Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Seahawks legend Lofa Tatupu breaks down Vikings-Seahawks

Episode Date: September 24, 2021

Matthew Coller is joined by Seattle Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who is now host of the Bleav in Seahawks podcast, to talk about the pivotal Vikings-Seahawks matchup at US Bank Stadium. Are the Seahawks letting Russ cook this year? What happened in their meltdown against the Tennessee Titans? Will Dalvin Cook explode like Derrick Henry did last week? Plus what Lofa sees in Bobby Wagner and Eric Kendricks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. For this episode, a very special guest, an NFL All-Pro with Seattle Seahawks. Now does the Believe in Seahawks podcast, Lofa Tutupo. What is up, man? How are you? Oh, man, thank you for having me, brother. Just, you know, I think probably feeling the same way you are right now with a loss that we were just coming off of and so are your vikings but uh other than that blessed where there were some just as you probably saw there's some good things in your game um just but it's the way the way we both both need to finish right i mean crazy

endings are pretty definitive of these two franchises right there's never a shortage of that including when they play each other just look at last year right yeah exactly and um you know i'm sure we'll be talking about it but yeah especially they should just flex us to prime time right now because every time every time as it was last year just comes down to the last drive right the vikings controlled the game for most of last year then a key interception by kj right kind of turns it on its head the Vikings just need to convert one yard instead they don't Russell Wilson does the Russell Wilson thing how about this Russell Wilson against Mike Zimmer seven and oh uh yeah yeah yeah yeah it's uh it is crazy but most of those games have taken place in Seattle and not in Minnesota so I want to talk

linebacker play with you for sure, but give me, give me kind of the, the vibe of going into this game for Seattle against the Vikings, having to go on the road to one of the tougher stadiums in the NFL to play. Yeah, absolutely. It is a tough place to play. You know, I think their mindset right now is they're going to do like a little bit of a self-evaluation because a lot of those that that comeback was largely self-inflicted it was not really as great as Derrick Henry is and I mean you know I think 130 of his 180 came in the second half which is insane when who has the confidence to run you know when they're down 15 with 10-12 minutes left to go in the in the fourth quarter

but Vrabel he did and then they proved him right in coming back. But the stops that we had on offense, it just couldn't get anything going. We had no run game to rely on. And so that's something we're going to have to look to because this is the second time now our offense has kind of been either outproduced or outscored. I mean, I think we might've seven to six, we beat the Colts in the second half, but you know, it wasn't,

it wasn't really a game to be telling, but they stopped us on offense pretty much. And so, and it happened second week in a row. And so we'll see what happens, but you know, the biggest thing that scares me about this game is you know, another promising running attack that you guys have with those weapons and you guys I mean I think Cook had 100 before he exited last year's game and then Madison comes in and has 120 so it was just like you know what is going on here and we're going to be watching that run tape you know really hard this weekend as I'm sure you know the Vikings offense will be too

right and against Arizona the Vikings were able to bust open the run game and they very rarely had to be in drop back passing situations, which is really the key to the Vikings entire offensive attack. I mean, if you're asking, you know, swing tackle left tackle to block on these drop back third and tens is not very successful. But if you're in second and short first and 10, Delvin cook is getting off big chunks. It's been very clear over the years that they can have a lot of success. That's exactly what happened last year. Lofa, why is it not different? Why is it not different in Seattle? It seems like since Legion of boom came apart as all good defenses do, it's been kind of the same

story. Yeah, it is. And, you know, just just trying to it's almost like you know maybe some franchises that after a hall of fame quarterbacks left they've never been able to replace them like elway in denver i guess just taking forever for them to finally get a guy like manning you know over there but for whatever reason it's um that's it just points to how special it was having the Legion of Boom, Earl, Cam, Sherm, BB, Maxie. They were just so deep, you know, in that secondary. And I think that allowed everybody else to play a little more freely. But I'd be misspeaking if I didn't talk about the defensive line in that era when 2013 and 2014, Cliff Averill, an All-Pro, and Michael Bennett, an All-Pro himself, two- or three-time Pro Bowler,

they were not starters. They were on the depth chart as backups. Chris Clemens, who was great, played with him in Red Bryant. They were the starters. So when you have that kind of a platoon, and I think that's what we're going with. We have that kind of depth right now. At least that's what showed itself in the first game against the Colts.

But then there's this, this last game, it looked like we were just out there too long and injuries and Brian Monet from the previous week that really hurt or tested our depth this week. So do you think that more or less the way that it's set up right now, especially with the way that the corners are playing um you have to win shootouts i mean because that's kind of been what's been going on in seattle for a few years now i was yeah i was absolutely surprised at the way the second half went because i thought especially trying not to keep the clock rolling that they were going to opt to go tannahill and throw more. They were having success.

Julio had maybe one or two drops. Other than that, he played a phenomenal game. And then A.J. Brown, I don't think I've ever seen him drop three passes. He had, I mean, right in his hands. It's just uncharacteristic of him. And so I really thought the game was going a different way. And when they decided to run it 23 times or whatever it was in the second half was like wow they're you know but they had confidence in you know you keep grinding you keep getting three yards four yards five yards and then Derek's

gonna bust loose for a 60 which he did and um there you know that was the you know really the the the one that got it all going for them to feel confident to come back and win. Imagine a guy who was, I think that you were somewhere around what? 5'11", 250 when you played. Imagine a guy who weighed as much as you, but is five inches taller and runs way faster than you. I, you know, everybody keeps saying deceptive speed. No, he's just fast. And I mean, maybe because his 40 time was like a four high four, four or four or five.

So but he's got breakaway speed and I don't see many people chasing him down when he does break loose. And we I mean, I played a guy by the name of Brandon Jacobs, who was like 270. And, you know, Brandon was big and he was fast, but I don't know if he was as agile and quick as Derek. He, man, for even when he broke that long one for digs, not to really essentially even get a hand on him because he was waiting for the stiff arm, you know, to knock it down. And then he was like, oh, wow, I'm not even going to get there at that angle to get stiff arm. That's how fast this guy was. There was a couple of guys, even Jamal's probably our fastest or he flashes the quickest out there and and there was a couple times where he broke his angle which that was alarming to me i was like okay this is this is speed you can't really calculate until you're out there on the field right and i mean i saw the big run it was like you've got to be kidding me you're just running away from people that's that's what we see from delvin cook all the time

but delvin cook is like 5'11 and 220 pounds. He's not of that size. So there's a reason he's unstoppable. Let's talk about Russell Wilson for a second here and just the whole let Russ cook thing and how, I mean, it's fun, of course, for the numbers people to look at it. And I would too and say, look, you have one of the best quarterbacks in the league start everything there let the guy throw and clearly Russell agreed with that because there was some unhappiness uh last year where do you feel like that stands like is that sort of in

the past or does that linger because uh in Minnesota we know about things that linger between coaches and quarterbacks yeah no I think we definitely moved past that and you know they this this game for whatever reasons I mean we we couldn't get off the field defensively because and there was there was a number of penalties which I'm sure you'll hear about as we get close to the game or even when the game's broadcast is that 10 penalties for 100 yards there was three that prolonged drives. Two of those led to at least 10 or more points. That's, you know, that's telling of, and I'm talking like, you know, roughing the passer.

One was kind of unavoidable. You got sandwiched between two, but another one, it was just, you got to know when to pull up and it was one of our DNs, I think Robert condici and then um the taunting penalties come on man like it seems like everybody in the league's getting one now yeah yeah i wouldn't be surprised if they hand one to a coach you know like you might have to tell pete to calm down like don't get too excited after play they might give you a taunting penalty but uh it's um yeah and then there's one other unnecessary roughness that hit at least five yards out of

bounds by the young, young guy, Jordan Brooks, who's going to be, he's going to be a stud, but you got to know better there that led to another first down on top of a big 15 yard game. So it was just self-inflicted wounds that, you know, they can correct. And, and I'm sure they will. The taunting thing is, I mean, just, I saw a cutup of like five different ones and I couldn't figure out where the taunt was. One guy spun the ball, but you can do that, but not in front of the other teams. It can't be next to the guy or their bench. It's like, yo, it's,

it's a game built on emotion. You know, like we're not rationally thinking on half the, you know, as soon as the ball snapped, okay, we're reading the play, but then it's an all out hunt or pursuit to go get this guy down by any means necessary. And if you stop him in his tracks and it's someone that's, you know, maybe even talking a little bit, you're going to get up, you're going to flex. And I mean, you know, it's, I mean, it's not for the faint of heart. And so I, I, I don't like that. They're taking, you know, this aspect,

the emotional aspect out of the game where, I mean, this is big hits and, you know, flexing that's where the fans go crazy. And so I it's, it's, it's nuts to me. It doesn't make any sense at all in a sport. Like you said, that is so rooted in emotion and you make a big play. And I saw this this video of Bill Belichick, where he was actually giving his team a hard time because they weren't celebrating enough for big plays. He was showing this clip where he's like, why isn't anybody else, you know, jumping around

when we get a tackle for loss? Like, I want to see you guys to have this emotion in the NFL is saying no, no, no. And they had just gotten this right with the celebrations. So now let's just make this clear. If you score a touchdown, you can pick up your teammate and dance around them on the shoulders but but if you make a big tackle and you just point at them then a flag 15 yards no one wants this no one no football fan wants this at all some of these beautifully choreographed and i don't know how long they took to plan some of these end zone dances are those aren't as disrespectful as just pointing and flexing it's like yeah it's it's and I don't they're just taking the fun out of the game that's right like people come to be entertained and so if there is a personal matchup out there between two superstars a cornerback and a receiver going at it we can't

used to come to see that when Dion would play Jerry and, you know, like the, all the big match-ups and now it's like, all right, well now they just, they can't talk trash to each other. You know, it's, it's, it's crazy. I think this goes away. Doesn't this always go away? Like the interference madness from a couple of years ago, they always, they always get the message eventually, but it's like, why do we have to do this at the beginning of every season with some ludicrous rule change?

I know it's it's i mean look i'm all for innovation and making the game either safer or more you know or better but like some of these like you guys really spent time in a meeting room going over this like you wasted time of your life that you're not going to get back over a rule it's probably going to go away by week eight right uh if you look so direct your eyes away from the opponent if you're going to celebrate not right at them because then you can it's just yeah how dare you insane so uh okay i want to ask you i know we're sort of bouncing back and forth here but about jamal adams and where he fits in is sort of uh when you make a

trade of that caliber everyone expects this guy is going to transform your defense and snap your fingers. But yet it still feels like they haven't quite figured that all out yet with Jamal Adams. But you're watching closer than I am. So explain to me kind of how he's fit in. No, I agree. I mean, I think, you know, what he does best, they try to, you know, that's, this is any player, any superstar in any scheme, like what he does best, you want to put showcase or let them do. And I think what's crazy is he is one of the best off the ball, or even when he gets to the edge of the line of scrims blitzers that I've ever seen, they can even call out protection inside of him.

He'll find a way to knife through scratch claw and get to the quarterback he's just that intense of a of a pass rusher or a blitzer and um it was I liken it to a lot like my guy lawyer Malloy a name from the past you know when I got to play with lawyer he was going into year 15 and you know we we had still a lot of money in the linebackers and we were young and they were you know trying to send us on blitzes and And I was like, Hey, like this guy, law is only gone on like two blitzes and he's got a pressure in a sack. Like, why don't we just send him more and let us sit back and coverage, you know? And, and so it's I think that's kind of what they're going to have to

lean with, with this guy, you know, and law law did a great job of holding up the backend too. And see, this is where I haven't had enough time to really watch you know him read routes and jump routes but i mean there was a couple plays where he looked to be a little out of position and i don't know what they're asking of him i know they're asking him to come down on the hook but him and bobby ran into each other and i was like well bobby's been in this defense for 10 years so i'm pretty sure he was in the position he was supposed to be so the communication aspect has got to get better and I think it will over time but where he truly fits in I think is as as you know in the box

downhill safety go get it run or pass fans are going back to stadium so you have to be ready with the best Minnesota football gear that's why you have to check out soda stick I saw a ton of soda stick gear around training camp I expect to see it in the stadium as well there's so many cool designs on hats t-shirts and hoodies for the fall weather including the John Randall design that is extremely cool there's also the straight cash homie Randy Moss homage can't stop stop the feeling hats and a personal favorite. The old video game designs, the Tecmo fans will appreciate. Check it all out at SodaStick.com. That is S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Everything is screen printed here in Minnesota.

And I can tell you that the shirts are comfortable and they last because half of my closet is now soda stick at this point. Again, that's sodastick.com, Minnesota sports inspired goods, and keep your eye out for our soda stick giveaways. Because when he was in New York, I sort of saw him as, hey, can this guy become like a Harrison Smith that we've seen here who just does absolutely everything everything but when he's in the box he's brilliant but he can play deep you know he gets interception he does it all and uh i felt like jamal was on that track when he was in new york but it hasn't quite carried over the blitzing still seems to work but there isn't this like commanding troy palomalu type like all encompassing right yeah exactly like i've seen from harrison smith there isn't quite that yet and i i don't know if it's going to get there yeah i mean and the the longer you go down this route where you know he doesn't spend that much time in the back

field he's more you know at the line of scrimmage or in the box i don't know if we'll get there. Right. So, and you know, it's just, well, it remains to be seen because I thought too, the, the guy we were getting was the all encompassing everything you need, rush the passer, stop the run, stay deep in the middle third. And he can do those things, but it's not, it's, it's becoming clear to me. It's not a strength in his game. His strength is he is just a beast.

Anywhere you put him on the field to go attack, and he can read and react faster than almost anybody I've seen out there. Right. And what's interesting about that is that it's sort of becoming a two deep safety league now where a lot more teams are playing that way. And Seattle's still kind of wanting to do the single safety and have him in the box. becoming a two deep safety league now where a lot more teams are playing that way and seattle's still kind of wanting to do the single safety and have him in the box and i think this is where the vikings have an advantage when they run play actions get man-to-man with theelin and jefferson like that's been sort of when i look at a team and i try to project will the vikings have a good offensive day i look at do they play a lot of single high that usually means yes because delvin cook can run almost no matter what yo yeah so not only delvin but then i mean you got feeling and uh

jefferson outside and uh man jefferson's just been incredible and uh feeling hasn't gotten enough credit um as being one of the top receivers in the league for the last six seven years so um yeah but that's it's the truth though if you go single high you should have that you should be able to stop the run and uh and we saw a little trouble we were in single high and and uh henry still got 180 and i think that was more so we had them bottled up for so long but it's only so long before your defense gets tired out there 82 plays the the week before we out there 71 even though it was a really convincing win against the Colts, just too much time to be standing out there. And you, you know, you either better be getting close to 40 points.

If you're going to put the defense out there that long, or, or you just got to get off the field, get some turnovers. And I think that's one area that I don't even know if we, maybe we have one turnover, I think going back to week one, I don't think we got any last week. All right. We got a forced tumble. That's what, yeah. Yeah. Right. So I have a one fun question for you before we wrap up, but I need you as an all pro linebacker yourself to break down Bobby Wagner

and Eric Hendricks. And what do you see in these two all pros? Oh man. Two of the best in the game. I think Bobby probably excels at rushing the passer. And you know, I think, you know, if I were to get my hands on him and, you know, just I'd cut him loose. We're going to blitz you six, seven, eight times, just like the same as Jamal, because there are two of the guys that they just if they get a one on one, even against the old-linemen, I wouldn't say it's a mismatch, but they're just so athletic and so strong that it's a battle that most linebackers in safety don't win, that they always do. It's crazy. And so he even had one last week where he just timed it right and came clean. And, you know, what I love about Kendricks is he can do it all. He can rush the passer. He can stop the run. And he is, I mean, he's great in coverage, whether it's man, whether it's zone. He's like having an extra

safety out there in terms of the ground he can cover and the guys he can lock down one-on-one. So we're watching two of the best. Bobby, I got to give him the nod because he's been doing it longer. But, you know, Kendricks, ever since he came out of UCLA, he's been a stud. Well, that is nice of you to give a UCLA guy the credit. That is very kind of you. That means he's really good, right? It's hard for me to do. When there was a play against Green Bay last year where Eric Kendricks ran toe for toe with Devante Adams on a seam route.

When he was lined up in the slot, they were man to man. And of course Aaron Rogers is going to throw it. And he covered him like a corner. And it was like, this is just different. You just do not see this from too many linebackers. The other thing I wanted to ask you is, I mean, you played at like two 50, these linebackers now play like 200, 220 pounds. I mean, isn't it fascinating how the linebacker position has changed? Oh, yeah.

And the average speed of the guy, like when I was playing, maybe, you know, 4'6 was like fast. That's like slow now. If you're a 4'6 linebacker, you better be 6'3, 260, 250 if you're 4'6. And that's considered decent speed. But it's incredible how it's evolved, you know, you know, much more of that passing league, which has said that, you know, they're trying to go too high safety to slow down all the passing that's going

on. But it's, it's incredible how, and you know, and who knows 10 years from now, it could go another, you know, there's going to be a team that comes in and, you know, like, like Derek Henry, and then they just rush every game for 200 and everybody's like yo we gotta get bigger again so it's like where's that happy medium um i think we may have found it with bobby and kendrick's that mold but uh speed is always going to be a premium and they both have that okay so who do you think wins this game oh man um it's a tough one to call because as you know as upset as we're feeling and frustrated pissed off so to speak uh because of the way we let it slip away we can clean up those mistakes

and and we we've uh we've done a good job of traveling as of late under pete and john so uh we present problems for minnesota however minnesota a team that's oh and two it's like a well you know a wounded animal it's like they're they're going to be scratching and clawing to get their first victory especially at home so I think whoever runs the ball and you know I think that bodes well for you guys because that's that's that's a very big part emphasis of yours. We, if we get back to it, we have a chance, but I'm not, not yet ready to pick Minnesota, but I think they got the edge this week. It is funny. We were just talking about how like, you know, throwbacks and things like that, but I mean, this game is who runs the ball, right? I mean, a lot that you don't talk

about that a lot in the NFL in 2021, but I really feel like it's kind of a throwback in that way. Oh, yeah. And, I mean, I just look back at what they did last year. And, I mean, so there's some familiarity between these teams and the skilled players and what they have. And so, like I said, I give Minnesota the edge, but I can't say I'm going to outright pick them to win this game. I just, you know, when you have Russ, you have a chance,

as we know from last year. Yeah, that's for sure. And like I said, seven and O is the Seahawks against the Vikings with Russell Wilson. So I wish you didn't tell me that. Yeah. That's like when they got to give, right. That's right.

When a guy's made his last 22 free throws or something and they show the graphic, he misses the next one. Every time he just needs this one to win the game right but that's they uh russ he's still looking for his 100th win because that's all they talked about on the the news like last week and so i'm like oh my god just stop talking about it like don't jinx the guy so okay so here's the fun question for you is uh you went to the super bowl as a member of the Seahawks and a great 13 and three team. I want to know who the most underrated 05 Seahawk was. Rocky Bernard, eight and a half sacks. One of the best he lined that I ever played with. He it's either it's either got to be him or

or when we lost. I'm going to give a split because I love them both. And they're both amazing. Both. If we didn't have either, then we wouldn't have made it to the Super Bowl. But Marquand lost um i'm gonna give a split because i love them both and they're both amazing both if we didn't have either of them we wouldn't have made it to the super bowl but marquand manuel who came in for an injury ken hamlin and um he really you know that was ken was one of our best players and we lost him to injury uh marquand came in and shored things up and um and and held it down and uh so it's like rocky should have been to the pro bowl that year, eight and a half sacks. Let us, we led the league in sacks at 54, 55, I believe. And it was not one guy had over, over 10. So it was a full defensive effort.

I am impressed that you had that right on the tip of your tongue, eight and a half sacks. I was hoping because we are fullback enthusiasts on the show, you throw out a Mac strong max strong i mean i i want to see mac in the in the ring of honor um you know one of these days played his entire career here undrafted just i mean there's not a better name for a fullback max strong um just it still brings back nightmares just thinking about that name but uh yeah you know he it was it was fun going against him because then i knew i

was like hey if i can hang with him which i barely did then i was gonna have no problem uh with with the rest of the league yeah sean alexander uh broke off quite a few runs because of max strong in those days that old line and max strong for sure and this week you will see cj ham plowing through one of the rare teams that still uses a fullback, which is. And when we do run, we sometime Nick Belore, who, you know, is, is a, is a beast used to be a linebacker. And then he actually, we had so many injuries to linebacker in the preseason. He went over and played. I think he led us in tackles two games as a fullback

and then converted. Fullback slash line. Is that not the most fullbacky thing ever, ever of all time? Right. That's great, man. There's, there are still some grateful, but, and I mean, the guy's name is ham and he's a fullback. It's like you said, Max strong, like, or if you're not use check or ironhead Hayward for back in the day, like those are fullback names. So absolutely. Lofa to Tupu. This was

super fun, man. I'm really glad we could get together and I wish you the best in your podcasting endeavors and so forth. So thanks a lot for your time, man. All right, brother. Thank you for having me.