Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Miracles everywhere as the Vikings beat the Bills

Episode Date: November 13, 2022

Matthew Coller live from Buffalo breaks down one of the most insane games he's ever seen as the Vikings came back from down 17 points to beat the Buffalo Bills. Now we can declare them officially real contenders.  -- For more of Matthew's Vikings coverage, head to purpleinsider.substack.com For bonus discussions, interview clips, and more videos, check out our YouTube channel! Interact with us on Twitter! @Purple_Insider Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider presented by Liquid Death. Go to liquiddeath.com slash insider and learn about the Tallboy can, which actually has water. Find out where you can get it near you at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to the I Don't Believe What I Just Saw podcast, host Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings. And I have no idea where to begin talking about this football game

other than to just say that having covered the Minneapolis Miracle game and plenty of wild Minnesota Vikings games throughout the years, a tie in Green Bay, all sorts of late game heroics, late game failures, crazy stuff throughout the years. This is the craziest. This is number one. I don't know how it could be any nuttier. I mean, the Minneapolis miracle game being the playoffs, being at home, having the way that it ended with the play that it ended on. But it was a really compelling game back and forth. Vikings blew a 17 point lead and then came back to win in that one. But this is crazier. This is crazier. I don't even know how to rank the insane

things that happened, whether it was a back to back failed quarterback sneaks or two interceptions from one of the greatest quarterbacks on earth in the end zone to the same player where the Buffalo Bills on multiple occasions probably could have run the ball or chosen to kick a field goal or played it safe and had Josh Allen with his injured elbow throwing the football and it resulted in interceptions. There were insane, insane Kirk Cousins throws to Justin Jefferson, a huge comeback from the Vikings where it looked like they were down and out. It also looked like a Kirk prim huge comeback from the Vikings where it looked like they were down and out. It also looked like a Kirk primetime game at first. And then it looked like John Elway

Kirk at the end. There were so many swings, so many times that you thought that it was over for both teams. In fact, and Justin Jefferson may have had one of the greatest games ever played by a receiver in the national football league in history. And I said it's the greatest game I've ever covered by a receiver. That's hands down. And of course, people were like, well, you know, Moss had all these great games. And that is absolutely true. I would put this game from Justin Jefferson up against almost any game ever played by Randy Moss. It was that great.

Fourth and 18 goes up and not only makes the Odell Beckham catch, but makes it with a defender right on him and then makes another great catch. Third downs, fourth downs, every part of the field, Justin Jefferson completely dominating this game. And on the other side, Josh Allen made several big mistakes, but he also made a multitude of unfathomable plays throughout this game times where it looked like he was sacked times where it looked like they had no chance 37 seconds remaining 39 seconds remaining and he brings them all the way down to force overtime after it appeared the Vikings had won this game

and if you have been on the team of destiny train from day one. Well, congratulations to you. This is your day. I mean, what a shocking result in so many ways after the way that this game started in the first half of this game. And now the Minnesota Vikings can fly back to Buffalo and only God knows what is going to happen on that flight. I mean, just pray for the flight attendance for that one.

But they can go back and they can arrive at MSP or whatever. I don't know. Maybe they land on the roof of TCO Performance Center. I don't know. And they can walk off that plane and say, we are Super Bowl contenders. They came to Buffalo with the idea that if Josh Allen plays, you get to prove yourself. You get to make a statement. You get to play with one of the best teams on earth. And not only did you do it, but you left with a win. And yes, the Bills gave it away in many ways. The Vikings gave it away in many ways, but this felt like one of those all-time classic playoff games versus two teams that are great. And I think we can now say that the

Minnesota Vikings are a great team, a Super Bowl contender. We can make all the statements after this one because they came out with this victory. And so long as Justin Jefferson is taking that field, they have a chance to beat any team in the world because they have him playing. So that's my initial thoughts from the back corner of the press box as I'm trying to speak quietly here at Highmark Field. And, Paul, you watching the broadcast from home, what'd you think?

I mean, holy cow. Yeah, I mean, you said it. One of the nuttiest games I've ever seen. It gave me flashbacks kind of to that Bills-Chiefs game in the playoffs last year. Had remnants of the Minneapolis Miracle just with the oh my God plays that were happening. And I'm glad that we do this podcast, or at least you get on this podcast every day because I think it's going to take you three four podcasts probably parse through every single thing that happened just writing down my recap I was forgetting when plays were happening what happened at certain times like

it was impossible to track afterwards but I think yeah the biggest statement that comes out of this game is they are a contender. If they played this game against the Bills 10 times, I don't know if they win them more than the Bills win them, just with the way things went in this game. But coming into this week, I probably would have told you the Bills win 10 out of 10 times. And obviously that didn't happen, and that changes my perspective. Now the Vikings could peel off a couple of those if they played it 10 straight times and they did today. So I think that is the big, big statement. You wondered whether or not this team could go into a hostile environment

against a franchise altering quarterback in Josh Allen and what they would do. And at points they looked lost. And then at other points they crawled back. Cousins had really, really bad moments in this game. And at points, they looked lost. And then at other points, they crawled back. Cousins had really, really bad moments in this game. He had amazing, amazing moments in this game. The one constant was Jefferson was just incredible the entire time. And that pulled them through throughout this game. But yeah, it's a change in mindset. We talked about this before this week.

We weren't sure what this game would do to tell us short of a win if we would believe this team could be a contender after this game we kind of assumed what we thought was going to happen and through two quarters really through three quarters it was there the Vikings were down 17 points Kirk had thrown two interceptions it wasn't looking good he was rattled at certain points and the defense just couldn't make a third down stop at any point. But as this team just continues to do every week, and we've probably discredited it when it has come against Washington and the Bears and Miami, they didn't quit down 17 to the best team or one of the best teams in the NFL, and they fought back.

And they had lows, but they continued to fight back. It was an incredible game of perseverance of resilience for this Vikings team. And although maybe they don't, you don't feel like they have the players in certain circumstances, every single game that resilience has shined through. And if they can continue to do that combined with having an MVP caliber wide receiver on your team, like everything is possible for this team. Is it probable? Maybe not still, but it is certainly possible. And those are statements that would have sounded outlandish 24 hours ago. You know, I think this game came down to is the Minnesota Vikings have superstar level talent on all levels of the field. And with

Patrick Peterson playing like a hall of famer, I'm going to include him in this as well. Zedaria Smith playing like a superstar today. He was in the backfield all the time. Justin Jefferson might be the best football player on earth. That's not a quarterback. I mean, when you have that players that are those top elite players on this roster

that are healthy and playing the best and most confident football they possibly can you are capable of just about anything and i'll throw delvin cook into that mix too he didn't run particularly well early in the game but then it looks like it's over they get a stop on third down field goal for the bills and you're like okay that's that's probably enough and and look throughout my uh recap article which you were mocking me about on twitter but i was on top of it from from my uber drive all the way to the very end i just normally i don't have to write that many sentences about a game but i most certainly did this time but at that moment when they went

up 17 and the vikings came out for the next drive is like, this is kind of it right here. If they make a play, if they score here, this can be a game all the way to the end. And I checked the wind probability calculator on ESPN at that point. And it had it at something like 96%, but then an 81 yard touchdown run. And that, that just cannot be understated how much that one play meant, because not only are you scoring, but you're scoring incredibly quickly. And so all of a sudden, it's like it's almost like what just happened didn't happen. right back to, okay, this is not over and this is going to continue to go back and forth. Buffalo, missing their key defensive players, showed up sort of time and time again. They got a great pass rush throughout the day, but they were missing a safety. They were missing their top corner, who's one of the best players in the league.

And when you have any weaknesses against Justin Jefferson, he's going to make these plays. And it didn't feel like their secondary and linebacker tackling was quite on point at times. And Delvin Cook took advantage in great blocking from Jefferson. I mean, just if he couldn't be all world enough, he makes a great block. Christian Derrissa, who went out of the game and somehow Blake Brandel held up in most of these big moments. I mean, one of the low key heroes of the the game, Blake Brandl, not getting destroyed. I mean, they had some problems, and they had some sacks, and they had some hits, but they kept fighting back through that injury to Christian Derrissaw,

which was pretty amazing in itself that that didn't end up costing him. And I don't remember Blake Brandl playing maybe more than one snap or so of his career, and yet he had to go out and play left tackle against one of the better defensive lines in the NFL. So the Vikings stars were able to take advantage of some of the weaknesses and Patrick Peterson makes some great plays at the end. I mean, you could say they threw it right to him, but it looked like Patrick Peterson sort of undercut the route that, uh, and read that route, knew what was coming at the very end. And I think that's really what it's coming down to for this season is every week, some superstar player for the Vikings has a game, whether it was Zedarius Smith last week, although I thought he was almost just as good, if not just as good this week,

or against Miami, Zedarius takes over that game. You are seeing their best players healthy and playing incredibly, incredibly good football. If we go back to the start of this, though, and kind of work our way through it, and I'm not going to try to go chronological order, like you said, because it's so nuts. The first half of this game, the Vikings come out and of course, Jefferson makes an unbelievable play to get them on the board. So like right away, you're thinking, OK, they can move the ball against this team. They can throw to Jefferson. And if you can do that, you can have a chance

against pretty much anyone. But the way that Buffalo bounced back from that, the way Alan looked from the very beginning. And then after it's kind of the classic opening script cousins looks pretty good. And then it just disappears for quite a while. They couldn't run the ball and then they couldn't play off of it. And Cousins threw interceptions that were just, I mean, I sort of joked like, oh, these are the Monday night football interceptions that we just can't explain. I mean, one of them, who knows who it was targeting? It looked like it was targeting the Bills cornerback. But what has been remarkable this year about Cousins, and I don't know that i have an explanation for it i truly don't is that those moments have not seemed to crush him that whether it's the belief whether

it's it was always there but something always got in the way i don't know but through that tough start through a fumble that he had where he got stepped on and flung the ball backwards totally inexplicably in one of the strange twice twice he had fumbles today and interceptions that that were bad both of them not just like a tip ball or something and yet he kept battling all the way through this thing and in the biggest moments seemed very confident uh There were some sacks and things like that. He didn't get a QB sneak, which what a tough couple of plays for me as a QB sneak supporter for my entire life, even wrote a story once on QB sneaks and how successful they are.

And actually there's a, probably an argument for cousins getting in on that play, but how are you going to overturn it? And that goes into this too. There's probably an argument for a pass interference by Duke Shelley at the end of the game. there's probably an argument for a pass interference by duke shelly at the end of the game there's probably an argument for uh you know devon singletary being down as opposed to fumbling it but again the defense came through with those big plays with interceptions with turnovers and they found a way to do this so i know i didn't really like

start from the beginning or whatever but i i just i guess i wonder about your opinion on when cousins has these bad moments throughout games he has been able to repeatedly this year shake it off and come right back and just keep coming at the other team and and i don't know that that's always really been the case for him uh throughout his career as a minnesota viking yeah i mean i tweeted out midway through this game that it looked like the Kirk Cousins we saw in Philadelphia earlier this year, where he just has some puzzling throws, even when they're not interceptions. He's throwing it to Darius Slay, who's dropping it, or just head-scratching what is going on moments, and they weren't able to overcome them in that game, but they clearly were today.

I mean, in the first half, that kind of stretch of third and fourth down, third and one, fourth and one, late in the half when they're down 17-10, they throw it both times, they don't get it, then Buffalo goes and scores the touchdown right before half. That's the recipe that you're looking at, and you're saying, this is how the Vikings have lost games in the past this is how one or two of those plays can flip for Cousins and then it just doesn't look as effective he starts throwing it short turtling not aggressive he stayed aggressive

almost in my eyes for a while to a fault into the third quarter there of just rifling some balls that I have not seen him throw this year. He hasn't been aggressive. He's been kind of one of, it's been one of the least aggressive seasons we've seen from Cousins. I'll be interested to see the numbers, but I think he was, this was probably the most aggressive he's been all year long. They just kept fighting, kept pushing. And I have to believe that's a little bit kind of the vibes or the coaching

or however he feels. He clearly feels more empowered with this team than he has with other teams. You see it with the whole chain situation. He's on the Monday night football broadcast. Like those things probably weren't happening under a previous regime. Now that's not all the blame and cousins has statistically had one of his worst years, but I mean, just in that last drive, the throws that he was making off his back foot

with pressure in his face to Thielen to Jefferson uh those were really really big time throws for Cousins and ones that we haven't seen him make ones that we've just seen him opt not to throw and to throw to cook instead uh but he at with Jefferson, seems to now fully be on the page of, I'm just going to throw it up, and I'm going to see what happens. Like that, we talked about it last year, him not doing that. I think he's fully come around to, yeah, when I'm in a pinch, I'm just going to throw it up to Justin Jefferson, and it worked for him time and time again.

So, yeah, I think it was just him committing to continue to be aggressive throughout the game that led to these opportunities where he's able to make these big time throws later in the game. It's not kind of just withering away when you do have those two interceptions and you're down 17 points. And it would be really easy to kind of just mail it in at that point. Like, I don't think you're getting a ton of criticism down 27-10 where you're throwing the ball, but he stayed in there. Dablin Cook gets the big run. That clearly energizes the team, feels like they have a chance. And then Pat Peete picks off the ball on their next drive

right in the end zone where it thought maybe the Bills were just going to go down and do it again. And the Vikings orchestrate a 13-play drive that ends in a touchdown. Like, again, that's the type of stuff we haven't seen from Cousins, we haven't seen from this Vikings orchestrate a 13 play drive that ends in a touchdown like again that's that's the type of stuff we haven't seen from Cousins we haven't seen from this Vikings team in a while and it's it's hard to deny the despite his limitations and kind of the changes it feels like we've seen statistically and him not being as efficient mirrored up with the fact that this team's eight and one and he continues to make kind of these bigger plays that we're not used to seeing him make down the stretch that are pivotal when you're going to have to

beat, when you have to beat a team like Buffalo. Like I think that's a lot of the reservations we had. We just hadn't seen cousins do it before. And this is really the first time we've seen him do it in any major way or fashion or one that ended up successfully. And, and, and they did, and they, and they left with a win. And regardless of if the bills scored on that last drive, I think our message about cousins would be the same,

whether or not it's a win or a loss, but it, it's easier to say when, when they win the game and they leave like that. You want to know how close this game was? The total yardage was 486 to 481. That's how close this team and if you if you add it up and and my title to my recap was miracles everywhere i mean if you added up the number of miracles that each team had and the number of wild mistakes that both teams had or times that they had a chance to put the other team away and didn't do it uh it probably

is dead equal and or i guess no it's vikings by one i mean right throughout the throughout the entire game it just seemed that every for every great play there was a miscue and for every miscue there was a response i mean this was like i went to the hockey game last night and a great in a great hockey game, there's scoring chances on both sides, back and forth all the time. And that, that was this only with just all plays. There was, there was opportunities, but there was miss misplays. There was turnovers. There was everything, uh, from both sides. I don't have a good explanation for why cousins has seemed so much more comfortable. I don't want to tie it just

directly to the coach. Uh, I do think that, you know, Justin Jefferson makes you believe in things that maybe you never would have believed in before. He certainly did with the Odell Beckham style catch. I mean, that is one of those plays that if he doesn't make the game just ends. And I think we were like, eh, you know, I mean, like, well, you came back a little, but it was kind of like, whatever. I mean, what are we saying? If he doesn't make that catch, we're probably looking at this, like, well, okay. I don't want to overreact to a loss in Buffalo's tough environment and what an environment it was. I mean, just the snow start started coming down. I mean, that's like goosebumps on your arm when that happens, when it's, you know, John Facenda, NFL films, voice, the wind is kicking up. It's Buffalo, New York. I mean, that's like goosebumps on your arm when that happens, when it's, you know, John Facenda, NFL films, voice, the wind is kicking up. It's Buffalo, New York. I mean,

you had all that, all that going on throughout the game with this atmosphere. And it would have been one like Philadelphia where it kind of gets to you. And if he doesn't make that catch, that's what we would have said. We would have said, look, the stage was a little big for them and they're still in great position and let's not go crazy crazy but also this team is the gold standard and you didn't win and instead all these other things happen after that all these other situations where they had to come through i was just looking it up they went three for five on fourth down seven for 17 on third down which isn't super compelling but yet so many of them were big third or fourth down situations where they absolutely had to have it. And they get just enough yards from TJ Hawkinson,

who I thought mostly had another good game. They get just enough yards from KJ Osborne to keep a drive alive and everything that they needed was just enough to get this done today. And if they continue to have the players that they have as they go forward into some other tough games, you're coming back home to face Dallas though. It's a lot easier than doing it here. If they continue to get these performances from these players who are proven to be superstars over their careers, yes, you can continue to ride the magic carpet ride. I think this is the swing game for, do you believe that you're not, which is, you know, sort of ironic

because that's their whole thing is, do you believe, right? And it's like, well, I guess you have no choice but to believe in what the Minnesota Vikings are doing this year. As much as it has been improbable, this was not a similar win in my mind to something like Washington, where you're down 10 to a really, really poor team and you didn't play well and you're punting a lot. This was not like that game. It had the potential to be from the very beginning. And I think that that's where I'm most impressed by this is that it had such the potential to be the letdown of letdowns that they have been let down in so many letdowny ways

over the years. And they did not allow that to happen. And as they continue to get better, and as they continue to gel and bond around this idea that in any situation, they are not out of it and the game is never over. It's like you have the right to keep getting better and keep getting closer and all those things throughout a season. And that's that's what you do. I mean, that's that's what miracle seasons are kind of made of. Right. Like every I mean, in 17, it was very much the same way that this win actually reminded me in way more dramatic fashion. And I mean, way more than when they beat Los Angeles, because Keenum was kind of having his day. And then Los Angeles came to Minnesota and they beat them 24 to seven.

So yeah, there was nothing like this. It was a fairly routine victory. And yet they came up with some huge plays. The biggest times Adam Thielen scored a late touchdown to put that game away. And you had to walk out of the stadium going, it's real folks.

It's real. There were questions before and there are questions no more. And, and, uh, and I, and I think that that's like of all the things that we're going to talk about through this game, the Jefferson catches will stand out the most, but I think that the bigger picture of it has to be the biggest thing that you can play a game like this with a team like this in the playoffs. And there is now no way you could convince me that whoever comes to play them in the post season is well, okay,

maybe it's going to be a better team or whatever. Like there, even if it's Philadelphia, that if you can play like this with Buffalo, then you can play pretty much with anybody. Folks. I want to say thank you to all of you who have given liquid death a try and sent me your tweets about it.

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Josh Allen converted maybe three, four, like third down in like 15s that felt like back breakers yet they just kept coming and coming like they could never seemingly get him on the ground when they needed to obviously Kirk throws the interceptions when they do and so the fact that they can win a game and still have those things I think is probably a nice realization for them as a team too when they know that the Bills are this great team and probably feel some pressure like hey man with Josh Allen we feel like we have to be perfect and it actually likens you know how much I like golf but uh Max Homa gave this big interview after one of his wins and after he played well in one of the majors and he felt like and he said before I was here I thought I needed to play four perfect rounds to get here and all I

really realized is I just need to survive uh and keep pushing and at the end like it's gonna come up like for me if I'm just staying in there and staying in it and staying present like he realized he didn't have to be perfect he thought that way when he wasn't part of that group and so I'm still skeptical to just unabashedly throw them in with the top top contenders week in and week out I think there's still a lot of inconsistency with the team but I think they learned today we can come back from a pick or two we can come back from not being perfect with Josh Allen like if we can hang around and we can pull off the plays when we need to, when Cook can make his best run of the year, the longest run of his career, the second fastest he's run all year, like that can happen.

Osborne can just barely get over the line for a fourth down. Adam Thielen can catch a big ball. TJ Hawkinson can catch a fourth down pass. Like it was a lot about Jefferson, but they needed these small contributions from their other players. And they're going to continue to need those if they win in these big games. Jefferson was obviously the catalyst and came up in the biggest moments, but some of those catches weren't going to happen if TJ Hawkinson doesn't come down on fourth down, if Osborne doesn't battle for that first down, which was close, admittedly.

So I think you're just, I think that's a big mental hurdle too, for the team, just to know we can hang with the team and it doesn't have to be perfect for every play. We can overcome these things and they've shown it against the lesser teams. And now they've shown it against, if not the best team in the league this year, the second or third best team in the league this year. And that is a massive, massive confidence boost for a locker room that wasn't short on confidence before this game anyways. You know, the, the only team for me that I would not put them at least on equal playing field is the fellows in Kansas city, because through the start of Patrick Mahomes career,

he is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the world. And it's a, it's a really well-coached team. It's a top to bottom team. Uh, yeah, I think that Kansas city is the cream of the crop, the best in the league, but Buffalo is not far behind and they beat Kansas city. I mean, now this version of Buffalo was a little banged up and you're talking about Allen playing with an injury, but he sure didn't look like it. I mean, the way in person, the way he moves is astounding. He ran away from Daniel Hunter one time and Daniel Hunter runs like a four, five, seven, and he just ran away from him. He cannot be tackled. He throws the ball at 1,000 miles an hour. Now, there is some touch issue on his throws, and clearly trying to do too much is a problem for Josh Allen. They ran the football well early in the game. If they had run the ball good late in the game, they would have won. I mean, the Vikings were able to slow down Singletary later in the game

so they couldn't just wind clock and they made a couple of key stops to be able to force field goals or create turnovers or whatever. And I think that Josh Allen really feels like he has to be the entire team and whole boy is he ever, you know, even when he's doing his own thing to Stefan Diggs, who we thought would have made the catch of the game. We've, I mean,. I mean, that was a third and 15. It was like, oh, yeah, the Diggs miracle catch against the Vikings. That's going to be the thing we remember from this game, and it's the thing that's going forgotten after what Justin Jefferson

was able to do. But I don't think other than Kansas City that you could convince me that this Vikings team is short of any of the other best teams in the entire league after this game, after they were able to beat this team, go yard for yard, even with, with the bills and big play for big play with the bills. There are some things to be concerned about health wise coming out of this game though. I will say that, uh, the cornerback situation, Duke Shelley, the low key hero again, may have committed a pass interference at the end of the game.

I saw on the broadcast, they have the TVs above us here that we were looking up, and I noticed they kept showing it in slow motion. Although, you know, the referee's not looking at Gabe Davis's catch. Like, everything evened out in this game, literally everything. There's an episode of Seinfeld where everything that he does, it all evens out. He calls himself even Steven. Like this was the even Stevenist game because for every call that sort of went for the bills, there was one that went against the Vikings. There was a holding against Darisaw,

but there was a holding against the bills. Like it just went back and forth. There was a hand on Justin Jefferson's Jersey, like all game long. They probably could have called that at any time when they wanted to. So it, you know, it goes both ways. Right. ways right yeah there was there i walked out with no complaints uh actually i haven't walked out i'm still here but i had during the game no real big complaints of oh this one big call shaped it um but i think like in making a declaration like now is the time because they didn't just play oh well buffalo made a mistake at the end or something or a call or anything else.

It was you got down and you outplayed them for most of the rest of the game. And really, if you get a QB sneak, well, maybe it's over. Maybe it's not at that moment. And how about this? I mean, how about a doink also playing into this entire thing? But circling back, so Duke Shelley, one of the forgotten heroes, he and Blake Brandel, but Christian Derrissaw left with a concussion and he went back to the locker room. That's very concerning for the next couple of weeks for him. And Dallas is coming up

next. Duke Shelley's playing. That means either Andrew Booth Jr. was, did they say on the broadcast, was he injured or taken out of the game? They didn't, they didn't say they just, they didn't know Duke Shelley was in the game until Duke Shelley made the pass breakup. And they said, okay, Duke Shelley's in the game. So I have no idea what that was. So it's possible that we'll find out, you know, maybe after the, although in the madness, I'm not sure that's going to be a top question in the locker room. I am unfortunately having to skip the locker room to make my flight back, but we're good. We're good. I'll get, I'll catch up on everything on the, on the flight, but Duke Shelley making that play. If he was in because Andrew Booth was banged up. Now you are down to

Caleb Evans who left with a concussion. Andrew Booth just cannot like step on a NFL field at this moment. And I just met Duke Shelley the other day. So, I mean, he's just new to the team. Those are some injuries that you do have to be a little bit concerned about as they go forward. Zedarius Smith also went down and he's had that happen kind of a couple of weeks in a row where like, is his knee going to be a problem for him? So coming out of this game, this was as far as a playoff atmosphere, one of those physical games where you come out of it and go, okay, who's actually healthy coming out of this. And Kirk cousins again, this week for the second week in a row took some really big

hits. And I think you have to give him a ton of credit for the way that he's hung in recently and made some plays when he's gotten big hits on the other side of that coin you really don't want him taking the type of hits that he's taking and if you're concerned still about something coming out of this it's like every game now teams are attacking them in a certain way von miller rushed up the middle and got a huge sack that looked like he had closed out the game at one point with that big sack i think was that the one that pushed them back to fourth and 18? Yeah. Just like things like that that you do have concerns about for their overall team strength

is that they can be weak in the middle and they can now be susceptible to some key injuries. It doesn't look like Dalvin Tomlinson is coming back that soon. And Cam Dantzler is weak to weak. So we'll see when he comes back but it doesn't feel like it's going to be in their next stretch which is going to be quite difficult actually i mean it's dallas then it's thanksgiving day and then it's the jets it's like this this kind of comes at you fast but winning this game does something there where even if they were to lose two out of those three you could still go to, they were able to pull out that win,

like the KG, anything is possible. This team now feels anything is possible for them. So they probably know that there will be a loss at some point where they don't play well, or, you know, what it doesn't turn into just a banana fest like it did today, where it's just going all over the place and all sorts of crazy things are happening. maybe you just have a bad day and you lose but now they can always go back in any moment that they have throughout this season i saw players after the game by the way just collapse on the field harrison smith just collapsed on the field after the game just like i can't believe what we all just went through he was like down on his knees looking around like how did this just happen it wasn't quite the same as many hapless miracle

with the reactions, but everyone, the looks on their faces, the body language and dig standing there with his hands on his hips, just in total disbelief, because it looked like Josh Allen was going to score a touchdown and win the game. And we were all going to go, ah, yeah, that's the difference between them and you. Um, but today it wasn't. And the difference is that they can make plays. So if they lose two in a row at some point, which could happen, or they go up against another difficult opponent and they're down by 17 points, they can always go back to, we have the possibility to win this game, no matter what, even when the wind probability meter says 98 even when the wind is whipping the snow is coming down the other team's quarterback looks like he-man do you know who he

man is looks uh looks like some some form of superhero that the youths like and uh and yet and yet they could still find a way and you know biggest thing is, too, that even though it's Justin Jefferson doing most of the work, there were other players who made key catches. I mean, there was a play where Kirk Cousins was flushed out of the pocket a little bit, and then he finds Adam Thielen open. And Thielen didn't have a ton of catches today, but holy cow, that one was big. And Cousins showing a little grit, and that's another thing, you know, when you're getting the team to really buy into you as their leader and everything else. I mean, that dive toward the end zone

or trying to plow into the end zone is not going to plow over anybody in reality. But he kind of took the hit, like show a little toughness there. Didn't just slide down. Everybody had a contribution who matters for this team in this game. It took everyone to win it. And that's why it felt like it actually sort of felt like the New Orleans playoff game where they got down in that game in 2019. And then everybody had to contribute. There had to be great plays. There had to be stars stepping up.

And there's no reason to think that they will stop doing that. The only thing is health. That's really the only thing that gets in the way is you really worry about Derrissaw because he's been so good for them throughout this season. And that cornerback situation is very spot. And it was very spotty today. I mean, they made big throw after big throw. If it weren't for the goal line interceptions, we would have looked at Josh Allen's stat line and went like elbow injury. Are you insane? Because he was making a lot of great throws to a lot of open receivers throughout the day. So it doesn't have to mean you're perfect. It does not have to mean that you are the 1985 Chicago Bears, that you're like, you know, just this absolute house.

You can have issues. But you know what, Paul winning with offense, there's something to that that feels more sustainable, even when it had to be crazy. If that makes sense, like their defense did not play well outside of the turnovers that they caused. And, and they got pretty much run up and down the field anytime Josh Allen

wanted to. And yet they didn't need their defense to give up 200 yards to a great offense, to win a game because their offense could keep responding. And that is the thing that has sort of plagued them in years past. It's always been one less answer on offense. And today, even despite sometimes I went like, hey, Kevin O'Connell, maybe just run on third and two and then run on fourth and two. Like, you know,

like there were some times where I was sitting here questioning the play calling a little bit. And yet the offense was what ultimately got them to this win over the toughest team. And that's, if you're going anywhere in the playoffs, that's how you're going to have to do it. Yeah. They scored 20 points in the second half, I guess adding OT 23 points after the first half. And I mean, that's just the way the NFL is at that, at this point, I again, go back to that chiefs bills game last year, where at some point it just, it comes down to which offense is on the field last, uh,

in some of these games, especially when you're going up against these superhero quarterbacks, maybe I'd go with captain America for Josh Allen. They kind of have the same colors. Maybe that's, maybe that's where I'd go there. Yeah. It just comes down to the offenses and who can play, because I'm sure if we go and look back at the film, the Vikings probably did a bad job containing Allen in the pocket in some spots and losing some receivers when Allen did that.

But most of the time, that's just Allen making a insane play. Like in this day's NFL with the talent of a Allen or a Mahomes, there's really only so much you can do. And you see that time and time again in the playoffs specifically, there's only so much you can do against those just insanely talented quarterbacks. So obviously there's probably some areas you'd hope to clean up, but for the most part, a lot of the deficiencies I'd point to the Vikings offense now that we're just an hour after the game ended, just felt like Allen going and making a play more so. And I had serious question marks about whether this Vikings offense could compete when they

played a team like that who was just continued to get every third and long and Diggs is making one-handed grabs and these things are just happening and it felt like it felt like the Bills offense at some point was just going to overwhelm Minnesota to the point where they couldn't keep up and they did keep up and it's really one of the first times we've seen in the Cousins area era where they win a shootout that really felt like a shootout that felt like at certain spots they needed to go and score particularly in the second half and that's just another good sign if you're forecasting them even against the Eagles or maybe the rejuvenated Bucs like teams that they may face in the playoffs you're just going to have to win with offense.

Your defense is going to have to survive. They're going to have to come up with timely turnovers, which this team has been able to do. But mostly your offense is just going to have to keep pace. And so if the Vikings can develop that, that's the step that takes them to beat these Bills teams. That's what they showed today. Can they show it week after week after week?

That's the next test. But they needed to show it here first. And they did do that. I think the question is, can they ever play a game from a head and maybe just get ahead and keep a lead and win? That is yet to be seen. I believe it's eight wins and five fourth quarter comebacks this season. I mean, I do remember a year where Matthew Stafford had eight. And I think it's very possible considering some of the upcoming opponents that Kirk Cousins could end up with that mark or topping that mark this season, which kind of speaks to, I've always felt like that fourth quarter comebacks,

that was just a bad number. That means you're losing in the fourth quarter. So, but, uh, in this case, there was no shame in losing in the fourth quarter to a team like this, but finding a way to come back. Uh, so I'd like you just off the top of your head, just first reaction. What's the craziest thing that happened in this game? Oh my God. I mean, it's, I don't know if we appreciated the Justin Jefferson catch in, in all its glory. Cause Diggs made a one-handed grab, but Jefferson did more like the reach back, but also there was like another guy's hand on the ball that he had to also

then simultaneously come down with some sort of control and then rip it with one hand in between double coverage like it might be the greatest catch I've ever seen I don't know I'd have to really dig deep into the recesses of my brain but I'm struggling to find one where the magnitude of the play in the time that it happened combined with the difficulty of just making a one-handed grab combined with the fact that you had another guy trying to wrestle it away while you're making it. Like Odell didn't have that. Diggs didn't have that earlier in this game.

Like he had to wrestle it away while doing that. Like it might be that play. And then Allen fumbling when he just needed to like move forward. Like that's a nutty play too. But those just from, oh my God, insanity, like defying physics. It's the Jefferson one. The puzzling one has to be Alan, just grab the ball and you're 250 pounds, move forward. So those, those stick out as the two. I don't know if I can pick one.

I would love to know how many times, so I know actually Aaron Rogers did this last week for the Packers, but how many times there's been two interceptions inside the end zone in a game over the last 20 years? I mean, I remember this stat when not exactly to a T, but when Russell Wilson threw the interception in the end zone, that there were all these numbers about how rare it is for quarterbacks these days to throw interceptions at the goal line.

And what I don't really understand from Josh Allen is why he was forcing the ball into the end zone. I think it was second down. I mean, he could have taken off. He could have thrown it out of the back of the end zone, take another shot. He could have checked it down. And he just, I mean, having watched the play, I had a great view. The press box is right behind that end zone. So it was like Patrick Peterson is right in front of me. And as I was watching and watching the receiver come across, my brain went like, oh, he's going to have to just run out of bounds. I mean, I just thought like looking at this when he cocked to throw the ball, I was like, huh?

Like I thought I thought he was going to just throw it out of bounds because there was nothing there. That's one of the craziest is that you have a, and he is prone to the bad play for sure. Josh Allen is, I mean, he is the highs are very high and the lows are low. And that's why Patrick Mahomes is still ahead of him because he doesn't have those moments. But, um, you know, that making that throw at that time after already having thrown an interception, the end zone is probably the most shocking part of it. It just felt like everything was OK. Buffaloes, you know, they've they've let this slip out of their hands, but they survived at the goal line and kept the Vikings to a field goal.

And now, like, here's where they finally put their foot down and say, no, we're the team. Like, thanks for flying in. This is great. And also, by the way, I mean, this was a Buffalo Bills crowd. Like this was not a, oh, well, 40% of, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This was, this was 97% Buffalo. This, this was, that's how difficult the atmosphere was for this to happen. And I think that, yeah, the Jefferson catch will go down as an all-timer and i saw this that after that catch that six of his catches at that point

had been less than 50 chance to have by the tracking data and then he made like four more i mean it's it has to be one of the greatest single receiver performances of all time today here in Buffalo. I mean, so you don't really expect that when you show up, but that fumble by Josh Allen, I mean that, that one right there was like, there is something and I don't know what it is.

And we're going to have to really search for it. Paul, this might be like the long form story is we are going to search high and low for what cosmic force is playing into this. Or is it a dream? I mean, because I mean, OK, you get a goal line stop, you know, actually, because we were even having this discussion. It's like if they get stuffed on a, you know, on a snap, like they could get a safety. But then the Vikings would have to go the length of the field in like 30

seconds. And, you know, it's not, or maybe they would have had to kick a field goal, but like it's not over for Buffalo if they make a big mistake here and end up getting a safety. But the guy is, like you said, he's like 250 pounds, getting six inches to keep forward. And the game is over. It's over that like that right there. If I haven't come up with anything like miracle clarity or have people on the internet coming up with anything i haven't seen it yet i haven't

looked at twitter but i'm sure something will pop up the the miracle element of this is that play that is the most improbable i've never seen it before i have never ever seen a team get the get the game one and just need to take a snap and like roll forward and the clock runs out i've never seen that turn into a fumble and a victory and like never never like i thought it was just a safety like when it first happened and then everyone's starting to go like oh no we have the ball i'm like you've lost the ball there too like you didn't like it's conceivable that you just didn't get the push and you got a safety but like you you didn't even handle the snap like oh my god i just i mean team of destiny whatever way

you want to put it like you have to say you have to say it after that because that right there i'm like i don't even know. Like the Butterfingers something. How does that even – I got nothing. I'm going to have to really work on it, but something to do. Butterfingers and Buffalo was what I came up with there for that play, but that's not good at all. And then the Vikings playing prevent defense on the next defensive drive.

Like, oh, my. You're playing 20 yards off. You're just asking them to kick a field goal. Like just, just begging the bills to come back. I was just flummoxed by their, their decision to do that. And it just feels like every week we watch some team blow a game because they go into prevent defense for whatever reason they're being told, or they think that's the way to go, especially against a Josh Allen team.

He's going to find the gap in your zone time and time again and just over and over again. It was just nuts. I mean, that's the thing about this game is I want to overanalyze it in the way where I go, can you believe this? Can you believe that? Can you believe that? I don't want to overanalyze it to say way where I go can you believe this can you believe that can you believe that I don't want to overanalyze it to say how could how could you make this mistake because of

how the game ended and and how they were able to pull this off I don't I don't want to be like nitpicking each mistake like I really thought that Kevin O'Connell blew that fourth down that they went for I mean even kicking a field goal there probably would have been okay, but I thought that the play call was messed up. And when you look at the offensive line in a lot of key moments, I mean, they took sacks. They got back to – I mean, the pressure gets to Cousins and he throws it backwards and it's a fumble and it's second and 22.

And then, of course, here comes another big play for them. That was a pass interference I think really bailed them out. And you could say that for sure. I mean, on the Buffalo side right now, whoever is me for them is talking about, can you believe the hundred different ways where we let this go and all the different times, like the wind probability was right. It was was it was still saying like 95 percent late into that game even when the vikings had closed the gap because there were just so many ways they could win it uh but i'm just i'm just not apt to like say oh well you know buffalo just gave it away no there are other games that have been just given away where the vikings didn't play

well no they did everything that they possibly could have done to win this one. So there you have it. My friends, we will have Searles. We'll have Murph. We will have everybody under the sun I can find to break this one down because there will be many, many perspectives needed, and I'm sure fans only questions as well. So great stuff, Paul.

I have to leave and shout out to Sun Country for having a direct flight back. It was a glorious trip for me, If anyone was wondering, uh, in Buffalo, I saw my parents three days in a row, which was great. Cause I got here a little early and got chicken wings with Alec Lewis of the athletic of which he made my trip by saying, how is it? These, these are cooked so perfectly where they're crunchy, but not overcooked on the inside. And I was like, thank you. Thank you. That's all I needed. That's And I was like, thank you. Thank you. That's all I needed. That's all I just want.

I needed someone else to see it, that it's different in Minnesota than other places with the chicken wings went to the hockey game. That was super fun. And then this, a trip that anybody who made it out, uh, we'll never,

ever forget. And if you were just watching at home, you'll never, ever forget. I mean, this is one of those games that 20 years from now, you're going to talk about with your friends. Remember that time, Alan fumbled that, you know, this is just one of those. And if this season goes in the direction that it's headed right now, if it goes into a deep

playoff run, if it becomes one of those once a decade seasons, when we get to January, this will be the game we go back to all the time that people will remember forever so yeah save the newspaper from this day uh because you you'll want to tell uh you'll want to tell your younger brother and your your friends and your grandkids and whatever about how insane this one was this is one that in the year 2078 sure why not i'll go back on youtube at age almost 100 and uh watch back just the way i do games from 1994 so i'll come visit you at your wherever you're living and set the screen in front of you and say watch this matt remember this play me the game where the allen fumbled uh yeah no but i mean really like to to put

yourself in the conversation with the minneapolis miracle game for pure madness is is not even like hyperbole at this point so it was that nuts and uh what a time to cover it here and so i'm glad that uh that we could do this pa Paul and we will be together again soon. And guess what? Like out of the frying pan into the fire, they will be playing the Dallas Cowboys next in another very big game. So, uh, we'll be around and, uh, thanks everybody for coming along on this absolutely insane ride with us. And, uh, we'll catch you next time.