Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The underrated performances and signs of growth during Vikings' win in Buffalo

Episode Date: November 16, 2022

Former Viking Jeremiah Sirles joins Matthew Coller to talk about the play of some unheralded players that led to the win over the Buffalo Bills, including a defensive tackle and two offensive linemen. What does the victory say about how this team has come together? Why is Patrick Peterson on another level and avoiding a letdown game ahead against Dallas.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and it is Tuesday morning, left guard in the middle of the day, but at least it is Tuesday that we're recording this. Jeremiah Searles, former Minnesota Viking, former Buffalo Bill, a conflicted man on Sunday. What were your emotions like watching that game, Jeremiah? I was like Joey Bosa and Nick Bosa's mom. You know, the one that had the jersey that's like half and half and like I didn't have the quite the bling she had on. Um

you know but I was just loving it was so much fun. I really was just gonna be like I just never wanted the game to end. You know, it was really fun back and forth and just the whole bit but you know, at the end there, I will say I was pulling for the Vikes a little bit just because it was kind of like the underdog, like, wow, this is actually happening kind of story. And then the way that the fourth quarter sequence went, you were just like, come on, they got to pull this out. Like, it'd be almost as like the,

the story wouldn't be as good if the bills won. Now it's still be a good story, but like, it just wouldn't be as fun to talk about. Now you enjoyed your time in Buffalo. And one of the best parts of it is the atmosphere there. And the thing about the press box is it's right in the middle of the stands. So throughout the game, the fans going insane and then losing it because they couldn't believe what happened, thinking they were going to win, thinking they were going to lose. Like we got to live it with them because there was only a piece of glass

between me and the entire section of Bills fans. And I mean, it was just insane. The noise was nuts. So you have to give the Vikings a ton of credit for going there. It started snowing midway through the game. I mean, it was perfect. Like football, it's gray, it's snowing. The wind is swirling.

Everything is going crazy down there in the field. And I think that, I mean, as far as atmospheres for a football game go, Vikings playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium was pretty darn amazing. I would put that right next to it for the craziest atmospheres with the playoff run from 2017. Did you go through a table? Did we have any footage of Matthew Collier through a white table, just elbow deep?

No, no. Come on, man. We're in Rome. I walked by a lot of people having a great time, and I walked right past them and went into the stadium to my warm little press box. No, and it was very unpleasant weather-wise. Like, I mean, if you were the Vikings and you spent almost four hours of your life

standing outside in that and came away with a loss, you would have been so mad. It was not very pleasant weather. But for a game like that that had a lot of hype and Josh Allen coming back to go the way that it did, let me ask you this. What's the moment that is going to stick in your brain forever about that game? I mean, the Minnesota Vikings Lord and Savior, Justin Jefferson. I mean, the fourth and 18 catch is still unbelievable. You know, you watch it over and over and over again. And so many things had to go right. I mean, literally like the way he was able to pin it against his body and not run and the ability to just rip it with

one hand from that poor, sorry, DB. That's just probably not having a very fun week in the film room. And then just to like pop up, like it was nothing. That's one of the things I loved about it. Like he understood the situation that the team was in to where he didn't pop up and pound his chest and look at me, look at the catch that I just made one of the best. Like he was like, we're in two minute, hurry up, go win the game. You know, like that for me shows the growth of a superstar. Like that's the growth of a guy that just made one of the greatest catches of all time, but wasn't even thinking about the individual was 100% focused on. We have to go score touchdown to win the game. That's something for me that will always stick out and make me a huge fan of

Jefferson for the rest of my life. You know, there's so many plays in that game from Jefferson, so many catches that are spectacular that you can go through one by one and say, how did he do this one? How did he do that one? But he also made a block that opened up an 81 yard touchdown.

And I mean, it's just, you know, when we talk about Jefferson, there's no weakness to this player's game, including his mentality, which is really remarkable. I mean, when we make the comparison of someone like Randy Moss, there were probably some times where Randy Moss wasn't that interested

in blocking. Now, maybe if it's a big game and a big moment, he would have been. And you could go through a lot of the receivers in the league and say, hey, this guy has this weakness or that weakness, or this guy's kind of a selfish me guy. And from day one, I think Justin Jefferson, as soon as he went for 175 yards against the Tennessee Titans in week three of 2020, is like, I can do this. I can be a superstar in this league. And I remember him talking about how much he looked up to LeBron James, which I know like lots of athletes look up to LeBron James.

But it was kind of like this is where the guy sets the bar for himself. He came into training camp this year and he said, I want to be the number one receiver in the NFL. I want everyone to leave this season saying I'm number one. Like he just puts the bar so high for himself and seems to put in the work every single day to get there and has the mentality also that this guy came from a national championship team and anything short of that is not going to be acceptable for him.

And it just permeates everybody else on the team. It's like, if we have this guy, we can win any game down any amount of points, any situation we can come back and win because this like you said this savior here is able to do that i don't know how many receivers i've ever seen like that i mean there's what i mean not that many maybe 10 10 receivers that have ever been like that in my lifetime yeah i mean i i'm trying to think of them too and you know the guy that comes

to mind and he's better than him right now but but, you know, it's the same thing with Green Bay where it's like, where's Devontae Adams? You know, like that relationship between Kirk and Jefferson is very similar to the one that in Green Bay for so many years of Aaron Rodgers, Devontae Adams, where it was like, he's covered, who cares? Whereas, yeah, he's somewhere down there and just hucks it, you know? Like, and I think he needs to be in serious contention for MVP. You know, like I know MVP is usually like, Oh, the quarterback and all this stuff, but like the level of which he's playing. And I always think the MVP should be made to the player that

like, you can tell if that guy is gone, the team is garbage. And I'm not saying that the team is garbage in that fence, but like this offense drops drastically. If 18 is not on the field, that in my opinion is what makes the most valuable player, not just the numbers on the field. That, in my opinion, is what makes them the most valuable player, not just the numbers and the ungodliness, but it's the impact that that player has on that specific offense. And if you talk about an offense that, like, I mean, you're down 17 and you've got to go the width of the field multiple times and you just keep throwing it to 18

and the defense knows you're going to throw it to 18, they bracket coverage him anyways, and he's still going to get the ball. I mean, this dude is playing at an absolute unreal level, DeAndre Hopkins type. I mean, you name a top receiver, and you're just going to be like, yeah, Jefferson has to be named with every single one of those in the past five years. Yeah, I remember I went on this podcast after 2020,

and somebody asked me, it's like a fantasy podcast, like, what is Jefferson like? Like, is this a fluke or is he going to whatever? And I said, you know, he kind of reminds me of Julio Jones, not in his height, because Julio is like 6'6 or something, but everything else, like the jump balls, the route running, the competitiveness, the fact that he can do anything, because Julio Jones was known for the deep ball,

but he could go underneath, he could go intermediate, and in 2016, it was Matt Ryan throwing over and over and over to Julio Jones and driving that offense. And it's where one receiver can be the center of attention and it will not matter. And they can do anything. They can run it at any level. They can go up and get any football that's thrown their way. And when you look at his contested catch numbers for his career and for this game, it's like, that is Julio like, and there are not many other contested catch receivers. The other guy I thought of is like on the other side and Stefan digs, someone who could do absolutely everything out there,

but Jefferson's even bigger than him and jump higher than him. I mean, I mean, he's, he's nearing Megatron status, right? Like when you talk about like Calvin Johnson and what he did in Detroit and like the two guys covering him, like there was a point I was watching it and I was like, Bills, put two dudes on it. Like go, like you almost like make someone else go beat you.

You know, like don't let this dude just keep running up and down the field on you. Like he's reaching that level of attention where it's like Calvin Johnson doesn't matter. Like it is so fun to watch him play football. And I think the other piece that's been fun too is like everyone's focused on Jefferson, but that allows guys like Dalvin Cook to have huge games.

And that allows TJ Hawkinson to get a big first down when he needs it. Like the emergence of what he can do and the attention that he draws. And again, that goes back to my MVP stuff. It's elevating everyone else because they know that if they have their opportunity, they're going to have the single coverage. They're going to have the light box because of the attention that Jefferson is pulling from the opponent defense.

Can I give you a hot take about this game, though, as I was watching it back? Please do. And we'll go through some underrated performances because, of course, Jefferson. But when I watched the tape back, there were a few guys that I went, Oh, cause you can only watch so many things at once at the actual game. If Josh Allen takes the snap on out of the shotgun, they're fine. I don't players who never take snaps under center,

make mistakes when they have to take a snap under center. And I think that that's what got him is like, if you're going to do that, you should still do it out of the shotgun. And if they somehow blow something up, throw the ball at somebody's feet or whatever else. But otherwise I think that he would have just run forward for a yard. If he took it normally out of shotgun, that has to be one of the most shocking errors that I've ever seen an entire game and I wanted you as a lineman to explain to me how in the world that could happen it's it's all about timing you know like the timing of the under center snap is something that you're just used

to right set hut so you've done it a million times but when you're on the inch yard line and you've got Harrison right under your grill, and remember, Harry and Mitch have played against each other many a time in practice, right? They know each other well. You've got Harry right there. You've got all these bodies huddled around the football, and the center just starts to crouch a little bit lower.

Right? You're like, I gotta get leverage here. I can't let these go. Which then means the quarterback's gotta get a little bit lower. Now you're in a different position than you're normally taking a snap in, right? Normally, it's like you're very used to just muscle memory. Now, center's crouched, quarterback's crouched, the quarterback's got weight forward. He knows someone's coming behind him to push him, and it's all timing.

And Josh just never got the handle on the ball. And as a center, you're thinking snap and just fall forward. So usually it's snap and step at the same time. But this is more of like you're falling forward as you're snapping the football to try and just not get blown up backwards because you know you have two guys on you and you just see it.

You see Mitch is falling forward and you see Josh is not riding. It's called riding the center. I know that sounds weird, but you have to ride the center as a quarterback and follow him and you move with him. And you see Josh is not riding the center. I know that sounds weird, but you have to ride the center with as a quarterback and like follow him and you move with him. And you see Josh is not riding the center forward.

Mitch is going forward and the ball just hits right at the top of Josh's hands. And he just never got a grasp on it. And as a lineman, that's just, it's an inexcusable error. First of all, like you practice that over and over again,

but when real bullets are flying like that, like it's, it happens so fast. Yeah. I i mean that was incredible to botch that you almost never see it but not the first time for the bills they had a national tv game against tennessee where they just needed a qb sneak to win the game and they didn't get it and something went wrong there too well if you think back to even thanksgiving last year they had a qb sneak josh fumbled it on fourth and one. Remember,

he picked it up and then dove and everyone was like, oh, but like, again, it's not like you said, it's not the first time. And, you know, those kind of errors will eventually come back to haunt you. Like those are things that if you don't get addressed and fixed right away, like they kind of linger and that's lingered all the way since basically a year ago on Thanksgiving. I think that that team really just needs to take their, their QB sneaks out of a shotgun. I mean, really like Cam Newton did it at the goal line all the time.

He would just take it out of shotgun. And I think I counted maybe five times that Josh Allen was under center the entire game. Most of their run stuff, even outside zone is out of the shotgun. And then you're saying, Oh, but get under center for this situation just feels like, you know, that doesn't really fit particularly great. I know that I'm sure

they're thinking, well, we can't get pushed back, but a safety would have been much better than giving up a touchdown. I would also give a ton of credit to the Vikings on that play because the game appeared to be over and what a disappointment. And yet the defensive guys ran on the field and they knew if we make a play, this is not over. You can get a safety, whatever. And Eric Hendricks, a linebacker is the one that ends up underneath the pile with the football. And that also feels like a defining trait of the Vikings is that it just is never over. And I was thinking about this mentality wise, Jeremiah, and you've been out there in games that are coming down to the final moment, so maybe you could tell me that it's real or not.

The Buffalo Bills blew it with a chance to go to the AFC Championship last year, and every time I've seen them at the end of games, they look super anxious. I mean, they blew it at the end of the Jets game, they blew it at the end of Miami, and then they blew it here, whereas the Vikings kind of looked like that team last year, where every time it was a big situation, it was like something was looming over them and they seemed to let, and some of this is random, of course, fumbling a snap is random, but the Vikings look like the far more confident team at times at the end of games this year. And I don't know exactly how to explain if it's Kevin O'Connell, if it's the leadership being allowed to lead,

like Zedarius, like Patrick Peterson, like Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins. But there seems to be something to that, how a team plays can be impacted by other forces when it comes to these huge moments. Yeah, you know, a lot of it, I think, comes from just, like, when you win the close games. And if you look at the Bills' wins, most of their wins have been kind of blowout wins. You know, like beginning part of the year, their starters are resting in the fourth quarter because they're up by 30 on the on the Titans or whatever it is, you know, versus the Vikings have kind of found ways to just scratch and claw and find ways at the end of games to win big games and not lose them. And I do think that there's a hangover from the Kansas City game

for the Buffalo Bills of you get to the end of the game and there's just that little doubt in the back of your mind. And there is. I've been on teams that's like this. That's just like, we can't do it again. It's not going to happen again. Like you tell yourself over and over, it's not going to happen again. But while you're telling yourself it's not going to happen again,

there's that little voice in your heart that's like, but maybe it is, you know, and the only way to cure that is to string together close wins at the end of games. There's no other way. There's really no other way. And so the Vikings that have had that plague, I think that is completely out of their mind now versus like, oh, we've been here, done this before, right? Like it's easy. Let's go do it. We had that mentality in 2017, you know, like we won a bunch of close games and we were down to the wire and we found ways to win. And there was never a playing afraid to lose. There's always, we're going to find a way to win. I think in Buffalo's case right now, they're kind of towards the end of the game. It's like, gosh, we can't find a way to blow this, right? Versus Vikings were completely on the

other side. And I think a lot of that has to do with leadership. Like you said, I think guys have been there before. This is Darius Smith's been in those positions before young guys are looking to him. And if you look at the Bills team, like they've won a lot of games, but when it's mattered in the playoffs, like all those guys that have been there for a long time have all been part of those losing, those losses right at the end, you know?

So it is a leadership thing of how you conduct yourself often on the field when those things are happening. But all in all, it's just a mentality of like, yeah, we'll just find a way to win. And the Vikings have found a way to get to eight and one and be the number one team in the nfl which if you tell me if you tell me as a person that you would believe me when i told you back in august that they'd be eight and one and number one in the nfl on thanksgiving you would look at me and like

i had five heads like don't pretend like you people knew this i didn't know this you didn't know this we didn't all didn't know this let's not all pretend like we were just had our crystal ball here and knew that KOC was going to do this. Well, I think we all thought that they would be better, right? I mean, we all thought they would be better. We looked at the players that they brought in. I mean, you bring in Zedaria Smith and it's like, okay, if that guy is 75% of Zedaria Smith, then you're better because last year for most of the season, you were just asking DJ want him to be a starter. But he hasn't been 75 percent. He's been like one hundred and five percent. I mean, he's just been the absolute best version.

But in this game against Buffalo, there's something that really struck me that went beyond just some of the stars that we expected, because I think that the reason we didn't expect him to be eight and one is because when you look around, there's just a lot of weaknesses going into the season. So, okay, we know this guy's going to be good. We know this guy's going to be good, but what about, what about, what about? And I think that the what abouts in some ways were answered in Buffalo. One of them is like, could they survive without Delvin Tomlinson? Harrison Phillips played maybe the best game of his career. He had seven pressures, which was a career high. He stuffed the run. And look, if Buffalo was allowed to run the football in that game,

it is over. It's over, over. It is like they're talking about how they blew out the Minnesota Vikings if they could have run. But instead, they were running so poorly that when they're up 27, 23, and this is the panic from Buffalo, by the way, they're up 27, 23 with four minutes left. They passed three straight times, which is just insane to me. But that said that they did not believe they could run the ball. And Harrison Phillips was a huge part of that. That's somebody that when they signed him, I was like, okay, I like this because he's kind of youngish.

And that's a position that you need is the interior defensive line. But this was like his I have the capability to change a game on my own and to, of course, be juiced up to do it there. But it just an incredibly impressive and hugely valuable performance by him in the middle of the defensive line. Yeah. I mean, when you need those three techniques and those nose guards to be able to create pressure when they're just one dimensional, right? Like you talk about a guy like, I think of like snacks Harrison, right? Like he wasn't getting nine pressures a game, but he was going to stop the run. And so you kind of had to pick your poison, right? Guys like, like Pierce or, um, uh, who's the other Williams from Baltimore, right? You knew what you were getting with them, but when you can find a guy that plays a complete game, those are the ones

that make the bunch of money. Those are the Grady Jarrett's. Those are the old Geno Smiths, like Genoak, excuse me. But like, you know what I mean? Like, and for Harry to be able to come in and do that on a biggest stage, it shows the maturity and the growth of him as a player. So you're right. He's a young player and he grew a lot in Buffalo, but I think he's still kind of been feeling his way out in Minnesota scheme wise, technique wise. It's all new, right? Like he's still learning how they want him to play. I think this was the game. You saw it all click for him, everything he was stopping. He wasn't thinking much. He was just playing and reacting. And the best defenders I ever played against were

the ones that were just incredible reactors. Like they knew their assignment, but they'd be willing to be like, I know where this is going and take a chance and they were right because they'd studied and they knew what was happening and you know I think that that really showed for him this week a lot of it probably was because he knows that team extremely well you know he probably knows a couple of the line calls and couple of the double teams and you know that always helps you know but if he can continue on this strong performance it's just going to continue to help this defense make teams one-dimensional and stop the, make them throw it. Folks, have you noticed that I'm always talking about liquid death here on the show?

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your family thinks that you are downing beer after beer. Find Liquid Death at Hy-Vee 7-Eleven, Target, or check out liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquiddeath.com slash insider. And early in the season, when they had some of their wins where they sort of just eked by against Detroit or against new Orleans, we said like, these are the things they're going to have to be better at. Like they were going to have to get better performances.

They're going to have to get more comfortable with schemes and they can't play this same way and expect to win every week. And in Buffalo, they did not play that way because they did get a complete performance. It wasn't just relying on Jefferson who wasn't unbelievable, but it wasn't just relying on him. And another guy now, how crazy is Ezra Cleveland? Ezra Cleveland is the Kirk cousins of guards where every week you never know exactly what it's going to be. I mean, Ezra Cleveland played like it was his revenge game. I don't know what revenge he's getting.

He went to Boise State, but like it was unbelievable. Maybe it was matchup. I'm not sure. He got demolished in Washington, which is not uncommon for their defensive line, but graded a zero in pass blocking. And in this game, the left side of that offensive line was enormous. Derrissaw played extremely well. Blake Brandel, who you probably never heard of.

And then Ezra Cleveland was throwing people around. He was run blocking effectively. I mean, that side of the line, and we have to give Garrett Bradbury credit as well, that overall his season has been better this year year and that was a solid and sound performance from him that that group on that left side allowed pretty much you know Kirk Cousins to have enough time now they still got beat and he still got pressured 40 percent of the time it's a great defensive line but enough time to make plays and the biggest is on that fourth and 18 that Cousins has to kind of wait for Jefferson to get down the field that far before he could throw it and they blocked it up extremely well yeah I mean he played out of his mind and you know I think we can equate a lot to

that last week we're talking about challenging right hey is he gonna get challenged is he gonna get replaced are they gonna put Chris Reed in like I think we know we talked a lot about how does Chris Cooper and the offensive staff handle this? You know, I think they challenged him in a big way. You know, I think they came up to him and they were like, listen, we know you're capable of more. We need to see it or we might be making a change. And the way that he responded shows me that he's ready to just really continue to grow. Now, again, I like saying that because I hope that's what it is, but there's a good chance he comes out there and he's the Ezra Kalev and we all know and don't love next week, right? I mean, you've got to put consistent performances,

but for him to have the performance he did, I mean, he's getting shout-outs from Brian Baldinger, and he's cleaning up. I mean, he is cleaning the clock on a lot of these dudes, and the Brendel, the left tackle, to have recognition the way he has. If he sets, he goes, hey, back inside. You know, a guy that's not a starter, but you can tell prepared like he was a starter.

When he got his moment, it wasn't too big for him. On the road, left tackle, silent cadence. Like you talked about the environment and he's taking good sets. He's out there giving time. Like I can't speak highly enough for those guys and how hard that is to do. Like how truly hard to come in at a left tackle position

in a game like that and on the road and to do what he did. And then also for Ezra Cleveland to have a bounce back game after being embarrassed last week. Those two dudes deserve game balls. I'll be very surprised if they didn't get game balls from the Vikings because of how they were able to go in there and respond. Yeah, there's a couple of things with Blake Brandel. Number one, a development success story. Offensive linemen take a long time to become good at being offensive linemen. Blake Brandl was cut twice out of training camp and

put on the practice squad and practiced every single day. And he did end up in 13 games last year because of some injuries and so forth and as a special teamer, but he wasn't actually getting in real games to play. And the other thing is, too, when you look back at him in college, there's a lot of, when it comes to offensive line, hey, you need this freakish athlete who runs a 4-7 or whatever else and is this and this and this. When you look, I remember when they drafted him, when you look at his pass-blocking numbers in college,

he did something insane like played four years without allowing a sack or whatever or had some crazy, crazy numbers. And a lot of times at that position, it's technique, technique, technique. And he was an all academic guy as well. So you kind of like can see how the path would work, right? Like if he could adjust to playing against NFL athletes, that he could be a player for them. And I thought it was telling that they let Rashad Hill go and that they kind of made him the swing tackle. But when Derisaw walks off the field, I mean, I can tell you, we're like, uh-oh, I mean, this is going to be a big problem. And for him to come in and do that, really remarkable.

Do you remember, I'm sure you do, what was your first time having to do that as a lineman? Where you're just like, hey, Searles, you're in. Yeah, it was my first time ever playing. It was my week 15 in San Francisco. I was with the chargers. I was on practice squad. The first 12 weeks of the year, I got elevated the last five weeks. And, you know, I was back up swing guard, tackle thing.

And our guard right before halftime got his ankle kind of rolled on the goal line. And he was so pissed. He punched the ground and ended up breaking his forearm and so we go in for halftime and they're like Searles you're starting the game at right guard or the second half at right guard and it was my first time ever playing Saturday night like prime time in San Fran and we were down 24 to 3 and I was like oh well okay here we go and I go out there we ended up winning the game in overtime like largest comeback in in history and I ended up getting a game ball and arguably to this day

was the best half of football I ever played. Because you kind of just black out. Like you just, if you're not the true starter, and I'll say this, I played some of my best football and some of the backups really do play their best football when they just get thrown in the fire and you don't have all week to sit there and think about it. You know, and I got in and played arguably my best half of football

and played great. And then the next week I had to start against the Kansas City Chiefs and didn't play so awesome, you know? So there is something about just getting thrown into the fire and in the mix of it. And it's hard, but like your adrenaline's up and you kind of just fight or flight mode, your body goes into and you fall back on what you feel like you're training and what you've done during the week. And that's why as hard as it is, I was really excited because like you said, that just shows his preparation. It shows his development and it shows what this coaching staff does for they're not just their starters with their backups, right? Like the attention that coaching staff pays to your backups is really important because you're one snap away from

having to rely on them on the biggest game of the year, just like you had to do for Brendel. Yeah. And I think that it also shows that, you know, some of these guys who were drafted in the late rounds and such, it does take years and they can't usually come right into the league and step in. But they've already got a few key performances now. I mean, Josh Metellus is one of them. Caleb Evans last week had to step in for Cam Dantzler and played extremely well. Then he got hurt and then it was Andrew R Ruth Jr. who had a lot of trouble. And at the very end of the game, Duke Shelley, which will be remembered forever. And I also discovered that Duke Shelley's real name is Taquise Bentron Shelley, and he's called Duke.

So put that in your Wikipedia or whatever. And then someone changed his Wikipedia hilariously as well as Duke of Buffalo or something that they put in, which was pretty good. But he made an incredible play there at the end of the game. And I thought that there might be a flag coming, but they were really letting him play during that game. I also want to talk about Patrick Peterson because he ends up with two interceptions and here's what you don't realize.

Even me, I was right behind that goal line. Like, I don't know if you've been to the press box in Buffalo, but right behind that end zone, like you are right there. And I didn't realize it in, in full speed where he had come from.

Cause I saw Alan, I saw where he was looking and I was like, Oh, this is going to be a touchdown. And then just he appears. What happened was the receiver went out of bounds on the first interception. The receiver went out of bounds, and as soon as he went out of bounds,

Peterson knew, well, I don't have to cover this guy anymore. He can't catch the ball. So he went just sort of looking. He basically like flipped into, instead of staying with his man, flipped into zone coverage mode because he was aware enough to know that's against the rules. So I could go cover anybody I want. So Allen never expected him to be covering that guy. He expected him to cover his receiver, but his receiver went out of bounds.

That is one of the most mind blowing intelligence plays. How do we even put words on Patrick Peterson? What he means to the team? This man's legacy is one of the great players in NFL history. I mean, just I was looking at his pro football reference page the other day. The dude took four touchdowns back on punt returns his first year. He ran a 4-3. I mean, this is one of the, like, gods of NFL history,

and we've really seen it in this system particularly. I'm blown away on a week to week basis by Patrick Peters yeah man you can't you can't beat those old savvy vets you know those old savvy vets that have seen everything been part of so many special teams meetings so many situational meetings that like they're just a it's just a honeycomb like hive of football knowledge up there just everything's compartmentalized and every little thing. And like, they have a,

an answer for every key moment because they've lived every key moment in real time. And I mean, to have a play like that, where in real time recognition out of bounds, I'm going to turn into a cover one robber safety now from the corner position and make a game changing play. It's just one of those things you can't teach.

You can't teach that. Like you can tell a corner like, Hey, yeah, if if he goes out of bounds like obviously he can catch the ball but you can't teach instincts like that and to have a guy like that in a room full of young corners and young dbs to just pick his brain and you know he's in there basically as a second coach and he's in there helping these guys coach these guys like it's gonna pay such dividends for these young players and this young secondary as they move forward and I mean he doesn't look like he's lost a step at all you know last year I know at times you're like maybe maybe not but this year he looks like he's just completely he looks like he can play another five years at this point and what you could see

on the all 22 is when he picked off the ball he didn't really have like a ton of room to gain 40 yards but he did anyway, because he kind of turned on the jets almost like an old punt return for him. I was like, this, this guy is still fast. This guy is still really fast. I mean,

this is, you know, it's one of those decisions where Patrick Peterson had a bunch of offers, a bunch of offers from good teams. He could have gone to Buffalo, could have gone to Philly. He even said them on the podcast when he announced where he was going. He's like, well, I had an offer from this team and this team, this team. And it was all good teams. And when I asked him, like, why here? He said, I really think that this team can compete for a Super Bowl. And I think even I was like, are you sure, though? Like, you passed up Buffalo and Philly. They look pretty good. And he was right. I mean, and his logic was,

if we turn around these late game situations, then we can be a lot better. And he's decided that he's going to do it himself, which he has done in Miami and in Buffalo, two massive wins for this team. And that has been Patrick Peterson at the center of them. So you just can't be more impressed. It's like, there's only so many times as a teammate, if you're you, or as a reporter, when you come across one of these players

and you're just like, this is totally different. It's on a completely different level. You and I talked about this with Everson, with Phillip Rivers, with Cam Newton. There's just players where you're like, I kind of can't believe he's real. Yeah. You know, I've had those moments where you're just like looking at someone, especially as a young player, when you're watching a guy like I watched you as I grew up playing football,

like you were playing in the highest level when I was in high school. And here I am with you like and you just want to absorb. You want to be a sponge around those guys and just try and take any tidbit that they can give you. Terrence Newman was another one who he wasn't this like all time superstar, but like his his vast knowledge of just what football was and how you play the game was so much fun. And, you know, another guy I'll put up there is Antonio Gates. You know, he was another one that was fun. I sat next to him, unknowingly sat next to him in our team meeting room because he wasn't there for all of OTAs.

And I was actually in his seat. And then he showed up for OTAs. He's like, who are you? I was like, oh, hi, I'm Jeremiah. And he's like, Antonio, scoot over, you're okay. And I was like, okay. So I actually got to sit next to him and he got to talk with me and just absorb all these cool things. And so it's just so fun to be part around legends. I mean, that's what Patrick Peterson is.

He is a legend. He's going to go down as one of the greatest all-time to do it. He's going to have a gold jacket one day. And you get to say you were a teammate with that guy. And so, I mean, they need to enjoy this time. Everyone on that team enjoy the time with the legends because eventually it comes to an end. You don't realize how fun it was

until they're not there anymore. And I guess I just hope as part of his legacy that it's brought up as opposed to like, yeah, at the end there with whatever team, that was pretty rough. Like Cam Newton Patriots, I mentioned you played with him and that was pretty rough cam newton patriots where i mentioned you played with him and uh that was pretty rough but uh you know when it comes to peterson being able to have that longevity is different durell revis was basically done by the same age that patrick peterson is at

right now and peterson looks like he can keep playing now we have to turn uh to the next game here jeremiah and uh maybe i'm asking the wrong person. When you have a very emotional, shocking miracle win, how you move on and play the next game, maybe you don't know that answer. It's, you know, I hate being like saying this, but, you know, it's Newton's law, man. What comes up must come down. And I can remember coming off the miracle win in 2017 when we beat the Saints that

you have so much energy and so much and then the next week you're kind of just trying to get the engine started again and you know so many of these wins for the Vikings have been like this high energy high emotion like running on the road you know eventually it kind of catches up with you a la the Philadelphia Eagles against the Washington Commanders, you know, and so I think that this team is capable of not having the let down, but it's all going to be how this week in practice is handled. We, Zimmer knew, and I hate saying this, but Zimmer knew he cussed us out after our Wednesday practice after the miracle. He's like, what do you think we're doing? We're going to the NFC championship, and all of a sudden, man, we're just kind of like trying to get going again. It was like, what do you think we're doing? We're going to the NFC championship. And all of a sudden, man,

we're just kind of like trying to get going again. It was like our serotonin levels in our brain were just gone, you know? And so I really hope this team's able to focus in and understand how special of a team and as special of a season they're having and find a way to combat that. Find a way, and I don't have an answer for it. I don't have a great answer of how you just can be like,

no, no, no, we're fine. We can ride this high all the way. Like it's just really hard to sustain that. Now you kind of grind out a couple grimy wins again and not high energy and maybe not quite last second miracle wins. But if you can go grind some games out and control games and kind of get your tank refilled, you can make a great late push. But I just I worry eventually this thing comes crashing down for a game which isn't the end of the world all of a sudden you're eight and two instead of eight and one like okay or you're ten and two instead of ten and one like it's okay it's just one of those things that's hard to combat folks if you're looking for a way to celebrate minnesota's insane

football season go to sodastick.com see all the different designs from kirko chains to the gritty to everything skull related sodastick s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k.com and use the code purple insider for 15 off your purchase yeah and there's another part of it, too, and this has sort of been studied by the gambling folks long ago, is the number of plays that that the defense played like 80 plays and then had to go out to San Francisco. They had to fly back to Minneapolis, then go out to San Francisco and play one of the most physical teams in the entire NFL, and that's what you're dealing with here. We were just talking about the offensive line.

The offensive line had to block for 80 plays or so, 79, 78 plays, all the way through the fourth quarter and then into overtime of that game. And now you go up against one of the most violent defensive lines in the entire NFL. It is at home, which certainly helps, but also it's a very teed off Dallas Cowboys team that is disappointed that they lost against the Green Bay Packers in kind of embarrassing fashion because 17 different ways they should have won that game. You know, they blew it up 14 points in that game. And then at the end, they've got the ball and they should be able to just complete a pass and get a first down and go win it. And they didn't.

And so they have a bee in their bonnet, but the Vikings are coming off of, you know, just this incredible high, like you mentioned in the plane ride home and all that sort of stuff, the big celebration. But even having covered that game as you mentioned, and the plane ride home and all that sort of stuff, the big celebration. But even having covered that game as a reporter, and this is the same thing with the Miracle game, I was gassed yesterday, like myself. Now, my travel was a little more challenging than the Vikings, but still, there is something to that.

The number of plays, going to overtime, the emotional win. They've kind of had so many of these over and over and over again. Is there something? And then you're playing a team that's probably equal in talent. I look at Dallas and I could say, you know, you could go position for position, player for player. They've got superstars. You've got superstars. They've got some weaknesses. Don't really have like a clear cut second option. So I think that's something that if they do lose this game, let's say they lose 28, 20 or something. I'm not going to look at it and say, oh, yeah, well, they showed who they are. But to me, it's really still about this whole section, this four games against four very formidable opponents. This is part of it. And can you come out of this, like you said, 10-2 or whatever the number would be, can you come out of it with only maybe one loss here? Because if you do, that's really, really impressive.

Yeah, you know, we used to break it up when it was 16 games into four quarters, right? You had four quarters of the season, and the goal was to go 3-1 in every quarter. You know, like it was obviously you wanted to win every one, but it's the NFL. It's really hard to do. And so you were kind of like, if you can go 3-1 in every quarter, you're going to be looking at the year with only four losses, and you're going to be probably winning the division and hand it into the NFL. It's really hard to do. And so you were kind of like, if you can go 3-1 in every quarter, you're going to be looking at the year with only four losses, and you're going to be probably winning the division and handed into the playoffs in a good spot.

And I think that that's how they needed to look at this stretch. This is just a quarter. I know we have 17 games now, but it's just a quarter of the season. Let's get through this and be 3-1. And if we were 4-0, fantastic. But if we can get through this stretch at 3-1, it will give us momentum to propel ourself into that back stretch of the season here. And also, I think a lot of it's going to be proving for not just the team, but for the

players of like the, we can do this. You know, every NFL player thinks we're the best and we have to, we have to be that way in order to play our positions and play what we do. Because if we don't, we're out of the league because someone else is. And as a team, you all start to embody that. But when you really start to embody that as a player, it's when you go up against best talent. When you go up against best talent and you beat those guys and you build momentum individually,

it just helps with the team momentum. So you talk about a Dallas Cowboys team that's coming in here and you're going saying, hey, player for player, talent for talent. There's a humble ego to say for every player that's like, I'm going to be better than that player, right? Like Justin Jefferson's like, I'm going to go show Trayvon Diggs why I'm the better receiver, right?

And you need a guy like Brian O'Neill to be like, I'm going to show how I can shut down Micah Parsons, right? Like there's so many of those things that need to go on and need to go through. And if you look at this four game stretch, there's going to be games within the game of those one-on-one matchups throughout the entire piece of it. So, you know, I'm really excited to just watch kind of all those superstar matchups, especially in this one, and just kind of see who can win that one-on-one battle. I cannot tell you how much fun it is for us to talk about these games by position by position who's gonna win what it means for the playoffs all those things we have never had this you and i not we have never

had this and i just thought you know what at this point last year we're talking about who's getting fired who they're getting rid of in the future and uh so you know it's um it's a totally different thing and it's it's very exciting. So love to see it. Hate to see it. Where would you like to begin with that? I will start with my love to see it. My love to see it is Taylor Heineke, Taylor Heineke. And also, I kind of really love to see the quarterback chain gang celebration catching on is like a trend. I think it's hilarious because I think people are really seeing how much money in chains there really are on every single football team, which is absurd. I mean, I tried telling someone, I was like, I hope you understand Kirk Cousins had

like 750,000 to a million dollars worth of like jewelry around his neck at that one point. Like that's a large house. It's a very large house that was hanging. And I just think it's fun. I think it's exciting. I think it's a way that you're getting new fans engaging in NFL. You're like the peak behind the curtain. Like I just really love, I feel like there's been more of that this year. I feel like there's been more of the, like the social media makes a huge deal of it, but just kind of the peak behind the curtain and looking at these players and their personalities to come out a little bit more and just be more relatable. I've really loved that piece, but Taylor Heineke is just a fantastic story. Loved the kid. Goes into Philly and beats Philly in a kind of crazy fashion. Brandon Graham decides to hit some late for no reason. But at the same time, just love that story for him. Yeah, and they hate to see it.

I have two real quick. One is the face mask call that you can see on a review but can't change even though you can see it right in front of you. And that I appreciate it. I think it's John Perry is the guy who is the analyst. I appreciate him saying, look, we got to do something about that.

That we all know it, he basically said. Like, we have to do something about these 15-yard penalties that they should just be challengeable. Just straight up. Like Like it's not even that hard. Sky judge would be great, but just challengeable say, look, he face messed my dude. Oh, okay. That's not a fumble. I mean, Philadelphia lost that game because of that play essentially. And if you're, if you're Philly, there's nothing you could do. That's the rules. It is what it is. The refs didn't do anything wrong other than miss something super obvious, but like, how can you see everything?

There's a fumble. It's a chaotic play. Maybe that blocks you off a little bit. I mean, it's just too hard to see everything. And 15 yard penalties just change games so much that those should be under that category. I didn't even hate once they started to get it down, the pass interference stuff, once they started to kind of figure it out. But everybody freaked and they had to change it so now we still have pass interferences

constantly changing games and the other hate to see it for me is the las vegas raiders once a proud franchise once just win baby when i was growing up they were one of those premier teams if they were on monday night, boy, you wanted to watch. This is shameful. This is sad. This is embarrassing. This is tragic. And look, look, the special teams coach dude,

I'm not saying that he's winning the Super Bowl if he's their coach this year, but at least he had his head screwed on straight. I mean, Josh McDaniel's clearly not a head coach in the league, and it's just the saddest And it's just the saddest. It's just the saddest to watch a franchise be so bad. They were beaten by Jeremiah Searles being hired as the head coach. Hey, if you thought you couldn't coach Nebraska, my friend, yes, you could. How about Al Davis, too, coming out like he's his dad?

Have you seen his quote? He's like, I stand with Josh. I think he's the right guy. Mark Davis. Mark Davis. Excuse me. Mark Davis. He's just like, no, I think he's doing a great job. It's like, I stand with Josh. I think he's the right guy. Mark Davis, Mark Davis, excuse me. Mark Davis, or he's just like, no, I think he's, I think he's doing a great job. It's like, do you, do you though? Also my love to see it. You alluded to it

is Jeff Saturday being a head coach for one game and giving victory Monday, just an absolute, like you don't get victory Monday when you're a bad team. Like when you're a bad team, even if you win, you still show up and work on Monday when you're a bad team. Like when you're a bad team, even if you win, you still show up and work on Monday to get your life back together. Like we won in Buffalo when we were 6-10. Like there was work on Monday, even when we won. But the Colts are horrible. They're bad.

Jeff Saturday just pulling an ultimate former player veteran move of like, see you Wednesday, which is the greatest saying a coach can have after a win I just every former player watched that and was like that guy gets it he gets it uh I will go with love to see it um the way that Tua has bounced back after the concussion thing I was legitimately concerned and maybe still am uh for his long-term future in the NFL in general, because he's had so many injuries over his career and for him to be a perfect fit for the way Mike McDaniel wants to do his offense. I mean, very Alabama-esque in the way that they do RPOs and he's allowed to just be smart, accurate, you know, just kind of gutsy at times. And also in a little way, like there,

we go through trends in the NFL of what people love in the draft. So Josh Allen succeeds and it's like, Oh yeah, you better draft the big fast guy who throws it a million miles an hour. And then it's like, Oh wait, drew breeze is good. So really accuracy is what it is. And the reality is there's no exact one way to be a great quarterback prospect. And Tua was a great quarterback prospect and is turning out to be a great quarterback, which I think is just really cool to see because there was like a lot

of jokes about how like, oh, he's just not athletic. He's been from the fall hard enough and this and that and the other thing. And I think him and Joe Burrow kind of fall into this category of like there's just they're just special quarterbacks there's special football players neither one of them is the fastest or has the strongest arm or anything like that but accuracy anticipation uh intelligence leadership all of our things those can still win as an nfl quarterback and those two guys are proving it and love to see it. Yeah. Two is MVP candidate. 100%. It was very fun to see. I enjoy it.

I like it. The NFL is really fun this year. It really is. There's years where the NFL is not fun. It's just kind of like, eh. But the NFL this year is fun. Every game seems to have a fun storyline, a fun young player. It's just been a really fun year so far for the NFL.

Yeah. This is one where you look back at and go like, Oh, I remember that year. That was, that was nuts. So Jeremiah, always great. And we will talk again soon after the Vikings play the Dallas Cowboys and we'll see if it's a letdown game or if this train just keeps on steamrolling through the NFL. See you next week.