Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The top 10 things we need to see from the Vikings post-bye (Part 1)

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Matthew Coller takes a step back at the bye week to make a list of the things we need to see from the Vikings in the next portion of the schedule in order for them to make the playoffs. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, Matthew Collar, here. The show, of course, presented by Fanduel, as always. And how about I just toss you the Fandual question of the day? And then we'll get going because it kind of connects to the conversation that we're having. So here's the Fandul question of the day. The Vikings' next four opponents are all favorites on Fandul to win their division. divisions. How crazy is that? Even the one and four Ravens are plus 105 and Philly is the runaway favorite in the east at minus 220. How many games of the next four do the Vikings

need to win in order to be sure they make the playoffs against these teams that are favored to win their divisions? And so here's what I did tonight. It'll connect in to not only how many games they need to win of the next four, but also how they're going to do it. So I made a list. It's the bye week. We don't have big news going on with the Vikings. And I'm sure all of you needed a little bit of a breath after all the drama and the injuries and everything else that has happened through the first couple of weeks. So I decided to make a list. And the list is what we need to see from the Minnesota Vikings for them to be a playoff contender. Not necessarily for them to win 13 or 14 games, I think right now until they show that they have the possibility of

climbing those ranks on Fanduil to be a Super Bowl contender. Let's stick with the playoffs at the moment. Three and two, in the mix in the NFC, there's lots of NFC teams that are right around the same quality of record and caliber of team when you look at the EPAs and all those things. So they're in the mix. They're in the discussion. But when you look at the odds, when you look at Fandul, playoff odds, vision odds. They are not favoring the Minnesota Vikings right now, and I'm sure a lot of that

has to do with just the quarterback situation and the uncertainty. So let me get this off the table. I made 10 different things that we need to see from the Vikings for them to be, let's just say, going into the final week with a chance to win and make the playoffs. That's a pretty good standard for this season right now. Obviously, the quarterback has to play well. So these 10 things are not the quarterback has to play well. Whether it's Carson Wentz or J.J. McCarthy, either one of them, they cannot come in and be a disaster and still make the playoffs. I think we all know that that could just be number one. It could kind of be the entire list. So some of these things will also connect into getting the most out of the quarterback. And as I go through the list,

I want yours. I want your thoughts. I want your questions. I want your comments. So I'm going to give you the list. And then let's have a conversation. I got some time. My wife is actually broadcasting a gopher's volleyball game tonight. So if you got Big Ten Network, go over and record that one so you can watch it later. But so I'm around. I got some time. And unfortunately, I meant to do this last night. But the dog had a little bit of an illness and funny story.

And then I'll get into the list. The dog is apparently allergic to cheese. I have never in my life heard of a dog that is allergic to cheese. but I found that out yesterday, but it still did do the show with Jeremiah Searles, breaking down the offensive line performance, and he was very complimentary of Blake Brandel, so you can take a look at that as well after this. But why don't we get right into that list? It is not necessarily in order. You can figure out with your own brain that some of these are going to be more important than others, but they're not like, here's the number one, here's the number six. I couldn't figure out standard deviations and all that stuff.

So I just decided to go with the 10 things that I think we need to see for the Vikings to be a playoff team. So let's start out with the top of the list. It is, yes, my friends, a nearly healthy offensive line. What they were able to do against the Cleveland Browns was phenomenal to find a way to get the ball out in less than two and a half seconds on average. for Carson Wentz to lead a game-winning drive, a great throw to Jordan Addison in the end zone. Phenomenal catch, big plays to Justin Jefferson, just squeezing out enough offense to get through that football game

against a great Cleveland Brown's defense. Still, the Vikings' chances to win were about 20% with three minutes to go in the game. If you play like that all the time on offense, you're probably not going to win that many games. If you just have troubles and have three and outs and hope that you get stops and hope that you come through clutch,

those things are usually the sign of teams that don't make the playoffs, but maybe escape a handful of games with wins. So if they're going to maximize the quarterback play and if they're going to maximize the run game in order to have a much better offense than they did over these first. five weeks of the season, they are going to have to have a nearly healthy offensive line.

And the reason I say nearly is because we don't know the status of Ryan Kelly. And if Ryan Kelly decides not to play again this season, I would respect the heck out of that from a guy who's had an amazing NFL career, but concussions are serious. This is not a leg injury where you have surgery and not that that can't be traumatic, but it's just not the same as head injuries. What we saw from Blake Brandel, I think was promising that Brandel was able to come in there and not only just snap the football and not get destroyed by Mason Graham and Malik Collins, but the fact that he was able to lead was noticeable when you watch the game back

and then I would say even in real time, you could see that Blake Brandel was confident in that position, which I didn't know what to expect when you're talking about. someone who had never played center in an actual game, but he's played a lot of football and experience matters. So if he's playing center and the rest is healthy, a nearly healthy offensive line, I'd like to see it at some point because we spent so much time talking about how much improved it was. But Darisaw, I would expect that he's closer to 100% when they return from the buy.

Donovan Jackson is going to practice. We'll see if he comes back. Will Fries, I think, has been, okay. Dane Mizzatani and I are going to kind of do a whole breakdown of all their offseason decisions and kind of how we view them now tomorrow. We're going to record that tomorrow. So we won't dive into that fully. But I think Will Fries has been all right.

And then they need Brian O'Neill healthy. I mean, Justin's school survived that last game, but you can't do that weekend and week out against the really good teams in the NFL. So they need Brian O'Neill back. And when they get a fully healthy offensive line, then you can throw the ball down the field a little more often. then you can lean on the run game more often. You can run to the left side where you have two of the great athletes in the league

in Derisaw and Donovan Jackson. That would be a major benefit for this offense. Again, we'd love to see the whole thing at once. We did not over the first five weeks. Number two on the list is no further issues with Jordan Addison and a performance like he had against the Browns regularly. I think we all know this about Jordan Addison. he is a terrific wide receiver.

There are 10, 15 teams somewhere in that range that he would be their number one wide receiver. And sometimes when I'm watching Jackson Smith, the Jigba and some of the routes that he runs and the way he's connected with Sam Darnold, I think of Jordan Addison is just this route runner who creates space and can make contested catches, can go deep, can go underneath, can get a couple of yards after catch to get a first down, Jordan Addison's performance, regardless of who's in a quarterback, is going to be a major determining factor because when you look at those first couple weeks without him, you could try to trade for Adam Thielen. You could try to put Jalen Naylor in there. My friends, this man is special. You go, he wins the Blitnikoff Award with Kenny Pickett, gets Kenny Pickett to be a first round pick. Look how he made Caleb Williams look like a generational prospect when he was out there. Sam Darnold had great connection with him.

him. He just is a quarterback kingmaker, and let me pull up a stat on Jordan Addison, because I think he's really this important. And health is important too, but, you know, after the incident in England, you have to wonder, through his career, this is a great stat here from PFF. Through his career, Jordan Addison has caught 48.9% of contested catches. Now, they're called 50-50 balls. I promise you they're not. Statistically, 50-50 balls. But Jordan Addison, makes them 50-50 balls, and quarterbacks throwing his way, contested catches, no, no, not just contested catches, but any throw in Jordan Addison's direction, all the Vikings quarterbacks who have started and thrown him footballs have a 104.7

quarterback rating, which would put you right at the top of the league darn near MVP. So when you throw to Addison, you are near an MVP. And when it gets to the red zone, we see this, the amount of attention on Justin Jefferson I was looking at a Fanduil today, I could pull this up, and the guys who have the most chances to lead the league in different categories. And I, and so I went to receiving touchdowns. And I wondered if Jordan Addison was going to be a favorite for receiving touchdowns, despite missing a couple games. Justin Jefferson is plus 1,500, which puts him sixth. I mean, that's not the guy they go to because Addison is so good and often one on one.

as we saw to win the game against the Cleveland Browns. They cannot have any further issues with him. They cannot have him off the field, and he needs to continue to perform this way. And that is what can maximize quarterback play as I think that that statistic really demonstrates about Jordan Addison. Number three on my list, sticking with the game plan versus the Browns. So against Cleveland, we've talked about this.

Kevin O'Connell and I saw Zumer Kev on the chat talking about this, Putting the ego aside and implementing a quick passing game. Carson Wentz right now is one of the quickest in the entire NFL in terms of snap to release over these three games. And part of that is Carson Wentz. So let's see where Wentz ranks. He is fifth tied with Mack Jones, fifth at 2.61 seconds. And the two wins, he was under two and a half seconds or right around there. And some of that is Wentz being a veteran.

and there are throws that you see on tape where he drops back and he's got his arm in the air way before the guy is breaking out to make the catch. And so that's Wentz. That's him understanding what he needs to do. The big throw to Justin Jefferson down the sideline was a catch, one step and throw,

probably one and a half seconds, and someone still got a hand on him from the Browns. Like, that's how important it was that they were able to execute the quick passing game. now if McCarthy comes back he has to he has to do it because his throws intermediate wise were actually great like his numbers throwing between 10 and 19 as we would have expected were great in the first two games but the short game was not there how can you emphasize that if it is McCarthy to make sure that you're getting the most out of it like you did with Carson Wentz over these last two weeks it is absolutely vital with the way the NFL is being played right now, the football and the defenses and how they're rushing the passer and all those things, it is enormous to be able to have a successful quick passing game. And we don't have to send anyone to jail. In fact, you know, I should maybe make an

Addison number two because the number is 10 targets for Justin Jefferson. If they don't get to 10 targets, someone goes to jail unless it's a blowout. There should be maybe like a seven or eight on Jordan Addison, and some of the plays in that game, just to get the ball in those guys' hands, were really well done by Kevin O'Connell. Great play designs, great concepts, understanding when Justin Jefferson was going to get that one-on-one that he was looking for all day, understanding how the Cleveland Browns were playing defensively against different looks. There were times where they stacked both of them, and they love to do this, Addison and Jefferson. One of them goes deep. The other one breaks

out, but you're not sure which one's going to do it, be the high and the low man, but the quarterback knows, and he can get the ball out underneath pretty quickly, they have those things in the bag, they need to continue to use them regardless of whether they get the offensive linemen back. Why not make the offensive linemen who are really good have easier jobs? And so I think that there just needs to be a mindset shift, and there has been, from last year with Sam Darnold where they were crushing teams with their deep passing game. They also weren't playing some of the teams that they have on the upcoming schedule last

year. Number four, sticking with Jordan Mason. So we have not heard when Aaron Jones will start practicing again. I think that speaks to the severity of his hamstring injury. When we got the update this week, it was Blake Cashman and Donovan Jackson and J.J. McCarthy, someone else. There's a lot of injured people. And not the list was Aaron Jones for getting back to practice. When Aaron Jones ultimately comes back, I assume he will at some point. Jordan Mason is the guy to stick with. I have really liked what I've seen from Xavier Scott. I think that he needs to be a bit player who comes in. They used to call him the scat back. They used to be that guy that came in on third down. Well, they've got C.J. Ham to

block on third down, but came in every once in a while and you could throw him the ball. They don't have a lot of those guys in the NFL anymore, and they don't throw the ball to the running backs anywhere near as much as they used to. But aside from those types of downs, where maybe you want the running back to line up in the slot, and that's a play that Xavier Scott's going to execute and not Jordan Mason. But sticking with Mason on multiple levels, when Jones returns, Mason should be RB1, and you also need to stick with Mason throughout games. If you guys have been wearing hats or trying different haircuts in order to cover up for your hair loss. Trust me, I totally feel you. And maybe you've tried different

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And he was running behind three or four backup offensive line, but even in a big moment. And this was where you had to be impressed with Kevin O'Connell last week and the game plan or the play calling at the end of the game. It was really masterful because on first down, Cleveland has everybody way back. They're starting their prevent kind of style defense. And they hand off to Mason. He rips off a nine yard run. That gets that drive rolling. And so he is a guy that you can just never forget.

get about because at any given time, even like against Chicago, they were not running well against Chicago early in that game. And they did stick with Jordan Mason into the fourth quarter or at least get him going. And he comes up with some big runs that leads to the Vikings winning the game. So it is absolutely vital. We need to see them stick with Jordan Mason. Number five on my list, Harrison Smith and Blake Cashman are the communication hubs as Brian Florin. has liked to call them. And both of these guys being out, it's impressive that the Vikings have

the defensive numbers that they have. They've also, when we start to look at the quarterbacks they've faced in terms of their passing success, Jake Browning just got benched for Joe Flacco, who the Bengals acquired yesterday, and then they're going to start him right away. That speaks to Jake Browning. Caleb Williams got off to a pretty tough start

against the Vikings accuracy-wise, missed some throw. Pennix has been up and down, didn't have a great day against the Vikings. Last week, Dylan Gabriel's making his first start. These guys are not in comparison to even a struggling Jalen Hertz or a Justin Herbert or a Jared Gough or a Lamar Jackson when he comes back. They need Harrison Smith and Blake Cashman in the lineup. And the more that I watch the Vikings run defense, the more I was like, oh, I thought it was the defensive tackles live, I guess we always do, right? The defensive line. Why aren't they stopping the run? But several of the big runs are plays where I thought it was maybe some

inexperience from Theo Jackson on one or two of the plays or not quite reacting. And then Quinn Sean Judkins is amazing. It was more linebackers and safeties. I felt this week against Cleveland than it was defensive tackles. And there were some opportunities to take down Judkins in a hole that just didn't happen and he was too fast and he was too lightning quick but Harrison Smith and Blake Cashman, they defeat blocks. Smith has some of the best tackling instincts of any player of the last 10 years. These guys are vital to that. They're vital to the changes up in coverage. You just can't say enough about the IQ, the experience, the different things that these guys as leaders of the defense saw last year. We need to see them back if the

Vikings are going to be in that playoff mix in the final weeks of this season. And Harrison Smith, I know, is back, fully back, 100% back. How many snaps did he play against Cleveland? I think it was in the 20s. Let me check that real quick. So I have that for you. Total snaps for Harrison Smith was 29. I mean, if wins the last, I don't even know when the last time Harrison Smith has played

snap counts like this. I mean, listen to these last five years. years, 1,062, 1,111, 984, 1,04, 148, 1,030. I mean, this is the Iron Man of Iron Men, and he hasn't been out there in the same way. So, you know, I think that Harrison Smith coming back is enormous in full. And, well, I still think Theo Jackson is a good player. It's just not the same. And he needs a little bit more experience.

I think he needs some opportunity to make some plays, but it's not, it's not Harrison Smith. He's one of the best to do it. Number six is when I say young outside linebackers, it's mostly Dallas Turner, but hey, Bo Richter got in the game the other day. Young outside linebackers and defensive linemen step up, and I put in parentheses big time. And here's why I say parentheses big time is because when we look at these snap counts over this last game against the Cleveland. Browns. Here's what I notice. So Jonathan Allen played 48 snaps.

That's about expected. Second in snaps in this game was Jalen Redmond with 41. And third was Levi Drake Rodriguez. And then fourth was Javan Hargrave. And fifth, Ty Ingraham Dawkins, who had 27 snaps against the Cleveland Browns. And I thought actually did a very good job. Ingram Dawkins, three different times this year has played over 20 snaps. they need that rotation really playing well.

And I thought that they did against the Browns. Levi Drake Rodriguez four times a game slams a guard so hard that they just disappear. And he makes a play. He had four stops for negative plays, according to PFF, in the game. And then, of course, I saw them on tape. He has some very impressive plays, maybe a little more on the consistent side with when he doesn't just hammer the guy. but he is mashing people up there with his strength. And this is why last week against Pittsburgh,

we talked a little bit about, hey, you know, should they have not traded Harrison Phillips? I came out of this game thinking, I think that was fine. I think they have guys in Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez who need to be playing and who are good run stoppers. And the numbers back that up that they've graded higher than Phillips.

And I know there's a lot of nuance to that. and I respect the heck out of Harrison Phillips, but I think that these guys can play that role. It really comes down to how does Jonathan Allen step up, who's going to play the most snaps, and can they stick with this role for Javon Hargrave where maybe he plays 30 snaps a game? Hargrave was the highest-graded player and had four pressures, though.

You'd like to see it be this way. Like maybe just at his age, it's way better to have a situational pass rusher. Is it a lot of money for that? Yeah, but he's elite at it. He's not just okay. I mean, he's elite. And remember, Milton Williams only played 500 snaps for the Eagles in the regular season last year.

Was he valuable? Someone gave him like $27 million. Like that, did that help the Eagles? Yeah, it did. So this rotation is enormous. Ingram Dawkins. And that looks like a good pick because he can play. And he's getting out there and making plays.

He had a sack that was kind of, you know, it was like right there for him. But there's other plays where he's sticking guys in their spot. and that's never going to get you a big giant PFF grade, but you could see it, and it's noticeable when you watch on tape. And then just with Dallas Turner, Turner's been okay. So far, it's okay. I don't want to have the conversation after five games about was he worth it? It's just we just can't do it because he's shown quite a bit.

He's gotten quite a few pressures. He's made a lot of plays in the run. You can see the flashes again from Turner. And I think that it's been more of those. than it was last year. So I've seen enough to be like, okay, well, this guy should be on the field, but can he take a next step with it? They're going to face some better quarterbacks.

Can he have some pressures, some sacks? I mean, he was great against Cincinnati. And then last week when I, there was, this is what can happen in a football game. It's why I love having the tape and the data because I saw one play where he kind of got moved. And I was like, oh, man, Dallas Turner just can't set that edge. and I was just like oh come on man and then I watched the tape back and number one it wasn't as bad as it looked on TV on the play but the rest of the game he made plays in the run game he was he was there and doing his job in the run game and they just didn't drop back to pass

a whole lot so there weren't that many opportunities for anybody to get pressure last week when the other team is running 70% of the time for most of the game until the end so that's been the case in a lot of games. Can we see Turner take another step? Because he might have to be out there a lot. He was out there for 65 plays. He might have to be out there a lot depending on Andrew Van Ginkle's health. And if Van Ginkle can come back, well, I mean, then you're talking about Turner getting all this experience and then being fresher and not having to play 65 plays. I think it's been overall a good experience for him to be able to start. I also think it's kind of a lot that he's taken on with this snap count going from hey you play 30 snaps 35 snaps and then all of a sudden

you've got to play 60 and set the edge against teams that are running against you but nonetheless needs a step forward i think he's been okay but needs a step forward number seven on my list is the quarterback decision does not become a distraction this is my cop-out way of including the quarterback situation even though i said i wouldn't uh with mccarthy and wents there may be players in the locker room who would prefer the veteran quarterback. There may be players in the locker room who would prefer the younger quarterback. Maybe guys who are going to be there a long time who spent the entire summer saying, hey, J.J. McCarthy's awesome.

Why aren't we putting them in if they decide to stick with Wentz? Or if they bench Wentz, there might be players who say, we're benching Wentz. We just won two out of the last three and we beat a really good deal. defense and he had a game-winning drive, you can end up with an uncomfortable situation. And I believe in Kevin O'Connell as much as any coach in the entire NFL to guide his team through this without the quarterback situation becoming a distraction. But I also know that there are some things that are just out of a coach's control.

And that's one of them. sometimes the quarterback situation and how people feel within a locker room is not always something that you can control. And it kind of reminds me a little bit of injuries with this team, where in the offseason, O'Connell tested fate and got kind of smacked with it a little bit here at the beginning of the season when he made a comment about how, hey, you know, when it comes to these injuries, like we just trust Tyler Williams and we know our medical staff is so good that we can get the most. But you can't control everything. And injuries are bad luck. And sometimes they are a product of the players that you bring in or the players you keep. That's true. If you draft Andrew Booth Jr.

And he's never been healthy, you might get hurt. Like that happens. If you bring in certain guys with serious injury histories, they might get hurt. And you increase your odds. No one can protect you from that. And the same thing goes for a situation like the quarterback where you can't You can't litigate how people are going to feel and you can't just talk them out of it all the time. You can't control that. I was talking to somebody today about how their girlfriend is a teacher and where she talks about how you can't control the outcomes of students

as much as you think you can. You can only try your best. You can only try your best. And that's the same here. You can only try your best. But it's really up to the players and it's up to the quarterbacks that the quarterback doesn't become a destroy. I don't mean in the media. Carson Wentz shot that down, did a great veteran job with that.

I just mean the performance that if J.J. McCarthy comes back in and is just good, there's no discussion. There's no distraction. It's, if it's up one week, down one week. And I'll give you an example of how easily the quarterback situation when it's not a clear cut QB1, no debate about it, 2017, I've told the story before, I wrote a small book about the Minneapolis Miracle of some people who go back away with this show, I have read that. In the Carolina locker room, the wide receivers had a get-together after they lost that one game with Case Keenum. And they were having a discussion that nobody ever told me implicitly that it was about this,

but it sure seemed to be about whether they were going to cancel. campaign for Teddy Bridgewater to start over Case Keenham. And then Everson Griffin told us that they had had a meeting of the veteran players about whether they should go to Bridgewater and they decided to stick with Keenham. Keenom was great that season. He was lucky sometimes, but he was great overall. And still, even when they didn't really believe in it, it became a distraction to some extent for that team.

So that's something that can't happen if this team is going to make the playoffs. They cannot have the QB situation become a distraction. Okay, three more. Then we'll get to your questions, thoughts, and comments. This is where it's kind of random, but it does matter. Kicking has to remain great. I think it's great. So far, I would give it an A.

I'm assuming that the kick from Will Riker just hit a wire, just like the rest of you. And I've gotten so many emails and questions about it. I don't have any, I don't know anything more than you do. And apparently Kevin O'Connell doesn't either because we asked O'Connell, and he was like, I don't know what to tell you. you know stuff happens so uh maybe it hit the wire maybe it didn't i'm sure he saw the video and it looks like it does but we just don't have enough 4k frames to say for sure did take a

weird wide right let's walk let's just wash that one out will riker's been awesome and ryan right has been awesome so far this year i actually think that the reason ryan wright's been awesome is that he hasn't had to punt from like the 50 i think that that's the one that he struggles with a bit when it's got to have some touch to it. But against the Browns, when he just went, hey, I'm just going to pound this ball, he was terrific. But Ryan Wright deserves all the credit after we talked a lot about the punting competition, could it be Oscar Chapman and so forth? And Wright's done a great job and holding as well. And the return game does anything. I mean, it did against Chicago. It has not since.

I could also say in this way, the return game does nothing because doing nothing is better than fumbling the ball away. I'll also toss into this mix with the kicking. Someone stopped the referees from calling penalties on every single one of these. The other night, I mean, it was a penalty, what the guy on the Chiefs did. But the wind out of the sales of good returns and good plays and then, nope, it's coming back. Who wants, raise your hand if you want special. Special teams penalties.

That's what I want. And look, I know, call the rules. You have to call the rules. So somebody stopped doing that. Whoever is committing all the penalties. But it's every game, it feels like every punt, every kickoff. It's just a bunch of penalties. Special teams are a big deal this year.

Kicks are impacting games. Kickers are kicking the ball from 65 yards. The Vikings are having to punt because they are playing a more conservative game plan. It's a big deal. It's got to be good. Number nine on my list. is that the cornerbacks remain healthy. Isaiah Rogers had one unbelievable game,

has been fine otherwise. Byron Murphy Jr. has not had splash plays. Other teams haven't even thrown for 200 yards, so there hasn't been a ton of opportunities. But I'm confident in what Byron Murphy is as a corner. Those two are good. They're a good combination. Are they Rod Woodson and Dion Sanders?

Maybe not, but they're good. I wouldn't put them quite on the Xavier Rhodes and Trey Wains, level, but this is a good combo that can make plays. But after that, my confidence is not high. Jeff Okuda has not played much, and he was out for the one game. He only played 20 snaps against Cleveland was okay. So far this season, he has played 71 snaps. Now, it's not fair to use a PFF grade for a guy who's only been in coverage 52 times,

but it's not a good grade. and it's never been a good grade in his career. And when he's thrown at so far this year, opposing quarterbacks have a 118 quarterback rating. Yes, very small sample size. No, not really fair to him. Still, that's not a situation you would be comfortable with if Jeff Okuda had to start.

So the corners have to stay healthy or Fabian Moreau or Dwight McClother. They just have to, period. Last one is the Vikings need some breaks. with the schedule. And as of right now, it looks like they're going to get them. At least the Chargers next Thursday. I mean, who's playing tackle against Jonathan Grenard and probably Dallas Turner, but maybe Andrew Van Ginkle as well?

And they're going to drop back to pass a lot because they're also missing their running back O'Mary and Hampton, who's a freak show. So if the Chargers can't run and they can't protect Justin Herbert, well, guess what? They lose and that's what they've been doing. Washington's D-Line dominated them. when it comes to Philly. Maybe by then A.J. Brown will have demanded a trade.

I don't know. Like, it's a crazy league. Joe Flacco plays for the Bengals. How funny is that? Who knows A.J. Brown could get disgruntled next week and throw a water cooler and get traded to the, I have no idea, the Jaguars. You just don't know what's going to happen.

They need that offense to not find itself next week and then be very confident coming into U.S. Bank Stadium. They need Lamar Jackson, who's probably going to be healthy by the time the Ravens get here, but maybe not 110%, and they really need that defense to be banged up as well. They need, I don't know, Jared Goff to fall into Lake Michigan with Detroit.

I mean, Detroit's schedule has not been anywhere near as hard as it looked. So there might be a little smoking mirrors there. They need to face some backup quarterbacks. They need to face some teams while they're down or injured. Some stuff's got to happen. if the best version of those teams play, and it sends me back to the Fandul question of the day, an interesting note that on Fanduel,

the next four opponents are all the favorites to win their divisions on Fandul. Even the Ravens at plus 105 and Philly at minus 220, the far and away favorite. So that was the Fandual question of the day, was how many of those did they need to win? I think my answer would be two is how many they need to win. Three means you're on a great track. one, I think you're not dead this season, even if you win one out of the next four,

but at least, at least two. So, all right, let's fire up some questions and some comments and some thoughts. There's my list. The 10 things the Vikings need to see in order to be in that playoff race. And then, of course, obviously, they need to see either J.J. McCarthy take a step forward and grasp this offense and take the bull by the horns and make big. progress and be a playmaker and be that confident guy that he was against Chicago. Or they need Carson Wentz to keep the train on the tracks.

We don't know. It might be some combination of both. But whoever it is, they need, I think, top 15 quarterback play from whoever it is. But that goes without saying. Like, that's not a good item to throw on the list. Having good quarterback play. Shocking takes from Purple Insider. More at 11.

So, Aaron says, buddy is allergic to the Packers. That's what it must be. Yeah, that's my, he is after yesterday, after two different trips to the vet, including a Greyhound specialist, 45 minutes away. I'm glad that we know the answer on Mr. Buddy, because that was not a great day for anybody, especially him. But I'm glad that we know he's allergic to cheese. So he won't be going with me to Lambo.

That would be far too risky. Tristan says defense came up huge, getting the ball back three times in a row, or was it even more? Yeah, I think, I mean, three times in a row and then the last drive as well, being able to slow them down. There was maybe enough time for a big completion or two to set up a closer Hail Mary, but they didn't get there, ran out of time. Yeah, the defense came up big and also I pay attention to a little bit of every team's media. Just that's what I use social media for. So sometimes you guys will be in the comments talking about something in the news and I'll have no idea what you're talking about, but I do know what they're saying on Cleveland

Brown's radio at this point. They want, they want Stifansky fired after that because they were not able to come up. So it's funny about the two different sides of that. It's like Cleveland, they blow that lead and mishandle the ending. And they're like, fire the coach. And over here, it's like, great job defense. But no, they really were good. They stopped runs from Quinn John Judkins on that last drive, two runs. And then the Browns gave him a freebie by throwing the ball there and not wasting more time off the clock but they were big and with the run defense specifically I was doing the math last night because I was looking at it I was watching the film and Judkins gets a 32 yarder and 214 yard or so I'm like man why they're just getting killed in this run game

but then as I watched every play I was like that wasn't a great run that wasn't a great run that was a pretty good job it's really been some it's just and I know this is how everything works, right? Like a quarterback who throws for 300 yards probably has a 50 yard pass in there. And you're like, well, if you didn't have that 50 yard pass, right? If, if Derek Thomas didn't have those seven sacks, then he didn't even have a good game, right? But I know. So that's not how football works. But it really was not a consistent pounding away at the Vikings defense in that game. I thought it was against Pittsburgh. And I didn't think it was really that against Atlanta either. There was a couple big rips from Bijon Robinson,

and that's where I think they need the second level tackling. Eric Wilson, amazing job stepping in. But at some point, a linebacker who's not a starter all the time, teams start to take advantage. This happens pretty often in the NFL. Wilson, again, just can't respect the guy enough for his career, what he means to this team, having a backup linebacker who can step in. Blake Cashman's a star.

it's just a different there's just a different level there and the same thing goes for theo jackson and harrison smith harrison smith has a really good case to wear a gold jacket theo jackson just started playing and there's a big difference when it comes to reading and reacting and getting to the right hole and making a play uh there was two runs where if jackson is kind of in the right spot and makes a play then and i don't mean to single him out but there were times where wilson gets moved and pace can't be a difference maker at his size against big guards coming down hill. So what it was, hey, they need one tackle. They need one tackle there and they haven't gotten them all the time.

But I don't think it's a product of just being steamrolled constantly outside of the Steelers game, which it was. It was a seven, six. Nah, it was like that against them. But they did come up with some big stops in that game. David says more shorter variations in variety. not only to their scheme, but their opponents as well. So with, when you talk about the scheme,

I think that it's a combination of you want short stuff and you want trickeration, little dressing up one concept and putting it as another and that kind of thing. Lining up Jefferson, the backfield was my favorite play during the entire week, although the motion for Jordan Addison on third down. Actually, that was probably my favorite because it was a, need four yards get four yards and i sometimes want to yell that from the press box it's third and three not third and 33 get three and then keep moving uh right and i thought that they did that

the whole game plan had a lot of situational awareness of what can you do in this spot can if you have a rollout set up can you get jefferson 15 yards down the field because you can't just throw two yard passes so running the football setting up a play action and then short completion short completion this is kyle shanahan that's what he does he will run well and then he'll get short completion to kiddle short completion to samuel short complete when they were great right short completion to mcalfrey and then oh now i'm going to hit something downfield to iuk that's what they did really well at their peak and they did that well the other night with mac jones i don't want justin jefferson averaging 7.8 yards per reception you

want him averaging 14. But what that should be is a six-yard catch. You know who's great at this was Devante Adams? Six-yard catch, seven-yard catch, eight-yard catch. Make sure he's got that football on his hands. And then, all right, now they're paying attention to that. Then you hit him with something down the field. They did it really well against Cleveland. That is a great defense. It's not just a, you know, Joe Cleveland team. That means a lot, I think, to the possibilities of doing that going forward into the future. So, let's see. Andrew says, what is Addison like behind the scenes issue, the issues he seems aloof. Yeah, that's hard to speak to. I don't know Jordan very well. I don't think any of us in the media know Jordan very well. And the way that Justin Jefferson

talked about it sounds like some of his teammates don't know Jordan Addison that well. And I don't know if I can really speak on, on his personality. There are some guys that, you know, we just get to know as people and we talk to them a lot and we follow their stories and we go to their, you know, stuff that they do in the community and all that sort of stuff. And by, you know, after a few years, you just feel like you really know someone as well as you possibly can under this scenario. I don't ever act like I know them really well, like their family or anything. But, you know, you get a really good sense for somebody. Addison's not one of those players. He's not a big talker. He's not somebody that's out in front of us a lot. He will. I mean,

when we ask and he's polite about it and we've never had any issues with him. It's just he's not somebody that really lets you in. So I don't feel like I know that well to be able to say what the problem is with Jordan Addison. I mean, that might be the case. I think that they have a better sense behind the scenes for it. And maybe that's part of the reason O'Connell is defensive of him. It could also be that he goes up and catches the bleep out of that football, which I would be defensive of a player like that as well. But you just, whatever it was, I mean, the way that Jefferson was talking, he was very serious about it.

So, you know, I have seen a lot of people kind of blow it off, that kind of thing. Well, nonetheless, I mean, the whatever, whatever the situation may be, you can't, if you're Jordan Addison, have something like that happen because you're Jordan Addison and you've already got two strikes on you. And when Jefferson was talking the way he was after the game about the incident, that seemed to me like Jefferson was very disappointed as well. So I think that's a fair place to live. We don't have to go crazy and say they need to trade him or anything. It was one quarter that he sat out.

But that's just any time something happens with him, it's going to send up a big flare. And it is something to watch for the rest of the way. Like they need that guy. He is an amazing football player. They need that guy. They cannot function as an offense the same way with just one wide receiver. Ron says, I don't see a scenario. Addison is here past his rookie deal unless something drastically changes ASAP.

Well, I can. I mean, if there aren't more incidents and he keeps playing like this, I, that's, you look around the NFL. It's got to be pretty bad for teams to move on from. receivers. And usually it leaks over onto the field. With Addison, it's always been this other stuff. It hasn't been being a bad teammate. It hasn't been being a diva. There was one Instagram post last year that people took a certain way and he should know how it looks, but I guess it really wasn't and not a huge deal, right? But it's not like, I mean, look at AJ Brown and the

Eagles. That was a huge problem last year. They figured it out. They won the Super Bowl. He's still mad, which he is justified to some extent because their offense isn't good. But right? I mean, so, you know, D.K. Metcalf was such a good receiver for a while. But I think with Metcalf, it leaked over into his play and he wasn't that good with Seattle last year. And so they're willing to trade him. That's how it usually ends up going is when the player isn't quite the same level, well, Jordan Addison is just getting into his prime.

I think, I mean, look, I don't know what he's going to do off the field or behind the scenes or whatever, or how concerning it could be. and I'm sure it's like, well, if you give him X number of dollars, I mean, he's a first round pick. He's got dollars. I don't know that that's it. You're right to think it has to go smoothly for him, but we should also factor in.

It hasn't been a problem on the field. He's been really exceptional on the field so far. So, I mean, the way that O'Connell talks about him, how valuable he is to the offense, he's a guy that you should be rooting hard for. Sometimes, you know, I am amazed that, the number of people who want somebody out of town. Like, just, that's the first reaction.

Something happened, get him out of here, get rid of him. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not an easy guy to replace Jordan Addison. So I think there is a decent chance that he, well, his fifth year option is a guarantee, I think, unless something else goes really terribly wrong, you're going to fifth year option that guy. That's just a one year commitment to him. As far as a long-term contract, yeah, I mean, that it's, it is,

up in the air. I don't think that this changed like everything about that situation. But, you know, what we have to see. Kurt says teams are going to run on us until Cashman is back, just like last year. If we can run, then we can limit how much they can to us. Getting ahead. That's what it's all about. It's all about getting ahead. You are going to limit the amount they can run against you if you get ahead. The only exceptions to that are probably the Packers and the Lions and maybe the Eagles. Those teams are coming up. They do need Cashman back. He's just so valuable in run defense. Where was he last year?

Let's take a look. I mean, the last two years, he has graded really well against the run. I think he was at least a top 20 player against the run last year. When you think about how much they asked of him, I'm calling that up right now. When you think about how much they asked of him, it was a lot for him to be on the field every play and not. I mean, they had good defensive tackles, but it's not like they had Gilbert Brown and Pat Williams and Ted Washington. and Sam Adams up there, you know, they had Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery, and he had to fly to make a lot of plays. Run defense. Cashman was 16th in PFF grade last year out of 53. So top tier in grade against the run.

That doesn't surprise anyone, of course, just among the best in the league at everything. Losing him is not like just losing any old player. This is, I think he's the most underappreciated player on the team, not by fans who love him from the gophers and so forth. But when the Vikings play, it's a lot of talk about Van Ginkle, totally deserved. A lot of talk about Harrison Smith, totally deserved. But I don't hear Cashman come up as much. Let's see, Sam says J.J. McCarthy got less short throw scheme to him, whence his average depth of throw in Cleveland was 6.6 yards. the Atlanta game, his average depth of throw.

So the key word there, Sam is throw. When you talk about, like, he's got the decision of where to throw, right? So, yes, there were schemed plays for Carson Wentz, and I don't disagree that they went to a shorter game plan. But he also has the choice, the dude with the football, of where to go with it and how quickly to get it out and how far to throw it down the field. So when we go back to week two, and I know there's been a lot, I mean, there's just a lot of litigation of week two.

Listen to Kevin O'Connell answer my question the other day when I asked him about what he wants to see for McCarthy. He told you everything about week two, everything that you needed to know. And it's only week two. And McCarthy has plenty of, you know, career ahead of him. But we don't need to pretend that it was something that it wasn't. so when McCarthy was throwing here's a good example in that game he threw seven passes that were short passes and three behind the line of scrimmage behind the line of scrimmage is much more scheme seven short passes in the game completed three of them for 21 yards and still held the ball on his short throws three point one seconds on his short throws j jay mccarthy held the ball for three point one seconds i mean i i i am banging the drum as hard as i can to Kevin O'Connell, that was a great game plan against Cleveland. Well done.

And that's, there's going to have to be more of that with these quarterbacks. You don't have Sam Darnold. Although Sam Darnold has a good snap to release this year, which kind of tells you how much of that is a scheme at times, I guess, or how Darnold I learned from last year and even grew some more. But the point is that the quarterback has to see those things and he has to get the ball out of his hands. if he's hanging on to it 3.1 seconds to throw it seven yards like that's going to get you sacked

it just even in you know that some of that stuff was was schemed up even behind the line of scrimmage against Atlanta his time to throw was almost three seconds on it was only three passes but wow like he was just he just wasn't seeing it that night and when he comes back he's going to have to but to lay that all at the feet of the play caller i think is incorrect Lama win his cashman coming back. Well, he is scheduled to practice. So we don't know for sure that he's going to come back, but he is scheduled to return to practice.

And then there's the 21-day window that opens up. By the way, if you miss the Fandul question of the day, Vikings next four opponents, all favorites on Fanduel to win their division, even the Ravens at plus 105, even though they're one and four. How many games in the next four do the Vikings need to win in order to be sure they make the playoffs? My answer is split them, and you are in great shape.

Go three out of four, and I'm going to think you're in. Go one out of four, and I'm going to think you still got a chance. It's not over, but maybe not great. The chances, I think, go significantly down. These next four games are going to tell us so much about the Minnesota Vikings, including who's playing quarterback and how good they really are. Let's see. Langston says almost if KOC crafts a plan for each quarterback's individual strength, McCarthy doesn't have the short game at this time. Well, you need to have some of it. Now, he did really well in that game against Atlanta in the first two weeks throwing intermediate.

And I think that you're like barking up the right tree generally that McCarthy's best throws in training camp were usually between 10 and 20 yards. He was not throwing Sam Darnold rocket launchers, 40 yards down the field. But he also wasn't just checking down and throwing two-yard passes. He was really good at hitting in-breaking routes at about that 15-yard. And we'd see Hawkinson come over the middle and he would hit him or we'd see Addison come over the middle. And he did some of that in the first couple of games. We saw in the first few games that McCarthy can really throw the football when he's comfortable. there were two out routes that he threw at the end of the half, I think,

or maybe that was when they messed up, when he messed up the snap, where he threw against Atlanta, there was one to Naylor and one to Thielen. Both of them were just terrific throws where it was an outbreaking route and he put a lot of heat on it right to the sideline. Like those are his strength. I agree because he kind of like set his feet and really let the ball rip. But when you watch Carson Wentz, there's been 10 throws the last couple weeks, if not more, where Wentz isn't fully even set,

where he just goes, whoop, football's out. There was one to Hawkinson where he kind of went, like, if you're listening audio-wise, I kind of leaned to my side, side-armed it a little. He did that and completed a pass to Hawkinson and got it moving. That's the stuff that needs to happen. And it's not coming for me.

That's coming from the head coach who said it in the press conference. He needs to see him have the technique, the fundamentals, the reads, and he called it mandatory, and I agree with him for J.J. McCarthy to come back. That's probably going to come with experience, but we can't go back to that game and say it just, oh, it was nothing. It was nothing. Like, nothing happened. Well, if nothing happened, then O'Connell wouldn't have given that answer, and he certainly would just be plugging him back in.

So it happened, but that doesn't mean it has to happen every time. He's got to build on it. That's the point. And I think he can, but he's got to play. Mama says Xavier Scott RB2 next year with Mason Next year is so long away But I One of you mentioned that I had been talking up Xavier Scott in practice

He was one of my dudes Like from training camp I was like am I taking crazy pills here Or is Xavier Scott having an awesome training camp And I guess I was not taking crazy pills I think the guy can play I think he is the classic Throw him in on third down

throw him in the slot, two running back, backfield. We'd like to see that a little bit with him in the slot, put him in a motion, get him in a matchup where it's a linebacker or in the case where he caught the touchdown against Pittsburgh, Jalen Ramsey just didn't even take the guy seriously. He was like, okay, it's a running back, like who they were really throwing to? And then he just ran right by him.

So you could catch people by surprise with him out on the field. Jay says number one is cleanup penalties. Number two, get Brando more weak. It's work at center. Number three, get Wentz on the same page with KOC. Well, I think Wentz is on the same page with KOC after last week. The first two penalties are just a hard thing to control. I mean, when you've played four backup offensive linemen,

getting them all on the same cadence, a new quarterback. These guys talk a lot about when you have a new quarterback, cadence is tough. It's not somebody that you've heard over and over and over and over again. And then just you're having to step in and make that big adjustment. It's not easy. So I think that's part of it, but you're absolutely right. I mean, you can't shoot yourself in the foot.

The margins for error are just small this year based on who they play, who they've had injured, all those things. The margins of error are small and they cannot have those penalties. And I agree with you, Brandel at center should just stay there. Yep. RJ says the love for Teddy was definitely real. Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. Yep.

And I know when there was like a group and there's always a group. and there's always a group of everything. There's a great tweet about how there's someone somewhere saying Steph Curry can't shoot. Like there's just, you know, there's always a section. But the section that was, you know, the Teddy only threw 14 touchdowns people in that locker room. There was a lot of belief in Teddy Bridgewater.

And I think that he was ready to take a next step before the knee injury showed a lot of signs of that and then just never got the chance. But even then Teddy Bridgewater's, had a good career. The guys in the league still. It's unbelievable. It's one of the best stories ever in football that Alex Smith also, that those guys were able to come back. And Bridgewater until Bo Nix, and this may still be true, depending on how good you think Bo Nix is, he was a 500 quarterback with that Broncos team that couldn't do anything at the quarterback position for a long time. Great story from Teddy playing with, you know, half of the physical ability that he

once had. But, you know, that's just how much the quarterback position is well beyond any other spot. It becomes a discussion for everybody, everybody in the organization, everybody's family, every player, like that guy is part of the conversation of how much is he to blame and what's he doing? How is he playing? Is he clutch? Is he all those things? I mean, when Kirk was here. There were a lot of people who had strong opinions about Kirk Cousins within the organization, whether it were players or, as you saw from Everson Griffin's famous tweet at one time, players or coaches or families or, you know, all those, all those things. Like, everybody has a take on the quarterback. The people in the locker room are not immune to

it. So if Carson Wentz plays against Philly and plays well, they're going to want him to keep being the quarterback, if they play McCarthy and he struggles, there's people who are going to want to go back to Wentz. This is, it's a delicate situation because that guy is in the spotlight for everyone, not just me and you. And it can get tense. And my point, elongated point from earlier is just that there's no coach if one of those situations gets a little out of control with the quarterback situation. There's no coach who could just be like, I'm rally you the troops my culture that it's it's not that simple it's too big for you like even even if your culture is great your leadership is great everything else if there's a quarterback controversy it's a

distraction there's no way around it you can't stop that train once it's gotten rolling so they need to make sure they avoid it and usually that just comes with performance so uh let's see uh trona guy says O'Connell would have been mad at Wiregate. Well, I think that nobody really knows. Like, it looks like it, but, I mean, I had people sending me pictures of their televisions and stuff, and it becomes like the Zapruder film. You know, like, I don't know.

I mean, I guess. I thought it must have something weird happened. When he made the kick, I said, out loud. Like, that was weird, because it just took a right turn. and I don't know like is the atmosphere different in London I think it hit the wire but you're right I mean what what they won the game what good does it take for O'Connell to yell and scream the day after and apparently the league looked at it and just couldn't fully determine which you know is okay uh j says Eric Wilson led this and tackles against the Browns he did but

at this I mean and Wilson you know he's he's done a great job so I don't want to make it sound like he hasn't. But tackles are not a great metric because he had the second lowest run defense grade. And that's one of the reasons that grades were started by PFF was that sometimes if you're making tackles five, six, seven yards down field, like that's not, they would put guys in the Pro Bowl for tackles when that's not really a great way to evaluate it. And I think that Wilson, at some point, opposing teams look at Wilson and his size and they go, we can take advantage there. and they do. And they sent, they get guards out to him and they close him off on some of the lanes where he could potentially, you know, defeat a block and get through if he was Blake Cashman. I think he should continue to play a lot. And he's done a great job filling in. But the bar is extremely high there for a top 20 run defending linebacker in Blake Cashman.

Son of Beavers, who are the offensive linemen we could sign or trade for just in case?