Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings are 0-3, who should we blame? Why can't they complete a game-winning drive? When will they win?

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

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And Courtney, I have a game right off the beginning of the podcast if you want. I am so excited. Let's go. Okay. First, our game show music. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Who should we blame? That's the game. The game is who should we blame? And I'm going to pick some stuff that hasn't worked out for the Vikings, and I want you to tell me who should we blame?

Yesterday, Jadavion Clowney, worth it for the Tennessee Titans? 12 quarterback pressures for Jadavian Clowney. To put that in context, if you have a game where you get six, you have done a very good job in that game. Afadi Adenabo had one of his better career games, I think with four or maybe five yesterday, five, I think. And that was one of his better career games. And Jadavion Clowney had 12 against the Vikings offensive line. The interior has gotten worse and worse and worse since 2017 with different combinations all over the place. Drew Samia gives up six pressures on his own, which, again, here's – let me put that in context for you. Alex Boone, our friend Alex Boone, when he played left guard in 2016, he gave up 16 pressures for the season. Drew Samia gave up six yesterday. So who do we blame?

Rick Spielman. I think that's the only logical explanation here because, you know, Rick Dennison's dealt what he is working with what he has been dealt which is a patchwork offensive line um that now has injuries and you're and you're starting somebody who clearly does not look like he should be playing in the nfl on your offensive line and drew samia the worst ranked uh interior player by pro football focus, and Dakota Dozier hasn't been that much better, but I think what this truly boils down to, and where I would assess the blame, is that, look, there's so much that's gone wrong for this team this year so far, and the one thing I think we kind of like have tucked away for so long is, okay, we'll wait to blame the

offensive line, because inevitably it's going to come up at some point. Yesterday, say what you want about Kirk Cousins, and he was tasked with being able to go down and win the ball game for his team. Well, he also faced his third highest pressure rate ever as a starting quarterback in the NFL. That's embarrassing. He's pressured on three dropbacks on that final drive, six of nine in the fourth quarter. So it was just, it was just bad. It was a bad day. 47% pressure rate, 14 of 30 drop backs. And I honestly think that when you take a look at how poor the interior is, the guard play has not gotten better. It has not gotten better from last year, from the year before, from 2017. I think the only place that you can assess that blame is the front office and the person who's making the decision on where to upgrade certain spots

on the roster and also where to not touch certain things on the roster. I mean, the fact that you have Ezra Cleveland, who is your second-round draft pick, not doing anything right now, not playing. What did he have have five snaps yesterday and what was in like you were you tweeted at me bleary-eyed this morning about it when I tweeted out Justin Jefferson's snap count um it's just like what's going on here like what are we missing because the the tackle play has been decent it's not been an issue um but the interior is still a

problem and they haven't made upgrades through the draft or through free agency to try to get those players in. And when you have a quarterback who is so, he really struggles when the pressure in front of him, especially when he can't step up in the pocket and make a throw, because, you know, he's already met with a guard that's being pushed into his lap by that point, that's a really big problem because it hasn't been fixed. And you knew Kirk Cousins, I wrote this in my story, you knew Kirk Cousins wouldn't be the guy that can overcome offensive line play. But you still fed him to the wolves in that sense.

And I think that that's on the front office. So I keep kind of going back and forth with the offensive line saying yes it was foreseeable for sure that Dakota Dozier was going to give you less than average play and Drew Samia couldn't beat out Pat Elfline so that was going to be a problem and it's been worse than I think I could have dreamed for Samia he's played at TJ Clemmings' level at the guard position, and by far, people didn't like Tom Compton, but he was sort of just a replacement player. Samia has looked much worse than Tom Compton. The way Tom Compton looked against Aaron Donald is how Samia's looked each time he's been in the game. Every day. Right, so that's not working out very well. That's a fourth round draft pick. Cleveland is not playing. That's a second round pick. Pat Elfline, I think we're ready to declare that's gone bust. That's a third round draft pick. You have Riley Reif actually playing quite well. And so there's some money well spent and a second round pick well spent. And then Garrett Bradbury, who was decent the first two weeks, well, the Tennessee Titans brought in a big, giant man

and put him right over Garrett Bradbury, and guess what happened? He had a 28 out of 100 by pro football focus. The same thing. He got picked up and just thrown back into the quarterback. There's a first-round pick. That is a lot thrown into the offensive line in terms of assets. It's not like they've tried. Once upon a time they did try to fill this with this, that,

you know, guy that they got off the scrap heap. But this offensive line has a lot invested into it, and it is still one of the absolute worst in the NFL. And I think that's where I say, okay, is there just some bad luck to this? Do they really struggle so much to figure out who's good at offensive line? Or let me just throw one other potential theory here, that in the NFL today, with your giganto beasts on the defensive lines, on almost every team they face, they're going to face Grady Jarrett soon.

He's a beast. J.J. Watt's going to come in here and play. Or, well, you know, they're going to go to Houston and face him. I think that them building an offensive line like the old Denver 1996, 97, 98 teams with all these guys who are on the lighter side means that they can just get bowled over by bigger, stronger players. And the defensive tackles of today are much different than they were in the late 90s when they decided on this theory to have all lighter guys playing on the offensive line.

Well, yeah, but there are teams that run successful zone blocking schemes with athletic offensive linemen, not saying that they need to be in the undersized category, but why can other teams do it and this team can't figure it out? Like, I'll give them the fact that they have dedicated some draft capital to it some but you're not I can't I can't think it's all just stupid luck at this point that you know obviously Pat Offline with the injuries has never been the same since he was in 2017 okay that's injuries but like why isn't Ezra Cleveland playing because you drafted a left tackle and you already had one and you and you're in the situation where it's like well we've got to wait is that that's on the tackle I don't know you tell me my shoulders on the zoom call so imagine me because yeah no I I don't know because

he hasn't played there in the NFL and he never trained there during training camp I have no idea I have no idea what's going on with Garrett Bradbury either I mean he's he's the wingspan they knew what they were getting in him they knew that he had shorter arms they knew that his reachability would be limited to a certain degree because of his body like you knew what you were getting but you still made those decisions anyways so like what is it like that's why I think it has to be on the front office because the coaches are coaching what they're dealt with. That's exactly where my mind goes, is that when you draft a Garrett Bradbury in the first round, now, I think if you're not drafting him in the first round, then you can say, all right, well, you know, it's only kind of worked out.

He's got some strengths. He's got some weaknesses. But if he's a third-round pick or a fourth-round pick, you go, well, that's kind of what you expect from somebody there. First round, you expect the guy to be like a franchise Mick Tinglehoff to come in here and play, and that has just not been the case. He has this extreme weakness to go along with a lot of strengths, and the run blocking has been good or at least decent, and the screen blocking we haven't seen this year,

but last year was fantastic with him getting out with screens but the big thing that seems to be common from all of these guys and even we've seen it still with Brian O'Neill this has not been completely solved is being overpowered that when the other team has a powerful rusher against any one of your players outside of Riley Reif you get beat and what we saw yesterday is the Titans put in a bunch of guys with powerful rushing ability, including Jadavion Clowney, one of the most powerful and explosive people in the entire NFL, and you just got your faces kicked in.

And I can't wait for Jeremiah Searles to break down the film on this exactly. But in terms of why it hasn't worked out, I think that some of it is bad luck. You drafted Drew Simeon in the fourth round. Oh, it didn't work out. That happens. Fourth round picks. But that's happened so many times historically in the last five years. Willie Beavers was a fourth round pick. Like, what are they missing? That's what I'm stressed out about when I'm trying to figure this out, because it feels like you're spinning your wheels here, and nothing's actually changing. Like, is it the offensive line evaluation isn't what they're looking for it can't just be dumb luck every time yes right i i agree and that's my thing is when

you are looking for undersized slash athletic sometimes that might translate to undersized get your butt whooped against more powerful, strong players. I mean, if you look at, it's funny, you look at Z'Darrius Smith and his athletic profile coming out in the draft and you go, what's special here? There's nothing really special about this guy, but he's super strong and he's really explosive and he's smart and they line him up everywhere. And when the Vikings offensive linemen, who are technically more athletic than Zedarius Smith, but when they go power for power, they just get beat.

I mean, Garrett Bradbury is an elite athlete at the position, but Jeffrey Simmons is 320 pounds and he just cannot handle that. And I think when you build the whole offensive line, if it's one guy who's like that, okay, but when the whole offensive line is built around that philosophy, this is what you get. So when they play non-dominant defensive lines, we'll see this. I guarantee we'll see this against Detroit, even against Seattle. I think they can handle their defensive line and we'll say, oh, the offensive line didn't play so bad. But when you go up against Jadavian Clowney and Jeffrey Simmons or DeForest Buckner or Zedaria Smith, this is how you end up oh and three all right i've got

more things for who do you blame okay uh do do do do do do do do do who do you blame uh the vikings secondary gave up huge plays against the tennessee titans And this a little bit speaks to like, how much do we care that they gave up huge plays in a game like that? But let's say that we do. Who do you blame for the Vikings blowing that lead on the defensive side? It's hard. I mean, this is what you expect. So I don't know who to blame. Like when you have really young corners who are not developed, I'm not going to be blaming the preseason four weeks in I think that is a sorry excuse yeah um kind of surprised Mike Zimmer went there today just to be honest with you this is what you expect with this group um I guess I mean would it have looked any better or any different if you had

Cameron Dantzler and Mike Hughes in there? I don't honestly know. I think this is what you expect. So who do I blame? I mean, Xavier Rhodes, Mackenzie Alexander, and Trey Waynes. Can we retroactively blame those guys for putting the Vikings in a position to let them walk? I don't know. I mean, I can't really fault Mike Zimmer for that one because when he tweaks one thing, he exposes another part of his defense.

When he's trying to help the corners, then it becomes something with the run defense. When he's, you know, trying to pressure up front and the back end is exposed. I mean, there's, you know, I guess I can fault him that they're not playing a whole ton of quarters, or at least nearly as much as they used to. I guess maybe you'd expect to see a little bit more of that um I don't know I really I don't know if I can blame coaching I think I think this is just one of the circumstances

uh of young secondary players and fine I'll blame the players themselves I mean Holton Hill had that good pass breakup uh on the final Titans drive when they kicked the field goal. But outside of that, you didn't look great yesterday. Yeah. I think his, honestly, as a starter, is probably dwindling down. I think that's what that points to. I can't, I don't know if I can really fault any of the other younger guys because they shouldn't be playing to begin with. But this is saying they were dealt.

Should I blame the front office again for not going after a veteran corner? Was one really going to do the trick? I don't think I can do that. I think that would be a little bit of a cop-out. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get all of your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods. If you haven't seen this stuff yet, you've got to check it out. One of my favorite designs is the Randy Moss straight cash homie shirt.

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corner. Now, having two of them hurt at this point, that's not something to be foreseen. Chris Boyd was not targeted very often yesterday. I'll have to look back at how he performed, but maybe he was a guy that should have played instead of Holton Hill, but we have a very small sample size on that. We can't really tell. Maybe saying Holton Hill, the job is yours right from the very start, but then again, he was experienced, and we're talking about a very strange offseason.

I will go with you. I will blame no one. I still like the Jeff Gladney pick. I think we saw some really nice things in training camp from Cameron Dantzler. He plays one game. He gets hurt, but there's some potential there for him and with Mike Hughes it might have been a really good draft pick if he hasn't gotten hurt a bunch of times and that's where when guys get hurt who are your draft capital I can't blame you I can't say oh well you should have definitely known that the guy would have multiple neck injuries or a tear in ACL with other damage in his knee yeah you can't possibly know that. And I still think that Hughes has shown flashes and has had good games

and could be a very good player. And I'll just say that for kind of everybody so far. Like there were good reps for Jeff Gladney in both games, but then there were also getting smoked over the top or a miscommunication or something that you expect. And when we went into this season I think we all said look the corners weren't great last year but Waynes and Alexander were pretty average players average is good and this has been nowhere close to average but I'm not blaming

almost anyone except for yes you could have had Dre Kirkpatrick say instead of Holton Hill that's probably a better option and maybe you win yesterday's game by just having that one extra player. Oh, go ahead. Let me add something really quick because this is the frustrating part of this. So the year before the 49ers went to the Super Bowl, they were what, four and 12, something like that. That was two years after Kyle Shanahan was hired, that they were at that point. Or I guess, yeah, two years.

So we had 2017 season, 2018 season, and they were good last year. If the expectations were just, you know, they were set too high for this team in 2020, had it been a situation where they could have kind of conceded, we need to rebuild, but like an actual, like, stop talking up your young corner, stop, you know, making it sound like this is going to happen this year, like that you're still going to be making these, you're making all these win now moves when it's really not win now in 2020.

I think the fan base, or at least, you know, those who are critical of this team would be a lot more patient and just kind of realizing, hey, we have to concede. I mean, anybody who was like looking at this logically understands how much they lose in the defense and then how injuries would have affected this unit and are affecting this unit and seeing, okay, it's not going to be the year for this defense. And then, in a way, you're kind of getting out of jail for free at that point. Like, hey, this is the year of player development.

Yep. But, you you know the rhetoric that's coming out from from coaches and interviews and all of this like we've got you know it's not I'm not saying you need to be like yes we're going to be terrible this year please just bear with us but you know I think you have to realize but it's it's just wondering you know Zimmer's been here now since the seventh season and he just got the massive extension. So he could potentially be here, you know, 10 years. If you don't have something like a Super Bowl trophy to show for it after 10 years,

then, like, what did you do? And that's kind of what people are frustrated by the most, because they just don't see this getting better. And there is a need to urge patience with these young DBs and all the injuries on defense. But the amount of money you're spending elsewhere while you're in the middle of a rebuild doesn't make a whole ton of sense. So that's at least the irritating part when you're trying to, like, piece this whole thing together and figure out, well, why did this go so wrong? Why are they in this situation? You know, if you would have kind of – I think there are ways to do it differently that if you were in a different

position, you, you wouldn't begin to blame, or at least the amount of vitriol spewed at you and tank for Trevor, you know, all that stuff, uh, had it been a different situation. And if you look through the forward lens, you still feel much better about having the corners you have at the price you have them versus the other corners that you have at the price you have them versus the other corners that you had at the price that other people got them for so and the Vikings they did try to talk with each of those corners about potentially coming back I still think that

Mackenzie Alexander is the biggest loss there because he's young and he was playing well at a very valuable position in the nickel corner spot. If you have one of them back, you're probably better off than right now. But at the same time, I would say that as bad as the corners have played overall, you still have had a chance with good offensive performances and been a position to potentially win these last two games and you did not do it. So from,

if someone were to say that they're mad at this team for being 0-3 because you had opportunities to win those games, then they would be right. I mean, it's not like the Colts were up 48-3 right away. It was, what, 12-3 or 18-3. Like, you're in these games. You no-show there. You have chaos or not chaos, not sure now, but definitely a disaster. We have decided on that on the last drive. And that's where my next question comes. Who do you blame?

Kirk Cousins, since becoming a Minnesota Viking. So how many games are we talking about there? Let's see, 34 games as one game winning drive who do you blame probably the Vikings everybody collectively who decided that that needed to be their guy because a zebra doesn't change its stripes he was like sub 30 by the time he got here that's a time where a lot of quarterbacks are entering their prime. Like you knew what you were bringing in and you still managed to do it anyways.

Like being able to bring in this offensive line, put Kirk behind this offensive line, knowing he is not somebody who can overcompensate for the play around him. And specifically for bad offensive line play. It's like you played yourself there. Like I don't understand how they could have seen this differently unless they specifically for bad offensive line play, it's like you played yourself there. Like, I don't understand how they could have seen this differently unless they were literally crossing their fingers hoping, okay, it's going to be different here.

We don't have any reason to believe it's different because we've seen a massive sample size. But, yeah, that's – the way that I look at that whole situation is that it's anybody who said – checked the box and said Kirk is our guy he is going to be what we need to take ourselves to the next level can you blame Kirk yes but he also has never tried to be anything he's not like he is the most hot and cold quarterback in the NFL he can play great like he did at moments yesterday or he can look like he did against Green Bay in week one. And unless, you know, I don't bring up the Indianapolis game in that respect,

because it's like the play calling and not getting guys open for him, that's not on Kirk entirely. That's a lot of that's on Gary Kubiak. And I felt like they did that for the most part yesterday. Like, they look good. There were a couple drives there in the second half though after Tennessee scores and you know the game's like 25-24 or even before it's 20-24-19 and the defense is struggling with the offense can't bail you out it's not entirely on Kirk Cousins so it's not like Kirk said you know put me in Minnesota I mean yes he did check off the you know the box on that because he was a

free agent but you know what's he supposed to do well he's going to sign the contract he's in a bleak ton of money I mean you're not going to turn it down so no I think you have to blame any it's not just Rick Spielman it's not the front office there were multiple coaches two of whom are not here right now all sat in that room um in February of 2018 and said we all want Kirk Cousins we want to let everybody else who was here a year ago walk and and that's what you get like this is you can't blame anybody but the people who literally said we want this guy to come here and we're going to pay him 84 million dollars in the first contract. And I think that you're touching on kind of the big picture and why Vikings fans are so

frustrated with Kirk Cousins is being locked into someone who, when the game is on the line, they've learned not to trust. And the stats on this, now look, game winning drives, I don't know what, I don't know, right? You got to be in the circumstance to do it, that sort of thing. Things got to go your way. The defensive line of the Titans can't destroy your offensive line. Garrett Bradbury can't snap the ball by you and all that sort of thing. But Vikings fans have learned now that when Kirk has the ball in his hands

and it's time to go win the game, you're probably not going to go win the game. And I was just poking around the stats here. And again, it's a little bit of a grain of salt stat, but in a way, it's kind of wild. So Ryan Tannehill in his career has six more game-winning drives than Kirk Cousins. Derek Carr has only played since 2014. He has 20.

Cousins has 13 for his entire career. And Matthew Stafford, who gets the comparisons to Cousins in terms of their talent, has 35 for the Lions, has 35 in his career, where Kirk Cousins only has 13. And you know who's right behind Cousins? Case Keenum, Marcus Mariota, Blake Bortles is a little farther down the list. Like Nick Foles, who has barely ever been a starter, has almost as many as Cousins. And it's just sort of fascinating.

And I wonder, I guess I was sort of fishing for an opinion here for you on why it never happens. Like he did have four the year before he came to the Vikings in 2017. So it's not that he's fully incapable. And that's why it's who do you blame? Like do you just blame the quarterback for not being able to do it? Is there something else to this? Like, what is the deal with the Vikings not being able to finish off these games?

You can name them off in a second. The Rams in 2018, Kansas City last year, Seattle last year. You know, Monday Night Football, the broadcast, here's Cousins' big chance for the game-winning drive. And he throws a two-yard pass to Herb Smith on fourth and seven yeah yeah so I mean what is it I think that it's not singular blame I think you know I thought back when you were mentioning that Seattle game what was it like fourth and three and he throws to Herb Smith yeah flat yeah yeah is that Stefanski at that point is it Cins? I think it's a combination of both.

And when I asked Cousins yesterday, I just felt like how come they were so successful at opening up the playbook and him being able to find somebody other than Thielen, he's like, you know, I'm just going through my reads. Well, then you can – if that's the answer for – if that's what you're going to default to, then you can say on certain situations, well, you're just going through your reads,

then maybe you picked the wrong one. I just, Kirk didn't sign himself here. He didn't say, I'm going to the Minnesota Vikings. You guys are paying me this much. And, you know, this is a situation like they chose to bring him here. They knew what they were bringing in. Like, you can't tell me that you did, that you expected this outcome to be all that much different than what it's going to be right now. It's not like Kirk has had like terrific seasons. He made the playoffs one time before he came to Minnesota and he lost that game. Like, what were you expecting? That's just like, it's frustrating when you talk about it. Cause it's like, you think logically here, did you really anticipate it would be that much better?

I mean, things have gotten really good for him here. Good play calling, by and large. You know, he's got a lot of skill guys around him. The offensive line has not been great. There have been moments where it's been okay, just like over the last few years, but it's really been bad. So it's like you're putting him in a situation where you know that there are holes in the game plan, essentially.

And you're still expecting this guy that you know would struggle to lift the entire team up to the level of the contract that he's being paid, but he's not able to do that. Like you can fault Kirk Cousins all you want and say he's paid to do this. And sure, the team expects him to do that. Like I wrote that in my story for today, but you also know who you're dealing with here. And you put him in this situation. It's not like Kirk trotted out there. And, you know, is also calling the game plan to like, that is what it is. I mean, he didn't put himself in shotgun on three of those for the fourth quarter when they had a chance to win the game the guy looked nervous as hell when he was in that situation and that is not where he is comfortable typically he is not a shotgun quarterback so why are you running that on the most critical point of the game and yeah people

are going to argue like all the rubes or whatever the hell you want to call him or like well it's an obvious passing situation you can't put him under center what are you talking about you ran you you literally ran a variation the same play on three different three or four different plays on that drive and it didn't work it didn't work and you know gary bradbury snaps the ball over his head and kirk didn't even look ready for it like i don't know what to expect that voice needs to come out more often i mean no but it's just there's so many people who are like, I wrote about that, and they're like, well, what do you want?

Like, it's an obvious passing situation. You can't put him under center. There was a lot of time left. Yes, there was a minute and 44 seconds. And they needed really to go about 20 yards. Yes, especially after they got the 40, you know, they moved from, like, what, the 25 to the 40 because of the roughing passer. You need maybe, like, 25 yards.

Yeah. Like, you needed to put Dan Bailey. They said win the game, but, like, really set Dan Bailey up to win the game for you. That's all you needed. So it is fascinating, though. I was just poking around on this even more. Dak Prescott, who has been in the league for much less time than Kirk, has more. And Josh Allen, who was just drafted like a couple years ago, and only in 2018, he has 10 already.

And Kirk has 13 for his career. I don't know if there's something to it. He could have four of them this year. Maybe it's random. Maybe it just hasn't clicked for him or there's circumstance. But I agree with you that it is usually a collective effort because when you have an offensive line that cannot block successfully out of a shotgun clear cut passing situation where they can, you know, pin their ears back, that has been a problem the entire time it's been here. Riley Reif is a good mauler and that kind of thing. But when you usually put speed

rushers outside in those very clear situations, that's hard for him. And the interior, Garrett Bradbury, you put someone right over him because you know you can push him back. That's hard for him. That has existed here since Kirk Cousins joined the Minnesota Vikings. That's been a problem. And the fact that when your offense is really built to play from ahead with the running game first, and then you're put in a situation you're not usually in, I think that all of those things factor together. I also think this, and I like to be analytical. We use statistics here on the old podcast. I also think that Kirk Cousins has some pretty darn big bunny ears. Like you ever seen a jackrabbit with the big ears?

That's Kirk Cousins. He hears everything. He knows everything that's being said about him. He knows that all the national media and those national TV games are all putting the pressure on him. They're all watching him. Is he going to be clutch here or not? He knows what the reputation is. And there's just sometimes a look in Kirk Cousins' face like, I got to do it. I got to do it. I got to do it. I

got to prove to everyone I can do it. And I don't know that you see that with all quarterbacks. Some of them are able to kind of block all that out. That is speculation on my part, but it just seems that since he's been here, his level of awareness and pressure and the contract and the perception has really changed. When Kirk Cousins signed here, he was Mr. Underdog, nice story, fourth round pick. It was supposed to be RG3. The perception of him around the league has completely changed. But I would also say what he did in the playoffs, making a couple of throws, winning a game like that, it's not like he's incapable. I just think that there might be something to that, and it's probably a number of different factors.

And how do you change that? How do you make somebody more confident? I don't know how you do that. Like, I'm not a sports psychologist. I have no clue what to do with that. But you're not wrong, because I've noticed it too. I think back to that Chicago game in 2018 where they – that's really the game that decided –

that was the game in the stretch that decided their season. And I remember talking with somebody that night being like, he had deer in headlights look and it just could not get out of his – he just couldn't get get out of his he just couldn't get out of his head and obviously he I mean the ball that he threw that Bryce Callahan picked off it was nowhere near Kyle Rudolph like that was what you were getting from right that night that was a read that he makes a million times I remember that yes well and and it's just like he like brain farts you can't have that if you're going to be a good team like you know is there something

to it when you were like you were mentioning this and I wanted to go back on this like when you talk about those fourth quarter drives game winning drives to lead your team if you have a lot of them that kind of says your team probably isn't very isn't like elite because you're not winning games before the fourth quarter so I went back and looked it up because I remember during the 2016 year, it was like every game that I covered for the Raiders was like down to the final minute. And Derek Carr had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven fourth quarter or game-winning drives. And then the following year he had one because they were 6-10 in 2017.

And then he's had three in 2018, three in 19, one so far as we saw last week or two weeks ago with Carolina. Opportunity's a big part of this stat. Yes, and it's like you can't, you know, it's not a great thing if you're constantly winning games, like having to lead a game winning drives, because it probably means your defense isn't great or you're often screwed up somewhere else.

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Don't forget to use the promo code BL wire at bet online.ag that's blue wire all one word bet online your online sportsbook experts but the fact that there have been so many opportunities that's where yes you know and i mean it was against denver that they did it, and Denver was one of the worst teams in the league, and that's, I think, the only one that he has. So I guess that's where you do kind of wonder because it isn't like they've been playing from ahead so much. I'm sure Lamar Jackson didn't have a ton of these last year. They're playing from ahead a lot. Or if your team is horrible and you don't win,

you don't get game-winning drives, like you said on Derek Carr. It's just that similar quarterbacks who are even in that kind of 500 type of ballpark, Andy Dalton has nine more than he does. And I don't know. It's just it's one of those things where you go, what's up with that? Like, is there someone to blame is kind of where I started. And I'm not thoroughly convinced, but yet the eye test for every Vikings fan would say, yeah, there's something to that. I have a concept for you that I want you to react to. Okay. I want to call this,

and I've been thinking on it. If you don't like the name, tell me so we can maybe change it. I've been thinking about it, calling it the 2021 tunnel. So what we do when we're doing a podcast and we're breaking down why they lost to the Titans and this went wrong and this guy's not doing well and so forth. Then we go into our 2021 tunnel and we only talk about things through the future. So we go into our 2021 tunnel and we change our mindset and we think only for the future. Do you like it? Sure. I'm all for it.

Okay. So tell me in the 2021 tunnel, what we should think about what Justin Jefferson did against the Titans. Uh, yeah, I think that's, you want me to pick like, is that a good thing to think about or?

Well, I mean, just if you're only, if you're not looking at it through this year, because if you're looking through it this year, might say well I guess they can win some more games with him as a weapon but we're not doing that we're in the tunnel we're only getting the one signal you know how your radio goes out the only signal is coming through is 2021 okay now they're talking about Justin Jefferson on that channel. So you can only talk about it through next year in the tunnel.

I think that it's a great thing. It shows this offense how good this offense can be with a dynamic number two, like how good they were with Stephon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Like they will have found that. If we're only talking about it through the 2021 lens, then it doesn't matter about this year. If he's doing it this year year he's going to do it next year and that's great it's a great thing I have nothing but good things to say about that is that

the answer you were looking for something like that yeah I mean that was that was a extremely rosy version after one good game but um also I agree with it though I picked this guy to win rookie of the year in my bold prediction so I'm gonna stick with that because he made me look pretty good yesterday I don't think you just pop in as a rookie and get 175 yards. He did a lot of special things in that game. Yeah, he did. At ESPN, had a breakdown of his contested catch that was really special. And Kirk doesn't throw those to people that often that are not Adam Thielen.

So the fact that he's throwing it to a rookie in his third start ever, that's a big deal. Right, yeah. I don't think you can be much higher on what happened. When your name is getting mentioned with Randy Moss in terms of rookie performances, that matters a lot. Now, in the tunnel, Irv Smith Jr., what is happening there? I mean, in the tunnel, you have to be like, can we count on Irv Smith Jr. after these couple of games to be the tight end in 2021?

Or is that an overreaction? It's probably an overreaction. I mean, he is still young, but I think some of the boneheaded penalties and also, like, he ran the wrong route on several plays. There's a reason he was limited to 55 snaps, and I don't think it's just because of personnel and packages and, you know, Gary Kubiak making them very obvious running 11 personnel there at the end of the game. I just, I look at it and say, Irv, you gotta, you gotta grow up a

little bit when you're out there. You gotta, like, he looked like he ran the wrong route several times. He also got those penalties that killed killed drives and he admitted it today when we talked to him like he's very forthcoming about you know he's not trying out there trying to hurt anybody it's just kind of new stuff for him um he had that terrific block on dalvin cook's touchdown give you know where he pulled and kind of annihilated whoever that was um just like just trucks him uh opening up that running lane for dalvin cook on the right side so that's good it's good stuff but it's like you got to make the jump like we've talked about this for a year now and he came along kind of slowly last year and it wasn't to any fault of his own it was they didn't

start like throwing a tight end until Thielen got hurt yeah do you have to wait for another injury to see um Irv Cook um excuse me Irv Smith emerge as like a big-time playmaker i don't think so i think that it's got to happen in 2020 in order for me to be like yeah 2021 like this guy is a legit threat he's your he can do the type of stuff that travis kelsey does that's how important he can be to this offense because he just hasn't shown that this year yeah and there's a section of time last year where he did and he did some really special things he ran a deep in route against Kansas City from the slot and ended up with like a 25 yard reception in which he kind of played off the safety's leverage and did all the things that you hope for and then he had some

yards after catch he blocked I think he's still been blocking well but you can't come away with those penalties and he's been fined already I mean this is about as bad as he could have of a start and no targets yesterday that's where you go okay what is happening exactly here with their weapon that we've been talking about for a while and i'm not at all saying that irv smith is a bust in the 2021 tunnel we're only asking uh is irv smith going to be the number one tight end next year or will they still have to kind of go with Kyle Rudolph? I think that's the big question that we're going to be asking. Three weeks is not enough to determine that. It's a long way to go, but it's not the start we expected for him. No, not at all, especially with, you know, Kyle Rudolph and the limitations within his game

and how stiff he can play. But he also, I mean, hell, he looked really good there in that, you know, what was it, the third quarter where he caught the one-handed touchdown in the back of the end zone? He's going to have moments like that. But does that contract that you gave him, the extension, does that sting because you realize there are other things that you wanted to do? I think you look at it and evaluate the financial impact of Kyle Rudolph still and what he has on your cap and the fact that you can't get out of that or restructure anything

like that does that mean that Herb Smith uh it's not Kate does that have anything to do with Herb Smith no it doesn't but Herb Smith should be a number one tight end um maybe it's just too early to determine why he's not but like what I've seen through the first three games is kind of like, well, you've got to play smarter in certain respects. I don't know any other way to phrase it. Just be – literally did, like, several things wrong yesterday, and that's the reason the snaps are limited. Okay.

Before we wrap up, I think you know what's coming. I don't have paper in front of me. You can do this. Okay. A pie chart. It is time for a You can do this. A pie chart. It is time for a pie chart. Here's your pie chart. It's going to be very easy.

It's very easy. You've got to wait. I'm getting my backpack. Hold on. Okay. All right. This pie chart is not going to be that complicated. I think that we're going to be able to handle this. All right.

I'm just getting my pen out of my watermelon pencil case. All right. Draw a circle. Do you think that our desks at TCO Performance Center still have our stuff there? Oh, my gosh. If they took my Overbaugh nameplate, I won't cover the team anymore. That's a whole podcast in itself why you have that. But, yeah, I was thinking about this.

There are things that we've had but we're not allowed in the building and haven't been since march and i wondered did they just leave them sitting there did someone clean them spray them for coronavirus like what what is to happen it's like the velveteen rabbit where they had to burn everything yeah i mean i had a lot of stuff in my cube, like my too legit to quit. Yeah, it's got to still be there. I hope so. I really, I hope so.

Because that thing didn't do anything to anybody. And my overall nameplate and all my little knickknacks, I had a lot of good stuff. You did, and I hope it's all still there. All right, here it is. Here is your subject. The next four games are against the Texans, Seahawks, Falcons, and Packers. Which one of those games, percentage-wise,

odds on being the Vikings' first win of the year? All right. So we got Houston, Seattle. Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Green Bay. And you have to – I think that they – I'm going on the assumption that they win one of these games, if not two, but at least one, that they get their first win of the year over these next four games. So percentage chance that they get it against Houston, that they get it.

Okay, so you've got it. Yeah, hold on. Let me just make sure this all adds up. This is actually not a very difficult pie chart, but I just want to make sure I did it correctly. Okay. I'm going to read a fun stat while you do that. Mike Clay of ESPN, guest of this show, by the way, says Justin Jefferson was aligned outside on 20 of his 26 routes during his breakout performance. And a follower comes in with the snark, just a slot and agree just the jefferson could play

play him outside play him wherever give him the football okay you ready okay i'm ready all right all right so this coming weekend uh sunday against houston a team that was up big against pittsburgh on the road and managed to have its own issues with its defense. It's got a lot of talent on that side of the ball, but their linebackers are not very good. They gave up. It felt like it honestly felt, you know, watching it back and hearing a few things about that game, like typical Houston fashion, showing a lot of hope and promise,

and then they throw it all away. I give the Vikings a 30% chance to go on the road after a deflating 0-3 start to win that game. Okay, 30%. Gotcha. I think there's a pretty good shot that this is their first win. How about Seattle? Zero percent.

Zero. Oh, my gosh. Zero. The Bills beat the Vikings in 2018, and the Bills I think had lost by 70 points in the first two games. Yes. The National Football League. It is.

It's zero because it's Seattle, a place that they just don't ever win. They have no defense. They have no defense. It's Sunday night football. I'm saying that Seattle doesn't. I mean, they just gave up 470 yards to Dak. I know. And people are hurt.

Zero. Zero is too much. Zero. Zero for me. That's fine. You didn't do the pie chart. It's my pie chart. No, you're right. That's right. It people are hurt. Zero is too much. Zero. Zero for me. That's fine. You didn't do the pie charts. My pie charts. No, you're right.

That's right. It's your job. Do your job. I give them a 55% chance to get their first win against Atlanta at home because Atlanta is also a dumpster fire. And the way that they lost to the Bears yesterday was embarrassing. Yes. So that's my – and then one more, Green Bay, 15% chance.

Green Bay is playing like a top three team right now, and that's where I leave it. Three teams, one does not – or four teams, one does not count because they do not apply to my pie chart. Atlanta at home definitely is the favorite here. Good chance for this week, but that's the biggest favorite for their first win. I would give the Seattle one more like 10%, and I think that since they get the win before that, I give Green Bay maybe only like 5%, 10%,

because I think they already have a win by the time they get to Green Bay. But overall, a solid chart. And just let me shout out Nick Foles. Good for you for wearing a visor indoors, like Jim McMahon or something. That was cool. I was cool. You got to give credit where it's due. Uh,

Courtney, great stuff. And, uh, people should read your analysis. What was the headline was great. Tell me the headline. Do you have it in your head? Cause I just, I want to stay on the podcast because it was great. Tell me the headline. Do you have it in your head?

Because I just, I want to say it on the podcast because it was awesome. Yeah, hold on. It's the 0 and 3 Vikings are living and dying with the chaos they created. It's beautiful. It's art. All right. Great stuff. We'll do it again soon.