Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Justin Jefferson wants the football, so give him the football

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

Matthew Coller and Jonathan Harrison talk about how the Vikings weren't able to find Justin Jefferson in the second half and a comment he made about the lack of targets down the stretch and they discuss whether the Vikings should hate the Eagles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

all right we are back for another episode of hot routes here on purple insider, Matthew collar, along with Jonathan Harrison. And we've got Justin Jefferson talking about how he wants the ball thrown his way. And we've got a football game to preview. One of the rare times that we will ever have a game to preview on Tuesday night that the Vikings are playing in,

but that is what we have for Vikings and Eagles. So let me ask you a question, Jonathan, where would you like to start? Would you like to start the show by talking about whether Vikings fans would be in the right to hate Philadelphia or about Justin Jefferson's quote about getting the ball? Where would you like to begin? You want to go controversy, or do you want to go whether these two teams are actual rivals? What do you want to discuss first? I say let's go controversy. Let's get it started off with the hottest subject that we can go here on Hot Routes. So you mean Justin Jefferson?

Absolutely. Let's do that. Let's jump into that one. Okay. All right. So I have the quote from Justin Jefferson today. Now I was talking with Brian Flores as this happened. So I have the quote via Jeff Wald from Fox nine here. He tweeted out, this is from Justin Jefferson. He said, I didn't feel like they took me out of the game

in the second half. Uh, just the ball didn't come my way. I feel I wasn't really covered much in the second half. Just the ball didn't come my way. I feel I wasn't really covered much in the second half to where I couldn't get the ball. It's just many different people that got to execute their plays before I get the chance to get the ball. So there's a few little things in there. Number one, hey, everyone, Justin was open. Justin needs to get the ball. And then there's a lot of different players who need to execute their plays before I could get the ball. Meaning who? Like five fat guys? Is that who you're referring to?

Are you referring to? I mean, right? Because, you know, of course, the play call has to go his way and the quarterback has to look his way. But it felt to me like that was a little more directing at there's a lot of people that have to do their job in protecting Kirk. We could throw me the football. And, you know, the one thing about Justin Jefferson that I don't want to do is to say, he's calling for the ball it's tarrell owens and keshawn johnson all over again throw me the dang ball like that you know but jefferson has always been not so quiet about throw jefferson the ball please and i think he's right in the same way

that stefan diggs was right except for je for Jefferson does it in a much more subtle way I think than uh Diggs but I was just watching the film back uh Jonathan and I saw a play where Kirk checked down to Alexander Madison and Jefferson was running a deep hitch so probably like or comeback whatever they call it so that you know what what i'm saying so he runs like 12 14 yards slams on the brakes flips around and is like football please on time one-on-one playing off coverage perfect look and the check down goes to alexander madison for three yards and i just see at the end of the all 22 film an arm go like this as like why was that football not going to me and i'm just gonna i'm gonna say this when you look at his fantasy numbers from that game you go like well that

was a dominant jefferson game like what a game what a game but you know what upon further review no they did not throw it to justin jefferson enough it could have been more it should have been more and even though i been more. And even though I'm not putting anyone in Justin Jefferson jail because he was targeted enough that I think the rule is 10 targets. If it's less than 10, then someone has to go to jail. But in this case, you only had two drives in the second half. You gained six yards. And I don't know that any throws went to Justin Jefferson out of those plays on those two drives. If there are two drives in a row where Justin Jefferson is not targeted, jail. Someone should

go to jail. If you have to punt three and out and none of those plays went to Jefferson, jail. I mean, it is unacceptable to have had two drives in the fourth quarter, go three and out and him be no part of this. There is no time ever in any Vikings game where he shouldn't be part of this. And I know they double team him and I know they rush the passer. And I know Kevin O'Connell loves a tight end screen. Like I love Taco Bell, but to make sure you are never going two drives in a row without targeting Justin Jefferson, without finding him for a reception, without making plays, because I am going to tell you something. The Minnesota Vikings have one chance to beat Philly. They have one chance to beat the Chargers. They have one chance to beat Kansas City. They have

one chance to beat the San Francisco 49ers. That chance is throwing the freaking ball to Justin Jefferson in all and any big situations that arise. And there should never be halves where he's not getting targeted. I don't care how many drives you get thrown the ball always and forever. That's it. That's the whole thing. And you know what?

I watched the miami game tyree kill just kept jeff kept getting the ball like there is there is this is a league where you could just keep throwing the ball to the best player find a way and i think the the standards for jefferson jail have now changed where if there's two drives in a row and you punt jefferson jail someone goes to jail because that that's just that's just absurd i when i looked back at it i was like how did this even happen how did you even go two drives where you gained six yards i don't think i was upset enough about it after the game i was just like wow that was a weird game and now they lost they really should have won

but then when i went back and looked at i was I was like, he's right. He's right. And, you know, if he gets more agitated along the way, he might be saying a little bit more. All right. Jeff, maybe I'll tell him about it. I mean, like I've created laws. I won't actually tell him about it, but he knows. Am I wrong to think that your rule of if you don't throw him the ball at least once every other drive is still a little bit light? He should be seeing the ball retargeted at least every drive. I mean, he's the reason this offense will succeed. As you said, the Vikings have one chance to beat all these really good teams.

And it's Justin Jefferson going off because we saw the running game isn't really going to do much for you. And you're going to need Justin Jefferson to open up things for everybody else. It's like the old school thought of how the run game opens up everything else. No, Justin Jefferson in this offense will open up everything for everybody else

because if he's on fire, teams are going to start double teaming him. That's going to open up targets and space for TJ Hawkinson, for KJ Osborne, for Jordan Addison to run free and find an opening to catch the ball. And it's going to open up space because defenders are going to push back, trying to stop the ball being passed. It's going to open up space for the run game.

Justin Jefferson needs to be a target every single drive. I'm not saying every single play. This isn't Randy Ratio territory, but it's getting pretty close with how much this offense should rely on Justin Jefferson and what they should be doing. Because as you said, Tyree Kill seemed to be getting the ball or be targeted pretty much all the time. 15 targets in that game, 215 yards, 11 receptions, two touchdowns. The fact that Justin Jefferson didn't have something similar

when he had the first half that he had, when he had nine catches in the game, and, what, two of them came in the second half alone? Like, that's just, you can't have a second half where Justin Jefferson completely disappears and is the only reason why your offense was staying competitive with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday when your defense was playing well in the first half that the Vikings got out of shape in the second half and they continue to just not target Justin Jefferson.

And yeah, I don't blame him for making those comments. That's a little nerve wracking. If you're a Vikings fan, if he's making those comments already in week one, but I completely understand why he's making those comments because he doesn't have a contract again or a contract extension. He clearly is playing to get even more money and he's going to need more targets to do that. So yeah, he's going to get

frustrated when he doesn't get the ball and he has every right to be as frustrated as he was after that game. Second half of the game, they ran they ran let's see 16 plays and then three and then three so that would be 22 plays and three of them three of them involved justin jefferson not enough not enough and it feels greedy to look at those box score stats in the first half and say well he had seven catches for a hundred something yards. I mean, my gosh, like you can't ask for much more in a game. And yes, there are adjustments that the defense is making and so forth. And I understand all that, but it's, it, and it feels strange to talk about a game like that and say, he didn't get the ball enough. But when I went back and

looked, I really thought that that was the case. And they threw him a quick pass where he got like five or six yards and they didn't do that again. And I thought, you know, maybe do that again. And he had a seven yard reception and they didn't go back to him. And here's another thing too. O'Connell talked about after the game about how, you know, it's good that we distribute the ball to a lot of places because there's a lot of attention on Jefferson. And, you know, that's how our offense is probably going to be. And that really sounds wonderful. It sounds glorious, like a target distribution utopia where everybody gets a target. It's wonderful, but I don't want it to be that way. I want them to throw it to Jefferson all the time. And then when they're forced to somebody else in like the Jordan Addison,

you know, touchdown, I, of course, I'm not saying force the ball to him every time, but that over his career, there has been a theme of, Hey, in the second half, he was great, but in the first half, they couldn't find him or in the first half, he was great. Second half, he gets shut down. And I just don't think that's because of him. And I didn't think it was because of him. And he didn't think it was because of him.

I would not overreact because of course, every time he's ever been asked about being thrown the ball, he says, yes, throw me the ball more like every wide receiver does. But the last thing you want is just the Jefferson to come out of that game irritated. And the really last thing you want is to come out of Philadelphia with just the Jefferson irritated. And I truly believe that the only chance that they have to win the game is with just the Jefferson. I would also like to say that the comment section just came out like on fire. The Vikings offense,

Vikings offense didn't come out fast, but you guys did. Jeff says by no means did he get the ball enough uh like that's absolutely true um let's see keep feeding him the ball i should have had tyreek numbers that's definitely true uh 44 rhino man says is this the moment where we point to the beginning of there's truth to all rumors part two i i just i'm like that's a thing that i don't want to go there until i feel like uh-oh it went there so i'm not gonna predict that it does but what i would say is if this thing starts to get out of hand early in the season after you know this loss you

have to wonder okay is it going to be two is it going to be, is it going to be two? Is it going to be three? Is it going to be four in the first five weeks or something like that? I don't think Carolina can beat anybody. But I shouldn't say that because the Vikings have a way. But if it gets out of hand a little, after this game, there's already some little snark there. What's it going to look like after that? Dustin says Taco Bell and Justin Jefferson is my love language. If we ever make merch, that has to be on a shirt. It really should.

And Jefferson's head can be a taco or something. CJ says Jefferson jail needs to be an ongoing theme. Well, I, I, for your guy's sake, I hope it's not. I mean, it shouldn't be. And, and look, there are games where he's not going to catch 10 passes, but it's really not about the actual numbers so much as a continual driving force to the offense. And I think that years ago, it was really difficult to do in the NFL where you had one guy who was a receiver who could just keep being the offense.

But as you look around the league, I think that it's very possible these days to have that happen. I agree with Matt. JJ has to lead the league in targets. There's no excuse not to CJ says there's no excuse. Say what you will about Randy ratio. But I think Mike Tice was just saying the quiet part out loud. Absolutely.

Jason asks, is the Brian O'Neill restructure assigned? They will bring someone in. I don't know, but I will say if Dalton Reisner needs me to buy him a plane ticket, I can expense that. So, you know,

if he needs to come out to MSP, plenty of flights always coming in from all cities. So maybe there is something to that. So I don't, I don't like want to keep banging this drum to the point where it becomes ridiculous about Jefferson. But I just thought after looking back at the game and what he said, it was very fair. And if you need to force him the ball, force him the ball, but I'm not sure they have a

quarterback who's going to. And it seems that they also have a head coach who got a little cute in this game. I don't know. Jonathan, what did you think? I got a lot of questions about that. And until I watched the film, I didn't really know what to think. And after I did, I was like, yeah. You know, trying to sneak C.J. Hamm out for a little slip screen or whatever.

It's like, no, stop that. If you think to yourself, CJ Ham, then go like Justin Jefferson. You know, like I just want to put a translator in there. Like in the thing that they call in the plays, he's like, oh, throw it to CJ Ham. And in the phone, it goes, Jefferson. Like, that's what I want. That's what I want to happen. If I never see a tight end screen from this offense again, I will die a happy man because it has not, it did not work last year and it has not worked through one game of this year. I just don't understand why they keep going to that. And maybe there's an actual reason for it, but every time it seems that they try it, it just doesn't

seem to work. But, and as to your, to your question about what I thought about the offense, I thought in the first half, it looked, it looked serviceable. It was great because you're getting the ball to Justin Jefferson, but in the second half, you couldn't sustain drives. You went three and out too many times. And it just felt like things, I don't know what I never, I didn't watch the film back like you have. So I can't really place a finger on what exactly happened, but it just felt like it became very disjointed. Things just weren't working. And obviously the offensive line was breaking down because injuries and whatnot.

But it just felt like there was too many things that just started. I don't know. It's hard to say. You watch the film back. So you'll be able to tell, tell it better, but the tight end screens always stuck, stick out to me that they just never work in this offense for some reason. And the fact that the running game just never seemed to get going and they struggled with that really hurt. And it felt like they were trying to force that to happen when you didn't need to, when Justin

Jefferson was playing as well as he was just ignore everything else and continue feeding him the ball. And maybe everything else starts working after you get, after you continue to feed Justin Jefferson. I think after the game, I focused a lot on the run game and how they need to get that going and so forth. And look, no one goes to jail. If you run for 200 yards and Jefferson only gets a couple of targets and you win the game. So you're not going to get, no one's going to criticize you for that. But I thought when it was clear, the run game was not

going to happen. They obviously can't completely bail on it. They're going to stick with it. But there were just some choices in there that I, when you only have 22 second half plays, well, you're going to have to have more of them go to that guy than they did. So, but you know, it's an interesting observation from a high times KG. First time I felt like JJ got into the me over we, and I agree that he needs the rock. Now this is a point. I mean, so, you know, you asked me the other day, if I thought that like this thing could get ugly between Jefferson and the

Vikings. And I think, I don't know. I mean, he's been as professional as it comes and so forth. And the thing about Justin Jefferson is he could say the most selfish thing when you write it down in words. But when you're there, you're like, oh, he's just sort of being honest. Like he's a very earnest sort of question answerer.

Like, you know who was like, this was Adrian Peterson, where you could ask him anything and he would just kind of give you like whatever was on his mind. And so sometimes it's going to come off like he in when you read it or in writing a little different than how he said it so i will i will give that to jefferson um and and it's not the first time he said like yeah they need to keep getting me the ball because he was frustrated in 2021 as well and anytime he's not leading the nfl in targets

he's going to be you know unhappy and he's going just like digs, like he's going to think that he should be the reason to win the game. If they win, you will not hear him say this. That is the thing. You won't hear him say, you need to give me the ball more if they win the game. I've never heard him say that after a win, but that contract thing will linger. I mean, it just, there's like a little bit of a cloud there. It's not something that's on everybody's mind all the time, but it's just this little bit of extra edge to when a throw isn't made or a tight game isn't won. It's just like a little bit of like, they wouldn't even pay me and they won't throw me the ball. You know what I mean? So, um, you don't know anything about this

because I pay you an exorbitant amount of money, Jonathan, but maybe at some point in your career, we won't point fingers, you may have been underpaid. Somewhere in your career, you may have been underpaid. I don't know where, but you know what it's like, though. When you feel like you're not getting that appreciation, there's a little more of an attitude. And I guess I wonder now if it will linger. But it's one game. It's just the start of the season. It's just kind of one off comment.

But I understand why every Vikings fan, when this stuff comes up, the antennas just shoot up. You start looking for everything enough times. Yeah. You start looking at the body language on the field. Anytime you read something, anytime you watch press conference and you hear something, it's like, Oh, there's another one. It's going to happen. It just, it's, we've gone through this enough in this state with these, with these high, with these, with these great athletes that just, they get, they get sick and tired of just not winning and they want to go elsewhere and they don't get paid and whatnot. Everything leads to it. And they end up just leaving. And we've been through this enough

where we can kind of start to read those tea leaves, even if they're not actually there, we can start to, we can, we can start to see this stuff or we start making it up in our minds. And that might be something with Justin Jefferson, but there also might be a reality. I mean, some of the ways he, or at least for one of the questions today that he answered, it was very clear that he's like, I'm just here to play football. And he didn't want to answer the contract question anymore

because it's the season. It should have been done. This should have been a thing that they got done on that Saturday or even before that, preferably. But it should have been done before the season hit, and he knows it. The Vikings should dang well know it. Vikings fans all know it. Everybody was saying pay the man.

It's pretty obvious you pay the guy and you move on. You don't worry about what you're going to pay him because he's earned it. I mean, he has every right to be upset that they didn't get him the contract now. I mean, is it earlier than what is normal by going two years early? Absolutely. But as he said, what last week, his situation's different. He's done stuff that no other person in this league has ever done or probably will do for a very long time because he's just that special. And you make you, you bend over backwards to make him happy and can keep him here because he knows his worth.

Everybody's telling him his worth. Everybody's saying his worth. You pay him that worth. And the Vikings just didn't do that for some reason. And we'll see what happens next offseason. But that will definitely linger whether we like it or not. It's going to be there every time he doesn't get the ball, every time they lose a game because we know he hates losing

more than anything on this planet. And if they continue to lose, if they miss the playoffs again, that will linger and he will be angry about it. In case you missed it last week, folks, we are starting a brand new segment on the show using the website and the app for prize picks.

If you haven't heard of it before, it's super simple. You just pick more or less between two and six player stat projections for that week. And that's it. Now you're playing. Unfortunately for me, I only went one for three last week with Jordan Love getting more than 212 yards. And I was a little foolish in thinking that Kirk Cousins wouldn't have to throw a lot

versus Tampa Bay. I got that wrong. But if you think you can outperform me, and you probably can if you're good at games like this, it's time to give it a shot. Go to prizepicks.com slash purple and use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. That is prizepicks.com slash purple. Use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. One of the reasons I really like PrizePix is that I didn't have to take out a second mortgage to play this game and make it part of the show. You could turn $10 into $250 with just a few taps. That's prizepix.com slash PURPLE with the code PURPLE.

Daily Fantasy Sports made easy. It's part of the sort of unintended consequence of not getting it done. purple daily fantasy sports made easy. Yeah, that's it's part of the sort of unintended consequence of not getting it done where I've said, Hey, you know, be patient and there's time to get this done and everything else. But that tension,

that is something that you can't really anticipate. If things don't roll, if they roll, then no one will bring it up. If they beat Philly, if they beat the chargers, they're two in one with two great wins and everybody's back on track. But if they don't, then the finger pointing, the unhappiness starts to pop up. And that's why I've always sort of said

your locker room culture is only as good as your win loss record. And that has always been my experience. That has always been my experience. I heard a GM, uh uh this is in the wnba for the phoenix mercury say our team may be 9 and 29 this year but we like each other more than some teams that are 29 and 9 i was like that is the biggest sports lie i've ever heard in my entire life there is absolutely no way that's the case no way because your culture in your locker room is almost always just your win-loss record and it was the case last year and And already, one loss by three points. It's almost funny because they've reacted to the loss almost worse than the outside world who's willing to be like,

well, you can't overcome this. So it's a long season. But there's been a lot of little jabs at the offensive line and things like that. And you start to go, all right, are they feeling a little shaky after that? I don't think in any world they expected to lose that game. And I think it was a shock that they did. Duke,

the God says, or Doug, God, sorry, says that look on the bench at the end of the game, disturb me deep down. I will never forget watching digs walk off the field in San Francisco. Last guy off the field.

I knew it was over. Like this guy's not coming back after, after that. So I don't think it was quite that dire, but there's a little, there's just little like, okay, we'll,

we'll see where this goes. But you know, there's, I'm sorry. There's some comments that I can't put on the screen that are quite funny. So I don't mean to just laugh out loud randomly. High Times KG says, KOC's play calling is a little funky.

I think he's out scheming himself. Yeah, I think that's actually the way I like that description. Funky. Like sometimes there's just no reason to throw a slip screen to the fullback. There just, there really isn't. Will says, where was all the priest?

That motion seemed pretty vanilla. So early in the game, it seemed like there was a lot, like they had kind of set it up that way. And there was a lot of different personnel packages. And this is what I was a little concerned about going into the season. And again, I don't want to act like everything was a failure in the first game,

but the thing I sort of kept saying and wondering was if you're going to try to be Stefanski or Kubiak, can you really do it if that's not your game? And there were a couple of plays where they're, you know, putting ham on the field and Josh Oliver and Hawkinson, and they're moving some people around and stuff. And then the play just gets blown up by vita vea and it's like i don't know that this is really your your thing uh okay this is a funny comment see from matt cj ham is a dog on fullback runs he's not supposed to be santonio holmes in the passing game yeah when he dropped when he dropped the ball that was one normally he catches but um you know even just yeah i just think like okay maybe there was a little too much of that,

a little too much moving things around and you know, everything else. So yeah, I think that it's always been a little bit of a Kevin O'Connell thing where he's got to let us know that he came up with some stuff and sometimes it's just like a couple times a game. He's got to let us know he came up with some stuff for this week you don't have to come up with some stuff like aaron rogers r.i.p and davante adams they had this thing where aaron rogers would just be like hey come over here

run a little out and i'll throw it to your back shoulder or something and we'll get 12 yards. Boom. Like, and they would just do it all the time. Like, yes, there you go. That's, that's what we're talking about. So, you know, you'd like to see more simplicity sometimes when it seems like there's this attempt to kind of over scheme, but of course, you know, if the CJ Ham slip screen had led to a touchdown, I guess I would have said it was amazing. Anyway, breaks my heart to have to criticize CJ 44 rhinomancers. I don't know if you broke down this comment for JJ saying,

all I can do is play football. And that's what I want to continue to do. I know my team doesn't care about the contract and I don't either. Well, he does. He, what he wants out of an answer like that is please stop for the love of god asking me about the contract that's that's what he wants of course of course he cares you know of course he cares

and he wouldn't have said i've done things in this league that no one else is doing if he didn't care at all so you know um lee says non-quarterbacks first round picks rarely get extended after three years can't you two figure that out i don't know can i well so but here's here's my question well one is the actually the offensive lineman on the bucks they did um tristan works so there's one the other thing is then why were they negotiating until the final hour then? Why can't I figure this out? Why can't – they were negotiating until literally the final hour, my man. Both sides wanted this. They just couldn't get it done. When you're as special as Justin Jefferson, you break the rules.

I'm sorry. You just do. I mean, everybody – I'm sorry. But as you were saying, yeah, they were negotiating. Clearly, they were trying to get this to happen, even if he's a non-quarterback first-round pick. So there's a rule there, I guess, against it.

But he's done things. As he said, he knows his value. His agent knows his value. Everybody who watches football knows his value and knows that, okay, there may be a rule or there may be this thing where teams don't negotiate for a non-first round quarterback after three years. But Justin Jefferson, he is the exception to that rule. You break it and you move on and don't even think about it twice because

he deserves the contract and you pay him and you keep him in this team for as long as you can, because as long as he's here, this team, they'll have a successful offense if they keep feeding him the ball. Yeah, and I am also the one who's come on here night after night and said, like, look, there's no reason to panic over this. I said that the panic level with him not signing is a 3 out of 10. It's because you have all this other time to get this done. But the question that we're talking about is not whether they should have got it done, which probably should have.

It's really more about his comments today and whether this will linger and some unhappiness will exist and some tension will exist throughout the season because of it. If they don't win in Philadelphia, it feels like a win in Philadelphia would just make everything go away. And you'd be like, happy times onto the chargers season on whatever. But if that doesn't happen, then you wonder about, you know,

the, the finger pointing and the unhappiness and the tension and all those things that we've seen in previous years. And so, and again, like they, they want both sides wanted a deal to get done. So there wasn't any like, oh, we'll negotiate next year or whatever from either side.

And Curtis asks, how much of this is the media constantly bringing up his contract? And it doesn't matter to him as much as people think. I promise you it matters to him as much as people think. Let me just ask you a question. It's a lot of money. I don't know how it couldn't matter do you know how much 100 million dollars is like take some money out of your wallet count it up and divide it by 100 million dollars and that's what then the picture how much it would be in your house if you had it

and fill up your whole house it matters it matters he wants to be the highest paid in the league he deserves to be the highest paid in the league it's it's going to happen at some point and it's just working out the details of it but the answer is like yeah i mean he wanted to get that done for sure um so anyway well let's let's talk about some other things and not entirely his contract when there is a game coming up soon and uh we have to answer this question because my email inbox, my DMS, they're, they're on fire.

They are burning to the ground. Hell. James asks if we don't start winning games and Zach Wilson sucks, which is very likely. Is there a chance we trade Kirk to the jets? You want to take this one, Jonathan? What are the jets going to trade you?

They kind of gave everything up to get Aaron Rogers. I mean mean they don't really have trade a first or a second is my understanding yeah and then yeah because those are tied up with the unconditional picks now they can go back to green bay and try and renegotiate it where they can free one of those up but that's obviously going to come at a cost and i don't think green bay is going to be okay with saying okay yeah we'll just pass on potentially getting that first round pick they're going to want that first round pick. I'm sorry. That's just how it is.

So you're not, I don't know. The Jets aren't going to be able to give you much for Kirk Cousins. I mean, if it's just about getting, getting them out of here, fine, but we're really going to rely on Nick Mullins for the rest of the season and hope that Justin Jefferson, like we were just talking about, is going to remain happy. I mean, that's not going to happen. So I don't think Kirk Cousins, I can almost guarantee Kirk Cousins won't be traded

unless just hell freezes over and everything just starts burning to the ground. But I don't think it's going to happen. Yeah, I think the scenario is very narrow. The Vikings would have to be like one and five maybe two and four but even then with their schedule after two and four they could still probably make the playoffs depending on how the nfc is they have to be out of it out of it by the trade deadline and the jets also have to be in it by the trade deadline and if they go sign carson wentz or something and they're

playing zach wilson and they play dallas i think what do they play kansas city or something like they've got a hard schedule and you know if they lose a bunch of games they're also not going to be like oh let's trade more draft capital i don't even know the cap situations and whether it's possible to fit kirk under their cap i guess you can do anything if you really, really want to. Jets have 9.8 million in cap space right now. Okay, so they have to make over 10 million somehow in order to fit Kirk, I guess, maybe. I don't even know if the Vikings could take any of that

because they already restructured his deal. So there's a lot of complications there. There's a very, very narrow set of circumstances where it comes up, but we are not close to that yet. And if we are, then we'll talk like we'll see. We'll see. But I don't I've gotten that question literally 100 times. And I think whatever what everybody's looking for is or I shouldn't say what everyone is.

When you lose a game like you lose in week one, I think it looks the way that it did which was oh this kind of looks like always you start to go i wonder about that future of ours and i just don't think that they're going to take this leap into the future and into the tank and all that stuff unless they absolutely have to and if they absolutely have to, then maybe it gets considered. But also like going along with your, your very narrow window, if the jets are doing well to the point where they're still in the playoffs,

that wouldn't most likely mean that Zach Wilson's doing fine. So why would they move on from him? I mean, is if he's doing fine and continuing to succeed in that offense, in that division, in that conference with the schedule they have early on, are the jets really going to move on from him for Kirk cousins for a year? I just don't like, it just doesn't make sense to me if they're doing well, why would they add Kirk cousins when they've got a quarterback who's already playing? Well, why, why disrupt, disrupt what's working.

If it's not broken, don't fix it. What was your favorite Jets quarterback name that got brought up? And that can be real or fake. Oh, I mean, obviously Tom Brady. I mean, that's gotta be, it's gotta be the best. I mean, I love Peyton and Eli talking about it on the Manning cast and Manning or Peyton's like, yeah, I think Tom Brady, the Jets has got to be illegal, right? You never know, but Tom did look a little thing put in the ring of honor or whatever for the page.

I actually don't know what the honor was. I don't know if it was that or something else, but they were celebrating Brady before the game. And I don't know that he looked like he was ready to play, but the, I mean, I said, Ray Lucas and Kellen Clem backs names, a lot of Vinny Testaverde's came up, uh, Chad Pennington. And we talked about a little bit last night on the show. I, I, I mean, I just, I love like people just bringing up Ryan Fitzpatrick and Glenn Foley used to play for them a long time ago. Rick Meyer.

I mean, what a history. There's just no team that has a more, other than the Bears, that has a more grotesque history of quarterbacks than the New York Jets. It is gnarly. So I don't see that scenario happening anytime soon. But man, if it does, then wow, will we have some really fun live streams after that? Won't we?

So I want to ask you a question. I put it in the headline and haven't gotten to it yet because of the discussion here. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. When did I say so? High times. KG says a couple of weeks ago, you said the offensive line was not bad. Do you still feel that way?

Uh, not, not bad. Maybe different from what I said, which was figure it out. You know what it's going to be. You've known what it's going to be, figure it out. And you know what they didn't do? Didn't figure it out. So that was the point. I didn't say they weren't bad. Uh, do you hate, do you hate the Philadelphia Eagles, Jonathan? I don't hate the Eagles. I just am annoyed by their fans. I think as, as you asked the question, I think, I don't think Vikings fans should. I mean, yeah, they beat you. They beat the Vikings and they kind of whooped up on them in 2017 and last year as well. But I think there's a, there's a lot of hate towards their fans because the personalities between the two cities and states, very different.

It's oil and water between Philadelphia fans and Minnesota fans. And those two just do not mix. Pretty much everything that the Vikings fans are, Philadelphia isn't, and everything that Philadelphia fans are, the aggressive, in-your-face style, it just doesn't seem like that's obviously not the Minnesota thing. So I think there's just a lot of hate towards that,

and that ends up going on to the Eagles as a team because tribalism and whatnot. So I think there's a lot of hate for the fans, and that just ends up being placed on the team itself. Yeah, I think when it comes to Philadelphia, it's been a lot of battling over the last few years they've played each other a ton of times um obviously 2017 we don't have to discuss and upset everyone but 2018 kirk played i think one of his best games the same in 2019 kirk was great in both of those games got two straight wins against the eagles when they were kind of fading

after the super bowl run and then the last time they played them in Philly last year, it was a real punch in the mouth with the interceptions and Darius Slay playing the way he did, Jefferson not having a big game, and all those things. I think that when you go back to 2017 and the way that the fans acted in the parking lot, I've never seen anything like that as we walked through the parking lot, seeing just the level of abuse taken far beyond what you would ever expect. But I remember Judd and I being on the air,

and we were warning people, like, if you're going, don't wear your purple. You might get hurt. And people are like, oh, you know, it's fine, whatever. And I'm like, this isn't like other places, and it's kind of know it's fine and whatever and like this isn't like other places and it's kind of what they're known for and that ramps it up a level and you know that kind of thing but the Philadelphia Eagles football team and organization I don't feel like there's really any bad blood between these two teams I think it's been you know some some back and forth battles over the years and of course they got the best one with the Super Bowl

and I also think you look at them as what you'd like to be. Like you look at their defensive line, you go, that would be nice. And you look at their offensive line and you go, that would be nice. And you look at their front office. And I know Kweisi Daffel-Mentz has talked about really admiring Howie Roseman and the way their front office has handled things. And maybe they're trying to emulate some of the things that they do, but it's the premier front office in the NFL. I mean, they had,

they built a super bowl team with Carson Wentz and then they tore it down and built another one with some of the pieces carrying over, but not a ton of them and just built it again. And they built it the same way through the offensive and defensive lines. And then of course, through the weapons, remember they had a Torrey Smith. They had, I forget there was another receiver that they brought in that, that helped them in 2017. Like they, they have always been multiple weapons,

huge people inside, fill in the rest of the pieces, fill in the running backs, even fill in the defensive backs to some extent. And it's been a really good team building strategy. They have done great with the draft capital. Like they have turned into a really good organization that you want to be, which I think is different from hate the Eagles. Yeah. I think you can hate how their fans have treated Vikings fans when there's been a chance to do so.

Although last year went mostly without incident. I don't know. I mean, maybe it was the, just the playoff game and everything else um and the fact and and vikings fans really poked the bear they you know they went anytime anybody goes and does something to the rocky statue and things like that you're like oh no no um no that uh ken there really has been a bit of a back and forth in in recent. I mean, 2018 and 2019,

the Vikings got huge wins against the Eagles. So, I mean, we can't, I mean, obviously the Superbowl supersedes it all. And the fact they did it on your field and last year, Oh,

Elshon Jeffrey. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. That's what I was trying to think of. I was like, Brandon Marshall, former bear.

Who was it? But yeah, Torrey Smith, Elshon Jeffrey, they believed in multiple weapons offensive defensive lines like this is yeah this is how you build a team and the other thing that i like that they did was they screwed up with jaylen rager big time and they just said you know what back to the old well let's get another weapon for our quarterback um 2020 they lived in

reality they didn't even try to help carson wentz And when Wentz wasn't good enough, they let him go and just respect, respect for all of that stuff. So I don't know. I mean, I feel like it's a team that Vikings fans want to be their rival and want to really like get behind and hate, but I'm not sure that you quite can really, except for obviously, like I said, the parking lot stuff. Yeah, absolutely. And I, I, I totally agree with how that front office should be held in high esteem.

I mean, all you need to say is they built a super bowl winning team with Carson Wentz because we've all seen what Carson Wentz has become since then. And the fact that they made him look MVP status and besides the injury, he would have been the quarterback in the Super Bowl. That's incredible to do. But also just how they use the draft every year. Yes, they screwed up with Rager, but they moved on quickly.

And they kept going back to that, as you said, getting Devontae Smith and continuing to bring in more talent, continuing to use the draft picks, not just drafting more stars or letting people pass up on, on defensive line talent and just dropping to them and they'll take them, but also using their picks to bring in other stars like they did with the Titans receiver. It's just, they continue to do this where they bring in more, more pieces to help out their quarterback and it works every single time, it feels like. And yeah, you just want to be that team because that front office has run really well.

Folks, I'm not sure if you realize, but after this week, your hometown football team in Minnesota actually isn't at home all that much the rest of the year. They are on the road nine times this season, which means if you're traveling with the team, then you're going to want to check out Game Time. It's the fast and easy way to buy tickets to everything football. Oh, and everything else as well. If you're looking for other sports that are starting up this fall, playoffs in baseball, or even comedy shows and concerts as well,

check out Game Time. One of the coolest 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 helps me a lot

because those maps can be kind of confusing. So you can buy tickets in seconds and have them arrive right to your phone. It's great. Download the game time app, create an account and use the code insider for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account and redeem code insider for $20 off your first purchase.

Download the game time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Curtis asked, do I think that quick passes over the middle of the recipe to beating the Eagles, getting rid of the ball quick before Kirk gets hurt attacking their linebackers? So that is the thing. And this actually leads into a question that I asked you via email that I plan to talk about, but then we let it go off the rails with Taco Bell and other such things, jail. But,

you know, I think that there is a path to being successful versus the Philadelphia Eagles defense, despite the fact that they can pressure Kirk cousins and quick, the quick passing game is obviously where this begins, right? Because the Vikings have receivers that can beat people off the line of scrimmage quickly, and they can scheme things that can be quick passes. I mean, there was, you know, it's one of the, sometimes where this was always like one of my dad's takes. And sometimes you're like,

oh yeah, yeah. Football, you know, whatever. And one of his takes, though, with all sports is if something works, just keep doing it until they make you stop. And I 100% agree with this. Like there was a play where TJ Hawkinson ran like an eight-yard in, caught the ball, fell forward for like 12 yards, and we never saw it again. I was like, that seems good. Yeah.

I like that idea. And why did that not happen again so there's you know there i think that there will be areas especially for t.j hockinson to get the football and sometimes it feels like with kevin o'connell that he wants justin jefferson to get a 30-yard gain every time or it's like a quick screen it's like there there's more to life than a quick out that goes three yards and a 30 yard pass. And yeah,

I mean, I do think that attacking their linebackers, there's could be some weakness there. There's secondaries banged up, but what did you think when I asked you like, where's the matchups that the Vikings could actually win? Cause we know where it's not. Yeah.

It's not on the offensive line. So you got to get the ball away from quickly. The obvious one is definitely in the receivers rely on your receivers, rely on Justin Jefferson, uh, to win this one. Cause as you said, the secondary is banged up. Uh, that's where you're going to succeed. The best is attacking them probably over the middle against the linebackers. Uh, not hope not having Kirk cousins hold onto that ball for, for four or five seconds and waiting for Justin Jefferson to run a 30-yard corner post. Just don't do that.

Don't have him run these long, delayed routes. Get him the ball quickly and let him run with it because we've seen what he can do in the open field. Get him the ball. Get Jordan Addison the ball quickly. Get it out of Kirk Cousins' hands quickly. Tell him to process these things faster. Don't give him a whole lot of options because he's always going to take that

check down. It seems like when, especially when he's being rushed and hurried by, by the defensive line. And we saw Philadelphia's defensive line against New England Patriots, just wrecked them. I mean, you cannot allow that defensive line to get going.

Even if Fletcher Cox is a little bit of an injury worry at this point, don't, don't let that don't hold onto the ball for too long. I think that's, line to get going, even if Fletcher Cox is a little bit of an injury worry at this point. Don't hold onto the ball for too long. I think that's the biggest key for me. Everywhere else is very questionable because their offense is so good. The Vikings defense did perform pretty well in that first half. I mean, I liked what I saw from Brian Flores' defense hurrying Baker Mayfield, but Jalen Hurts, completely different story than Baker Mayfield. He'll handle that pressure a little bit better than Baker Mayfield did in that first half. So that concerns me a little bit.

There's a lot about this game that concerns me because it does feel like the Eagles will win or should be winning pretty much every battle on the field. But the receivers for the Vikings should be able to have a good day and they got to rely on them. High times. KG says your dad knows my Madden strategy,

which is to keep running the same play. I have in every single Madden, since I don't even know what year run the four verticals. And I just adjust the routes. And for some reason, my mouse is not taking that off the screen. Sorry. High times, you're stuck on the screen.

That's weird. Okay, finally, there, it went off. Yeah, I've run four verticals and just adjusted the routes every single play for about eight different Maddens. And it's always worked. So, yes. And I've run no huddle and that's yeah. And I don't run the football ever.

I just do what the Vikings are going to have to do against Philly because if they try to run the ball, I think it's going to be a problem. Dave says Philly gave up 838 yards. There isn't any reason we can't win this game. Well, there are lots of reasons they can't win the game, but I don't disagree with you that it's not like

Philadelphia is untouchable. It's not like their defense is so good that there's no way Justin Jefferson could possibly have a great game, right? Like that's kind of the point is, and 383 is like, oh, you know, it's a decent amount. And I thought that Mac Jones looked pretty good, but you know, they scored 20 points. It wasn't, it wasn't like, you know, the Patriots were running up and down the field. A lot of that's playing for behind as well. Philadelphia is a good team, a really good team, really good defensive line. That's long been the problem with, um, you know, Kirk cousins when he's facing a good defensive line. I thought that was the issue when, you know when they played Tampa Bay, is that some of their defensive linemen just dominated that game

and made it very difficult to run, and he got pressured and things. But yeah, this is not like insurmountable, impossible. It's a Thursday night game. You're going to have to, Manny made this point last night, you're going to have to, Manny made this point last night. You're going to have to make a play against a great team that wins a game that you're not supposed to win. You're going to have to step up in one of these games and it's probably going to have to be pretty darn fast. So a couple more things, Jonathan, real quick. I wanted to get your take on this.

Let's say, because we went into the season saying, hey, you know, it's a lot about the future and everything else. And of course they lose and we're like, trade everyone, fire everybody. But if everything truly was only about the future, which by the way, I don't think it is. Like you got to make the playoffs for me. If you're going to do a competitive rebuild,

you don't get to just own one side of that but uh if it was only about the future how would you feel about the future based on what you saw in week one like the players who are going to matter in 2025 that are here right now uh i like what i saw from jordan addison he had a pretty good opening game um the defense i'm still a little shaky on the cornerbacks anyways, but I think for the most part, they had a semi-solid day for what they were being asked to do. That defense overall under Brian Flores, and I think he'll matter in 2025 because I think he's just going to be here because we know what the NFL is doing to him, unfortunately, but I liked what that defense showed for the most part in that game. Yeah, they got beat a little bit in the second

half, but also the offense wasn't really helping them out. They were on for the most part in that game. Yeah, they got beat a little bit in the second half, but also the offense wasn't really helping them out. They were on the field a lot in that second half. So I think overall, I like what the defense showed me. I liked what Jordan Addison showed me. Ivan Pace, I'm still upset about the one play where he kind of got out of the way of Baker Mayfield when he probably could have tackled him in front of the first down line

on that third down. But overall, the fact that he got more play than Brian Asimov, that shows you that this kid is the real deal at that position, and they really do love this kid. So that is exciting to see that this kid just continues to impress and continues to get a lot of play and continues to play well. So for the guys that are going to be here, Jordan Addison showed out and showed why he's a first round pick was pretty it was pretty evident why they they targeted him quickly in that first round yeah i i agree i mean i thought that the secondary on

the whole there were some mistakes but uh i thought was pretty solid i mean five yards a pass when they when they really didn't rack up pressures. So they did have to cover to me, a Caleb Evans had the best game of anybody in the secondary. He was targeted six times. He gave up two catches, not too many yards there. And I really liked the physical play when the guy, the tight end caught the ball and he popped the ball out. And that was the play that was challenged, but you just saw some of that physical play from a caleb evans and some confidence and i thought that considering who he was tracking in that game and the receivers and how many snaps he had to play i thought he had a really good game byron murphy was was solid i mean yeah i think that more than anything that the future pieces

played well except for if you consider any of the interior offensive line future pieces played well, except for if you consider any of the interior offensive line, future pieces and at the right guard position, you certainly got to start wondering if that is going to be part of the future, but on the whole Addison stepping up, making a play right off the bat, I think for as a future game, it wasn't a bad performance.

If not pretty decent one as a whole game, you can't lose. So I guess we'll have to do the rebuild versus competitive rebuild each week. One more quick thing. And then we've got some prize picks. I want you to give me your biggest, like, like your biggest, you know, told you so week one and your biggest whoopsie uh for like just what you thought was going to happen what we talked about where was the biggest hey wow i nailed this and then oh man i totally screwed that up you're trying to get me to give mike mccarthy some love aren't you possibly you made his biggest

hater and all he does is prove you wrong asterisk in the regular season since since broadcasters now are giving asterisk real quick real quick that's one of the worst things that i've heard on a broadcast ever ever in the moment everyone's like oh my god and uh the referee excuse me there was a slight trip there and this game doesn't count, actually. Please. Please, my guy. Please. Anyway, sorry. Read the room. Read the room.

Who put his mic on? If he's like, I got something to say, you're like. No, no, no. Not here. Not in this moment. This moment is awesome. Don't ruin it. Right.

Yeah. Joe Buck's like, and we'll see you tomorrow. No, no, no. We're not we'll see you tomorrow no no no we're not gonna see you tomorrow night that was there was a ball that should have been called a strike back in the second inning i think uh for that one i guess i have to do i guess i have to give props to mike mccarthy 40 40 to nothing on sunday night football Opening week of the season was incredible. But also the biggest, yeah, we told you so, is Daniel Jones is not a $40 million quarterback. And kind of showed, 40 to nothing.

Yeah, not all his fault. His offensive line is awful and doesn't have anybody to throw to. But the fact that they didn't even score a single point. They're the only team to not score a point on opening weekend is just awful and you have to feel bad you have to feel pretty hopeless if you're a Giants fan because you bet your future on this guy and everybody kind of knew last year that he's not the guy but apparently two good games at the end of the season against the Vikings got him paid and he'll take it to the bank and won't ever look back but yeah that's not that's not that's not great. The other, the other one that's not really, I told you so, but is the biggest gold of the moment is the bar in Wisconsin,

giving away free drinks. If Aaron Rogers loses and all these people racking up huge tabs during the night after Rogers got injured. And then Xavier Gibson returns the kick or returns the punch return for a touchdown. And they all have to be like oh man we just the news for their lives that happened is just that's pure gold that was good that was good um so i realized that uh i went in the email i sent you a typo and i meant to say told you so and uh and said i wrote like gold you so which doesn't

make any sense but but i love how you combined them uh into uh told you so was pure gold so um for me the biggest i told you so was probably being skeptical about justin fields taking a next step like i think that looked pretty bad in the first game. And I don't know if it's getting better, but even more the told you so is their defense, their defensive line, because I made the joke probably too many times. Like I've never heard of any of these people,

but the Packers didn't even need to learn their names. They stopped everyone. And like David Bakhtiari had 30 pass blocks, gave up zero pressures. I mean, they just didn't make the Packers work for it at all. I think that there was maybe six total pressures on Jordan Love. So they are declaring him the next Brett Favre, of course. But when any quarterback gets six pressures in a whole game,

and we saw that last year, actually, when quarterbacks could sit there and throw the ball easily with no pressure, what happens? And that was Jordan Love in week one. So I kind of figured that the Bears' defense would be really, really bad, and that's what it looks like. And so I'm going to go that with the told you so. Where I have regrets is Seattle.

I was like pumping up Seattle. And now they got to go that with the told you so where i have regrets is seattle i was like pumping up seattle and now they got to go to detroit and that could be they could be o and two very fast and probably any skepticism i had about brock purdy in san francisco i might just want to reel that back in i mean that just he just looks so good their weapons are incredible i don't even know if brock purdy's a great quarterback but he sure looks so good. Their weapons are incredible. I don't even know if Brock Purdy is a great quarterback, but he sure is a good quarterback for what they do. And man, Brandon, I, you just made Patrick Peterson pay for it. He made him eat it. So yeah, there was, as always, it's a, it's a fun game to play each week of like, where were we right? Where were we wrong? I was definitely wrong about Seattle. They got waxed. And yeah,

now they have Jason Peters. So their offensive line is in tough shape. That's it's going to be a problem. Before we wrap up though, we need to do our prize picks picks, which hold on, I will share the screen. And if you guys have not tried prize picks, am I sharing it yet? Hold on. Okay. There we go. If you guys haven't tried prize picks it's very fun and it's very simple and it's very not that expensive so those things match up if you like fantasy it's it's it's cool all you have to do is pick more or less for yardage for nfl players or actually you can do lots of different things. They even got soccer up here for you, Jonathan. Got some WNBA, MLB, but football is really what this is built for, right?

And so you can do more or less with any position. And last week we did more or less with quarterbacks and I screwed that up and went only one for three, but we'll try to do better this time. I've got wide receivers and tight ends up on the screen. So I'm just going to make my three picks and running backs for receiving yards. So this is all receiving yards. So I'm going to make my picks for the game and I'm going to do all Vikings in Philly and then we'll see, we'll talk about it, whether it works out. But Jordan Love was the

only one I got right last week, unfortunately. So let's start out. I'm going to, I'm going to put it on the floor for you, Jonathan. You can make the pick and then I'll decide whether I like what you said or not. Justin Jefferson, more or less yards than ninety four point five against Philadelphia. Are you going more or less? To me, that's more hands down. I mean, you saw what he did last week or in week one. And we talked about for the first 30 minutes of the show how irritated he was after after that game so i think the vikings will realize their mistake i hope they

do and they will just keep feeding him the ball he's going to get a ton of yards because that secondary for philadelphia is banged up uh more yards than 94 and a half all right how about we go jordan addison more or less than 42.5 I'm gonna agree with you I'm gonna say more for Justin Jefferson so I have already I already filled it in I'm picking it Jordan Addison more or less than 42.5 42.5 seems kind of low I mean if they're gonna feed Justin Jefferson the ball it's gonna open up space for Jordan Addison to succeed. And we saw how fast he is. I mean, he's, he, he showed some incredible speed on the field on Sunday. I think he's going to get more than 42 and a half. I, this is a good one. This is a good one because there is going to be a lot of attention on Justin

Jefferson, but I do wonder about them. And Ken mentions Darius Slay loading up on Jefferson and forcing cousins to go other places. So will that result in Addison getting more yardage or does short yardage benefit TJ Hawkinson and KJ Osborne a little bit more than it does getting a deep shot to Jordan Addison? I tend to agree with you that I would also go more on this. I think they're just going to have to throw the ball a lot. And that's a major part of this is they're just going to have to throw the ball a lot. And how about Devante Smith? One of the main targets of Philadelphia, 63.5. Does he get more or less than that against the Vikings defense? 63.5 yards. That's going to be tough. I I'm trying to figure out what he did

last week. What his full numbers were last week. 63.5 for Devontae Smith with what they have in A.J. Brown, but we saw what the Vikings could do last week defensively. I want to lean towards more because I think if the Vikings are just going to pass and this ends up becoming a shootout, there's going to be a lot of yards on the field. This might have the chance to become the chargers dolphins matchup from week one. So I'll go more here.

Okay. I like that as well. So we're going all more. We think it's going to be a shootout, lots of throwing just the Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Devante Smith. And as you can see, it's 20 bucks to win a hundred.

And the nice thing about prize picks is if you 20 bucks to win a hundred. And the nice thing about prize picks is if you guys want to sign up and you use the promo code purple, if you want to play along, uh, if you disagree and want to bet against all of my picks, which might be a good idea. I don't know. I've never been good at anything like this, like fantasy of any kind, never been good at it, but maybe this year we'll do well with these so we're going all more with addison jefferson and uh davante smith but if you use the promo code purple at prizepicks.com uh you can play along and you can compare ours and when we do the segment each week you can let us know how you did but they will match uh anything up to a hundred dollars so if you put in 50

they'll match that you get 50 more and then you can play along. And as you can see, it's not going to break the bank. That's how much I spend a Taco Bell today. So, um, you know, we'll be doing the prize picks each week and it'll be fun. We'll keep track. And Jonathan's tweeting out the segments and stuff. So anyway, all right. So, uh, Smith had nothing last week, so they're going to get him the ball. I, yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. I, I think. I think Philly's going to throw the ball against a lot of those Brian Flores blitzes. I don't think they're just going to ground and pound all night long. So, Jonathan, what are you picking for a score here? I imagine you're picking Philly to win the game.

Unfortunately, yeah, I feel like Philadelphia will win this one. For a score, I'll go 34-28. i don't know i'm 35 28 i feel like this is gonna be a high scoring game there's gonna be a lot of action so i'll go high score yeah i i i think that the vikings understand what's happening here they understand how quickly this can unravel and how much they need this game and phil Philadelphia is going to have no trouble for their home opener being up for that game and everything else and all the pomp and circumstance. And it's a night game. It just gets pretty wild there.

So I would agree. I think there's going to be a lot of points. I might go a little lower. I might go like 27 24 i mean i i do think that this will be close and maybe closer than vegas thinks i think the vikings will cover but i don't know if they could pull it off with the offensive and defensive line so that that's where i would go for this game but if they win then the discussion changes completely uh from the tone of the last couple of days. And we'll all pretend that none of it happened with a trade Kirk to the jets and everything

else. So anyway, well, tomorrow night, the plan is as of this moment, and we'll see how internet plays into it and everything else. I'll be in Philadelphia on Wednesday night. Plan is to stream, have another conversation with you guys one more before we get to game time. And then Thursday night, obviously the game late, late,

late, there will be a podcast after that on the show. And we'll go from there. So thanks for your time, Jonathan. Thanks for everybody for watching slash listening. And wow. Another football game.

I mean, right out of the gate here. We'll see you guys soon.