Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Picking the Vikings schedule

Episode Date: May 25, 2020

In the first segment, we look at the opening game against the Green Bay Packers and why that is the perfect way to start the year for the Vikings. We look at the AFC South matchups and whether they should be concerned with a set of unpredictable quarterbacks and a road game in Houston. Segment two looks at the Detroit Lions and the tough road stint at the end of the year against Tampa Bay and New Orleans.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hello, welcome to Purple Insider. That is right, we are back. Matthew Collar, Courtney Cronin from ESPN. Courtney, it feels so good to be talking about Minnesota Vikings football again. I know, I told you it wouldn't be long until we were back in some format doing this together, so I'm glad that it's been able to work out this way, and I'm ready. You always have me do this every single time. There's some sort of shakeup in the world. Anytime there's a loss, you know what it is.

It's time for me to pick the schedule. It is. It is. There is no reason to waste any time. And we have other stuff to talk about. Mike Zimmer's ranch and him being quarantined and how the Vikings are handling all this. Also, there are a few other notes that I wanted to touch on. But there's no time for that right now because we need to start

this right off with Courtney picks the Vikings. And so let's do it. Let's do it. Week one, Green Bay Packers. Who's winning this game? I love this, Courtney. We are back and doing this again. I know. I have the Vikings winning this game. It's the first time ever that they're opening up at home against Green Bay. It's going to be really, really weird if there's not fans there, and I'm not looking forward to that scenario. So we're not going to talk about that scenario. We're going to plan that fans will be in attendance Sunday, September 13th, when the Vikings host Green Bay.

And I don't know. Like we've talked about before, I feel like they have a very clear shot to win the division this year. And if you get a win against the Green Bay team that I don't think anybody knows what the heck they were doing in the draft in free agency this year that gives you a nice little leg up a nice confidence boost to start the season but particularly with the division race they're going to be chasing you until you face each other again later in the season I believe they have them at week eight so I mean that's huge and I think that

this Vikings team for as much turnover as there's been, and we talked with Mike Zimmer about how different it's going to be with this defense, almost a refreshing type of challenge to have all these new players in and teaching them how to try to limit Aaron Rodgers in the passing game. I still think that the strength of the Vikings outweighs heavily what the Packers have right now. So I don't want to turn this into the COVID-19 football podcast at all.

But I do think that whether there's fans or not at U.S. Bank Stadium could impact this game because Aaron Rodgers has really struggled with the noise at U.S. Bank Stadium, communicating with his wide receivers and his tackles. And he has not ever thrown for more than 220 yards in a game at U.S. Bank Stadium. He has just been a completely different quarterback from U.S. Bank Stadium to Lambeau Field. No, absolutely. And I mean, that fan noise is, you know, arbitrary as it is. There's a reason that the Vikings have such a good defense, like in terms of the stats and everything, when they're at home. it is there's a reason that the Vikings have such a good defense like in terms of the stats and

everything when they're at home I mean it is very difficult for opposing quarterbacks to come in there and communicate with their offense I mean that is just a fact and I think that that certainly gives this team a boost and if you're the Vikings you're really banking on fans being there September 13th for that exact reason but things will even, as we'll get to later on in the schedule, because they have some tough road venues to travel to. Let's go week two at Indianapolis. Phillip Rivers is the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, which is going to be very weird, but possibly fun. Yeah, no, definitely fun.

I actually have the Vikings starting out 2-0. Maybe I'm crazy for that. I mean, they haven't played in Indianapolis in a number of years, but I just think that the momentum they're going to carry from that Green Bay game and the version of Phillip Rivers we saw against the Chargers in that Chargers game week 15 last season, I can't get that version out of my head. He has moments where he'll surprise you and be like, yeah, he's still got it at almost 40 years old.

That makes sense. But I'm just a little worried that you know new quarterback having to deal with this offense yes he has the connection with Frank Reich I think there's going to be a little bit more of a learning curve there of just getting on the same page and certainly you know the Vikings are in a great situation that's one thing Mike Zimmer always talks about the continuity that they have on offense and at a time like this when there is so much uncertainty, that's the one area you don't want to be messing around with.

So I think that they go into Indianapolis in Week 2 and they get a win and they start out 2-0. So I agree with you on this one because of exactly what you said. What we saw in Los Angeles was a bunch of balloons floating in the air and landing in the hands of Minnesota Vikings players. Now he did have a couple of drives early in that game where he picked them apart, so I don't think he's completely 100% washed, but the version of Phillip Rivers that we saw years ago, who had the arm strength and the aggressiveness and the moxie and intelligence and all those things, a lot of those things are gone.

I think he still has that risk-ter type of mentality, but does not have the arm anymore to make a lot of those throws happen. The only thing that is different with Indianapolis from Los Angeles is that he's got a great offensive line now. And I wonder if that could be a factor, assuming that we do not get an Everson Griffin reappearance in Minnesota of trying to pressure Phillip Rivers. That might be tougher than it was last year in Los Angeles. True, but he also turns the ball over, like, a lot. And I'm like, can that really change from one offensive line to the next? I mean, that's not just timing.

I mean, that decision-making, he made some really wild throws, as we saw, as you were referring to in that second half of that Chargers game where the Vikings just ran away with it. I mean, that's Philip Rivers. It's which version are you going to get? I mean, he can throw a bomb if he has to, but he can also make some really questionable plays that make you scratch your head. So I think the Vikings secondary, this is a good test for them early on to see, are

they coming along as quickly as Mike Zimmer would have hoped? He said that maybe they just need three weeks, maybe it's five weeks to get everybody up them early on to see are they coming along as quickly as Mike Zimmer would have hoped. He said that maybe they just need three weeks, maybe it's five weeks to get everybody up to speed depending upon when they get back to the facility. But that's one that I think is a good early test against a veteran quarterback that a lot of people consider one of the best still playing. And I think that's probably a good place to be like, okay, the defense is this far away from where it needs to be or it needs to go this much further

when they start to face better quarterbacks in the next few weeks. You know who I think is getting really tested in these first couple of weeks as we move on to the home game against Tennessee in week three is Michael Pierce. They spent a lot of money on Michael Pierce to play nose tackle to replace Linval Joseph, and he's going to have to face Green Bay with Aaron Jones, Indianapolis with Jonathan Taylor, their rookie running back from Wisconsin, but one of the best lines in the league. And then Derrick Henry on September 27th.

Do you have this as a win or a loss, Courtney? I have this as a loss, and I know that when I put my schedule out, there were a lot of people scratching their heads like, well, why'd you pick the Saints to be a win, which I will explain, and not to pick the Titans to be a win, too. Well, Tennessee's a really good football team, as Baltimore learned last year, as a handful of other teams learned, and now that you have Ryan Tannehill starting the season from the jump, not going in five, six, seven weeks, whatever it was, to replace Mariota last year, I think you're going to see an offense that comes out and punches teams in the mouth.

They went all in on Tannehill the two or three days before free agency started when they gave him that absurd $118 million contract. They franchise-tagged Derrick Henry. I mean, those are the centerpieces of their offense i tend to honestly think if you there's not that many differences between this offense and the way that the vikings have things set up with kirk cousins and dalvin cook but like you said michael pierce was brought in as the heir apparent to linville joseph they struggled at points to stop the run last year a lot of that could have been on Joseph and the wear and tear and the injuries

and just kind of where he's at in his career. But you have a guy in Michael Pierce who's a massive individual and a very strong individual that this is probably, you know, boom, boom, boom, three weeks in a row of where you're facing really dynamic rushers. This is probably going to be the hardest test he has to this point. Yeah, and the Tannehill thing, we're going to have an episode breaking down every single quarterback with Eric Eager and with Sage Rosenfels but the Tannehill thing is fascinating and I tend to lean a little bit more toward he's actually good and just Miami was not that great of a situation and then he had the injury and didn't come back

effectively from that but he is more likely to be an above-average quarterback than he is from the one that we saw get mauled by the Vikings in 2018. So I could see that as well as being a loss because of how strong Tennessee is from top to bottom, and I think that they're a well-coached team as well. And A.J. Brown, after what he did last year, has a good chance to really test the secondary because in the first two weeks, Green Bay, as we we have well chronicled does not have a lot of great weapons indianapolis i like michael pitman jr but we don't know what he is yet so you're shutting down one wide receiver but in tennessee i think they have more people to throw to and a really dynamic receiver in aj brown so now we go on to the early test of the quarterbacks. You've got to face a couple of very good quarterbacks here,

and it is at Houston and Bill O'Brien's hilariously built roster and Deshaun Watson, who is extremely, extremely good. Yeah, I mean, I just don't think that Watson's going to have enough to overcome the Vikings' defense, despite how depleted it may look on paper and the challenges of a rebuild. I'm more concerned if I'm looking at this game just from an analytical standpoint. I mean, who do you have that's going to be catching the ball for you? I mean, David Johnson, that's not exactly his forte, as we've seen, you know, the last

few years. He had 36 catches for 360 yards last year okay big deal same thing with duke johnson um and the vikings are one of the best teams at sniffing out screen passes uh and stopping teams yeah pretty close to the line of scrimmage so i have this as a win for the vikings i think the texans are gonna bomb this season and maybe i'm just not seeing the full picture here with what Bill O'Brien is trying to do but for me this is a critical point for them to go and get two early road wins like that's a confidence boost to begin with but also kind of taking care of business in the AFC South

which is such a conundrum like I just don't know what to think of that division but in spite of how good Deshaun Watson is, you can't have a one-man show as we saw last year. I mean, there were multiple points where he just ran out of gas because he doesn't have anything else around him. And without DeAndre Hopkins, you don't have to worry about that. Like, you're literally worried about, you know, your running backs as receivers and trying to limit those guys. And I think the Vikings do a very good job of that already. Yeah, the one concern for me is just if Deshaun Watson makes a couple of special throws down the field, that can change the game.

Because now their two receivers are basically run straight down the field guys in Brandon Cooks and Will Fuller. And both have injury histories too. So we don't even know if by October 4th either one of those guys are still in the lineup. And that could cause a catastrophic effect. But if you can limit the number of deep passes from Houston, you're in pretty good shape against them aside from Deshaun Watson's rushing. That one concerns me because I think that Watson, you can outplay him.

You can play great defense. You can hit him. You can do whatever you want, and he might still beat you because he's just that good. But I think that picking a win there is fair. Now, out to Seattle, the house of horrors for the Minnesota Vikings in the Mike Zimmer era. Every time this one is some sort of circus. 2018, it's the one that gets John D. Filippo fired.

Last year, we have the batted pass from Anthony Harris, runs it in for a touchdown. And then Kirk Cousins has his chance to lead a game-winning drive. He doesn't come through, and they just can't seem to solve Seattle. But going back to the point about U.S. Bank Stadium, if there's no fans in Seattle, that's a pretty different place to play. Yeah, I mean, they don't really have much ground to stand on here in terms of their past performances in Seattle at CenturyLink Field. I mean, they don't win there.

That is just a fact. I mean, I've looked up the numbers. They're 2-4 at Soldier Field, which is another game that they have, one of their second night games, only two primetime games, and both of them are on the road, both at Soldier Field later in the season, but then CenturyLink Field. Under Mike Zimmer, they have yet to win a game there in the regular season. And the environment is absolutely factored in there because they've played at night

for the last three times that they've been there, including this one. So I have this as a loss just based on the fact that history tends to repeat itself in very difficult places for this team to play. There are certain places they just don't play well. Seattle is one of them. And had it not been for Xavier Rhodes last year giving up some 60-plus yard touchdown to a guy named David Moore, I don't even know if he's still on the team, the wide receiver, and then throwing a tantrum on the sideline.

And there were a lot of things that went wrong. They had that game within their grasp, you mentioned with Kirk Cousins uh having a chance to lead the game-winning drive and instead he checks down to Irv Smith on on third down whatever it was there's a chance here that maybe they flip the script and maybe this is you know a different if it depending on what the environment and the atmosphere and what happens in those first four weeks. Maybe playing Seattle earlier in the season is better. I don't know. They've played them both weeks after the bye in 2018 and 2019 when they were banged up and Dalvin Cook had the injury last year.

But maybe if you have a fully healthy team that this won't be as bad or as much of a bloodbath as it's been before. But I still have this as a loss on October 11th. Do you know the answer to the question that everyone has asked me and I'm sure you as well of why they have played at Seattle every time in the Zimmer era I don't I think it honestly well it had something to do with you know one year they played all the NFC West teams I believe that was 2018 so of course that was that was luck of the draw then because they played out against the Rams and they played Seattle and then the other two NFC West teams came to US Bank Stadium.

Last year, it had something to do with like the first whatever place, equal place finisher, something like that. And then this year, I think it was similar, but I don't know why they keep going to Seattle. That doesn't make a lot of sense. I think it has something to do with where you finish in your division. Yeah. Sort of a coincidence, but I don't know why it's at. That's where I'm at. Like, it doesn't make a whole ton of sense.

And it certainly is tipped in Seattle's favor. So I'm just going to throw out a request to the Atlanta Falcons who come to US Bank Stadium October 18th. Please put on a better show than you did last year against the Vikings in the opener. It was miserable to watch and to cover. And I know that Vikings fans were thrilled that they were able to throw nine passes and just hand off the rest of the day and get a win. But I'd like to see a duel between Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins.

And so I'm hoping that Atlanta is a little more stout when they return and not so much of a bus fire like they were in week one. I think they will be too. Grady Jarrett had a great game in week one last year. I don't know if Garrett Bradbury would think that that game was such a wash. But, yeah, the whole NFC South is, I think, one of the most, if not the most, fascinating divisions in the NFL this year. They added some good pieces on defense through free agency this year. They were able to make a couple moves. I mean, their draft wasn't anything to call home about, but I do think that they've got a good roster.

I mean, Julio Jones is still there. Laquan Treadwell's now, if you forgot about that, he's now an Atlanta Falcon. This will be the Laquan Treadwell game, there is no doubt about it. Yeah, but I mean. He's getting eight catches in this game, and it will be eight of his ten catches all year. Yeah, you can scream out his successes this time. I think that's a really, and it's the way that I look at it, but, you know, think about it. Like, you know, Dante Fowlerler they got him from the Rams in free

agency Todd Gurley is now a part of this team um and I I think that this Atlanta team is going to be very different than it was maybe starting to resemble a little bit more of what they were that Super Bowl year not saying that they're going to contend for a Super Bowl by any stretch but they haven't had a running game in a long time and And I'm not sure Todd Gurley is that guy. I'm not sure what the injuries are going to amount to when he's in Atlanta in that type of offense, but I do think it's going to be better than what it was last year. And, you know, if the Vikings are in a situation, though,

where Kirk's only asked to drop back nine times to pass, you know they're never going to deviate from that. That is the way that Mike Zimmer wants to play football. And if for some reason that happens again, okay. That's going to be what the plan is. And I think they can win that way. I think they can win this game too. And it being at home is the big deal for me.

If they were going to Atlanta, I would say this is going to be tougher than maybe the last time they went to Atlanta. Although that was one of those turning point games in 2017 because Atlanta was decent. But, you know, it's going to be much more difficult than it was at the beginning of last year where that team seemed to be in complete disarray. And really, their offensive line, the guys that they drafted in 2019, Caleb McGarry and Chris Lindstrom, getting those guys developed for a year is a big deal to whether Atlanta is actually competitive or not. So you've got that as a win for the Vikings. Real quick, the Laquan Treadwell story of scream out my failures.

I believe it was our friend Chad Graff who tweeted that he dropped a pass or ran a wrong route or something. He tweeted a video uh like physical evidence of Treadwell running the wrong route I want to say or I think the video was he made this spin move and a good catch after running a wrong route uh and Zimmer like got onto him it was during OTAs in 2018 and um like Chad just tweeted it like no, no bias, no sort of opinion, like, matter-of-fact video. And Treadwell quote tweeted it with, scream out my failures, scream out my weaknesses, which, you know, for somebody who did not do much of anything during his rookie career

and so on and so forth, during his entire four years with the Vikings, I think he was a little full of himself at that point because don't you remember that was OTAs. Okay. Laquan's coming on. He's the back of the end zone threat. He's number three receiver. So he was feeling himself and he just wanted you to scream out his

weakness. It wasn't screaming my weaknesses or my, I think it was scream out my failures. Yeah, I think it was scream out my failures. And I think we would all go horse screaming out all of those at this point. But you know, as you and I have joked before, it would not be super shocking if you're a Vikings fan

if somehow the Falcons win the Super Bowl and Laquan Treadwell gets a ring, just like Cordell Patterson has a Super Bowl ring. At Green Bay, this one right before the bye week. Or is it, sorry, after the bye week. After the bye week. Which I think right after the bye week? After the bye week. Which I think the week seven bye is interesting. That's the earliest that they've had in a very long time. And I think it's better.

Because last year, yeah, it's good to have one at the end of the season. I think it was week 12. But you're gassed by that point. There's certain injuries and certain ailments that you just can't come back from. This is literally right smack dab nearly in the middle of the season so i think it's a perfect time but they haven't played well and a lot of it's shooting themselves in the foot when they go to green bay like what happened in 2018 again what happened with kirk cousins uh in the red zone last year in 2019 i marked this one as a loss i think that it's you know when i predict a schedule i never want to pick division opponents that i think that they're

going to sweep because it just never it never happens like that like yeah the vikings have a clear shot more than anybody else in their division to win the nfc north but the packers are still the packers and aaron rogers is still aaron rogers like if you want to talk about him being pissed off at the Jordan Love situation and, you know, this essentially being a prove-it year to him because he may want to go somewhere else, as has been alluded by Hall of Fame quarterbacks and other people over the last month, he's not going to take this game or any game on the schedule lightly. And so I still think that you have to consider that when you're picking this game

and realize that the Vikings are not going to sweep the Packers this year. They'll be lucky if they can split because, again, number 12 is still number 12. And Aaron Rodgers, as long as he's playing, I'm not betting against him. I also don't think it's late enough in the season yet for it to have fallen apart entirely. Not unless he's injured again. Right. Unless he's broken his collarbone or has another knee injury because being only in the beginning of November I don't know if there

have been enough games yet unless it's a complete disaster but it probably won't be for the Packers to really start backstabbing and sniping at each other and have that thing become the bickering Packers if they were playing in December I would leave the door open to either Green Bay is really good and Rodgers has been motivated by Jordan Love or this thing is a complete mess. But I don't think we'll know yet by November 1st. Now, versus Detroit at U.S. Bank Stadium, trying to figure out exactly what Detroit is is hard because they have a lot of the earmarks of a team that should go worst to first.

They signed a lot of players on the defensive side. They get Jeff Okuda in the draft. He can be an immediate impact player. Matt Stafford was having a great season last year before he got hurt. And then they had a running back as well, the top running back in the draft. But it's still the Detroit Lions, and I can't get over that, Courtney. I have this as a win again my same philosophy uh that applies to both the Bears little foreshadowing and uh the Packers does

not apply to the Detroit Lions just because I don't I just can't figure this team out like I mean you have a general manager and a head coach who got like a very eye roll vote of confidence from the owner being like, well, we're not firing you this year, so you better pick it up and get it together for next year. I think by this point, we will see the wheels coming off the bus for the Detroit Lions. And that's going to lead to potentially a dumpster fire because it's at this

halfway point of the season. We'll know if they're good or not by this point. Last year, we thought that they might be a surprise team and they ended up ended up with three wins um because by a certain point they just can't amount to anything more than what they are i do like deandre swift i think he's probably like you said the best running back in the draft and i'm curious to see what a one-two punch between him and carry on johnson's going to be this year but if the since the vikings are going to be at

home on this game and we know that the defense is better at home, particularly stopping the run, I think that that's going to be a problem for them. And not to mention the fact that every time Matthew Stafford comes to us bank stadium, he probably leaves more sore than he's been in any other game. Like they sack him. I don't know.

Like I just, I have visions of that stupid tight end that they used last year on the third play of Detroit's first drive where they had him not in there to chip, but literally one-on-one with Daniil Hunter. I think it was a sack that got him to 50 or at least got him close to it. Whatever. That's what I'm thinking of as we're talking about this game.

Daniil Hunter on the left side of the defensive end, just mauling through tight ends. I don't even know their names. Nor do you need to. No, I think it might've actually been, who was that guy? It wasn't TJ Hawkinson. Was it Jesse James? I don't know. Jesse James, that's right, the train robber.

Yeah, so I don't know. I think that they sack him a ton at U.S. Bank Stadium. That's a trend that I don't see stopping. Yeah, 17 times in three starts is how many times he has been sacked for the Lions playing against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. All right, let's take a break here. You have them at 5-3 through the first eight weeks of the season. When we come back, we will go through the final eight weeks of the year and an incredibly

tough stretch as Courtney picks the Vikings. We'll be right back on Purple Insider. All right, Courtney, on to Chicago. At Chicago, at Soldier Field, it always goes totally fine here for the Minnesota Vikings. In fact, I was thinking about this the other day because at purpleinsider.com, we are running our 2017 project where we look back at all the games for 2017 and the impact that that season had on the Vikings. And we should have known that something was very different that year when they actually won at Soldier Field. Because, as you mentioned in the last segment,

they are only 2-4 in the Zimmer era at Soldier Field. And even without fans, I feel like this place is just haunted for the Vikings. Yeah, there's no way they win here, right? Because it's just logic. It doesn't feel like it. It's just logic. It doesn't feel like it. It's a night. It doesn't feel like you can pick a win. They've had either, I don't know, do you classify America's Game of the Week as primetime?

I know not realist, it's not like because it's not nighttime, but they've had the big stage game there the last few years, last three years. Monday Night Football in 2017, that was the game that they won because of Case Keenum's miraculous comeback once Sam Bradford effectively died out there on the field and Harrison Smith and the incredible game-sealing interception. That was Monday Night Football, so they won that game. But then the following year, they have Sunday Night Football, and Kirk Cousins sees Ghost and throws a ball that I just have nightmares when I see it because I'm like, this makes no sense. It's like he didn't know the play or something. And then the following year, he checks down to C.J. Hamm on third down when he's got Thielen open 25 yards plus downfield. So I don't know if it's like the time slot.

Maybe they just need to make this a noon game for the Vikings to actually win at Soldier Field. I don't know. Maybe it's just the heat of the moment. I don't know. November 16th, this is a loss. It is crazy, though, the things that have happened there just over the last few years. I mean, you mentioned how wild that game was where Cousins had a chance to kind of turn

the season in 2018 and throws that pick six on. I believe it was a really basic read that for some reason he just sort of froze and made that play. And then the Stefan Diggs meltdown and he skips practice and it starts the ball rolling toward him getting traded. Like everything goes through Chicago in some way or another. And it's very difficult to pick a win, even if I don't think Chicago is going to be that good. Now on to Dallas and back to U Bank Stadium for this game we might have some drama there with Dak Prescott but I look at Dallas as a very legit Super Bowl contender especially with the draft that they had they were able to bring in CeeDee Lamb who I did not think would end up dropping

to them in the draft and then Trayvon Diggs to replace Byron Jones who left in free agency they look to me like a very, very dangerous offense, and this could be one of the biggest test games for how much have your young cornerbacks grown, because Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, these guys are really going to test what you've got back there. Yeah, and the fact of the matter is that they also have a very, very good backup quarterback right now in Andy Dalton.

I mean, that's where my attention goes immediately. Fact of the matter is that they also have a very, very good backup quarterback right now in Andy Dalton. I mean, that's where my attention goes immediately. If for some reason there's drama with Dak Prescott, if he doesn't sign the franchise tender, or if he, I don't know, doesn't show up, whatever he's going to hold out, you still have somebody who has won quite a bit of games in his career with the Bengals. And I think that that's huge. Going into a place, having a veteran presence like Andy Dalton in U.S. Bank Stadium, he's played there before, he knows the drill. That's where my mind goes.

And I think they did a really good job in free agency and in the draft. They're a really unique and interesting team. I have this as a loss for the Minnesota Vikings. I know that they're coming back to U.S. Bank Stadium after being on the road in Chicago, and back-to-back losses just don't seem all that likely with this team in any normal year. But Dallas, and I know I called Dallas a Super Bowl contender last year,

and they finish missing the playoffs. But there's something different about this team. It's Mike McCarthy. It's his first season in Dallas, his comeback season, his revenge season. He knows Mike Zimmer. He knows these defenses. He has an edge there. I think that that's something that you have to look at and consider

as why this might be a loss because, yeah, there is some weird situation going on with the quarterback and why he hasn't signed his tender or they haven't worked out a long-term deal, but you still have really good receivers. Amari Cooper and what he was able to do last year with a nice change of scenery, that's one thing. But CeeDee Lamb was one of my favorite receivers in the draft. I think he was an absolute steal.

And like you mentioned, Trayvon Diggs going to Dallas in the second round. Not to mention, not that everybody's looking at the nose tackle, but Neville Gallimore was one of my favorite players when we were draft simming about a month ago. So I look forward to kind of seeing how this team is able, I mean, they've got a great offensive line still. It's a good situation, I think, for them to kind of establish some dominance too as they get further into their division schedule eventually.

I think they've got a bunch of NFC East games coming up after that you know to come into a place like US Bank Stadium at this point of the season and get a win is a huge momentum driver I think for a team that like you said looks like a Super Bowl contender right now so I actually think that you were right in calling them a Super Bowl contender last year because if you look at their points for and points against so point differential their expected win loss you could find this at Pro Football Reference, their expected win-loss was 11-5. I know. They botched so many late-game situations with Jason Garrett, which is why he doesn't

have a job anymore. Their offense was second in passing in the NFL, and Dak Prescott had a great season. Jason Garrett doesn't have a job anymore because he mismanaged all of those situations and lost them probably two or three of those games and they should have been an 11-5 type team and that's why I think that they can even build on that as long as the drama with Dak Prescott is calmed down by then but it is a good point about Andy Dalton I think even if this team is so good offensively with the talent they have, that if Andy Dalton was their starting quarterback from day one,

if Dak says, I'm not playing without a contract extension, they still can be a 10-6 type of team. Even with Andy Dalton, because it actually kind of reminds me of his teams that he had in Cincinnati because it's so stacked around him. So a loss is understandable there if we're especially saying, hey, look at what they did to the vikings secondary last year now you got a bunch of rookies so teddy comes to town november 29th it will be a great story if there are fans there at that point they will be going

absolutely berserk when teddy ridgewater gets announced and comes out for the first time but after that it's back to football and I don't think Carolina has anywhere enough juice to beat the Vikings exactly and that's why in week 12 and 13 I don't know if we need to spend a whole ton of time on this because it's back-to-back home games against the Panthers and the Jaguars both of these are going to be wins for the Vikings both of those two teams are in the bottom five in my opinion uh next year in the nfl so the teddy comeback story is going to be great he's going to get a huge ovation like you said if fans are there but at the end of the day they are in a very long rebuild process um unless joe brady can just

pull out his lsu magic and apply it to an nfl team uh i don't think that that's going to happen i also think not to you know say anything about older coaches i think that that's going to happen. I also think, not to, you know, say anything about older coaches, I think that there's going to be an extra grind or gear to grind. If you're Mike Zimmer, if you're anybody who's been in this league, when there's a 30-year-old offensive coordinator who is this wonder kid, the next Sean McVay, that they're going to try to beat the absolute hell out of teams like Carolina this year. Put extra emphasis on that to show him, like, okay, give him his welcome to the NFL type moment.

Yeah, you know that it drives Zimmer nuts to be beaten by younger coaches who got those head coaching jobs quicker than he did, where he took so long, and it's one of those motivating factors for him. And, you know, he loved beating Seancveigh in 2017 and so forth now the one question i have about carolina jacksonville is last year the denver game came oh so close to being just like the buffalo game yeah from 2018 are you sensing trap game here well yeah every year they have one where we go what happened there right i mean is one of these games that or is it an early

game where they're not really up to full speed yet like it was with Buffalo I'm just looking at the schedule and going what game would I think would be a win and then I go how did that happen and Carolina and Jacksonville back-to-back with these two easier games they just sort of scream that I would not pick a win for either one of those teams. Just one of them has it written all over them. Oh, sure. I mean, watch Jacksonville, me saying this now. Watch them come in here and punch them in the face. And Gardner Minshew goes off and throws for, you know,

pulls a Sam Bradford versus New Orleans week one 2017 type performance. You're like, whoa, what happened? Or if he hurdles Anthony Barr a la Josh Allen did you know two years ago I mean I don't think at that point of the schedule I mean last year though I mean that wasn't that week 12 when they had Denver come in right before the bye and they nearly lost that game it took you know a second half comeback and two very large big passes from Kirk Cousins to win that game? Maybe. But I still think that both of these teams are terrible.

I mean, Marone and his staff in Jacksonville probably wishes they had been fired last year so they could have tried to move on instead of being in this lame duck year where they're getting fired after 2020 anyways. So I don't see it happening. I think Atlanta could probably be more of a trap game, if you want to call it that. Even though, like, I think people need to start respecting Atlanta because the NFC South, like we mentioned, pretty darn good this year in every team. Even Carolina, in their rebuild process, every team made major moves in the offseason.

But I don't see it happening here with either of those teams in back-to-back weeks. Okay, so let's just say they blast through Carolina and Jacksonville. Now they head to Tampa Bay to face Tom Brady and the Bucs. I refuse to call it Tampa Bay. I will not do it. It's even too lame for me, and you know how much I enjoy puns. But what do you foresee in this game? You're getting to Decembercember and i don't know

what to expect from tom brady at this point are we like convinced that he's washed at this point is it looking like new york jets brett farve or are they a super bowl contender because their team is actually really good from top to bottom i i just have no idea what we're going to be seeing by that point that's why this game is hard to pick for me. I don't know. I've bought into the hype. I've bought into the Gronk hype. I've bought into Tom Brady having O.J. Howard and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and a billion other weapons.

I mean, I still think that they need to figure out what's going to happen with their running game. I've bought in, though. I think this is a loss. I think that Tampa is my early season favorite to win the Super Bowl, to get there at least. So the one thing you do need to consider here that could play into the Vikings, you know, their favor is those second half games. So let's look at the bye week. That comes week seven. Week 10 is their only game outdoors in what you could expect to be a pretty cold environment because that's chicago in november um you know the rest of their road games tampa bay should be

fairly warm or it should be it should be nice in december uh not necessarily 90 degrees but whatever it'll be nice and then they play in new orleans which is a dome uh and they play in detroit which is a dome so i mean from that point of it like i don't know if that really factors into it i think i read i read uh bruce feldman's excuse me uh john feinstein's book about quarterbacks and alex smith was talking about the game that essentially ended his career uh with the chiefs where they knew they were going to move on and it was something like you know negative 10 with the wind chill and it's like you don't think about that. That doesn't matter at that point.

Yeah, the wind would matter, but I'm just trying to bring up a point. We try to analyze the schedule and be like, oh, here they have a nice stretch of warm weather games, blah, blah, blah, in December. I don't think that will really matter. I think the fact of who they have at quarterback and the fact that they've never beaten Brady under Mike Zimmer is where my mind goes. So I've been thinking about Tampa Bay's defense. That last year they were put in such an abysmal situation because of Jameis Winston throwing picks constantly and setting them up to be scored on.

But their efficiency as a defense was pretty good. And they've added to the talent there, bringing back Adama Kinsu. And that's what I've been thinking about is even if Tom Brady is struggling a little bit and he's game manager at this point, which he kind of was last year for New England because his supporting cast was so bad. He was just trying to not turn the ball over and win with defense. We could see Tampa Bay be a really tough matchup for the Vikings, even if Brady does not play well because of how good their defense is.

It is outside on grass where they've had some struggles. So, yeah, I'm with you on marking that down as a loss. Home against Chicago, which has just been the site of some strange events over the past few years. We have Matt Barkley catching a touchdown. We have people hanging from the ceiling uh even last year you remember the meaningless game where all of us were watching detroit and green bay because it had playoff implications uh instead so at least it's not week 17 yeah against chicago december 20th at home i'm thrilled that it's earlier this year i wanted something

different i mean granted we're all spending new years or, it's just, it's January 3rd. We're not spending New Year's in Detroit. Thank you. But this is, I mean, it's just, I never know what this game, but I always anticipate Chicago falling flat on its face at this point of the season. Nick Foles will be the quarterback full time. If he hasn't already been when they played,

when they play Chicago five weeks prior in Week 10. I think that Chicago is a mess. I don't understand what they did in the draft. They've got nine tight ends on the roster now. I know they had ten, but they ended up parting ways with one of them. This team, I can't figure it out. Is the play calling going to be different this year? Because you have a veteran quarterback in there.

You don't have to have the training wheels on. That just never came off with Mitchell Trubisky. The defense is still really good, and we know that. They started extending guys last year because they needed money to be able to get a quarterback. Well, they did that. So you have a good defense that still has a very high ceiling, and you have a quarterback who at this point of the season, watch out. Nick Foles is dangerous.

Like, if there's an injury to anybody week 14 and on you know that Nick Foles is going to win whatever game whatever situation you put him in but I have a feeling it's going to be different because I tend to think I'm already calling him the starting quarterback in Chicago so I still have this as a win though for the Vikings because I'd rather be safe than sorry when I'm picking these games and I'd rather split because I don't think they're going to lose to Chicago twice they did last year and obviously that week 17 game didn't matter because they were already in the playoffs but I think the Chicago team is better they are better than they were last year but they're still not

good and I think it's only a matter of time before there's a complete turnover there. I think we might be looking at one of those 80s or 90s situations where a team has one quarterback start seven games and another start nine. And they just kind of like try to catch lightning in a bottle with whether Nick Foles or Mitch Trubisky is playing well. Because Foles over his entire career is not a good quarterback. He's not even really remotely a good quarterback. I mean, he's just got backup written all over him, but that one stretch and that one random 10 games with Chip Kelly in 2013, it shows you that Foles has the ability to get hot, and you should still be a little scared of him.

But by this point, I wonder if Chicago is even still in the race or if they've had Trubisky play a handful of games after full struggles and then Trubisky struggles and they bring back full. I could, I could totally see that happening like the Steve Walsh and Eric Kramer days of Chicago quarterbacking. So I I'm with you on a win here. Now going to new Orleans is an interesting one because Mike Zimmer has won

the battles of this bleep gets crazy at the end yes over the last couple of times with New Orleans uh there was the one game where Adam Thielen fumbled in 2018 at home and that was maybe when we knew that season wasn't really going to go the way the Vikings wanted it to but for the most part these have just been slug fest these have been great games um whether you're a Vikings fan not so much a Saints fan with the Minneapolis Miracle and the way last year ended. But if you're a Vikings fan, you have really loved your last few games against the New Orleans Saints.

And I was surprised that, A, they're playing on a Friday, B, they're playing on Christmas Day. Yeah, very weird. I mean, both of those things, if you're being put on Christmas Day, you're obviously a hot team. People think, or at least the schedule makers, whatever the formula is, etc., they want eyes on that game. And weird bleep happens in these games, whether it's Bounty Gate or other controversies

or 12 men on the field and anything else that you can think of. Miracles, questionable pushing off in the end zone a la kyle rudolph last year uh and kurt cousins the drive that got him an extension in minnesota that 42 yard pass to adam thielen to get him inside the goal line you know they went to this place five months ago and they won and yeah drew briefs didn't get to touch the ball in overtime but that's the rules. It is what it is. I have this as a win because I just can't think that, you know,

despite all that happened last year with New Orleans and the 13-3 season and Brees setting the record and how great that season was and then for it to flop in the wild card round, yeah, there's going to be a lot of angst about this game, but there's something that tells me the Vikings are going to win because they look outmatched entirely on paper. But they looked outmatched on paper last year too. Remember, they didn't have Mackenzie Alexander,

they didn't have Mike Hughes because all of a sudden somebody's got a neck injury and he's got to go on IR, and we find that out the Friday before the wild card game, and they were still able to contain Michael Thomas by having Andrew Sandejo play in the slot or, you know, most of the time, he wasn't playing nickel corner, but he was playing in the slot and he covered Michael Thomas. If you give Zimmer time and at that point of the season,

he'll know what he has with the new cornerbacks that have come in. Maybe guys that are ready to take on bigger roles, see where Jeff Gladney's at at that point of the season he'll know what he has with the new cornerbacks that have come in maybe guys that uh are ready to take on bigger roles see where jeff gladney's at at that point i think he'll have i think he's gonna have something up his sleeve and that's why i just cannot rule them out it feels like the easy thing to do to mark that down as a loss because of the magnitude of the stage and you know all the turnover this year and kurt cousins going down there and doing exactly what he did in January again feels unlikely. But I have them winning this game. I don't know if I'm in the minority there.

I haven't checked out other people's schedules, but I'm curious to see if you agree with me. Well, so I always try to go through what weird could happen here. And if you were looking for a very bold prediction, you might go with Taysom Hill as the starting quarterback of the New Orleans Saints on December 25th. But if he's not, I probably will pick New Orleans.

I mean, you go through the history of these teams, and you know it's going to be wacky. You know it's going to be close. You know that it's going to be a really well-played game between these two coaches and their teams. But one of these times New Orleans is going to get to the NFC Championship or the Super Bowl, they've just been so strong over these last few years, and that roster top to bottom is maybe top three in the entire NFL.

I would still have that as a New Orleans win over the Vikings, but I see your logic for sure, that Cousins went into that place and showed that he was not going to be intimidated. They showed over the last few years that they can beat this team. They can hang with them as good as they are and that they can slow down Drew Brees. He has not been great against Zimmer's defenses. However, this is not Zimmer's defense of the past. So I think I'm going to lean toward the Saints, but I get where you're coming from.

Now, January 3rd in Detroit, just screams letdown game. I know. This has it written all over it. Like, put it on the head of the newspaper, the letdown game against Detroit. Especially if they're looking at a playoff spot because, as we know, the field's expanded this year. They could probably, probably get in at 9-7, but, you know, you want to be 10-6,

finishing up Week 17 at minimum. So what are you going with here? I have them winning, and I know this, like I foreshadowed earlier, this kind of defies my you're not going to beat a division opponent twice logic, but Detroit's never good at Week 17. They're just not. Like, they are always out of it like by you know the halfway point of the season they're not a good football team um the wheels will have come off the bus

in a very large part if matt patricia doesn't get fired in the middle of the season by this point everything's pointing to a turnover in 2021 for the lions coaching staff and their entire philosophy so i think that just based on all the other stuff that's going to be swirling here and how poorly the Lions have played at home against the Vikings the last few years, save for a blocked field goal that ended up being called back on that Thanksgiving Day game in 2017, I think that this is going to be a win for the Vikings. I have them going 10-6 to finish out the regular season. And one thing I wanted to point out here,

I know people got a little, like, irritated when I pointed out their road strength of schedule in that it's the – I think it's the fourth hardest or second hardest in the NFL this year. And everybody's like, well, those teams were different from last year. Yeah, they were. Indianapolis is a better team this year, like now, than they were last year, looking at last year's record. Seattle is probably about the

same. Still a damn good team that made it to the NFC Championship. Who else? I mean, Chicago, technically on paper is a better team than they were last year. Tampa Bay, definitely a better team than they were last year. And New Orleans, still as good as they were last year. Yeah, Houston sucks. We know that. I don't really factor in their strength of schedule

and how hard that's going to be in terms of the Vikings' overall road tests that they have. But, like, to finish on the road in three of their last four games or on the road, that's going to be tough. So we have to factor that in with the Tampa Bay game, New Orleans, and at Detroit. They're going to be gassed at that point. But I think Detroit is winnable.

So let's talk about, just before we get to Mike Zimmer's ranch, the expectations. You have them at 10-6. When I went through and did mine on purpleinsider.com, same thing. I ended up with 10-6 as well. I think that's a very fair expectation for them to match last year's record. The roster has been overturned, but I don't think it's necessarily weaker because some of those players that we knew so well as great players were not great last year. Linval Joseph was not great. Everson Griffin was good, but he was not what he used to be. Rhodes was poor. Trey Waynes did not

play all that well. And now you kind of have Adam Thielen, if he's healthy, replacing the production of Stephon Diggs, and you've added Justin Jefferson to the mix. So I think that the roster strength overall is just as strong as it was last year. Your schedule appears on paper harder, but there's 10 wins to be had here. If they end up in the playoffs, then I think that you have reached your expectations if you end up in the playoffs, even if it's 9-7. Because of what you've had to do to turn over the roster and because we look at this team as more of a legitimate contender again in 2021

for NFC Championship and so forth, I look at it as, as long as you make the playoffs, then you've done your job. Yeah, and they have to match where they were last year if they want if people want to keep their jobs um if they want contract extensions if they do not end up coming before the regular season i feel like at some point they're going to have to because it's just so weird for a coach and a gm to go into lame duck years but this is a prove it type season because you're set up for success in 2021 and beyond. But you still think that you can win based on the moves that you made this offseason, starting with Kirk Cousins, probably going to happen soon with Dalvin Cook in an extension.

You still think that you can win this year with the guys that you have in spite of all the turnovers. So would it be exceeding expectations if it's 10-6 and they get to the wild card? No, I think that's exactly where it needs to be. If you get to the divisional playoffs and if you win there, that's exceeding expectations because, A, it's further than where you were last year, and it's also probably further than most people expect because the NFC, again, is pretty top-heavy. When you take a look at teams like Dallas, like Tampa Bay, you know, even the Vikings, I mean, I would, I would consider them one of, you know, the NFC's probably top five or

six teams. And then it's kind of like this litany of everybody else. But you know that, like, I mean, when I was going through the schedule, my brain was nine and seven, 10 and six. And I kind of went back and forth on a couple games. 10-6 just feels more realistic to me. I don't know if it would have been more of a pessimistic view of viewing how the turnover is going to affect this roster with 9-7. But I tried to look at it from a league-wide stance. Everybody is going to be a step behind this year, at least to start out the season, because no one is in facilities right now. It's not like the Vikings have this entire new defense, which they do, and they've got

to get those guys up to speed. But it's not like there aren't other teams that are in the same boat that see a window right now to win. So I think 10-6 is conservative, and I guess putting them right where they should be. They should be able to do what they did last year. Last year, they could have been 11-5 had it not been for, you know, a really, really bad loss at Green Bay in Week 2, you know, a game that they should have won.

And they should have won the Chicago game in Week 17. So, I mean, they could have been better than 10-6 last year, but every year is going to have those type of moments that I don't know if you can really predict for it because nobody's really predicting any last-second losses at this point or Kirk having a meltdown. So, I think that 10-6 is a safe spot to be in. I'd rather be there than 9-7 and having people yell at me. Okay, last thing before we wrap up.

I need you to answer two questions. No, I have not watched a full episode of Chicago PD. Yes, Mike Zimmer on a Zoom call mentioned watching Chicago PD. I have watched it and it's intense is the best way that I could put it. So two questions though, if you were living and quarantined at Mike Zimmer's ranch,

what would you be doing? That's question number one. And then serious question. What position group has the toughest job trying to do virtual learning during OTAs and minicamps? Well, I actually went down to Zim's ranch last year for a feature story I worked on in the summertime. And I very much enjoyed the skeet shooting, which is the clay discs where they launch it in the air. I only got one of them. So I would spend most of my time riding the four-wheeler that he mentioned because it's huge.

It's expansive. I kept asking him, like, how do you know where your property lines are? This place is like 150 acres. But he knew exactly every tree, every branch, everything that was his. So I'd ride the four-wheelers, and I would spend my day skeet shooting. And to answer your question, I think it's one that we've talked about ad nauseum, the offensive line. I mean, you're not going to have time to get a lot of guys up to speed.

That is a position that if you talk to former offensive linemen and just the importance of what OTAs and those 10 weeks in the offseason program look like, to be able to get from college body into NFL body, that's one thing. But also realizing in the NFC North alone, the amount of good defensive linemen that you have to go up against, I mean, you don't have to tell Garrett Bradbury that. He had the full offseason last year, and he still struggled. So I think the offensive line is

is by far the group that's going to have the hardest time and the vikings are gonna you know maybe they've outsmarted us all in the red shirt philosophy that they used with drew samia he's going to be a perfect fit at right or left guard this year and they can figure out the rest maybe maybe they sign a guard ahead of training camp because there still are several out there. Larry Warford or whatever his name is, the guy from Saints, he's still out there. Kalechi Osemele is still out there. Who knows if the Raiders still want to hold on to Gabe Jackson. There are ways to improve the offensive line further

if you're not going to have time to get your Ezra Clevelands and the other offensive linemen that they drafted much, much, much later, you know, into a process where they're going to be ready to contribute in significant portion as rookies. All right. So I would play golf because he clearly has a golf course that he's built there, or he called it more of a driving range with a hole. It's got a couple of tee boxes. So yeah, I'd be hitting golf balls all day and I would use this hot tub. I would grind tape in his hot tub. He actually mentioned

that, uh, every night his son is hanging out in the hot tub. So I'm like, I'll, I'll do that. And, uh, no, I would not watch Chicago PD, but I have been rewatching Breaking Bad and remembering how great that show was. So I I'd probably do that when hanging out at the Zimmer Ranch. So Courtney, this has been awesome. So glad to be back with you and doing this again. And I hope everyone enjoyed it. And we've got lots and lots, lots more to come. We're going to be doing this several times a week.

So I'm very excited to be back with Purple and Tidal.