Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Justin Jefferson was NOT happy with his play; a rough Vikings injury report

Episode Date: September 12, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about Justin Jefferson's self critical comments regarding his Week 1 performance and the Vikings' tough injury report. Plus, Manny Hill and Brian Murphy join for a round table. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here. And I am joined this evening by Brian Murphy and Mani Hill for our weekly roundtable. Now, normally these are going to happen on Monday night, but, you know, this Monday I was a tad busy at Soldier Field in Chicago. So next week, we will get back to the Monday evening roundtables. And yes, folks, later on tonight, Manny will pick the Viking schedule. And good evening, gentlemen,

Mani last week on Monday night, about through three quarters right after a pick six, I was thinking, I wonder what Manny is going to pick the Vikings if they lose 24 to six. And McCarthy has a 43 quarterback rating. But you don't have to do that tonight, I guess. Yeah, I was thinking, man,

this is after the pick six is like oh this is not going to go well um but i was thinking hey we're going to have a lot to talk about it might be a little negative but uh we're going to definitely going to have some things to talk about but uh yeah i mean it was an impressive comeback and here we are and now we're going to find out if that's changed my outlook on the team at all since last week and that is why murph they play all four quarters and uh maybe someone needs to let the internet know that games do last into the into the night like it's not over if your team doesn't play well in the first half which is funny to me that vikings fans have this reaction every time how many times have we seen this team under c oc pull comebacks crazy things happen and it was after

the pick six it was 11 points and you would have thought that the 2025 season was over and I don't mean I don't like to get into the like people are saying but every one where, no matter what social media site you logged on to, it was just people going completely bananas in that game. You know, and justifiably in some way, not, I'm not, look, I'm not wrapping my arms around the Twitter mob, but we hadn't seen the guy at all. You know, we hadn't seen him perform on the stage. And the pick six was bad, but the prelude leading up to that.

I mean, the first half, you know, the play clock was stalking him. And again, that may have been him. It may have been KOC. It may have been communication. soldier field noise but there were not positive confident vibes coming off of number nine throughout that first 30 minutes and then it's as ghastly as it gets when you know you have the you're already in fuel range to trim it to 10 to 9 and get a little bit going for yourself and the first big thing that happens is a is a pick six and soldier fields roaring and you know it's interesting

you know ESPN's cameras caught him walking up and down the bench talking to his offensive lineman. You didn't have to be a lip reader to know what he was doing and why he was doing it. I'm curious what those stairs look like coming back, but then you understand why there's total buy-in on this club. That wasn't just an exercise. I mean, Josh, Jobs could have done that too, but would you have really believed what he was saying? So the fact that he was able to turn it around as quickly as he did, in a crisis situation, this was kind of what I was talking about last week. That's what I was most interested in seeing.

Not whether he can sling the ball. We know he can throw. Not whether he could rack up yards or connect with Jefferson or, you know, look poised. I wanted to know what happened when he got punched in the mouth. Well, he got punched in the mouth, stepped on, kicked all of the above, and he comes out a hero out of it. So if anything, that will at least teach him, the club, the fan base. he's got a little metal in him and he's not just going to fall apart. So maybe we've got a long play going here.

I do think that is the number one, A1 takeaway from this week is just what he showed his teammates about his own resilience. And I know Aaron Jones said, oh, you know, we've known this behind the scenes. I don't know, man. I think you guys need to see somebody go out there and do it. You thought it could happen. You were pretty sure it was going to happen. But as you said, Murph, you're kind of channeling a little Mike Tyson there.

And like everybody's got a plan until you get punched in the face. And he did and then came back from it. But I want to talk about Jefferson here because he had some very interesting comments today out at TCO Performance Center. And I'll throw out the fan duel question of the day for the comment section, which is just the Jefferson fan dual prop bet 72.5 for this week. I think we're all going to go over on that. after his week last week, who's going to be second on the team in receiving and with how many yards? That's the fan duel question of the day. We'll get your guys answers in just a minute. But I started Jefferson's press conference by asking him about what his takeaway was

from the early part of the game. And here was his answer. Justin, what did you see in the first half of the game when you looked back at it on tape that you feel like you want to improve on this week? My detailing, I would say. You know, I'm always a critic of myself and always look for things that I can improve on and do better. You know, looking at the film and, you know, seeing the different plays that were out there, you know, just making better details, you know, even on the interception, you know, just detailing my route and just understanding, you know, where I need to get to in that route and, you know, understanding to, you know, make a better throw for JJ. So that was mostly on me than on JJ.

So understanding the situation, understanding the defense that they were in, I got to, you know, get my yardage and break out to, you know, catch that ball. So just, you know, the detailing of routes and making sure that I'm where I need to be. That was Jefferson there talking about the pick six. He further explained that he needed to make one more step. And this is just how the NFL works, right? Like one more step. And he could have pushed the cornerback enough to then snap off the route and be there.

And McCarthy was trying to throw to a spot where he was, it should have been safe. And it wasn't because Jefferson didn't have his details. Now, I think it was a little concerning the way that Justin Jefferson played in this game because he missed so much time in training camp. And he was asked, did it make a difference? difference. He said, no, there's no excuse for that. I think it did. I think we would all agree it did. But Manny, my takeaway here is Justin Jefferson has taken over this team as a leadership role. And I think that something like this, when you get pressed a little bit and there is a pick six and there are mistakes. And Jefferson wants to come out and start his press conference out

by saying, yo, I got to be a lot better than what I was last week. I just think it speaks to how far he's Manny as a leader on this team and how he understands he needs to do this for J.J. McCarthy. Especially when you think about kind of the stigma that comes with that position, the wide receiver position. It's always kind of being labeled as, oh, the diva. And if, you know, if a guy's not getting enough targets, he's mad. And, you know, it always seems to be a lot of drama surrounding that position and star players in that position. But with Justin Jefferson and really, I mean, you mentioned sort of the growth and the maturity. He's really always kind of been like this.

He's just a competitor. He's a worker. He really pays attention to his craft. And he knows better than anybody when he's not doing something right. I mean, because he can break it down in detail like he did in that clip that you played. And so, yeah, I think it just speaks to the kind of character that he has. Like you said, the leadership there is really, really. really at a high level. And those are the type of guys that you want to have on your team,

especially when you have a young quarterback that's kind of growing and developing into a leader himself. Yeah, Brett says like how Jefferson is taking it on himself. I totally agree there. And not only just saying, yo, that's on me, but actually giving the reason why, like in what he could have done better, Alex says he might be somewhat cautious about the hamstring, which brings us, Murph, I think in the discussion about, you know, Jefferson's week one, are we, you know, totally sure to just shake it off and right back to 100% or was it bad enough? And I know he caught a touchdown, but two drops and also, at least according to him, causing the pick six with missing a detail, are we concerned that this ramp up is going to take a little bit longer than

we originally expected? Well, hamstrings are tricky. They always have been. So, and with somebody that's a star like him and a burner who's got to make a lot of different cuts, quick cuts in and out. I mean, you do worry about that, a tad. I think this speaks a lot, though, to Jefferson just in his career, too. I mean, he has never been one, even when he was younger to point the finger. I mean, the quarterback carousel of 2023 would have been easy for him to have some well-documented meltdowns on the sideline and sort of that, you know, the sky is falling. I mean, if you look If you go back in the history of sideline disputes in the NFL that have been caught on camera, I hazard off the top of my head, 80% of them involve wide receivers, just because that's the nature of the beats.

They are divas, as you say, as everyone has said, but they're also the one, they're literally reliant on somebody else to do their job. Everybody else on the field can do and master their job. But if he's not getting, if he's not in sync with his quarterback, if he's not confident in his quarterback, if they're not on the same page as everybody seems to say, then he's not going to succeed. He's not going to get his numbers. He's not going to put on a gold jacket. He needs somebody slinging it. So it behooves him to take his quarterback under his wing and fall on the sword, even when it's not necessary.

Monday night, it was necessary based on what he said, how he took. described his performance. It was there to see. I would chalk it up more as rust than any concerns. But you're right. The fact that he wants to come out on his first media availability and not to kind of brush it off as I got to get better. That's no excuses. That's on me. But as you said, kind of cut open a vein a little bit and explain, hey, look, that pick six as bad as it looked. If I'm doing my job, maybe it doesn't happen. You don't always see receivers doing that. it's nice it's nice to have that i don't know if you could count on that three more times throughout the season if there's if there's an ugly looking interception like that or if McCarthy does struggle and doesn't get

the ball to jefferson and you know that's something to keep in mind but i i just feel like it's kind of baked in for him this season or in his career the guy's a leader the guy gets it guy wants to win and he wants to make everybody around him better and if you know you can't embrace that and appreciate that, you know, you're missing something. I think that Jefferson has sort of become Larry Fitzgerald-ish in this way, that, you know, it's a different personality and Justin is happy go lucky. But what's interesting about this press conference today is that the way he started out was, was very serious. He was very serious with that answer, as you heard. He wasn't, oh, yeah, we won, whatever. Like, he was looking at it like, that was not what I do in this league. I guess, though,

That brings us to the expectations for this game against the Atlanta Falcons. Mani, I think that this secondary is very good. A.J. Terrell is a good player. Bates is a good player. Mike Hughes was a first round draft pick who has survived in this league and gotten through the injuries. And they've got some guys there that I think maybe our impression because they were so bad last year and got lit up by Sam Darnold is, ah, Falcons aren't any good. But when you look at Baker Mayfield's performance, I mean, Mayfield's a guy who threw for 4,000 40 last year, and he threw for under 200 yards, under six yards per attempt against this

defense. And I think a lot of that draws back to the secondary. What should our expectations be for Justin Jefferson for this game? Well, not to mention the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons is a defensive guy who specialized in defensive backs. So, and this is the second year in that system for a lot of those guys in that secondary. So you got to think they're going to be a or better. Expectations for Jefferson, I think the expectations should be high regardless of who the opponent is because there is a certain level, there's a certain standard that Justin Jefferson has set throughout his career so far.

And obviously, based on what he talked about in the press conference today, he has a very high expectation of himself to, you know, bring it every single week and to be, you know, to dot all of his eyes and cross all of his T's, you know, every single route that he runs, even when he's not getting the football. And so I think there's, there's an expectation for everybody because we all, or, you know,

a majority of us believe he's the best wide receiver on the planet. There's an expectation from us that he's going to, you know, come out in this second game and perform even better than he did on Monday night. But I think there's also a high level of expectation that he has with himself. that, you know, he's a very competitive guy. He wants to win, but he also wants to play well and be a big part of why this team wins. So I would expect that he's going to come out ready to go and ready to play and be better for it. Neil says, do you think the speed of the ball through Jets off? I mean, it's possible he hasn't caught that many footballs from McCarthy. And they're never

going to say, oh, yeah, that's actually why. We haven't practiced together. But it probably is somewhat to do with it. I also think that maybe the truth about that play is just that Naishon Wright sold out completely. And if he misses that football, it's possible. Jefferson catches it turns up field runs for a touchdown. It seemed like he just was going all out. And also Nashon Wright played for this team last year. I think he might have also known like this is what they run against zero. And he may have told their coaching staff, this is what they run against zero or he may have gotten dumb lucky and just swung as hard as he could at a pitch and guessed right for the curve ball and hit it out of the ballpark. I mean, Bartolo Colon hit a home

run one time. Like sometimes weird stuff happens in sports and sometimes Nashon Wright just guessed right on that interception. But I think the message is more important. My expectation as yours is, Manny, is for him to just jump right back in and be the receiver he's supposed to be. And if he's not, then it is concerning, you know, Alex says both McCarthy and Jefferson have an older type of leadership team first. I mean, yeah, I agree with that. I also think it's cultivated by the head coach that from a young age with both of these guys is teaching them how to be leaders. And that sort of speaks to the value of KOC. But Murph, your expectation is young anymore, you know, I mean, he's an elder statesman now. Right. But he's had he's when he got here, KOC, he was still a

very young player who had been taught leadership maybe by not the best head coach to get it. But one of the best receivers, Keenan McArdle. But your expectations for Jefferson this week, Murph? I expect him to have a big day. And big day doesn't necessarily mean 150 yards, but I could see some downfield. I can see some taking the top off. I can see, you know, I still see, I can still see that vision of Darnel dropping back into the end zone. I think it was against San Francisco, right?

And letting it fly 50, 60. plus yards in the air. Look, they're going to take their shots with him. I think he's going to find his space. He may not dominate the game because the Falcons are going to do everything to make sure that he doesn't. The Vikings are still without Jordan Addison. So, and let's not forget, you know, Jefferson was rusty, admittedly, wasn't as sharp as he would hold himself to his standard, did drop a ball that would have been a key first down. But let's also forget, not forget, he was the one that caught the touchdown, a laser into the end zone. And if you're going to go salvage your dignity in your season or even just that game or that quarter, that's where you're

going to go. And McCarthy found him and threw a bullet in the end zone too. So I feel like, you know, if anything, Jefferson will be a factor. He may not be the factor, but he'll be a bigger factor. But the reality is, you know, McCarthy and the Vikings, I think it was their first eight third downs they did not convert on. One of them, I think was because Jefferson did drop a ball. But if you're not moving and getting into a rhythm and working the running game in and spreading the ball out, you know, defenses are going to tighten. They're certainly going to close ranks around Jefferson.

So the opportunity to even get them the ball early on wasn't really there because they just weren't, they weren't doing anything. The friendly confines at U.S. Bank Stadium, I don't think the play clock is going to be an issue. And I think they're going to find a way to get Jefferson the ball. And that's a big factor that I want to get into. But first, I want to talk about the injury report here, fellas, is robust in nature. There's some really big injuries on this team. So Jeff Okuda might be out.

He has a concussion. And the next man up is Dwight McLaughern, who is essentially never played. Andrew Van Ginkle is also in the concussion protocol. It's unclear. We're going to find out tomorrow just where that is going to go. And the biggest one, because I think they have guys who can make up for, Okuda and Dallas Turner. I'm going to bring you what Brian Flores had to say in a minute.

But Ryan Kelly being on the shelf with a toe injury and not practicing the last two days. And also Christian Derisaw limited in practice. If they have to go into this game, Manny, with Michael Juergens at center and Justin's school at left tackle and a rookie at left guard, I know he played great and he serves a lot of credit for that, but just one game. And then, you know, your right side is going to be okay. that's not the ideal offensive line for the Minnesota Vikings. And I think that they should get things back on track and be on the same page.

But it would be a huge blow for them to not have Ryan Kelly out there against Rahim Morris's defense. Absolutely. And I think, you know, it's kind of a twofold situation too because obviously you want your offensive line to be at full strength for your young still developing and growing quarterback. but also a key element that allowed that young quarterback to get going on Monday night was the running game. And if you've got, you know, if your offensive line is banged up, you're also, you're not only going to have trouble

protecting your young quarterback, but the other aspect that's going to help that young quarterback is, you know, that might be taking a hit as well. You know, and Jordan Mason stepped in and did a great job to kind of spell Aaron Jones a little bit. but, you know, they're going to need both of those guys to be effective in the backfield to be able to set up some play actions and, and kind of take some pressure off of J.J. McCarthy to kind of loosen up that Falcons defense a little bit.

And if they're not really able to establish any sort of a running game, then that just puts more pressure on McCarthy, more things, more responsibility on his shoulders to where he's probably going to have to throw the ball a lot more, certainly more than what he did on Monday night. And, you know, we'll see if he's, going to be able to handle that because we've never really seen J.J. McCarthy going back to Michigan. We've never seen him have to throw the ball 35, 40, 45 times to put up a ton of points. It's always been a really good running game and a sound defense at Michigan. And that's kind of

how they were able to win on Monday night against the Bears where, you know, JJ made some throws, got them back in the game. But it was a running game that got them back going. And if that's going to be affected because you don't have your starting center, you know, it could present some real challenges for this offense. Murph, if I tell you, and I don't know this yet, that Derisaw and Ryan Kelly are not playing, does that change? And I guess we'll get your guys pick for the game later.

But would that change your outlook for what you expect from J.J. McCarthy? I mean, it would make it more challenging. I think the one thing that's going to help him that did Monday night is just being at home and just sort of not having to deal with the adversity. of an early deficit and a loud hostile crowd. And that would trickle down, too, to maybe some inexperienced offensive linemen who would not want to be stepping into a third and long at Soldier Field or wherever else on the road.

So if anything, I think that gives him a little bit of an advantage if his line is banged up and they're going to have to mix and match. I think he's going to rise to the occasion, too, because it's his first real home game. And I think the adrenaline, look, he's played in a lot of big games, but I think he hasn't really experienced the true full force of U.S. Bank Stadium, and he had an exhibition game last year that meant nothing. So I have a feeling the team's going to, I think they're going to be a little more diverse. I think they're going to be a little looser on offense early on, which should allow him if he can make a few throws, get the confidence going, as man, he said, get the running game going. And even if they drive down the field and don't get points, if they drive down and get three,

it's a heck of a lot better than, you know, not converting your first eight-third downs on the road. So if this were a road game, another road game in a tough environment, I would be really concerned the fact that that he's at home might buy him a little grace. Neil says Okuda took like 18 snaps, might have been 16, says we played big nickel a lot with Ward, Jackson,

Mattalice. And I think that's another thing to watch is to see, just where Harrison Smith is at. And if he can play in this game, I don't think he's going to, but I guess we'll find that out. I probably have to find this one out on game day. I'm guessing that he'll be questionable for this game. But I agree that they're more likely to play the big nickel.

They are pretty comfortable with doing that. And they've done that throughout the last two years, really. And Ward's been here and Jackson's been here in Mattelis. So these aren't totally inexperienced guys. I think the major concern would be is if Isaiah Rogers, tweaks and ankle, then you're throwing out an undrafted free agent, they probably will elevate Fabian Morrow as well, who's a veteran and has played in the league before, but not somebody that you want out there for too many snaps. And then it starts to get a little trickle down effect.

And with the impact of Andrew Van Ginkle potentially being out, that could mean, hey, Dallas Turner into the limelight now, you got to play your first complete game as a starter. And Brian Flores talked today about his confidence in Dallas Turner. You know, is it a conference level in Dallas Turner potentially playing with the starter's number of preface of Andrew and people not go on Sunday? Very high. You know, I think he's, I thought he played you know, very well last week.

You know, when I look back and saw the snap counts, I was, I was not miffed, but I thought he played more. And, you know, we probably, we should have got him in more. So he's doing a lot of good things. And if that's the case, with Gink. But yeah, again, he's in protocol too. We'll see how that all, how that all shakes out, but, you know, very confident in Dallas. And I think he's taking, you know, a lot of steps forward. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we've got to see that performance on the field. But he was confident last week. He played physical. He did a lot of good things.

And, you know, we're going to need that from him, you know, regardless of who's here. So, you know, hopefully if they're all up, they're all play. you know he's doing a lot of positive things there you go brian floris on uh dallas turner saying that he was annoyed with himself that he didn't have him on the field more often and manny i struggle a little bit with this because i think you know this is it could be his first big chance and we can learn a lot about dallas turner and what he's able to do as a starter because a lot of the discussion has rightfully been well he's behind two superstars my goodness and they're just trying to fit him in because he's one of the 11 most talented players but ideally he'd be a

starting outside linebacker and he'd be playing 57 snaps for most guys that were drafted where he was drafted and have the talent he has they wouldn't be just saying well let's try to make sure we'd get him into a role somewhere but i also don't want to make this game the truth about Dallas Turner forever if he ends up playing and Andrew Van Ginkle is down. Yeah, I think this is, I think this, I think two things can be true here. I think that this is a huge opportunity for him, potentially, if Van Ginkle's not able to go on Sunday night. This is a huge chance for him to have a much bigger role of the biggest role that he's

had so far in his young career. and I think obviously we would all like to see him really take advantage of this and kind of take this bull by the horns and really run with it and kind of force Brian Flores into a position where like he does have to give him even more snaps which you know can can bode well I think for Van Ginkle in the long term and Jonathan Grenard as well because you can kind of mix in Dallas Turner a lot more but also like you said I don't think this is a make or break situation for him either.

This doesn't mean, you know, if he comes in, plays a lot of snaps, plays those 57 snaps, like you said, against the Falcons on Sunday night, and he doesn't have a huge impact. He doesn't rack up three sacks and forces a fumble and gets a scoop and score or something like that. I don't think that means that there's that people need to panic or, you know, start calling him a bust. I mean, when we saw Jared Verce wreaking havoc on everybody last year, you know, those

questions came up of, wow, should they have taken Jared Verse instead of Dallas Turner and all of that. But, you know, and maybe some of those questions I think would come up. But I think Dallas Turner just needs to look at this game as a huge opportunity for him to really shine and

showcase his skills. And you know, if he doesn't make a huge impact, it just means that he's got to go back to the lab and continue to get better and continue to develop because he does have those two guys in front of him and that there's still not a lot of pressure on him yet. Alex says, what if Dallas play is so good, they can't decide between him and Van Ginkle. They're going to have a wonderful problem to have.

Right, right. Oh, wow. More four of them if that comes up. They'll just have to sell the franchise, I suppose. No, but I think they'll just continue to play them both on the field at the same time. And I was very happy with what I saw from Dallas Turner. I thought that he played against the run really well, had a couple of pressures that he created

and played a fair number of snaps, but you want to see it be more than that. He's not played over half of the snaps in a game yet in his career. And that's where, well, and some of it was just circumstantial because you have them playing dime late in the game where Caleb Williams is trying to come back and you're not putting Dallas Turner on as much maybe. But, you know, I think that if he does have to take over the full-time role,

We can evaluate it as maybe a measuring stick of where he is and where he wants to go. I just, Murph, I just, with young players, I like to try to be a lot more patient and a lot more forgiving because of the sheer number of times. We've seen guys just get labeled bus. This guy's no good. Or why even bother? And then all the sudden, it clicks in at a, at the old age of 22 for Dallas Turner. And, you know, then you go from there.

So I've always kind of wanted to play. these more slowly in the evaluation. And if I have seen nothing from him, like with Lewis Seen or Andrew Booth, you just saw nothing. And it was like, there's this can't go anywhere. But we've seen good things. Like there's a play down by the goal line where he's lightning and he makes a great play against the run. It's not a Lawrence Taylor sack where he grabs the quarterback and throws him 10 yards. But that's a hell of a play. So you see the flashes enough with him. But I think it is a good way to look at him and say, where is he really at right now? Yeah, in the course of a full-on assignment, too, and you're going to be dealing with the different

ebbs and flows of a game as opposed to being placed in an advantageous situation maybe, or a third and long or somewhere where you can succeed and the work's already been done. Over the course of four quarters, you know, the plays that he makes in the first quarter ultimately add up to being as important as they would be in the last five minutes, if need be. You did mention that, though, because the bears were in comeback mode there in the fourth quarter, it behooved the Vikings to basically have their most complete past defense out there and their most reliable people out there because there was a victory at hand. Again, now we're at home. If he does get the start, there is so much, I think there is so much to put on his plate because of what

the Vikings spent to get him. But he's still only in his second year. And he is playing behind some superstar talent. So, you know, the plug-in-play is tough for a young player, I think, to adjust to. I think one of the things that Flores said today that I thought was interesting, you know, they have all the confidence in the world. He thought he actually had him out there more than he did. But at the end of the day, this was the quote, at the end of the day, we've got to see that performance on the field. So that's still indicating he's not giving you what you would want if an starting opportunity were there

outside of injury. So this is an opportunity for him to take advantage. Maybe make a statement, but also actually absorb a full game. If indeed he does get full game snaps, then you get a little bit more of an evaluation. What's he like when he's fatigued in the fourth quarter compared to when he was flying around in the first? Maybe we get a little bit more of a complete picture of what he can be. he may never be a full-time edge rusher.

If the Vikings have the talent for that, as, you know, your listener even said, you know, what if, what if he plays so well and what if, well, you know, that's a great problem to have. And then you have trade assets as well, long way to go with that. Point being, don't worry if he shines too much. Just make sure he doesn't get overwhelmed by the moment. Yeah, and this is a very difficult team to play. And I think this is part of the evaluation for me of this game is that they have

be john robinson as they're running back and they run the ball well and they have a quarterback who doesn't get sacked very often does sometimes take some pressures but doesn't get sacked so if he doesn't get a sack i mean that would be par for the course of anyone who plays against michael panics and that's just kind of what happens but i think that the defense's depth is really going to be tested in this game even if van ginkles out there he had a neck injury in training camp and then this i i think that you want to play Dallas Turner 50 or 60% of the snaps anyway, because Van Ginkle has been banged up. Also, you know, we're talking about not wanting to risk the full season with someone like Darisaw. Well, Van Ginkle's pretty damn important too. And I think that you would want to have him

at 100% make sure that he's not going to have other issues because concussions are easy to get another one if you go out there after this week. So I don't want to see Van Ginkle play in this game after being in protocol still through Thursday, and I think we all would like to be interested to what more Dallas Turner looks like in not just a part-time role, but it could make a difference, which leads me to the last thing I want to talk to you guys about before we get into Manny picking the schedule now with real information. And Bloody Soup says, got here late, do we talk about Eric Wilson yet? I have not talked about Eric Wilson yet, but Cashman being out is another one. I mean, this is, we discussed going into this season.

Here's what's different. They have depth this year. And Eric Wilson was evidence of that. Dallas Turner being able to potentially step in is evidence of that. The D-line is evidence. And the secondary is going to have to prove it, I think. So, Manny, I want to start out, though, with expectations of Michael Pennix in this game against the Vikings. I think everybody who listens to the show has already probably been annoyed with me talking about how much I liked Penix.

I loved what I saw from him last week. He deserved to win the game, but his receivers kind of let him down and his kicker let him down at the end there last week. What are you looking at for this Vikings defense against Michael Panics? Well, you know, you talked about how he doesn't take sacks. And it's very true. He does not take a lot of sacks. He's a hard guy to get to,

gets rid of the ball very quickly, he has a very strong arm. You know, I think more than anything. And I'm kind of using a quote from Nick Saban because he was doing a press conference and somebody asked him about his number one defense in the country not getting enough sacks on the opposing quarterbacks. And the way Nick Saban worded it was just it's it's not always about getting sacks. It's just about how you can affect the quarterback. Can you get pressure on him and force him into making some mistakes even if you're not actually getting to him and bringing him down for a seven or eight yard loss on a sack? And I think the key for the Vikings defense against Michael Pennix is going to be just that.

Just can you get enough pressure on him to just affect him and force him into making some mistakes, which that's another thing he doesn't really do a lot of. He doesn't make a ton of mistakes. Now, his receivers, his top two targets, Drake London and Darnell Moody, they're both questionable for the game. They're both a little banged up. We'll see if one or both of them end up playing in the game. that could change some things for him as well. But, you know, early signs for Michael Penix

is that he's been playing really well. And this is why they benched Kurt Cousins and went to him late last season. And he came in and he did pretty well and led them to a couple of wins. And like you said, I mean, if his receivers don't let him down last week, they might have come away with a win against Tampa Bay.

And they might be 1-0 as well. And if his kicker just made a kick, you know, that would have helped matters too. Oh, if a kicker could just make a kick. What would history look like today? Yeah, I don't think there were too many Vikings fans who are sad when a Falcons kicker missed one. But last week, top five Pennix in terms of snap to release time. So he does not hang on to that football very long.

Murphy, is Pennick's a guy you're intrigued about because, and if you're not, it's okay. If you just say, no, not really. Caleb Williams. No, let's move on. Right. Hey, if you are, if that's, if that's where you stand, then that's okay. I got it. No, no. That's a take in itself if you want. Um, but he's intriguing to, I think myself and Mani because we both liked his potential fit, uh, with the Vikings. And I think

manny and I got a little bit of a told you so on draft night when he was taken in the top 10. We're like, oh, that's interesting because a lot of draft analysts had him in the second. But, uh, it's not Caleb Williams intrigue where I wanted to spend all last week. talking about Caleb Williams because he was the number one and the Tyler Dunn article and there's just so much discussion where everyone's take about Michael Pennex is pretty much, yeah, he seems like a really good dude with a rocket arm and they seem to be in good shape. And hey, good thing they drafted him. Like that's usually the Michael Pennix takes.

I think maybe that has something to do with him playing for the Falcons, too. I mean, they're never usually a buzzy team. And then I'm most intrigued, though, because he should have probably had that job from Kirk Cousins a few weeks earlier, including the week that Cousins was here, that Cousins' performance here was one of the last, I think it was the second to last game before he was benched. So I thought, you know, finding the way he found his way into the lineup late and kind of seized control of that job, because it would have been very easy for him to struggle and the Falcons to go back to Cousins, well, it wouldn't have been easy. There's a scenario there where it could have happened.

He made sure that that did not happen. And then in the offseason, obviously, the franchise is all in on him, but he actually earned that by the way he played at the end of last season. So what intrigues me is he's going to come into U.S. Bank Stadium, a tough place to play. I want to, if the Vikings, to me, if they can get to him a little bit early, when I say get to him like Sabin, I'm not necessarily saying drag him to the ground. I'm saying make him do things he's uncomfortable doing, let things unravel. He may make something happen with his legs, but at the very least, keep him uncomfortable for as long as you can throughout the game because he's the kind of player that'll make something out of nothing, regardless of his receiving

court. He'll make it with his legs. He'll find a key moment to kind of dagger you. So to me, if they can have him rattled throughout the game and he just has to hand off to Bejan Robinson, and that may be a formula for success anyway, if it takes enough heat off of him. But I would like, I'm intrigued by him because I want to see him come into this stadium as the starter and see really who the Atlanta Falcons are. And also, yeah, if the Vikings weren't really able to get to Williams too much early last week, what are they going to be able to do at home? And if they're not able to get home much on Pennix,

where does that leave their pass rush? Because they have obviously an advantageous situation you're playing at home. Right. And I think that's why, spoiler alert, I will pick the Vikings to win this. game is because of the inexperience of penics and atmosphere is just, you know, something that you may have played in in other stadiums, but not this one. I think this one I've seen eat up a lot of young and very good quarterbacks throughout the years. And it's really only the veterans of the Jared Goffs, the Justin Herbert's, guys like that, who have kind of overcome

that U.S. Bank Stadium effect. Or if the Vikings had their 20, 22 defense that couldn't stop anyone. But since Brian Flores has taken over, it's been very hard to get anything going at U.S. Bank Stadium for inexperienced quarterbacks. And I just like the matchup from the perspective of these are two really good young quarterbacks who their franchises seem to love and their teammates seem to love and they're pushing the chips to the middle of the table. But neither franchise really knows and they want to find out. And I think if they both play well this season. You're talking about McCarthy Pennicks every time the Vikings play the

Falcons and they seem to run in the Falcons all the time. I don't know how many games I've covered with Vikings and Falcons, but it seems like it's every other year, if not two out of every three years. And the same thing goes for like Williams in week one. You could just see these quarterback battles going back and forth for

many years to come. So we're going to pick the schedule. And the way that we're going to do this is and I got a sponsor Reed real quick first. But Mani is going to pick the game and Murph has two sentences to break it down. Otherwise, we will be here through the entire commanders and Packers game, which I do not want to be, Merv.

So you're going to break it down. Either do I. So you're going to break it down in two sentences or less. We will do that in just a moment. And I am very curious to see where Manny ends up after this game versus where you may have ended up otherwise. And hey, don't forget to answer that Fandul question of the day. who's going to have the second most receiving yards

just to Jefferson's fan dual prop 72 and a half for this game who will be second on the team in receiving and with how many yards so jump on the comments and answer that but the episode here brought to you by denisa tova and her team at tova QDRO and retirement valuators and denisa has a great podcast called beyond the bar the law can be pretty intimidating with courts and judges and juries and all that stuff but these are real people who are involved in the law. And behind all those things that happen,

Denise is looking into them with the Beyond the Bar podcast, getting to know people who are lawyers and judges and all across the law field. So you want to make sure you check that out, the Beyond the Bar podcast. But also off the bike, Denise runs a forensic retirement lab. So if you're a divorce lawyer and your client's 401K and IRA,

we're around before the marriage and it's all blended together, like a trick play that wins. went wrong. We haven't seen any of those from a certain football coach yet so far this year, maybe this week. But if that's the case, then you'll want to find Denise's settlement language lab, which is a free session for law firms, like a training camp for retirement drafting. So go to LinkedIn, type in Denise Tova. It is T-O-V-A on LinkedIn. Let her know that you heard her on this podcast. And if you are a divorce lawyer, that you want to take a look at that settlement lab, or just get the link to the podcast. But you could search on you, tube as well. Okay, fellas, it is a 1-0 Minnesota Vikings team. Annie, will they be 2-0 this week against the Atlanta Falcons? I believe they will. I believe despite some of the injuries and everything, I think this crowd with it being the home opener is going to be really riled up. I think they're going to be rallying behind J.J. McCarthy, and I think the Vikings will play pretty well and win somewhat comfortably against the

Atlanta Falcons. Yeah, I look at a two and I'll start too, and I even feel the same way as I did predicting this before, their early game struggles in Chicago. I just feel like the home opener, McCarthy's going to be running on adrenaline. It's one of the few games, I think, that are on a silver platter for the Vikings. I've got 24 to 20 for this game, Minnesota Vikings. I won't pick them all along with you, but I'm picking that one for this week. How about the and the Bengals, the Vikings will be at home. And Mani, Cincinnati, woof, they should have lost to the Cleveland Browns. What in the world?

That was a shocking result there. But did it change how you felt about this game with the Vikings and Bengals? It did a little bit because the, you know, I was expecting the Bengals to get off to a good start, which is something that they really have not done, really ever since Zach Taylor took over his head coach, even the year they went to the Super Bowl. they didn't get off to a good start that season either. And it just feels like the ramp up for Joe Burrow and this offense just seems to kind of take a few weeks.

And it's still going to be early in the season. And I think the Vikings, based on what we've seen so far, I think the Vikings are going to come away with a win. There'll be 3 and 0. Three and O Vikings, Murph. Yeah, I don't like escaping with a victory against the Cleveland Browns uttered by any team at any time in history. However, that's exactly what the Bengals did.

I do think this is going to be the first Vikings loss of the season. I think Burrell's on a mission, and I'm going to stay with that. All right. Let's go to overseas Vikings and the Steelers. A.A. Ron played really, really well in this game. Statistically, I think a review of the game would probably show you a lot of short passes, screen passes, guys that the Jets forgot to cover. Nonetheless, though, four TDs and some competent offense there from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Manny, do the Vikings go to Dublin and beat the Steelers? These games over in Europe are tricky and early morning start. Obviously, over there won't be in the early morning, but for us it will be. You know, Steelers, I was impressed a little bit with what I saw. I thought the Jets would kind of take it to them a little bit. Aaron Rogers playing better than I thought he would. And so I'm going to get Pittsburgh a win here in a very, very close game. I think that Steelers defense gave up a lot of points to Justin Fields, but I think that

defense is really good and it could present some problems for the Vikings. So three and one for Manny, Murph. I think Rogers is going to be more of a handful than he was last year in London with the Jets, but I still see the Vikings prevailing here. Okay, so both of you have three and one starts. I tend to agree, Manny, that you just never really know overseas. So I did take a look at this when they announced the schedule. and I went through historically how teams had performed against the spread.

And interestingly, when there was a wide talent gap, teams won more often in London. Well, they obviously haven't played in Dublin, but in London and any overseas game, they won more often than they do typically. And so I like covering more often than they do typically. But I don't think the talent gap is going to be absolutely enormous in a game like this. I think it's going to be a fairly close gap. and you have good coaching on both sides. It just seemed like Arthur Smith's offense was all of a sudden working and a really

interesting, we'll get into it three weeks from now, but D.K. Metcalf getting the ball in his hands quickly and not just running him down the field all the time was a development you don't want to see for the Vikings tacklers, I think. So Vikings three and one according to both of you, they play the Browns. Can I just write you both in for a W here? Okay, four and one. Thank you very much. I don't have much to say about that.

They come back home. they get the buy week. We all take a nap. And then when we wake up, they play the Eagles at home on October 19th as a four and one football team, according to you guys. Will they beat the Eagles? I'm going to put this down as the first home loss for the Vikings at US Bank Stadium. The Eagles just, you know, they didn't look like their Super Bowl champion selves against the Dallas Cowboys to start the year, but they're still a really loaded team with

the great quarterback and a really good offensive line and a great running back. Still some monsters on defense, too. I'll give the Vikings a loss here and the Eagles will prevail. I concur. I think it's going to be tough against the champs, but I think this is going to be a real tight game, probably one of those nail biters that we're going to be talking about most of the season.

I think it should be entertaining. I'm told by the chat, the Packers are up 14 early. I wouldn't count J. Daniels out for anything in this game, but we'll get to. to that Packers game and we'll have a conversation about that so four and two for both of you and then I think a very very difficult game out to L.A. in October, uh, late October to play the Chargers. Do they win this Thursday night game against Jim Harbaugh's team? It's almost

unfortunate because we get to see the Chargers in the first night of the season or second night of the season. And then it's like, when was the last time we saw the Chargers? Are they still playing? Like we've been talking about the same game for like a week a half that they played so well. Yeah, I think this is going to be a tough matchup. I think, you know, offensively and defensively for the Vikings. They did the chargers play very physical. Their defense is tough.

Um, Justin Herbert still not sure what to really think of him, but he is a good quarterback who's talented. Jim Harbaugh is a good coach. It's a short week going on the road. I'm going to give the chargers the win here. I am going to as well, mainly because of the short week. It's always tough to go west if you're playing on a Thursday night. They've done this several.

They did it last year against the Rams in the regular season, didn't they? I thought so. And it was tough. And coming off a tough game against the Eagles, yeah, I'm going to chalk this up just as a schedule loss. So four and three return or no, now, wow, they go from L.A. out to Ford Field. They do get a break in between because of the Thursday night. so a mini buy, if you will, and then they go to play the Detroit Lions on November 2nd.

I think this will test both of you on how much you are reacting to the Lions first game. Well, what's going to be interesting about this? The Vikings are coming off, will be coming off kind of a mini buy coming off the Thursday game. Detroit will be coming off their actual buy in week eight. So they'll be very well rested as well. Boy, things look rough for them at Lambo, though. start the year and their offensive line doesn't look as strong as it was a year ago

missing some guys that were really key to their success. You lose both your coordinators. Sometimes that can have an effect on you. And I don't know. I know I said last week if they, the Vikings have to

prove it to me against Detroit, but I'm thinking this is a game the Vikings can go and win because I'm just not sure Detroit is, Detroit just doesn't look as strong as they've looked the last two seasons. I really wish I can. I'm going to get the Vikings to win here. I really wish I can make this prediction after watching how the lions respond to the bears at home on Sunday. But not doing that, I'm going to, I'm going to give this one to the Vikings. I didn't last week just because of what I

saw last week at Lambo. But I know the lions are going to be there at the end. So I, I'm going to make it a toss. I think I had them winning at home and losing on the road. I think now I'm going to have them winning at Ford Field and maybe struggling on Christmas. All right. So if I'm correct, both at five and three here. Correct. We're being more diligent this week about keeping the records because I blew it last week with that. Ravens traveling to the Vikings, which I think is a game where the Ravens get up 40 points

and then give away the lead at the end. Is that how the Ravens are playing these days? No. It is kind of funny. Those stats are really funny when it's like, well, they've blown all the these games. It was like, well, they did have a lot of leads. When you win 13 games a year, sometimes things go wrong. Kind of a funny stat. You don't play Josh Allen every week. Ravens still overall offensively looked great. Do the Vikings get to six and three men? I'm going to say,

no, they don't. I think the Ravens, I think that game against Buffaloes may have been a little bit of a wake up call for them. Like, hey, you guys, you guys are really good. You're a super Super Bowl contender, but if you don't bring it for 60 minutes, these are the kind of things that can happen. And I think by this point of the season, I think the Ravens will have found their groove and they'll have it together and it'll be playing really well. So I'll give Baltimore the win here. I agree.

John Harborough is too good of a coach to let this talented of a roster kind of stumble around in the dark like that. So I just like the Eagles game at home, a great test, a great contest. but the Ravens are a little farther down that that journey right now. Five and four, the Vikings back home at U.S. Bank Stadium, November 16th against the Chicago Bears, who have either found it and gotten it together and they're singing kumbaya on the plane

or they are tearing each other's heads off. I'm not sure which will be happening as the Bears come to Minneapolis. Is Caleb Williams going to figure this out? I mean, it just looked like the same guy that we saw last year as a rookie. I don't have a lot of faith in the Bears. I think they're going to be better than what they were last year, almost by default. But it just feels like they're not quite there yet to really be a serious like playoff contender. So I'm going to give the Vikings the win here in the season sweep of Chicago.

I had them sweep in Chicago anyway, but after Monday night and seeing Williams Air Mail open receivers. I'm not buying into him much more than I was a week ago. So, you know, by November, I think they're going to be a better team than they were Monday. But I think they are a long way from coming into U.S. Bank Stadium and delivering a knockout blow. The six and four Vikings then play at Lambo, which suddenly looks a little bit scary, but, you know, we do have a tendency in football to overreact to what we see early in the season. Are you gentlemen feeling that the six and four Vikings, according both of you, at this point, will beat the Packers at Lambo? I am going to be a recency biased reactor.

Yeah, the Packers look really good right now. They look really scary, especially now with Micah Parsons. And by then, if he's healthy, you've got to think Michael Parsons has really found his groove with his defense and making an already great unit. a really championship level unit. And so, yeah, I'm going to get Green Bay the win here. I think it's just going to be really tough. It's going to be November, late November. It's going to be cold there.

You know, I think it's going to be really tough for the Vikings to win. Yeah, I think right now, just the way Green Bay looked, the way Green Bay is talking, and the way Green Bay always, you know, comes at the Vikings at Lambo, I'm going to chalk this one up as a Vikings loss. Six and five, let's go out to Seattle on November 30. for not a revenge game, a hugs game. Because Sam Darnold should not be looking for revenge. He should be looking for hugs.

He wouldn't be here without the Vikings. Although maybe he might grip onto KOC's leg after working with Clint Kubiak and only one good wide receiver and say, take me with you. I'll do anything. Just put me in for a few plays. Please, no. Seattle didn't look so hot on offense. I thought if Darnold was fine, I just didn't know what the heck

was going on. They threw like 20 passes, Mani. I don't, Clint Kubiak. We've kind of seen that. Yeah, I'm not super high on Seattle right now. I just don't know what's going on there. They just look like a eight, nine, seven, and ten type of football team. And I think even though that's a tough place to play, I think the Vikings will, you know, coming off a tough loss to Green Bay, I think they'll go into Seattle and play well and come away with a win. It seems like Seattle's in the NFC North because they're playing them every year and they're always playing them there and they've always had tough games there but I feel like the the bloom is off the rose a little bit with with Seattle Darnold may find his way but man you're right I'm looking

at a 500 team there they're vulnerable at home seven and five Vikings then face off with the commanders at home on December 7th and I loved the way that jaded Daniels looked in week one apparently that through half time or through the first part of the game is not looking exactly the same way. I don't think I'm going to judge Jane Daniels on what happens entirely tonight, Mani, or especially if we don't even know while the rest of the game is going to play out. As we speak, I think the commanders will be a tough team, but will they beat the Vikings at home? I'm going to say no. I'm going to give the Vikings a win here. I think Washington's going to be really good. I think they deserve all of the hype that

they're getting with the moves that they made in the offseason and getting Debo, Samuel, to boost that already really strong offense with the young quarterback. But I think this is a game that the Vikings, if they want to be serious about being a playoff team and potentially making some noise, even with a young quarterback in the playoffs, this is the type of game that I think you got to find a way to win. It's going to be at home against a team that's really good,

but I think beatable. So I'm going to give the Vikings a win here. I think they'll show up and be ready to play. Yeah, I think Washington's beatable, but it's going to be a tough game. But I do like the fact that this is going to be December. The Vikings are going to be putting their playoff rush together. And I just think maybe Daniels might be slightly overwhelmed by the moment, even though he wasn't at Ford Field in January.

Okay. I don't agree with that second part. I don't think Jane Daniels is going to be overwhelmed by anything. But I do think the Vikings can win that game. I just said that moment. I don't know. I don't think so. Not that Ford Field, man.

That was just as crazy last year's U.S. Bank Stadium, like earmuffs, the Vikings fans who don't want to hear that because they're annoyed by all the Detroit hype over the last couple of years, but it was of that level. I'm a big believer that Daniels is going to be an elite quarterback, but I think that they can beat him. So they then travel to the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry World, which also has either figured it out and maybe, I don't know, voted no confidence for Jerry. or something, or it's a mess. I think we know which is more likely, but do they win eight and five, correct, Manning at this point? So do they win against the Cowboys?

Dallas Cowboys are going to be like the most talked about eight and nine team in like NFL history. And I think this is going to be one of the nine for them. I think the Vikings are going to go in and play really well. It's typically always a big crowd in Dallas, but I don't, I've never really viewed that place as like a real intimidating place to play. I mean, they usually get, you get 90,000 in that stadium, but it just doesn't, it never seems like it's a difficult place to play for opposing teams.

And I think, I think the Vikings are going there and play well and come away with a win. It's an airport hangar. And the way this franchise is going right now, I see them muddling along, but I don't see the Vikings stumbling over the cowboys at this point. Nine and five for both of you here going down. the stretch would be an excellent result for the Minnesota Vikings, down to our final three games. Does anybody have the Vikings losing to the Giants, or can I skip ahead? Yeah, we can skip right over that one. This isn't, you know, we do usually require a

disappointment game, and then, but every game is so hard. Maybe we're just going to have to change that rule. Hey, by October, we may be singing a different two. Yeah, that is very true. So 10 and 5 with two games left to go, Detroit comes to Minnesota on Christmas Day. and everybody gets a seven-day free trial of Netflix to watch the game. What happens in that contest, Manny? I think Detroit, by this time of the year, we'll have kind of found themselves a little bit more. I think they'll be playing their best football.

So I'll give Detroit the win at U.S. Bank Stadium. I agree. I think they're going to find it. That window is closing fast. And by December 25th, if they don't have their fingertips firmly gripped on that window, so it's going to be over. so I think they will take care of business. Okay, so you think, man, you think.

Vikings lost. You think, oh, you, okay, so you think that Detroit's going to win this game to move the Vikings to a 10 and six season. And, you know, in years past, that would have been like good enough for the playoffs. 10 and 6 is solid. But we play one more game now in the National Football League, my friends, Packers at Vikings. And this one, if it goes this way, has the potential to be a really big game. game and a very exciting game and an atmosphere that is maybe unlike any other at U.S. Bank Stadium in a long time. So what do you think happens there? Packers and Vikings, Jan

4, man. I think this has the potential. The Vikings are 10 and 6 at this point. This is a huge game and, you know, for playoff positioning. Maybe not for the division because maybe the Packers have played so well in that they've got the division locked up at this point. But I think the Vikings are going to be looking for, you know, NFC playoff seating, positioning to try and get as high a seat as they possibly can. And so I think they're going to bring out all the, everything they got. They're going to put all the chips to the center of the table and play their best football. I think they'll come away with a win and finish the year 11 and 6. It's going to be an alley fight. It'll probably be flex to Sunday night. The country will be

watching. Just what I've seen so far, though, I'm going to give a slight edge to Green Bay. but if the Vikings afford themselves well at Lambo, I think it'll set up well for this game too. So I have stayed with this 11 wins for the beginning of the season, minicamp, and then like show me that you're going to move that 11 wins. I don't know if I want to do this right now after one game and especially since they came back.

If I want to move it to 10 or not, the one thing that is maybe inspiring me to drop it down by one win would be the injuries that if Ryan Kelly is going to battle injuries throughout the year and not be the same guy as he was on Monday night, if Van Ginkle is going to be out, if they're going to battle with the cornerback group that is already very fragile and then losing a guy early on. And there's just a lot kind of going on here. Now, on the other side of things, they get Addison and Darisaw back. And I think it's a very different offense when those guys are back.

So I will not move it. I'm going to say 11 wins will stay for now. If they lose to Atlanta, if it doesn't look very good and it's a lot of the same. And we're talking about, hey, it was really just one quarter where McCarthy was any good. Then I think we might be talking about shifting the expectations slightly after two games. But I think that they will win this. So here's what I want before you guys wrap up the evening in another tremendous roundtable, which is just a reminder.

These will be on Monday night. though he couldn't do it on Monday night, so here it is on Thursday night. But I want to know you're just reflective here on Monday night. Like you've had time to process it. You've had time to settle with it, with what J.J. McCarthy was able to do in that game. And what is your prevailing feeling coming out of that game about where J.J. McCarthy is, Manning. I think from what we saw, the way he sort of rallied himself and rallied the team and really led the team in the fourth quarter to come back from 11 points down after

facing the adversity, the pick six, just a bad start to the game overall, I think was really, really impressive. And Murph, you talked about it last week, you know, how is he going to handle adversity. If he gets off to a slow start, if he makes a mistake, if something bad happens, how is he going to handle that? And I thought he handled it tremendously. Did a great job. And, you know, the kid's got some, he's got some moxie to him, man. Like, when he ran for that touchdown, you saw that the competitive personality that he actually has. And I think it's a, it's a really good fit for this team. And I think from what we saw in the fourth quarter is, is, you know, leaving a lot of room for optimism going forward with this guy.

And the way the team responded, the way the bench erupted, I mean, obviously it was for the dagger touchdown, but I think it was a lot more. It was our guy is here. Our guy is not only here, but our guy was punched in the face an hour and a half ago and look what he's done for us. I just have this feeling that no matter what happens with McCarthy's career, whether it's tremendous Hall of Fame championship, whether he's good but not great and eventually moves on, or whether he does Peter out here. I think we're going to talk about this game in the context of his career because of how it unfolded, how it flipped, how the team responded. And I think because of that, somebody's always going to have a belief that McCarthy can be the guy.

I just feel like it was a heck of a resume message to send, but it really doesn't matter without the victories. And even if they had battled back valiantly, it wouldn't have mattered without the victory. So I think he answered some questions, left a few more open to interpretation, but the manner in which he won was so much more impressive than any numbers he could have put up. So, yeah, the big thing for me was that J.J. McCarthy walks out of Soldier Field, one of the places that has haunted Vikings quarterbacks for many years, even when they've won a lot of times, quarterbacks have not played well there. And also haunted kickers. Well done, Will Reichert on that 59-yarder. But, you know, the way that he played on that stage, you're not going to find a bigger one. like tonight you know Sunday night is national TV again well you know you just did that last week so it's not that you can't do it and as you go forward the playoffs may eventually come and then that's a bigger stage and then that turns up the heat a little bit but as far as regular season games

when he plays Thursday night well you did that already you've played on this stage you've been in these moments and to come out the other side with the locker room celebrating your success it means a lot I think to the confidence of the team because even when they go through a two-game stretch where they lose back-to-back games or whatever, it's like, well, we know we can do it. We know he can get back on track. We know he's not going to melt down when things get hard. And that is a major box checked for J.J. McCarthy. And then the rest is up to, you know, just everything else. Addison coming back, Darisaw coming back, how they adapt the offense. I think we just saw, because there were so few plays, we only. saw a little tiny bit of J.J. McCarthy and what he's going to be. So making any big, broad statements is hard to do other than just, okay, I think that that just kind of raised the floor for me on McCarthy because you know that he's not going to have games where he just, I can't play. Please let me go home. Like, you know, you see from some quarterbacks that don't

work out around the NFL. So Manny Hill, Brian Murphy, great stuff. I appreciate you guys. and your time. And for everybody else, watching tomorrow night, Andrew Kramer and Stephen Ruiz from the Ringer on J.J. McCarthy start, some quarterbacks around the league. Michael Pennix. We'll talk about it all. Stephen analyzes quarterbacks for the ringer and ranks them and drives people crazy with it. So we talk about that and his process as well. And I recorded with Andrew today. And I'll bring you the hardcore matchup matchup previews tomorrow night as well. So thank you so much, gentlemen, and enjoy the rest of the evening of football with the Packers and Commander's game. And we'll see you guys on Monday night.

See you Monday. Sounds good. Football. Football. Thanks, everybody.