Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Star Tribune's Andrew Krammer gives his advice for the Vikings' playoff approach

Episode Date: January 10, 2023

Matthew Coller and Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune talk about Black Monday and hand out some advice to the NFL at large about their offseasons and then provide some advice for the Minnesota Vikings and Kevin O'Connell as they match up with the New York Giants in the first round of the playoffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here along with Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune. And Andrew, every time you come on, I just feel the need to step up the game. We just can't have like a regular general football conversation. I feel like we have to come with something because we've just set the expectations so high. Whether it was comparing philosophers to Stefan Diggs tweets once upon a time

or creating those back of the magazine like surveys. We've always got to have something good. So I think I've cooked up something good. Are you excited? I am. I'm looking forward to it. I hear it allows us to tell other people what to do, which is one of my favorite things in life.

I think that's what we're here for, actually, is to tell other people what to do, which is one of my favorite things in life. So that's perfect. I think that's what we're here for actually is to tell football teams how to operate. And sometimes they should listen. I did see by the way that the Los Angeles chargers had a couple of key players get injured, which we were advising the Vikings not to play their key players. They escaped with it,

but I just wanted everyone to know that, like, somebody had it happen. But anyway, so here's the game for playoff week. I'm very proud of this one. We are just going to give unsolicited advice to anyone we want. Now, that could be the Minnesota Vikings, which it will be in multiple areas for at least my list of advice to give to the Vikings, but also could be the NFC North, could be the rest of the NFL, could be teams that say just fired their head coaches or general managers. We could take it in lots of different directions.

So I am going to let you as the guest begin and take us wherever you would like as far as your first piece of advice for someone who didn't ask for it. Absolutely. Yeah, they would never ask for my advice on this, but I do believe the Green Bay Packers should trade Aaron Rodgers. I don't even know contractually how that would happen. I think they'd have to restructure and figure out a way to do it financially,

but they should do it because just watching him throughout the end of that, even throughout their winning streak to get back into the playoff chase, there's just head scratching decisions that he makes and throws that we're not used to seeing him miss. And I don't think all of that is just on the lack of connection with these young wide receivers or lack of trust or the blocking issues up front. We see a guy who's leaned on his mobility in the past and has not been able to do that this year for a variety of reasons. And I don't think everyone ages. Here's the important part. Not everyone ages like Tom Brady. We just can't expect this to keep happening. Like, oh, well, Rodgers will be fine until he's 45, right?

No, that's not how it works because it just doesn't. This guy's an anomaly. And so trade Rodgers while you can, because I don't think, I think the farther out you get from those back-to-back MVPs, obviously the less you're going to get for them. And I do wonder what someone would offer for Aaron Rodgers considering the price tag for his salary cap hit, which no matter how they restructure it and work it out, it's going to be a lot. And I guess there's two people that I would offer some advice to regarding this.

I would say to Aaron Rogers, hang them up, my friend. He got his back-to-back MVPs. He has at least a Superbowl ring, though. I think considering his level of talent may be considered a slight disappointment. I mean, I don't want to be the one in Minnesota saying someone else is a disappointment,

but they had so many close chances that they have to be disappointed about the number of times that they were right on the doorstep of winning and didn't do it. But regardless, he'll always have that ring and he'll always have his MVPs. And he will go down as 1A or 1B greatest quarterbacks in Green Bay Packers history. I mean, Brett Favre is a hard one to take down. Bart Starr is a hard one to take down. So I guess 1A, BC. But I mean, come on.

These guys are all equal in the annals of history as three of the greatest players to ever play. I'm sure people have their favorites. But it's not like he has another thing to do, another box to check off. The man does not look like he enjoys playing football anymore. He could argue all he wants, but he doesn't show up for like OTAs and mini camps and then points the fingers at other people for not being ready. It's like, I don't know, man, you just don't look like you're having a whole lot of fun. So it's not that likely to go as well as it did for Brett Favre when he came to Minnesota. And of course, the first year where he left to the New York Jets,

they started off hot. It didn't work out very well, but Favre kind of gritted his way through, then found a way to Minnesota, had a great setup, a favorable schedule. Everything went well for them, and they were on the doorstep there. I don't know if you can repeat history necessarily, because if you pick the wrong team, you could end up looking like Russell Wilson or if you're just incredibly washed. I mean, think about the Rams. If they had traded for Matthew Stafford one year later and then he got the injuries that he did,

that would have been one of the most disastrous trades. These are guarantees matt ryan to the indianapolis colts no guarantees which is my other piece of advice to other teams don't trade for aaron rogers i don't think it's going to work how you think it's going to work vegas don't do it it's not going to work you're not going to beat mahomes and herbert because you traded for what is now probably like the 14th best quarterback in the league. Well, and just look in that own division to see Russell Wilson as the cautionary tale, right? For trading for some kind of washed quarterback who clearly showed decline in Seattle. Seattle knew probably more about that decline than we all did until he got to Denver. But it's similar stuff in terms of

when that mobility dies down, what can you do from the pocket? And I mean, Russell Wilson's decline is much, much more shocking just considering the weapons they had around them. But clearly coaching plays such a huge deal with it. My other ones revolve around the NFC North as well. Chicago, we talked about this, should trade Justin Fields and draft their successor with the number one overall pick. I think they're going to get more for Justin Fields potentially than even trading that number one overall pick because of what Justin Fields has shown. And they should know internally how far that guy has to grow as a passer. I just don't see a Josh Allen-like turnaround with him. I think he's so

dynamic athletically that you almost have to build an offense like it's Lamar Jackson, as opposed to some of these other guys who can really go through a progression and throw the ball on time, on target. All of those things that Justin Fields has shown as a pocket passer, he can't do. And give him time, I guess, guess give him weapons and maybe next year he could grow into that but i think the bears right now could capitalize on his stock by trading him especially with that number one overall pick and then detroit i can't believe i'm saying this should extend jared goff jared goff is a perfect fit for what detroit is doing um in terms of the running game the play action ben Ben Johnson, the OC there,

for as long as he is there, knows how to use him, and they are getting so much out of him right now. Extend him because you are going to probably be able to get Jared Goff for less than your typical kind of middling quarterback on the free agent market anyway. So Goff also seems to like it there so and they're doing well and it's it's a bummer for me to not see them in the postseason so let me try to go the other way on the justin fields thing because i i don't feel differently than you do about justin

fields in that situation when you didn't draft him and he's not your guy and the contract difference is so huge between the second contract and the rookie deal. You have to consider these things. Are you going to be able to put enough around Justin Fields by next year to actually compete? And I mean, even like the Cleveland Browns, they kind of wasted the first couple of years of Baker Mayfield. They really only had one year where they were actually competitive with him. And then the following season, they got a bunch of people hurt.

The relationship between Fields and Stefanski fell apart. And then boom, you have to trade for Deshaun Watson and sell your soul and give up all your cap space and everything else because it just didn't work out with Baker Mayfield and his rookie contract. So if you don't feel like you can win with him on the rookie deal, this is not Josh Allen in the way that they knew that he had a generational skill set, a generationally good arm, and it was just, can you get him to that place?

I don't know that you see that upside with Justin Fields. And there's an argument to be made that someone like Bryce Young is just simply a better prospect overall than Justin Fields. And there's an argument to be made that someone like Bryce Young is just simply a better prospect overall than Justin Fields was coming out. Now that doesn't mean he'll be good and prospect just means you haven't done anything yet. But at the same time, like when you're talking about averaging 150 yards a game passing, like I was just taking a peek at Vince Young's numbers kind of reminds me of that, like a modern Vince Young, where, I mean, the guy was great in terms of his personality and they loved him as a leader and he tried as hard as he could. And he ran all the time and he was dynamic and they won some games

because of it, but they were never able to take it to another level with Vince Young because he just couldn't consistently throw the ball. But that's not the dissenting opinion on that. That's me agreeing with you that they should really consider that. The dissenting opinion would be this, that when you look around the league at the quarterbacks who are the best outside of Patrick Mahomes, so he is a freak show that makes no sense historically. He is by value for quarterbacks so far ahead of everyone else that charts have to remove him to show how the other quarterbacks stack up, even the great

ones. But Josh Allen did take that step when he got Stephon Diggs, and Jalen Hurts did take that step as a passer when he got A.J. Brown. I don't think we can deny the impact of elite wide receivers on quarterbacks. And you're taking a guy who already struggles a little bit to get rid of the football, giving him the worst offensive line and receivers who can't separate and get open. Can you see a world where in that next year, if they add just a couple people, kind of like Trevor Lawrence, that all of a sudden he is a lot better to go along with that running. And I think that you can see that now when you factor in the money, the likelihood of it after the way he's passed the ball in the first couple of years, it certainly makes you

concerned, but you could see it. You could see it, but it's a, but you know, Tyree kill just doesn't show up like all the time. Like you have to kind of say like, you don't just, you don't just go get Stefan digs. Yeah. I mean, it has to be available. And I, I don't know that that's available this year.

I mean, maybe Deandre Hopkins could be the guy that's available, but is he, he's not like Tyree killer day. I don't think at this point in his career, he's like older. Yeah. Yep.

So that that's, that's the only argument, but I think if you're advising the chicago bears to take it under strong consideration i think you're right yeah that's a good point too about just the growth of quarterbacks and we see too with guys like geno smith i mean these guys just don't get enough chances to grow anymore we kind of are quick to throw them out but when we see some guys come in and take take the uh league by storm like some of these young quarterbacks seem to do um you know why not try to swing for the fences a little bit

to get one of these guys and i think with chicago you you brought up the good point too like just contractually they're built more to have a restart at that position than just have a guy who's already burned two years of his rookie deal with Justin Fields. How about this take? Sean McVay, take the TV money. Get out of that situation. You got it. I think they should extend Jared Goff in Detroit, and I think Sean McVay should walk away in Los Angeles, which is not at all how I felt about that deal two years ago. When Matthew Stafford went there, I thought, boy, they're set up for a long time. But I overlooked the amount of damage physically that Matthew Stafford has gone through, not just in Los Angeles, but years in Detroit that clearly you bring with you at that position.

And then he gets one of the worst offensive lines this year, had elbow issues, now concussion issues. Sean McVay, leave. Take the TV money. Raise your kids, come back to coaching in five years to whatever team you want. Um, because any team will take you at that point. I forgot about the golf part of that to respond to that. And I agree with you.

I think that at the beginning of the year, and then when they went one in six, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that they would have to draft a quarterback and just continue their rebuild. But the way that Jared Goff led them in the second half of the season, and really like conclusion that they would have to draft a quarterback and just continue their rebuild. But the way that Jared Goff led them in the second half of the season, and really, it's not like this is a Geno Smith situation where this guy was a bum before. This is the third time he's led a top five offense. I think that he sort of falls under the Jimmy Garoppolo category of a guy that if you set it up, he's going to take care of it. But one thing that he really has there, it seems that maybe in Los Angeles, he didn't have was in LA. They would

always be like, it's just McVay pulling the puppet strings of golf. And it seemed like it was always McVay's show and they never really put it on golf as the leader of that team. And, you know, even like what Dan Campbell said about sort of firing up the team and then having Goff kind of even them out before the game, like that leadership correlation there or connection there between Campbell and Jared Goff, that's a belief that they just didn't show. And I think that there is something to that. We've seen it with the Vikings having belief of your coach as opposed to dissent, where every time the offense isn't perfect in LA, it was like, well, it must have been Goff being bad because it's not McVay.

He's a genius. As we saw this year, you're only as genius as your players most of the time. So I agree with that one. I think they should go forward with Jared Goff. And here's the advantage. Now, I am Mr. Rookie Quarterback contract, of course, because history says that that is a golden ticket for you. However, if you have a lot of superstar players on rookie contracts, and we're actually seeing that right now with the Vikings,

with Jefferson and Derrissaw, look at them. Pen A. Sewell, superstar player. How about Aiden Hutchinson that they just drafted high? They're going to have another high draft pick because of the Rams. These guys will all be on rookie deals. Jamison Williams is going to be that. Amon Ross. Yeah.

Yep. Yep. Like, I mean, they have so many players on rookie deals that they can work around that for now. And then someday, two, three years from now, this will become problematic. Do you have more around the what was the other one the oh mcveigh take the yeah just told mcveigh to please leave for the tv booth i mean and i honestly think with sean payton too when i look at the available jobs do you see one

that you want oh boy you know what the one i'd wait for is i would wait for mike mccarthy to blow it in dallas and i might want that job which i again can't believe i'm saying because it's jerry jones right like who wants to work for the most meddling owner in sports but it's just he's jerry jones has done decently building that roster as essentially the gm of that group so um yeah i would i would maybe hold out for that one but you're right outside of that, I guess if Brandon Staley were to get fired with the Chargers, maybe. But I don't know if that's even close to happening or a consideration. I would say, OK, so is that for your league advice?

Pretty much. Yeah, I got Viking-centric advice. But yeah, that for the league. OK, I'll go through some league advice, and then we'll get to all Vikings for the playoffs. Because we are the ones Kevin O'Connell should be leaning on to tell him how to go deep in the playoffs. What would he know about going deep in the playoffs as a member of a coaching staff or anything? He doesn't know. How about the, I mean, New England Patriots.

Belichick, please don't outsmart yourself again in so many ways. With spending in free agency on bad wide receivers and extra tight ends. With bringing back Matt Patricia and Joe Judge and thinking you could galaxy brain your way to a good offense when they were playing with a preschool offense. I mean, I do believe that Mac Jones is a good quarterback, but he's very similar to Jared Goff. If there's a comp, I think it's that because I think he could do a lot of things, but he can't do everything. He can't overcome having a completely clueless offense with receivers who don't get open. That's kind of what Jared Goff had last year and they lost like every game. So Belichick, you didn't convince the world that you're so genius that you could

have a defensive coordinator who stunk as your offensive coordinator. No, go out and get a real one. Go out and get somebody who's actually done this before. I mean, I think that would be my advice for him. Maybe that's a little obvious, but if you're ever going to compete with Buffalo and Miami in the future, you cannot be that far behind in your offensive way of thinking. There's just, yeah, it's a perfect example of how the hubris doesn't escape even the greatest coach who I still think is a phenomenal coach, obviously, because every

year and you see it this year with the Patriots defense, they have flashes of brilliance, even though they can just be a hodgepodge of mid-round draft picks and undrafted guys um they're generally a pretty good defense under belichick and that's his forte offensively you saw how much they've been propped up by tom brady and josh mcdaniels for so many years that combination of what mcdaniels did for mac jones last year that mac jones is clearly missing this year um under that just awful tutelage. I mean, whoever saw Detroit's offense with Matt Patricia or the Giants' offense with Joe Judge and thought, you know who's really on the cutting edge?

You know who really knows, got it figured out? Joe Judge, the guy who's talking about grinding under Dave Gettleman. Give me a break. And it's just such hubris from Belichick to think that let's get the band back together like coaches do of, oh, we'll get the band back together like coaches do of all get my buddies back together it'll be all right um no wonder mac jones was so pissed so often on the sideline and i i don't like the character smearing that goes on of well because he hasn't earned the right to be a fiery leader he can't talk back to coaches if tom brady were doing that the narrative would be totally different just because the guy's got rings. These players don't need to be so subservient all

the time, especially in the heat of the moment like that. And that just seems to be the expectation of people who live in their business environment under management and don't talk back kind of thing. Folks, have you noticed that I'm always talking about liquid death here on the show? Well, you've probably also noticed by now that it's in the grocery aisle with the water. Yes, that's the water that looks like a tall boy beer. And hey, there's a good reason for that. Liquid death is not only delicious mountain water and sparkling water, but it's also saving the environment as well. Liquid death tall boy style cans are much easier to recycle than those plastic bottles. So they're trying to

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He can run your offense. And do not mess around and waste a year of Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson, we saw this in person. That man could play. Now, I know that everyone looked good against the Vikings defense, but Garrett Wilson was one of those guys that you go, no way he's catching this ball or making this play, and he was making them for Mike White. against the Vikings defense. But Garrett Wilson was like one of those guys that you go like, no, no way he's catching this ball or making this play. And he was making them for Mike White.

Mike White's not your guy. Zach Wilson's not your guy. Even Zach Wilson, when he was asked about bringing in a veteran quarterback and he said, oh, I'm going to give him hell in practice. You're like, you're just a dweeb, right? Like, do you even know how to talk? I mean, it's just like Zach Wilson is just so far away from being an NFL quarterback. Maybe someday he pulls a Gino and he develops and he grows up and all those things. I highly doubt it as well. I think that, I think this is, this is a Josh Rosen instantly. It's just over. Like, don't even waste your time. Jimmy Garoppolo, similar offense, Robert Sala connection, elite wide receiver. They've got Brees Hall is going to come back for them and be pretty good.

You know, those offenses do well throwing the ball to the running back. I think Jimmy Garoppolo to the New York Jets is something that I would advise. I'm just going to throw a couple other out there because I think that that one's not like a super hot take to the Houston Texans. Well, I wouldn't actually give them any advice. I would give everyone else advice in take uh to the Houston Texans well I wouldn't actually give them any advice I would give everyone else advice in not working for the Houston Texans I mean anyone if you have a if you are a coach you coach football for whether it's Minnetonka or whether it's the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator do not take that phone call. If they call, don't pick up.

You are being hired to be fired. It is not worth it. Outside of some money, okay, you can make that case. If it's a high school coach, fine. But anybody else, if you are a legitimate candidate at all, do not take that job. That organization is an absolute joke. Make them prove it first because you're getting fired.

Yeah, I was going to say, I love how, I know Vikings fans are upset that the Bears got the number one pick, but I loved Lovey Smith winning that game because he knew he was a prop coach. And you know what? Why am I going to help you and your next coach? And he was fired like as the first coach canned after the season uh hours later but good for lovey winning that game oh yeah yeah yeah i love eat it thank you am i right uh i i so let me just uh let me just offer one more which is to i was gonna say let me just add quick that it would take cal mcnair as well to make jerry jones not the worst owner in texas at least they got rid of jack easterby uh at some point through like quietly just moved on from a team chaplain that they made in control of their entire organization which is

just hey he was by bill belichick at one point, so clearly he knows what he's doing. Yeah, as anyone near Belichick does. All people close to Belichick always have success. I was just going to say that the Arizona Cardinals, there's a quote from their owner where he said that they're going to have Kyler Murray play a role. I know that it was probably Cliff Kingsbury and Steve Kimes' fault. Steve Kimes, likely the worst general manager in football, but I wouldn't trust Kyler Murray. I mean, I just, I look at the way he handled that situation and I was wholly unimpressed. I think

great quarterbacks find a way to make that thing work to at least be competitive, to not be a completely trash team as they were even before he got hurt. So I would not advise them to put all their eggs in the Kyler Murray basket. In fact, I would advise them to make phone calls and consider drafting Will Levis or CJ Stroud or whoever that might fall into their hands with their draft pick i would say don't do not overly believe in him so any any reaction to those i would agree with that entirely i think any talk of kyler murray having input or assistance in the coaching search is got to be lip service to a very sensitive young player who would take offense to not being included. And we see it even with veteran players when Rogers is like,

how can I not be included in some of these roster decisions? It's like, well, because when LeBron runs the Lakers, look what happens. Like it's not good. You're a player for a reason. It's great. So let's, yeah, but O'Connell gets it. Some of these young coaches get it, make them feel involved. Owners clearly understand it with Kyler, Make him feel involved. And you know what? Maybe it'll help you in your

next relationship with the next head coach if Kyler feels like he helped pick him. Because you know what? You might be stuck with him. You might not get a return that you view worthy of eating however much money it would take to get rid of him and restarting at that position. You might be stuck with him for a year or two. And at that point, he's talented enough to, I guess, see, I guess the contrarian argument would be he's talented enough to see if it could work with someone who's not one of the worst coaches we've seen get automatically hired from Texas Tech. Yeah. And maybe that would be another for all teams hiring coaches is do not get wowed by the sexy man from college. Just don't do it. If you're going to pick a sexy guy, do it from the NFL.

But Matt rule wasn't even that good looking. So I don't know what was going on there. Well, speak for yourself. Yeah. I mean more, more as in like, Oh, he turned around a program and look how this guy is so amazing offensively, as if everything under the sun offensively has not been figured out by Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay and all those guys

that college must have all the answers. That's one of the goofiest things I think in football is like, college is ahead of the NFL. No, it's not that hasn't been true since like 68 so i mean or whenever the spread stuff started to make its way to the nfl so obviously but even then like they were air coriel and things like that were existing in the nfl way back when that's always been a myth i I think. So anyway, Vikings advice. Where would you like to begin for your advice as the Vikings embark on their first playoff since 2019 and first home

playoff game since 2017? Yeah, I would imagine the Giants are going to try and do something differently, but I really like this matchup for TJ Hawkinson. If everybody remembers, TJ Hawkinson had a great start to the game on Christmas Eve against the Giants. He had 63 yards and a touchdown by halftime. He was the leading receiver for that game until the final drive when Justin Jefferson had two catches to set up that 61-yard field goal. Point being, the Gi giants are really bad at covering tight ends they've been really bad all season and if you look at the raw numbers it's not like they give up a ton in terms of production but it's just super efficient production every team has been

able to just efficiently go to the tight end when they need to move the chains when they need scores uh the vikings were no exception. I think Hawkinson had 12 catches in that game. And it was, I think by far a season high for him for the Vikings. So that's what they need to do. Again, my advice to the Vikings would be keep feeding TJ Hawkinson and also keep running Dalvin cook, because I think even with this offensive line that commitment is going to pay off when it comes to countering a very blitz heavy giants team and being able to set up some sort of semblance of play action to keep them off balance in any way shape or form um because they have a dory jackson potentially coming back they could be stronger on the perimeter as well if you

expect the type of attention that justin jefferson's been commanding all year um this might be the game that you can easily lean away from it uh also one last thing on that somehow the giants starting linebackers micah mcfadden and jalen smith don't have a pass deflection between either of them for the entire year they are two of the worst coverage linebackers in football, whether it's through Cook or Hawkinson. I think they can take advantage of that. I completely agree with all of that. And I just want to add in terms of advice to the running game element, like do not be afraid if you run one time for minus one to do it again you are allowed it is not against the rules like come come to the stadium on sunday with a full belief in yourself and your running game

and i know that it's not the same and i know that delvin cook is not the same as he was in the past but in that game he actually kind of looked like he was against the Giants. They were getting movement up front, and I can guarantee you it's going to be easier if it's Chris Reed for him to run block against Dexter Lawrence than it is for him to pass block over and over and over. If it is Chris Reed, and we'll see if it's Bradbury or not, but if you ask a backup right tackle and a backup center to pass block 50 times. Remember, with Brian O'Neill, they were sacked four times in that game with Kirk Cousins, and he's been one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL this year. I think this scheme asks him to sit in the pocket a lot longer than before, where they rolled him out a lot. So, you know, there's a lot of long developing routes

down the field. That's going to be tough. You want to really pick your spots and you want to set up your play action game. You want to make them nervous. You want to make them anxious. You don't want them in their comfort zone, which is blitzing the quarterback and trying to create turnovers. So lean into the run game for once this season, talk about taking a team by surprise well that would be doing it and I think that that's not just like do it to do it or do it because football but do it because this is a terrible team against the run and you can have a lot of success there let me add on also my advice would be don't do anything too cute my friend do not run a jet sweep with your fullback don't run a pass with your running back at the goal line like we saw dan campbell with nothing to lose dial up a pass

to a receiver and a pitch to the running back and you know what i loved it i could have tattooed it on my body but i guarantee you that he would not be doing that had the playoffs been on the line for that game you do that when there's nothing to lose I mean you're just asking for an epic all-time disaster when you have one of the best receivers in the universe you can run the football you have a reliable tight end it was 13 catches he had which I think no one other than Steve Jordan has ever done that in a Vikings game before. Like you have all these things that should work against this Giants defense. Don't do anything nuts.

And I'm going to add to this. Don't throw a pass with Ryan Wright. Don't you dare. Don't throw any pass. Ryan Wright, when he punts the ball, he can flip the field. He can bail you out. He saved their tails a bunch of times on failed drive this year do that do not have him throw past matthew clearly i need to remind you that dan campbell

sent panay sewell on a jet sweep into the flat to catch a pass to convert a third and seven when the playoffs were still a possibility against the vikings on december 11th you know dan campbell better than that. You know he would do that. No matter if the Super Bowl was on the line, he would do that. You know he would. But this team, this Vikings offense, is more, I think, more talented at certain spots, certainly with Jefferson, probably with Dalvin Cook, and then with Hawkinson as well. They took the Lions top tight end. This offense does not need to do that. This offense is smart enough to with

Kevin O'Connell. When you get to the red zone, you get to short yardage spots. They can create space. They don't need to keep running up the middle. I don't understand the infatuation with O'Connell saying I need to stick with the run and then picking some of the worst times to do it. When your number two center goes out in

Green Bay. I absolutely agree with with with your vikings points and i'm not saying no trick plays okay because there are famous trick plays that have happened uh pittsburgh in the super bowl against the seahawks had what it was antoine randall l throw a pass. If Justin Jefferson throws a pass, I think that works. So that's something I don't mind. Or like, you know, there's a little trickeration that you could do, but just don't go, don't go overthinking it. And I completely agree with, in terms of the, the handoffs up the middle, uh, carry on with your advice for the Vikings though. You have more advice. I do a blitz, Daniel Jones at Don at Donatello whatever you see whatever's in your bag as Patrick Peterson likes to refer to at Donatello's

play sheet pull it out and use it don't sit on it don't play back don't play scared don't be worried about one missed tackle down the field or missed assignment send people forward get after Daniel Jones he was pressured 40 percent of the time in that game against the Vikings and yes they gave up a lot of yardage in that game but Daniel Jones was under duress consistently they led the turnover battle two to zero in turn because of that they need to make game-changing plays they are not going to be able to win and force Daniel Jones to dink and dunk because he'll do that and Saquon Barkley will run in for a touchdown. They need to find ways to take the ball away.

So I would say blitz, be aggressive as you possibly can be and enjoy that because next week, if you win, your reward is not getting to do that at all against the San Francisco offense that you probably don't want to blitz very much. Is, is that Donatello's bag, like one of them little sandwich bags that you can, I had, I had to say it. I though is um is ed donatel's bag like one of them little sandwich bags that

you can i i had i had to say it i mean this is uh it is it has been interesting to see them trying to figure out who they are as a defense because once things pass the critical mass of awfulness then it was kevin o'connell being like could you please dial something up uh could you please cover a little tighter and then i guess that's what's helped duke shelly emerge as a key player on this team but i guess what i would say is blitzing i i think they do have to be aggressive i noticed that daniel jones because of his legs i think has been decent against the Blitz. Like statistically, he's been okay. That doesn't mean don't do it. It just means like pick your spots more than just, hey, Blitz him and he'll fall apart.

I guess I would say that whatever you've been doing, whatever is in that bag of tricks for the middle of the field, I would like you to take that bag, cover it in kerosene, and take a flamethrower and light it on fire. That is what should happen. Chandon Sullivan this year has allowed the most receptions into his coverage in the NFL. Jordan Hicks and Eric Hendricks have some of the worst stats of their entire career when targeted. I don't think it's because of them necessarily. I don't think Chandon Sullivan is like some superstar,

but I think that they're really being put in position to just allow everything to the middle of the field. And you know that the game plan is going to be slants underneath stuff and posts down the middle because that's what everyone does all the time against this team. And they have found absolutely no way to stop it. So whatever you've been doing, stop doing that. Change everything when it comes to guarding the middle of the field. Because gosh, I mean,

almost any quarterback in the league has been able to take advantage. So because you didn't have to put a lot of effort into beating the Chicago Bears, one would hope or one would have advised last week, start working on that middle of the field coverage when it comes to facing the New York Giants. How about don't be afraid to, to play Brian Asamoah in the playoffs? Why not continue to rotate him in with some of these guys? Because this defensive setup is actually built to take away the middle of the field, which is why it's so sad that they're so bad at it because you have the two interior linebackers you have often a three deep shell coverage structure that has a center center safety with two other guys

deep on either side of them it's meant to try to force things to the outside where in theory there's less opportunities for yards after the catch in theory it's supposed to lead to shorter completions and that kind of dink and dunk that they talk about forcing teams to do but they just give up then missed tackles bad coverage they give up so much over the middle and in part because of Sullivan but they got two 30 year old linebackers that show flashes of playmaking but have also dealt with injuries in the second half of the season and clearly are not the same players they were five years ago for each of them. And you've got Harrison Smith, who, for as much as he offers, is also not the same guy athletically around the middle of the field.

So the Vikings have a lot of issues there that play Brian Asamoah if you have to and spy Daniel Jones, but find a way to force quick decisions and get that ball out of his hands. And I know that I've discussed this on the show numerous times is probably my biggest critique of Donatello, but go back into the film and watch anything from Harrison Smith's career. I mean, anything, and you will see better ideas than what they've had this year with Harrison Smith. It's time to move them around.

This is a quarterback you could probably confuse in Daniel Jones. This isn't Drew Brees. And even then, Drew Brees would sometimes get confused because of Harrison Smith, Aaron Rodgers. We saw Mike Zimmer's defenses used him to the maximum. I mean, it's like there's no time better than the presence, Ed. Present, Ed present Ed, like it's, it's time now to use Harrison Smith the way you should have used them for 17 weeks. Yeah.

I would love to know Harrison's real thoughts about how he's been used this year for actually for a lot of guys too. As Daniil Hunter says to me repeatedly, I'm just controlling what I can control. Daniil Hunter trying to do football cliches in a press conference with a bunch of cameras is something to see because, you know what, he tries really hard. But that's like not really his personality. Some guys are just like Adam Thielen's done this so many times. He's just got them right there, ready to go. Hunter, you can see him thinking like, which one do I want here?

Like one play at a time or doing what I'm asked to do or whatever it is. By the way, can we just stop and say real quick, Daniil Hunter finished sixth in the NFL in pressures. After like starting the year so slowly, that is an incredible accomplishment that I just noticed while I was researching something earlier today. What else you got? You got some more advice? No, that's oh, I guess my only other advice would be run Dalvin Cook into the ground and then cut

him after this year. Yeah. The offseason advice is probably the next show that we do at some point um yeah so i've got i do have a couple more a couple more uh one would be um you know for kirk cousins there are a bunch of people on the sidelines that you can throw the ball away to should you so need to and if the giants send a blitz that you didn't expect or you don't recognize that could kill you, throw it over to the sideline, throw it into the stands like he did into the road that one time in 2018 in a minicamp practice, throw it away. Kirk, do not be afraid because this is not a team that's putting 50 points on you. Okay. Like they're okay on offense. They can move the ball a little, but the giants are not going to go so far away from you offensively that you can't catch

up if you have a three and out and Ryan Wright will complete that fake pass or whatever and and bail you out. But you can't you cannot fumble strip sack. You cannot throw an interception in this game like you just can't like you're probably not winning if you throw two interceptions or if you have two strip sacks or something like, and this defensive line is scary and violent and their defensive coordinator is good. And like they they're going to try to mess with him in, in many, many ways. So if you don't believe in it, throw the ball away, because I feel like that's when Kirk makes his mistakes when he hangs in and hangs in and then somebody bats the ball away, or when he's trying to push it down the field when he really shouldn't, like those are when

the miscues happen. And that's what ends up often being so costly with him. It's important to point out too, that I know the bears move around and try to blitz a lot on defense, but to have your number three center making a second ever start at center against, I think, what is statistically the blitz heaviest team in the NFL and the Giants, it's a credit to Kirk how well he played against the Giants the first time around without Bradbury. But Schlotman is regarded, at least behind the scenes, as a pretty good backup. And to drop off to Chris Reid was pretty stark right away. And even against Chicago, it's not like it was super great.

So the communication has got to be on point from him. And if Andre Patterson, the defensive line coach over there, if he knows what bothers Kirk better than anybody, interior pressure and really scheming it up, if they're not on the same page about how to block it, it could be disastrous to your point about the turnovers. Yeah, I think that is probably like the ultimate fear of everybody, right? Is that this defensive line causes some serious havoc. I mean, I think it's obvious, like you brought up with Hawkinson, it's obvious, like throw it to other people if

you have to, other than Jefferson, because they're really going to game plan for that. But I guess at the same time that I would say, like, throw it away if it's not there, but also throw it to Jefferson no matter what. I mean, even if they have the double team on him, no matter what, you should believe in throwing it to Justin Jefferson because I don't think they're going to throw picks if they throw it up to him. But that's always a thing that everyone has been asking Cousins to do. And I still don't think he really did it a lot this year. There were a couple instances, but I think that Jefferson was just open all of the time. And so my last piece of advice is for everyone to have fun. And here's why. But here's why. Here's why. Because if you look at this roster, and I mean everyone as in the Vikings, Kevin O'Connell, it's your first year. You'll never have anything like it. Some of us, me, married their first girlfriend. That's not usually how it works. Like, usually, you just, you know, you ride that roller coaster, and then eventually it comes to an end, and you're like either better or worse for it having happened. But in this case, like it's Kevin O'Connell.

It's his first time. It's his first season. You'll never have one like it. And look at the players on this roster who just went through hell the last two years. Let's be honest here. I mean, the Eric Hendricks, for example. I mean, Daniil Hunter, the injuries and everything else, the locker room, the front office and the head coach putting the culture where it was that it needed to be turned around by Kevin O'Connell.

I mean, how about Kirk? Kirk's been through it. Yeah. I know. That's it. Yeah. I mean, of course. Right. Right. Kirk, like all the scrutiny that he's taken over the last few years, most of it deserved, if not all, depending on who you are. But, I mean, to have it go this way, to have things break the right way, just, I mean, you're going to have to just enjoy getting a chance to do this because I think when you look around the league, isn't it insane how many teams that made the playoffs last year didn't the next year? I mean, so you're really going gonna have to kind of like live for today dance like no one's watching sing in the shower i don't know whatever the isn't there like some

goofy poem that all like high schoolers post whatever that is do that yeah do that fred astaire dancing in the rain um yeah something like that i i i like that so it's a good point and it's why seeing brian o'neill go down with that injury at the point that he did is so tough for him because i don't think i saw a guy happier in the locker room after they won the nfc north title uh because it was his first uh with the vikings as a 2018 draft pick and um i know it hurts guys like that to not be part of this run but the guys who are there i think they said too after that the offensive lineman said in the locker room after the the clinching win the division clinching win they turned to ed ingram and said

this kid doesn't know how hard this is uh to be at this point to to your point matt about you don't know if you're going to be back here um especially with a home playoff game the first one in five years uh five years to the day on Saturday since the Minneapolis miracle. Yeah, they don't come around very often. Okay, here it is. I'm going to read it. And this is it. So I'm going to say thank you for your time, Andrew. It's always fun getting together with you. You know, it's some of my favorite shows we can get together. And so of course, read Andrew's work Star Tribune, you know where to find it and uh i'm just gonna read this poem and that's the end of the show okay sounds good dance like no one's watching

love like you've never been hurt sing like no one is listening and live like it's heaven on earth vikings goodbye