Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Sam Darnold goes legend as the Vikings beat the Falcons -- now do you believe?

Episode Date: December 8, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press talk about how the Vikings defeated the Atlanta Falcons in Sam Darnold's best career game Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome inside US Bank Stadium. Matthew Collar here along with Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press for the postgame show that you all dreamed about. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons. And hey, it wasn't a one-score game. How about that? A three-score defeat for the Vikings over the Atlanta Falcons. Sam Darnold puts together a truly legendary performance.

One of the best performances in Minnesota Vikings history. Kirk Cousins on the other side throws two interceptions that were costly after otherwise a pretty good day for Kirk Cousins. And the Minnesota Vikings are now 11 and two and the Falcons dropped to six and seven with their very, very expensive veteran quarterback who does not look the same as he used to. So let's break this one down. I think I'll start with this, that this was the victory for the Vikings that they needed. They needed to be this way. They didn't need this necessarily for the standings. They're in the playoffs. They're a

good team, but this was a game where their defense was not sharp. It has been beaten down over the last couple of weeks. The lack of long drives led to this defense playing 82 plays. It was a major concern last week and then the week before, they were in overtime. And this week in the first half, they're down 19-11 in time of possession. And it was only going to be one if the quarterback stepped up and made some plays that were special. And what we saw from Sam Darnold today was special, special plays, arm talent, scrambles, resilience after a very difficult first half. The type of stuff that leads 11-2 football teams that are legit contenders.

And I think that that is the takeaway for me, Dane, is that we've spent so much time with people waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, I think it's time to drop that subject because now that they've reached 11 wins, this would have been a great season to begin with, to be at 11 wins, but also can Sam Darnold keep doing it? Can Sam Darnold keep doing it? Can Sam Darnold keep doing it? Not only has he kept doing it, he's kept getting better.

And Kevin O'Connell talked after the game about how coming out of Jacksonville could have gone either way. And Sam Darnold put his head down and was able to assess himself and improve and improve and improve. And now also Jordan Addison is playing like a star. Now it seems they have a Moss and Carter here in Jefferson and Addison, which is going to be really tough to stop for anybody in the NFC statement win Dane. That's how I'd put it. A hundred percent statement win. And we have tried our best not to talk about the former quarterback throughout this season. Not everything had to be looked at through the prism of what Kirk cousins is or isn't doing in Atlanta. But today you get to talk about that because today the Vikings played him and today the Vikings were proven right for not only moving on from him, but picking the guy that they

chose to be his replacement. They went out and handpicked Sam Darnold, probably not believing he could do what he did today and what he's been doing for the past month, but because he had attributes that really could fit in this offense. And we've started to see it. We've started to see it click pretty good a week ago or three weeks ago, pretty good two weeks ago, really good again last week. But like the backdrop of this game matters. It was Sam Darnold versus Kirk Cousins. Yes, it was the Vikings versus the Falcons. Yes, I understand the game counts for both teams, but when you really just kind of zero in on it and drill down on it, this was proof that not only did the Vikings make the

right decision, but they are going to have another decision to make here in a couple of months. We don't have to dive down that rabbit hole, but to watch Sam Darnold go out and perform at the level that he did against Kirk Cousins, I think it's just proof that not only are they a legitimate team in the NFC right now, but they could be in a month, month and a half. If you continue to get the play that you've gotten from Sam Darnold over the past month, you can play with anybody. You can beat anybody. I'm willing to say that I don't know if there are three quarterbacks who have played the quarterback position better than Sam over the past month. I don't know if there's one quarterback who's played the position better than Sam over the past month. Maybe Josh Allen in Buffalo. What Sam Darnold's doing right now, you're right. We no

longer have to think about every time he has a bad game from this point forward, is he going to turn back into a pumpkin? Absolutely not. The dude is right now a top 10 quarterback in the league and on any given week is proving that he can be the best quarterback in the league. 22 of 28 today, 347, five touchdowns, countless unbelievable throws that there are very few quarterbacks in the league can make. And when you just, you have to do it when you compare that to the quarterback play on the other side, it's a no brainer. Who would you rather have right now? So I thought it was a statement game for the Vikings. I thought it was a statement game from Sam Darnold. I thought the coolest part of the game to me,

there were amazing throws and cool receptions by Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison. My most memorable part of this game was watching when the camera panned to Sam Darnold after they went up 42 to 21. Late in the fourth quarter, camera shows him on the sideline he's showing on the jumbotron and the dude who is maybe one of the more stoic athletes I've covered and you're not going to get a lot out of Sam Darnold jumps up stands on the bench starts waving a towel around we asked him about it after the game he said that's just pure emotion that's passion it's passion because I think he understands what's happening right now.

Just an incredible day here at US Bank Stadium. It really was. And to see Sam Darnold have that reaction, I was surprised by it. The players were surprised by it. I asked Eric Bradbury after the game to see Sam Darnold wave the towel, acknowledge the fans, show that energy. He said it means more when the guy never does that. Like knowing he said, if it was one of our guys, who's always loud or always excitable, then, you know, we'd be like, okay, fine. But this is Sam Darnold, somebody who very, very rarely displays any of his emotion. And I think today it did reach that point. And he said, you know, when they showed him, he didn't want to just be sitting there. He wanted to acknowledge the fans who were really great today. I thought last week it was a little

bit less loud in here, but today it was very much as loud as they could have hoped for going against Kirk Cousins. But if we pick apart every part of this Darnold performance, it had every single reason that he has been one of the superstar quarterbacks in the NFL this year. Number one is that he got hit early in the game and actually seemed like the Vikings offensive line was caught off guard and their blocking unit was caught off guard a little bit by some of the pressures. Brian O'Neill gave up a surprising sack. We almost never see him do that where he's just straight beaten on a play and Sam Darnold went down. So he was getting beaten up a little bit, banged up, but he did not turn the ball over, which is really

important. Once again, the turnovers have disappeared since Jacksonville. And now when we look at his turnover rate, his interception rate, turnover worthy plays, it's much more close to just the great quarterbacks in the league after that one game in Jacksonville. And I think it was fair after he had that game to go, all right, was the floodgates going to open up? And his response to that, to bounce back and have four of the best games you're going to see in the NFL capped off by this one right here, which I think you have to go back to Dante Culpepper and Randy Moss to find games like this, where the quarterback is launching the ball downfield. He's making plays with his legs. And the touchdown to Jefferson is the quintessential moment of this day and of that

decision to move on. Uh, and of the decision to bring in this quarterback, go back. I just want to just go back and look at your favorite analyst, not me, somebody else on the national side, maybe. And what they said about Sam Darnold signing with the Vikings. There might've been a handful of people that said, oh, I guess he's a bridge quarterback. And then there were other people who said, why would you bother with Sam Darnold? Because he's talented. He's stupid talented. And we saw all of that today. He escapes a free running safety at him, rolls out. Every quarterback in the league is like, okay, I'll just take this for another couple yards. Keeps his eyes downfield, sees Justin Jefferson waving down there and fires the ball right to him, walks in for a touchdown.

There are other plays where it's 40, 50 yards in the air while someone's closing in on him. The Jordan Addison touchdown, a little bit of luck on that one where his arm looks like it might've got hit, but still the pocket closing in, he's able to just use his pure arm strength to push the ball downfield. He had a couple of touchdowns that were executed on time and in rhythm. And this was the vision for Kevin O'Connell when he signed Darnold. And he told everybody, O'Connell told everybody, I think this guy can be good. I've seen him play really well in 2022. I know what kind of offense he was in, in San Francisco. I know what he was dealing with before. And buying into that is the single biggest reason

that they are 11 and two. And there were times during this year, early in the season where we could say, Hey, just game manage, Sam, keep the ball in the fairway. Don't screw it up. And the defense will do the job for you. But the defense has been a little bit banged up. They were without Patrick Jones today, but, and without Stefan Gilmore, but mostly it's just that they've been worn down by the fact that the Vikings' offense has not generally been on the field enough. And so this was the real game where it was not one drive, not, okay, you just do this one thing for us and it'll be fine.

It was, you have to go win this game. You have to go beat that team. And not only did he beat them, he put up 42 points on one spectacular play after the next for Sam Darnold. This is who he is as the Minnesota Vikings quarterback. I truly do not care what he would be like if he was playing in Carolina this year or anywhere else. This is a perfect fit for two of the best wide receivers in the NFL, a top five

tight end in the NFL and a coach who for better or worse is going to throw that football down the field over and over again. And today, once again, Kevin O'Connell walks out a winner. So for all of you, he doesn't know how to call plays. We'll get to the trick play. Don't worry. He doesn't know how to call plays. He doesn't know how to manage a game, whatever, whatever. He's 11 and two with a quarterback who was what? 14 games under 500 before he got here. And now he is playing spectacular football. So I thought this was Sam Darnold's best game. It might be his best game of his entire career. And one more thing I wanted to say, I don't need to talk about Darnold in the future every single game.

I just don't need to do it. That will happen. That will come about. And we spent some time on it this week. And then he came out and once again, made another case for himself. I don't need that debate on a team that's playing for the Super Bowl at 11 and two. Your football team is playing for the Super Bowl. There is no more.

Oh, are they for real? You get to 11 wins. And now what's the point differential by the way, it's gotta be approaching plus 100 for the season. Yeah. You're playing for the Superbowl. The lions defense is banged up. Philadelphia almost lost to Carolina today. That that's the goal right now. And if your quarterback plays like that, if he makes plays like the rollout to Jefferson, if he performs in the red zone like he did and you get a 98-yard drive to finish it off, that is true competitor type of stuff. That's where my focus is going to be going forward. We'll have plenty of time to discuss the

other decision when we get there, but I want to talk about how this team just destroyed the Atlanta Falcons and has the bears up next and can finish this season contending for the entire conference after Sam Darnold's playing this way. No, I think that's a good point. I actually texted a friend that today they were saying, yeah, the Vikings would be stupid to let Sam Darnold walk out of the door. And I texted him back, just enjoy the ride.. We don't have to treat everything under the, is this going to be a good decision? Is this going to be a bad decision umbrella? I get it.

That's part of what sports talk is. It's projecting into the future. It's making predictions. It's having hot takes about really any situation. But when the team is 11-2 and we see quarterback play like we did today, why think about next season? I get it. Fans are always going to be thinking forward into the future.

But you're 11-2, and that doesn't happen very often for any franchise, let alone this one. So who cares if Sam Darnold's the quarterback next year? We'll have an entire offseason to talk about whether Sam Darnold's the quarterback next year. We'll have an entire offseason to talk about whether Sam Darnold's the quarterback next year. What he is is the quarterback this year, and I can't stress enough how good this game was, but also how important this game was.

He's been great for three weeks. After the clunker against Jacksonville, thought he looked really good against Tennessee, even though the stats might not be gaudy. Thought he was good against the Bears, even though the stats might not be gaudy. Thought he was good against the Bears, even though that one got a little hairy at the end. Thought he was good last week against Arizona. But he hasn't had a game where,

and it's because the offense hasn't had a game where it was like, we can win this for you. It's always been, well, they need the defense to step up here, and the offense is kind of stagnated. And Kevin O'Connell said this after the game. He said it was nice that the offense could kind of take the onus on itself to win the game for him. And obviously, Kevin O'Connell is going to feel that.

He's the play caller. It grinds his gears probably more than even the fans' gears. I know it grinds when they stagnate on offense. But I think he's been waiting for a game like this so to get it and to see Sam Darnold play like this to see Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson prove that maybe there's there's probably not a duo in the league you'd rather have and and Kevin O'Connell after the game really stressed the 98 yard drive to close it out he talks a lot about play style that just means being physical as a football team and coach speak. Um, but I think to do what you did to show you have the quarterback who can do

it, to show you have the offense who can win a shootout if it has to, and then to flat out, go punch the team in the mouth and go 98 yards to close it out. Like 42, 41 is, is, is a butt kicking. Uh, but it was close for, for a little close for a large portion of the game. I think for the Vikings to get the ball back at the two-yard line after Byron Murphy gets that interception and to just drill it into the Atlanta Falcons, that was kind of the statement within the statement of our offense has been really good today

and we're going to take the life away from you right now if you get this level of play from from the offense i think at some point the defense is gonna probably this might i don't think this is who they are i do think there's just been some wear down i also think it is probably notable that they didn't force some turnovers today it's not going to be the best defense in the league, the number one ranked defense, but they still are an opportunistic group who I think once they get fully healthy, once they get recharged, probably is better than they showed today. But if you have that coupled with an offense that is clearly capable of this with a quarterback leading it, you're right. You are playing for the Super Bowl. And I think that's what we should be focused on. That's what we should be talking about because it's a reality. It's no longer a dream or a pipe dream of what this could be. It's the reality of the Vikings are one of the best teams

in football. So let's talk about cousins. And I see a comment from Nick. He says cousins was always the right quarterback at the wrong price. So here's my thing. No, he wasn't. He was never the right quarterback. And I think you saw it today. And I know this is not the version that was here before, but Hey, a big game against a good team. That's getting a lot of attention and he throws the shocking big interception and he racks up, I don't know, 300 and something yards and his team loses because he made the big mistake today could not have highlighted more why he was never the

right quarterback. The plays that Sam Darnold put down on tape today, our franchise quarterback caliber play superstar talent quarterback play that wins games in the NFL every single week, scrambling, escaping, getting first downs when nothing's there, downfield, arm talent, tight windows, next level type of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford type of stuff. He has played like a Matthew Stafford level quarterback recently. Arm talent matters, escapability matters. And the fact that the Vikings took a guy who usually you would use talent wise to have as a bridge quarterback and continue to pay him over and over and over to have the same type of season that the Atlanta Falcons are having now, it always blew my mind. And all Sam Darnold has shown you

is just how you can really maximize these wide receivers when you actually have the arm to make those plays, when you actually have the legs to make those plays. And hey, a blitz that works doesn't just kill you. You actually have someone who can escape and make a play. The physical talent on the field today was so far of a gap. It should make you astonished that this team continued to go back and back and pay that quarterback over and over again. And also everyone in the state should write

a letter to the Atlanta Falcons. Thank you. Thank you for taking that off of your hands. Who was shocked when he let the ball go and it floated over his wide open wide receiver and it was picked off by Byron Murphy, every single one of you should have said, yeah, I remember that. How many times did the Atlanta Falcons early in this game have a chance to score a touchdown and they kicked a field goal to convert a fourth down, but their coach was too afraid to go for it because their quarterback doesn't have the physical talent to make a play if he has to. They didn't trust him. They should have been going for fourth downs. They didn't trust him. It was never there, folks. You won one playoff game the entire time that Kirk Cousins was your quarterback. And when they needed a play from somebody breaking through the line of scrimmage where Sam Darnold would have just run away, Kirk Cousins had to check down on fourth and eight. And how many of you were just reminded of all the yards that didn't matter over the years, all the wins over the tanking lions and tanking bears. But when you faced a Vikings team that was actually good or a winning team, otherwise that was actually good, you lost

and you disappointed and they're feeling it now in the South, but you're not feeling it here because you picked a way, way more gifted quarterback. So when we talk about that decision, just on display right there, here's one guy ripping it into tight windows. Here's another guy. If they're not wide open, if it's not right there, then it wasn't going to happen. If the running game wasn't there, it wasn't going to happen. So it was exactly kind of what I thought it might be today because of the Falcons defense. But this, this right here, it could not have said better why it was so wrong. All those times, the Vikings extended Kirk cousins and why they even went and drafted

a quarterback anyway, because it's just not working. They're six and seven. They're going to go home. Their fans are going to feel like you felt for six straight seasons. So no, he was never the right quarterback. He wasn't the right quarterback here. He wasn't for them.

And maybe if the right quarterback is this former third overall pick, who's got him at 11 and two, then so be it. But certainly for this moment, absolutely. Sam Darnold is the right quarterback. There is no way this team is 11 and two. If they had paid that guy, I think. Yeah. And you can look at obviously the game as a whole, as a way to illustrate that they

made the right decision. But I think you were kind of getting there. Like you just look at certain throws and it is evident how much Sam Darnold unlocks a different level of this offense. The second touchdown to Justin Jefferson. Well, we can go back. Let's just go through his first three touchdowns. The throw to Jordan Addisonison it's a 49 yard touchdown with an incredible adjustment by Jordan Addison with the ball in the air but there are probably five six quarterbacks in the league who with that pressure in their face not able to finish the throw with the full arm extension that can even get the ball anywhere remotely close to Jordan Addison how many times do you see a guy charging up the middle,

quarterback lets the ball go, it just kind of flutters on them, it's a duck, it gets picked off. Not with Sam Darnold, not with that arm strength. Great adjustment by Jordan Addison, but the fact that the ball got even remotely close to him, that's arm strength, that's arm talent. So that's the first touchdown. The second one to Jefferson, that's after the Atlanta Falcons

somehow got called for defensive holding on a field goal, which I've never really seen. But Kevin O'Connor votes to take the points off the board. Two plays later, three plays later, they send Jefferson in kind of a cheap motion. Sam Darnold, just a rocket to him in the end zone. Maybe that's a throw that Kirk can make. It doesn't look as aesthetically like he's gunning the ball in there, but that might be a throw that Kirk can make for people who want to say, oh, well, yeah, okay, I get it. On time, balls out, touchdown. The third throw, there's maybe two guys in the league that can make that third touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson. You talked about it, the scramble, moving around the pocket, making a safety miss, looking downfield in that moment and knowing I have the arm talent to off platform, get it there 50 yards down the field. Kevin O'Connell was asked after the game, how many

quarterbacks can make that throw, that throw in that vacuum? And he said, not very many. And he said, I told Sam Darnold something after he made that throw. It was a little more detailed is how Kevin O'Connell described it. I would venture to guess, and I do not know what they said. So disclaimer, this is not what Kevin O'Connell told Sam Darnold, but I would venture to guess he said there is nobody in the NFL that can make that throw. Maybe Patrick Mahomes can make that throw. Maybe Josh Allen can make that throw. But the point being, the fact that we're talking about the Vikings quarterback

in the same sentence, the same breath as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen can make that throw. But the point being, the fact that we're talking about the Vikings quarterback in the same sentence, the same breath as Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen is something we weren't doing for six years. Sam Darnold has proven now over the past month and with plays in a vacuum this week that he's just everything that you would want in a franchise quarterback. It sounds crazy to say, but it's the truth. Yeah. The decision is going to happen later after the season is over. But if we're just evaluating his performance this year, this is now, let's see, 11 out of 13 games with a 100 quarterback rating or better. And quarterback rating is not a perfect stat but it

does correlate to winning pretty well when you have over a hundred rating he is completing passes at a high level he's making plays at a high level and what i keep going back to is two things i mean of course we just talked about the talent but also here's the other thing too dallas turner hits kirk cousins early in this game and it changed for a while how Kirk Cousins performed. And how many times did we see that? The pocket being pushed in on Kirk Cousins always changed how he played as a quarterback. Today, the first half offensive line performance, it was a struggle and they got Sam Darnold hit and they pushed the pocket on him to throw to Addison for a touchdown. There is a guy right in front of him and they have two interior players who are good. Goldman

has given the Vikings problems before. And then, you know, Grady Jarrett's one of the best players in the league. So they were going to be able to do that, but they pushed the pocket back and Sam Darnold did not get nervous, did not get anxious, did not start floating passes. He just said, I'm going to go, I'm going to go make some plays. This is a franchise quarterback type performance. This is a top five in the league this season, overall type performance by Sam Darnold. And whether that means they tag him or whether that means they extend him for the next 10 years for right now, the conversation is, can Sam Darnold take this team deep into the playoffs and truly compete for a super bowl? And I think

I needed to see a little bit more after the, okay, they beat the tie, you know, the Titans, they beat the Colts, they be okay. You know, he was really great against Chicago about to fire their coach. This is where he Morris, this is a good football coach on the other side. That is a good offense that they had to overcome, or at least today, it was a good offense for the Atlanta Falcons and they needed him to do this. And like, you know how, I don't know if they still do this, where you get badges for different things. So maybe this is like a 10 years ago, cell phone thing. But if we were given out the Sam Darnold badges, it's like last week, game winning drive badge, stick that on Sam Darnold.

How about the, you are the reason your team won a three score game. Stick that badge on Sam Darnold. He doesn't have to do much else after today to prove that he's dangerous. And these wide receivers are also making their case as Moss and Carter in terms of how unstoppable Jordan Addison is down the field. And this is why they've been patient with Jordan Addison over the years. I'm sure they were incredibly frustrated at times with him. Even the little free three thing on the Instagram, you could say whatever you want, if he didn't mean it, that sort of thing, but he was getting frustrated and for him to lock in at these biggest moments for Jefferson, you guys were y'all concerned that Jefferson was never

going to catch passes again after he didn't have enough receptions against the bears. Some of the catches that Jefferson made today are trust throws from Sam Darnold, belief throws from Sam Darnold, and they're also all universe type of talents. And when you look around this offense overall, and in the second half, the old line was great by the way, overall, a good offensive line that can do the job on a weekly basis. They ran the ball really well today. They have a running back who did not fumble, but who is still playing really well this season. Two of the best receivers in the world. One of the best tight ends. Josh Oliver got involved again. He's back from his health issues. The ceiling for this offense is one that can compete with anyone in this conference with the way Sam Darnold is playing.

And one other badge that I'd like to stick on Sam Darnold is playing. And one other badge that I'd like to stick on Sam Darnold, the professionalism badge. Sam Darnold showed up here knowing they were going to draft quarterback. He went to OTAs and minicamp knowing that they were going to draft quarterback. He went through all of training camp knowing that everybody wanted JJ McCarthy and that the fan excitement was all about McCarthy and the discussion and the talk is, okay, maybe Darnold will start week one, but who cares? McCarthy, McCarthy. Okay. And guess what he did every day in camp? He showed up and played his butt off. He was great in camp. We kept coming back going, man, this guy, I don't know. These throws are awesome.

And then throughout this season, there's been rocky moments. There's been everybody on the outside wondering, when's it going to fall apart? When's Sam Darnold going to come apart? And every single time, he has met every single challenge with professionalism with his words, the way he handles it, the way he handles himself in the media. You never see some social media nonsense from Sam Darnold. Even today, he's almost apologizing for showing a little bit too much emotion at the end of the game. This guy and the way that he has handled it from a character perspective has really, really been incredible. And this is winning quarterback football and also winning quarterback

professionalism and his ability to be coached at this point in his career. And never once has he ever been snarky, taking shots at people or anything like that. He's just always one step in front of the other to 11 and freaking two. It's insane. And I think Kevin O'Connell, you saw it after the San Francisco game early in the year. There was a moment where the emotion seemed to get the most of Kevin O'Connell when he was talking about Sam Darnold postgame, got a little choked up. This was like two, three months ago now where he said, like, when everyone's told you that

you your quarterback journeys failed, like it gives him great joy to, to see someone kind of turn it around. He got a little emotional today. I think it was close. And I think it was what, what drew out the emotion today is kind of what you talked about. Like the hard work that goes into this, like, of course, yeah, we're going to talk about this game and we're going to say like, is this the best game he's ever played? Oh my gosh, he finishes with nearly a perfect quarterback rating or passer rating. He threw five touchdowns. First quarterback to do that, I think since Dante. Like we're going to talk about these singular moments that happened today in a football game that was just an incredibly fun game to watch what we're not going to talk about or what like a large chunk of you know the fan base and even us as reporters are probably not going to talk about is like the hours upon hours upon hours of hard work that went into this a lot of those hours before J.J. McCarthy's knee blew up you know like a lot of these hours that Sam Darnall was putting in was with the idea that

he's gonna he might not even be the quarterback by the end of the year. So to see it all kind of come together, like I think that drew some emotion out of Kevin O'Connell today. Like when you think about what this guy has done over the course of his career and what he's doing now, I don't know how you can't help, but feel good about or feel, you know,

certain ways about how he's doing this. When you just kind of look at the, you know, the body of work that he's put in both on the field during games but every single day at TCO Performance Center and Eagan like he is what you would want in a franchise quarterback like throwing the ball obviously the arm talent is incredible but also the way he carries himself and then how many times this year have we given him alley-oop passes to just dunk all over the New York Jets? Oh, my God, Sam, you're playing so well.

Would you like to say anything about New York? And he'll just say, I could have played better in New York. Like, that's franchise quarterback stuff. Like, why make the headline? You don't need to. We would love it, but you don't need to do that. And he never has. So franchise quarterback off in the field,

franchise quarterback stuff off the field, franchise quarterback stuff off the field. They got one. And then I think you need that level of quarterback play to feel confident going to the playoffs. I think today is a culmination game kind of of sorts. You can feel really, really good about the Vikings going into the playoffs. You probably should have been feeling good about it, but anyone who was cynical,

if you're cynical after this weekend, then just don't watch the team. You know, I really thought halfway through the game that the Vikings were going to win by maybe three points. And then we would have another one of those discussions. This is why I feel like this game is different from a lot of recent ones and not to mention all the hype and all the attention. Adam Schefter comes out with a report just before, not that it was anything you didn't know, but just before the game. Well, the Vikings haven't had any talks with Darnold about an extension. I don't know when they would even do that. He's working on trying to win the Super Bowl at 10 and two before today, but okay. Like what, what is that

about? Like, uh, getting in, are we trying to get inside Sam Darnold's head for somebody? I don't know, but all of that stuff has made no difference to him whatsoever. And the buy-in from the players has been there for really since training camp, I think, but even week one, how happy they were for him after week one, there is an added energy to this. Everyone brings it up. I think it was Brian O'Neill said today to see him wave the towel to the fans and have them go nuts, knowing what he's been through in his career. They're not pretending like he has it. They're treating it as a rallying point for him. And somebody asked in the comments about what percentage is him? What percentage is KOC? What percentage is the weapons?

See, I love that question because this has always been my thing. Have your quarterback be playing so well that somebody says it's not him. We went this with San Francisco, Brock, but it could be Brock Purdy. It's gotta be the coaching. It's gotta be the weapons or just even if you go to, um, uh, let's see who was, Oh, Jalen hurts. Jalen hurts gets this all the time. Is it really Jalen hurts? That's actually this good. You want to be that team because that means your quarterback is playing incredibly well. So my answer is who cares? You don't have to give any of it back. You don't have to apologize for any of it. If Justin Jefferson or Jordan Addison makes a great throw, especially as you go down the stretch into the playoffs. So let us talk about the other side of things, which is the defense in our grading.

We usually grade the positions each week, but we're going to switch it up slightly and talk about coaching and quarterback grades first. Although I think we just did with Sam Darnold. We agree. A plus. A plus. Yeah. If there was more than an A plus,

you get it. Nobody will play the quarterback position better than Sam Darnold did today. This week. Maybe this month. A plus. If it's a test that gets you into harvard uh the score that he had for it so there you go we talked about darnell a lot the coaching kevin o'connell

and brian flores we're gonna we usually get to coaching at the end but i thought you know everybody likes to talk about coaching so let's do it earlier how did you feel coaching wise for o'connell and flores and their approaches to this contest I don't know how you could not feel good about the way the offense performed I thought their game plan was clearly like they they studied this okay they do every week they put together a game plan what we've learned is that often what they put together the game plan for because of the tape they've watched about the opposing team once they go out into the actual football game that actual week sometimes it changes sometimes defenses play completely different when they play the minnesota vikings

something leads me to believe that the vikings got exactly what they thought they were going to get from the falcons jordan addison said this in his post-game press conference. I think he was asked by Kevin Seifert from ESPN, did you know that this was going to be a possibility? And he said, yeah, we had a game plan and we got the looks we wanted. So even when the offense was looking clunky early on, I think it was set up for an explosion at some point. And while I think the players obviously deserve a lot of credit, that's coaching, like the ability to take advantage of something that you see on film

and put together things. Okay. You want to single up Jordan Addison because you want to send two to Justin. Uh, you're going to not play too shell. You're too high. You're not going to, you're going to give us this throw one-on-one to Jordan Addison over the top. We're going to take it. We're going to let him go eight for one3 with the 49 yard reception and another one that also went, I don't know if it was 49, it might've been like 30 or 40 yards. He drew a 47 yard pass interference call. You know, then, then when they start to load up on, on Jordan's side, then Jefferson's wide open, then Hawkinson's there, like everything that Kevin O'Connell put together in the offensive game plan worked. So it's an A for me.

Maybe an A- because of the trick play. I'll let you take that because I know you had certain feelings about that. But we don't need to take away what was otherwise a pretty masterful game plan from Kevin O'Connell because he doesn't want to run the ball in the red zone because I guess he did a trick play. And then he also did a direct snap to Aaron, Aaron Jones, just a little silly stuff that you get a little bit of a mark down for that. I don't know. It's, it's hard to, to give too much criticism though, with, with the coaching and game plan that they put together on offense. This is a bit of a product of watching the same team

and only the same team, because I'm sure that every team has some grudge against a tendency from their coach. And the trick plays is definitely it. A triple reverse screen. I just, come on, man. Like this is not necessary. And also putting Aaron Jones in for the direct snap and then Sam Darnold, illegal emotions. Not necessary. You're two yards away from the goal line. Just QB sneak it again. But aside from that, it was a remarkable game plan to push the ball down the field against

the team that was trying to put the cap on the defense. But even O'Connell said after the game that he felt like they got some answers with their motions. And that can be a difficult thing to do because teams know that you're trying to put people in motion to get them to signify what defense you're playing. And so they've stopped making it so obvious like they used to. But the game plan, I would have liked to have seen them go short yardage earlier, short passes, get a screen to Jefferson. He has one of the great games he's had all season. And yet I'm saying, I wish Jefferson got more involved early, but I really do. The last two weeks, Jefferson has not been a main target in

the first two or three drives. To me, that's just unacceptable. Like that has to happen. And for them to have the first half be as slow as it was, was a product a little bit, I will say it of play calling because they were trying to take these shots and they were running so well and the underneath stuff was there. And it felt like they weren't taking the gift that they were given. The other thing is too, as great as some of the play calls were, there's also the fact that the quarterback and wide receivers just made ungodly plays on some of these other things. So I don't want to give it an a plus. I would more like to give it

like an a minus for the game plan. And just funny little story. When we were interviewing Justin Jefferson, uh, this week, this Thursday leading up to the game, we were chatting with him and I asked him about the safeties. I said, you know, Atlanta's got these two good safeties. And he almost laughed in my face. He was like, yeah, it's, I don't care, whatever. And that was basically the answer. And I said to you, I think Jefferson thinks he's going to go for like 150 this week. He seemed, he was just kind of joking about it, but I mean, he seemed extremely confident in what they were going to face and the fact that they could have a big day. And they coached that way, especially in the second half, the play calling and the final

drive was great. They mixed in an easy bootleg to get a big play, but it wasn't a risky throw and then just run and run and run and run. So yeah, good job there. The defensive side is a little harder because they just, they needed turnovers. Otherwise this game might've been 42 to 38. They were moving the ball. They ran it effectively. Kirk had open receivers underneath the short stuff leading up to the game. It was exactly my biggest concern about playing Kirk is that he knows where

to throw the football and against this defense. If you can diagnose and know where to throw the football, you're going to be able to move the football down the field effectively. And they really did that. I just think this defense needs a break. They're going to get it this week, a little bit of extra rest, one extra day of recovery, and they need Stefan Gilmore. They didn't attack Fabian Morrow, but they had to play Shaq Griffin the entire game. And he also may have had an interception when I'm really sure if he did, or if it was a joint interception and they got to keep the football, but I don't know if it was the game plan or so much just who this defense is and then at the biggest times they came through so i would probably give it more of a b minus on the defensive side i also would give

credit to cousins for making some really nice reads finding the open person constantly and the fact that they have good weapons and good running backs yeah i think part of the defense struggling has to go to atlanta just being a pretty competent offense like as as dreadful as Kirk Cousins has played over the past month Bijan Robinson is a dog he's so good his vision is is incredible the way he can just stick his foot into the ground his dead leg juke is is amazing like he is an elite running back and then you have Drake London who's who's really come into his own Darnell Mooney, who has emerged as a legitimate number two,

maybe even a number one on certain teams that aren't the Chicago bears. Um, and Ray, Ray McLeod has turned into a pretty good underneath slot guy. So it's a talented offense. I don't think there was a world in which this was going to look like when the Vikings played Mac Jones and Jacksonville, like the Atlanta Falcons are,

are a respectable offense, despite what they've shown at times over the past month. So I assumed that Kirk Cousins was going to have some success. I think part of that, maybe, yeah, you probably get marks down if you're the defense, because if you're unable to put together a game plan that takes away these chunk yardage plays, then yeah, you probably deserve to get marked down for that. But I think what part of the game plan was, was let's try and get interior pressure. Let's try and get Kirk uncomfortable,

and let's see if he'll throw a couple to us. And he did. He threw two interceptions, maybe three if we want to count Jack Griffins. It doesn't count in the stats, but sure looked like he had more of the ball than Drake London. Um, but, uh, we, we talked about this before, before the game, me and me and caller were eating breakfast here at us bank stadium. And I said, the only quarterbacks this year who have given them real, real problems are veteran quarterbacks who know where to go with the ball. Jared golf, Matthew Stafford. Everyone

remembers that five day stretch where it felt like the sky was falling in Minnesota. Kirk Cousins falls into that mold of like, he knows where to go with the ball. And you saw that at times. There were almost, it looked like Kevin O'Connell's offense at times. Dagger cuts over the middle, like things that are going to be there behind the linebackers in front of the safeties. Kirk Cousins knows how to layer that ball in. And so I think part of that, like the downgrades on defense, at least part of that goes to Atlanta being a pretty good offense. But yeah, I think you're more onto the fact that this defense might just be wearing down. It's had to play a lot. The time of possession over the past month, as much as the Vikings are continuing to win football games,

it's not sustainable. That's what you get when you have an explosive offense. Sometimes that is kind of just the life you're going to have to live. But I think they could use a little break. And so the defensive game plan, you can't give it an A because they gave up almost 500 yards of total offense. It was bad. But the fact that they were able to come through,

you can't rely on turnovers to win you games over and over and over again. But week to week, if you produce turnovers, if you win the turnover battle, you get credit for that. So I think B- is pretty good for a coaching game plan. They weren't great, but they did make the plays they had to make. So I think that reality has maybe set in for how the Vikings will have to win the rest of the way. They will get pressures and they got some pressures today. They were getting rid of the ball pretty quickly. They got some pressures today. They're going to get turnovers and interceptions, especially, and, uh, hanky panky with the super chat. Appreciate you for that. Uh, says, uh, Murphy's pick was the best catch of the game.

It was an incredible play. And this team does have that in them. It's not really super random that you have a bunch of veteran players who make plays like Byron Murphy. He's got the best hands in the secondary and he's caught the ball when it's come his way. Some of them have been overthrows and mistakes by quarterbacks, but that's just a great catch to be able to bring that football in and essentially end the game with that interception. If they catch it and they score on that play, or if he doesn't catch it and they go on to score i mean we're talking about potentially an exciting ending as opposed to a 42 to 21 blowout of the falcons but that was i mean that would have brought him within seven maybe if they convert and score there and then you're talking about needing a big drive from the vikings to put it away and it's just a

lot more tense if byron murphy wouldn't picked it off. So I think what with this defense, they're going to have to do bend, don't break to some extent, and they're going to have to take the ball away and they're going to have to get sacks and pressures that cause mistakes. And they're going to have to be tough in the red zone, which they were again today, because they probably won't just annihilate everyone with the situation they're kind of dealing with right now. Now, if they go into the playoffs and they get Ivan Pace back and they get Gilmore, this is, it's always felt a little bit delicate on the defensive side. And I think we've seen that every bad game they've had, they're missing either Cashman or Pace or Gilmore.

It's hard to have everybody healthy, but if they do by the end of the season, I would have much more confidence in what they could do. And when they go into the playoffs, they will face someone who's good and they'll have to outscore them. That's going to, they're just, they are going to have to outscore another team. And I think you saw today they were able to do that. Also Jalen Redmond, do they have a star in jaylen redmond by the way i i almost tweeted it today and then something bad happened on defense because they gave up a lot of chunk plays but he had another he just pops like the way kevin o'connell explained it he said he gave him a game ball because he just felt them last week you felt him this week i was

gonna tweet is that jaylen redmond or chris jones because there were times where he was just living in the backfield. They started him today. I think he got like 17-something snaps last week. A lot more this week. He is kind of the quintessential Brian Flores guy where who the heck is this guy? And then he starts to pop. And then all of a sudden he's a big part of their defense.

He gives them something that they don't have on the defensive line, which is kind of the ability to penetrate. And he was a pretty good player at Oklahoma, dealt with some health concerns, went undrafted, played in the XFL where he put up like four and a half sacks in three games. It's not, I guess it's the UFL now. It's obviously not the NFL, but he's produced everywhere he has gone. And yeah, maybe they have something special in him. Um, but he,

he certainly popped today, maybe something to build off of, um, from the defense in a day that there, there weren't a ton of, of, of high marks to go around. I think we can, uh, rapid fire some grades here. Uh, running back was to me probably a b plus today i thought that aaron jones needed the football a little bit more early in the game but really really effective running the ball cam acres is always good for one or two minus threes in a game which they have to figure out why that is because and it's never his fault but it's also he kind of can't escape that like Aaron Jones does. So maybe they need to go simpler. But Cam Akers plowing forward for that huge run when they got the ball back.

It's a huge play in the game because if you get stopped there, then you punted away. It's still alive. And you know this about Kirk Cousins. It's always alive with Kirk Cousins. I was writing that in my recap, like not so fast. You may think it's over, but trust me, we've seen him pull off every kind of comeback under the sun, but he can't do it if he can't get the ball and cam acres slamming forward a huge play in the game. Aaron Jones didn't have a ton of catches, but had one or two that were just sort of get a bucket early in the second half,

which I thought was good for Darnold to just drop back, drop it down to Jones, get a couple of yards. And then, you know, just overall, I'd still like to see Ty Chandler every once in a while, but what did they do statistically together? I mean, a hundred yards on, is that 18 carries? I mean, that's a really good day from your running backs. There's no, nothing more to say about the wide receivers. They just get an a plus continuous and unbelievable game from the receivers. But then again, totally believable game from the wide receiver. This is the point about, well, can he keep doing it? Is it going to get, I don't know. Can those guys keep being what they are? We do need to stop and talk about Jordan

Addison though. Jordan Addison, I think in these last couple of weeks has taken another step forward and this is why they believed in him. But what we've seen from him as far as ball tracking, playmaking on the football, I've got a Viking comp. It's old school. Some of you old school listeners will appreciate. I think he's just like Anthony Carter. He tracks the ball so well and he's got explosiveness and bendiness to him for somebody so small. You just don't really think that he's going to be able to separate from bigger corners or make plays on the football contested catches. Contested catches are not about size. They're about tracking the ball and having hands. And my goodness. I mean, just everything from, from Jordan Addison today that says star player in this league. Yeah. The way I

would describe it is like Justin Jefferson has gotten to a point where he makes these sideline catches where he turns into Chris Carter in his prime. And every single time, Justin Jefferson catches the ball on the sideline. I just assume he caught it. And I'm like, throw the challenge flag. And if it's close, he probably caught it. That's how I feel anytime the ball is thrown deep to Jordan Addison and it's a contested catch situation. I was actually surprised that he dropped the one where he drew a pass interference penalty that gained 47 yards of yardage. Didn't go to his stats. Otherwise, he's close to 200 yards today. Jordan Addison was surprised when he dropped

it he said yeah you know I had a good game I was pretty mad about the one I dropped it was like yeah you still got the 47 yards but you're right like he is a star um I think we saw that last year when he had to step up when Jefferson missed nine games with the hamstring you could see flashes of it and then early in the season he kind of had to fight his way through not always getting the ball and whether he did free three on purpose or not, he did it and it became a small headline, but I think they've always stuck with him and believed in him and, and,

and kind of been bullish on Jordan Addison because they've, they've seen that he can be the guy he was today. And Sam Darnold said it after the game, like if you want to keep doubling JJ, he said it in a, in a more pragmatic PC way where it wasn't, he wasn't daring teams to double JJ, but he was,

he being just straight up. Like if teams want to send two to Justin Jefferson, they have to reconsider. Like, are you really going to continue to give Jordan Addison one-on-one coverage with, with no safety help over the top? I don't know if you can. Like, I think that's just asking the Vikings to push it downfield. And if they do, if Jordan Addison gets a step on you, he's going to catch it. Like if

it's, if it's anywhere near him. Um, so I think that's a big development. We've obviously talked this year about how teams are defending Justin Jefferson. Is he getting the ball enough? If Jordan Addison continues to play like he has over the past month, his rise has kind of coincided with Sam Darnold's rise. They're going to be a really hard offense to defend moving forward. They already are because you have Justin Jefferson, but when you have another guy like that, that's why drafting Jordan Addison was such a good decision decision I think they knew what they had in Justin Jefferson obviously they knew what they had in Justin Jefferson but you want someone else to kind of compliment an elite receiver like that because it takes some pressure off it just does you're seeing what it what it does to I think they're

the first Vikings ever to go over a hundred yards each with two touchdowns each. It seems impossible that that's true because Moss and Carter played together for so long. Diggs and Thielen even, you would assume they would have done that. They didn't. The first Vikings receivers in franchise history to go over 100 yards in the same game with two touchdown catches each, Justin Jefferson and the guy we're talking about, Jordan Addison.

I was told that the front office can't draft so it's pretty good I don't know oh except for the amazing player anyway I get it but uh spending a draft pick on TJ Hawkinson and then on Jordan Addison has given this offense a chance to be as good as any offense on a given day in the entire NFL and the way they played today. You can just envision in Detroit with their banged up defense looking a little bit similar, but that is a conversation for down the road on the defensive side. We mentioned Jalen Redmond, Dallas Turner played a lot today. I'm curious to go back and look at that because no one really had a great day,

but he did have a significant play. And the thing about Dallas Turner is every single time he gets on the field, there's one lightning play where I go, Ooh, I saw that. And so the tight end comes over and tries to block him and he's just gone and hitting Kirk cousins as a free runner, because he's so quick that the tight end didn't even expect that. The rest of the game, I wasn't watching him specifically, but that's something I want to look for, at least experience for Dallas Turner in a year where he hasn't been on the field a ton.

They did not really pressure Kirk Cousins as much as maybe I thought they were going to, but they got their hits. They got their hits on him and they got knockdowns on throws that was effective as far as grading them. I don't know. I thought it was a subpar performance for what you would have come to expect from them in terms of sacking and pressuring the quarterback. Also, it's the guy who gets it out third fastest in the league because he's afraid to get hit. And with the secondary, that was another one where I thought, ah, receivers were open, but they were playing a lot of zones and deep zones and keeping things in front of them. And you have to kind of survive the games that you don't have Stefan Gilmore, Fabian Moreau. I don't even know if he was targeted a single time today. So that was okay, but they did go

after Shaq Griffin. And one more thing I wanted to mention was Will Reichardt returning shout out to Parker Romo, incredibly well done job for Mr. Romo. Hopefully he has a job somewhere very soon because he definitely earned it. Reichardt hits the post today, but then makes every other field goal. I mean, I don't think anything to worry too much about, but maybe just keep Parker Romo on speed dial. I don't know. Like we suddenly went from the most confident ever get up and go to the bathroom. Well, Will Reichert is kicking to, you know, I'm going to stay in my seat and make sure this one goes in first before, you know, I go get another cup of diet soda. So it's a dead little, right? You have to be just a little bit nervous after that knowing that he struggled when he had the injury yeah he struggled like the game he suffered the quad injury missed two field goals it was weird um and today like technically the vikings took one off the board he was good from 39 and then like i kind of mentioned earlier the falcons got called

for defensive holding on a field goal block, which I've never seen. So he gets that field goal taken away. Yeah, I guess when you return from injured reserve and you were on injured reserve with the quad injury and you miss a field goal in your first game back and you've been automatic prior to the quad injury and then you return from the quad injury and you miss a 47 yard field goal i would be inclined to have at least a little bit of trepidation moving forward but i've also seen this guy kick and if he's right i think he's going to be fine so he hit the the upright dead on and it sounded like a missile so he still has the leg power and it hit high enough on the, on the upright. I think I'd be more concerned if he just tugged it because he yanked it. Or if he, of course, if he came up short from 47, I'd be really concerned. But look, I think he might've just missed a field goal, but there's certainly something

to keep an eye on heading into Monday night football next week. Not that you and I would ever get up to the tee as golfers and get a little overexcited and maybe hit it to the left. Just a shade like him, just a shade off of the fairway, not into the woods or anything. That might have been the case. It may have been just a little bit of an overswing. I'm sure Matt Daniels will talk about it, but it's not like he missed by a lot. It just clanked the post. So no, not much concern, but just the health of the kicker and his leg coming back from the injury misses a field goal. It's worth bringing up. So let's get to the final comments of this game. For me, this says a number of things. This is not your routine NFL football game that this means more than that. Number one, it's because Sam Darnold was the

reason they won. He was not just part of the reason they won. He was the reason they won. And if you're going anywhere with this great team, with this great record of 11 and two, as we go down the stretch in the playoffs, there will have to be more games where Sam Darnold won. And to do it with the discussion around this game, the former quarterback in the playoffs, there will have to be more games where Sam Darnold won. And to do it with the discussion around this game, the former quarterback in the building, the distractions, the energy, the talk about the contract really ramped up this week. And for him to come out and have nothing to do with any of that noise, bounce back from some surprising hits that were laid upon him early and just keep firing away to do it in a such an exciting Dante

Culpepper in his prime esque type of fashion. Some of the most entertaining quarterback play we have seen in a very, very long time in Minnesota. That part is big. You beat a team that was number one in their division. Let's not forget that within the narrative, two straight weeks, two teams came in here as solid 500 football teams and they beat them and with this one it wasn't oh well they beat them by one score it was no they beat them by three scores and as we are on constantly one score game uh whoa no are they really good enough well now when you open up that point differential tomorrow you're going to see one of the best point differentials in the NFL.

So proving that they could do that, overcoming a subpar defensive performance, all good. But there's another part of this that I can't describe. And if they lose next week, I, you know, cause teams lose games sometimes. And what is the six in a row? It's hard to keep going on that. But anyway, it felt like Kevin O'Connell said this. He said, I felt like as an offense, we grew up a little bit today. I look at it a little differently than that. I look at it as the, is this really happening right now?

Like there was a, so I, you know, you know, everyone who watches the show knows that I grew up in Buffalo. They had a hockey announcer. His name was Rick Jennerette. You probably know him as a former hockey reporter. And when they were on a run to the Eastern conference final, they won a game in overtime. And Rick Jennerette said, now do you believe? Because there was all the questions. Are they really this good? And he just, they scored and he said, now do you believe this felt like a now, do you believe game? Now, do you believe that this team is actually good? Or are we going to keep trying to nitpick away every little thing on them? They are that good. And I, and I would put them up against any other team in the NFL right now, the bills are getting killed by the Rams. There's no sacred

cows in this league this year. There's no untouchables. There's, hey, the Lions barely escaped with their last two wins by one score. Your team after today is officially, truly in the conversation for going into the playoffs and having a chance to go deep. I think we can say that really after today. Yeah. I think the now do you believe is a perfect way to kind of sum this game up. Like now, do you believe like if you don't believe now, like why are you watching the Vikings? Like there's really no reason not to believe at this point. And I think it has to do

with not just the quarterback, but the offense. I think what you said earlier in the podcast was like, this was a game where they were just going to have to outscore the other team. I know it looks ugly at 42-21, but it was close for a while. The defense gave up nearly 500 yards. And this was a game where the offense was just going to have quarterback play too and after today like now do you believe that sam darnold is capable of doing something like this yeah i am i am i do believe that like i believe that whenever sam darnold whoever he faces whether he faces baker mayfield in the first round or kirk cousins in the first round or geno smith in the first round or Gino Smith in the first round or Matthew Stafford in the first round. They are winning. Like Collar said, they are killing the Bills. That might change by the end of this, but right now the Rams look like a team that could be a first round opponent down the road. I'm going to feel pretty good about who the quarterback is of the Minnesota

Vikings, even in the next round. Like if the Vikings beat whoever that is, if they hold on to the five seed and they beat their first round opponent and they play the Lions, I'm going to feel pretty good about Sam Darnold against Jared Goff. I'm going to feel pretty good about Sam Darnold versus Jalen Hurts. Today was proof that on any given day, he can be one of, if not the best quarterback in the league. Am I saying he's the best quarterback in the league. Am I saying he's the best quarterback in the league? No, but I might be saying, I don't think there's anybody who's played quarterback

better over the last month. So now do I believe that the Vikings can do it? Can they win a Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history? I don't know, but I think that they have the pieces to kind of make it all work and just kind of it's it's always kind of a dice roll in the playoffs to your point there is no team that you're saying oh man if they don't win the Super Bowl I'll be stunned the Lions have looked gettable in the last two weeks the other teams across the league there is no one there who you say like if they don't win the Super Bowl we would be stunned and i think it is also sometimes about peaking at the right time i think the vikings are getting better like i think

today was it was another step in the right direction i don't feel like this team has played its best game i feel like today was really good but i also feel like there were things in the first half that you you can improve on so i don't think this is a case of uh they peaked on december 8th and then they're going to kind of go down after this i think everything's there for this team i mean and i think the performance from the quarterback is a big reason why everyone should be believing right now let's do some math all they have to do now is go what how many games i got left? 11 and 2, 13. They have four games left. They go 2 and 2.

They win a 13-win season with just a 2 and 2 record the rest of the way. And the only two losses. The two losses are by 12 points. I mean, we just got to take one minute before we wrap up and be like, what the really this? I mean, you know, look, we went into this season going, here's what we know. For whatever reason, this crazed franchise has this way of going into seasons where everyone goes and then winning 13 games.

I don't know why why I think it's because of the receivers or something. I I'm not sure they find quarterbacks that you never expected who end up taking them to places that you never dreamed. I mean, go back. I did this. Like, even if you go back and look at the 98 Vikings, they're over undergoing into the season was like eight and a half and they won 15. It was six and a half. They are one win away from almost doubling their win total expectation. I don't know how many times that ever happened that a team has even doubled their win expectation, but this team has a chance to do it. I each week walk out of here going, what is going on? But you know, each week it becomes less random. Each week it becomes more, you know what? When you look around, when you look at the players,

when you look at the coaching, if Kevin O'Connell isn't coach of the year, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with my hands. Okay. It has to be, it has to be right now because no team has overachieved their expectations by more than this team has. And it's not a bunch of randoms who have sort of come together or random games, really, where they got good bounces. It's all veteran players doing it. Byron Murphy's been around. Jonathan Grenard's been around. Sam Darnold's not new to this. And neither is Justin Jefferson.

And Addison's in his second year. And Cam Robinson's been in the league before, like all these guys and KOC, it's not KOC's first time with a team this good. So I don't look at it and say it's completely random and football, Oh, who's weird or whatever. It's just that when we made a list before the year, what would have to happen? Every single thing has come to fruition to have them right here in position to truly compete. And also, I want to point out that as soon as you said Buffalo might come back to win the game, they throw a 50-yard touchdown, and that's hilarious. So that's my final statement. Final statement, you get the final word, Dane, on this 42-21 victory that will not be forgotten for a very long time, especially when people look back at the record books and go, five touchdowns, huh? Sam Darnold.

Yeah, I guess I'll close the loop by talking about what I talked about right off the hop. The thing that's going to stick with me is Sam Darnold waving the towel, pumping up the crowd, leaning into this moment that he said after the game he was asked like when's the last time you did that he said I used to do it it doesn't happen very often it hasn't happened very often in his NFL career and maybe at USC a few times but like to watch that guy lean into this moment where it just felt that felt like a moment that if, if they do something special, I'll remember like today, December 8th, I'll remember the game he had against Kirk cousins. I'll remember the game he had against

the Atlanta Falcons. I'll remember the throw he had to Justin Jefferson, the throw he had to Jordan Addison. But I think most of all, I might remember like this guy who everyone told sucked. You're done. You can't play quarterback. You're terrible. That guy that was told that put together one of the best quarterback performances we've seen for this franchise ever and fully leaned into that moment at the end there. I think waving the towel, pumping the crowd up. This is a guy who I don't know if he ever thought he was going to get like that moment in the NFL. And he had it. And when he was asked about it, he leaned into it. He talked about it, but he also made it very clear like there's more out there.

So I think cool moment for him, but I don't think he's satisfied with an incredible game. I think he does think that they can do something pretty special. And stop arguing with everybody online about how much they're going to pay him or anything else. You are letting life go by while you waste your time with arguments about Sam Darnold's contract. You truly are. You're missing the moments that here you will remember for a really long time. These seasons don't come along and you're in the middle of one that's really special. And I don't know how it's going to end. Nobody knows how it's going to end.

We'll see. But this today took it to a different level of he really did it. He has really done it. And so I will end by just saying, now do you believe? Good day, everyone. Thank you so much for watching and listening.