is no cheering in the press box. So it never builds to a cheer. But the thing about us, guys, is, Javier, we've been through everything with this team. The Minneapolis Miracle, what?

What are we at like the last, you know, 700 of the last 800, 100 one score games? You know, what is mostly happening is, it's just quiet. It's just watching intently. And Kevin Seferts sitting next to me and I'm saying things to him. He's saying things to me. Did you see that? Or what are we, what are they doing?

here or should they be doing this or, you know, whatever, usually that's the way. We kind of work together a lot where it's like, wait a minute, was that so-and-so in the game or who made that tackle or do we think that's a catch or what, you know, things like that. Why aren't, we'll be asking, hey, why is it made, you know, to each other, like just having a conversation on the press row. Like, why, you know, why is it Mason in the game more? Like, they need to put Mason in the game more. It's more like that than it is.

I mean, I always get nervous before during football games because it's very exciting. And I like being there. I like covering it. I'm always trying to pay attention to so many details at once and think of how I'm going to frame everything and all that sort of stuff. But it's usually just kind of us sitting there having a conversation about what's going on and making sure that we've got all the details right because we're reporting on the game. So I am going to prepare what I am writing.

after the game, Purple Insider. Football. I'm writing during the game. I'm going to be taking notes of what I want to say in the postgame podcast because I don't want to go into the post game podcast to be like, did you see that? It was crazy. They want, no, you don't want me to do that. You want me to break down for you what I saw, like step by step, different performances, different takeaways, what it means.

So that's what I'm doing. That's what we're all doing. You know, Kevin's writing, Alex writing. So that's kind of how it is. It's not, it's not an exciting atmosphere in a press box. It's really just kind of quiet. And it was, but it was, here's one thing that was cool. They opened up the windows for us.

One of the things that I've always just despised about the Soldier Field press box other than, you know, the food. They did give us some postgame pizza, which was great. But what I've always disliked about that press box is that it's quiet. the windows are closed and you don't really get a sense for the fans and you're a little bit separated from them. You're kind of high above them and you just don't get a feeling for what's the atmosphere like and somebody opened to the window, which I didn't all these years, I didn't even know it did open.

They opened the window so we could really get the feeling of the crowd. That was awesome to get that power of the early crowd, the flyover, how loud they were to really get that sense. I could see why JJ had some trouble early on. I definitely see why he had some issues shaking off the nerves there because it was an it was an intimidating crowd. Andrew says if we don't have Cashman for a few weeks, not too worried because Eric Wilson field in well.

And Wilson's done that so many times, so many times that you should have confidence in it. It's not Blake Cashman though. It does matter. You're playing Bejohn Robinson. You know, you're playing Kyle Pitts. but he's going to have to step up. Susan says from comments and interviews this week,

the noise at Soldier Fields off the chart. Yeah, no, it was. It was extremely, extremely loud at Soldier Field. I expect. So, I don't know. Some of you watch the press conferences, and I was thinking, I hope some of my audience watched this today.

Because Aaron Jones mentioned looking at the decibel meter in U.S. Bank Stadium. I hope you guys remember my investigative. of reporting that the decibel meter is real inside the stadium because when there was a game that no one cared about, they put it up there and it just didn't do anything and registered a really low number. And I would have loved to have seen what it was for Soldier Field. U.S. Bank Stadium this week, I think, is going to have probably the most energy. I mean, last year, last year against Green Bay was huge in terms of energy. And the life came back to that place when

they beat Kirk last year. I think that meant a lot to the fans into proving that that team was for real, which, you know, they weren't at the end of the day, but at the time. And then beating the Packers is always an enormous deal. I think that play is going to be crazy. In fact, I think J.J. McCarthy needs to be ready to quiet the crowd when he actually goes out there because when the big voice guy says, starting at quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, I mean, people are going to go crazy. So they're going to have to, you know, quiet it down. It's going to be nuts in there. It's going to be nuts. This is one I'm looking forward.

forward to very much seeing what that crowd is like because in U.S. Bank Stadium, see, that's the thing we don't have glass in U.S. Bank Stadium. We're already indoors. So we're in the crowd and we get that sense of just like the power of that thing when it's really rocking and it's something. Football. Alex, to the Fanduel question of the day, I want Mason going for 60% of the snaps. I think that that's okay, except I also want Jones catching the ball, and that's why I think closer to 50-50 is probably right. Peter, do we think Derisaw plays in game two? He's a better chance, a better chance that he does.

I would not have wanted him on that field. Some of the tape does not lie when it comes to guys sliding around out there. It was pretty brutal. I would not have wanted that. This week, I think there's a decent chance of the fact that he was a full participant again today. But it's hard to figure because last. year they played it very slow with t j hawkinson it was the right thing to do they need that guy back there it's just you don't want to press too much you'd rather

survive with a left tackle who's struggling versus somebody re-injuring themselves who is a superstar of your team uh stitch are you able to see the replay broadcast in the press box yes now some angles are better than others uh in chicago You know, kind of like having to lean back and look up there. U.S. Bank Stadium, I've got a great TV kind of right in front of me, especially when we do our newsletter chat. If you want to get in, you know, Purpleinsider. Football, and then you get the app and you do the chat with me during the game.

I've substituted that for Twitter because Twitter is just brutal. And so I thought it's probably better if I have people who are not as insane and belong to the newsletter. or so that's you know it's a fun thing to consider but anyway uh i let so i can watch the broadcast and make sure that i don't spoil what's going to happen but also that's a great way to hey did i just see what i thought i just saw you know when something happens how did it happen i can quickly look up and see on the broadcast a second look at it without that it would be pretty pretty tricky to cover games it would be it would be a lot harder uh those those guys who did it

in the pre-TV eras of the 70s or whatever, they must have to have really good eyes because you can't watch 11 people on both sides of the ball all at once. So what I usually try to do on each play is, are you sure you're not the stadium announcer? You thought that was that good? Was that accurate? No, start a good quarterback.

I don't remember how I did it now. Now, there's no glass in front of us where we're at in the press box. Like we're kind of in the stands. We're jammed in the middle. um what was what was i talking about before oh just uh now i forget distracted me anyway great stuff uh i think that it is now a good time to give you my conversation with uh robber mace of the athletic he and i had a chance to chat and at one point you'll have to forgive me i choked on some diet dr pepper and i recovered

in a second. But I wanted to edit that out, didn't have time today. Busy day out at TCO Performance Center. So forgive me for that. But it's a really good discussion. Robert's a great friend. He has been a huge supporter of Purple Insider for a very long time. I think, gosh, when did I meet Robert for the first time? Like 2017, 2018. So it's been really cool to see the podcast that he's built over at the Athletic Football Show. Hopefully you guys get a chance to listen to that as well. And we played a fun game here. just as a precursor to this, I intentionally tried to go over the top

with the opinions to just see where Robert stood on a lot of different things. The NFC North after one week, J.J. McCarthy, Kevin O'Connell, all that stuff. So here is my conversation with the great Robert Mays. All right, we welcome into the show

from the athletic football show. One of my go-to podcasts and a good friend, Robert Mays. I got a game for you, Robert. I try to up my game every time. time you come on. I feel like I really got to bring it. So here's the game. The game is, I'm going to give you some opinions from week one, a lot from the NFC North. And I want you to either say, you nailed it dog or I don't know, man. Those are your two options for every one of

these opinions. Okay. You nailed it dog or I don't know, man. And those are the only two ways you can answer. And then obviously we'll talk about why. Okay. All right. I'm in. I'm in. Let's do it. Okay. Okay. Let me start off with this. I don't think we know a whole lot about the NFC North yet, despite the results maybe telling us we do, except for I don't think I could take the Chicago Bears that seriously. Are you in, yeah, dog, or I don't know, man? I don't know, man.

It's week one with a new coaching staff. It's week one period. I think that I still have a kernel of hope about taking the Bears seriously just because I've seen what Ben Johnson has been able to do. you over multiple years in Detroit. And I also think that the defense played pretty darn good for like three quarters of that game without your two best defensive backs, arguably. So I still have like a small candlelit for this team being at least competent over

the course of the year. But I feel like some of the early returns, especially on the offense, are about as worrying as they can be. But I'm never going to set anything in stone after one week. That's what I would say. Okay. I think that that is very fair. especially the part about, I mean, playing without your corners, although we all had a pick six for

Nashon Wright. It had to be the Nashon Wright revenge game against the Vikings. What I saw watching back that game was a lot of receivers that were there. And I guess you could look that as one of two ways. Caleb Williams couldn't hit them, which is bad, but also they were open, which is good, that Ben Johnson stuff, I think was working. But then they really couldn't play the run off of it with DeAndre Swift, which, you know, a lot of people wondered, why aren't you looking for better running back help? It's not so much that I think the Bears can't be a serious football team. I think that they can. I think they could be someone where anybody who goes to play them is not just going, ah, you know, but I just don't know that they could play with the big

boys. I mean, the amount of talent on the field for the Packers and the Lions and the Vikings, you saw it top to bottom, the defense, the defensive line for the Vikings. I just think they're on another level, talent-wise, from Chicago? I guess I agree with that. I mean, I feel like you probably should agree with that because I think that the three teams that you just mentioned when it comes to 21 of the 22 starters, they're trying to win the Super Bowl this year, like all three of those teams. I mean, J.J. McCarthy was really the only big question.

If you look at the entire rest of the Vikings roster, this is a Super Bowl ready roster. I don't think I ever would have thought that about the Bears. on our show we do division previews we talk about every single team and at the end of every single preview we say what does success look like for x team in 2025 for the bears success to me was finishes a top half of the league offense like i so the fact that they're still a little bit of a ways away from all of the other teams in the nbc north i think that's okay i think some of that is a talent gap but i think a lot of that is just where you are in the process you know this is year four of Dan Campbell. This is year seven of Matt LaFleur. This is year four of Kevin O'Connell. Like,

I just think it's a slightly different trajectory and a slightly different timeline for all of those teams. I don't necessarily think it's the talent is not the first thing I would point out. I think it's just where you are on the curve as an organization. The bears are just in a different spot than all the three of those other teams in the NFC North. So part one of that opinion for you to react to is, hey, I'm not taking the bear seriously in contention with the other teams. but also implying that week one's results between the Packers and Lions don't give us all the answers or the Vikings pulling off that crazy win with J.J. McCarthy looking great in the fourth quarter doesn't tell us everything about what he's going to be either.

I think there was a natural reaction if you look at the markets as well when the Packers get Micah Parsons to make them Super Bowl favorites in the NFC. And then they came out and looked like it. So when those two things match up and all of the problems, problems that the lions were purported to have, they did have. I think so much of it matched up with what we thought it was going to be that it was like, this, this is the obvious truth. I don't know if I want to go that far just yet with the Packers and the Lions.

I'm like willing to go there a little bit with the Packers specifically just because I believed this heading in. Like I pick them to win the division. I pick them to win the NFC. I just felt like this version of the Packers. was possible. Like the version that we saw on Sunday, us seeing that for 17 games,

I do think that was potentially on the table with where this team was. And that was in part just because I really liked the way that their defense was coached last season. I felt like Jeff Hathley did an excellent job in year one as their defensive coordinator with some holes personnel wise. Holes didn't really plan for coming into the season

which I hear Alexander supposed to be having like him as a definitive starting corner for you. And so them going out and getting Micah Parsons, but also just them having one more offseason to understand who they were. I thought that unit could be pretty good heading into this year. And I have a ton of faith in the Packers' offense. Like I've had a ton of faith in the Packers' offense since Matt LaFleur got there.

So I'm willing to believe in what we saw from the Packers on Sunday is like maybe indicative of what we could get from them all year because I came in believing they could be that. And I'll say this. Like I don't think it's going to necessarily be a huge problem for the Lions all season. But similar to the Bears where it's like you can't make definitive statements after week one. it looked about as bad as it could look, giving all of the questions that you had coming into the year. So I don't

think it's necessarily we're going to see those versions of those teams for 17 weeks, but I do think that it's an early initial signal to pay attention to based on what some of our concerns for the Lions and optimism for the Packers looked like heading into the year. So I tend to agree with you on this because

with the Lions, there is no, oh, you know what you guys should do is just get Frank Ragnow back? Like, just call them up, hey, Frankie, Why don't you come back and just be like the best center in the league? And the other part of it, too, is Ben Johnson is not coming back either. And when you build an offense over four years with two dudes, quarterback and head coach, like if you took Andy Reid away from Mahomes, it would be different.

If you took McVeigh away from Matthew Stafford over several years, it would be different for that quarterback. And how long is that going to take to adjust? And then even can it adjust back to the point where it was. before because Jared Goff just didn't look comfortable with anything he was doing. And I don't think that was all because of the pressure. We know Goff and his numbers drop severely under pressure and when he's sped up. But, you know, he's really good at executing even against great defenses a lot of times.

He just didn't look like he had places to go with that football. I don't know if I've ever seen a running back have 10 catches for 31 yards before. That is a very strange. That's like when you play on All Madd and you have no other answers because the computer is just too hard. So I think that Detroit's problems are very real and very hard to solve. And I think Green Bay's talents with Parsons there, there's a trickle down effect. And when you see Lucas Van Ness rush up the middle and you're like, that's probably where he should have been, but now he doesn't have to play a little out of position in an edge spot because they have a guy

who's there. There's a trickle down effect. And I agree with you on LaFleur. I think he's one of the better offensive minds. I think what it comes down to there is just how consistent Jordan and Love can be because it has been a rollercoaster for him in his first two years. There's no doubt about that. I think the consistency of their passing game is going to be the thing I pay the most attention to. And obviously, they've had stretches where it's been really, really good. Last year, if you look at the third down number specifically and just some of their

struggles in that situation, then against man coverage, that was actually the outlier. Like Jordan Love's first year, they were actually much better down to down than they were in 2024. And whether that's him being a little bit banged up, I think there are a lot of things that contributed to that. But I do think that Jordan Love, he's played 32 games in the NFL. Like this idea that Jordan Love is some fully formed product after those two years. Like I'm very open to the idea that we could see the best version of Jordan Love that we have this season. And if we do that, combined with everything else the Packers have, I feel like there is a

gear to this team that makes them, if not one of, if not the best team in the NFC, then certainly one of them. Which is funny because the other side of that opinion might be, hey, Jordan loves like 27 years old and we still act like he is this unknown type of thing so when do we know about a quarterback is sort of a fundamental thing and I have an easy answer for that it's after one fourth quarter that's how you know so let me get to my second let me get to my second opinion for now I even forget how I frame this yeah dog or I don't know man are the two ways so uh here's an opinion for you JJ McCarthy showed you in the fourth quarter everything that he can be and all he needed was a little comfort and all he needed was his coach to maybe take the shackles off,

stop trying to play around with short passes and just say let it rip J.J. McCarthy and also use your athleticism, go get him, kid. And now that that happened, off the Minnesota Vikings go with their young franchise quarterback. So I think in this opinion, we saw everything we need to see from J.J. McCarthy to know what he's going to be going forward here. I don't know, man. It's wonderful. quarter of a week one game. He made four throws. I think they were an impressive four throws. I think the thing I would be most encouraged by by the fourth quarter for the Vikings is this was the vision of what the offense overall was supposed to be. And when I say that, I mean being able to run the ball on your terms in the most important moments of the game. For the first three

quarters, JJ McCarthy struggled, but the run game also struggled. They just couldn't get anything going on the ground. And Kevin O'Connell tapped into like one concept that he went back to a couple different times for chunk plays he clearly saw something and on one of those plays you have ryan kelly just winning a one-on-one against jervon dexter as like a shade to the play side where god bless garret bradbury he's not doing that and so you have the backs now you're supposed to be you're supposed to have the pieces up front now so that part of the vision comes together and then obviously you have c oc like dialing stuff up in that fourth quarter like that little i don't know what you would call it like a little like stutter wheel go to erin jones just like a perfect play ball on the high

red zone. And I also think that I was a little surprised they didn't try to get JJ on the move a little bit more earlier in the game. I don't know if some of that is the Bears playing more man coverage than the Vikings might have anticipated. But you think about those two big completions to Jefferson, the one where he goes in motion, runs like the deep out to the left side, and then obviously on the touchdown, I feel like it was just a little bit more dynamic some of the things that they were doing later in the game. And I put a lot of that on the play caller who is capable of that kind of stuff. So I think my optimism for the Vikings offense coming out of that is more about the overall formula than it is the

quarterback convincing me that he is something after throwing three or four passes following a pretty rough first three quarters of his career. I should mention that if it hasn't become obvious, the opinions are exaggerated for the sake of the show and for the sake of discussion, because of course, I don't think that we saw every single thing we need to see. But I do think that we learned a lot about J.J. McCarthy and how he handles that moment, I also think we learned a lot about what throws are going to work for him. And if you are rolling out with J.J. McCarthy a quick pass game where he's got to just, you know, throw short to Jefferson, throw short to Hawkinson, I just don't think that that matches up with the head coach's philosophy and his

offense. And I don't think that Kevin O'Connell should tie one hand behind the back to try to protect the young quarterback. You might have to let him throw some pick sixes in the name of getting downfield passing to Justin Jefferson. I mean, we saw Jefferson is is the best and we all know it. But running a four yard route, apparently not his thing, like getting to three yards and getting short. And I was like, well, you know, that was what they wanted maybe Rondale Moore for to come into this offense when they signed him and he got hurt. That's just not going to be who they are. So I think what McCarthy showed, of course, is the poise and the ability to not let the moment be too big for him to lead his team. All that stuff is extremely relevant and important and a baller nature to go run in a touchdown to rip that pass to Jefferson over the middle with a lot of confidence.

Like after the game he was having to throw that at that point is pretty darn impressive. But I also think that O'Connell learned one, to get Jordan Mason in the freaking game earlier. and then, two, run your offense. Don't try to run a Mickey Mouse version of it or a protect J.J. McCarthy. Do what you do. I feel like if you're going to protect him, the play that comes to mind for me,

which is a good example of this, is the screen they threw to Justin. And I think it was, I can't remember which drive it was on, but it was later in the game. I think it was in the fourth quarter. Like, that's a scheme touch that makes sense to me, where you're not throwing him like a,

it was a third down, it was a third and four where they threw him like a three-yard route. he stops, stops for the sticks, that I don't need anything of. But if you're trying to get him scheme touches with a little bit of runway as a way to kind of give some layups to your young quarterback, that's something that I can support. So because I do think that there needs to be the right blend of this stuff, asking him to rip those intermediate throws that he is more than capable of doing, that should be part of this. But if you can sprinkle in a few more screens, things of that nature to get your best players just touches with the ball in their hands, with yak opportunities. I feel like that also should be part of this.

I think there's a balance to be found there. Yeah, I wrote about this going into the game, and it's one of those, you know, all about this, excuse me, that you write an article about a player's. Sorry, let me, hold on. I will edit that out. Boy, the ticks, they're just too spicy. Okay.

Well, you know how this goes. Robert, when you write an article before a game and you're like, please do the thing that I wrote about you doing. And so I wrote a big piece about the screen game and how much it can help J.J. McCarthy, get on track, keep things going. And of course, they threw three screens in that game. Now, one was kind of a run. It was counted as a run, but it was more of a screen to Justin Jefferson. But I think that those parts of it, staying ahead of the sticks a little with the run game is going to be important for them. Getting the screens is going to be important for them. And then, push the right buttons. And I just feel like there's going to have to be some Gary Kubiak,

Mike Shanahan's style, run the boots, man, run Jordan Mason. Like that drive really looks like a, like Kyle Shanahan had called it. Hand off big gain, hand off big gain, play action role to left, hit Jefferson, and then your quarterback makes one play and you get a touchdown. But I don't want to see it like paired so far down to try to protect him. I totally agree with that. the comparison that I've made and when it comes to the style of this offense, it's actually the Rams offense early in the Sean McVeigh tenure before Kevin O'Connell even got there. And before West Phillips even got there, I think Wes got there in like 2019, maybe. I don't know where my timeline is, but it was after those first couple years when

they really built the foundation of who they were. But if you go back and you watch those 2017, 2018 Rams teams, there is a lot of, it's a matter of the run game, the play action game, and the screen game and to an extent the play being tied in together. And they were not asking Jared Goff to do a ton. Like what they were asking him to do in that offense is we want you to rip intermediate often in breaking throws off play action. And I feel like that is where J.J. McCarthy can really be successful.

And so that being the foundation of it. And it's funny because I think if you talk to Kevin or Wes, they still do believe in like the core tenets and principles. of that McVeigh offense, which goes back to the ideas that Gary Kubiak trotted out there, which is we want the run and the past to be married together. That didn't exist in Minnesota for a couple of years simply because they couldn't run the ball. But I think part of why you go out and you get those guys is that you want to be able to run the ball a little bit more efficiently. And that allows you to kind of tie those things together in a way that you couldn't over the last couple of years.

And so I think that's the vision that they're chasing, even if we haven't necessarily seen that version of the Kevalon. kind of offense since he got to Minnesota. I love that you bring that up because it's the exact comparison that I made of Jared Gough early, where it was keep the train on the tracks. Todd Gurley was fantastic then, especially with the screen and swing pass game. And using Aaron Jones out of the backfield is something that don't hesitate to keep doing that as much as you want to do it and play to the strengths of his throws, which I think that they did in the second half of that game.

Okay, next opinion for you. if you were to have an all head coach draft and this is this is a what's the fantasy league when you keep the guys for a dynasty so this is a dynasty do this is not win one super bowl tomorrow this is dynasty draft kevin o'connell number one overall pick i don't know man i i need a yeah dog out of you somewhere here i if you had said he would go in the top five i think that's kind of undeniable. I still feel like McVeigh is just a different sort of guy and like what McVe has been able to do over the last several years is just on a kind of a different level. But Kevin, I think, creeps up and up and up with each passing year. And that's for a bunch of

different reasons. Obviously, like what he's able to draw up and just the how dynamic that offense always feels as part of it. But I feel like he really is the ideal of what you want in a modern head coach and just in terms of the forward facing stuff, how he carries himself. clearly like the buy-in he has from the locker room, the culture that he's created there. I think just on a bunch of different levels, he checks all of those boxes. I just think for me,

considering the success that some of those other guys have had, and it's not as if McVeigh is like 65 years old, right? Like if he wants to keep coaching, you could have him for another 30 years. And so I still feel like even without doing my own little big board, Sean would probably be number one. But I think Kevin is kind of firmly in the top five at this point, even if he has not necessarily had some of the post-

season success that other people you'd throw into that mix have had so far. Well, that's, yeah, that's absolutely right. I mean, McVeigh, I think is the number one overall pick in this sort of draft. And I wouldn't put Matt LaFleur too far behind. I think that there's a lot of these guys who are sort of rooted in the same ideas and these ideas work. Now, we all agree that Kevin O'Connell can't get out coached in playoff games and be considered the best coach in the entire NFL. But I think that what is kind of left behind in that discussion even and not to apologize. He got out coached by McVeigh.

He got out coached by Brian Dable, which was pretty bad in that Giants game. I think Ed Donatelle got outcoached by Brian Dable. I think that that's probably how I would spin that one. Someone had the chance to fire Ed Donatel halfway through that season where we knew that defense wasn't working. So he's responsible for that. But I think that setting the bar when you win 13 or 14 games in seasons where your team is not really ready to win.

that many games, it makes people sort of look at it like, well, you won 14 games and you can't even win in the playoffs. But it's like, that was probably a 10 win football team that won 14 games. And in 2022, that's probably an eight win football team that won 13 games. And a lot of that was, you know, crazy stuff at the end. But I think that his, he has sort of raised the bar beyond a place he's been able to reach it, which ties into, I think now he's got the tools over the next two years to be able to reach that bar. I totally agree with that. Say, yeah, dog.

Give me a yeah, yeah, dog. Yeah, yeah, dog. I'm in on that. I needed, um, I, I, I have always said in like the multi-year kind of vision for the Vikings. Why I was a supporter of them allowing JJ to play this year is that to me, 2026 always felt like the year for the Vikings. I think that's the year that you have circled. And, you know, there's some dicey elements to that, like you're, you're,

Jonathan Allen will be a year older. The Javonne Hargrave will be a year older. Again, this is already a team that is invested in some third contract players. And so the margins on that are pretty slim. But I always felt like that was the year where it's like, all right, that's when we're going to be the team that can really make a run at this thing. And so that's why getting Jason McCarthy the experience this year was so important because you didn't want to go into that 2026 year having no information about this guy.

And so over the next two years, I think that we're going to find out a lot about Kevin O'Connell about the core of this group that Quezio de Fu Mensa has built and about J.J. McCarthy. So I'm with you. I think that these next two seasons are we're going to figure out whether Kevin O'Connell can clear that bar that he consistently has kind of made higher for himself. By what week do you think that we should feel like we have conclusions on how good J.J. McCarthy is for how far he could take the team? Week eight of next year. I just I think we with quarterback specifically it takes a long time to fully understand what they're capable of and like you said earlier like Jordan Love's going to be 27 like shouldn't we know not really you know like Lamar Jackson was a different player last year than he had ever been at any point in his career Josh Allen has been a different player in his age 28 season than he was earlier in his career like this is a position specifically and I I think Sam Darnel was a great example of this.

Like when you get to, there's a convergence to me with quarterbacks where when you get to like 27, 28, 29, the physical tools have not started to erode and the mental side of the game has sharpened to the point where you really understand what you're looking at. And that's when you're truly entering your prime at the position. So I don't think we're really understand like what J.J. McCarthy is until a long time from now. I think you'll get a sense of what you'll be capable of in the short term, hopefully by the end of this season. But Jordan Love looked like he was unplayable for stretches of that first year as a starter. And he looked great in the back half of the year.

So I'm always pushing toward a more conservative timeline when it comes to us getting answers on these guys at that position specifically. Yeah. And of course, it's ironic, right? The best versions of these quarterbacks happen when they're expensive and not when they're on their rookie contract. If it matches up like a Jalen Hertz, the first time you go to the Super Bowl, I don't know, maybe we have seen the best version of Brock Purdy, but they go to the Super Bowl. And with J.J. McCarthy, I think what it comes down to for me for this year and knowing what he's going to be is what does it look like when he hits a halacious stretch in the

middle of the season where you've got the Eagles and the Lions and the Chargers and you're just getting hit each week. There's multiple road games against tough teams. If they get through that and he plays well through that stretch. Even if they go one game above 500 in their toughest five game stretch, I'm going to think, I don't know if they go into the playoffs, they could be just about anyone because he doesn't have to be the age 27 fully formed adult man, J.J. McCarthy, to win games with this team. I think that's, that's also a part of this is that they've been able to build something around him that doesn't force him to be that sort of player, right? Like, that's the entire point of having a quarterback on a rookie contract is that you

can create something for him that gets him from the fledgling version of himself to the fully formed version of himself. And that's the entire argument about the Vikings is that they were able to build this thing in part because they went with the cheap quarterback. And so I think with him this year, it's do not turn the ball over, right? Like, just make sure you're not turning the ball over. And those intermediate throws that we're going to ask you to make, notably off play action, are you able to consistently make the throws that we are providing to you? If he's able to do both of those things and the Vikings are able to make good on all the other promises they've made about the offense, we can run the ball well. We have extreme receiver talent.

We have when the best play callers in the league. I think that version of Gizier McCarthy is enough for this to be a playoff team in 2025. And I think that is a perfectly reasonable set of ambitions to have if you're the Vikings or you are a Vikings fan. I told, yeah, dog. That's right. I totally agree. Let me give you a few, yeah, dog or naman. before we go.

Great stuff, as always. Okay, so the Vikings are playing the Atlanta Falcons. Here's my take on the Atlanta Falcons. I want to watch the Atlanta Falcons. I don't know what that's going to be. I don't know what's going to happen. I just know I want to see it. Yeah, dog, with one caveat,

I did not like what I saw from them in week one. Like, we talked about it on our show. I think the Falcons threw like 36% of their pass attempts to the sticks in week one against the bucks. That is not what I want to see out of the end. Atlanta Falcons. You have got a quarterback that can throw the ball through like a dry

wall, like wall in front of him. Like he has one of the craziest arms I've ever seen on an NFL player. It's pretty erratic at times. But the guy, the phrase arm talent was created in part because of people like Michael Pennix. And so watching that version

of the Falcons on Sunday where they could not run the ball efficiently, which was crazy, considering they were the most efficient running team in the league last year. And you're defanging this guy who has a howitzer. I do want to watch the Falcons over the course of the year, but the first glimpse that I got

of them, I will say I was a little bit disappointed just stylistically in what they were trying to do against the bucks. So I was thinking more big picture that I think every Falcons game this year will end on someone kicking a field goal to try to win the game or tie the game. They are just talented

enough, just flawed enough to be that team that goes, I don't know, nine and eight, but every single game is crazy, it comes down to the last minute and you just don't know what's going to happen. I think that the Vikings on Fandul, they're favored by four and a half. I think they deserve to be favored in this game against the Falcons, but I also foresee madness in this contest. Yeah, I think so. I think that there are two young quarterbacks who could potentially provide that madness for you. And I'll say this, the Falcons defense, I was very curious what it was going to be under Jeff Oldbrook. He was the defensive coordinator

with the Jets over the last couple of years. He comes to Atlanta this year. And both him and Robert Sala, I feel like we've kind of seen like the next subtle evolution with that defensive system. If you go look at what the Falcons were doing on defense last week against the bucks, there's some wild stuff in there. And so I think that that part of it is going to be entertaining. I do think the offense over the course of the season will be entertaining, but I'm with you in that there are enough gaps in the talent on that team where it might be entertaining, but it also might be soul crushing if you're a Falcons fan the exact same way that it was on Sunday.

Okay, last one. So coming out of week one, you would probably say in the AFC, and we're doing a yeah dog, here's my actual dog. There he is. This is buddy, Robert. This is my... I can't see him. He's too low. Oh, that's right. Oh, sorry. Well, you could see him on the

I think the audience can see him. Anyway, I'll point the camera at him for you in a second so you can see him. But anyway, so coming out of week one, I think you would say in the AFC, the teams that have the best chance to win the Super Bowl are the Bills, Ravens, and Chargers. Is that a, yeah, dog, or are you, you still throwing KC in there? You throw in anybody else? I don't know, man. It's week one. I want to see a little bit more from the

Chargers. I will say that I've always been a Justin Herbert believer. I've been an ardent Justin Herbert believer. I've crowed from the mountain tops for a very a long time that if you watch the games, Justin Herbert is a very good NFL quarterback. And it was very funny to watch that happen on Friday, where it was an island game where he played well. And so suddenly everyone was like, oh, man, like,

why don't we always get this from Justin Herbert? It's like he was like this for 17 regular season games last year with planet her fasciitis and his sprained ankle and then played that garbage in the playoffs. Just because you weren't watching the 305 Raiders Chargers game from last year does not mean that this was not Justin Herbert last season.

That comes with a caveat about my concerns about the Chiefs on two fronts. One, Novershey Rice and Xavier Worthy for that game, which I do think is at least worth pointing out. I don't think that excuses everything we saw from the Chiefs' offense, but I do think it's important to throw out there. And then the other point of it is that I am really concerned about the Chief's defense

because the Chargers, I still want to see what that group looks like on offense against a better pass rush. Because even though Joe Walt is going to be really good, you still have four of the other five component parts that were essentially, and Mackay Beckton will throw half of it. We have three and a half of the component parts of what have been really disappointing offensive lines for the Chargers over the last couple years. And I want to see them play against the team that has actual pass rushers because the

chiefs had one of the worst pass rushes in the league last season. And it did not look any better last week against the Chargers. And I still feel like the Chief's secondary, there are a lot of like young, unproven players there. We'll see what Jaden Hicks is over the course of the year, stepping in there for Justin Reed, but I feel like the youth is going to show on that side. And if the pass rush doesn't come along, this could go from being a good chiefs defense when they were winning Super Bowls to a bad Chiefs defense. And so it's always interesting with

week one because you could be looking into a fun house mirror with these teams. We have absolutely no idea. And so with the Chargers specifically, I'm just going to be in wait and C mode for a tiny bit longer because I don't know what to make of the Chiefs defense. I think that's very fair because when we got to the playoffs last year, they weren't the only team. There was a number of teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, whose offensive lines they painted over in the regular season,

and then when they got to the playoffs, they were very much unearthed as what they really were. Robert Mays, the athletic football show, one of the best podcasts in the entire universe. That is true. When people ask, like what football podcast to listen to, yours is one of the top of mind for me.

So highly recommend your end to the team. You're adding new camera angles for your YouTube podcast. Got a lot going on at the athletic football show, Robert. Thank you very much for taking the time to get together. I'll give this two yeah dogs. I appreciate it. It's always good to chat with you. And thank you for throwing that out there.

It's very kind of you to say that. And it means a lot. And yeah, if you're looking for a national NFL podcast, we've been doing this one for a while. But it looks a little sleeker this year. So if it's something where you're seeking out something on YouTube or You want more national discussion about the league. We would love if you guys came and checked it out.

All right. There you go. Robert Mays. Thanks for joining. And we'll talk to you all later.