Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Let's talk about some Vikings-Chargers matchups and Staley vs. O'Connell

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

Matthew Coller talks with Ryan Dyrud of LA Football Network and Chargers.com senior writer Eric Smith about the matchups that will determine Vikings-Chargers and the relationship between Brandon Staley and Kevin O'Connell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here and returning to the show. I like to call him the Los Angeles version of me, except for he covers way more teams than I do. Ryan Dyrud of LA Football Network. You cover the collegiate side, which is going great in Los Angeles, as well as the national football side that is not going as well for you, Ryan, at the moment in your coverage. But I'm sure your coverage actually has been great,

but the teams have not been so much. So what's going on, man? I mean, it's been good Saturdays, not so great Sundays, but, you know, that's how it goes. You can't have all the teams doing well at the same time. Yeah, we'd hope. I mean, we'd love 4-0 every weekend, but, you know, we'll take 2-2 or 3-1 or whatever we can.

But life is good, and hey, it's an honor to be called the L.A. Matthew Caller. So thanks, as always, for having me on. Yeah, except for you just have a lot more that you somehow handle, which is crazy to me because one NFL team keeps me running all the time, and you guys do a tremendous, tremendous job in covering los angeles football but you know i i brought you on because i want to blame some people let's point some fingers i missed the middle of the week got a few days before this game of vikings and chargers let's tell some people that it's their fault so who do you want to start with for the chargers

whose fault is it anyway that the los angelesgers are 0-2 and, you know, this is coming off of a disappointing end to last season, everything else. I mean, it's been a while since Chargers fans have had anything to be excited about. Who are you pointing the finger at? Well, I mean, there's a lot of

a lot of blame that can go around. And I'm always I'm probably different than most, whereas I like to scale back a little bit and look at all the different intricacies instead of pointing like this is the one issue, just because I think there are a lot of different things going on. I mean, when you have the talent that they have and the

quarterback they have and the offensive coordinator they have and the supposed defensive mastermind they have, it's like, it's gotta be more than just one person's fault. But if we want to do blame pie, I mean, we can start at the top. We can start with Brandon Staley. Love to get your thoughts on it. Um, seeing from afar, I know he's kind of the punching bag of the NFL right now. And, you know, kind of rightfully so you sign up for that when you take a head coaching job and you get all the firepower you have at the, he has, and you still come up short. And what's, what's frustrating for fans, Matthew is, you know, he came in, this is now his third year with the team and his biggest thing.

And I think we've talked about this before was really changing the culture. They were going to be this team that didn't lose those close games anymore. They didn't charger themselves out of games. They were going to change that flip the narrative on that. And here we are year three, and it's kind of the same old song and dance of, you know, charging, if you will. Obviously we, we know about the Jacksonville game. You know, we don't need to get into that in the playoffs of giving up the 27 point lead, but, but now having all this off season to really solidify the defense, you give up, uh, whatever it was, 36 points in week one, which Miami obviously is one of the top offenses in the NFL, but toe for toe, you should be able to contain somewhat of what they were able to do.

And they weren't able to stop a nosebleed. And then against the Titans, who I think have a good run game, but I wouldn't say Ryan Tannehill is a 21 out of 24 type quarterback. I mean, he's more efficient maybe than others, but not 21 or 24, and they couldn't do anything to slow him down either. The pass rush finally got going, but when it mattered most at the end of the game, they weren't able to stop. So, you know, Staley's in a tough spot. We knew going into this year, it was going to be a make or break season for him. Um, I, I said kind of, I think it was a divisional round or bust,

whether he would be back, what playoffs wouldn't be enough. Um, and now that seat is just getting hotter and hotter, starting on three and going against a, a very hungry Vikings team who is also. So, you know, one of these, one of these teams is going to be 0-3 and probably not deservedly so in terms of just the talent they have. So on the defensive side, I have long been a believer that it is the Jimmys and Joes

rather than the Xs and Os in a lot of cases. But I look at the Jimmys and Joes on the side of the Chargers, and there's a lot of good football players and then when i look at the numbers they are barely pressuring opposing quarterbacks they're giving up tons of explosive plays and then when i go back and look okay what was happening here there's receivers open there's 70 yard throws from ryan tannehill there seems to be coverage busts at times and you have to start to wonder was it aaron donald and was it jaylen

ramsey more than it was whatever system and i also wonder too sometimes about teams will chase a certain like oh everyone's talking about how this system is the system that's so great in the nfl and then you forget that vic fang Fangio had Khalil Mack and this incredible secondary and Leonard Floyd, Nakeem Hicks and everyone else on his team when that suddenly became the sexiest thing that everybody wanted. And I guess I think that when you hire an offensive coach like Kevin O'Connell, that you can better predict what he's going to bring than a defensive coach, because so much of it is determined by just, you know, the players that you have and how complete your defense is. But I also have wondered in watching them thinking that some of these players have really

good pasts and are not living up to it. And I relate having seen Ed Donatel trying to do the Fangio system last year in Minnesota and how it just didn't fit a lot of players. I feel like that system requires the perfect type of fit players that maybe it's just not being designed to the actual players talents. And it's more of just play my system, you know, better than me though.

Is that something, do I have something there? No, absolutely. And that's kind of what we've been talking about for two years basically is why is this not spilling over to on the field success when we've seen it in years past with Staley and with the Rams or with, as you mentioned, Fangio or these others. And is it, is it a player issue? Is it a culture issue? What is it? Cause what's funny, Matthew is the end of

last year before the Jacksonville game, the charters defense actually like played really well. I mean, they improved their run defense substantially and they were injured everywhere. They were missing five defensive linemen, five starters, and they were still better against the run. They were missing Derwin James in the secondary against that in that Miami game they played last year and they shut to a Tyreek and those guys down

with no Derwin James. So it's, it's a weird thing where you see these flashes like, okay, this is what it looks like. And then against the Titans, you have the most simple miscommunications where Trey Lumberg gets loose on a 70 yard pass and, and nowhere's to be found.

No one's over the top as the safety. So is that coaching? Is that players not doing their homework? Is that guys not buying into what their job is and they want to try to play hero ball and do it themselves? Like, I don't know. I mean, without being in those meeting rooms and seeing what they're going through, because it's so hard when you see it work one week and then completely implode another week,

it doesn't matter who the competition is. It's almost like they're beating themselves, which I think usually that comes back to coaching and that's who's going to take the fall on it. But, you know, I've always been the proponent that, and I've been a big Brandon Staley supporter, but we're at the point now where it's like, you know, you, you gotta, you gotta have the, the wins to back it up. And so something's not, not corresponding there between the two. So, you know, I don't know what to put, but I think what you said is, is absolutely it to an extent of like, maybe some of these guys just aren't fitting in this system, need to play more zone, less man, or or or less too high

more cover three whatever it may be um but they gotta do something especially when captain kirk's over there trending for 6 000 yards this season right i saw that today that he's on pace to shatter all football records in passing so well maybe i mean if they continue to run like they're running that's very possible but this this seems to me like, for Brandon Staley, this is it, pal. I mean, you're playing one of the best passing offenses in the NFL, the best wide receiver in the NFL, after getting smoked by a guy whose fan base probably argues he's the best receiver in the NFL in Tyree Kill.

And this is an offense for the Vikings that can put up 350, 400 yards through the air versus the defense that hasn't pressured the quarterback and can't cover anyone. It's like, figure it out now, buddy, or there's going to probably be a change here. And I, I mean, I think if they win the game against Jacksonville, the pressure is not the same and talking about Brandon Saley's job security. But with that, and then starting out, if you start out on three, there has to be, I think that discussion. So what's the plan? Like, what do you, what do you think they will do? That's different to try to slow down this Vikings offense. So one thing that they've been doing these past two weeks, when you look at the

secondary, um, they basically have four corners kind of playing for three spots. And Jossier Taylor has actually kind of supplanted himself as a true starter. Brandon Staley has come out and said, Jossier Taylor is one of our starting corners. And then you have JC Jackson, Asante Samuel Jr. and Mike Davis kind of vying for those other two spots. And obviously JC Jackson coming off that gruesome injury, it's just impressive he's even out there, but you know, at some point they need to almost lean off him a little bit till they feel like he's fully capable of covering guys like Tyreek Hill and going to be Justin Jefferson and whatnot.

But I bring that all up because they've been doing this rotation on that back end with those three guys. And I think at really any position in football, you have to get that lather and that consistency. And when you're coming in and out of the game and you're seeing different looks and maybe, and I think that's part of the reason why they've had some of those blown coverages is if you're in the game for two drives

and then you're out of it for two drives and you're back in, you start overthinking and you're not on the same page with your other DBs. And so that may have been why some of those miscommunications. So if they need, if they're going to have any shot in this game, I think they need to choose their three and that's it. Like, even if he's getting burned a little bit here and there, if it's JC Jackson's going to be your starter, he needs to play the whole game and get that lather and get comfortable back there and trust that whether it's Davis or Asante Samuel Jr. on the other side,

that they're going to be on that same page. So, you know, I think we can talk about pressure, which they did better last week, but they still need to get better with the talent they have. Uh, we can talk about the linebackers, you know, no Eric Kendricks last week. We'll know more at the end of this week, if he'll be able to go against his former team, obviously that was a big loss last week, but it starts at that secondary. That's just been abysmal. And it starts with picking your three guys and sticking with them. So you get that consistency. Yeah. And from the pressure perspective, I was just pulling this up. Uh,yan tannahill pressured eight times on 29 dropbacks if you only pressure kirk cousins eight times on 29 dropbacks i promise you he's gonna put up 120 quarterback rating i mean that's

always the answer to kirk cousins it's been one of the major issues not that he's been consistently pressured or sacked a ton but the times he has he's been strip sacked it's been consistently pressured or sacked a ton, but the times he has, he's been strip sacked. It's been game-changing plays that have hurt Kirk Cousins so far. The Vikings offensive line trying to make an addition with Dalton Reiser. I don't know if he could play right away, but for going up against a defensive line that, again, has some dudes that I recognize and some dudes who have all pros. And even on the interior, it's like there are some

guys here who i recognize as being good players and yet eight pressures on 29 dropbacks and you felt like it was even better than week one so like i i they just i mean what's going on there like this is where it all kind of comes back to coaching when you're going all right these guys should be pressuring the quarterback at least some and it doesn't look like they blitz tan hill a whole lot i mean why can't they get after the quarterback? Yeah, and the times they did blitz, they actually got home. They did some inside stunts and switches that actually got home through the middle there.

But, you know, I don't know if it's a fear thing, like Staley and Derek Ansley, the actual defensive coordinator, feeling like they need more guys in the back end because they don't trust the secondary, but obviously it's not not working so at some point you want to just put the pressure on and and force the quarterback to to be great which you know i don't think anyone in this no disrespect i don't think anyone thinks ryan tannehill is actually great but if any quarterback in the nfl you give them enough time they're going to find the open man i mean it's that's why they're in the nfl there's 32 of them that can start in this game and you give them time they'll do that

so um you know, two weeks, we pull out, do has been a huge bright spot for this team. I think he needs to get more playing time. He's done a tremendous job, you know, against pressures.

They had that one sack, Joey Bosa, I think got the full credit, but it was all to a pillow to basically did a stunt, took on a double team, which freed up the twist of Joey Bosa to get home. And, uh,

so I'd love to see him out there more. But honestly, Khalil Mack's been kind of just a disappearing act. And I don't know if that means we're going to see Joey Bosa and Tui Pelotu more on opposite ends. They've been kind of lining up where Tui Pelotu has been inside of Joey Bosa kind of as a three tech, and they've been doing different fun stunts. Like I just mentioned, I think that's worked well. But if you're not getting anything from the other side about from one of your all pro

guys in in uh khalil mac you know maybe you switch it up and and have him more in a rotation so i think they need to do more of these stunts more of these kind of backer blitzes that we've seen every now and then they used to do a lot with drew tranquil last year i think the hope was to do that with eric kendrick's a little bit this year but obviously missing last week they weren't able to um so that i think is what they need to do in order to get more pressure. And then some of it's just, you know, you're talented. You gotta just, you gotta just win your, win your matchup and we can call coaching all we want. And that's definitely a part of the blame, but part of it is just, you're a professional athlete. Sometimes you got to win your matchup,

either one-on-one or one-on-two and get the job done. And Joey Bosa, if he's going to be, you know, I don't want to sound harsh, but if he's considered a top five, top 10 pass rusher in the game, sometimes you got to just want it more and go get it and we just haven't really seen that a ton through even the last season so hopefully he can kind of get right and get back to the Joey Bosa we saw kind of three years ago all right this is the type of blame game we're talking about this is an oh and two blame game a one and one blame game would be like well I think this guy's got to kind of get it going a little bit. 2-0 is like everybody's fault.

But here's the guy, when I'm on Twitter.com or X.com or whatever it's being called, that I never see blamed for anything. I never see the fingers pointed at one Justin Herbert. Is that fair or is that not fair because you know i mean i've watched enough justin herbert uh tangentially you know one game that we covered out there and then national tv games and from time to time just looking in on him to see all the skill set that everybody believes in and i think that he is a smart quarterback he doesn't turn the ball over, which is pretty good.

You know, he's not throwing horrible interceptions or fumbling or anything like that. But then I also think that like the way that he's talked about the skill set that he has, I'm always kind of wanting a little more, which may be unfair, like considering how good of a quarterback he is. So what do you want to do? Like a one to 10? Like, what does he deserve? Does he deserve blame for starting?

Oh, and two and really because Oh, and two is not Oh, and two it's really last year leaking into Oh, and two disappointing overall season and the way it ended. And then Intel went to how much blame does he deserve? Yeah. It's glad you brought it up.

I'm one of the few that, that has put some blame on Justin Herbert and, you know, chargers fan bases in the, I'm not saying this necessarily as a negative, but even dating back to, you could probably go back to Dan Fouts, but I'll just go with Phillip rivers since I'm, I'm not that old yet. So, but you know, they, they absolutely love their quarterbacks, rightfully so they've had some great quarterbacks. I mean, you, when you look at franchise across the NFL, the chargers are up there and, and

having just back to back to back really, really good quarterbacks. But it gets to a point where it's like they can do no wrong and they see no fault of anything. And especially when you look at the stats, you can say, okay, well, no interceptions. He's had all these, you know, 300 yards, 200 yards, as you alluded to, but when you really break it down, there's absolutely stuff that Herbert has either missed some checkdowns that he's done some audible calls at the line of scrimmage that, that he's called that have not worked out. Um, and then obviously we can, we can get into the clutch performance part, but I was on a Twitter or X space a few nights ago, Matthew. And, um, I love Kirk cousins more than most, maybe even more than you. I don't know. I just think he's an overall good. He's not great, but he's a good quarterback. But I pose this question in this space. I'm like, at this point in his career, is Justin Herbert closer to Patrick Mahomes or is he closer to Kirk Cousins where he just, you know, puts up phenomenal numbers.

Obviously I think he's, he's got more physical tools and arm talent, but you know, Kirk Cousins led the league last year in this quote unquote, fourth quarter comebacks and, and Justin Herbert, everyone brings up, I think it's 14 fourth quarter comebacks, but what that stat doesn't show you. That's great. I'm not taking anything away from that, but that doesn't show you is when in the fourth quarter that happened. And when we get down to those final two minutes, those final four minutes, when it's like, okay, the ball is in your best player's hands, go win the game, at least in the last three instances we've had, and you could go back to four or five of last year too, he wasn't able to get that done.

I mean, week one against Miami, had the ball back with a minute 50 with two timeouts. All they needed was a field goal to win. Couldn't get a first down. Last week, yeah, the defense gave up that touchdown, but had the ball four times at the end of the game and in overtime, got one field goal, three punts. And so those are those instances where I hate coming down on him. And I love Justin Herbert. I think he has the ability to be top three, but you can't call him

top three yet. When in those moments, when in those moments with Pat Mahomes, you know, okay, Casey's going to march down the field and get some points like Tom Brady back in the day, you know, if he had more than 30 seconds, probably going to get points out of this. We don't know that Justin Herbert yet. Every time there's in those instances, like, are we going to go down there or is this going to be not a failed thing? And then we all blame the defense because he shouldn't have to score 30 points.

Like I get that, but you're making $50 million a year. You're touted as a top three quarterback. You're making 50 million to win those big game moments. The defense isn't making $50 million a year. You're touted as a top three quarterback. You're making 50 million to win those big game moments. The defense isn't making $50 million a year. You are. And so right, wrong, and different, fair or unfair, it comes to a point where he needs to go and kind of put these moments on his back

and fans will continue saying like, well, he shouldn't have to play hero ball every time. He shouldn't have to be superhero every time. It's like, well, that's why you want to be great. Tom Brady was great with that. Yes. Tom Brady had some great defenses. We all know that.

But in those clutch moments, he became Superman. He put the cape on and Herbert kind of puts the cape on through three and a half quarters. And then in that last round, and again, 14 fourth quarter comebacks, but a lot of those are 12 minutes left in the game, 14 minutes left in the game. Like they're not in those final clutch moments. So it's hard to put a ton of blame on him, but we can definitely talk about how he hasn't lived up quite to that top three, top two mantra yet. And I still think he can get there, but just hasn't gotten there yet. Folks. I am absolutely pumped about my prize picks this week because I crushed it.

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So it doesn't take an arm and a leg, money-wise, to be able to play. You can turn $10 into $250 with just a couple taps. Perfect way to fit it in in a busy day. Do it right before the game, whenever you want, at PrizePix. And we're going to be going in in a busy day. Do it right before the game whenever you want at PrizePix. And we're going to be going in on it all season long. You're going to hear every week making our picks. So go to prizepix.com slash purple and use the code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. That's prizepix.com slash purple. Use the code purple daily fantasy sports made easy. So I have a theory about this and thank you for saying that about him being closer to Kirk

cousins than Patrick Mahomes, because I feel like I've been taking crazy pills. When I look at the way that people talk about him versus what I actually see. And I really think that draft status and height and arm strength play into this massive difference. And I always thought this, and I know Stafford won the super bowl. Stafford is a way more gifted quarterback than Kirk, but when he was with Detroit, there's like negative parts of his game that would seem to get ignored because he was the number one pick and he's gritty and he like throws the ball super hard and his highlight reel is crazy. But when you actually laid it out on paper, it was like, I think these guys are actually closer than anybody actually talks about.

And what we realized with Stafford was that when he clicks in the high end, it's higher than cousins. And I think that's probably true for Herbert because of the raw physical tools. So someone, and I saw this play against Tennessee. Someone could try to tackle him and he could bounce off and he can run away and throw a rocket. But like, that's not stuff that cousins can do. But when you kind of lay it out there, it's like someone's got to show me the evidence that this is a different picture when we just look at these two guys on paper. And, you know, I think that that comes across for herbert is almost an insult like oh you're closer to jared goff and justin herbert it just means that there are other

things that have to happen for you and i also think that there's the element of the clutch thing i figured this out from covering kurt cousins for many years is that we would always have that same discussion you were just having we'd be saying, can he win in the final moments? And then last year he gets a bunch of fourth quarter comebacks. And I was like, what is this? What is this thing we do? You know what it is? It's that they always play close games.

It's that they never put anybody away. And I think that there's a similarity there where it's like, oh, Justin Herbert averaging seven yards an attempt again, no matter who is coordinator is. And it kind of like these quarterbacks, I think that they need a little bit more happening around them. We've blamed the defense. We've blamed the guards.

We've blamed the whatever, but it's like a lot of times with quarterbacks like this, Jared golf can lose a ton of games with Detroit, or he can win a ton of games with Detroit, depending on what's around him. And I think that both of these court like like Herbert probably needs more around him than we would think because of his size so he needs that defense to be better he needs whatever last year was the offensive line or the receivers have been banged up so I just think I always

think of like how far are you away from the homes what What do you need to have a great, great season where you could compete for the super bowl? That's the way we should sort of discuss quarterbacks rather than ranking them one, two, three, four, five. And I think Herbert probably needs more than we want to think. Yeah, I think that's fair. And I think he's, you know, when you look at specifically last year, you know, down some offensive linemen, his, I mean, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, I think play a camera. The stat was like 20 total snaps together all year. So he was, he was rolling out with Joshua Palmer and Deandre Hopkins as wide receiver

or not Deandre Hopkins, Deandre Carter as wide receiver one wide receiver two. So, you know, definitely had the chip stacked up against him still put up a phenomenal season, put up, you know, phenomenal yards, got his team to play off. So he definitely has the juice to get it there. But again, it's just in those, those final moments. And you bring up, I think you bring up a great point there of putting teams away and yes, defense gave up whatever it was, 27 points to the Titans. Like, come on, you shouldn't be getting up that much of that team, especially in those moments. But anyone that watches football

knows that if your offense can extend the lead, take a little pressure off of your defense, your defense can pin the ears back, rush the quarterback, make that offense one-dimensional, force them into tough situations. And it just, it helps everything out. And throughout Herbert's career, the offense hasn't been able to do that. I mean, the similarities, we always talk about this, Matthew, on these shows between the LA teams and Minnesota is so ironic. And you could even include the Rams in there. And obviously the connection with O'Connell is there too, but it's like they're in so many similar situations where every game's coming down to that last possession. And, you know, for Herbert to make that next step, it's, it's winning that last

possession, but also putting the game away in the third quarter. Like they had an opportunity to go up in the second half more, they were up, you know, 14 to 10 or whatever it was at halftime. Like just take that next step and make it a two score game and take some of the pressure off your defense. Um, so, you know, a lot of people, I think it's unfair to put any blame on Herbert, but you know, he's, he's touted as one of the best there is. So that's kind of, you know, what you have to hang your app on is, you know, putting teams away. So we'll see if that, and I think he has the ability to, he definitely has a talent to any. And again, and this is the last thing I'm getting long winded here,

Matthew, but like, there's no excuses. Even everyone talks about Brandon Staley, no excuses, which there isn't. I mean, this is his year, but there's really no excuses for Herbert either. I mean, you got your new coordinator. Everyone blamed last year. The fall guy was Joe Lombardi. Well, now you have Kellen Moore. There's no excuses there.

You have Keenan Allen back. You have Mike Williams back. You drafted Quentin Johnson the first round. You got Darius Davis, your speed guy. Joshua Palmer's made that leap. You have three very capable running backs. Oh, and guess what? You've spent first round picks on the offensive line multiple times. You have an all-pro highest paid center two years ago in Corey Lindsley. So they have every piece needed on the offense. There's really no excuses for Staley or Herbert at this point. You got to just go execute. The one thing that I would say is a little different from the Vikings and the Chargers

is that the Vikings are in such transition with their roster that if they were to start out on three, even though I'm not saying that anyone is going to be pumped about that or anything like that. But I think that going into the season, there were some realities that people accepted at the start of the year. Like when you lose Kendrick's Thielen, Cook, Delvin Tomlinson, Zedaria Smith, when you lose all these people, like I don't think that the Philadelphia Eagles run for 7000 yards against the Vikings. If Delvin Tomlinson and Zedaria Smith are playing as opposed to Patrick Jones and Jonathan Bullard,

like that's going from like all world players to replacement level players. And that's a big difference. And that's why, you know, that they steamrolled you. Right. And so I think that there was the understanding that this could happen and it could look that way with the chargers.

It feels like it was just blindsided. Like the expectation was to come out and miami's a tough team so okay you lose that one but losing to tennessee is like that is not something that should have happened and so it feels like the pressure quotient if you will is so much higher which kind of leads me into my last thing that i'm going to ask you in a second but first first your pizza guy ryan you like like pizza? Everyone likes pizza. Huge pizza guy. Huge pizza guy. Okay. Big pizza guy. Well, then I will tell you to make Little Caesars, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL, part of your game day. Order online during their pizza pizza pregame one hour before NFL games and

get ready for some football and fun. Choose your favorite Little Caesars pizza and pick the toppings you crave. Either way, you win. And speaking of winning, everyone scores with convenient delivery or their in-store pizza portal pickup. So grab some friends and enjoy a few slices during the tailgate one hour before kickoff. So there you go.

Or I'm sorry, the tastiest hour before pickup, before kickoff. I'll get that right eventually. Tongue twister. It really is the tastiest hour. Anyway, so as you're eating your pizza and you're watching this game, and the pressure is different, do you think that they will win? Do you think that the back up against the wall element of this game for the Chargers, and both teams are feeling it because you know you're screwed at 0-3, but if you're asking me which team has more pressure as an organization to win this game, it's the Chargers.

So how confident would you feel that they will win? Well, not very confident. I'll just say that. Just because I think this Vikings team is a better team than 0-2. And you know, obviously, much better than me. And you made great points there on the loss of players, plus a whole new system on defense with Brian Flores. So, I mean, I think everyone knew there was going to be growing pains. But I think that's still a very talented team.

And hey, shout out Jordan Addison. Kids looked great. SC, fight on. But, yeah, with this Chargers, and especially being another 10 a.m. kickoff, I believe, in Minnesota, it's going to be a tough environment to play in. You know, I personally, if you're asking me right now, this might change on Thursday if we find out Kendricks is a go,

if we find out Austin Eckler is a go, because, again, they've got some guys banged up. So if those guys are back, I think I'll change. But as of right now on Wednesday time of this recording, like I probably would take the Vikings to win this game just because I just don't know. It almost feels like the Chargers are in a, in a panic and not like a, okay, you know, we'll get it right. We'll be fine.

And I'm not saying they're saying the wrong things or the coach doing the wrong things, but just the vibe you get, it just feels like they're in like a panic. Like they, they are like, what's going on? Like we should not be on too. Like we're way too good of a team to be this way. And you start panicking and I guys, like I mentioned earlier, are they going to play hero ball? Are they going to stick to what they're supposed to do? So I don't know right now. I feel like the Vikings, uh, have the upper hand in this one. Oh, I've seen it before my friend. I've seen panicking coaches knowing that they are on the hot seat, and it's not a pretty sight.

I tend to agree with you that the Vikings passing game is just so good, and if the Chargers can't pressure at all, I mean, you're just toast. No matter how good the offense is, Justin Jefferson is not stoppable. The only thing is there's a little bit of a swing player for me, and that's Christian Derrissaw at left tackle. is healthy then I think the Vikings can win if he's not I mean you know Khalil even a washed version of Khalil Mack is going to face off pretty well with David Questenberry who is the third string tackle who would have to play left tackle if Christian Derrissaw can't go so that's something to certainly keep an eye on as we talk about injuries and

matchups and things like that. So, but Hey, why don't we end up, why don't we end on this note then, since it's a little bit, a little bit rough on the, on the chargers and Rams, maybe they're okay, but you mentioned Jordan Addison, you came on the show when he was drafted to give us kind of a breakdown of Jordan Addison. And if I recall, you were very, very impressed with him and, you know, expected him to become very good right away. Well, breaking news.

Good right away. In fact, it's like third day of camp. We're like, I think he's pretty good. Yeah, he's pretty good. Now he's making catches that you just don't see. I assume that you're not surprised to see Addison succeeding right away. No, not at all. I love it. Uh, you know, I'm not, I never, I never want to be one of those guys like pat myself on the back, but I can't remember if it was on your show or another, but I believe I said

that don't let the 40 time fool you. Cause this guy can run by guys. Like, I think the 40 time is so overblown. People see that time, like, Oh, this guy's not fast. This guy can't be a burner. What does he had like two 60 plus yard touchdowns already in two games so i mean he did that his whole career in pittsburgh he did it his one season at sc he's got field smart he's got field speed and can run by guys obviously you guys know about how his routes are his catching ability he plays bigger than maybe his body size is so yeah not surprised and i just i knew he fits so well in that system so you know i'm happy to see him you know going good i hope he can get more than you know three to four

receptions a game starting soon but hopefully not this week against the chargers because that would be a bad thing for the bolts uh don't be surprised yeah you gave him a few extra yards on that first touchdown it was more like 39 but still an impressive an impressive touchdown i was really blown away when i watched it on tape and you could see like the upper view and he was running a post route, but he gave this ever so slight little kind of tweak to the outside. And the defender assumed that he was running a corner route and just took that one step.

And then he blew by him. It was like, that's the stuff, that little shoulder turn at the top of a route that little one step that little move that makes him very very tough to cover so i think it is going to be a long day for the chargers secondary may come down to something as silly as who doinks a field goal who returns a missed kick for touchdown which did happen once uh maybe austin eckler breaks adrian peterson's rushing record anything can happen when these two teams play. But, dude, you're the best at any time.

Can I ask you one thing? Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead. Go ahead. I want to ask you one thing. I haven't really seen this storyline brought up at all. Maybe you guys have already. But we talked a lot about Brandon Staley, but these two coaches were both given their first coordinator positions together in 2020.

Kevin O'Connell became the Rams OC. I guess he was in Washington before, but gave the first bigger role. And then Brandon Staley gave him the defensive coordinator position in 2020. So it'll be interesting to see. They coached together that one season. If there's any, you know, stuff, little idiosyncrasies, maybe they know about each other or whatnot. So I think that's just a fun storyline that they both kind of got their first gigs together.

And now they're both head coaches, I think facing off against each other for the first time. Yeah. And my understanding is that they're tight. Like they're really good friends. So I don't know how that plays into it or if it does or it doesn't. They both sat at the same table at McVay's wedding.

So that tells you all I need to know. Oh, wow. Okay. I think advantage offense when it comes to that like understanding how the defensive system works because there's a lot more things you can change on offense than there's defense in one week and the vikings had extra time coming off thursday night football so they got the mini bye yeah i think i think if the vikings don't win this game they're gonna be like okay they're probably just bad like i don't know i mean they like the

chart i respect the chargers roster but if you can't win this at home with the extra time and the desperation and a defensive mind that you should know inside and out like i don't know maybe it's just not meant to be so anyway la football network you do a tremendous job uh ryan dyrood which is d-y-r-u-d lA-F-B on Twitter. You're a great follow on there. And I'm glad we could get together, man. I will use any excuse. You know if there's any connection with LA and the Vikings, I'm reaching out to you.

Love having you on the show, man. And we'll find a reason to do it again soon. Thanks for coming on. Absolutely. Thank you so much, as always. Appreciate you. Great work, as always. And yeah, we'll talk soon.

All right. We welcome back into the show eric smith formerly of vikings.com now of chargers.com so this is the eric smith matchup and i made a joke to jeremiah searles earlier eric that he needs one of those jerseys because he played for both teams that is like half Vikings half Chargers so I guess it's not really that way for you because you're working for the Chargers now but senior writer at chargers.com I am very happy for you and I'm very excited to see you back in Minnesota this week how's it going man how is LA it's great it's great yeah it's great to see you I appreciate you

having me on the pod I miss coming on the pod pod more often. Yeah, definitely won't be wearing a split jersey. Maybe a split tie. I can pull that off. But no, I'll be rocking a powder blue tie for sure on Sunday. Things are good. Things are good. In my personal life, I can say that. I mean, I got a wife. I got a daughter. We're happy to be home here in California. Professionally, I mean, 0-2, it's tough. It's tough right now. The Chargers had high hopes coming into the year, and I don't think anyone expected the team to be 0-2 right now. And with the Vikings 0- to as well, I mean, it's getting pretty desperate around here. It most certainly is. This one feels like two teams with the seasons on the line, but neither one of us, now you and I,

a key part of our friendship over the years is draft simulations, but we don't want them to start now. We want to cover football games now and not be looking for the draft. And I guess whichever team falls short in this game might have to start taking a peek toward next year. But what I want to talk about with you, Eric, is first some L.A., Minnesota things. Then we can talk about the game. But the matchups of this game, I think, are very, very interesting. But I did want to start out by asking, since you've lived in both,

the biggest difference for you between living in Los Angeles and living in Minnesota, what is it? Oh, easy, the traffic. It is, man, it is a grind. Just to get to work, before work, I got to drop my daughter off at daycare. So between daycare, work, and then back to daycare and then home. Yeah. I spend, uh, spend a lot of time in my car, uh, listening to purple insider and other podcasts. So, um, thank you for putting out good content. Um, yeah, definitely the traffic, um, in terms of like negative thing, positive, I mean, the weather is fantastic.

I mean, we go to the beach a lot. It's nice to not have to shovel my driveway, scrape the ice off my car. Yeah, I like, this is probably the, I enjoyed this winter more than I think I have ever enjoyed a winter in my life just because after almost seven years of just being freezing cold, it was great to walk outside and have it be 60 degrees and sunny. It was awesome. I loved it.

Okay, so I'll just stop you there before you offend any Minnesotans and go any farther about the weather. But I have never in my life since I came from Buffalo to Minnesota had a winter where I was not scraping cars and trudging through snow and freezing my eyelids and those types of things. But I would trade that for the traffic. There's also just both the Twin Cities and Los Angeles because I have family out there as well.

So much to do in both places. And both of these organizations have some similar backgrounds with their football and things that have gone right and wrong for them. So but let's let's dive into the matchups here, because I'm very intrigued by the Los Angeles Chargers offense. They have lots of points despite losing these two games. And I'm really curious about just the dynamic with Justin Herbert and his weapons, because I am so impressed with Keenan Allen. I mean, this is a guy who's been a borderline or maybe over the line elite wide receiver for many years. And he's just

tremendous at getting open great hands, really a tougher matchup than I feel like he ever gets credit for. And now Quinton Johnston is fitting into this. So what are the Vikings looking at in the secondary? Because I think it's very clear Herbert is going to throw the ball a lot with the weapons, not just Keenan Allen. Yeah, I was really always intrigued by Keenan from afar in watching him. And I agree that he always would have been underrated. You look at his stats at the end him and I agree that he's always sort of been underrated you like look at his stats at the end of every year and he's like top five top ten

right um and he always gets mentioned in like the top route runners in the league uh being able to see him up close has been awesome really to see um just like how hard he works um and even now like you know he's on the other side of 30 and he's just still balling out like he's really good um he's probably been the chargers top receiver so far through two games um and the passing offense overall has been i would say good ish to but not great um i think they're still trying to find that that rhythm a little bit and sometimes with that I wonder like if you just look at it on paper with Herbert and Keenan and and Mike Williams and Josh Palmer and Quentin like you mentioned it seems like man they should be

throwing for 400 yards every game and four touchdowns that's just like the expectation I think that people have but um with kellen moore coming in he's really put an emphasis on trying to establish the run because that is an area that was not very good last year for the for the chargers at all so in week one the chargers ran for 234 yards and the passing game was just so it was okay i mean they hit a couple of explosive plays but it wasn't it didn, but they didn't light it up like people expect them to do every single week. It was better, I think, against the Titans,

because the Titans obviously have a really good run defense. I think they're still missing that one little thing and just trying to put it all together. It's only week three. We've still got a long way to go. These guys did not play in the preseason. You know, and while they played in camp, you know, you and I both know there's just something different about live NFL game action. So it's been good, not great.

But I think they're going to need for it to be great at some point, given how the first two games have gone. They're going to need to keep scoring points and try to find a way to get some wins. Yeah, I mean, this is, I think, one of the best matchups, I don't know, about of the week. I haven't looked at every game on the schedule, but as far as coaches go, Kellen Moore versus Brian Flores. I mean, these are two very, very, very highly regarded coordinators. And on the Brian Flores side, he's not working with exactly a full deck of talent where I think that, you know, he's got to create a lot of pressures. The secondary has been okay, but gave up some big pass plays the other night to Philadelphia

and some clutch plays to Baker Mayfield in week one. And now they're facing a good group of weapons, as you mentioned. And, you know, if Austin Eckler is playing, that really enhances what they can do because he is such a weapon out of the passing game. But I'm curious about your observations about Kellen Moore so far, because it was a really big discussion in the off season of, all right,

you're moving on from Lombardi, you're bringing in Kellen Moore. He had so much success under Mike McCarthy. How much I guess different is it and what do you make of this matchup of the hyper-aggressive Brian Flores against uh I think one of the better coordinators in the league yeah I think Kellen has been great you know and if you look at the the numbers while the while the Chargers don't have a, their offense has been pretty good through two games. We scored 34 against Miami. We scored 24 against Tennessee.

So they're averaging, you know, 30 points a game. Like, it's been good. And Kellen, I think, has a really bright mind. He's shown some, like, creative stuff, kind of using guys in different ways, trying to get playmakers the ball um and he's been pushing the ball down the field more while i say like the passing offense hasn't like clicked 100 yet it has shown signs of life in terms of like downfield attack that we didn't see a lot last year so so that part has been good um and i think over the course of the season

the chargers offense is going to be fine because i think kellen is a great coach um he's a good he's a good guy first of all like it's good to chat with him in the hallway and all that but like i think he's just a really good offensive mind um like you mentioned his dallas offenses were always creative and and potent um but yeah it'll be interesting to see how they handle the aggressive attack from Flores. And one thing I think I'm going to be looking for is, against Tennessee, the Chargers kind of struggled with that interior pass rush with Jeffrey Simmons

and those guys up there. And so if the Vikings decide to bring that pressure up the middle, how do the Chargers respond? Because that was something that they didn't handle the greatest on Sunday in Nashville. So, you know, there's lots of storylines and stuff we can get into, but that's just one I think off the top of my head, like the interior pressure, how the Chargers respond to that,

because they've got to be better than they were in week two. And I think it's a very different defensive line between the Vikings and Tennessee because Tennessee had their joint practices here and they absolutely mulled the Vikings. I mean, they, they just have dues. And you mentioned Jeffrey Simmons. He's one of the best players in the entire NFL, but he's not the only one. Like they have an entire group. That's really good. So I'm not surprised that they were able to slow the best players in the entire NFL, but he's not the only one. Like they have an entire group that's really good. So I'm not surprised that they were able to slow things down there in the running game.

But that's where my focus is a lot. Eric is the running game for Philadelphia was so successful. And Philly has a special offensive line. That's hard to repeat. At the same time, I'm sure that Kellen Moore, when he turned on that film, he's like, okay, I'm going to have to run the football here. Eckler's status is probably going to be a little bit up in the air. We don't have injury reports yet as we're having this discussion to see where it's going to be.

I would guess probably questionable going into the game and we'll see how that plays out. But I think opposing teams, if they have good offensive lines, are going to give the Vikings a lot of trouble, not only when it comes to the run blocking and being able to push them around, but also they can communicate with the fact that you have all these Brian Flores blitzes. What does the offensive line look like? What is the status of the offensive line? Because my understanding is it's improved from where it was last year.

It has. Yeah. You know, before the season, I said this line had a potential to be top 10. Are they there right now? Probably not. I'd probably put them middle of the pack. There have been good moments. Like I said, week one, they ran for 234. But then against Tennessee, they only ran for 61 yards. So run-wise, that was good and kind of poor. And the pass protection was fairly good against Miami, but then it wasn't as good against Tennessee. So they kind of had a little bit of an up and down start to the season. You know, in terms of the run game, I agree with you. I think that's where the Chargers need to kind of make some hay because I think in an ideal world,

the Chargers want to have a really good run game and then hit the deep play action shot with herbert that is that's how a lot of offense they probably want to operate but that's what the chargers probably want to do given herbert's arm talent given the weapons you know that we talked about earlier um but they got to be able to establish the run um in order to do that you know i still think the line the offensive line is good i mean rashaun slater is just a stud at left tackle you know you don't got to worry about him cory lindsley even if he's getting older i think he's still one of the best centers in the league um trey pipkin you know is an ascending player at right tackle um he kind of has his up and down moments but he he's not terrible.

He's solid. And then the two guards, to me, are where the interesting pieces are. Because at left guard, you've got Zion Johnson. He was the first round pick last year. He played right guard as a rookie and then switched to left. And then the right guard is Jamari Sawyer. He went to Georgia. He played left tackle and placed a slater last year,

and now he's over on the right side so they have a good group it's just it's just putting it together and like i said maybe it's just going to take a couple games for them to find their total consistency um none of those guys have played together they've only played together for for two games that five in those five spots the guys that played together in other spots like i said sawyer was at left tackle johnson was a right guard so they kind of i've kind of they put it in a blender a little bit this off season to mix it around so they're i guess they're still trying to wait on it for it to settle a little bit um

and it's just it's just a matter of doing it at this point i mean whether it's the line whether it's the offense um or the team overall i point. I mean, whether it's the line, whether it's the offense, or the team overall, I mean, you can probably say the same thing about the Vikings. When you're 0-2, like, it's time to get moving. Yeah, and both these teams, I'm sure, feel that way. It must have been something you were very comfortable with when you're writing about offensive linemen changing positions

because you saw a heck of a lot of that in Minnesota I I want to ask about the defensive side of things which uh is probably a sore subject in Los Angeles at the moment um because it has not gone well through two weeks what do you think that Brandon Staley is trying to resolve as they head here to Minnesota? Like, what is the thing, the biggest thing that they must do better as they go into a game where they're facing, oh, I don't know, the greatest wide receiver on the planet? Yeah, yeah. Well aware of that.

And that leads me to the first, I'll give you two points. The first one is they cannot give up big plays through the air. And that is a a staple of of staley's philosophy i mean it's what he said when he got hired he's been preaching it for for three years that's what i learned quickly when i got here last year like the chargers are fine with giving up yards on the ground they they do not want to give up big plays through the air their defense is essentially built to not do that but through two games they've done that and it's just it's just frustrating very frustrating to watch because it's not how the system is supposed to be played

and you know how it is in football sometimes it's just one guy out of the 11 who doesn't play his job to, to perfection. And then you got a 30 yard pass, a 40 yard pass. You know, I thought one of the, one of the most critical moments Sunday in Nashville was the Chargers had just gone up 11, nothing. And the first play after that, Ryan Tannehill just uncorks a bomb for 70 yards. And it's like, you can't do that. You can like, you can't do that. You can't, you can't do like, it's just a backbreaking play. Even though the Titans didn't score on that play,

they're back in the game, you know? And, you know, how they're going to defend JJ, I don't know. You know, I mean, it's going to be an all hands on deck affair. They've sort of like rotated corners through the first three first two games. JC Jackson kind of coming back from that serious knee injury. Michael Davis and Asante Samuel have kind of been playing here and there. So, yeah, I don't know. It's I'm fascinated by that. But they got to find something because I think we both know that how good Justin Jefferson is. And if you don't have some sort of plan for him, it'll be a long

day. The second thing real quick, it's just, they got to eliminate the dumb penalties on defense. The Titans had two, two third downs last game where they should have been off the field and a defensive penalty from the Chargers kept them on the field. And then they a touchdown and usually by three in overtime i say that stuff just can't happen man when we're talking about it's funny because the the vikings had the turnovers and the chargers have had like all these little things that have led to these couple of losses to start at oh and two and it's sort of just classic for these two teams to be like right there and having everyone talk about, well, if they only didn't commit that one penalty, if they only didn't have that one

fumble, then they would be right there. So they can't do that completely to each other in this game because they're playing each other. But I'm curious, you've covered the Vikings for long enough and you saw enough Kirk Cous cousins game to know how to beat Kirk cousins, which I think is along the defensive line. So the Vikings are bringing in Dalton Reisner. I don't know if he's going to play this week or not. I don't know if they'll say whether he's going to play or what,

but Christian Darisaw has been banged up. Garrett Bradbury has been banged up. Like this is an offensive line that is either bringing in a new guy and maybe trying to get guys healthy or will be minus some guys who are really important to them the defensive line of the chargers i feel like has to be the answer because there is no answer to just the jefferson run around open and no matter how well brandon staley knows kevin o'connell and the rams systems o'connell has been just tremendous through these couple of games at drawing up concepts to get people open.

What is the status of this D-line? Because when I see a Bosa and I see a Khalil Mack, I think they should have like 46 sacks by now. But it hasn't quite gone that way. How good is this defensive line? Yeah, the D-line has been pretty solid through two games. You know, a phrase I heard a lot in Minnesota and hear it here is, you know, rush and coverage, coverage and rush, like, you know, the success ties together.

I think in order for the Chargers to improve their secondary, they're going to have to get a little bit more pressure on the quarterback. And they did that against Tennessee. They had five sacks at Tannehill. I think four of them were on third down. And the way to pressure Kirk, going back to your initial point, obviously is up the middle. You know, I mean, I think we can all agree the interior pressure for him is probably the best way to get him rattled.

The Chargers have some good players up front in the middle like morgan fox's sneaky good but obviously they're big name guys on the outside and bosa and mac one thing they did um sunday in nashville they had three edge rushers on the field at the same time they had bosa mac and they got a second round pick at a usc uh twoy twoy polo two um and they kind of lined all three guys up and one guy kind of rushed from the middle like they kind of mixed them up all over um so that i think that's the way to do it i think you've got to just kind of be creative and find ways to get pressure on kirk even if it's having all three of those guys on the field at the same time.

But yeah, because if you don't, if you don't pressure Kirk, I mean, we've seen it time and time again, he'll sit back there and pick you apart. Tui Pelotu was on plenty of draft sims that I referenced earlier, but I was taking him in the third round all the time. He didn't end up getting to the Vikings, but he had really good numbers at USC and that could be a problem. So last thing for you, I know that you're writing a piece and I don't want you to give away the entire thing. Cause I'm sure it's going to be good about Brandon Staley, Kevin O'Connell.

These guys know each other incredibly well. What did you find about their relationship? Because I mean, it's interesting when two guys have such a connection, like they do having worked in Los angeles for sean mcveigh and then have to go up against each other yeah i got a feature coming out on chargers.com on thursday um i've been working on it for months it you know to be frank it's sort of a bummer that the teams are oh and two you know kind of takes away some of the shine um but i sat down with

staley and o'connell at um owners meetings all the way back in march uh in. But I sat down with Staley and O'Connell at owner's meetings all the way back in March in Arizona. Sat down with them together for 15 minutes. Just had a great chat. Got an inside look at the year they spent together with the Rams. You know, how their friendship has continued to now. What they expect Sunday in Minneapolis.

You know, with the emotions and all that of kind of going up against one of your good friends. It's a really good story. You know, I'm, I'm looking forward to it. I think it turned out well, even with the 0-2 circumstances, you know, and I think one, one thing that O'Connell said that really stuck out to me was that, you know, I asked him about the emotions of going up against Staley and he said, you know, I kind of had this a little bit last year when he went up against Bill

Belichick. He said his quote was that he thinks it's going to be 10 times more intense just because of the friendship he has with Staley. So, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, given the fact that O'Connell is a great offensive mind, Staley calls defensive plays, like it should be a great chess match um one that I was like looking forward to a lot you know even even when the schedule came out like I think we all kind of circled this game as being a fun one and like I said given the fact that both teams are 0-2 now like there's almost like an extra added weight of of importance like desperation no one wants to go to 0-3.

Like 1-2 and 0-3, you know, it's just completely different. So yeah, it's on. It's on on Sunday. No, I think this matchup is really interesting because even if the Chargers defense hasn't been great so far, you are talking about someone with such intimate knowledge of everything that Kevin O'Connell has done throughout his career, where his influences are, what he might do. And then the same goes for the other side with O'Connell understanding what beats certain

things that Staley wants to do. So will it be a game where Staley goes tendency breakers? Does he play, you know, more, more aggressive? Does he blitz more? Does he change coverages more? Yeah. I mean, this will be one to really study closely with these two guys. Well, I miss you along the sidelines when we're taking attendance or a training camp

that we always talked a lot of ball during those times. I'm super happy for you. You're a dad now. You're living your life out there. Just senior writer. He didn't have that title here. So I'm, I'm very, very happy for you, Eric. And I'm excited to see you on Sunday and I appreciate coming on for this

preview, man. Thanks a lot. No, Matt, I appreciate you having me on. I will say, even though, even though I bagged on the weather earlier, I will say, I love my time in Minnesota. I miss you and the rest of the beat, you know, obviously my, my-workers With the Vikings It was a great six and a half years I wouldn't trade it for anything And I can't wait for Sunday

I don't think anyone should be offended By saying Los Angeles has better weather In the winter than Minnesota But you didn't add This is where you've forgotten you're Minnesotan You didn't add oh but it's great in the summer In Minnesota so you needed to at least tag that on. But anyway, well, it'll be a beautiful day when we see each other on Sunday,

and I'm looking forward to that. So thank you, Eric. And make sure you check out his piece on Staley and O'Connell. I'll retweet it on my Twitter, but Chargers.com as well. And we will catch you all later.