Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Josh Dobbs leads the Vikings to insane comeback victory in Atlanta

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani from the Pioneer Press discuss the Vikings' wild win over the Atlanta Falcons and how Josh Dobbs came off the bench after only being with the team for a few days to get the win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎵 Hi everybody, welcome to the Vikings somehow beat the Atlanta Falcons with Josh Dobbs coming off of the bench. Post-game podcast, Matthew Collar in Minnesota and in Atlanta is Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. And you know, Dane, in uh in purple insider here there are financial decisions to be made when it comes to road games to travel to so i'm always in chicago i'm always in green bay there's a couple more that i end up on the road for and with this game i was like man you know i i don't know i just don't know if i could justify the budget it's a backup quarterback starting it's like it could get kind of ugly and certainly look that way early in the game. And now, I don't know if there's any Arrested Development fans out there,

but I am Joe Bluth. I made a huge mistake. I made a big mistake not traveling to Atlanta today. But we have you there in Atlanta, fresh from the press conferences, fresh from the locker room, after watching Josh Dobbs come off the bench and scramble his way after never throwing to the receivers, taking a snap from the center or knowing anything about the Minnesota Vikings offense, leading them to a 31 to 28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. I got to say, Dane, this is one that people are going to

remember, I think, for a really, really long time, whether it's in that locker room or anybody who stuck around and did not go out and rake their leaves in the middle of the second quarter. Yeah, we can just call it the Josh Dobbs game because that's all it will be for the rest of time. It's crazy. You think about this game, the way it started, Jaron Hall was the quarterback, the rookie quarterback, Jaron Hall, who we had been prepping for all week. And he comes out and he looks pretty good. You know, the first drive three and out, but then the second drive, he comes out and he's kind of moving the chains. And then all of a sudden he gets sacked and you're thinking, or no, he doesn't get sacked.

But he gets tackled at the goal line, ends up hitting his head and going to the medical tent. And in that moment, I think everyone started to realize, oh, Josh Dobbs is going to come to the game right now. Josh Dobbs, who has been here for five days, maybe less, is about to play quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. And it went about as poorly as you thought it was going to go early on. He took a safety on a play that he probably shouldn't have taken a safety. He tried to make something happen on a scramble outside of the pocket, fumbled. And you talk about people raking their leaves. I don't think I would have blamed people for at that point saying,

you know what, I don't need this one in my life today and in turning it off. But if they did that, then they missed one of the greatest Vikings games I've ever seen. And that might sound crazy because like it's a random Sunday in November and the Vikings just improved to five and four. So how could it be the great, one of the greatest Vikings games I've ever seen? But just everything that happened in a vacuum today was unbelievable. And in truly every single play down the stretch. But I think when you look at that final drive, Josh Dobbs gets the ball back with two minutes, eight seconds left. And the fact that he's able to then lead an 11-play drive,

use his legs to scramble but then also throw the game-winning touchdown pass it showed that this is not a guy who's just going to look for plays to break down and take off and use his legs more than capable of doing that but he made legitimate throws today where he is an nfl quarterback And then the last play, six yard touchdown to Brandon Powell, you know, like Kevin O'Connell was talking about that play after the game. That's some high level reads. He's holding the safety with his eyes and then he's working back to Brandon Powell. And if he doesn't do that with his eyes, then the nickel corner is able to just kind of jet over to Brandon Powell. Like that's high-level quarterback play.

So just when you look at this whole game and what it was, from Jaron Hall starting to Josh Dobbs looking lost early on to Josh Dobbs emerging as a folk hero, you know, three hours later, I still don't really know how to grasp it, but it was something I'll never forget. I mean, I think that we'd have to just go to the beginning with Jaron Hall, where it looked like Jaron Hall was going to be able to hold his own. And that's what's really unfortunate. And there's other injuries we have to talk about as well.

K.J. Osborne, Cam Akers is going to be out for the year with an Achilles injury that, I mean, all of a sudden these injuries are just piling up. And even before the game, Christian Derrissaw is announced out. So here's David Questenberry, a guy who also just got here at the beginning of the season. So you've got a left tackle who just got here at the beginning of the year. You've got backup receivers. You've got Jaron hall in there he delivers a great pass down the sideline to alexander madison where the falcons seem to mess up a basic cover to read and he finds him

and then you know he's he's rolling and he's looking like he's pretty much in command he's getting confident they're using some play action stuff for him and of course the running game isn't really helping at all but they're finding a way which we really need to talk about at some point. And then he takes off and takes a monster, monster hit. And it kind of was like, oh, yeah, this is the NFL and not college. And you have to get down if you're Jaron Hall, because you can't just run over people unless you're like Cam Newton or something. And when he goes out, you know, the one thing that's crazy about josh jobs is that this guy has been through stuff like this his whole

career whether it's tennessee he shows up for them goes and plays a must-win game and is one drive away from winning that game and then what he did in arizona he gave them a chance to win his first game after being acquired on august 24th and then then started September 9th and he beat the Dallas Cowboys this year and so he has this capability and I know it became downright hilarious the number of times they brought up the rocket science thing on TV but it actually is relevant to this guy and I asked him about it this week like his educational background he probably has more capacity to learn a lot of information and apply it quickly than pretty much anyone else. So when he went in there, he certainly did not look like he was comfortable or, I mean,

looked anxious and then, you know, gives the ball away a couple of times right away. When did you feel like it turned for Josh Dobbs? The scramble right before halftime, for sure. There's a free runner coming into space at that point, and he tries to reverse pivot, but he can't quite get it, so he just kind of muscles his way out of what would have been a sack, what looked to be a sack, which for a lot of guys would have definitely gone down as a sack, and he turns the corner, scampers up the sideline, hurdles a guy, dives forward, picks up a first down.

I think it was he gained 11 yards on third and 10. And then two plays later, designed rollout, finds Alexander Madison in the flats for a touchdown. Kind of gives like a shrug, like almost like a Jordan shrug on the sideline when he did it. And that was when I was like, okay, this guy, now he's finally locked in. But the fact that he was able to do that after taking a safety, after fumbling the ball,

the fact that he could wipe all that and still give the Vikings a chance to win the game just really shows what kind of leader this guy can be for, for the Vikings for the remainder of this season because I mean I don't know how you can't go back to him again and again and again after what we just saw but there's a belief in Josh Dobbs in that locker room and that's crazy to think because he got here five days ago but when you go out and you do what you did on Sunday, when all the chips are on the table, it does have a way of galvanizing a locker room. You juxtapose what was just a sad, dreary, devastated locker room last week after a win, after Kirk Cousins goes down to what we saw this week. Truly, I didn't think it was possible because of how crushing that Kirk Cousins news was.

But when you have a guy like Josh Dobbs do what he did today, there's reason that there's a belief in this team. But, yeah, it was definitely that scramble right before halftime where I thought he kind of figured it out or just was able to kind of let it all go and just go out and play. I think what maybe impressed me the most, and you brought it up with his ability to take in a lot of information at once, process it on the fly, is just listening to Kevin O'Connell talk and listening to Josh Dobbs talk after the game. We always hear about how Kevin O'Connell is communicating with Kirk Cousins in that helmet, and then it cuts off at 10 seconds, and then it's just Kirk Cousins on his own but when he's doing that with Kirk Cousins he's just telling him to play he's giving him the can or the other play when he was doing it with Josh Dobbs today Kevin O'Connell was literally saying okay so here's what you're going to see

coming from your left side and here's what maybe is going to be there on the back side and and then it would go dark and then Josh Dobbs is in the huddle and he's calling the play and he's what maybe is going to be there on the backside. And then it would go dark and then Josh Dobbs is in the huddle and he's calling the play and then he's stepping to the line. He's giving a cadence and he's running the play and then that sequence starts over all again. So he knew like the menu Josh Dobbs did this week, but then to go out and apply it took a lot of learning on the fly, like learning in real time, which I just thought was so impressive.

And if he was able to do that with five days, let's call it three or four days to learn, I really think that he could do some pretty special things, like give him a couple of weeks to just actually learn the offense with the weapons he's going to have around him by far the most he's had in his career so far so let me go back to the original question which was when did the game turn for josh dobbs i think it was on the same drive but i want to go back just a little bit farther so he throws that hospital ball to kj osborne yeah which was really scary

and he you know clearly got a concussion. Good to see some of the stuff from the locker room that he was at least still there, hugging teammates, talking to people because that was a very, very scary injury. And I saw some people saying like, forfeit the game. This is dangerous. Like the fact that Josh Dobbs doesn't know the offense is going to get somebody hurt and all this stuff. And then he completes a pass to Jordan Addison. And it was like a professional throw. It wasn't anything super special, but there was a flicker of confidence there. Like you converted a third down and then you throw a 20-yard pass just to get a little momentum going.

Like, oh, yeah, that's right. We can do this. He's a professional quarterback he had won a game before the nfl he had played before and so he he completes that pass to addison and then it just seemed like everybody said like oh okay like he's not going to fumble every single time we can do this and the scramble i mean i had to go like, is that Dante Culpepper? I mean, because we haven't seen a whole lot of amazing scrambling over the years that we've covered Kirk cousins, which we could talk about at some point in the show, but that was incredible. He goes back like 20 yards, breaks

a tackle and then swings all the way around. And throughout the game, every time there was a little confusion, every time it seemed like he was a little bit like, I don't know where to go with the football. He didn't really hesitate to just take off understanding that he's a really good athlete and using that. And that is one thing that you noticed if you watched him in Arizona and the number of times throughout the game that it bailed him out to get those scrambles, including on a fourth and eight play.

And he was moving in space and break it tackles. Like this guy is not like your average journeyman pocket system quarterback. He was a 95th percentile athlete at the NFL combine. So a really special athlete for his position. And that was the difference in the game, because when you look at his stat line, he was averaging like 5.3 yards per pass attempt in this game and there's a couple that might have been almost picked off there's a couple fumbles but it seemed every time it looked like atlanta was about to close this thing out good night it's over that was real cute and fun he found a way to make a play with his legs and then there was a great moment when he gets the first down i don't know if you guys had where you had the broadcast in great moment when he gets the first down. I don't know if you guys had, where you had the broadcast in the press box. He gets the first

down, I think on fourth and eight and holds the ball up and drops it like he's Cam Newton or something like the intelligence is talked about all the time, but the confidence of this man to go play the way that he did and then be like, make it plays and celebrating and dodging people in traffic. I think it says something about how special of a quarterback even someone like Josh Dobbs has to be to get here. And that they probably did pick the right guy to be able to handle this type of situation. Yeah, there was a moment right after Josh Dobbs threw the touchdown. The way press boxes work at home when we're home, we don't see the general manager. They're in their own booth. But in some away stadiums, the general manager is like three

rows behind you, kind of off, tucked away. Koisi Adolfo-Mensah was pacing back and forth throughout that whole final drive, sitting next to Rob Brzezinski and a couple other guys in the Vikings front office, brass office brass pacing back and forth nervous you can tell because like you said they they did bring in the right guy but in that moment it's still a little bit up in the air when Josh Dobbs finds Brandon Powell for that six yard touchdown the entire back row they stand up they start just dapping each other up, smiling. You could tell, like, it was a risk to bring this guy in. And it was a calculated risk, right? It's not like they traded the farm to do it.

But there, you know, I think there are some people out there that wanted them to take a bigger swing. There are some people out there that just wanted them to say, you know, screw it on this year. We'll run out the rookie quarterback and take what we can get. But there was a calculated risk in picking this guy. And I think we saw all of that kind of show up today. But I thought that was a pretty cool moment watching the guys that literally went out

and found this guy and said, that's going to be our quarterback. Or maybe to watch them watch that guy win them the football game that is one of the moments from this game I'll remember among a dozen of us because literally this podcast could be four hours long and we wouldn't run out of things to talk about you know I think it's also worth talking about how Kevin O'Connell handled this entire situation and the value of kevin o'connell's a head coach and throughout this game i was thinking a lot about mike tomlin do you remember the the year that pittsburgh had i think two quarterback injuries and something called duck hodges was starting and like no one even knows who this person is where they came from

his name is Duck. What are we talking about? And they finished like nine and seven or something. And what? How does that even happen? They won a bunch of ugly games and so forth. And the level that and of course, Pittsburgh's doing the same thing again without great quarterback play. The level that a great head coach can take you and And also, we'll get to Arthur Smith.

A bad coach can also hold you back a lot. But a good coach, especially one that has this type of knowledge of quarterbacks and relationship with quarterbacks, to the point where Josh Dobbs is coming over to the sideline and you see Kevin O'Connell's holding footballs and doing footwork and stuff, like showing him exactly what he wants him to do to be able to communicate as the head coach and the play caller at that level with your quarterback. This does not happen otherwise. There's another thing that this doesn't happen otherwise.

And I wrote about this this week. Kevin O'Connell, through 0-3 and through Kirk Cousins' injury was as steady of a hand and as optimistic and positive of a hand of a head coach that you are ever going to see to the point where it's almost bizarre because usually the NFL breaks people. You see meltdowns. You see they are who we thought they were type of things from head coaches. And yet this was his first test of adversity really since he got here was to go 0-3 then to lose Kirk Cousins and it really reverberated

through the entire organization you and I were in the locker room all week we didn't feel a panic we didn't feel attention about that locker room and then you go today and at any point that team could have melted down any point. I mean, the safety, the fumble where he just kind of loses the ball, the other fumble. I mean, two times they're fumbling the ball, giving it away. And, you know, 21, 13 feels like the game's over. It's an eight point lead. It's like, oh man, now you're going to have to come back and everything else. And this whole team, and we'll talk about the defense in a minute, but the whole team has galvanized once again, just like we saw them do last year. Yeah, I thought that was a great piece that you wrote.

And I heard you asking questions about it all week. So I had an idea that you were going to write about just Kevin O'Connell remaining positive through all the trials. But the way it came out was perfect because the tone and tenor of that story really effectively encapsulated the team that we see behind the scenes every day. And we've seen the opposite. Mike Zimmer, for a number of years, was a very good coach for the Vikings. And just because it ended, you know, sourly,

doesn't take away from the fact that he was a very good coach for the Vikings for many years. Where he did lose the team, though, was when things started to go sideways. So did Zimmer. And I think there is something to a team mirroring the demeanor of their head coach. And I think you see it across the league. But when you kind of take a microscope and you look at this team in particular, the way that they've just been able to kind of push forward no matter what almost with this like like this belief that i don't truly understand because like it's like why do you keep believing that like it's just gonna be all right for you guys that's all rooted in kevin o'connell and the way he handles himself and the culture that he really has built and culture is such a buzzword in sports it's like i think it's when you don't really know how to

explain something you just chalk it up to culture but it's a realword in sports. It's like, I think it's when you don't really know how to explain something. You just chalk it up to culture. But it's a real thing in Minnesota right now. And I think the story did a good job providing context to that. But, yeah, you mentioned the 0-3 start, the 1-4 start. Kirk Cousins going down with an Achilles injury. No panic. And today, the quarterback they repped all week going down with a concussion on the second drive of the game. No panic. And today, the quarterback they repped all week going down with a concussion on the second drive of the game.

No panic. The journeyman quarterback who just got here five days ago, turning the ball over twice, effectively no panic. And all of that is rooted in Kevin O'Connell and the way he carries himself on the sideline, in the locker room, in the practice facility. Frankly, to me, like this is the most impressive win of O'Connell's career. Like I understand people who would say, well, he, you know, he gave it to Kyle Shanahan on Monday Night Football two weeks ago. Let's not forget about that. But everything that was going wrong today, the fact that they were able to just kind of steer the ship forward no matter what, so impressive. They were out there without their starting left tackle, David Questenberry playing. They were out without Kirk Cousins, obviously, without Justin Jefferson, without K.J. Osborne by the middle of the game. That's your starting left tackle, your starting quarterback, your backup quarterback because Nick Mullins is out, your third string quarterback because Jared Hall is out, your top two receivers because Jefferson

and Osborne are out. And Josh Dobbs is making stuff happen with like Tristan Jackson and Brandon Powell on the last drive of the game. It's just a phenomenal job all around by the Vikings, but it starts with the guy at the top. Folks, I cannot believe how many sports are going on right now. And guess what? There's a way to go to all of them with affordable tickets. My friends, you are going to want to check out Game Time. It is the fast and easy way to buy tickets to any sports event that you want to attend and much, much more. One of the cool parts about GameTime is that they have flash deals on last minute tickets and a low price guarantee, which means if you find something

lower in the section or row, they will credit you 110%. You also get images of your seat locations, which I love because those maps can be a little confusing. Buy tickets in seconds and have them arrive right there on your phone. It's great. Download the GameTime app. Create an account. Use the code INSIDER for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account.

Redeem code INSIDER for $20 off your first purchase. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. And let's also mention that Jordan Addison made an all-world catch to go up over a guy and somehow get his feet down. Initially, I was like, no way. Could not have gotten his feet down.

Must have got pushed out of bounds. And since there's no Nate Poole rule anymore, if you get pushed out of bounds, you got pushed out of bounds and since there's no nate pool rule anymore if you get pushed out of bounds you're just out of bounds and yet somehow he toe taps that which has become something that we've seen from jordan addison on a weekly basis that down those sidelines you know there were reports when he was coming out like it was too small he's gonna have to be a slot receiver that's absolutely not the case he can line up anywhere and make the plays along the sideline very good and that's a throw from Dobbs but what a play there and also TJ Hawkinson who took a lot of abuse early in the season the whole thing during training camp and everything else with the contract which I don't

care about and then you know early in the season where he dropped a couple of key passes including one that lost the game against the Chargers nobody has been bigger for them over the a couple of key passes, including one that lost the game against the Chargers. Nobody has been bigger for them over the last couple of weeks. And this was another thing that O'Connell talked about going into the game was the tight end can sometimes be the best friend of the quarterback because it's the guy who's kind of right in your vision and a lot of the easy completions are there. But also, TJ Hawkinson got hurt today. And he got popped really hard in the ribs.

And every time he was getting up, it looked like that dude was suffering, but he would not come out of that game. And he showed an impressive toughness there in that game and made some really big catches, including there was a first down that he got where he had to fight through a bunch of tackles. I mean, the thing is that with this team, even if you're taking away all these parts, the things that drive them and look, David Questenberry deserves credit today. He held in against the line that the defensive line that could put pressure on you in the biggest moments when they had to drive down, it really took everybody, but they've got, you know, these

key players, including Kevin O'nell pulling the puppet strings of the quarterback addison hockinson so even when they're missing some of their guys they're still finding ways to make plays with josh dobbs and i don't want to turn this into what's going to happen in the future at quarterback but if there is two things you're taking away from today one mobility is nice it's real nice because plays are not over when your quarterback runs a 4-6-40 and knows how to escape and juke and break tackles number two is the setup here we talk about it all the time but we've never seen it without Kirk we've literally never seen it with O'Connell and with these receivers, even minus Justin Jefferson without Kirk.

And to see it in action, to see them pull out this win, this is one of the clearly clear cut best setups in the NFL, which speaks, you know, the future again. I don't know. We'll have plenty of time for that, but it speaks to what they could potentially do here looking at the schedule going forward. For sure. They're all a lot of winnable games on the schedule. And I think you can see what you saw today and feel good about, frankly, going in, you know, hosting the Saints next week at home and beating them. You can feel good about going back or, you know, having Chicago come in

and feeling like they're gonna probably be the team that's favorite to win because of the quarterback play yes but also like you said because of all the weapons around the quarterback itself Josh Dobbs is the story of this game deserves all the credit but like you said go down the list I don't want to say any quarterback could have done this because I think it really takes a special guy to come in like off the street basically and and do what Josh Dobbs did today but the infrastructure in place here is tremendous especially offensively like you said with you know TJ Hawkinson Jordan Addison Justin Jefferson his practice window could be open next week.

I would be a little surprised because it's a hamstring, and Jalen Naylor is still not back from his hamstring. But you'll never forget that Justin Jefferson is on the team because he's still been very present. But I think sometimes, like, in the game itself, you forget, like, this team is moving the ball without its best player. So the infrastructure is there. And then maybe this is a good segue.

The defense is pretty damn good too. Like they have wildly exceeded my expectations this year. And the team that we saw for the first month of the season, it had me looking like, all right, well, I think I know, I think Brian Flores knows what he's doing, but the talent is not there. They're not going to be able to force turnovers. They're not going to be able to force turnovers. They're not going to be able to stand up to good offenses. But what the defense is continuing to do week in and week out now is pretty tremendous, in my opinion,

just like the way they've kind of been able to stack good performances on top of each other. They go out in prime time and they, in a lot of ways, dominate the San Francisco 49ers in the trenches. Then they come back the following week at Lambeau Field and they dominate that team. And then they come out today and force two huge turnovers in the second half that kept the Vikings in the game. But also in the first half, like there were,

the game was kind of teetering on the birds of, you know, falling apart. And they were able to hold Atlanta to field goals instead of touchdown. So the infrastructure stretches beyond just the offense. There's a defense in place with a guy like Brian Flores leading the way on that side of the ball, where I think the Vikings like are set up to be at least in pretty good position here. If they, if they pick the right guy at quarterback this off season, which to your point, we won't get into on this show, but it, it,

it's true. Like it's incumbent. They picked the right guy this off season because this team is set up to be pretty good for a pretty long time i think you know what amazes me about brian floris is that you know how when we go out to practice they give us the rosters and even though we've been covering the team since training camp it's always good to have the roster we look at who's practicing who's not practicing if you are on that list, you are playing for the Minnesota Vikings with Brian Flores. I'm seeing dudes out there. I'm like number 50. That's TJ Smith, I think. And like that, like that's he's out there on a play. But what's amazed me about the Vikings

defense under Brian Flores is the resilience that they have. The number of times where you think, eh, this could really break wrong for them. I mean, even you go back to that Chargers game, they had a stop that gave the Vikings a chance to win that game. Even in Kansas City, like they're a flag away maybe from potentially winning that game. And that was despite the fact that Kansas City was able to move the ball against them. And there is a lot of actually Ben don't break element to this defense. And the couple of times where they didn't break this Josh jobs thing

absolutely never happens if not for, and I have it up right here. So they get the safety field goal. After that, they fumble field goal. After that, they fumble again, field goal after that. They fumble field goal after that. They fumble again, field goal after that. Three, a safety is a turnover, I guess. Like three turnovers and they get nine points out of it. And the goal line stands were terrific until the last drive of the game, essentially for Atlanta.

They weren't running the ball at all. And hey, by the way i got some snark for atlanta just real quick way to announce that you weren't going to trade for lamar jackson great choice great choice to throw that out there also your coach is lost just completely lost and way to draft the first round running back that you're not even using as rb1 and fumbled the ball today. Great use of your draft capital. Couldn't use that for anything else. Atlanta, great organization. You got there with one of the most clueless head coaches there is. And over there,

I, what I'll do sometimes after games, Dane, I'll go for a run and listen to the other team's podcast. Can't wait for this one. I'm going to find the best Atlanta podcast. Can't wait to listen to what they have to say about Arthur Smith because that guy is a joke, and he's been a joke. And, hey, he said he was railing on Kurt Warner for breaking down his silly passing offense. How silly was their offense today? Sending guys deep downfield for Taylor Heineke, who's no more accurate than you or me with the football.

The one time they throw a screen, it goes for a 60-yard touchdown. They never go back to it again. I'm going to side with the Hall of Fame quarterback on his opinion of Arthur Smith. But that all aside, those moments to me define the game as much as Josh Dobbs, who will get picked up on everyone's shoulders. But if there's a guy that needs to be picked up on shoulders and now here i am like for brian floris i want him to get a head coaching job because this man deserves it but at the same time you're like how much money would it cost you not to leave because this is so impressive what he's doing with this group totally and it's just kind of

the way it works right like if a quarterback with the the story that Josh Dobbs has comes in and wins the game, he's just going to be the headlines. But yeah, Brian Flores kind of gets buried in this one and a little unfairly. There's just not enough space to take up for all people want to talk about is Josh Dobbs. But Brian Flores, the performance that he was able to put together today with the kind of like their backs against the wall in the sense of when you have a rookie quarterback in the game, the defense knows it has a ton of pressure on themselves.

Then when that guy goes out and it's a guy like Josh Dobbs coming in who doesn't really know the offense, he said today he doesn't really even know first and last names on this team. Josh Dobbs said he'll learn names this week. That'll be for this week. But there's so much pressure as a defense every time you step out on the field because even though it's the team game and the culture's great here, there is an element to like we might not be allowed to give up points today

or we're going to lose. Granted, there's some gray area, but I think that's like kind of a thought process that a defense has when they're put into a situation like they were put in today. And the fact that they were able to kind of fight that and weather that amid some tough situations early on was really impressive. And if we want to give Kevin Oconnell credit for steering this ship through you know uncharted waters then we do have to give brian flores credit for doing the same thing with the defense because he basically has carte blanche over that side of the ball that's a credit to

kevin o'connell as well that he's willing to just say like this is your show like i'll do this and i hired you to do this and i'll leave you alone and call a good defensive game. Well, Brian Flores continues to do that. To your point about Arthur Smith, like, yeah, the fumble early in the second, early in the first half, it's 8-3 at that point. The Vikings, it's a nice hustle play in hindsight because they tackle the guy at the one yard line instead of going for a defensive touchdown. That drive was four plays for negative four yards where they ran a jet sweep to Jonu Smith instead of giving the ball to Bijan Robinson, who used a high first round pick on. That is a great job by Brian Flores' defense, but that is a horrendous job by Arthur Smith and his offense. So kudos to Brian Flores.

He deserves a lot of credit today, but yeah, I mean, I can get, I, if I was an Atlanta Falcons fan, even though you're four and five right now, I'd be really, really ready to blow it up at the top. Hey, every, I mean, every team that decided to draft a linebacker or a running back or a safety or whatever well that allowed the vikings to have jordan addison so congrats on that uh everybody this one's different though don't worry this running back's different let me just take a look at the box score and see how different bijan robinson is 11 runs for 51 yards and a fumble very different from all other

running backs that they could have not picked instead but again i mean be glad you're this organization and not that one because that one has no hope as long as they're handling things the way that they presently are but to the point about brian flores's defense i think the most impressive part is there are so many guys on this team who if you just asked me at the beginning of the season, like training camp, like what, write out what you think their Madden rating should be.

Cause I didn't buy Madden this year. It's too busy. So write out what you think they are. There's a lot of dudes who I'd have like in the upper sixties or seventies that I would have wrote out that going in this year. What is Cam Bynum? There is 72. What is Josh Metellus? There's 72. What is Josh Metellus?

He's 68. What's Harrison Phillips? He's 74. Jonathan Bullard's 67, right? And yet this group is playing like this together. And to me that is, yeah, you know what? Every once in a while you're going to send Harrison Smith off the edge. You get burned for a 60-yard touchdown on a screen.

It does happen that when you are that aggressive, but I also see the look on quarterback's faces. There was a time where they rushed three and Taylor Heineke. And thanks to Arthur Smith, there was no underneath option for him, but Taylor Heineke just looking totally lost. Like, where do I, what is this? You had everyone at the line of scrimmage. Now they're all gone. Where did they go? What what is this? You had everyone at the line of scrimmage. Now they're all gone. Where did they go? What do I do? And we've seen so much of that in recent weeks.

And certainly when you play Mahomes, when you play Justin Herbert, those guys are going to even the score a little bit on you because they're the best quarterbacks in the league. But when they have played anybody short of that level, they have looked completely lost with a bunch of players who I think now, you know how in Madden, your ratings go up if you guys play better. Now I'd be like, Cam Bynum's like 84 and Josh Mattel is like 87, right? Like I'd be talking about these guys as they're much better players.

To me, that is the definition of coaching from Brian Flores and, and the fact that there was no, when they fumbled the ball repeatedly, there was no like, Oh man, like we're, we're screwed. We're just losing this game. It was like a bunch of guys running out there and then immediately doing their jobs. So I think that there's a lot of different ways where you can point to it of connecting the coaching with what's happening on the field. Yeah yeah and i'm glad we're giving space to this on this podcast like right now because i don't think frankly when you open the papers tomorrow when you open the pioneer press tomorrow uh probably when you open star tribune tomorrow when you click around on purple insider or the athletic or espn like we're all

going to talk about josh dobbs because that's the story of today's game but Brian Flores definitely deserves space for what he's did today and what he's doing continuously I I love the Madden uh comparison because that that is a perfect way to to to sum it up and it shows kind of like the expectations of this defense before the season granted you just, you just made up a bunch of numbers, but I would agree with you. Like I was laughing to myself when you were naming all these ratings because like, yeah, I do agree. This guy was probably a 74 and now he's probably an 84. Like, but the growth is rooted very much. So in the coaching and I love that point you made about like how many times do you see a defense

drop back onto the field like downtrodden after the offense gives up like a turnover and like oh man like here we go we're gonna give up a touchdown like the viking nobody even would blame the defense if they walked out onto the field after josh dobbs fumbled the ball and the atlanta guy picked it up and got it to the one. If like, they basically were just like, here, score, you know, we need a break. Like, but they didn't like for four plays, they made the Falcons go backwards. And that's like something that's almost like unquantifiable. Like how do you quantify like a defense is like continuous vibe or like

belief that the other offense isn't going to gain yards. And that just starts at the top. And, and yeah, I mean, Brian Flores, he's on a heater right now, but it might not be a heater and he's just like a really, really good coach. And I think we talked probably only about a month ago, maybe it was a month and a half ago now, it was like don't worry Vikings fans he's gonna be here a while because this defense isn't gonna be very good if I'm a team looking for a coach this offseason and the Vikings defense continues to trend in this direction I'm definitely making the call because I think he's I mean he's had

success in the past as a head coach. And what he's doing with this defense this year, seeing what we saw last year out of a more talented defense, at least in terms of guys, like it can't be overstated. Like how well Brian Flores has fit into this system. And I guess this franchise and brought his system along with him and kind of made it translate onto the field. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Folks, if you're struggling with the holiday blues and you're having some trouble getting excited in the same way that other people in your life do about holiday get togethers, and all of that just sounds stressful to you, then maybe it might be helpful to add something new in your life to help deal with those feelings. That's where therapy

could be a bright spot for you. It can help give you the tools to manage stress and help you feel more grounded. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, check out BetterHelp. It's entirely online, convenient, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched up with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Find your bright spot this season with BetterHelp. Go to betterhelp.com slash insider to get 10% off your first month today. That's betterhelp.com slash insider. Folks, I hope you've enjoyed listening to us talk about prize picks this year, but if you've missed it, here's how it works. You go to

prizepicks.com and it is simple. You pick either more or less between two and six players stat projections, and that's it. Now you're playing. So if it's X number of yards for a quarterback, you just decide, are they going to throw for more or less than that number of yards? But it works with lots of different options, receiving yards, touchdowns, even field goals, all sorts of sports as well. PrizePicks.com slash purple. Go there, use the code purple for the first deposit match up to $100. One of the reasons I like PrizePicks, it is very simple to use. You'd see how we do it on the show real quick and easy. And then we talk about our picks and also not

expensive either. You can turn $10 into $250 by nailing just a couple of picks. So go to prizepix.com slash purple, the code purple, Daily sports made easy i also think that he's a really great fit for kevin o'connell culture wise because o'connell is so hyper optimistic and so focused on his quarterback and just kind of energetic and whatever but florist brings an element as many defensive coaches do of toughness to where even in our press conferences you're like let me be careful how i ask this question not that he's ever snapped at us i'm just saying like he's a little bit of an intimidating guy and i think that you take on what your coach presents and he presents a toughness to him and a resilience to him this is a guy who was not afraid to sue the NFL. I mean,

and they know that like he comes in, it's like this, this guy is unafraid and he's unafraid to send everybody blitzing. He's unafraid to play everybody. I see Andrew Booth Jr. out there, by the way. I mean, you know, Lewis scene was inactive today. Didn't see him, but I see Andrew Booth Jr. out there. I see, you know, all sorts of Theo Jackson out there. Like he's unafraid to use everybody and to kind of like, you'd want to galvanize a defense. Well, it's not starters and backups. It's everybody that he uses.

So there are so many things that I'm impressed with, with Brian Flores, but we got to talk about going forward here. I think this is an obvious choice. Josh Dobbs is the quarterback until further notice. Hopefully, Jaron Hall is okay, by the way. I haven't really mentioned it, but I feel terrible, terrible for Jaron Hall. I mean, this is like his big moment, and he was looking good and seemed very confident. I was so impressed with the way he handled everything this week, his press conference and everything else.

We just saw a very even nature to him that I thought might translate, you know, because you can't just be all over the place as an NFL quarterback. And so he was looking comfortable on that drive. And then it's terrible for him. But more likely than not, it's going to be Josh Jobs going forward. We don't need to talk about Nick Mullins or anything else unless now we have to say unless he gets hurt because everyone's getting hurt this year um but it's you know dobbs going forward what do they do in the backfield i mean the running was atrocious today it was not helpful at all we talked about all week well boy they really need to get the run game going i guess not i guess dobbs will just take care of that himself uh but they actually do madison is just not the

answer the the scheme seems to really struggle even if guys are doing their jobs they're still like free runners at the running back and a lot of times you know we can trash madison and i understand why because we focus on the man with the football. A lot of times he got the football and was taken down immediately for like four yard losses. That's not on him. And now it's Ty Chandler. Can I Wong Wu, I believe is still on this football team. They likely have to go out and get a running back. I saw Leonard Fournette joined another team, so he's not going to be out there. What do they do? Because I don't think just asking Dobbs to convert fourth downs with his legs the rest of the way

is going to be quite enough for this offense. Yeah, I guess starting off, like you mentioned it earlier, but Cam Akers going down with an Achilles injury is just crushing because I think it's the other Achilles. I think it was whatever Achilles he popped the first time. I'm pretty sure it's the other one and they haven't confirmed tear, but like it's, it's a tear. Like the Kevin O'Connell said, fearing an Achilles injury, just like he said, fearing an Achilles injury last week with Kirk Cousins. And it just sucks for cam makers because

this was kind of his new lease on life. And granted, he didn't have a ton of success with some of the people that were in his face right away when he would touch the ball. But I think there was a belief from Kevin O'Connell to bring him in. And this was another opportunity for him to have a longer NFL career than some would have expected. And now it's just hard to see a path forward for him. So you feel for him, you know, all the good vibes that everyone was sending Kirk Cousins this week, like let's send him to Cam Akers too, because same injury,

just because one guy's the starting quarterback and one guy's a backup running back, it still sucks for him. And in some ways it sucks worse for Cam Akers because he hasn't had a career. He hasn't made a bunch of money. And he's already been through this rehab process. So would be remiss if I didn't say that first, the running game as it currently stands without cam makers,

I have no idea how you fix it because like you can't trade for someone. The trade deadlines passed. I guess you could go out and sign like a veteran running back, but most of the guys that are on the free agent market, like are on the free agent market because they're not very good anymore or they're washed or they're over the hill. But like I think this is maybe an opportunity for Ty Chandler. Like we've seen Ty Chandler like be able to create in very, very small sample sizes, but he has some pop to him he has a dynamicness to him

that frankly alexander madison just doesn't have and it is easy to look at this game today and you know nitpick at alexander madison because of what his rushing total finished at and what we've seen throughout the course of this season. But like there is something also with just like you can't create when there's just people on you as soon as you get the ball. So it's a total system thing that needs to be rethought. And then I think that there is probably something that Josh Dobbs is threat of running can probably help your running game as a whole, because it's an extra body you have to account for that might take off with the football.

Maybe that helps open up some running lanes for your running backs when you have designed RPOs or whatever they want to kind of install in that nature. I feel like they're going to have to use Josh Dobbs' legs and his threat of running to try and open up things for their backfield. But yeah, it's Alexander Madison RB1 moving forward and Ty Chandler RB2, I guess. I would not be shocked if they bring in a veteran guy this week. I know they worked out a handful this past offseason, kind of like they did with Dalton Reisner. So maybe they'll revisit some of those

guys. But yeah, it's something that needs to be fixed. Because I don't think like you said, you can just rely on all Josh Dobbs is going to rush for 66 yards and we'll be fine. A lot of those came on broken plays like you still need the run game to be established um even more so now with with the guy moving forward um that isn't like a kirk cousins um i think we forget like when we watch this game back and we think about this game like josh dobbs is amazing like he is but he needs or he was today but he's gonna need some help from the ground game moving forward to to be comfortable and productive moving forward here the rest of the way oh absolutely i mean if they're relying on just scrambles and so forth and uh like magical catches

and meltdowns by the other team and you know you know, it's going to be pretty tough. I mean, because they do face a very good defense in New Orleans next week. And, you know, I also think that it's not like you're just playing teams that have no wins. I mean, these are teams that are going to give you a good shot. So and probably a little bit better coached in New Orleans on defense than this team was. So they're going to need something else. I think that what you start to do probably is look at other teams' practice squads. Like, is there a veteran on another team's practice squad?

The Chandler thing is pretty clear that they just haven't trusted him. And I remember sometimes we report things in training camp and people don't believe us. And then they come to fruition, which is they don't trust ty chandler and if they did he would have been in by now but it's time to trust ty chandler and whatever it is that he can't do figure out a way to make it so he can uh because there's nobody else there's no one that you're signing off a practice squad somewhere else who's going to make a difference and there's nobody who's been sitting on their couch into november that is going to have the burst that running back that because that's a really hard thing to do where you could just come in and make a difference the other thing is though maybe just put in a phone call to like rick denison

or somebody who used to be the run game coordinator for the vikings and their offensive line coach, or maybe get on a zoom call or just text him or anything, because I think a good amount of this is that their scheme is just not good. It wasn't good last year. It's not good this year. And if cam makers was averaging like more than the same amount of yards per carry than Madison, I would say, well, it's definitely Madison. And some of it is like, he's not a great starting running back, but acres is decidedly more talented and average 3.1 today versus 2.8. So it's not like that's making a massive, massive difference. So something needs to be resolved there, which brings me to my final question in a very energetic and highly viewed show as I'm seeing, uh uh which is great to have all

of you here and all of you in the comments i really really appreciate everyone who's jumped on after this bananas win for the vikings we have to ask the question though what is now the expectation they are five and four they have come back from oh and three. They have won a game without their starting quarterback. The schedule hasn't changed since earlier today. It's still, everybody knows that it's not the most challenging schedule. What is now the expectation that Josh Dobbs is this team's quarterback? Also factory in. Cam Akers is down.

Hard to say if KJ Osborne will be back right away. Derisaw, is this going to be a nagging thing or is this not going to be a nagging thing? And now the other team gets the game plan for Josh Dobbs. What do we expect from this team now? I think it's fair and reasonable to

expect the playoffs, which maybe sounds ludicrous because they're starting a quarterback that they traded for five days ago moving forward. But I'm looking at the schedule right now, and a lot of this fair and reasonable to hope for the playoffs is rooted in how quickly Justin Jefferson can come back.

Theoretically, he can come back. Theoretically, like he can come back next week because the window opens this week. And if the Vikings decide to practice Justin Jefferson, he's missed the four games that he has to miss on IR, and he could come back for the Saints game. If Justin Jefferson's back at any point in the next two to three weeks, then I think you rise to even another level of confidence of expecting the playoffs. But right now, as the team currently stands,

even without Jefferson, I think you have a good chance at home against the Saints. I don't think that team's very good. I think you have a good chance away against the Broncos. I don't think that team's very good the bears come here like tyson bajan was a cool story but he looks like a d2 quarterback from shepherd university like the raiders they're kicking butt today but like will the antonio pierce like coaching change bump.

Will that have worn off a month from now? And then what's left is a pretty talentless roster in a lot of areas. So I look at the next month ahead and if they can win two or three games, which I think they should be able to like, then you're sitting at a pretty good spot in the NFC heading into your toughest stretch of the schedule, where you Cincinnati two games against Detroit and then you host the Packers on New Year's Eve. I think you can probably chalk that one up to when the Packers are a disaster, even if they want today. hope for the playoffs, but also maybe even expect the playoffs, the way that the schedule works out and the way that the NFC kind of seems to be leveling out in a way that looks to be in favor of the Vikings. Right now, they're seventh, so they would be in if the season ended today.

They're competing with Washington, who think Sam Hollis, their starting quarterback, they did win again today, but they're four and five. They're competing with Atlanta, who we just Hollis, their starting quarterback, they did win again today, but that they're four and five, they're competing with Atlanta, who we just saw that team today, they lost to, in a lot of ways, a preseason roster for the Vikings. They're competing with Tampa, like Green Bay, like, you know what I mean? Like the teams that they're competing with for that final playoff spot. Frankly, the Vikings are just better than for all the reasons we've talked about for 52 minutes of this podcast so far. And then you look at the teams ahead of them.

Seattle lost by a thousand today to Baltimore. Like maybe the Vikings could jump Seattle, New Orleans. They play them next week. New Orleans is five and four. But like, like I said, give me the Vikings and their roster as a whole over New Orleans' roster as a whole. So the door's open for them. And if Josh Dobbs can do what he did today on five days' notice,

I think that there is something that you could potentially unlock with him moving forward. I'm not standing here saying Josh Dobbs is the Messiah and he's going to lead the Vikings to the NFC championship game. Like case Keenum did five years ago. But I think he has some juice and there is a belief in him now in this locker room and give him a month or, you know, more than just three days to learn the offense. And I think this team could do something.

Josh Dobbs' name to all-time Vikings lore as a backup quarterback who had success, something we have seen so many times in this franchise's history. I mean, I think the best point there is that the teams they're competing against for the seventh spot are just truly awful, including the Atlanta team we saw today. Why, why would anyone believe that they could do anything? But I was thinking initially the bar might be nine or 10 wins to get in. The bar might be eight wins to get in as bad as the bottom of the NFC is to have that final wildcard spot.

And you know what, if they do it, it will be quite an amazing story of Josh Dobbs coming in here and making something happen. I'm not going to quite yet say that they're going to surpass Seattle. What we saw today in Seattle is a different story, but AFC versus NFC contenders, baby. That's what the AFC contender looks like. That's what the AFC contender looks like. That's what the NFC contender looks like. It's a big gap between the two conferences, but as we're talking, Philadelphia and Dallas are kind of throwing down. So there's still a clear cut top three or four teams in the NFC. But when you look at the middling teams, there's a lot of franchises that still think they

could get to the top and draft a quarterback i think so um and and of course michael pennix now is going to be drafted over caleb williams after what we saw last i'm just mostly kidding uh but anyway anyway what a day what a day for the vikings as now they have a chance at doing exactly what you described which is making something happen and reaching the playoffs in a situation that looked dire early in this game that they come back to win. So thanks for all of your help, Dane Mizutani. Make sure you all read Dane's work from Atlanta, from inside the locker room there, Pioneer

Press. My work, my instant reaction over at purpleinsider.com and the story that you referenced, go to purpleinsider.com. You'll find it there about Kevin O'Connell's enthusiastic disposition that has guided this team through adversity. So it looks good today. I tweeted it again after the game because of that. So self-promote at all costs. Thanks again, Dane, for all of your help.

Thank you so much to everybody who tuned in. We'll do it again next week. We'll be in that press box and only the football gods know what is up next for the Minnesota Vikings. Take care, Dane. Have a safe travel back and we will talk to you all later.