Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer says running is key for Vikings vs. 49ers

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

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Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Inside. Matthew Collard here along with the Star Tribune's Andrew Kramer inside TZO Performance Center. And guess what, Andrew? It is time once again for another hardcore breakdown of a National Football League contest. And I gotta tell you, you know you and I, we're very objective. We would never root for anything to happen, but it's a lot easier when they beat the New York Giants to talk about this game in an excitable way. So how much different is your juice for this football game with them winning the way that they did against the New York Giants? A lot different. I think that's a good point about how if they had lost to the New York Giants, who, as you guys saw,

you at home could see, they were not a good team. Daniel Jones was not a good quarterback. The Vikings did what good teams should do, which is dispatch them thoroughly. The Giants had no chance in that game. So I am much more excited to see how the Vikings measure up to the NFC title contenders on the reigning NFC champions. And this is obviously an early time for them to do that. They're just in week two. I think they would argue a better time to measure where we're going to be at is more November, December after they get more games together with Darnold and this defense. But we saw them being pretty successful in week one. And coaches talked about being the more prepared team, the more well-conditioned team. It just seemed like it was a more professional operation

in Minnesota. The operations don't get much more professional than San Francisco. They are great top to bottom, one of the best rosters in football. And so the Vikings are really going to get to figure out how close are you to being that kind of contender? Well, you know, what sounds like a good idea to me is to break it down, whether they're actually that kind of contender. Well, you know, what sounds like a good idea to me is to break it down, whether they're actually that kind of contender. So let's do that. What do you think out of all the matchups here that are great? And I've enjoyed talking about and writing about all of them, the star players on San Francisco's side, how the Vikings are going to counter it. But what do you think should be number one on the list of if this matchup goes the Vikings way, then they've got a chance.

If this matchup does not go the Vikings way, nope, it ain't going to happen. I don't mean to sound like Mike Zimmer, but running the football on both sides. If they can establish the run and if they can stop the run. I like the Vikings chances. I like the chances of them making it competitive. If Jordan Mason doesn't go for over 100 yards again again like he did in week one against the Jets, that is really what made that game a runaway. Even though Brandon Ayuk was clearly not the Brandon Ayuk we're used to seeing for San Francisco,

they didn't need him. They were able to debo Samuel a little bit, run the football, and Purdy could just dink and dunk the way that Sam Darnold says in Minnesota he would like to do. That means you need Aaron Jones to be your version of Christian McCaffrey and what they want to do in this offense. So to me, it's all about Aaron Jones. It's all about getting him going early and like they did in that Giants game. And then it's also about stopping San Francisco's running game and making Brock Purdy beat you, or at least putting them in situations where it stresses the playbook, it thins San Francisco's options. You know, I like to watch full, complete football games when I watch one back.

I don't really, red zone is a wonderful tool, but I can't do it because I need to see the game flow. And I thought that the game flow against the Giants was so favorable to the Vikings and so favorable to Sam Darnold. Of course, you don't want to fumble the first time you get the football. But what I mean by that is that they were able to get ahead early and then use Aaron Jones to his maximum. And even when Aaron Jones did not have a great run, they would go back to it. And that was something that I really needed to know about Kevin O'Connell are you going to keep pushing Aaron Jones even if okay they have a two-yard run although Jones does not have very many backward runs like we saw from last season but are you going to go to him again on second down after you've already given him the ball on first down are you going to always

be pushing that pass button no matter what and a little later in the game I thought okay Kevin you don't need when they threw the pick you don't need to even pass the ball here at this point but i think that will be so much harder to stick with against the 49ers because it's just so unlikely that you jump up on them hey you're up by two scores already and now you're protecting it and even if you get up by two scores with an offense like that it's not over because it's not daniel jones and they can make it close really quickly even if you get a fumble return for touchdown or pick six or something like that so how is kevin o'connell able to use aaron jones stick with aaron jones even under situations where i'm sure he'll start to get anxious to all right now you're you're down seven

to three or something like that are you going to say right, I'm going to channel my inner Zimmer. And actually, he just texted and said he wants you to come cover the Cowboys. He said, Andrew, please, if you love the run game, please move to Dallas. But I think that that is a challenge for Kevin O'Connell that I want to see how he deals with when the game is a little tighter and you have Sam Darnold in more likely situations where it's, it is third and eight, it is third and 10. I think I added this up and there were four passes of third and seven or longer from Sam Darnold. Well, there's probably

going to be more than that against the San Francisco 49ers. Yeah. And I guess too, if they're having a hard time running the ball on first and second down, do you remember how bad their screen game was last year? We didn't see too much of it in the Giants game. We didn't need to, as you mentioned. We're going to find out, I guess, how much better they got at it if they want to try to run those things on early downs to set up more manageable third downs, because I don't know if you're going to convert too many screens

on third and long, but we'll see. I think they've got to get Jones involved, though, in the passing game. I think that's got to be the big thing, where if they're doubling Jefferson down the field, Jordan Addison does not seem like he's going to be playing this game. So you're not going to get that situation you got with Jalen Naylor last week where they doubled Addison and doubled Jefferson to free up Naylor. It's just Jefferson now.

Still no Hawkinson. I really think they need to find a way to lean on Jefferson more and then get Aaron Jones involved as your true wide receiver too. Because this guy's so dynamic. He can break so many tackles. He can do so many things in the open field that you need to make the Niners play downhill even more than they want to, to use that kind of fake if that's what he ends up turning into to spring something bigger. Well, you brought up the area that I was going to go with because we just came off the practice field.

Jordan Addison not practicing today, which that's pretty closer to being able to call it maybe by the time you're watching or listening to this we'll know for sure but as of this moment it doesn't feel likely that Jordan Addison will be in this football game and it was always a question for me and I'm sure a lot of Vikings fans too when they didn't sign another wide receiver of any sort of name, okay, who's going to be the wide receiver three and wide receiver three isn't about who's next to Jefferson and Addison entirely. It's also about who fills in when Jefferson or Addison ends up going out. As we saw from last year, how do you feel like they're going to approach this? Because I think it's got to be

an all hands on deck thing. I don't think it can just be, Hey, Jalen Naylor, go be the dude. I think it's much more of this is going to work for Naylor. This is going to work for Powell. This is going to work for sure. Field. And we'll see if someone like lucky or Tristan Jackson ends up in there as well. But I don't think this team has a guy who you just go, all right, slot up one. Good to go. Yeah, I agree with with you I think Naylor hasn't really shown that even though coaches see the skill set they talk about how capable he is of lining up anywhere and doing all the things when has he shown you that he can handle a high target high snap game and you just can't go into a game plan expecting to lean on him as much as you would Addison Addison has such a good game

against the Niners last year. It was without Justin Jefferson. He steps in, rips that ball away from Travarius Ward to score the touchdown. That was really his big coming out party last year was this San Francisco game. So without him, I do think they're really going to be behind in terms of the scheming. Can't trust guys to win one-on-one as much as you could with Jordan Addison. So it's going to be much of like what we saw, I think, in parts of the Giants game where when Josh Oliver got involved, it was a schemed-up post shot for 20 yards.

When Jalen Naylor got involved, it was very much a schemed-up play for him. It wasn't put you on the boundary, beaten outside corner. This is going to have to be a coaching special. They're going to have to find ways to scheme these players open, misdirection, trickery. They're going to have to find ways to scheme these players open, misdirection, trickery. They're going to have to do their best 49ers impression. I know. And that's where the screen game that you mentioned has just never shown up under Kevin O'Connell. And I don't know if he doesn't know how to do it or if it's just something that personnel has dictated over the last couple

of years. But I think that the blueprint for Sam Darnold, we've talked a little bit about Case Keenum and, well, hey, when you had Keenum, but it's actually probably 2019 Kirk, where you're running so effectively with Delvin Cook and then building everything off that. And I thought in week one that was done really masterfully outside of the screens, but the play actions, they didn't hit big shots, so the yards per attempt wasn't great, but the completion percentage is good. And there's a rollout where Darnold maybe could have tried to force it into an area and said, you know what,

I'm going to dump it down to Ty Chandler. We're going to get our eight yards or whatever. There was another one with Jefferson too, where could have gone for it and decided, you know what, I'm going to get three, four yards with him. I'm going to move on. But I also wonder how much of that approach is going to work against a team that will score points. And this takes us to the other side of the football with Brock Purdy, so impressive at running their offense, so well-schemed, so many stars. And I personally think Brock Purdy doesn't need to issue an apology for having a lot of great players and throwing it to the right guy. But I did notice something in the stats with brock purdy when he is not pressured which kyle shanahan does an amazing job of avoiding any pressure on him he has 122 quarterback rating last year when pressured 82

and that's a huge gap it's always a big gap but that is an enormous gap did you see enough last week from the Vikings pass rush to think that they can get after Mr. Brock Purdy um I I did and I didn't I did because I liked what I saw out of Van Ginkle Dallas Turner and Grenard like these guys can win one-on-one you didn't have a ton of that last year we talk about wide receivers winning one-on-one the edge rushers and doing that on solo blocks is just as important so you don't have to scheme up the blitz all the time you don't have to create that pressure but they were doing it against Daniel Jones where like much of the pressure they were getting felt like that's the quarterback holding on too long that's the quarterback going the wrong way in the pocket because his pocket feel is so bad I just didn't know how much I could take away from the defensive side of the football

I know they got dudes now I know they're going to be able to rush the passer. I know that they can affect Purdy, but it's Trent Williams now. It's a much better scheme, certainly, for Brock Purdy, as you mentioned. So that's one where I feel like I got to see. And also with the secondary, the Vikings secondary, I don't feel like I learned a ton from that Giants game because they just weren't tested all that much. This is not a fast secondary, nor is it a very young secondary. It's kind of an older,

savvier secondary, especially at corner, but their safeties, they cut the star athlete of the group in Lewis Seen. That was the guy who could be that kind of dynamic playmaker. They just got a bunch of guys who were incredibly smart, know where to be. And that is what I want to see is when you get put up against younger guys, the Debo's, the Iooks, are they going to be that smart, that on point play in and play out? There was one moment in that game against the Giants where Shaq Griffin, I think, got pulled for blowing a kind of a trade-off assignment. Those are the kind of things that if you do that against the Niners, it's going to be a huge play. So you ask about the pass rush. I have just as many questions about them in the secondary and

just seeing how real is this Vikings defense, much like we're wondering about Sam Darnold. Do you think that it is a good matchup or not for the Vikings to have the number of hybrid players that they have against the 49ers, or if it's not that much of a difference maker? Because I would think logically that if you have a Metellus, if you have a Blake Ashman is a dynamic player, Andrew Van Ginkle looks like he's going to play at least from what we saw out on the practice field, or is that,

does that not move the needle as much for you? Because I do think that last year, even with this approach of throwing a lot of different looks at Brock Purdy, that he was still good but he was not fantastic and he didn't blow this team away and maybe one of the reasons is they only ran for 68 yards last year but I guess I would just think about the roster construction and being able to move the chess pieces around being helpful for an offense that does that to defenses that's a great point and it made me think of what Brian Flores said on Tuesday when he mentioned mentioned, this is a positionless offense, much in the way that we pride ourselves on being

a positionless defense. When you're a positionless offense and you've got a middle linebacker who can only play middle linebacker, well, I'm going to put McCaffrey on him then, because this isn't a guy who can really cover the way that a safety slash linebacker like Josh Metellus can, or an edge linebacker the way that Andrew Van Ginkle can, rush the passer and attack the edge while also dropping back. This is such a versatile group on defense that I think they're better suited for the motions, the redirections, the things that the Niners do before the snap to set up the exact matchups they want. And if you think of this Vikings depth chart on defense, can you find the guy that's the mark who's the guy

that if the starting units out there and you're an offense and you're Kyle Shanahan who are you wanting McCaffrey to be matched up on where's the big win there really isn't one I mean is there I don't think there is no I mean if maybe maybe it's just straight up with Cashman and Pace and seeing how these young guys hold up against him but I don't think it's in the safety level I certainly don't think it's even on the outside linebacker level. Where I don't think the safeties are fast in this group, their edge rushers are. They play fast, even if they don't test fast. And Dallas Turner does both. So I do think that the front for the Vikings has the speed to match up with them. I think the back end is where I have the questions about if a guy springs loose or something like that. But

when we're talking about just front seven versus front seven on offense, you're right. Being that positionless can only help the Vikings. Where I'm interested to see again in person, but was so impressed with Brock Purdy last year and where I felt like I always got to see guys at games against the Vikings to really have a true opinion on them. I mean, we could look at stats.

You could look at a little all 22, but there's nothing like seeing the guy and how he responds to the situations and the atmosphere and everything else. And Purdy's playmaking was what really stood out to me that he was willing to scramble. He could gain 20 yards on a run that showed up for them in the NFC championship game. And in a game like this, where you do have a lot of players that I think can match up in their versatility and in their intelligence, because what does Shanahan take advantage of? It's probably overaggressive or honestly, players that aren't that good in the IQ area where he's going to throw emotion at them, try to confuse them, use the eye candy,

maybe try to take advantage of Ivan Pace's aggressiveness a little bit. Sometimes he's really 100 miles an hour, but this isn't a team that's easy to do that because they're built on a lot of high intelligence players from Brian Flores, putting it together. But the X factor to me is if Brock Purdy can make plays outside of that, if he can extend outside of the pass rush, that's when I've seen him at his absolute best. And that's what I think the Vikings do have to worry about quite a bit with

this team is all right. Well, if you throw them off schedule with Jimmy Garoppolo, you knew you were going to have a chance, but with Brock Purdy, it's not like that. No, it's not.

He can't, he's so underrated. I think in his anticipation that he throws with the mobility, the pocket feel and management for such a young quarterback to have all of that. And for Sam Darnold, I make your jokes, but for him to come here as a seventh year player and say, learned from that guy like I learned how to be a pro and then it speaks to

Purdy and how he runs that system and I don't think Vikings fans should sleep on him I don't think just because you concussed him at the end of the last game and then got an interception from him at the end that that means oh you're gonna beat him this guy can absolutely come into your building and torch you and even if it is Brian Flores, this is not Daniel Jones. And this system is not Brian Dables where Harrison Phillips mentioned to us, he goes, I think he was asked about the Niners offense and just playing against him. And he mentioned, yeah, you know, there's just no tendencies. You have to be patient. It's not like last week where we knew what was coming. You know, they absolutely could tell in the Giants of like, yep, Andrew Van Ginkle screen way, or yep, going to be a run my way. The Niners, there are no tendencies. They

have answers for everything. And so that makes Brock Purdy that much more dangerous when he's just not tipping his handle that much. That is tremendous analysis of Brock Purdy. And I totally agree. When people talk about him, I think that they paint him into more of a Jimmy Garoppolo picture. And I just think he shouldn't give any apologies for getting play action success and things like that but when he's asked to make a play he is able to make a play uh outside of the structure of uh what they are doing and that is when you talk about answers we talk about tendencies and well all you have to do is just do x y and z and then he'll have trouble i don't know that that's really there in the same way that it was uh with jimmy garoppolo when he was playing against them because i felt like that's what we used to talk about as well if you could throw him

off the timing he was good at the timing but you throw him off the timing and then he's going to have a lot of trouble with that the only thing i could see is trying to get purdy into pure drop back situations but that's easier said than done for a team that runs the ball so well and completes underneath stuff where they're always working ahead of the chains. And this is, it's like, when you look at them, you go, that's it. That's the dream. What, what percentage we, I think we agree. Kyle Shanahan is the guy that he is the best offensive mind in the NFL. Is there a debate there? No, I mean, Sean McVay, Andy Reid, but yeah, no, he's absolutely up there. Yeah, yeah.

Where would you put Kevin O'Connell in comparison to Kyle Shanahan? Like, what does Kyle Shanahan do that is maybe something O'Connell isn't there yet with? Or do you think that he is approaching how good Shanahan is? I think you've mentioned this a lot on your podcast, but Kevin O'Connell, there's no doubt about him as a pass game coordinator. What Kyle Shanahan does to separate himself is he loses Mike McDaniel, the run game coordinator to Miami, watches that carbon copy go to Miami

and dominate mostly in the run game. And then he decides, I'm still going to do the exact same thing. It wasn't just this assistant. It was me. I know what I'm doing. And he can scheme up the run game, truly marry it to the pass to where that run game can be the spearhead of what ends up being the most explosive offense because of what they

generate after the catch, what they generate downfield and all of those things. And so I think when Kyle Shanahan has that holistic, both running and passing approach to it in ways that you saw with Sean McVay and Todd Gurley back when he had all the weapons he had. You've seen that with Andy Reid, even before his Patrick Mahomes years, he had very efficient offenses with subpar average quarterback play with Alex Smith right before Patrick Mahomes. So I think those guys show a more balanced approach work with Kevin O'Connell. It was very impressive what they did with Sam Darnold in week one. If he continues that success this year with Sam Darnold, he deserves all those

flowers. I still will have questions about him coordinating a run game when all that changed was Aaron Jones stepping in and being dynamic. Folks, U.S. Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten ironic. We try to put our phones down for dinner, but the menu is on a QR code. That's ironic. We hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like. Ironic. Which is why U.S. Cellular created UsMode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically. A phone company wanting people to use their phones less? Ironic. Let's find us again with Us Mode from U.S. Cellular.

Visit uscellular.com slash built for us to get started. Right, no, that's for sure. And I also think, too, whatever it is that they do, teaching their offensive line, they all seem to get it. And even guys like Tom Compton, who played here before, he had to play a ton of snaps for them. Was it two years ago? Yeah. And he was OK.

He was not really OK here. That wasn't under Kevin O'Connell. But under O'Connell, there has been a weakness or weaknesses on the offensive line. And whether it's your decisions with personnel or whether it's the way that it's taught, whatever it might be, we see more quick losses on the offensive line and more, I think, missed blocks even in the run game. And I do wonder if that's an edge because Shanahan, that system goes back so far with Alex Gibbs and the Kubiak. And they've been running that run scheme.

It's not the same, for sure. It's morphed and morphed and morphed. But I feel like they know how to teach the offensive linemen exactly what they want for those schemes that maybe isn't quite here. And that might be personnel related because they have not been able to put together five very good offensive linemen. But as we talk about factors, the right guard has to be talked about and the center as well because Garrett Bradbury,

though not on the injury report, right? No, he is. Oh, he is. Okay, he was. All right, he is. Limited. He was banged up in the game, and I remember seeing him kind of limp off, and then he was limited in practice.

This is a factor for a team that has a very good defensive line. That's just it. We can talk X's and O's and who's going to win the scheme, I think Kevin O'Connell mentioned this at his Wednesday presser where he just said all that stuff doesn't matter when they just punch you in the mouth. And then they can just shove it down your throat, run. He said, I think, run 40 times a game if they want to.

And that's what makes it really hard in the fourth quarter to just stay in it and have the will. They can literally run it out of you. They are a very physical, dominant, violent football team in a way that with the Vikings, I only see from guys named Christian Derrissaw on offense or Brian O'Neill or Josh Oliver. Like you don't see that from the interior three. I liked what I saw from Blake Brandel initially in this game, this first game, still early with him, obviously, but you're right. Bradbury being banged up. Ed Ingram was horrendous in that game. There was one play where they assigned an Ingram Bradbury being banged up. Ed Ingram was horrendous in that game.

There was one play where they assigned an Ingram Bradbury double team on Dexter Lawrence, and he went literally through it. He didn't just kind of beat one guy on one edge and get around it. He went through it and had a quick pressure on Sam Darnold. I mean, that's the kind of stuff where when you're a coach, there's nothing you can do. You literally assign two human beings to one human being. And that guy just ended it for you. And it's because you don't have right now good play. And if Bradbury's banged up, that is certainly going to lessen him because he has been better than what he was on Sunday. Ed Ingram has not been. And for them to still stick with him at right guard, frankly, it's

because they don't have any other options. Right now, Dalton Reisner's on injured reserve he can't come back to week five who's their backup guard other than that Dan Feeney Dan Feeney Tyrese Robinson is on the practice squad Michael Juergens who's not ready to play I think in the NFL yeah that's there's nobody that you could replace him with Feeney has a similar history in his career that he's much more of a backup caliber player and you know what I'm to guess the 49ers probably noticed on tape the issues with those two guys and may or may not try to take advantage of it. I think they're going to have some stuff cooked up for that, and it's on the Vikings staff to figure out.

And last year, the way they did this, it's kind of funny, was C.J. Hamm. They used C.J. Hamm a lot for interior help, and Fred Warner with those agap blitzes and stuff like that, I mean, they actually kind of even the playing field a little bit by getting C.J. in there. And we saw him do that a bit against the Giants. So C.J. could be a serious factor because that's what inspired me to write the article about how he was pass blocking now and not run blocking as much anymore, though he did on a few key plays this last week. But that pass protection help from him does take away an extra weapon, but may

because you don't really need to give a lot of assistance to the tackles. So instead of chipping on the outside, you can help on the inside. I found it interesting that even in this week, one game you mentioned with CJ, he was the most used third down back. It was like evenly split. It was four snaps for him, three for Aaron, three for Ty. And those ones with Ty were kind of later in the game. So you could tell their plan is they want to use Ham and then Jones as the three down backs. And it just that says that Ty Chandler is not a fully developed pass protector at this point, which is no shock. But yeah, I like that idea with Ham because they're already kind of doing it. I think they trust him most as that third down guy. It's why he was on the field when he fumbled was because it was third and 15 or something like that. So he just got the check down and it was just the second fumble of his NFL career. But they trust this guy. They're going to continue to trust him and he might have to be their next offensive guard. So, right. Yeah, that's really what it is. And, you know, using Josh Oliver to help and things like that, you can only do so much from someone who's a tight end on the outside

when it comes to the interior. That's why I think that interior rushers are so valuable because there isn't really a clear answer for them. Let's talk about what if they win this game. I think we all know if they lose this game, even if they get beaten by two scorers, we will probably all say that's the bar folks. That is the bar in the NFL,

the San Francisco 49ers. If they are able to win this contest, how would you feel about the 2024 Minnesota Vikings? That would tell me that Sam Darnold can truly be the game manager that he's trying to be here, that they're coaching him to be. Cause that would mean he didn't turn the ball over much. You're not going to and win this game. It would tell me that Brian Flores' defense is for real,

because even though Iyuk is coming along with that offense and Trent Williams is coming along, I think Kyle Shanahan mentioned that week one was the first week that they actually all practiced together as an offense throughout the whole offseason because of those two holdouts that I just mentioned. So, yes, that would be a convenient excuse if the Vikings somehow won this game, but you couldn't diminish a potential win because this is such a talented roster for the 49ers. And you are in the second year, it feels like, kind of of this rebuild in the first year of post-Kirk. Like, that would be a massive confidence builder, especially for Sam Darnold,

who when you talk to coaches behind the scenes, they're very much managing his confidence. And I remember talking to Josh McCown in the summer and he said, like, we can't let the scoreboard dictate how we feel in the quarterback room. Well, what does that tell you? That tells you that they were going into the season knowing that,

Hey, we could get punched in the mouth here and it might not feel good, but we can't let Sam get too down on himself. Talk about confidence if they win this game, though, right? Like that would be the ultimate boost for them right now. And it would tell me a lot, not just about the offense, but when I mentioned the questions on defense, it would mean that they stopped the run adequately enough and that they got Brock Purdy into some of those third and long pass rushing situations. So you bring up something that he actually mentioned himself, Sam Darnold, about when you're losing and you feel like the entire world's kind of against you at that point. And when you look at Sam Darnold's history, something that stood out to me just going through the game logs, the PFF scores, all those things for his career, is that when he has gotten down,

he has not gotten right back up. And with Kirk Cousins is one of the things that I always brought up of deeply respecting of him. He could have the worst game you've ever seen, and then the very next week come back, there could be all sorts of things. The building could be on fire. Stephon Diggs could be skipping practice.

Remember, that whole week that Diggs did the whole truth to all rumors, Kirk went out and played a great game and won the next week and they bounced back and they got on a roll. That was something he was really excellent at is having the horse blinders. And I don't know that that's very easy to do in the NFL. It's probably his superpower, but with Darnold to have the support around him of, Hey, at least for this year, you are our guy. We're all in on you. And to have everyone trying to lift him up, hey, at least for this year, you are our guy. We're all in on you. And to have everyone trying to lift him up,

it has seemed like there has been an exceptional effort by everyone to be like, dude, you can do it. Come on, we all believe in you. Let's go, let's make it happen. For one week, the first impression was he can do it. But to do this, it would be huge for him going forward. And I just think that it would show how much talent they have from top to bottom now and they're not there yet as far as being san francisco and being

the super bowl contender and we it would be just one week but it would say that maybe they're closer than sometimes people act like they are as far as when they do drop jj mccarthy into this thing if you can beat san franc Francisco even early in the season, that would say to me, your roster is in a good place to make the playoffs, and it's in a really good place going forward for the future. Yeah, yeah, it would. When I think of that roster and just some of those guys that you would learn a lot about, it's probably guys like Ivanace it's it's guys like Blake Cashman Van Ginkle although we we feel like we learned plenty about him Grenard who affected the quarterback plenty but didn't get his first sack yet in that first game so they need those star guys those front

guys to play like stars I should say and then the back end how much does Stephon Gilmore still have how much is Shaq Griffin still a guy that you can trust as a boundary tackler and somebody who's going to not mess up a single assignment like he already did, it seemed, in that Giants game? So I think I'm going to learn a lot about that defense especially. The offense, I feel like there's more known quantities. I feel like nobody can really – unless Naylor goes out and has the Addison game, where else are you going to be too shocked to learn about this offense?

To me, it's just can Sam Darnold manage the game can he react to pressure the way that he did in New York where when he was pressured because Dexter Lawrence was pretty frequently doing that he reacted well for the most part there was the one time he made the decision to throw when his arm got hit and he got the pick but other than that he took just the one sack when it was a quick Ed Ingram pressure and then he was making checkdowns. He was going through his reads quickly. There was one time or a couple times where he seemed late on his read and it led to an incompletion or a hit as the throw was there.

But for the most part, he was on time. For the most part, he was calm. He didn't, that sack was the first drop back. It could have gone downhill from there. And it seemed like he didn't let that snowball. I think that's huge. And so for me, the offense is really just about Sam Darnold I would like to learn something about the offensive line being the enforcers being the guys that open the holes but Aaron Jones had

the second most yards after contact per attempt in week one I understand Christian Derusaw was mauling people so was Brian O'Neill but Aaron Jones had to dodge a lot of people and he's going to have to do that again on Sunday. This is actually the rare game where I would say that a moral victory is possible. Oh, my God, yeah. Because of how big the gap is thought to be. You're talking about even if you go Vegas before the season, one team is a Super Bowl favorite. Another team is favorite to maybe even get the top draft pick, which I always thought wasn't exactly right.

But still, that is a big gap in what people think of these two teams. favorite to maybe even get the the top draft pick which I always thought wasn't exactly right but still that is a big gap in what people think of these two teams and if it's tight and they battle and they're right there then I do think it swings them better into Houston better into who knows what's going to be of Jordan Love and Green Bay and if they are able to win this game it's not just about what we feel about them and how good they can be. It's also about literally the standings. The standings suddenly become, oh, you can go beat Malik Willis if that's who's going to be playing. Malik Willis is not good. And against this defense where you have to identify a bunch of stuff, that seems like a

nightmare for him. And with Houston, that's another really tough matchup. So I don't know if you can win that one but if you get to two and oh you get to three and one then you can see the light at the end of the tunnel the New York Jets are not infallible at all I mean they didn't look good I mean Rodgers threw the ball a couple times okay but they looked pretty bad and then you go to Detroit Rams and after that lot of winnable games Jacksonville's not that good Tennessee's not that good Chicago might be Caleb Williams really struggling with Brian Flores and you start talking about the playoffs and you know this works the opposite way too because remember the 0-2 we

went through this so many times in the last few years 0-2 and the seasons where they went 0-2 it was kind of over right there, whereas I think 2-0 might, for this team, have a similar effect. Yeah, or if you at least, if we just look at how the schedule you've laid it out, if you split these next two, whichever way, and maybe San Francisco is more winnable just because of the nature of their chemistry right now. Maybe it's not. I don't know. Houston's a weird team to me where I'm not sure totally. Their defense should be better,

but Anthony Richardson's also insane. So I don't know how much about Houston yet, but I do know that San Francisco has gone to two Superbowls in the last five years. Yeah. This would be the ultimate measuring stick for the Vikings. It would put you in a position where, you know what, we could lose a game or two and still be relevant in November and December. Cause you're right. That November schedule is full of Seahawks, Titans, Jaguars, just, yeah, winnable games. So we're both going to pick San Francisco, yeah? Yeah, I can't do it. I can't pick the Vikings.

Not there yet. Prove it to me game. How about that? Give me a percentage that you think that they do win, though. So it's not over 50, obviously, but where is it? I would put it at 30. I put it at 30%, which if you asked me this two weeks ago before that Giants game, I would put it much lower.

I would have said 10, 15%. But I saw how the Niners looked in week one, which, again, was dominant. But McCaffrey's probably not going to be playing in this game. I don't think Ayuk looked good. I think just in general there's some ways that they're not at full strength, San Francisco. And at the same time, Minnesota looked pretty good. Sam Darnold looked pretty good. I think just in general, there's some ways that they're not at full strength, San Francisco. And at the same time, Minnesota looked pretty good. Sam Darnold looked pretty good. They beat up on a bad team like they should have. So I would move it up to about 30%, maybe 35% if I was

feeling optimistic. I went 38% the other day with Searles. I think that's right. It's the NFL. It's a home game for the Vikings. I'll throw one more thing out at you before we wrap up, which is just I want to see, and I know it's going to be week one, how the crowd responds to the new Minnesota Vikings. I felt over the last couple of years that there was a lethargy inside that building that when anything went wrong, there was a little, oh, it's Kirk, and he's probably going to lose. And even as great as

so many football games were and as close contested as they were coming down to the last drive for this team there was a moment last year I think I talked about on the show where Justin Herbert had the ball and was driving at the end of the half and everyone was sitting quietly it was just like oh he's probably gonna score going to score. And you're like, guys, you should be cheering because he's easily working the way down the field. And with this one, I want to get a sense of the energy. What is this team, what is this fan base feeling about this new look of a team?

Yeah, that's a legitimate question, especially when you consider the fact that the last time we saw excitement in that building, it was just because J.J JJ McCarthy was on the field. That was what brought it out. I mean, people like to see Sam Darnold, the 12 snaps he took, got him down to the goal line. I don't think they scored on that drive, did they? They did not. Failed on fourth down.

Yeah, so they tried. But anyway, I think the excitement, though, was for JJ. That's what people want to see, this new franchise quarterback. People were so excited to see him throw touchdowns, run around, do those things. It was new. It was exciting. Instead of just retread Sam Darnold, ah, what's he going to do?

Probably throw a pick. Because like you said, people get the memory kind of baked in of what this guy is, what he's been. And you just expect him to do more of the same. And so I think Sam Darnold and this Vikings team is going to have to earn it from the crowd a little bit. Not to say that fans won't be pumped.

It's the first game, but it's noon. It's not a night game. It's a noon game. Sun's going to have to earn it from the crowd a little bit. Not to say that fans won't be pumped. It's the first game, but it's noon. It's not a night game. It's a noon game. Sun's going to be up. Weather might be great. You might be looking outside if it's the third quarter and you're down by 14, being like, ah, it's the time to hit the traffic, beat the traffic, all that stuff. Like, that's all very real.

And the team can feel it on the sideline. And Aaron Jones is talking about before the game. He talked about this yesterday. He said, I can't wait to do the skull clap. I'm so excited for this. Well, because he knows what it's like when it's Vikings Packers. That is not what every game is like for this team. It's not certainly what every game is going to be like with Sam Darnold if Sam doesn't play winning football every week. I think fans should rightfully be more ready to throw in the towel on a given week if this guy isn't playing up to snuff but if he continues to play like he did on sunday he's going to give them every reason to cheer and that's another thing about sunday's win being big against the giants

because everyone's first impression was hey this might actually be a good team let's show up as opposed to like ah here we go again uh we shall see and after the game myself and dane mizzitani will be in the press box of us bank stadium doing our usual thing so make sure that you join along live on youtube about an hour and a half after the game we go down to the locker room we do the press conferences and then we do our live show from there so thanks everybody for watching slash listening thank you andrew kramer of the minnesota star tribune now so uh you know andrew's work and i will see you all again very soon