Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The state of the Vikings defense and why Zimmer is pushing Cousins to throw deep

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

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Whether you own a bustling hair salon or a hot new bakery, you need business insurance that can keep up with your evolving needs. With flexible coverage options from TD Insurance, you only pay for what you need. TD. Ready for you. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collard here. And before we get into the episode with Jeremiah Saros, we talk about why Mike Zimmer is pressing Kirk Cousins to throw down Fieldmore, how the defense is now shorthanded.

I wanted to give you the latest on Everson Griffin because Jeremiah and I reported before all the the latest on Everson Griffin because Jeremiah and I reported before all the news broke with Everson Griffin. So I'll just go kind of front to back here now that we have the full picture. So Wednesday morning, Everson Griffin posted some really disturbing Instagram videos that showed him with a gun. And the team released a statement prior to Mike Zimmer talking with the media that said that their team personnel were at his house.

But it wasn't until after Zimmer could not confirm that Griffin was safe that we knew the situation was ongoing. So after that, as the team was taking part in their media availabilities and their practice, local police and Vikings employees were at Griffin's house trying to get him to come out of the house and go with them to get help. Because clearly this was a mental health situation. It's something that he has dealt with for a long time. In 2018, he missed time because of this same type of issue. So late in the afternoon, the team released a statement saying that they were able to get him out of the house and go with authorities to seek some care. So Rick Spielman talked with the media after that, and Spielman talked about how fortunate

it is that they have a response team and a mental health team to be able to go and help Everson Griffin and handle that situation. Rick Spielman credited their ownership for putting emphasis on this. And I think especially after 2018, they were aware of how to handle something like this and do the best for Everson Griffin. And so clearly we hope that his situation improves from a personal level. I mentioned that we've covered him for a very long time here in Minnesota, and he is one of the best players in franchise history and someone who's been heart and soul of the organization during the Mike Zimmer era. And you could tell how shaken everyone around the building was. So it's good to see Everson Griffin being at least in a place now where he can get help.

And what that means for his football future, I don't know. I don't know if that means we will see him back at some point this season. In 2018, he did come back after about a month away from the team. So that remains possible because that's what happened last time. But I can't even begin to speculate on where this goes from here. So in one of the Instagram videos, Griffin said that Delvin Cook had purchased a gun for him, which as far as I know is not necessarily illegal, but would raise some eyebrows. But Cook told the media he didn't know why Griffin said that,

and Delvin was telling other people with the team that he did not buy a gun for Everson Griffin, so that's what's being said about that. And in terms of the absence, they did talk about that a bit at TCO Performance Center yesterday. And it probably means Sheldon Richardson is going to have to play defensive end. So we'll get into that more as we get closer to the game. But Sheldon Richardson having to move out

from three technique to defensive end is more or less the only thing that they're able to do here. And there are some benefits of that because he's on the bigger side, but also is quite quick. And we mentioned, I think yesterday that the Vikings signed to Sean Bauer off the Patriots practice squad. If you remember, he was with the Vikings in 2017 and 2018. So that's where we stand right now. That's your up to the minute update. This is something that clearly was a huge concern to everyone around the building. And it was very difficult to go from asking questions about someone who is in a very serious situation and then flip a switch and go back and say, yeah, but how do you feel about Debo Samuel? It's a very uncomfortable position to be in.

And I think what was really on everyone's mind there was Everson Griffin and his health. So glad to see that he is now in a position to get himself some help. And we'll hope that it goes in a good direction from here with Everson and that he can get himself on the right path mentally. But just for everybody out there, this is something that you want to pay attention to even in your own life. I mean, these are very stressful times. Holidays are very stressful. And I think with Everson, when he went and received help before,

it was really big for him to get back on the right path. And it's not always easy to just solve those problems in a snap. And so sometimes it requires a lot of effort. And so if you're having troubles yourself, this is a good lesson. Go seek help because your life will be better for it. So anyway, let me get into the conversation with Jeremiah Searles. And we will go forward Vikings and 49ers on Sunday and just wanted to say real quick, happy Thanksgiving to everybody.

If you're listening on Thanksgiving, I really appreciate you. If you're listening Friday or Saturday, that's cool. But if you're loyal enough to be listening on Thanksgiving, maybe on your travels, I really appreciate you. So, all right, here is myself and Jeremiah Searles. Along with Jeremiah Searles. Along with Jeremiah Searles, yes, it is Tuesday morning left guard time. And due to popular demand, Jeremiah, we will be talking about what those stats mean. I was surprised by the number of people who enjoyed the metal version of what stats mean.

So we've got to do that again. Absolutely. I mean, I think more people are going to be listening for your sweet, screamy vocal range than for anything I have to say about how Kenny Clark just baptized Mason Cole over and over and over again. Yeah, I do have a stat for that. And I have been gurgling lemon water to prepare for the screaming or whatever you're supposed to do, honey.

I don't know what it is i you know i can bring the riffs i can bring the riffage for sure so uh but first i want to talk about our emotions i think that that's the most appropriate thing to do on a football podcast is talk about how you feel uh so i'm going to tell you how i feel and you can tell me how you feel love it i feel like this team has turned a corner, dot, dot, dot, like has shown what they should have been and what we expected them to be. And games like that were what we thought this season was going to be like. And the dot, dot, dot is the conflicted part of me that has seen three and a half years of this

and knows that lurking around that corner is Mr. Regression or Mr. I'm going to fall off and lose the Cooper rush. And that makes it hard for me to say, okay, folks, they got it. They have figured this out. They know what they're going to do. And you can expect this to be a smooth sail through Chicago and Detroit the rest of the way into the post season. But I'll tell you, man, it is really hard on the week-to-week league thing to not get caught up on what you just saw because often it changes the following week. But it does feel like there's something there over the last two weeks that is different. I agree with you.

I have to – I mean, I think I texted you right after the game. I was like, Super Bowl! Because you watch a game like that against a team that was as good as the packers have been and you're like okay this is yeah this is what we talked about like this team can play with anyone when a couple weeks back you said like make convince me why we can do things it's like well we have the superstars like bad teams that don't have superstars can't get out of their own way a la the detroit lions but you look at the vikings that have started struggling you look around the team you look around the talent and you're like they didn't lose anybody like they still have all the superstars in

the making and so for me i feel like they finally reached this point of trust with kirk cousins and mike zimmer that kirk's like, you just find 18 and I'm just going to throw him the football. And I think Thielen's kind of settling into his role of like, Hey, I might be a little bit more of a role player this year. And that's okay because Justin Jefferson's basically unguardable right now. And so for me, my feeling is this team has turned a corner in a big way. No dot, dot, dot dot I think that as I look at it I see a confident group Anthony Barr's back which brings an entirely new I mean entirely new dynamic to this defense I mean you could just see the difference in this defense when 55 is out there

running around and nothing against our boy without the glove gloveless wonder out there, but we need Anthony Barr on the field. Troy die, man. Just, I can't. But I think that for me, this group is confident. They're going to put a run together and who knows what can happen. I mean, it's a new season. Now you're back to zero, zero, basically. Right. I mean, you got a lot of football left to go. The NFC is kind of a mess at the, at that middle range. And so I think they've turned a corner. I'm all in the bandwagon, fire it up, blow the galler horn and let's fire ahead. Well, and this is what I'm trying to be hesitant to do because, well, I mean, I always got to remember, you have to remember I'm a Husker fan, dude.

I drink the Kool-Aid. I drink the Kool-Aid anytime I get like, Oh, we want a game. We're back. We're back. And how appropriate to be following a team where you come away with like hey we almost beat that one team and that's earlier this season with vikings we're right there man we just missed that field goal like yeah well the committee is not going to give you any love at the end of the season it's all about you know your wins and losses but it does feel that way um but let me try to bring it back a little bit here since you have already got the ring all shaped and the parade. The purple's going to look great.

We're going to go right by Cowboy Jacks for the parade. It's going to be a glorious Super Bowl. It's going to be like 50 degrees out, a nice February day. Yeah, that might be the most ridiculous thing you said right there uh the last time the super bowl was here the tears of the national media froze to their faces uh about standing outside for you know security or whatever to get into the stadium sorry folks it was minnesota put on a hat uh but anyway so uh okay well i'll start with a stat. This is not what does the stat mean. This is just a stat to give you that might make you hesitate a little bit.

After that game, the Vikings are allowing the 22nd most points per game on defense. So they're allowing over 24 points a game. They rank 22nd. They are behind the Bears defense right now. And some of the other teams that they are in the ballpark with defensively include the new york giants jacksville jaguars las vegas raiders um suddenly even though they may have found something offensively they're going to have to deal with the fact that when they play some of these good offenses like san francisco or los angeles or

green bay again um that they without daniel hunter have a lot of trouble pressure in the quarterback and it's almost like the whack-a-mole thing we've talked about before where it's like the defense was going okay with daniel hunter but now it's kind of become clear that they can't really pressure the quarterback without him rogers only under pressure 10 times on 37 dropbacks i mean that that makes me hesitate to say if the offense goes ice cold for even a half it could be problematic when they play better teams down the stretch not that every game is tough but even against poor teams if you go ice cold you're going to keep them in games yeah and i mean the one thing that i look at this defense as i watch is we need more turnovers i mean i i

think that when you can force turnovers and you can steal possessions, that's a huge piece. And the Vikings notoriously have been pretty good at forcing turnovers, whether it's been sack fumbles or interceptions. But all that's built off the pass rush, right? And as I watch, I will give some guys credit. I think Armand Watts is coming a long way in a year. I think he's playing a lot better football. Sheldon Richardson still can flash at times, but he still takes some plays off at times, which is frustrating. But man, without Everson Griffin, this defensive line is abysmal.

The turnovers was going to start to come the more that the pieces fall back, right? Now Harrison Smith is back. He missed a couple of games. Anthony Barr is getting back. We're not going to get to kneel back, but if the guys can continue to work in the right direction where they're getting better, which they have, they've better even this from the beginning of the season it's right now James Lynch even is having some moments and you start to get some pieces back now that you can kind of see the whole picture coming together they're hitting stride I think the turnovers will come I think the negative plays will continue to come or have to get creative in the pass rush game but if we

can continue to play well against the run on first and second down then you put them in those obvious passing where you can get a blitz where you're not worried about i send five and it's only third and five so the guy just runs a five yard hitch route on our corner and gets it it's not third and eight third and nine third and ten you get a negative play third and thirteen and now you're feeling more comfortable sending five because now the ball has got to get out quick and i do think all that's starting to take more shape the longer i watch this defense yeah i mean you don't agree with me i i don't think you're wrong in any of the things you just said that there are some players who are coming along and that zimmer knows how to dial up his blitzes and everything else that confuses quarter. And if they play Tim Boyle, I think they'll be fine. The only, here's the hesitation I have. They've done pretty

well against the run the last couple of weeks. Now they play one of the best running teams in the NFL in San Francisco, a very creative run attack. They still don't have Michael Pierce. Got guys coming out there like Eddie Yarbrough and Patrick Jones and, you know, Kenny Willekes will come back. People are excited about Kenny Willekes, but we're talking about a guy who's barely played in the NFL and was the seventh round draft pick. So he's not any type of like pristine pass rusher that's proven. So not being able to create a lot with the front four, and I don't trust their run defense

just yet from what we see we saw earlier and the biggest thing for me is on a play-to-play basis I don't know which one of these corners is going to be able to cover their guy because we've seen them all get roasted at different times and that's what the thing where hey you know you had to send a pass rush after Rodgers but then Mackenzie Alexander's one-on-one with Devante adams and good night uh and the same thing for you know the deep crosser with baldess scantling he's fast rogers puts it on the numbers and you just go into the house and this has happened a few times it happened against dallas too where they gave up the big 75 yard touchdown play and so i guess it's it's it's i i feel like

in a way like i i don't want to go out of my way to be like, ah, but don't forget, they're still flawed. Like, I don't want to be that person. At the same time, what we've seen now after this Packers game is you're kind of capable, and it's been this way a little bit all season, you're capable of blowing any lead. And so now it sets up for, this feels like Dante Culpepper era Vikings, where every game has to be a shootout. And I think from an entertainment standpoint,

it could be incredibly compelling. I just don't have a lot of trust for the personnel that they have on defense. And so I think that that puts even more emphasis on why, Hey, this is on you guys. This is on Jefferson Thielen, Kirk Cousins, Delvin Cook, that offensive line and Mike Zimmer to keep pushing the throttle down because if they check up a little bit and get a little bit hesitant like they did pitching the ball to C.J. Hamm

or running on second and ten with Alexander Madison, it's just going to make you pay because I don't think you can consistently stop other teams. Those are all fair points, and you're looking at it from what they've done and that's that's where you're supposed to look like what has it done I kind of looking more as I've watched the last two weeks a little bit more critically on defense and thinking okay what's the trending projection and for me the big play the big plays come from obviously one-on-one coverage right I think that they're going to try and avoid that one-on-one coverage right i think that they're going to try and avoid that

one-on-one coverage by the fact that they're going to just keep kind of rushing for i mean you're not playing aaron rogers every week right right i mean and i think that when if you're if you're talking if you're scared of jimmy g like not just sitting back there and making rogers s flow throws like i'm not and this could come back and bite me in the ass in a week when we're talking and you'd be like, told you. But I mean, I think that it'll vary week to week on the game plan.

And the more that they get Anthony bar up to speed and, and Harrison Smith getting back in there, I really do think that they'll find creative ways to still only rush for. Okay. Well, we'll, we'll see on that because maybe it's's jimmy g you're not afraid of but it's kyle s you're afraid of uh more than jimmy garoppolo right like kyle kyle shanahan

drawn up some stuff and debo samuel um but we'll be scary debo's a scary human yeah um we'll get to that a little bit but i i want to know maybe you could try pie chart have we ever have you ever tried a pie chart before on the show pie Pie chart. I have not. Pie chart. Okay. So here's how it works. I'm going to give you four options. You have to give me the percentage of what it is. Now, this is generally a thing that Courtney Cronin does, but I feel like it's really appropriate for us here.

So I want you to explain via the pie chart. Okay. Why Mike Zimmer is pushing so hard publicly to throw the ball down the field? Is it, number one, and give percentages. So how much of it is, look, he knows that Justin Jefferson's amazing. That's just it. And he just wants his quarterback to throw to the amazing guy. So that's number one, throw to the amazing guy so that's number one throw to the amazing guy okay number two

is he wants everyone to know that if the ball isn't thrown to the amazing guy it's not his fault that's that's number two uh number three Zimmer has seen the light the the ghost of Bruce Arians came down to him in a dream and said no risk it no biscuits mike throw the deep ball okay so that's number three the ghost of bruce arian okay uh and i think number four is that he knows his defense just isn't that good and he's gonna have to overcome it like i know you're saying that they're gonna come around i think they will with some of the easier teams they're playing if matt nagy gets fired that might be a problem but but right i mean but the bears don't scare you the lions don't scare you right the steelers oh my god uh it's just so you're playing several teams that are

just atrocious on offense so these numbers will improve i think because of that but the games that matter the most he's got he knows he's aware that he can't win with defense like you guys did in 2017. So give me the percentage of explanations of those things. So for number one, just cause he knows, I think that number one ties back to, he doesn't want to digs 2.0. Yes. Correct. And so I think number one's I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go 50%.

Okay. So half of it is just like, half of it is it is the fact like i can't have another receiver get run out of here i can't have another superstar that just completely bails because we're not getting him the football and he's amazing right like i think that's 50 of what's going on i'm gonna go with he knows his defense just isn't very good is let's go with another let's go 15 there i'm gonna go 15 there 50 here so that puts me at oh gosh 65 this is what's great about pie charts so then so i got i got 30 i got 35 here so let's look at oh man i just i don't see i don't see a lot of uh the the arian ghost thing i think i'm

gonna go i'm gonna go just five percent there on the arian ghost so you don't think that he had some sort of revelation i don't think he had some revelation about today's game because i honestly think that if the run game was working he would just be like i don't care that justin jefferson's out there just hand the ball to 33 and or what's he now he's not 33 anymore is he who what's that dalvin cook yeah he's 30 he's He's not 33 anymore, is he? Who? What's that? Dalvin Cook. Yeah, he's 30. He's going to be four next year. That's what he said. But yes, I think that if the run game was Dallas Cowboys-esque, that he wouldn't care about the passing game.

But because it's not, he's now switched to these other things. So then that leaves me my 30% with he wants it all not. No, it's not his fault, right? Yeah. And so I think those two things though the 80 there is is the big piece right i mean he knows his deep but he'll never admit his defense isn't good publicly right well we have things but he he knows deep down inside he knows it's not where it needs to be and so there's my pie chart sam extram here wondering if you're stuck on your company's injury

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The website is yourminnesotaworkcomplawyer.com, where you can find a phone number to get a free consultation. This is an attorney advertisement from Kemet, Sanford, and Kramer, yourminnesotaworknesota work comp lawyer.com i like your pie chart a lot and if i was going to give a fifth option but that just becomes too convoluted it's a lot of math people melt down if you give more than four it would be would be that the run game just isn't isn't good i mean they are 30th and rushing epa and it's just not a successful consistent running game.

As you saw, again, the other day, where the whole first half, you can't get going. The second half, they do a little bit, but it's mostly having to push the ball. I think that that is a factor of it. I also wondered, it just came to my mind, and you, growing up around the same time watching football as me, would appreciate this. When Bill Parcells went from the Giants to the Patriots and the Patriots all of a sudden were completely different football team than the Giants. The Giants were like Lawrence Taylor and run Otis Anderson and hit a couple of big shots with Phil, Phil Sims. But when it was Bledsoe and they had no running game and not a great defense,

they led the NFL in passing, like passing attempts two out of three years in the other year they were second so Parcells has always been the guy to adapt and change everything else and that's who Mike Zimmer is really close with it went through my mind like I don't know this but if Bill Parcells has given you advice it might be buddy you got to trust the quarterback you just got to let him go because you have no other option here you can't't run and play defense. That's going to lose you a bunch of games. And so you got to adapt and change. Yeah, I think that he's finally willing because I think he feels a little bit of the pressure cooker, right?

I mean, he feels, okay, we've been kind of doing the definition of insanity, right? Same thing over and over again, expecting different result. Like, let's put it on Kirk, right? And that's where the 30% of it's not my fault right like hey I'm letting Kirk do his thing like it's he's either gonna take us to the promised land or hang himself out here and it's not my fault I've told him what to do I told him who we have and kind of wash his hands of it which I think kind of he feels like absolves himself right like yeah hey I'm no longer responsible for anything bad but everything that

good is because i did this like he's put himself in a good position um in my opinion with how this works and as long as it keeps working i mean as long as people can't cover justin jefferson everything's gonna be just fine and that's what i think too that there are criticisms of mike zimmer of which have been outlined on this very program. But one that I would never criticize Zimmer is about talent. I think the man knows football talent. Yes. And he may have been stubborn with Stefan Diggs, but now with Jefferson, it's like, like you said, can't do this again.

But also this is something else, man. I mean, this is just different from almost anything I've ever seen and I think talent wise he is better than Stefan Diggs just as a pure football talent I mean Diggs's production is still among the elite wide receivers in the league and he's an incredible player but Jefferson can do absolutely everything and he has a mindset to just like win and how many guys over the last couple of years with this team have been someone where you said like, dude,

that guy is a winner straight up. There's been so much, Hey, I'm just doing my job, man. If I cover my guy, that's all I got to worry about. Hey,

I'm just going through the progressions here to have a player who demands to win and says, I want to be a legend. And then like backs it up. There's a Randy Moss shirt and then goes out and does a Randy Moss thing. Like that's just different, man. I mean, there's not too many guys like that. And you have to remember, it's very similar to you have a quarterback on a rookie deal, right?

They don't have to pay him yet. Like he's still on his rookie deal. He's not making 60, 50 million dollars right now and so you kind of when you have lightning in a bottle like that you got to use them right because you don't know if in three years down the road two years down the road after you use this fifth year option whatever if you're gonna be able to afford it right and so if you got him like use him and abuse him right that's what they did to Christian McCaffrey that's what they're doing that's what they did to Dalvin Cook like that's what the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to do to Najee Harris.

Like you have these young players. You've got to use them while you can before they either get too expensive or they get too beat up. And so I think that that's another factor that plays into it is we got to get the most out of this guy while he's still young. And while we still have Kirk and while we still have all these things going on, like there's no point in saving him right now yeah and for me i would give a lot of it like like you did to the he just knows jefferson special and that's probably at least half or more of it and then i'll just equally distribute whatever percentages so i don't have to do the math to the rest of the stuff i think all that other stuff is a factor being so public about it is absolutely about being like look rick spielman signed this quarterback and if he can't throw it to the best receiver on freaking

earth that is not my problem because i told him to and i think there's a big part of that for the public the public elements of it um but he's never been like that like he's never publicly made like bold statements like he has this year like that's just never been in his dna yeah i mean zimmer has been one of the easiest coaches i've ever covered to read exactly what he thinks of everyone because he's just not good at lying in those press conferences but being being like as straightforward to come out and say about kirk's vac status and just be like straight up with it yeah i hate it uh i brought in dudes with needles to chase around the building like you know i mean i try i tried to sneak in when he was in the uh cryo chamber and jab him uh but you know

stuff like stuff that he said publicly has been i i think turned up um a notch for sure uh i think it's time for some what's that stat me so let's let's play the intro here what's that stat me what's it mean okay um mason cole had a 14 pff i mean it goes to zero we've seen it at zero we've seen it we've seen a zero it It happens. Grady Jarrett, thank you for that one. So here's the stat, though, not just that 14, because everyone gets their ass kicked by him. But the pass-blocking grades of all centers that have played a certain amount, like a decent amount of football, Mason Cole is second to last.

No, I'm sorry. Mason Cole is last, and Garrett Bradbury is second to last. It's just them, right? This isn't something they do that is causing their centers to be last and second to last. They're not being victimized, right? They just can't pass block? I think that the way that we like to pass block from under center,

you don't see a ton of that in the NFL anymore. It makes it tough on the nose guards, because the nose guards just essentially go you know what ready set go and they just sprint right because they know from under center they can either disrupt with uh the run game or they can disrupt in the past game and you're seeing more and more of the guys moving those nose guards over our guys and i'm not saying guys stop it all the time but we just have an issue something because both those guys are oompa loompas

and they're just not very tall and big. They're just kind of short and round and they're just having trouble stopping it. And that's hard to do, especially when the name of the game and the book on how to slow down Kirk Cousins is get pressure in his face. So you're telling these dudes tee off on these centers, right? Push the pocket, get up, climb the depth of the pocket. And you're getting more of that

versus guys that are smaller and that's becoming an issue. Right. So if you're an out of center or I'm sorry, shotgun team, your center is more of helping because they're sort of attacking the gaps. Right. But if you're under center team and your quarterback isn't super quick, then, you know, you could push him back, get him anxious in the pocket and get him to kind of just fling it up there i mean the the play to jefferson and we like this and this is a thing to do but i don't know that he knew where that ball was going exactly and that was that was keenum asking sort of like that's the true hope jesus guides it to the receiver 50 50 ball there that's the that's the you're playing 500 with your boys in the street and mystery box. And you just chuck it up there. And, but when you have the all world receiver in Jefferson, you can have that trust that,

Hey, this is more, maybe 70, 30 my way, because I know this guy. Yeah. And that's what he had with digs when digs is there. And I don't, I don't ever think he's really like not believe, I guess is a bad word, but trusted feeling is just not quite big enough to do some of that stuff. But I mean, Jefferson can just box dudes out with that frame and go up and get it. And so, yeah, I mean, the other thing, too, is if Ezra Cleveland doesn't squeeze down in the gap when there's a blitzing linebacker standing there in the quarterbacks under center,

I'm going to throttle the dude. I mean, holy cow. I mean, I'm watching it going campbell's coming campbell's coming campbell's coming campbell's oh gosh he almost just absolutely ate our quarterback like he almost took them those were critical situations in the red zone those are still the things that i look at and i'm just like what what is happening like why can't we figure this out and this is where the san francisco part of it where you get a little nervous because Green Bay pressured cousins on 46% of his dropbacks. That's a lot. And usually when a team does that, the Vikings don't win. Kirk did a phenomenal job. I mean, it's usually we're coming in here saying, gosh,

you get a little pressure on him. It's just over. That was not the case against the fact that he did an incredible job under pressure, but asking him to do that week after week after week is a, is a lot to ask. And I just think there's no resolution really. I mean, you have two tackles playing guard who at times are okay. And at times not okay. And it was not a magic bullet to put in Mason Cole. It wasn't going to be like,

oh my gosh, we've found Mick Tinglehoff here. Like it's no, no, that his own team traded him for a sixth-round pick. There was one time where he kind of got pushed back, and then Kenny Clark almost for no reason just pushed him out of the way and he fell down.

He's like, Kenny Clark didn't even have to, but he was just like, no, get down there. Get down on the ground. Yeah, I mean, every time Mason Cole closes his eyes, he just sees Kenny Clark. Like every single time. I mean, when you – Cole closes his eyes, he just sees Kenny Clark. Like every single time. I mean, when you, I've had it happen. When you get beat that bad on like the first series or let alone the first play of the game, you're just doomed for failure.

Like there's nothing in your head that you're just like, that looked really terrible. Like that, I'm going to have to watch that on film tomorrow. And from there on, you're just digging yourself out of a hole. And then it happens again. And you're like, I'm going to have to also watch that on film tomorrow and from there on you're just digging yourself out of a hole and then it happens again and you're like i'm gonna have to also watch that tomorrow and like you're just there's no good way to escape when you're having a game like that and i feel bad for him but at the same time he's opened pandora's box and that's what people have to understand when you put on something on tape like that yeah you're gonna see it over and over again until you prove that you can stop it and so you're gonna see mr bosa probably line up over mr cole yeah and just do

the exact same thing right just t off on him and say can you stop it and so that's something to look out for as we watch over the next few weeks is how does that part of the game adapt because guess what the bears are coming and if i recall the bears still have this really really big guy named akim hicks yeah who's really really good at doing just what happened like kenny clark and so if we don't get that problem fixed it's going to rear its ugly head again well and that's where i don't know that it makes a difference who you play at center just pick the guy who's better at commanding the line of scrimmage like calling out the protection stuff just go with that guy i don't know who that is i think it would be impossible for me to know but just go with that guy um all right next what's that step mean uh jimmy garoppolo

is 29 and 12 in his career as an nfl starter okay this year he's got a 100 quarterback rating he's averaging 8.3 yards per pass attempt and people will tell you that jimmy garoppolo is garbage uh and i don't know that there's like a lot of facts that back that up other than his own team drafted another quarterback and he's had lots of injuries and so he hasn't played that many football games, but as the Vikings go to play Jimmy Garoppolo tell, tell me your opinion on him as a quarterback, because I think that, well, not Aaron Rogers,

the guy has a little bit of gutsiness to him that I like, and he gets confused sometimes. Sometimes spins around a circle for no reason, but he's one of the best passers in the league. I saw the stat today when it's a pure passing situation. So like third down and eight or something like that. He's been one of the best this year. So I think he's actually like a lot to handle

for this Vikings team. You know, I think that Jimmy G's kind of similar in the Kirk Cousins fact that when he went to San Francisco and they paid him all that money, that people then looked at him and were like, you will be the next Aaron Rodgers. You will be the next Patrick Mahomes when really that's never really been his game. And he's built his skill set is really built to complement a really good run game and so when he can hit the deep action shots and when he can hit the long crossers and when he can just deliver the ball on schedule i agree he's one of the better in the nfl because i think he has pretty good decision making when he's not under like super duress now where he looks bad and here's here's the thing with jimmy g he can look

phenomenal but then when it's bad, it's like you said, he's spinning around like it's bad. It just looks awful optically. And that's when he gets pressured, and that's when he's feeling the heat in there or they fall two scores behind, and he's feeling like he's got to force stuff. He's one of the best in the league when he can play within his system

and he can play within like quick pass game deep shot play action much like Kirk Cousins yeah but when you pressure him and you put him in uncomfortable situations he'll throw the ball up there he'll sail a few he'll not use good technique because he's getting his feet happy feet back there and it just looks really bad and so there's no middle ground in my opinion for Jimmy G it's either elite talent or like, oh my gosh, close my eyes, wash my eyes. I was so, I never want to see that again type plays. Folks, have you ever thought about taking a bike to work, but figure it's too far or that the hills are too steep?

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Again, that's S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Perfect for gifts. And you can get that shipping free by using the code PURPLEINSIDER. Tell me if you agree with this. So Debo Samuel this year is averaging 18 yards of reception. That's wild. What? Is Debo Samuel what Percy Harvin could have

been if Percy was like head-on straight and not injured all the time I'm kind because I kind of think yes like he's running the ball he's got 137 yards and three touchdowns rushing and has just become this insane playmaker for them that I think that you know the Viking secondary is going to have a really tough time with he's just such a good overall football player I mean he can do and the other piece is he's so much stronger than I think people give him credit for yeah like he's a you can tell he's just a weight room guy like he loves lifting in the way you can tell like guys bounce off of him when he's got the ball in his hand and i'd be curious on the stat of how many of those yards are are yak yards right i mean he's got averaging he's averaging 18 but i'm sure it's because he's catching a four yard slant and he

runs for another 20 like that's what you're used to watching devo samuel do or he catches a bubble scream and and blows through a corner and then the safety's chasing him down because he's got the speed to run away from him too he's such a good person with a ball in his hands that he's one of the guys that it's going to take all 11 to get him down. Right. The pursuit from the D line and the linebackers and the ball gets thrown to Debo out on the edge has to be excellent because he's, he's got the speed to make one guy miss and go the distance too.

Number one in the NFL in yak. Yes. Debo Samuel. So no surprise there um okay before we before we wrap up let me ask you this and then we'll do love to see it hate to see it do you think the vikings are winning you think that they're gonna beat san francisco it's on the road i do you do i do i think that they're hitting their stride i think that everything is continuing to go right there's a lot of confidence in that football team.

I do think that Thielen has a bigger game than Jefferson, this game, because I think it's now been two weeks in a row that they've been – Jefferson just beats us, right? Jefferson's beat the other teams. This defense quarter of San Francisco right now is going star, number 18, make somebody else beat us. yes and so i mean they're going to try and take them away and so it's going to be on theelin and it's going to be on conklin and i mean it's going to be on those two guys in my opinion to really make this offense go

and jeffson will get his targets when things open up but i think they win based off of the fact that theelin and conklin have big games? I haven't decided yet. I really, I really, I honestly, I don't know. Good thing it's only Tuesday. I was going to say, maybe I need to like eat some gravy first and like get in a real football mind space to decide. But like, I've just been wrong the last two weeks and I've lost my confidence. Like I can see how this happens so easily. But yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I feel like everything points to me to this is the one where everything kind of catches up with them. But I also thought that the last two weeks and those things did not happen. So we'll see. I think I want to pick San Francisco, but I'm not confident. All right. Love to see it. Hate to see it. I'll just say it.

I hate to see the Lions continuing to be on Thanksgiving. And I and I just want to cry. Like there's only so many dates per year where and this is selfish, I understand. But I sit on the couch and watch football because most of the time I'm covering football. So I'm traveling and I'm at the stadium and everything else. And so I'm kind of peeking up at like the red zone or whatever, looking at box scores, but I don't get to like do the thing that everybody in America likes to do. Thanksgiving is one of those days. And you're making me freaking watch Tim Boyle. And not only Tim Boyle versus Justin Fields, right. If you kind of fun for Sandy Dalton, come on.

Like, have you ever seen the wedding singer where he sings like somebody kill me, please. like that's that is me with that game stop it with the lions make them prove their way back make them earn their way back hey traditions are traditions man you hang through them lots of bad traditions my hate to see it as college football is over i mean college football season besides bowl season is basically over after this weekend and i i mean i've always been much more of mean college football season besides bowl season is basically over after this weekend and i i mean i've always been much more of a college football guy than uh nfl guy i love the

nfl but i love the excitement and the emotion of what college football is and and so for me to have college football coming to an end is i hate to see it but i'm also very happy. The nightmare of what the Huskers have been this year for me is finally coming to a close at this Friday. I feel like every week I'm like so close. Sorry, man. Here's what I hate to see. And sorry to go back to back. Hate to see.

But you know, the New York Giants were once a proud franchise. The NFL films guy. The New York Giants are a a proud franchise. The NFL films guy. The New York Giants were a proud franchise. Do, do, do, do, do. Oh, my God. What has happened over the last, like, imagine if you're a little kid and you're maybe like five years ago, you were like 10. And so these are the memories you're going to have. And you grew up watching this version of the New York giants.

You're just like, this is the biggest joke organization in the universe. They fired Jason Garrett, obviously. I mean, they just like, as soon as he was hired, he was fired. Like, what are you doing? Oh yeah. The guy who held back Dak Prescott. There's the guy I want. You draft a running back with a second overall pick because you do drugs. Like I just,

I don't understand, like, what have they been doing? And then you hire a special teams coach because he's heard of Belichick. And I just like, what are you guys doing? It's just sad to watch. And Daniel Jones doesn't know what he's doing either. And he might be awful, but who knows, right? Like this is the most pathetically run franchise. It's like, there's, it's like these five or six teams in the league where you just go what is what is happening so hate to see it giants not competitive and just just poor i'll follow it up with another hate to see it the buffalo bill oh what is happening up in orchard park right now i mean you've got you've got the Jaguars have come in and beat you you got the Colts and and the Red Rocket of rent Wentz back there just slinging it and you allowed Jonathan Taylor to

have five touchdowns and I mean I was watching I was like I I don't know this team and there's no one really different from the 13 and three season that they had last year like it's not like they lost some giant piece and if you would have told me that third round pick spencer brown would have been the reason this offensive line is good or bad and he is right now which is wild to me i just i don't know what's going on up there and i can tell the frustration is starting to boil with some of those guys as you hear some of the as some of the press conference and some of the clicks and some of the like it's starting to starting to tremble a little bit in Orchard Park it most certainly is uh and I this is so I remember saying this to a friend of mine

in Buffalo last year I was like you better win it because this is how it goes you better win it because the next year's harder even the Kansas City Chiefs win it because the next year's harder even the kansas city chiefs have found out the next year's harder and last year was harder than it was the you know when they won the super bowl and then this year is harder than the year before people get hurt people get sniped off of your coaching staff uh you know free agents leave that things we've seen it here things get tougher as you go along i'll end it with my love to see it, which is, Hey, good for you. Colt McCoy. Good for you. I mean, just good for you, man. Like journeyman quarterbacks played for 69 different teams and he comes out here and throws for three 28. I don't care who it's against big win for them. And if they get the one seed,

just like the chiefs, when they won the super bowl and look back and said, Hey, remember that game, Matt Moore won us? They'll say the same thing about Colt McCoy. This is a pro journeyman backup quarterback show. So congratulations to Colt McCoy on a couple of good starts here. F Colt McCoy. I hate that guy. Really?

Do you know him? No. He had one second put back on the clock in 2009 when Sue threw him around like a rag doll. So F Colt McCccoy so it's a personal it's a personal it's a personal thing that bleeds over into my un unbiased journalism yes that's definitely what you're we're known for here on your version of the show uh i think you just said the vikings are winning the super bowl at the beginning of this show. Yeah, obviously. They're putting chains on the buses as it rolls through downtown.

Yeah, that's right. So do you ever love to see it? I don't ever love to see it this week. Oh, man. I just don't. It's been a tough week. I got to get ready to go watch us get stomped by Iowa with a backup quarterback. It's just not going to be awesome.

Well, like you said, it's over soon. It's so close. Love to see his Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat way too much food. Well, like you said, it's over soon. So close. Love to see his Thanksgiving. I'm going to eat way too much food. There you go. There you go. All right. Well,

I appreciate your time as always and a happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Jeremiah and everybody else's as well. Who's listening to this. Maybe, maybe in routes to their family members places on Thursday. So thanks very much. And we will do it again after we see who's right about the San Francisco

game and we'll break it down.