Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Athletic's Chad Graff takes the 2021 Vikings Hype Survey

Episode Date: July 31, 2021

Prior to heading out onto the practice field for Day 3 of training camp, Matthew Coller has Chad Graff of The Athletic take the "Vikings 2021 Hype Test" in which Chad answers eight questions on a 1-5 scale that tell us how good he thinks the Vikings will be this year. Along the way they get into lots of training camp-related conversations about Christian Darrisaw's health and how the offense currently looks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar here, along with Chad Graff of The Athletic and because other media rooms are taken I'm sitting on the floor and we're gonna do some some fun things with this podcast. Chad what's going on buddy? I'm excited I like the the visual that you're painting as we're in this glorified closet sitting on the floor so things are going well here on day three of training camp. The reason that I'm using a chair as a desk is because I have my computer in front of me. And on my computer, I have created a Vikings 2021 hype survey. So if anyone ever used to read magazines, this thing that used to exist at grocery stores that you would buy, sometimes in the back of those magazines, you would have like like here's a test to figure out what kind of

lover you are agree or to disagree one to five so that's what i've created for you and that's where we're going to start and then i've got a few other questions okay i love that i do think there's a way to relate that perhaps to a younger generation this is um buzz feeds which didn't disney princess are you but of the vikings yes yeah yeah yeah so how hyped are you about the 2021 minnesota vikings i have eight questions okay and here's kind of how it goes so if you score below a 10 well let me count it down from the top if you score above a 35 on this eight questions one to five that means super bowl if it's between 30 and 35, multiple playoff wins. 25 to 30 is a wild card win.

20 to 25 is a wild card loss. 15 to 20 is barely missed the playoffs. 10 to 15 is everyone is fired. And below 10 is did the roof collapse? Did the roof collapse? Did the birds fly through the roof? Yes, right. I'm going to predict that I will score a 24.

That's my early prediction. I've seen none of the questions. Gotcha. Don't know how it's going to work, but I think right around that wild card loss is where I'm thinking going into the season. Okay. So play along at home.

It's a 40 is the highest score, obviously zero or well five would be the lowest since it's one through five. So you have to answer every question with one is strongly disagree. Five is strongly agree. And then that's the range in between there. So one, two, five. And tweet your scores after I'll be curious how many people are at like seven and how many are at 38. Yeah. Uh, I think you should get past seven just based on there is kind of a free space question at the end. All right. So the first question is, or well, I should say the first comment and then you answer if you agree or disagree is these injuries early in camp are no big deal. One is disagree. Five is strongly agree. I will. These injuries in camp are no big deal no big deal so you either disagree

which is closer to one or you strongly agree that they're no big deal with a five so if it's no big deal at all it's a five for now i i'm gonna say a five michael pierce has already surprised me by what he's done danelle hunter who i thought was going to be eased it. Well, no, as I'm talking it through a four, and I'll give you my one reason, but there's a lot of optimism, including that Cam Dantzler is out there. Danil Hunter looks like the Danil Hunter of old.

Michael Pierce is practicing. There's a lot of reasons for optimism. The one knock, and it frightens me because I think it could become a giant knock, is Christian Derrissaw's not practicing. This could drag on. It won't surprise me for more than a week. It will not surprise me.

In fact, I wouldn't expect him to play in the first preseason game. And if Christian Derrissaw's not facing an NFL defensive end, which he hasn't done yet because So you, you know, was injured through organized team activities and mini camp. Um, if he's not facing an NFL D end until two weeks, three weeks out from the regular season, how's he going to beat Rashad Hill for that job? So I just, the more Derrissaw sits out, the more I think that he probably won't be the starting left tackle. Are you talking yourself back from four from five to four? I'm hold it four okay because i i have i don't think that um derisada hill is too too drastic so i'm gonna stick with four for now okay i'm gonna give my answers to and take my own survey uh i'm gonna go with a three here i i'm gonna say that

uh i think that the derisaw one and the fact that Westbrook wasn't ready to go right away. We're talking about starting a little bit behind in training camp. So, you know, also Hunter coming back. He looks OK these first couple of days, not in pads, but we don't really know. And with everything relying on Hunter and there is, I think, a lot of reliance on Michael Pierce. 340 pound guy hurts his calf right away. I I'm going to go three because I don't think it's like panic level, but I think it is. Um, I think it's a thing. Okay. Second statement, Kirk cousins is capable of taking the team to

another level. You strongly agree at five, you strongly disagree at one. So Kirk Cousins has proven that he can take them to a borderline top 10 offense, somewhere around maybe eight, if you're really generous and an 11, 12, if you're more pessimistic to another level than that, essentially, do I think that they can be like the number five offense in the NFL? I don't think so. He's got a ton of weapons. The offensive line is a concern to me. Having a first time play caller is a concern to me. So for all of those reasons, I'll go three here. Okay. You're going to go three. I will, I'm going to go two. And the reason I'm going to go two is because I think that the level we've seen from 2019 and 2020 is the level that's about where their offense is going to be

and whether they make the playoffs how deep they go will pretty much rely on if Mike Zimmer gets the defense back up to where it was expected to be if the kicking is good if the fumbles go their way but another level from this to be in the area of where Rodgers Mahomes, Brady to fly in that high air? Because right now they're like second tier offense and seeing them go to another level, I don't really know. And if you take that as another level of win a divisional round and get to the NFC championship, I'm going to have to see that one too, because we have a pretty big sample size of that not happening. So I'm going to have to see that one too, because we have a pretty big sample size of that not happening. So I'm going to go to, you're going to go three. So right away, my 2021 hype test is a little bit lower. I've got you at a five right now, two questions in and let me add yours in. So you're at a seven. Okay. Judging by how happy Mike Zimmer has been, this is number three.

I think they can be a top five defense. You either strongly agree at five or strongly disagree at one. I'm starting to feel like a homer, but this is my first five. And, you know, Mike Zimmer's delight, I think, stems from the fact that when you look at what their options were this offseason, there was going to be an area that they could not address just because of the money that they had, the resources that they had. That area, for better or or worse was the offensive line the offensive line did not get better perhaps got worse we'll see how it ends up but on the flip side they brought in four call it starting caliber defensive ends with weatherly in the three or defensive linemen with weather when the three defensive tackles they brought in three starting caliber cornerbacks they brought in um their new starting safety like this defense not only brought

all of that they now have bar healthy kendrick's healthy hunter healthy i don't see any reason why they can't be a top five defense okay top five to me is just a little too aggressive okay i'm gonna go with a three here because I think that there is a chance that they are a top five defense, but without any more pass rush than Richardson as a situational rusher and Daniil Hunter coming off neck surgery, the fact that they're relying on a 31 year old Patrick Peterson, who even from what he says did not have a good year last year I do think Zimmer and his adaptation which has been a main topic here among our press conferences mostly my fault but I mean I think that Zimmer is good at this as good at taking the things that were going wrong

for his system and changing them and changing them year after year to be good I just think that the top five level is a little much for a team that's relying on some things to go right for them. And they do have a pretty tough quarterback schedule now that Aaron Rodgers is back. If Aaron Rodgers was not back, I would say, okay, two games against Jordan Love, two games against maybe Justin Fields or Andy Dalton, two games against Jared Goff. Like, yeah, they can be that. I'm going to say with Rodgers that I'm more thinking that they cracked the top 10, but maybe not the top five. I'm starting to feel like I perhaps have had too much purple Kool-Aid. I was just looking, though.

They still had a decent third down defense with nobody. Like that defense line was terrible a year ago. Still had a decent third down defense. So my five stems both from the players that they got, but more so, you know, just an immense faith in Mike Zimmer's defense. I don't perhaps carry that same faith throughout, you know, all of the aspects of being a head coach, but the defensive side, I do think that they can, and maybe even should be a top five defense. I don't think that you're being, well, this is why we're taking the test.

I guess we're finding out to find out exactly how far, but I don't think like any of these takes are illogical for how far you're pushing your meter to the strongly agree so far. It's just like, how much do you believe in some of the players that they brought in and how they're all going to come together? And based on Zimmer's track record, they had top five defense in either yards or points like every single year outside of 2014 and last year. So it's not, it's not a crazy take. It's just you're, you're believing in it a little bit more than I am. Because I think that those questions need to be answered first about not having the extra pass

rushers and just like how the secondary is going to gel like Xavier Woods we don't know how he's going to fit with Harrison Smith and Peterson and Breland and like can Cam Dantzler stay healthy or how's Alexander going to you know come back in so all those things need to kind of be answered for me but I don't think it's an illogical take. All right. Question number four or comments. Number four statement. Number four, the offensive supporting cast around Kirk cousins is way better than last year. Ooh, the supporting cast. Now just for clarity, does this include everything from the offensive coordinator to the offensive line? Yeah. Everything around. Yes. You can include offensive coordinator in supporting cast. Is it better than last year?

I, you know, this might be crazy. I'm going to give a two here. Okay. I think that there's a fair case to be made that the offensive line got worse, a fair case to be made that the offensive play caller got worse. We don't know anything about Clint Kubiak's play calling. Maybe he'll be better than his Super Bowl winning father. For now, I'm skeptical. I think that they made the right choice in getting rid of Kyle Rudolph, but I don't know that subtracting Kyle Rudolph makes the tight ends instantly better. They

played with two tight ends more than any team. So it's not like Irv Smith didn't get opportunity last year, and now he's simply going to break out because he's the number one tight end. He was still on the field a ton last year. Their depth-wide receivers, I would argue, did not get better. Can you expect the same thing from Justin Jefferson? I think so. He's very good, but that's a high bar to set. Can you expect the same thing from Justin Jefferson? I think so. He's very good, but that's a high bar to set.

Can you expect the same thing from Dalvin Cook? He's very good, but that's a high bar that he set. He's got a ton of weapons around him, but I'm not necessarily sold that every single thing around him is better than a year ago. Yeah, for me, the left tackle situation is a huge part of this. Let's not overlook that left tackle is probably the second most important position on the field on offense, and Riley Reif was just darn good and when you look at their

schedule I know I've brought this up a number of times on the show but their schedule features a lot of great pass rushers and if it's Rashad Hill I think Rashad Hill can play do I think Rashad Hill could be better than Riley Reif last year? Absolutely not. Do I think even Christian Derrissaw can be better than Reif last year? Absolutely not. Is Dede Westbrook different than Tajay Sharp or Kendall Wright or Jordan Taylor or Laquan Treadwell? Like, yes, but by how much? Because Tajay Sharp was, oh, he's done this before. And Kendall Wright had like 57 catches the year he came here and then did nothing. And, and Westbrook doesn't even come here fully healthy and not a $1 million deal. So it's very hard for someone to say, well, come on, they got Westbrook one year, 1 million means the whole league was not super

high on this idea. So I'm not going to go crazy saying that that's way better. I think it's a good move, but I'm not going to say, Oh my gosh, it's way better. Same with a fifth round receiver like Smith Marset. Last year, we were talking about Alexander Hollins, just like we are KJ Osborne right now. And with Delvin cook, it does concern me how much workload he got last year. I had the same number. I have two as well. So right now you have surpassed the roof collapsing though. So that's, I'm not sure you have your intent. You at least are higher on than the roof collapsing though. So that's, I'm not sure you have, you're at 10. You at least are higher on than the roof collapsing. Okay.

Fifth statement. One is strongly disagree. Five is strongly agree. I have no concerns at all about the kicking. I mean, it's the Vikings. So that automatically takes off four and five just by virtue of the franchise.

Greg, Joseph and Riley Patterson, where do they fall on a one through three for me? I mean, I have a hard time going above two. I haven't seen either of them in a preseason game. Let's see how they handle Mike Zimmer in a preseason game saying that he's going to start going for two because Riley Patterson missed an extra point. I, you know, am I extremely worried about it? Probably not, I guess. I'm sure they're fine.

I don't have all a lot to say about them other than they're probably fine, but it's still the Vikings. They're still kickers. It's still extremely important. It's still a head coach who does not have a great track record with kickers. So I think I'll go with a two. Yeah. I also went with a two because, well, not only just kickers, but Greg Joseph has one year of kicking in the NFL. Riley Patterson is an undrafted free agent who is on the pup list to start off the season. The only reason I did consider going higher is that it actually couldn't be worse. Like Dan Bailey and the Vikings were the worst kicking team in the NFL last year.

So you can't do lower than the worst. Even if Greg Joseph was the same as himself in Cleveland, it would probably be fine. But to say that I have no concerns when you automatically need to have concerns just based on the franchise and where we're standing right now um yeah that is one that i think is is a big concern i think this sort of this question also sort of speaks to special teams in general that they were very poor last year and there's a lot of things they're going to have to show to change that like do they have a punt returner do they have a kick returner that kind of thing so we're both at two and we're five questions in, correct?

Yeah. I'm starting to get the sense that your score is not going to be very high with a 12, five questions in. This is why you take the quiz. You never know which Disney princess you're going to be. Sometimes you think you're going to be Cinderella and you turn out to be. Little Mermaid. We're going to brush up on our Disney princesses. Don't worry.

When were those made that we just named like 1947 uh all right sixth statement is fans being back in the stands will be a massive advantage for the vikings hmm so i hate to say this because i love having fans at games i don't think it makes quite as big of a difference as teams and fans would like to tell themselves. Unfortunately, I think if you look at the record of home teams and, you know, the point spread that they should be getting, it has gone down even before year by year. It's gone down even before the pandemic. But having said all of that, I do think that the Vikings have a home field advantage that some other teams don't. So I think I'm just going to go right down the middle with this one. I think this is a three for me.

Does home field advantage make a world of a difference? No. I think the numbers bear that out. I think the fact that it's indoors bears that out. But that said, I think the Vikings do have a home field advantage so i'm gonna give them a three i'm gonna go four on this because that place last year was miserable and there were several games that i thought they would have won if they had fans in the stands the game against dallas tennessee tennessee has a fourth quarter comeback tennessee there were game winning drives

last year against the vikings at home that i'm not sure would have happened if they had fans in the stands because we've seen especially when it's not drew breeze or something we've seen quarterbacks just melt in big spots against the vikings we've even seen this from aaron rogers where he struggles sometimes against the vikings defense and they and albeit they were good but i expect them to be good still if there were fans in the stands last year there's still a bad defense but they're not as bad and i especially think that it helps in the red zone third down situations yeah and i will say for all the stadiums we go to us bank stadium at its loudest is louder than yes i think anywhere else that we've been yeah i i have

not uh superdome is the only place sure yes yeah that was a miss on my part yep superdome that's the only place where i was sitting next to sam ekstrom in the playoff game and he could not hear me just trying to talk to him uh all right statement number seven covid will not be a problem at all oh no covid will not be a problem at all well we know that the league does not want to move games um i think that they're going to do everything in their power to to play the games i'm so part of me is optimistic because i you know know, I'm vaccinated. I like that Minnesota has done well getting the vaccine, but I'm going to say a three because while there are a lot of teams who have done very well getting the vaccine, the Vikings, you know,

as far as we know, don't seem to be one of them. So, you know, even if you have only 70% of your locker room vaccinated, that's certainly, um, a lot better than nothing and better than last year. And there's a chance that things go off without a hitch, um, with those numbers, but at the same time, by all accounts, some of their best players, um, are the ones so far who are not vaccinated. So, uh, it's, it's hard for me to go higher than a three. So

I'm just going to go with the three. I feel the same way. I also go with three here because I do think the Vikings players who are not vaccinated, the ones that we've sort of figured out by who's wearing masks. I'm not going to try to call those players out necessarily because I don't want to be wrong. And there are some players who might wear masks anyway, because this is something that's being mentioned as a possibility for just general society. So I don't want to say for sure a guy who has a mask is not vaccinated, but it appears they have a number of stars that are not. And if you have an outbreak and you lose several stars for a game, you're just going to lose. If you lose your quarterback or your wide receiver or your star defensive tackle, I'm again, not calling particular people out, but if you lose these people, you might end up with some L's. And so

I am concerned about that, but I also think that these are players who followed the protocols last year. Uh, and it was not necessarily an issue. I think Adam Thielen missed one game due to COVID protocol. And that was it maybe for the whole season. Riley Reif in the very last game also missed. So they didn't have much of a problem. His million dollars that he ended up just taking with him on his way to Cincinnati. Yes, that they were trying to like woo him back with. And ultimately he just took.

Good for you, Riley. So I'll go with three there. You'll go with three there. You'll go with three there. That leaves you at 22. Okay, my prediction was 24. And now you get a free space. Oh boy, you're at 19. Yeah, Pressbox Food will be back to full strength this year.

So if you're playing along- I don't know that this is a free space. Oh, you don't think so? I thought this was an auto five. I'm not ready to say five. Really? Okay. I thought this was an auto five because it couldn't be worse than frozen bananas last year oh so it's better not that it will be

back to its usual glory i did say back to full strength okay i was expecting that it would be back i'll say four i'll say four all right very negative about the food then well i'm i just you know i cherish the omelet bar and the uh the fried chicken and waffle stand before noon games. And we'll see. I'm not ready to give that a five like it seems you might be. Okay. So if you are then playing at home, do it this way instead of press box food, which is my concern. Just the stadium.

Your concessions. The stadium experience or whatever. The stadium experience when you return will be back to full strength. Okay. Am I giving you a five for that? So you finished. Give me a five. You got a four.

You finished with 26, which puts you barely over into the wild card win. Wow. All right. Where did I finish? You finished with a wild card loss. Oh, okay. 24 points, just barely reaching that wild card win turns out all you needed was one more point along the way and they're winning a playoff game so that comes

back to haunt them just remember you gave a three somewhere instead of a four i was going to say and this is what it will ultimately come down to is i gave the kicking a two and if i had given it a three they make the kick to win the wild card game. Instead, it goes wide left. This is going to be haunting to listen to in early January. Right. So neither one of us were at Super Bowl, baby. Neither one of us were at multiple playoff wins, which I think, tell me if you agree with this. I had a really good conversation with Eric Eager of PFF about expectations for this team and how Las Vegas is actually different than i think the fan

base vegas has them as a mid-pack type team a team that would lose a playoff game in the wild card and i think the expectations here for fans and within the organization is 30 to 35 if we were having people in the organization fill this out i think they end up with 30 to 35. Why do you think that that is, that there seems to be this gap in terms of expectations? Well, so I think some of it started with the Green Bay drama and some eyebrows being raised at first and the potential of, oh my God, are we going to be favorites in the division if Aaron Rodgers doesn't report? What if Aaron Rodgers doesn't play? We're the number one team. We're sitting pretty.

So I think some of it stems from that. I think the other part of it is you look at last year and the offense was good. All that was missing was defense and special teams. I think you look at special teams and say new coordinator, new kicker, new perhaps punt returner, new perhaps kick returner. There's some reasons that the special team is going to be different. I'm not saying that they're going to make every kick, but it has to be better. It can't possibly get worse.

We're maybe the worst kicking team. We're the worst punt return team. They're kick return. They were just bad across the board. And then the other phase of the game is defense, and nobody expects the defense to be as bad as they were a year ago. The question is how good can they be, um, in training camp, everybody's in the best shape of their lives and, and ready to go.

And you've only heard great things about why the team signed Dalvin Tomlinson and Michael Pierce coming back and all these things. So expectations I think are incredibly high for the defense, which is why I think they're incredibly high for the team. I want to remind you to go to SodaStick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. If you have not seen it yet, you've got to check it out. A couple of my favorite designs are the Duck Duck Gray Duck and the Randy Moss Goat, which you've got to see.

All their apparel is screen printed here in minnesota on super soft super comfy shirts and hoodies you will love it we're going to hook you up with free shipping on your next order by the way use promo code purple insider for free shipping that's soda stick s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k.com original minnesota sports inspired goods code purple insider for free shipping and i think that it's totally okay to assume that the things that went right last year of which we act like there were none are going to be right again but i also think that if they're not then we're talking about similar results so let's say the defense is better and the fans impact them and the kicking is better and all these things but let's say that you know rashad hill gets hurt and christian derisaw isn't ready

or brian o'neill gets hurt or justin jefferson gets hurt or whatever it might be like last year the offense was healthy the whole season, almost a hundred percent. Kirk Cousins has been healthy his whole career. And the, I mean, there's no reason to think the quarterback gets hurt, but if the quarterback misses two games, it's a huge loss and a massive drop off. Delvin cook is one of the best players in the NFL last year. If he's not one of the best players in the NFL this year, if he's like second half Delvin, that's, you know, three quarters the speed of first half Delvin. I mean, if the, if the schedule is harder, if the defenses are harder that they face, I think they face two teams, the whole season, two games against teams that finished in the top 10 and QB

rating against, well, what if it's five? What if it's six? So, you know, there's a lot of things that I kind of go back and forth about. And even when you look at like last year, oh, if we just did this, we would have won that game. I mean, they were actually in terms of that regression or luck, an average team in close game luck. So it wasn't like, oh, well, they just got really unlucky. So I guess that's why it's like the things we can't predict are the ones that could get you. And I don't know how to make that into a take other than just to say that there are things

that could happen along the way that did not happen last year that could this year, that could sort of derail everything. It's like if everything clicks together, could they be in the NFC championship game? Absolutely they could. That's why we took the survey. Well, I think they've kind of been this team for three years, where if things go really well, they can go to new Orleans and beat a hall of famer on the road in the playoffs. If things go poorly, they can, you know, win seven games and have a bad defense

and be not a very good team. Like it's. It's a pretty volatile spot where they are, where I do think they have a decently high ceiling. I don't think it's a Super Bowl ceiling, but I think they have a pretty high ceiling. But they also have a pretty low floor where, what if Patrick Peterson just isn't very good anymore? He led the league in penalties last year and got beat quite a bit. What if they have no pass rush outside of Danil Hunter for as good as he is coming off of a serious injury? Pierce isn't known for his pass

rush. Tomlinson isn't known for his pass rush. Weatherly's numbers aren't as good as the Fadi Adenikbo's. What if the third linebacker spot matters a lot and you just don't have anybody? What if Cameron Dantzler gets hurt? There are a bunch of what ifs um that could lead you to a a low floor and you know I personally think it's kind of fun to follow a team with this kind of volatility we'll see where it ends up going but kind of like last year I think it's a team that could come out one week and lead you to say oh my god they are really good and then the very next week lay a stinker and be like these guys are terrible they're not going to the playoffs that's who they've been really with Kirk Cousins is that on a given week you could really believe that they're a great team I

remember after the win in Dallas I think it was on Sunday night football where we sort of declared like wow okay they've taken this next step and so forth and then they played green bay a few weeks later at home and got smashed by a team that was good and that has sort of been their mo as a team is if they're playing someone good they probably lose if they're playing someone bad they probably win and then there's a stinker thrown in there that really shocks us change that this year and you could be quite different don't even change it by winning all the games against winning teams but just a couple and and it could be different this year but when you feel like the schedule and its strength will determine where you go right and we don't know a lot of things on the schedule we do know rogers is back but we don't know about justin fields or trey lance

and and how teams are going to look as you go along we don't even know how joe burrow's going to look in week one. Their first two games, Cincinnati is, I think, a pretty volatile team. Arizona is a pretty volatile team. Some people think Arizona is ready to compete for that division with two other great teams in it. And it also wouldn't surprise me if Arizona won six games. Would that be that shocking?

No. No. So they also, I guess, have a lot of volatile teams. Perhaps I think that just says something about the middle tier in the NFL. Yes. Where there's a lot of teams with high ceilings and low floors. OK, let me give you this real quick and then I've got one more fun question for you and then we can run out to practice because we're late for practice anyway. So I tried yesterday in the Friday mailbag to lay out the teams that I thought were decidedly worse, decidedly better, and probably the same as the Vikings. And I'm trying to, trying to find this real quick

because it was, it was a great question for Friday mailbag. How many teams roughly were in kind of that tier? There were a lot though in the middle tier. So hold on, I'm scrolling and I'll find it in just a second. But i think what i found to your point is okay i've got it the teams that i had in the nfc definitely the vikings are better than the eagles lions and panthers you agree with that agreed decidedly better yeah they're probably better than the giants saints and falcons i would probably move the giants so they're definitely better than the giants but yes Okay. But yes, agreed. Fair.

Too close to call, I have Washington, Dallas, Chicago, Arizona, and LA. God, that's a big group, and LA's the only one that scares me in that. That was the only one that gives me pause that I might say LA is probably better. The high end of LA is probably better. I just don't believe in it. I like Matt Stafford. I'm sorry. Back on how, you know, Matt Stafford was kind of a middling quarterback for it in the eyes of so many. And then he goes to a good offensive coach and everybody says, Oh my God, he's like a six best quarterback in the league. Well, we'll see at the same time, Collins went to a Super Bowl once so you never know and and Joe Joe Flacco like is Stafford not Joe Flacco and eventually it did click once uh they're probably not better than the Packers Bucks Seahawks 49ers you only said

probably on these well I mean they're definitely not better than the Packers I didn't get to definitely not better than like that's that's not't get to definitely not better than. Okay. So there's not an above category. Yeah, this is the highest category. I would agree with all those teams. I would just say they're definitely not better than those teams. Yeah, that's how I had it. The Vikings are probably slash definitely not better than the Packers, Buck, Seattle.

So that puts you right in that ballpark. I will say I'm not as sold on Seattle. I would probably bump them a notch to seattle's probably better but i i'm not sold on seattle um being a great team this year here's the way i think of that is last year seattle was kind of a bleep show their defense was trash their quarterback was fighting with their coaching staff they went 12 12 and four. The Vikings have two seasons like that since 1998. Yeah. Fair enough. That's fair.

That's really good. Yeah, that's fair. So their quarterback hating the game plan, hating the coach still won 12 games. Okay. That's fair. He's really good. Okay.

I just wanted to ask you the most obnoxious training camp story in the NFL. Not Rogers. You can't say Rogers, but a thing that you're seeing all over the nfl everyone's talking about this that or the other thing so we kind of touched on it it used to be best shape of your life that was annoying no one says that anymore so you're not talking about a very specific just very very specific is fine whatever it comes to mind for you that's like just super obnoxious and you wish would go away we touched on it briefly i think it's stafford

suddenly being an amazing quarterback even in Sandoz um quarterback tiers which are always excellent and always fun to read suddenly he jumps up like five spots he wasn't his numbers didn't drastically improved he just went to a different team like yes I have immense respect for McVay and you know he's in a much better situation than Detroit but that doesn't automatically make him a better quarterback. I, I think he'll be good. I think he was good. Like that's about where I think he is.

He's, he's good. He's, you know, you could do better. You could do a lot worse. He's good. And yet, because he's in a new situation, everybody's talking about him as, you know, an MVP candidate. What are we talking about? It's just an mvp candidate what are we talking about it's just so 2018 vikingsy that i can't get over i can't get past that uh i was gonna say madden ratings i am extremely unbelievably done with this player doesn't and i'm the respect to

justin jefferson who is quote going to use it as motivation. Justin already seems pretty motivated to me. I don't think that there's like more motivation. I don't know. They say that there's not a single player just that was like, Oh, okay. Well, I wasn't motivated,

but I got a 91 in speed. Watch how fast I can run now. It's just, I see the pro football talk headlines every day. This player thinks he should have been rated higher on, on man. Justin Jefferson said it right. It's a video game like come on come on people are mad that like matt ryan is rated like 10th or something who cares i mean as as a gamer who cares it's not a story it's just not a story submission for your next mailbag uh list out the quarterbacks

definitely better than cousins probably better than Cousins. Probably better than Cousins. Around the same as Cousins. And Cousins is definitely better than. That's what Madden thinks of how much they're better than would be also a thing I would not write about. So anyway, yeah, no, that's that. That is actually an article on purpleinsider.substack.com. I did earlier this year with their schedule,

like better, worse, same, per cousins for their schedule. So the problem with Kirk is it's like the group that's similar to him is even bigger than the group. Yeah, it's very big. So anyway, well, thank you for filling out my survey. Thank you for taking all of your time as we got to run out to practice here. Playoff loss in the wild card round. You heard it here first. You heard it here. 26 points points well that no that was me you had them winning you have them going of course who could forget yes this is a negative podcast obviously well thank you for having me all right and thanks everyone for listening we'll be back

again night practice that'll be the next time you hear from us. All right, later. Thank you.