Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Super Bowl matchup is set!!!!!

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Matthew Coller talks about Championship weekend and answers Vikings fan questions about what they need to do to get on par with these teams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and the Super Bowl matchup is set. The Philadelphia Eagles will be facing off with the Kansas City Chiefs as the Buffalo Bills suffer another, another devastating loss in the final moments against Kansas City. And I remember sitting in this exact spot a year ago, talking about how the kicker had missed wide rights and Kansas City was going to the Super Bowl, and how crushing and how difficult it must be for all of those Bills fans watching to have it happen again, where they came up short against Patrick Mahomes because of a heartbreaking one play it comes down to here or there.

In that case, it was a kick before it was the 13 seconds which probably got brought up about 47 times on the broadcast and then here tonight there will be two things that buffalo bills fans talk about forever from this game that set up the kansas city chiefs to go to their third straight super bowl one is going to be the tush push that Josh Allen appeared to have half of the football over the line of scrimmage upon replay review. They drew the line. You could see it here. It is.

Here's the line. And it looked like Josh Allen had the ball over it. And one referee's coming in saying first down another referee's coming in, waving his arms. All of us at home are going, isn't that a first down? Can't you pretty clearly see it? They come back and they say, nope, it's not a first down. It's Kansas city ball.

And I understand that in order to overturn the spot of the football, it's gotta be really clear that it was a first down and there's bodies everywhere and it's hard to see and we're all kind of going on glimpses and the camera is maybe at a little bit of a tilted angle that could make it look farther ahead and so forth. And maybe this is the chip in the football conversation here. What would the chip have said about whether he got the first down or not? So it comes down to the referees spotting the football, which they really weren't a big part of this game.

I didn't think for most of the game, uh, there was a handful of penalties called for both sides, but that spot of the football ends up giving Kansas city the ball. They go score, take the lead and Buffalo gets their one shot. And I thought sitting here that, okay, this is it. This is where Buffalo goes and they score a touchdown and they win the game and onto the super bowl. They go to play the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas city drew up the exact right pressure at the exact right time, which is what makes Steve Spagnuolo such a great defensive coordinator. Patrick Mahomes said after the game, Hey, you know, people make it about one player, but it's definitely not about one player. And it wasn't in that instance, it was Kansas

city having a great pressure plan for a fourth down where they couldn't tush push and they had to throw the ball and he drops back to throw instant pressure. Allen just heaves it up knowing there's no other answer here. And Dalton Kincaid will for the rest of his life be sick that he didn't bring that in because Allen just heaved it up in the air and Dalton Kincaid is trying to come back to the football. And this is a really, really difficult play if he would have been able to bring it in because he's scrambling back to the ball and he's diving, but he's got both mitts out. He's got his arms there. If he just cradles

the football, that is a first down. And it's very plausible the way that the bills played offensively in the second half that they would have been going to the super bowl. After that, they would have been able to wind some clock and it's not a guarantee. A lot could have happened after that, but they would have been in the position to go to the Super Bowl. And instead, Kincaid was not able to bring it in. And he just has to be crushed, devastated. He now goes there with all the other names,

with Tyler Bass missing the field goal last year. He goes with the Sean McDermott mistake in 13 seconds where they had the wrong coverage. And now Dalton Kincaid. And once again, Josh Allen, who played unbelievable football in this game, ends up walking off the field without a trip to the Super Bowl in his career, which just tells you how hard it is. And Ben, nice to see you, Ben, with the super chat. Really appreciate that. My friend

says refs missing the call, simply inexcusable. That one is really hard because all of us at home, I think would have voted if you did a vote of a random sampling of 10,000 people. Was that a first down or not? I think 9,000 people or more, if they're not chiefs fans would have said that that was a first down. It's really hard to figure out why they didn't respond it other than the standard for responding the football. I've always known this from coaches challenges all through the years, the standard for respotting the football basically has to be super crystal clear evidence that the football got farther than where they spotted it and how we're still doing it this way. I don't know this just here's this camera angle

kind of shows it that camera angle kind of doesn't show it. And that's the best we can do for you folks. That is always going to be difficult, but the bills have so many regrets in this game. The fact that, you know, they were not able to convert some of those tush pushes. They were trying time and time again, going back to the same thing over and over again on the last drive, what set them up for fourth and five James Cook was not in the game and if he has an injury then you know I'll take it back I don't know if he does or not but they hand it off to their scat back and it just goes nowhere and that kind of set them behind and then he has the miscommunication with Khalil Shakir and Dalton Kincaid is inches away from bringing

that ball in and the Buffalo bills are not going to the Superbowl again. And, uh, I shot you 99 again. Thank you so much for the super chat says a billion dollar company, by the way, it does amaze me that the chip in the football thing has not ended up showing us yet. And we still got the chain gang over there and the ball spotting is still, and that image is going to be seared in everybody in Buffalo's head forever of one ref on one side saying first down and another ref on the other side saying it's not first down it's first down chiefs and it's figure it out nfl but anybody with a television i think would have voted that that was a first down it ends up

completely changing the game maybe if you're the conspiracy theorist who thinks they always want the chiefs that's your moment but if you're the bills they had a lot of opportunities to get a key stop and they didn't do it. And that is what it came down to is the Chiefs played better offensively in this game. And a major part of it may have been the simple fact that the Bills had some injuries in the secondary. Their top corner goes out on, like, the fourth play of the game,

and that made life more difficult. The other thing, too, that we saw, and I'll definitely get into Vikings takeaways from the two teams that are going to the Superbowl and we'll get to Eagles and commanders and so forth, but I got to get the heart to stop racing here from what we just saw. The chiefs were absolutely brilliant in those gotta have it type of moments with misdirections with the Mahomes run for a touchdown at the end of the game the Bills can still get the ball back with one stop and they run a brilliant play where the running back is coming underneath everybody else is flooding the other side they lose track of him they get a first down Kansas city and Andy Reed called this game majestically.

The only thing I would have suggested is a few fewer of the early down runs, but in the red zone, the play calls, the way that they had their underneath passing game designed, they only threw a handful of passes down the field. And that was something really noticeable from this game. Both quarterbacks were hugely impactful in the run game. They threw a handful of passes down the field. And that was something really noticeable from this game. Both quarterbacks were hugely impactful in the run game. They threw a lot of screens, a lot of quick throws, and it comes down to a play here, there, and Kansas city comes out on top. Max also with the super chat. You guys are on fire tonight. Thank you so much. Poor bills. What do you got to do to get over the hump? Also love the podcast. Thank you, Max. Folks, I found something that I didn't even know how badly I needed.

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You've seen it many times before in the past where you think it's your year and you get to the edge and you're not able to get over the hump. And I don't know how many just ever games compared to 98 and the Gary Anderson miss, but for Buffalo, the accumulation of these has now surpassed the Vikings in my mind because they have this villain who they cannot beat. And every one of the games, it's not like they get blown out by the chiefs. Every one of them is just this far away for the Bills. Every one of them for Buffalo is completely devastating. All of them are like Scott Norwood missing the kick in the Super Bowl. They're all that close.

And that has got to be an unimaginable frustration and pain for Josh Allen, who is as great and freakish and clutch and an incredible of a quarterback as we've ever seen. I mean, he is so dominant. There are times where they're blitzing him and he's getting hit and he's knocking guys off or he's scrambling or he's hitting throws down the field or he's scoring a touchdown in the back of the end zone on fourth down, where there is a keyhole to throw that football through and he fires it through for the touchdown. How can you play? And this is the hardest part for the bills. How can you play any better at quarterback

than Josh Allen has played in all of these matchups with my homes, but my homes gets a little bit more, a little bit more from his defense ever so slightly one more drive, one more call from the refs, one more incompletion, whatever it is from the bills, one more pressure that works. And Josh Allen gets to be number two quarterback in the league. Like a Dan Marino. Hey, it's nice that you were here, but you never really made it. He gets to live in that space. Josh Allen could not have been any better in these playoffs. And yet here he is.

Second fiddle once again to the Kansas City Chiefs. And I know you guys in the chat are talking about this. So I will too. Yes, I agree with you. This is the worst possible result. It is the worst possible result for Vikings fans for, well, I'll say this. It could be a very good game. It could be a very close game and one that goes down as a classic as an actual football game.

So there's that in the Superbowl. And if you have no rooting interest and you don't put your heart and soul into who's playing in the Superbowl, I'm sure a lot of you after the way the Vikings went down have sort of watched this with just, Hey, entertain me. I don't care, but Jaden Daniels and Josh Allen would have been more entertaining. The bills first chance at it since the nineties would have been more compelling and Josh Allen getting his shot or a rookie in the super bowl. There were so many other options here other than the same old teams. And it's the same old teams. Uh, it's just two years ago that these teams faced off it's three in a row for the Chiefs which

uh yeah them saying Chiefs Pete or whatever at the end was pretty pretty cringy I think the whole broadcast had a lot of cringe to it actually but the Kansas City Chiefs facing off the Philadelphia Eagles is both two teams that completely deserve it. They, they do. And we'll talk about Philly and how good they were. And here's the reality. If the bills had, I'm sorry, if the Vikings had beaten the Rams and went to Philly, they weren't winning that football game. I think we could say that for sure that they were not winning that football game. Had the Vikings ended up going to Philly the way that that team is playing. It is a really good matchup of football teams. You have the best quarterback of a generation and the best roster that has been built in the NFL for the entire

year. Detroit had a case for it. They got hurt. Philadelphia is almost completely healthy. Their roster, their roster build, their drafting, their free agent acquisitions, their trades, their contract for Jalen hurts. That still gives them room to work all that stuff. They, they deserve it. These two teams deserve it. The Kansas city chiefs, they kind of threw the last game because it didn't matter. They were essentially a 15-1 football team, which has only happened a handful of times ever in NFL history. So you have to give it to them that these two teams are deserving. Kansas City, by ever so slight, outplayed the Buffalo Bills.

They made one more play than the Bills did. The call is going to be talked about. I think it was a first down. I think most people think it was a first down, but at the end of the day, they all played the bills. They deserve to be in the super bowl. But from the standpoint of it being totally compelling, it's not, it's not, it feels boring. It feels snoozy. It feels like, it feels like Vegas at the beginning of the year made out the Superbowl. You know, we talk so much about how the Vikings, you know, kind of proved Vegas wrong in one 14 when they thought it was going to be six. But I think if we go back and look at those Superbowl odds, I'm guessing Kansas city was

at the top and probably Philadelphia too. And that's where we're at with that kind of favorites matchup. There's no storyline that really pulls you in and makes you want to root for one team or the other. It's like, well, my home's being a three-time super bowl champion is fine. And I know Vikings fans, as Matthew says, uh, in the comments are not going to be rooting for the Eagles. I know that all you guys are for sure going to be against the Eagles in this one. At the same time, I think America has also grown very tired of seeing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs over and over again, and Buffalo just couldn't get it done. They were so close in this game.

They're one more foot away. And look, if you're going to leave it to, they did not execute those tush pushes all that well. That's another thing. They failed the two-point conversions. That's another one. Like they had their chances and they didn't get key stops in the first half, especially.

The only time they stopped Kansas City in the first half, especially the only time they stopped Kansas City in the first half was when Kansas City stopped themselves. So there was that. They had a couple of shots at two point conversions that might have changed the game and they failed on them. They had a chance on a fourth down where they get pressured and they have to hope someone makes a miracle catch for a first down and they still would have had to come back again. So Kansas city, the whole world was talking about, Hey, is it rigged for them and everything else? Uh, they outplayed Buffalo and Philadelphia whooped Washington,

absolutely whooped Washington. And maybe if there's one amendment to what I said about Philly and the Vikings not beating them, which I'm pretty sure is true, but it would have been the snow game. So maybe that would even things out that even things out with the Rams. So maybe it would have been a little bit different because not in the snow, Philly's pure talent really shined through against Washington. And we do need to look at because the Kansas City Chiefs, you can't really take anything from them where you go, hey, build your team like the Chiefs. I mean, the Vikings have some similarities,

which is that their defensive coordinator is gonna be here. He's a former head coach. He's gonna be here year over year, which gives you some confidence in the Vikings defense having continuity building on what they did this year. So there's that, but the answer is just my homes and it's Andy Reed. Truly. I mean, Andy Reed almost doesn't get enough attention,

which is weird to say, cause the chiefs, you know, get all the attention, but Andy Reed in this game was brilliant. He was masterful. It was one great short pass design after the next. How many plays even in this game did Patrick Mahomes have to make that were special? And of course he did. Maybe three, four. But the rest of it was executing the design. A lot of pre-snap movement. A lot of quick passing game.

And I think as we kind of transition the conversation to the Vikings a little bit here and how this relates to the Vikings, the thing that I couldn't help but notice today is just how effective the short passing games are. And we've discussed it quite a bit on the show, but screen games underneath the quick passing, the, the getting it into the playmakers hands. Xavier worthy was huge in this game on a lot of those throws that were not deep down the field, crossing routes underneath stuff behind the blitzes. Uh, Josh Allen hit on a couple of rockets that he threw on slants that came behind blitzes. And the Vikings just don't play the style of game that we saw from a lot of teams today,

including Washington. How about Philadelphia going to Dallas Goddard time and time and time again? And we did see, and Melkill asked about the pre-snap motions. We did see a ton throughout this day of pre-snap motions. And I think the Vikings were maybe middle of the league in that. I think they wanted to simplify things after they got some delay of games. And that was something I noticed from the bills that they did excellently,

which was they got up to the line of scrimmage time and time again, they would run a play and they would be right on top of them again, playing with a rhythm, playing with a pace. I mean, these two football games, you're just not going to get any better than what we just saw for football. Like those two teams are so masterful and the bills ran the ball extremely well, something that the Vikings have to learn to do the running quarterback element though. You can't deny it. And this is something I've been thinking about with JJ McCarthy is McCarthy was somewhat of a runner in college. Is he going to be able to, and I think that he has the physical talent too, and I think he can, but it's something they're gonna have to focus on

is him being part of the actual running game. It doesn't seem like Kevin O'Connell wants to do that going back to Josh Dobbs. And he really didn't do it with Darnold at all. But he also had to be afraid of Darnold getting hurt. But I think you got to throw that out the window. I mean, we saw all the teams today using their running quarterbacks to their utmost effectiveness. And Patrick Mahomes is not the fastest runner, but they ran a quarterback run. And when you have that as part of your arsenal, it is so hard for the other team to stop and a male kill about TJ Hawkinson. I think we need to

give TJ Hawkinson another year. Uh, he was, I think it was fine. I mean, I think he was still like a top 10 graded tight end this year, but they were going down the field so much that he just wasn't as big of a part of the offense as he has been in the past. But I mean, just last year, he was incredible pro bowl player. And you look at the contract and how it's structured. Yeah, highest paid tight end, but not really by the salary cap. I actually think the takeaway isn't that Hockinson's overrated. I think it's that you need to lean heavy into him because we see the tight ends and what a big role they play. Goddard was enormous. And then also, I mean, Zach Ertz, if Washington could have got another stop, then Zach Ertz, he's one of the MVPs of that game. So tight ends playing a huge role in the

underneath passing game, which is really where the Vikings came short in the last few weeks. Ben says, I feel like the Vikings have championship pieces, but I feel like they still have work to do. If McCarthy is a hit, then it's pedal to the metal. Well, I think that as we compare these teams to the Vikings, I kind of got off on a tangent there about how you can't really compare anyone to Kansas City. And I forgot to circle back to the other point, which is the Vikings have to compare themselves to Philadelphia. And when I look at Philadelphia's roster, let's just talk about it. If you look at the offensive line, you guys know what I'm going to say. It's amazing. We all know this. It's been amazing now for

several years. They stocked it up. They drafted well. They got huge dudes. They went out and got McKay Becton, moved him to guard. Great move. That was a total game changer. And they designed that whole run game. How many times do you see? And look, Saquon Barkley is unreal. But how many times do you see Saquon Barkley six, seven yards and no one's touched him? And then he just has to do the rest, right? And that's how they get all these big runs. That's the offensive line.

I mean, they drafted and developed players up there. And then you get one acquisition. And even with some guys banged up today, they were still great. And especially in the run blocking where we know this, the Vikings are going to have to figure out how to control games with the run more. And that really does start up front. I mean, I could see them drafting a running back, but it really starts up front. That's how Philadelphia is built. Philadelphia's quarterback is a runner. And that really changes the math up front. When you have a quarterback who is such a big part of the running game, you have a great free agent acquisition, the backfield elite player. You have two top notch wide receivers. One of them, they traded a first

round pick for another one. They spent a first round pick on. They are elite at every position. Go over to the defensive side, Jalen Carter. Oh my gosh. Absolute beast. That whole defensive line is so deep. Now, how about on the outsides? You have two corners that they drafted to go along with Darius Slay. They load up on the secondary. They are elite at every single position. And what it often comes down to, we will try to do things like, Hey, what's the way to get to the Superbowl? What's the model? What's, what's the gimmick that this team did or what position did they load up on or were they good at offense or defense? What does it usually come down to? They either have Mahomes or they're great at every position.

And that was the 49ers last year. They were great everywhere and they make the Superbowl. And so for the Vikings, as you're going into this off season and you're setting the bar, that's what you have to consider. You have to consider not, and look, they had 70 million in dead caps stemming back to Kirk and everything. So I didn't expect them to be elite at every single position. and look they had 70 million in dead caps stemming back to Kirk and everything so I didn't expect them to be elite at every single position but now that they've raised the bar

that's the standard that's the standard that you have to reach as they go into this offseason and they've got a late first round draft pick and they've got a ton of cap space and they've got a decision at quarterback to make, which look, I agree with all of you that that's a lot easier to do with McCarthy. It's really about the timing. Is it now or is it next year? But if you're looking at Philadelphia and you're saying our roster has to be that good, then there's a lot of moves that got to be made for the Vikings. And there's also another dynamic about that Washington and Philly game that I want to talk about, but this is a great question.

Josh says, who are you taking 2012 Adrian or 2024 Saquon? I'm going to go with a 2012 Adrian because his quarterback was Christian Ponder. I think that the quarterback position does impact significantly the running game. And the fact that Jalen hurts is there is, is a very serious, serious edge for Saquon Barkley and Christian Ponder was not an edge for Adrian Peterson. Uh, so I think Adrian, uh, would have, uh, in this offense done just as well, or maybe even better. So I would go Adrian because everyone knew they were going to run every play. That's not like it is with Philadelphia

where you have to really balance both. But when we think about where the Vikings have to go, when it comes to meeting up with Philadelphia and, and, you know, David saying that they had a cakewalk to the super bowl and that's happened twice. Uh, I wouldn't call Washington a cakewalk, but the fact that they didn't play Detroit, I agree with you. I agree with you that, you know, the fact that they didn't play Detroit was a hell of a lot easier for Philadelphia. They would have had to go to Detroit and, and match with them where that team can actually battle them offensively. Washington didn't have enough, but the other aspect of the Vikings for next year is that they play Washington and Philadelphia. If I'm not mistaken, I think that's right. And what I saw from Washington is a team

that's not quite ready and they just got steamrolled. They had players injured on the interior. Their defense is not there yet, but they were close in that game. They hung in because their quarterback was awesome. And I think a lot of people, when we talk about the free agents, we just assume that the Vikings get their pick of the litter and they can go into free agency and just get all of them. Hey, you're a good team. Everyone likes O'Connell. Everyone wants to come here. And that's true. A lot of free agents do want to come here. But when you look at a team like Washington with Jaden Daniels, top free agents, and they've got the rookie quarterback contract advantage too. People are going to want to go there. Free People are going to want to go there.

Free agents are going to want to go there. So I think that a new dynamic was born in this playoffs that Jaden Daniels is the real deal. He handled that game. I mean, look, if they play any defense at all, they're right in it. He handled that game spectacularly. He didn't turn the ball over. He kept the offense moving. He made plays with his

legs. I mean, Washington is now going forward a team to beat in the NFC that, you know, they're going to be back year in and year out and they're going to spend and they've got good coaching. And now that all the coaching spots are filled up, except for what new Orleans. I mean, if they don't hire cliff Kingsbury, they're going to run back their staff as well in Washington, DC. So the biggest development from this playoffs is not that Philly and Kansas city are in the super bowl again, obviously they are, but it's that Washington is now very much the real deal. They need to build up their defense. They need to get some receivers. They need to not fumble the ball three times, which that was very frustrating just in the fact

that fumbles ended up playing such a big role in this playoffs. And earlier this year, I wrote about the peanut punch and talked with Harrison Smith about it. And he had said that he was never taught that growing up. And it was only in the last few years that it was taught. And now I see it everywhere changing playoff games and you're like, man, Washington, hang on to the football, my guys. But aside from that, like Washington now is going to be able to go into free agency. They now have a big time billionaire who knows what he's doing. Magic Johnson is somehow there. They've got Magic Johnson, a quarterback. They have a lot of pieces to work with.

They need a few receivers. They need some defensive guys. There will be a lot of competition in free agency. We're going to make our lists. I'm making my lists of different free agents, but the Vikings will not have that handed to them in free agency. Like they kind of did last year with Van Ginkle, Grenard and Blake Cashman. Those were three day one guys that they were able to bring in and maybe it does ramp up the urgency. Now I think it doesn't because they can make cap flexibility into the future. If they need to, they can restructure deals. They can schedule

contracts to get bigger into the next year. If they did decide to play Sam Darnold next season. But I think that if you're the person who has really been banging the table about the cap space, then I think that you're probably making the point, how are you going to compete with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington if you're not the number one spender in free agency? And then the elephant in the room here is the draft capital where Philadelphia is going to be able to work in the future around Jalen Hurts continually because they have a lot of these young players. And so the Vikings are going to have to develop them. But from the draft, this next draft, they have four picks. And if they trade Darnold, then maybe they can get something recouped from that, a second rounder from another team. Maybe it's Tennessee's early second round pick or something, that would be a great haul for them, but they're

going to have to land or develop players that are really toward the top of the league. I would say that I did notice today. Was it Nolan Smith is the guy from Georgia who had a breakout year after doing nothing last year was a really young player, a little bit undersized, kind of reminded me of Dallas Turner. But I think that that's what we're talking about now is, is what's the difference. So these teams have the same number of wins, but the Philly team that I just watched was a lot better than the Vikings this year. The one that we just saw blow the doors off of Washington. And the difference really comes down to the way they run the football. It's not even remotely close to what the Vikings do. That can't just get kind

of better. It's got to get way better. And it used to be in years past, I would make fun of the people who were like, you got to run the football in the playoffs. Well, okay. Kansas city didn't really do it today, but I mean, Buffalo's right there. They ran it. Well, Philly ran it. Well, Washington was not able to, and had to put it all on the shoulders of Jaden Daniels. Philly essentially ran themselves into the super bowl, kind of buying that narrative a little bit more now, but the Vikings do have the weapons. They do have similarly the receivers, the tight end, the offensive tackles. When we talk about the Vikings offensive line, sometimes we talk about it as if it's just like this pile of nothing, but they do have two of the best offensive linemen in the league in Brian O'Neill and

Christian Derrissaw coming back, rebuilding the center of this line in a serious manner. I think that that's the main takeaway for me of Philly being in the Superbowl is okay. Vikings for the first time in a long time, be serious about the offensive line in the running back, because since Kevin O'Connell's taken over, I mean, he maybe couldn't have projected the downfall of Delvin cook in the second half of 2022. But aside from that, they have been unserious about the running back position the last two years on fifth round draft pick and Ty Chandler, Alexander Madison. And this year, I mean a good investment in Aaron Jones but then Aaron Jones's backup coming out of training camp is Ty Chandler who they couldn't stand the sight of and then they

have to go out and get Cam Akers who did fine and and did a really good job but is just not a difference maker and that's where they need to find a difference maker because they have difference makers at the other positions. And they also, I think, have to go back in the lab at head coach and offensive coordinator and quarterback coach and all that. And they have to look at these games and say, how do we get a screen game, a quick pass game that looks like this? And that's not to say the Vikings didn't have any of that this year. They did when Sam Darnold threw underneath, he was a very efficient quarterback, but how do you get one where it's fourth and two, or it's, what was it that the chiefs had their third and five,

third and four, and you run that play and you get a running back wide open dink first down, or you have a play down toward the red zone where my homes rolls out and he's behind a tight end. He's going in the end zone. They make it look easy on a lot of those. Got to have it downs where the Vikings constantly made it look hard. That's part of it. And the other part too is in one of the biggest moments, and I know Allen eventually scored a touchdown, but they tried to throw a fade pass, which was absolutely wild to me. And they did it against Trent McDuffie. The Kansas city chiefs have really built a good secondary and the Vikings at the cornerback

position piecemealed it last year. And they had to because of the cap space, but they really just patched it together. They've got now Cooper to Jean. They've got Quinnian Mitchell. They've got Darius Slay. I mean, the Vikings now have a lot of decisions to make in the secondary in order to close that gap because they hit on a couple of draft picks make in the secondary in order to close that gap because they hit on a couple of draft picks now to go along with their already top-notch

player in Slay. And they've got, you know, kind of just some guys at safety, but having corners who could play multiple coverages, who can blitz, who could tackle, who could punch the ball out. It's just a big factor for these teams that make it because you're going to have third and fives, fourth and fives where you need somebody to cover. And the Vikings this year got some of it, but also didn't get quite enough of it. So deep breath. What is on your guys' minds as now we have the Superbowl matchup, the main points for me are number one bills. I feel you,

man. I do. All of you know, by now I grew up there. I know what those people are going through tonight and how much they've put into that team, how much heart and soul, how much passion you see the tailgate things where they jump

through tables. And I get that that's kind of the highlight, but I think it's hard to explain even from a town that's not very big. And it's a place that everybody, their blood is just red and blue. I mean, it is, it's a little different than it is in some other places because it's such a small city. Every single person is raised on the Buffalo bills and they put so much into this and they believed that this was the year and Kansas city looked vulnerable throughout the regular season. You barely escaped this game. You barely escaped that game.

Your running game's not very good. Your offensive line in Kansas city, they got beat a bunch of times today and somehow they find a way to come out three points better. Uh, Alex, what does Buffalo got to do to get over the hump? My dude, if I had the answer, they would pay me a lot to come back there and give it to him. I don't know. What can you do better than to have the second greatest quarterback on earth play like an alien, but not get this much yardage according to at least the review there to not get quite enough yardage and you get beat by the best player of a generation over and over again. I mean, this is kind of like all the great teams that came up short to Shaq and Kobe, or they came up short to Michael Jordan, or they came up short in the Eastern conference to LeBron

James. Like what, what's the answer? I don't know. I don't know. But one thing I do know is that when it comes to the bills, this was supposed to be, and this is not a silver lining tonight is horrible for them. This is as bad as it gets because it's not just one. And when I try to explain this dynamic to Vikings fans who have felt a lot of this pain, but the Vikings had 98 and then 09 is a pretty big gap between them where they should have gone to the Superbowl. This is getting punched in the face on repeat over and over and over again, every single year for the bills against this team where they've been this close. So what they have to do, I don't know, but they are really supposed to be kind of a team in transition this year.

And a lot of people thought they would step back and not be in that position. But any year that you have Josh Allen, you're a Superbowl team when you get there. And as far as, you know, when it comes to like Sean McDermott and all that, I don't know. I mean, we can always look back and say, well, they should have done this or should have done that. But when is my home's not done this to everybody. He just does this to everybody. And Andy Reed does this to everybody. Andy Reed pulls out everything and anything that he can find in these big situations. So I don't have the answer. I think that the only answer is that you just keep going in the same direction every year and try to get a little bit better and then hope like Mahomes actually gets hurt one time.

I mean, that's like the best you could do, right? Was it the season? Maybe not. I guess it was the season after because there was the year that Brady got hurt. And then the season after Peyton Manning found a way to win it. Cause I think Brady lost to the Ravens in oh nine. And that's when Manning got over the hump set. Right. Do I have that right? No, it was oh six. Oh nine was, oh yeah. Oh nine was breeze. Oh six. So like eventually Manning or breeze or Rogers, the great quarterbacks who weren't Brady, they always got one. It just took a really long time. I just thought it was this year.

Uh, modern moose says, I think this year's playoffs helped us figure out how far off of Superbowl caliber we are. We kind of had a dreamy season. So this was our wake up call for next year. So here, so I agree with this uh moose but i also think too that one thing they need to be very honest with themselves about when they're assessing this whole thing is that you know they played the afc south and they got all the wins kind of for free against the AFC South next year. They're going to play the AFC North. That means the Ravens and the Steelers. We'll see what the Browns are. They'll probably be harder. I mean, that's not going to be easy to play the AFC North. And then they're going to play teams like Washington and Philly.

I mean, it's going to be a really, and then the NFC North as well. It's going to be a really, really difficult schedule for the Vikings next year. And I know I'm looking way down into the future, but I mean, my goodness, like they're going to be playing a much tougher schedule than they had this year where they got just free wins against the Jags, the Titans. These teams fired their coaches. They're awful. They're the armpits of the NFL and the Vikings beat them. And in some of those games, they didn't play that good, uh, Indianapolis. And, but you know, you get those wins. I'm not saying it didn't count or it wasn't real, but it was assisted

by that. Also, they got a lot of game winning drives and everything else, you know, of course they did. So, uh, Leonard says in retrospect, would you trade the 11 pick in Jefferson, uh, for the second pick in Jaden Daniels? Um, you know, uh, if you tell me right now that Jaden Daniels, if we're doing this right now, looks like that, then you would trade almost any player in the league for him. That's not a quarterback. That's just the fact of the matter. Now, the reality is of course, that when you go back now and do it, we know that Jaden Daniels is this good and that he's going to be a franchise quarterback for a long time. We did not know that, uh, nor would Washington have done it by the way, if I was Washington, I wouldn't do

it. I wouldn't trade out of the number two pick picking a quarterback for that. But yeah, I mean, that's the thing that really, I think describes how absolutely fantastic Jaden Daniels is and where they're at going forward. So, you know, boy, I mean, it's, it's, I think that your point moose is something that I have been thinking about just during the playoffs is how winning 14 games this year. It felt like suddenly you need to do it now because it's not going to get easier. And then when we get to the end of it and we see the teams in the super bowl, it's like, yeah, it's not going to get easier. It's not going to get easier. And I can't help, but think about how there were no pocket quarterbacks. They need to make sure they use every bit of McCarthy's athleticism. They cannot treat him when they scheme like Kirk cousins,

because sometimes it felt like that with Darnold. Like they never really used him in the running game at all. And I know maybe it was a foot issue or whatever, but they need to have that as part of the dynamic, the mobility that JJ McCarthy has. He has the athleticism to be a runner. He did it in college and he is quick and he's big when he's at full strength. And if you don't have it,

then you're just missing something that all the top teams have. Uh, Derek says, Matthew, can you tell us why you are no longer a bills fan? Is it simply the neutral sports writer angle you have to portray? It's not portraying. That's the truth. Do you really feel nothing for your hometown team? I do not for my hometown team. I do for my hometown, if that makes sense. I feel for the people that I know and that I spent so much time working with.

And that, of course, I grew up in the, the bills household. So I, I, I feel deeply for them because I know what they've gone through and I saw it with the four super bowl losses when I was a kid and everything else. Uh, but I'll, I'll tell you the truth about myself and being a bills, not being a bills fan that, well, yes, when you're covering the league, it's, it is a totally different thing. It's just like, not how my brain is wired. So whether it's the Vikings or the bills, I'm thinking about my article or my podcast and my takeaways and what I'm going to say and how I'm going to frame it.

I'm not thinking about yay. They won. No, they lost. That's just, I've been doing this for a long time. Uh, but the other part of it too is the bills were so bad for 20 years. So if you picture kind of how I grew up, it was Jim Kelly early on, like really when I was really young. And then after that, they were terrible. They had the music city miracle happened to them them and then they didn't make the playoffs after that i didn't pay a lot of attention to them for many many years until i was working in

buffalo and just lost any real interest in in that i i played a ton of madden this weekend the championship weekend was like the best thing in the world for me when it was acheman when it was steve young when it's Brady and Manning and all that. I just, they were, they didn't, I felt like for so long, they didn't deserve to have me care about them. That's how bad they were. And then I left and then Josh Allen, you know, of course arrives and they go to all the AFC championships and so forth. But there was just no reason. I mean, they were they were just not a serious franchise at all.

Their owner was old and they were just lost at the plate. I just didn't pay a lot of attention to them. I would watch the other games on Sundays. So that's kind of why maybe that made me a bad like Buffalonian or whatever. But that's I just felt like you're terrible. I'm not going to watch you. I'm going to watch good games. So that's kind of where they lost me. And then, you know, you go to college to be a journalist and all that stuff, kind of learn to think about things a certain way. So that's,

that's how it is. But I also know the people who are there, the people who traveled to Kansas city, the people who they showed over and over again at the watch parties and stuff. Those people lost zero faith and love in that team through Trent Edwards, EJ manual, JP loss, men, Kelly Holcomb, all the quarterbacks that they ended up running out there and failing Tyrod Taylor to get to this point where they're this good and to be this close and have it come down to one inch that the referees did not give him a first down to have it come down to Dalton Kincaid with the throw or one stop, even if they get a stop at the end on the quick passing on the, the rollout or on the, the, uh, kind of misdirection play, one stop and Josh Allen gets another shot

and maybe they go down and do it. And it just did not happen. So I definitely feel very much for those people in the same way with the Vikings I feel for you guys. I mean, when the Vikings go 14 and three and they just no show in Los Angeles. I think, man, it's got to be tough. It's got to be tough because the Vikings keep, you know, fans keep coming back and traveling

all the games and everything and have been through so much. And then just always kind of having Charlie Brown in the football. And I remember, uh, I like to go to the Minnesota history museum time to time, and they had this display of Charlie Brown and I went and looked at it and then I went, Oh, this makes so much sense. Charlie Brown in the football, Charles Schultz was from here. I get it now. I totally get it. And, uh it. And the bills are certainly feeling like that. Alex, do I ever feel wonder if this is my fault? No, I've never thought that because they were having these problems way before me. I was not here in 98 or 09. I was watching those games, but I was

not there. So another just completely devastating loss for the bills. And for all intents and purposes, it's weird because the super bowl is coming, but I feel like today sort of ended the season. Like, okay, well, all the storylines that all of my audience would have been interested in even Washington. I feel like Vikings fans would be intrigued because you're always going to be comparing Jaden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings build and all that stuff. And when it came to the bills, there's some investment there. Minnesota, Buffalo, two teams that have lost the Super Bowls,

and you kind of want to cheer on another team that hasn't made it. Like for their fans, for all they've gone through. And you get none of that. You get two teams that have won Superbowls and have been great and have done nothing but be great in probably a great football game, but from a like, Hey, let's talk about it. Uh, pretty snoozy. So, uh, you know, I think, uh, when it comes to

how I'm going to talk about it going forward, it's mostly going to be focused on the Vikings off season. And I'm going to have some fun stuff for you guys this week. I've been coming out on the newsletter, purple insider.football. I've been coming out with a lot of, um, the future of the Viking series, which I want to go over on the podcast and some fun guests and everything, but it's, it's off season mode now folks. And there's so much to talk about so much to get to.