Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Justin Jefferson sounds ready to face the Packers, Alexander

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Matthew Coller and Manny Hill talk about the best matchups between the Vikings and Packers after Justin Jefferson fueled some fire with him and Jaire Alexander Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Manny Hill. And how is everybody doing? I was just looking at the old internet, Manny, before we got started here. And I noticed something. I noticed that a former Minnesota Viking just got cooked pretty badly. I don't know if you saw the highlight or not, but Mr. Andrew Booth just got roasted into absolute oblivion by Malik neighbors.

And two thoughts went through my head, Manny. The first thought was if Brian Flores told me, you know, I think we should probably move on from a certain player. I would never acquire that player. Like if Brian Flores was like, I want to, I want to trade this guy. Are you interested? I'd be like, no, Brian, no, not if you're getting rid of him. Absolutely not. Number two. And of course to go to Mike Zimmer, it was almost like planting something in the Cowboys on purpose.

So they would just give up a bunch of big plays. But I also thought, remember the silly rumor that we all laughed at about the Vikings and Malik neighbors and all that? After watching Malik neighbors for these last couple of weeks, maybe it wasn't the craziest thing of all time. So football, Manny, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm just, I love this stuff. I just love the NFL so much. This is such a juicy thing with Andrew Booth Jr.

I mean, I did see the play and it was really bad. It was really bad. And Mike Zimmer, I don't know, man. i don't know what he's gonna do it it you know we were talking last night uh we were both at the lynx game of course and we were just wondering like is is this has has the league kind of passed mike zimmer by a little bit you kind of wonder i mean i don't i don't know you know it doesn't seem to me like the cowboys have have a lot of really good personnel outside of you know micah parsons and and and lawrence but man you would think a mike zimmer coach defense would be better than what we've seen from the cowboys so far early on this year i couldn't

help but think about it mannyanny, after seeing this highlight. And I haven't turned the game on yet down here in the studio. But if the New York Giants put up like 30 points and run the Cowboys out of the building, do they fire Mike Zimmer, fire Mike McCarthy? I mean, if you drop to one and three and you have a loss against this New York Giants team, and I know they've been more competitive

since they played against the Vikings, but this is still a New York Giants team that we all expect to be drafting in the top five. I don't think that they would quite react that quickly, but something is not working. Although if that's the personnel that you have, as you mentioned, because they have had react that quickly, but something is not working. Although if that's the personnel that you have, as you mentioned, because they have had some injuries there, if you're having to play Andrew Booth Jr. as your starter against one of the top draft picks this year, and one of

the biggest freaks to come out in a long time in the draft, that's not very good for your defense, but it wasn't even the passing defense that had been so much of a problem recently it had been they were run over right and so they are doing nothing well with Dallas and this goes under the category of so far possibly worst predictions that I have ever made at this moment through uh three weeks and maybe one quarter here of Giants and Cowboys because my expectation was that Mike Zimmer was going to spend all that time in the lab figuring out how he could bring his defense but modernize it and update it and all those things

and that he would be ready to go and he would take this defense to a different level than Dan Quinn. And that has just not been the case so far with the Dallas Cowboys. And everybody was talking about, hey, you know, they could be a real disaster. Why didn't they do more? This, this, this. And I, of course, was like, wait a minute. They were a top offense all these years under McCartney or McCarthy.

They'll be fine. It'll be all right. Like they're right like they're gonna they're gonna be good and at this moment they are none of that sort they are not good at all yeah you wonder though like how much of it is just like personnel because we saw this defense last year in the playoffs get absolutely blasted by Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers. And that was Dan Quinn. And Dan Quinn still got himself a head coaching job. And he's actually doing okay in Washington right now so far. Their big win against Cincinnati on Monday.

So you do have to kind of wonder if it's just not good personnel, especially like up front with their defensive front and stopping the run. It's bad, man. It's just really bad. And of course, because it's the Dallas Cowboys, it's going to get, you know, the attention is going to be heightened, obviously, because of who the franchise is. Yeah, I shouldn't act like they have lost this game already because they have not. It's early in the game, so we'll keep track of it and see where

it goes it's just that you know it's only three nothing giants and hey greg joseph there's a lot of involvement of former uh vikings here uh with greg joseph kicking a field goal for the giants i was not aware that greg joseph was the kicker of the new york giants but apparently he is so congratulations to him on giving them a three nothing nothing lead. The fact that they weren't able to take advantage of a pass like that to Malik neighbors, he ran a route that was like, and one mixtape tour type of crossover move. And Andrew Booth jr. Just fell down. If you're wondering what happened and then Malik neighbors was wide open for a huge gain. And once again, how blessed is Daniel Jones? Like how blessed does that guy feel?

He's got to be like, man, I was just on the brink of a team, letting me go. And Ed Donatello swooped down like angels in the outfield and helped guide me to a playoff victory. Kirk checked down for me. And then just when everyone thinks it might be time to play

drew lock it's over malik neighbors is like i'll help you man i'll be the wind beneath your wings here we go and uh malik neighbors has made him look like a decent quarterback again um but uh what i really want to talk about manny is not so much former Vikings that are struggling is actually a Minnesota Viking that's been quite good so far this year Justin Jefferson I went to Justin Jefferson's press conference today as I do every week sort of curious about what he would say about the Green Bay Packers and he was very low-key at the start and I asked him about Aaron Jones and other people asked him about going to Lambeau because he missed the game last year where Kirk got injured and the offense played so well in that game and everything.

So it's been a while since the seven stud game, if you will, when nobody wore the right cleats in 2022 and then slipped and slided right off the field in blowout fashion against the Packers was the last time that Justin Jefferson was there. And if you recall Jair Alexander, not only slowed down Jefferson, which we rarely see, but he also gritted after deflecting a pass. And, uh, oh, why did I just go black? Oh, sorry. I just just my screen just went blank in front of me hey don't do that uh screen say screen saver i'm a what the heck i didn't go blank to you did i no oh okay well no one knows what i'm talking about but me then okay everybody forget that just happened uh so anyway justin jefferson has this really tough game against Jair Alexander. You know, he's pimping and everything.

And so today, of course, he gets asked, hey, the last time you were at Lambeau Field, that's what happened. And it was almost like he wanted to say nothing but could not help himself. And Jefferson is not a huge trash talker through the media. He doesn't usually give press conferences where he's saying a bunch of stuff. And yet he just kept kind of going a little farther and a little farther. And then eventually he just says, well, I'm going to gritty in their end zone. And you know, with some guys like that, uh, cornerback from the Bengals who said it was a college offense in Washington and then they gave up an incredible day to Jaden Daniels uh you can just say buddy you should never be talking

trash but I think if anyone's allowed to be running his mouth before the game against the Green Bay Packers and one of his nemesises it's probably Justin Jefferson so I think you could tell he's pretty amped up for this one oh there's no question about it and you know he remembers that game in lambeau in 2022 where i think he i think he had what was it one catch for 15 yards in that game i think he had um and the vikings got blown out and um yeah and that was kind of the talk after that was, you know, Jair Alexander always stopped Justin Jefferson. So, you know, that's been, J.J. is, he's not a huge trash talker, but he remembers stuff. He's not a Alexander, who's been one of the best corners in the league for a number of years now, that just makes it that much more like juicy and exciting. And now like everybody's really going to watch that matchup.

And you remember week one of that season when the Vikings played the Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. I mean, Justin Jefferson went off and Jair Alexander played in the game but didn't really like follow Justin Jefferson that entire game and so it was a great game plan uh drawn up by Kevin O'Connell in his first game as Vikings coach um so there is a little bit of that you know Jair Alexander has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because he's one of the best corners in the league we know Justin Jefferson is the best in the world at what he does. So that's just those competitive juices, I think, between both guys is just what makes this so fun. And the fact that they get to go against each other twice a year, provided that they're both healthy, just makes it that much better.

And I think that Jair Alexander is probably the only corner who has been willing to sort of tweak Jefferson because everybody else, well, usually they're getting roasted by Jefferson, but I don't think that they ever want to give him any extra motivation. So it's usually also a complete game plan of lots of people who are trying to shut down Justin Jefferson. It's not like it used to be where you could put it on the marquee. Hey, it's Jerry Rice versus Deion Sanders.

We saw that a little bit with Xavier Rhodes when he was playing that he would get some of those matchups, but the number of Island corners, and I don't think Jair Alexander is this. I don't think anybody is this in the NFL anymore. We, you see corners moving with certain guys in certain coverages, but you do not see the pure Island. That guy's on one side of the field with Xavier Rhodes. You used to be able to circle where he was on the all 22 and just be like, there's no one within 15 yards of Xavier Rhodes and that other receiver out there one-on-one. And since that doesn't really happen because defenses don't work that way as much anymore,

they don't play as much man coverage as they used to. Everything is about deception. Everything is about double teaming, clouding coverages, trying to confuse quarterbacks with multiple people playing those cover twos where the corner stops and takes the underneath guy and the safety goes over the top. There's all sorts of different things that the defensive coordinators come up with where they're not saying, I trust you against Justin Jefferson, because by the way, no one should ever be trusted on an Island against Justin Jefferson, which means that you don't get this very often where it is. The two boxers kind of lining up and,

and talking their trash against each other before they go into it. And I promise you the Packers will have a lot of people who are helping. And that was sort of Jefferson's point. He's like, well, you know, you're saying you shut me down, but you have help all the time every time that you go up against me. So the, but the Jair is very cocky and he's gonna talk Friday so he's gonna have his whatever to say about Justin Jefferson and I just I just like that this is amping up a little bit more because we were already juiced

up about this matchup and then Justin Jefferson can't contain himself and says, well, I'm going to gritty in your end zone. No, it's great. And I think the fact that both teams are good. I mean, the fact that the Vikings have gotten off to this 3-0 start, I think, makes it even better. And we've seen the Packers now come away with two straight wins without Jordan Love. And so that, you know, really kind of makes this exciting because it's like, all right, who's the team that's really going to challenge Detroit for this division right now? I still think, you know, the Lions are the frontrunner. But, you know, which one of these teams, the Vikings and the Packers,

is really going to take a step towards pushing the Lions to maybe try and challenge for this division? And I think both teams are capable. Both teams are well coached. And then you get this matchup between these two players that a lot of people are going to be watching. It's exciting, man. I love it.

It's going to be fun. All right, here's what I want from everybody watching. Welcome, welcome. Hopefully you got us on one screen and maybe Cowboys and Giants on the other screen. Or if you don't have Amazon Prime, just us and we'll keep you updated on what's going on there. But what I want from everybody is this, your favorite matchup, Vikings and Packers, not individual game, which was your favorite game. But I mean, their guy versus your guy i know what theirs is theirs is

kenny clark versus garrett bradbury uh and it was aaron jones against the vikings and now we'll see if that goes the other way but i'm talking about i'm talking about good i'm talking about good matchups between the vikings and the packers throughout the years, whether it's quarterbacks, whether it's, you know, in the trenches, wide receivers and corners and wherever you want to go with this, I am interested in your guys answers of the matchups that you have enjoyed the most, whether it was because the Vikings were crushing them or just because it was great football. I wanted to start that discussion with Mike Zimmer against Aaron Rodgers. And that was two guys that leading up to the game really seemed to enjoy talking about how each other were so difficult to play against where Mike

Zimmer always showed a ton of respect for Aaron Rodgers. And we talk about, he would, he would kind of make the same joke every year. Like I think they should trade him. I think they should get rid of him. And then finally, when Zimmer gets fired, they actually do get rid of Aaron Rodgers, but he would always kind of say, this guy could do anything with his arm. He has full control of the offense. And Zimmer got him sometimes, and he got Zimmer sometimes Zimmer cooked up a lot of different looks for him, a lot of different pressures for him. And it's really one of the

only opponents that he ever had, uh, that actually gave him a hard time. I mean, Rogers that actually gave him a hard time somewhat consistently. And I remember both games where he looked great and also games where he really struggled against the vikings there was even the one where they got up i think it was 21 nothing zimmer made some adjustments and then he struggled after that uh there was the game in 2020 where zimmer may have saved his job at the time by beating uh green bay where he it was like that it was windy and it was wet and Zimmer was pressuring him the whole day so I always I've always enjoyed that matchup of those great 2017 although they heard him then

but that that era of defense versus Aaron Rodgers that was the one that came to mind first for me the one that I thought about that's that's awesome that's certainly a great one the one that I thought about, and that's awesome. That's certainly a great one. The one that I always thought about was Randy Moss against just anybody in the Packers secondary when he first came into the league in 1998. And you remember, Collin, I mean, Randy torched the Packers in both of those games in 1998, the Monday night game, and then later on in the season at the Metrodome, Randy had a great game that day, too.

And that actually caused the Packers to go just crazy with like drafting cornerbacks in the following draft. They just drafted a bunch of guys. I think Mike McKenzie was a guy that they drafted that following year. Mike McKenzie ended up being a pretty good player for them uh for a few years um but just that matchup of the Packers front office saying holy bleep we gotta load up on corners just to like have a chance to stop this guy because he's kicking our ass every time we go up against him um so yeah that that's the one and Randy would go on to have a lot more great games against the Packers too, despite the constant drafting that they did of corners in the following years after that. Yeah. Unsurprisingly, it never really helped.

I think that you could also say Randy Moss versus Packers fans was also a battle that I think Randy Moss won with his rear end. But the whole story behind that, where they were throwing eggs at the bus and they were mooning the bus and everything else. So then he wanted to do something back to them. And that's why he decided to pull his pants down figuratively. It would have been a disgusting act had he actually pulled them down. But since he just pretended to, it was not indeed a disgusting act had he actually pulled them down but since he just pretended to it was not indeed a disgusting act but we can all let it go for joe buck at this

point but him versus the fans him him versus the entire organization the defense anything that they would try to do to stop randy moss is a really good one uh one that is brought up in the comments that I like a lot is John Randall against Brett Favre. And they discuss that a lot in John Randall's A Football Life where Brett Favre was talking about how they eventually became friends after football, but during football they were not so much friends. And the same went for Warren Sapp and Favre where these guys just had battles with each other and the trash talking for john randall and one of the coolest moments in purple insider

history was when i asked john randall when he came on the show what it was like to sack farv and he said that you could just feel the entire lamboau field, all the air coming out of it, all the sadness and no, no noise whatsoever. And it was just the greatest feeling for him to have sacked Brett Favre. And there was nothing like it, but of course, Brett Favre through the years had many good games and many bad games against the Vikings defenses, but it always seemed to be John Randall involved in pressuring Brett Favre. That's got to be the best single pass rusher the Vikings have had versus any of these Packers quarterbacks. No question about it. And, you know, I remember, I think it was John Randall that said like every day in practice, even when they weren't getting ready to play the Packers that week,

John Randall would still have like a Brett Favre jersey on like a practice dummy or something. You know, if they'd be playing like, I don't know, they'd be getting ready to play like the Buccaneers or something that week. And he said he would still have a Favre jersey draped over a practice dummy so that he could just, it's just like Brett Favre just brought the best out of John Randall who was obviously you know one of the all-time great Viking players but that was fun man I remember watching those as a kid and I remember like in the 90s in the mid 90s when the Packers started to emerge as like a championship team and Favre was winning MVPs and things like that they still and he would still have a really hard time playing in the Metrodome.

I think it took him, I think he lost like his first six, the first six years he came into the Metrodome. He just couldn't win there. It was the crowd, it was the turf, and John Randall obviously getting after him too. Those were fun matchups, man. It was, that was a time between these two teams it's a lot of fun so uh oh gosh says uh ap versus uh aj hawk i think also it's just really

2012 adrian peterson versus the green bay packers i pulled that up just to see like what was it what were the stat lines they were just insane man so 2012 i don't have the first game at lambo uh up but i do have the week 17 game at the metrodome uh adrian peterson uh 34 carries 199 yards a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. And he ended up, I think it was nine yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson's single season record. So almost basically had 2,100 yards that year. And it was very memorable because the Vikings needed to win that game to get into the playoffs. And you got Christian Ponder starting at quarterback. And you're going up against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers who had something to play for because they were trying to win that game

and get a first-round buy and have that second-round game at Lambeau. So they had a lot to play for. And for Adrian Peterson to come up as clutch as he did in that game with everything on the line, I think was, it really kind of solidified the MVP that he eventually won there as well. It was a very memorable performance by him. And honestly,

the best game of Christian Ponder's career too. Oh, you're right. And that one is more memorable. And yet the one earlier in that same year december 2nd 2012 at green bay is actually even better uh where he i believe it's at green bay where he went for 210 on just 21 carries in that game in 2012 that i mean that year is one of the all-time great seasons by any football player of all time regardless of position but the fact that he could have that legendary

game where they win 37 34 you're right about ponder three touchdowns no picks 234 yards to have it not even be adrian's best game against the Packers I know I mean that's just that's just remarkable I remember someone asking Adrian before a game against the Packers whether he liked to run on turf or like he liked the Lambeau grass and he did a full breakdown of the difference between each one and the answer was pretty much at the end of the day i'll just run by anyone no matter what it doesn't really matter it's like well it's a little different cutting or it's a little different this or that i don't care like i'll just destroy the green bay packers no matter what uh juan brings up uh zadarius smith 2019

against anything that the vikings tried to do him. That is one of the most memorable because that game late in the 2019 season at home, the Vikings had a chance to chase down the Packers, but that wasn't really the most important part because that would have taken maybe some other things happening or whatever after that. It was more of a prove it type of thing. Like, hey, the Packers are great. You're supposed to be great. You've lost some of the key games this year, go beat the Packers. And Zedaria Smith single-handedly mauled the Minnesota Vikings that night. So much to the

point where they were just completely ineffective. Kirk couldn't do anything. They couldn't run the ball and it was a very easy win. I think Aaron Jones also killed them that night. Just classic sort of Viking killers, but Zedaria Smith versus the Vikings. And it's so funny how often these players end up over here in Minnesota. It was like, okay, that guy murdered us. Let's bring him in. carter versus any sideline is a pretty good answer um bar versus rogers it sort of became harrison smith versus rogers is really the matchup but it became a thing with anthony bar versus rogers that was more just in the aftermath of the collarbone incident because it was a huge debate and then rogers went on like letterman or something

and complained about it and said that it was an illegal hit and that bar had done it on purpose and then bar was getting all this stuff on social media that that was more of a thing that rogers created and by the way there was no flag on the play and that changed the rule for the like letting your weight drop on the quarterback um so i i wasn't i never really felt like as they played each other that the cat and mouse game was between him and anthony bar but that turned out to just be a thing uh that one year in 2017 also helped the vikings get to the nfc championship by not having uh aaron rogers there yeah i think the packers like the packers like

four and one or something or four and oh or something going into that game and then they were doing their typical aaron rogers packers stuff yeah yeah and then he got hurt and it just completely just tanked the season for them i mean they they just it was over at that point um yeah i mean that it's just amazing how like one or two plays can really kind of change the landscape of how a season goes, how the perception of a player can go. In the case of Anthony Barr, he kind of became public enemy number one in Green Bay after that,

for that hit. But yeah, I do remember that. And it kind of changed the landscape of how, what the Vikings were able to do the rest of that hit. But yeah, I do remember that and it kind of changed the landscape of what the Vikings were able to do the rest of that season. Another matchup that I was kind of thinking of was just 2009, the two games with Brett Favre

playing against the Packers. The first game being the Monday night game where he played great. I think it was Michelle Tafoya joking with him after the game that it was the last game in his 30s because I think it was Michelle Tafoya joking with him after the game that it was the last game in his 30s because I think he was turning 40 later on that week or something. But yeah, he was great that night.

Everybody was watching. It was Monday Night Football. And then, of course, the game at Lambeau too, which, I mean, that was a playoff. If there's a regular season game that felt like a playoff game, it was that afternoon at Lambeau Field with just the crowd going crazy and then Favre just having a terrific game. Percy Harvin was really good in that game.

Bernard Berrien was really good in that game. Yeah, those were some memorable games uh that year and even i would even say the the game at lambeau the next year the vikings lost it but that was there was a lot behind that too it was ended up being farve's last game that he ever played at lambeau field um he threw some picks through the ball to the other team a few times. I think he threw two pick sixes in that game. But he played terribly, and they still had a chance to win late in the game. And if Percy Harvin had came down inbounds,

they probably would have won that game in the back of the end zone. So, yeah, I mean, F far far as games against the Packers, um, in a Vikings uniform or, or some that really stand out to me too. I mean, and when we talk about the most memorable matchups, whether it's games or players that shoots to the top of the list, it's, uh, I mean, it might be number one of, of course it was a playoff game where Dante Culpepper, it to Randy Moss and the mooning incident. So the fact that it was in the playoffs and eliminated the Green Bay Packers maybe puts it ahead a little bit because it was a whooping too. Also that the Vikings laid on the Packers.

So if you're looking at it from the perspective of the Vikings, that was as memorable as it gets. But I think that far of going back there, it was like a national event. It was not, I mean, it was not just a regular season game, like all revenge game. We kind of have made that into a total joke all the time now where every player were like, come in, come to Grugier Hill revenge game. Here we go. Because that narrative got worn out so much in the NFL, but that was a true revenge game for Brett Favre. And he talked about it many times after about walking out of the tunnel, what it felt like. And I mean, maybe it's being overdramatic because I wasn't living here in Minnesota yet, but I was watching that game. It felt like everybody was coming out with him. Like I just, I remember the camera shot.

I remember where he's standing. I believe our friend Sage Rosenfels is right next to him. And he's just coming out of the tunnel into that atmosphere. And they had a far of cam. They had a far. That's right. That's right. They had a separate, I think it was like, you could go online and watch the game online and there was like a separate camera that literally just followed brett farve the entire game that was just on him the entire time right right that's i mean and that just speaks to how big that was and that's probably it's sort of funny because it's like far versus john randall and also far versus his whole team in green Bay. The other,

the other guy recently, uh, they couldn't stop Delvin cook. They could just never stop Delvin cook. No matter what, uh, he had the game that they were down early. And I think it was 21 points. They get back in the game and had a chance to come back and tie it or win it because Delvin cook had a 75 yard touchdown run and the same game that i was referencing that was in the cold in the wind in 2020 that game cook just won himself outside of the defense uh but he had a screen pass where he had a huge gain he had i mean i don't i don't remember what i can actually pull it up here because i have the i have the complete history up here on football database uh what did it go for that was 163 yeah 30 carries once for a buck

63 and three touchdowns oh my god any any receipt he had a receiving touchdown as well yeah so i feel like uh that was one of the better matchups so So any more of yours that you guys remember, your favorite Vikings and Packers individual matchups, I am interested in. How do you think the Packers will try to handle Justin Jefferson here, Manny? They're not going to put Jair Alexander on him, but this is an entirely new defense from what we've seen before in recent years. And every game that the Vikings went into

against the Green Bay Packers as long as Joe Barry was their defensive coordinator I always thought Kirk's gonna have a good day and he's gonna find Jefferson he's gonna be open they're gonna play back and he's gonna throw it to him a million times they're gonna be able to run as much as some players Kenny Clark clark have destroyed the vikings and preston smith had a lot of good moments as well you just usually felt like kirk was very comfortable there he had the huge game in the tie that they obviously should have won and i i see you person who said daniel carlson versus goalpostss was one of the toughest matchups. I saw that. I saw that comment.

That's pretty good. But Kirk was always extremely comfortable at Lambeau Field, and maybe it was because he played there so many times that there was no majesty to it for him. But I also think it was because Joe Barry's defense just was the perfect defense for Kirk for Kirk cousins to pick apart, where if you were not being super aggressive, he was going to sit back and just complete those passes into, uh, into space. I am extremely curious to see how they go about trying to slow down

Justin Jefferson. Yeah. And I, and I mean, maybe it's, it just comes down to, well, you know, to your point about Kirk cousins. I mean, just go back last year to, well, you know, to your point about Kirk Cousins. I mean, just go back last year in the game that Kirk got hurt in. He was playing great that game. I mean, he was torching the Packers before he had the Achilles injury. But as far as Justin Jefferson goes, I don't know if there is really a way to, like, shut him down if there's any sort of coverage that can really stop him. I think it's going to

come down to what they can do to sam darnold if they can apply some pressure to sam darnold get him rattled force him into some of the you know goofy mistakes that we've seen sam darnold make over the last you know few years with the jets and the panthers um that we really haven't seen him do yet i mean we've kind of seen him make some throws where you kind of go, ooh, Sam, don't do that. But he's kind of gotten away with it. He hasn't had the really back-breaking turnover yet. But to me, it kind of seems like that's going to be maybe the focus is,

you know, don't let Aaron Jones beat you. You know, shut down the run game, put a lot more pressure on Sam Darnold and try to just rattle him a little bit. And then if Sam Darnold is playing poorly, then it's just going to be a lot harder to get Justin Jefferson the ball anyway. So to me, it just kind of seems like that might be the play for them because I don't know if there is a coverage or a player specifically in the league that can actually just like stop Justin Jefferson

because we haven't really seen him. We saw it a little bit in 2022 out there in Lambeau but that was more of like to your point it was more of like a total team defensive effort not just Shire Alexander you know completely blanketing him well and I think one of the best things that Kevin O'Connell does as a head coach is find ways to get Justin Jefferson open, even though he knows that coverages are going to be going after him. Uh, O'Connell was asked about the whole two deep safety thing the other day and kind of said, uh, since I got here, the teams have done nothing but play those two deep safeties against us, which is statistically true. Uh, in 2022 teams played the deep shell type of uh defenses against the vikings almost twice as much as against anybody else in the entire nfl that is the fear uh that justin

jefferson strikes into opposing defenses i imagine that they're going to want to try to get jair alexander up on him alexander is not the corner he used to be, I don't believe, but he's gotten off to somewhat of a decent start here this season. I don't see them just trying to put him on Jefferson wherever he goes, because one of the other reasons that we never see those islands is because guys are in motion constantly now in the NFL. So if you're going to run Jefferson all the way across the formation, that means that guy has to run all the way behind all of his linebackers or in between them to try to stay close with the wide receiver. And the fact that you could snap it while the guy's coming

across as Miami has taken advantage of so much, that makes it super hard to try to stay one-on-one. I think we're going to see a ton of motion from Jefferson, a ton of those bunch formations where he's stacked with two other guys. And Kevin O'Connell has done a great job of using those bunch formations to get Jefferson easy little out routes and things like that. That's been some of his most successful routes so far this year is just little bunch formation. You shifted at the last moment. The guys are trying to communicate, snap the ball, 10 yard out, Justin Jefferson, first

down, move the sticks. Those are the types of things that I expect to see. The other reason I expect to see a lot of the short stuff is because of the pass rush. As you mentioned, that this pass rush is going to win for the packers even if clark has not gotten off to the best start they have dudes who are just coming in and kind of waves and i think manny this is the most difficult challenge that the vikings offensive line has faced so far and today christian derisaw didn't practice with an illness garrett bradbury has been banged up the right guard has been the right guard that we've been talking even if it's not Ingram it was Dakota Dozier it's what I would through all the years we've been talking about the right guards

Mike Remmers and just always the right guard they've been able to slow down that those elite rushers but Darnold has still been pressured at times a little too much for my liking yeah and I mean you you talked about Preston Smith I mean Kenny Clark I think is Kenny Clark on the injury report is he got he has been yeah with a toe injury I mean he's gonna play but he has been a little banged up yeah but I mean he continues to be you know always an area of focus with his Packers defense and you know we know with Sean Gary, he's very good. You know, Quay Walker can kind of be a bit of a wild card at times. He can be a little bit disruptive.

Sometimes he'll make a boneheaded play that costs his defense occasionally, as we've seen in the past. But he's also a guy that can be really disruptive and cause some problems, too. So it's really going to come down to, you know, Kevin O'Connell putting together a really good scheme, a really good game plan to try and get Justin Jefferson the ball in different creative ways. And then you just have to hope that Sam Darnold doesn't make, like, way too many, you know, mistakes.

Just don't throw the ball backwards. You know, if something're, if you're, if you're something goes wrong, Sam, don't, don't run backwards into Ed Ingram. We know Ed Ingram probably shouldn't have been in that spot, but don't run backwards into him. Just don't have things like that. Because this it's, it's a road game. You know, these for as good as the Vikings have been these first three games, first game of the year was on the road against a bad team. And these last two games have been at home. They've been against good teams, but they've been at home. So they've had the crowd behind them. It's not going to be the case

this weekend. So, I mean, I think it's going to be important for like Sam Darnold, get off to a good start. Don't turn the ball over early. You know, Aaron Jones can be effective early on too. I think that'll be really helpful. And then they're going to find ways to try and get Justin Jefferson the ball eventually. Out of fairness, before I change the subject to something someone asked me today that I find to be very interesting, I should say the Cowboys are now up 14 to six. So we may have jumped the gun with andrew booth falling down and then deciding that it might be over for mike zimmer uh if the

cowboys win this game i think that they could get rolling and start to become what the cowboys should be but uh just wanted to give that little update if you're not watching the game uh because we had maybe overreacted so earlier today i do a written version of the friday mailbag each week and i think i am on five straight years of doing every single friday uh unless the vikings have a thursday night football game and on draft night where the draft is always on a thursday that is the only time that the friday mailbag doesn't come out so if you want to go check out purpleinsider.com and the newsletter, that's a good idea to maybe do that. But someone asked in the Friday mailbag, they asked Manny, would you rather have the Vikings or the Packers quarterback situation over the next three years? Because Jordan Love is going to be expensive. The Vikings drafted

their quarterback in the future and also have Sam Darnold here as a potential option. If this thing keeps going the way that it's going, then they might end up with Sam Darnold, but then you might end up having to give Sam Darnold some money to keep him here, or they just have Jordan love, which one would you rather have? Oh, wow. It's a great question. It really is a great,

great question. I think does make you pause and think a little bit. I will say Vikings because, and I know the Packers have already paid Jordan Love at this point so he is the guy going forward but I don't know if we know for sure how good Jordan Love actually is I think most of us think that he's good and think that he's going to be good but like how good is he going to be you know what I mean is he going to be a guy that puts up really good numbers but they're going nine and eight ten and seven every year

or does he you know reach an aaron rogers type of type of level and that i think i think if you're a packers fan you you're excited about the potential of Jordan Love and what he could potentially be. And you're happy that you've got him locked up for a number of years going forward. But, you know, from an outsider's perspective, I'm not, just because I'm not 100% sure, because if he's not that great, then you're kind of stuck with him. And you're paying him all that money, and then it's going to be even harder. If he's not that great, it's going to be harder to build a team, continue to build a team around him that's going to turn you into a contender. So I think, you know, I just, I lean Vikings on that question

just because I think there's a little bit more room for flexibility right now in the Viking situation because it feels like they've got a good plan going forward with J.J. McCarthy. But if J.J. McCarthy isn't the guy, then you can just kind of pivot and go in a different direction and take another guy in two or three years if you need to. If Jordan Love's not that great in like two years, they're still going to be paying him, and that could get a little bit more dicey for them um but obviously i mean if he turns out to be on the same level as as rogers and farve then obviously sign me up for that see i think that and of course

i'm not surprised that the comment section is saying uh oh of course the vikings but i mean it's pretty easy to forget since we don't have a recent sample of him playing outside of one game in Brazil on turf that barely existed. Uh, and he had his ups and downs in that game. Uh, how good Jordan love was, even if you don't say, Oh, well, first half, second half, just look at the entire season worth of statistics. Look where he ranked by PFF. Look at his touchdown total, which I think was maybe third in the league. This is a pretty hard stretch, actually, to say the Vikings, to look at someone who in an NFL season already has put up a top five to seven quarterback season.

And I know the contract is a major part of this, but someone who's already put up a top five to seven season and then say, no, I would rather have door number two outside of this guy who has already had an elite year as a quarterback who had to adjust to the NFL. And after he was able to do that, then played at that type of level for the entire season and i totally agree with you that we don't have the full answer yet on jordan love because we're just going to have to see a much bigger sample size and we have five years of quarterbacks that we still argue about all the time like we still don't know what the heck trevor lawrence is supposed to be because there have been times where he's been great and there are times where we're blaming everybody else. And I don't really know

what I'm supposed to do with that. Like if Trevor Lawrence was playing for someone else, would he be better? If Justin Herbert was playing for somebody else, would he win more? If it's like, Oh, we do this constantly with pretty much every guy. So we really don't know a hundred percent with almost anyone, but what it comes down to here is someone who's already done it for at least one season and looked really good at $50 million a year, or two guys with a lot of talent and a great situation. And one of them, JJ McCarthy is going to be extremely inexpensive, but the reality of JJ McCarthy is, and this is why I would have to choose Jordan Love, I think, which I don't know the audience is going to love.

But it's so uncertain with JJ McCarthy. I mean, I really, really like what I saw from McCarthy. I believe he could be a very good quarterback. But I don't know that for sure. Not until he actually gets in and starts playing games. And I also know that it's probably not a great option for the Vikings to have Sam Darnold be very expensive. And that's why all of us who are putting on our futures goggles and we're looking down the road and going, oh, off in the distance. Is that like a contract for Darnold that makes him expensive? That's the thing that you were trying to get away from. But if he plays so good that he can't move on from him, right, and go to JJ McCarthy.

So it's really that you have two guys who are very talented in Darnold and McCarthy. One of them will eventually become expensive. The other one will be incredibly inexpensive. So you could stack up as much as you want, but Jordan loves contract also doesn't ruin them for the next couple of seasons. I think that I would probably go with the proven commodity, but it's not an easy decision it's a very difficult choice because that makes you bet what on what you saw from basically a half a season of really great play but you're also betting on that versus no play so whatsoever from jj mccarthy it's a really difficult question to answer it is and it's in in some ways it's just kind of like a Rorschach test or something maybe like

where you're just kind of looking at two different things from multiple different perspectives and the fact that Jordan Love played so great in the second half of last year got that team into the playoffs went on the road and won a playoff game and played great in that playoff game. And then in the very next round, had the ball in his hands with a chance to march down and win the game against the team that eventually would go to the Super Bowl. So that, it's like I was saying before, if you're a Packers fan and you see that, you're like, okay, Jordan Love, let's go. You know, sign him up. We got our guy.

It's another, you know, 15 years of having a franchise quarterback because we've already had this for the previous 30 years so we got our guy um but there is sort of that outside like okay yeah i like what i see but was that the peak of what we're gonna see with Jordan Love? Or is it going to be kind of like what we've seen from Justin Herbert with the Chargers, where we've seen him put up really good numbers, but they're just kind of like the 500 team that just doesn't really take that next step? Because we're already having that question now with Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence takes the Jaguars to the playoffs a couple of years ago. They have that big comeback.

They win the playoff game. They go into Kansas City the next week, and they kind of hang around with the Chiefs. And there was this thought like, okay, well, Trevor Lawrence is going to take off. He's the next young guy to really emerge. And what we've seen from him last year, and I mean, this year, he's

just been awful. And now we're kind of wondering, like, and they paid him. The Jaguars paid him, right? So now it's kind of like, can they, you know, what are they going to do now going forward with him? So it's going to be fascinating to kind of see how that plays out for the Packers, too, with Jordan Love, because I know Vikings fans are going to look at him playing well and they're going to be a little bit terrified because we've seen 30 years of this um but you know I think

until we really see it you know manifest itself you know over the course of multiple seasons um we'll just kind of see how it plays out oh we're going to get the answer eventually that's that's the thing is where you're trying to look into the crystal ball down the road and say, in 2026, whose quarterback situation are we saying is better? Because it's always been so easy to say Green Bay's was better when they had Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre. But when it comes to J.J JJ McCarthy, this is the thing. So, you know, Mike says that it's only a difficult question. If you think KOC is not able to coach up McCarthy, there's no evidence of that. He won't be a complete bust. I mean, there's no evidence at all that JJ McCarthy

is anything aside from just one training camp. And again, like nobody liked his training camp more than me. But am I betting, am I betting that he is capable of having a top five to seven season in the NFL for a guy who was drafted and hasn't played yet versus someone who's already done it? That's a pretty hard thing to do, but you also give me so much cap space to add to that. You, you give me $45 million to add to J.J. McCarthy. But then again, it's not like the supporting cast for Jordan Love isn't good. And it's not like Jordan Love's coaching isn't good. Wade says, I prefer the completely unlikely future where Sam plays well

and has such career gratitude to KOC and Vikings fans. He signs a similar contract to be a long-term backup. That's not going to happen. Wade, if he plays well, he's going to go play for somebody else for a lot of money, or the Vikings are going to be forced to keep him because they think they have to, to try to take another shot at the Super Bowl, which may be where the franchise tag comes in. The thing is, and Alex brings up a great point here, is that the Packers, these things don't happen in a bubble. The Packers have a very cheap wide receiver group. They have managed their cap around Jordan Love pretty well. Then again, the Vikings have also

managed their cap pretty well to be in position to spend a lot around JJ McCarthy. It's, it's very much, as you said, a good test of, are you willing to take what's behind door number two from versus what you already know about Jordan love. And I guarantee if we had three games of football, and this just tells you how silly we are in our reactions to small sample sizes. If Jordan love had played really well through three games, we'd be going, well, obviously you take Jordan Love, but we haven't seen him outside of the first game. All right, Manny, before we get your pick for this game, we also have to do our pick ums for Underdog Fantasy, which do each week and you give your higher or lowers and and by the way uh the show is presented by underdog fantasy which is the easiest place to play fantasy sports also the fastest growing fantasy app in the industry and we're going to

do the pickums here so easy to play along at home just pick between two and eight stats of your favorite players. Choose whether they'll go higher or lower, and you can win 20 times your money by going five for five. But that's just the beginning. That's what we love here on the show. Just the beginning of what you could do on underdog fantasy drafts going on all the time and special deals every day in September. I'm looking at it right now.

The gimme pick each week that they're giving you. You got two more days to jump in, get the gimme pick for Patrick Mahomes. There's also a 30% profit boost. Lots of things going on in the main page of Underdog Fantasy. So use the promo code purple there and you get your special pick and first time deposit offer up to $1,000 in bonus cash must be 18 or older terms apply, uh, concerned with your play call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit ncpgambling.org. So let me throw in, and this is very easy, man. You just type in Vikings and we'll take a look at what these numbers are. So we spent a lot of time talking about Justin Jefferson versus Jair Alexander. 78.5 yards, higher or lower,

for Justin Jefferson at Lambeau on Sunday. I'll say lower, but not that much lower. I still think he'll get 70-plus yards, but probably not 78. Cause I think some other guys are going to step up. Yeah. And it does look like Addison is going to play. He seemed pretty confident in that today.

I guess where, what I'm thinking about is the way that this game could go, which not that I think the Vikings defense gets steamrolled, but if it is a tighter game and you can't just sort of pack it in, in the third quarter and throw short passes and hand off, do you have to press to get the ball to Justin Jefferson over and over in tight situations? And one thing that we know about Jefferson,

it isn't downplaying his talent in any way, but he was the main target of Kirk Cousins when they were down 14. And a lot of times you would just have to keep pushing the ball and pushing the ball to Justin Jefferson. And they almost won a lot of comeback games or did win a lot of comeback games just by teams being like,

oh, we'll play prevent defense. And Kirk being like that, I'll throw it to Justin Jefferson over and over. So I think I'm going to go higher for Justin Jefferson because of the way that I think this game ends up playing out. Now, Aaron Jones, the revenge game ish. He loves their franchise. They love him. It's not very revenge-y. It's actually a very, very nice story, him playing the Packers. But that's no fun. Revenge game, 82.5 rushing plus receiving yards. Is that a higher or lower? 82.5 for Aaron Jones.

How have the Packers been against the run this year? Well, let's see. They the titans and the colts i don't know how that worked i mean they've played good defense against both of them yeah the eagles the eagles ran well against them because everyone was talking about saquon in that first night yeah that's right um also and and this is passing this is rushing and receiving yards rushing and receiving combined okay i will say i'll still say less it's good it's good it's a good number yeah that also kind of comes down to are they winning because if they're winning they're going to run aaron jones a lot i think i'm going to go higher on this one this one just feels like

you're going to have to play with the stars in this game for the vikings and a little less of relying on anybody else but these these are the guys that are going to win the game it's just the jefferson and aaron jones they win games like. So if you're going to do it, then that's how you're going to do it. And with Jones, where I think that this number rushing and receiving could really get pumped up is we're spending all this time talking about their D line. They've been blitzing more. They've been more aggressive. Well, what's the thing? Yep. That's it. That's it. The screen and aaron jones is just awesome in the receiving area so i could see him getting 50 60 yards alone just with them throwing him screens and him weaving his way through traffic i will give you one more and that is will reichert

welcome to lambo will reichert higher lower, 1.5 field goals made. Does Will Reichard make two field goals in this contest? I'll say higher. You think he's going to need at least two field goals? Okay. Yeah. Maybe a 56-yarder to win it. Maybe.

That would be something. It really would. The guy, he does have ice in his veins i have never been as impressed with a kicker as i am with will reichard and it feels like the entire team is sort of obsessed with how good will reichard is at football when they start talking in press conferences about how much they like the kicker that means they've seen a lot of really good stuff from Will Riker. All right, before we wrap for the evening and this tomorrow night, you guys will hear myself and Andrew Kramer on the channel.

But as far as live shows, unless there's breaking news, there always could be, but the last one of the week. So the last word, Manny, your prediction. It's a tough one to make. Just looking at the forecast for Green Bay on Sunday, it looks beautiful. Oh, it's going to be nice. Yeah. Yeah.

Sunny and 75. It looks like that's perfect. I'm going to take the Packers to win this one. I think it's going to be really close because I think these two teams, in terms of just like talent, are really close. I think both head coaches are really good. I think Matt LaFleur is one of the best coaches in the league, and I think KOC is possibly starting to emerge

as one of the best coaches in the NFL as well. This is going to be a fun game. I think it's going to be tight from start to finish, and I think the Packers will make just one or two more plays and come away with a 28-24 victory. Okay. So much feels like that. It so much feels like 28-24 one way or the other.

It feels like someone – we have just had a complete lack of tension in this football team and you know that's not right you know that that's not who they are as a franchise to have all uh games where in the fourth quarter i'm going oh shouldn't i shouldn't i feel really stressed right now but i don't so why is that oh they're blowing someone out this is so weird uh i don't think that they are going to, that either of these teams has the capability of blowing each other out. It feels like it's coming down to a final drive or seriously, a final kick,

which is why I'm going to pick a tie. No, I'm just kidding. I really want to go. I really, there would not even be over the last, when was the, was it 2013 that they tied, uh, 2013 and 2018. Okay. So they've tied, I mean, they tied twice in a five year span, so they could tie again. They're almost due for a tie, but, uh,

I'm going to go, I am going to go, there's something in the back of my head saying, come on, the Packers are going to win. It's Lambeau Field. And it is a big advantage. And it is a defensive line that matches up super well with the Vikings. And yet I am going to lean something like 21 to 20 Minnesota Vikings with just barely escaping with the victory that's the way I'm going to go with it but you know I don't know keep picking them to win until they don't until they prove that they're not going to so we don't even know who's starting a quarterback by the way

like very easy prediction to make when we don't even know the other team's quarterback how about that that's my Jordan Love starts prediction my Malik Willis starts prediction is more like 24 to 13 Vikings. Yeah, and I tend to think, and Malik Willis, hats off to Matt LaFleur for getting Malik Willis to play well in these last two games. It was also against Indianapolis and the Tennessee Titans, two teams that are looking to be like not very good at all. I tend to think that Brian Flores will have something cooking for Malik Willis if he does

play. Jordan Love, I think we've seen a little bit more of a sample size of a guy that can be productive against really any defense. But if it's Malik Willis, I think, uh, I think Brian Flores could have a, have a little fun on Sunday. Good Manny. All right. Well, we'll see what happens on Sunday.

Great to do this again with you and to hang last night at the links game, the FISA Collier 42 points, feel free ESPN to occasionally maybe have a discussion about the second best player in the WNBA instead of the same thing over and over again as the links had deep into the playoffs. So anyway and maybe you should have kept Zach low. I don't know what happened there. That's, that's a different podcast,

but that's not, that's not my area. My area is football and we will be live from Lambeau Field's press conference, press box, after the game at Lambeau Field, myself and Dane Mizutani. So make sure that you are keeping an eye on the channel. We'll schedule that. Dane and I, as always, go down to the locker room,

which is a gazillion miles away in Lambeau and is always really fun in the winter. So this will be nice to go down there in the summertime. You have to walk outside. That's how old Lambeau is. You have to walk outside, go all the way down to the locker room, come back up.

It takes forever, but we'll be on the air. There's a great spot in their press box. They've got great food. We'll be happy and excited to talk football with you after that game. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. And we will talk to you all very soon. Football football.