Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings are going to beat the Panthers.... right?

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune and Will Ragatz of SI.com join Matthew Coller for a round table talking about how the Vikings should have a get-right game against the Panthers this weekend but dive into some of the factors, including Bryce Young's status and the Carolina defense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider inside TCO Performance Center. Matthew Collar here along with Will Raggetts of Sports Illustrated, Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune for our weekly Raggetts Roundtable. And well guys, what do you want to talk about? You want to talk about defense? You want to talk about guard play? You want to talk about 2022 draft is not playing and somehow got injured i mean what what do we what where we want to start will i will hand it over to you should we just

talk about like taylor swift or the miami dolphins or something interesting i don't know no i mean it's another week where we're talking about a winless football team and gradually the the desperation grows and this team has to find a way to get on the board if they're going to salvage this season. There's been signs, as we've said after every game, that this maybe could be a good team. You don't see a lot of teams that are 0-3 and they have the leading passer in the league and the leading receiver in the league and a guy with five sacks and all these things. So I guess just to start, I'm curious what you guys think. Is this actually a talented team that has just kind of shot itself in the foot and maybe had some flaws exposed or is it really a a team that isn't very good and there's a reason why they're 0-3 I mean I assume it's it's somewhere in the middle but do you I guess

the question is do you think that this team can climb out of this hole yeah I think this team certainly better than the other 0-3 teams it finds itself with. When you look at the Panthers, obviously, the Bears, and the Broncos, this team's got far more talent and too much talent, especially offensively, to average only 23 points through these first three games. And the fumbles, the turnovers play such a big part in it. So I do think that when you look at things that are sustainable versus unsustainable, I think their offensive passing efficiency and all those numbers are sustainable. And I think at some point they're going to hold on to the football. I do think that they're going to climb out of it and be the

middling team we thought they were and not be a top 10 draft pick team by the end of this year. As long as they beat the Carolina Panthers, which I do not think is a total guarantee because we have seen the meltdown game from the minnesota vikings there's no guarantees no not in football folks uh also arizona beat the dallas cowboys last week so i don't know if you guys ever heard this but any given sunday uh somebody can win that you don't expect but i mean with with this vikings team they've have had the meltdown loss against somebody that we don't expect pretty much once a year. And if this is it, they go to 0-4.

It does not matter about anything we're talking about here. I agree with what both of you guys are talking about and just all the fumbles and how the passing game can really be prolific. Justin Jefferson has been as good as he always is and maybe even a little bit better. They've got all the weapons and they actually, I think with Dalton Reisner in there, have a decent to good offensive line if they remove the one week link. But on the other part of this, they've had a mostly healthy defense and is bad. I mean, if Marcus Davenport is the only player missing on a whole defense and we keep going back to that over and over. Brian Flores mentioned it today. I mean, you would think they were missing Lawrence Taylor the way that they've talked about Marcus Davenport, because it's the only thing they have to kind of lean on as any sort of explanation for what's been happening in the lack of pass rush. And if you go through a whole season and you can't stop wide receivers like Keenan Allen from having

historic days, if you can't pressure the quarterback, unless you're sending six rushers at them, if you can't create any pressure. And by the way, if any team is good at rushing, they can run for 260 yards on you. It's just hard to believe you could have a consistent enough run of games to not have a bad one in there and and by the way kirk cousins the distribution over his career is like 12 good games a year four or five that you're that you regret so far he's had none that he regrets when those come if that happens this week against carolina you could be on four and then we're talking about there is no climbing out of this at the same time you could convince me if they go to one and three that they could be six and six or six and seven somewhere down the stretch

going into those division games that will decide whether they make the playoffs or not yeah it I mean it's just been a weird season it's been the complete inverse of everything that happened last year and you can point to I mean offensively they've played really well through the air defensively they've been really well through the air. Defensively, they've been bad. They also have faced like Justin Herbert was just really, really good on Sunday. I thought his pocket movement, his arm, everything was just on display. Before that, the Eagles are one of the best offenses in the league.

Defense actually played pretty well as it should have against Tampa Bay. But the offense turns it over three times and you lose a close game. To me, it's just good teams don't find themselves in this situation, like legitimately good teams. This isn't a team, dating back to the entire Kirk Cousins era, they don't just put teams away. They've struggled. It's been three, four years of this where it seems like every week the games are close unless they play somebody who can dominate them in the trenches and they lose by 30. Kirk Cousins-led teams have not won a game by at least 17 points since 2019. That's four years now, three full seasons and three games where they haven't just blown a team out.

Maybe they can do it this week, but I'm skeptical they can even do that against the 0-3 Panthers because the trenches and just the quarterback, not that Kirk Cousins has played badly at all this year, but it just seems kind of like that all falls on him to some degree. It's just been a weird season because I still think this could be a pretty good team, but you've dug yourself enough of a hole, especially if you lose on Sunday. And even if you don't, it might not matter. The times that this Vikings team has been good enough talent-wise to transcend their quarterback have been few and far between, right? In terms of bringing their quarterback up to a different level that Kirk is unable to bring them uh himself and I

think now this team you saw it last year they weren't good enough to have a wide margin for error but that's why they had to win 11 one score games this year the margin for error is even thinner because the talent level is less because of the purge in the offseason and you're seeing them not um fulfill that gap. They're making so many errors in those margins to lose these games. I just think Kirk's not that guy. He's never been that guy to bring the whole team around him and lift him. And we see now the consequences that he can lead the NFL in passing. And you sit at 0-3 because you just aren't good enough around them. It's not his fault that they haven't had a good defense since 2019, but also to some degree when you pay the quarterback as much as you do.

And this is I know this is a point that we've talked about over and over, but that's a factor. It is astounding how bad they drafted during the Spielman era and how much work it is going to take and is taking to undo that. I mean, this, this is not to be like, it was the previous GM's fault, but like, look at 2016 through 2021 drafting defensive players. And then you go, well, where they need to draft, they need to draft a nose tackle. They need another edge rusher. They need another corner. They need another, all these things. I mean, they're playing Josh Metellus like 90% of the defensive snaps. I thought he was going to be more of like a bit player who just mixed in as this hybrid

guy, but he's the best one they got. So you're out there and you're playing. And a lot of that is just goes back to drafting because usually the implications of drafting have a ripple effect of like five years over a team. So when then you blow a 2022 draft, like there was no room for error there in that way either. You couldn't miss on 2022 draft picks or it was going to be really, really ugly on this defense. But I think it goes back years. How about what we heard just from Matt Daniels, though, on that point about Matt Daniels saying that they won't play Makai Blackman on special teams because of their depth at corner well who are they playing on special teams Andrew

Booth and Lewis seen but he got hurt somehow and Brian Osmond they the 2016 to now range the only like starting caliber defensive players they drafted that entire time like briefly Mackenzie Alexander and then like Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus. Like, I think that's just it. There's a couple like late round picks who were like serviceable rotational guys, but they just have not since 2015 when to their credit, they got Daniel Hunter, they got Eric Hendricks. It's just been a disaster. And to your point, that has really long lasting effects because you have to build through the draft. You can't just patch it up with free agents every year,

especially when you're paying your quarterback. And this team under Rick Spielman has paid a lot of different kind of what they view as core players' top market salaries. So it's just something that's really tough to overcome. I think Brian Flores has come in and learned that quickly. Maybe this year's class with Makai Blackman and Pace and whatever they can get out of like a Jaqueline Roy or whoever else could be good down the line, but it takes time.

It does. And I am interested in your guys' opinions on the Brian Flores subject, because after I watched the game back and I feel like I'm apologizing for too many things these days where I'm like, well, you know, O'Connell's passing game's working. They just keep fumbling. And well, I know one quasi draft was bad, but look at like what he inherited for a defense. And Flores, look what he inherited for a defense. He thought he was going to get Delvin Tomlinson and Zedaria Smith, and he got a box of coal in his stocking is what he got.

And I guess I look at last week's game plan. A lot of people asked, well, at some point, does he have to just stop with all this blitzing stuff? I looked at the reps where he didn't blitz. Justin Herbert sat there for so long and then made amazing throws. Like, I don't know. I, I, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. I mean, even as you're going to play Carolina, you think, okay, now this time they're really going to like mess with Bryce young or whoever starting. I'm not even convinced that like that the defense is going to be good against anybody. I'm not either because Adam Thielen's old, right? I mean, 33 years old, but he just put

up 11 catches, 145 yards on the touchdown. And why couldn't he do that against this defense? Why couldn't he put together a similar performance? The only thing is the Vikings might luck out and face Bryce Young. I say luck out because this kid's so young in his career, he might be uber talented, certainly way more than Andy Dalton, but he's not the NFL quarterback that Andy Dalton is right now. And we've seen Andy Dalton almost beat the Vikings with New Orleans last year in London and took a double doink for them to win that game. And then we saw Andy Dalton, I believe, beat them with the Cowboys in 2021. Would it have been 20? I think, yeah, 2020 game was 2021. So I think the Vikings are going to luck out if they get the inexperienced quarterback who isn't set up to

deal with those pressures and the ways that, that Brian Flores can mess with quarterbacks. Yeah. I mean, that jumped out to me immediately when I saw the news this week that Bryce Young, just yesterday on Wednesday, that he was a full participant. He's the starting quarterback, but that is absolutely good news for the Vikings. I think specifically with Brian Flores' scheme, they can probably fluster him a little bit with some of these pressure looks, some things he just won't have seen very much. This is his third NFL start.

Andy Dalton has started against the Vikings with four different teams, I believe. The Saints, Cowboys, Bears, and the Bengals way back when. So he's the type of guy where you just wouldn't feel great about facing him. Not that he's athletic or uber-talented or anything at 36 years old, but he's seen a lot of football. He can diagnose blitzes, get the ball out, make the right decision. I think the Vikings are hoping that they'll be able to force Bryce Young into some mistakes. And I think they can do that because he is not a Justin Herbert.

And I don't know. I think the plan against Herbert was fine. He just played really well. And they had a few times where they almost got there. And he manipulated the pocket really well and found somebody before getting hit. And he just – it was high-level quarterback stuff. I think Brian Flores said today, oh, yeah, we have guys who can win one-on-ones. Your actions speak louder than your words. When you're blitzing 80% of the time,

that tells me you don't have faith in anybody that's not named Daniel Hunter to win one-on-ones. And Daniel Hunter's not seeing one-on-ones because he shouldn't see one-on-ones on this defense. So I get what Flores did, and they were in position to make some plays. If a Caleb Evans makes that play, they probably win the game. But it just wasn't enough.

And that's that points to talent. I wanted to say, can you use your finger and point at the people who win one on ones like like in a courtroom? Like, sir, would you please point to the person? Is that is is that person in this room right now in the locker room? And like, I can't I can't. He's not here. It was funny that his second example, he said Daniel Hunter. And then he said, Ivan Pace jr. Like, okay, the, the undrafted middle

linebacker can win one-on-ones. That's great. And that is about it. But with Bryce young, I'm really interested though, because I agree with you on Justin Herbert to an extent. I also think that if you know, the other team, when you are playing off coverage is running a comeback. And when you're playing tight coverage, they're running a slant. And they just did that over and over and over again. You really need a cornerback to make a play there because they were taking the blitz out of it and they were leaving corners one-on-one and Byron Murphy Jr. got lit up for 10 passes against him. And they, they took advantage of those guys. And yes, Evans had his one chance to make a play, but he wasn't even in

good coverage it was just a bad throw and then it doinked them in the helmet and turned into a touchdown but that should have been a touchdown anyway if it had been a better throw by Herbert like even when they were getting those balls out quickly the coverage and the playmaking on the football they just don't have it like that's the thing we watched Patrick Peterson. We watched Xavier Rhodes, like these guys would catch the ball. They would deflect passes, PBUs and stuff. There were opportunities to do that. And it seemed like they were very concerned about, you know, anybody getting behind them. So they were just trying to make the tackle. But if you're doing that, it's like completion, completion, completion. And that might be the best option that they could have, but someone has to make a play and they don't really have people who can. So even when you're

playing Bryce young, like you're going to, they're going to look at this and go like, if we're running short routes, our guys are going to make the play on the ball and their guys aren't. So even when someone's not open, open, they're still open against this team. Yeah. I thought Byron Murphy needed to play better in that game against the chargers. And it's obviously it's a tough task. Like Herbert Williams, when he was healthy, and Allen are probably three of the best weapons in football when he put them together. And I thought Murphy was in good position on that 35-yarder to Mike Williams on that

go ball. It's just he made a ridiculous catch that gets reviewed and gets upheld. But on Allen, there were times that he just got kind of turned around on these choice option routes. And after the game, Herbert and Allen talked about just how in sync they are to know that based on the corner's leverage, he's going to take it one way and the quarterback knows it can throw it. And Murphy's a fifth year veteran. He's old enough. He's been around long enough to know how to play those kinds of routes and to have zero effect on the ball oftentimes. And I saw something where next gen stats said you know alan was open for you know 180 of his yards or whatever on catches and it's like yeah that's the vikings weren't even close

at times on trying to cover him yeah and then they had the just bubble screen after bubble screen and short route and then they lull you in. They hit you with a double pass. Keenan Allen to Mike Williams, that was a huge play in that game. I think this week, if the Vikings can't get after Bryce Young and make him uncomfortable and really affect the passer, it's just over. You're not going to be able to do that against anybody. The Panthers, I was looking at, have one of the lowest team PFF pass-blocking grades in the league.

It's funny to me. They have a guard guard a rookie guard chandler zavala who like surpasses all levels of vikings guard terribleness like drew samia dakota dozier ed ingram so he's a future viking yeah i think he's a future viking this guy gave up 14 pressures last week and had a 0.0 pass blocking grade 14 i don't know i've ever heard 14 that's almost as many as keenan allen had ed ingram has like 13 this year and that's a lot that's second that's second behind zavala who has 24 in three games like i maybe he doesn't play but i think they're probably gonna play him i think he's number 62 left guard or something um so go after him not in the sense of trade for him but attack attack he's been acquired by the

vikings rick dennison is calling him right now yeah sixth round pick and even even like um ikea kwanu their tackle they drafted in the top 10 is not played particularly well the center bradley bozeman like it's just not a good offensive line it's kind of like uh the broncos bear situation like a stoppable force meets a movable object, where the Vikings' defensive line isn't very good either. But you have to find ways to get people in there. I'm leaning Marcus Davenport probably doesn't play. But you have to find ways to get after the passer

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They'll add $100 more. You're good to go. prizepix.com slash purple. Your daily fantasy sports made easy. You actually just sort of made this game sound fun. It's like, wait, they have a guy who's worse? I can't wait to see it. They have a guy who's

surpassed peak Drew Samia, Dakota Dozier, Tom Compton levels. I didn't know it's possible even when tom compton played against aaron donald he did not give up 14 pressures that is completely impossible to be fair they they like threw the ball like there was like 70 dropbacks in the game yeah but i don't still it's still an unbelievable number uh so with uh bryce young by the way how how intrigued are you guys with Bryce Young?

CJ Stroud looks really good. Anthony Richardson, you got hurt, but has looked really good as well. Bryce Young has looked completely terrible, but he is playing with a team that has a horrendous offensive line. And I know Adam Thielen had a great week last week, but I do not consider him to be a top weapon in the league anymore. They've got essentially nothing else miles sanders is a playmaking running back for philly with their offensive line but not so much so far for carolina if there was ever a get right game it has to be this one right like if

this if they don't completely dominate the carolina panthers if it's bryce young because i agree with you andy dalton can get the ball out fast, but then all hope is lost. Like even if they win the game, if they give up like 30 points to the Panthers, there's just no way you can do that on a weekly basis. And I don't even care that you're playing Denver and Vegas and bad teams later, because this is going to be like, well, bad teams can do whatever they want to you anyway. Yeah. I think Bryce Young will be a good NFL quarterback. It's just not going to be on Sunday. It's not going to be necessarily the week after that or the week after. I think C.J. Stroud, for as bad as the Texans have been,

they probably have a better receiving core for him than the Panthers do. I don't think it's even close. Robert Woods, Nico Collins, those guys can play. Tank Dell. Yeah, they've got weapons. And at least Pierce is a decent enough running back, and we just got through how bad the Panthers' offensive line is. I think Bryce Young, there's a reason why he was the first overall pick.

The Vikings here internally really liked him, ranked him as the top quarterback in this past year's draft, obviously like a lot of teams did. And I think you're going to see it. It's just the Vikings are catching him at the point where you absolutely want to catch him. And to your guys' point about this defense, this is the time where you are facing, you're not facing even a veteran Baker Mayfield who can at least pick up on your simple checks and find the right guy. Like this

should be the time where you make the young look silly if he goes out there and plays. So, and, and you've got the personnel at least with Hunter to try and take advantage of some of the stuff on the offensive line. Yeah, it's one of those things for Bryce Young where it's kind of a bittersweet or a tough thing to be the number one overall pick because you just end up in the worst situation. And I know the Panthers traded for it. They weren't in the bear's spot. But he ended up in the worst situation possible where the offensive line is terrible. 33-year-old Adam Thielen is the number one receiver, and then it's like DJ Chark and Terrace Marshall after that.

In Indy, like Anthony Richardson has Michael Pittman as a number one he can go to. Houston, we just talked about, has a better receiving core for CJ Stroud. I think that's a big reason why you're seeing a little bit more early on from those guys than you are from Bryce Young. I still think just the processing element of his game, the arm talent, I know people will talk about the size and it's way too early to say like, oh, the Panthers made a mistake or something. But for right now, if you could choose any of those rookie quarterbacks to play, I think it'd be Bryce Young because he just, he's coming off missing last week with an ankle. Like I think probably not going to be a hundred percent with, with an

ankle thing that helps limit what his is his probably biggest, one of his biggest strengths, which is just the athleticism to get out of the pocket and make plays. You can keep them in the pocket in fluster him. They're going to throw all kinds of different looks at him where it's simulated pressures and you drop guys that he thinks are coming and you send guys that he thinks are playing in zones or man or whatever. And I think if there's ever a week to, to have a performance where you're like, okay, this is why we brought in Brian Flores. This looks pretty good. Uh, then this might be it. Yeah. I think that, um, this is a game where DJ Wanham gets three sacks because Bryce Young is running away from Daniel Hunter and runs into DJ Wanham. Uh, I sort of what we saw from Justin Fields a couple of years ago,

but they, they should be able to get right. But on the other side of it though, I think that there are some dudes who play for the Carolina Panthers that, I mean, there should be a big concern about Derek Brown with Garrett Bradbury coming back. The,

the ironic thing about that is he's coming back off this back injury and when he did that against the Giants in the playoff game he got mauled by Dexter Lawrence and Derek Brown is not quite on that level he's close he's close he is close he's one of the seven best defensive tackles in the league and that's who you gotta face like welcome back Garrett with your back injury this is who you're going against and I think Austin Schlotman has been a fine actually playing center for them you might be downgrading in the past blocking from Garrett Bradbury I mean yeah I mean historically Schlotman is more of a backup but I'm saying with the injury and already Bradbury is kind of on the edge of just barely

being able to block guys like this and And I also want to see how much we're going to get of Dalton Reisner because Kevin O'Connell left the door open for some sort of rotation, which I mean, if the guy hasn't played any football and had training camp, I understand, but it's like we talked about the other day, you need it yesterday. And if they have Ed Ingram not playing against the chargers, they win. Like there was a bunch of third down sacks and pressures and things like that that cost them drives because of Ed Ingram. I mean, I think that you got to have Reisner in there to try to handle Derek Brown. Well, I don't think they're happy with Ezra Cleveland either, even though he's better

or has been better in our opinion than Ed Ingram. So it's interesting to see because O'Connell keeps leaving the door open saying, well, with Reisner, if we move into left guard or right guard, if we rotate them, I wonder how they're going to find that landing spot if it is purely just right guard that they switch these guys out at. But either way, they need to find some different combination to make it work because no, Bradbury is not going to anchor much better than Schlotman does, but he is going to get you set to a point where you're not getting false starts called because the entire line's moving and the center's not. He's not going to necessarily, in theory, blow as many blitz protection pickups as they have had, including

against Tampa Bay after he left that game. So I just think there's some moments that Bradbury at least calms that offense down a little bit and that should help them. But you're right, with Brian Burns, Justin Houston, Derek Brown in the middle. This is a Panthers defensive front that could make you look just as bad as you looked in Philadelphia or against Tampa Bay. I don't know if they're going to be able to run the ball as efficiently as you saw Kenneth Walker do it with Seattle last week against them. The saving grace that JC Horn is on injured reserve. The secondary is not full of dudes necessarily with him down. So I do wonder how, you know, if the passing game is going to be just as prolific as we've seen.

Yeah. Former Vikings legend Xavier Woods is a starting safety for them, but he is going to miss a few weeks at least. Apparently Frankie Louvu is their best, like second level defender, linebacker, and he's on the injury report. Unclear if he's going to play like As good as Derek Brown and Brian Burns are, and Justin Houston is still a productive player. I don't know, is he 38 or something?

This team, I believe, is towards the bottom of the league in run defense. And that may be based on some of the teams they've played thus far. They played the Falcons, who run the ball a ton, the Seahawks. But I think the Vikings will be able to run the ball. I agree with you that getting Garrett Bradbury back is a good thing. run the ball a ton, the Seahawks. But I think the Vikings will be able to run the ball. I think I agree with you that getting Garrett Bradbury back is a good thing. You want to limit the amount of times that he's put in one-on-one situations with Derrick Brown and he's asked to anchor because that's just not the strength of his game. But the communication element is important. What he does

with handling stunts and that's given the Vikings trouble this season already and has been an issue in the past. He's better at that than Austin Schlotman is. The run blocking things. I think even at 85%, 90%, there's a reason the Vikings will be excited to get Garrett Bradbury back. I'm curious, as you are, about the Reisner thing. I think it's time to play him. I think, I mean, if it's me, I'd probably just put him in for Ed Ingram at right guard. He's been working there. I know he hasn't played a game there in the NFL, but he played right

tackle in college. I think like you're going to probably lose something in run blocking and like, let's be fair to Ed Ingram. He had a really good game last week. It showed up in the PFF grade. It showed up on tape. Some of the things that he was able to do, get to the second level and make the reach blocks and all the things like that. It just, that just doesn't matter that much to me. The number one thing you have to do as an offensive lineman, especially on this team where your quarterback is not a dual threat, escape the pocket kind of guy, is pass protect and hold up and give them a few seconds to let these routes develop and let them find Jefferson and Addison and Osborne. And Ed Ingram just hasn't been able

to do that this year. I mean, he's second in pressures allowed behind the Panthers rookie, six more in this last game. There's QB hits and sacks and all these different things. It's just, I don't care how you switch it up. If you want to put Ezra Cleveland at right guard and Dalton Reisner at left guard, if you want to take Ezra Cleveland out and put Blake Brandel in, they got to do something to switch it up. I think it's time to see what Reisner can do. And I don't really see them doing a rotation because that's just not something you ever see, right? Yeah, we have seen that. I mean, Christian Derrissaw, that was his first ever game.

That's true. And it was a similar situation where physically he didn't have a camp and they wanted to get him just athletically in there for a series or two. And I think it only makes sense because Reisner wasn't on an NFL team until a week ago. But if anything But it would, if anything, it would maybe be like by series,

right? You're not going to be like, Oh, uh, Ed Ingram, you're, you're playing on rundowns and your planet past. Cause then you're just,

then you just communicate in the, the plan before the play starts. Yeah. Right. A third down only guard is, uh, what we've got running out there. That's like something you do in Madden and one formation,

you just put out a totally different offensive line because you can uh yeah I think see in my mind I'm curious about this decision because there were moments during the Zimmer era where I lost all faith that they knew what they were doing with an offensive line I mean truly like I don't believe you can make any decisions putting only Udo at guard and being like, yeah, that'll be fine. Like, huh? What? Huh? A developmental tackle. And you're just, no, no, he's big. He'll look at him. He'll do it. Like that made no sense. I mean, uh, you know, there were things that they tried. Okay. Like drafting drew Samia, but Dakota Dozier had never played more than like four games before. And just, just go start. You'll be all right. Stuff

like that was totally senseless to me. If they just stick them in at right guard and play them at right guard, I will think, all right, I'll give you a little bit of a pass on taking forever to sign him because at least you identified this correctly and put them in there. If they put them at left guard and bench Ezra Cleveland, or if they get real goofy, put them in at left, say Ezra, remember when you played right guard, put all that back in the old years ago, go back there and do it. If they get silly with this, then I'm going to think, all right, they're just, they're lost. We lost them.

They don't know what they're doing with the offensive line. It is so blatant. The one player who continues to allow all of these negative plays, right? And if you can't identify that because of his traits or he had a couple of good run blocking reps last week, then I don't know what to do with you. We've heard a lot of coaches talk about how you'd rather mess up one position as opposed to two, as opposed to like, if you're putting a riser into the lineup, why not just make the one for one switch as opposed to telling ezra to move over then he's communicating uh on the right side as opposed on the left side and he's doing all

all the stuff is inverse with the footwork and the hands and stuff in risner who's played i believe all 3 000 snaps at left guard in his career in the nfl was asked about switching to right guard which he has done in practices uh last week and this week, his confidence level is such where he said, well, I'm right-handed, so I guess I can try to figure it out. It's not something these guys like to do or want to do in terms of switching sides. And if they ask Cleveland to do it, that makes absolutely no sense. I agree with you.

Yeah, I would say if Dalton Reisner plays in this game, and I would say I expect him to. I don't think it's a sure thing. Cause I don't, I don't know what is going on behind the scenes with their confidence level and that I wouldn't, I would say just manage expectations. Don't expect him to step in there and be Zach Martin.

Cause he's not even that caliber of player at left guard. There's, he's not a pro bowler. He's not like, there's a reason why he was still available when he was. And, and cost was a big part of that. But to move to the right side and play that position for the first time.

Yeah, he was talking yesterday about how like it's just really different with the punch. And we've heard that from offensive linemen in the past. It's the footwork is completely different. The hand usage, like it's just going to take some time. As many reps as you can get in practice, you can't simulate the real thing of going out there and having to face like the Derek Browns and people like that uh it's gonna take some time for him to kind of train his mind on that and it might not be the prettiest right away I still think that just with his track record of pass blocking I trust him to figure it out um and and allow

less pressure than Ed Ingram even though Ed Ingram has been doing it all year. Guys, I know you might act tough and pretend that you don't care about how the skin on your face looks, but we all want to show up to those football parties and holiday get togethers looking good. That's where Caldera lab comes in over 100 000 men trust caldera lab because of the way that an easy skincare routine turns into clearer skin they get results and hey it makes a great gift as well you're going to want to try out the regimen which has three simple parts the clean slate which is a face wash that leaves you feeling refreshed the base layer that moisturizes and hydrates your skin, and the good.

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So just for you guys, use the code INSIDER at calderalab.com and get 20% off right now. That is 20% off at calderalab.com with the code INSIDER to make an unforgettable first impression and give the best gift this holiday season. Yeah, I think that you could put a blindfold on him and he would be better. I mean, over the last two years, over the last two years, I mean, Ed Ingram has allowed in what, 17 games last year, the playoff game, and then these three games. So that's like a 21 games. He's at like 70 pressures over 21 games i mean it's like for a guard it's like closer to 80 i mean dalton reister has never allowed 30 in a single season and a forced fumble yes and or a strip sack depending on how you want to put it i i have a question because i've struggled with this all week when people love charts now on the internet oh they

love charts they tweet charts after charts, after chart. My whole feed is football charts, which is fun, but a lot of them have the Vikings very high in offensive metrics. And maybe you could sort of categorize it for me. Is it like, do they have an elite offense? Do they have a good offense that's played from behind? Do they have a bleh offense that is kind of just been a little smoke and mirrors with a couple of big plays? Or is it like not actually a good offense in charts line? Like where would you guys put that? I think it's a good offense. I wouldn't say it's a great offense right now. I think it's, it's bordering on great. It's certainly not elite because just

there's things that have been consistent to last year where they can't run the ball efficiently. They finally did this past week against the Chargers, but the Chargers do not have a good run defense. I need to see more from that before I start feeling comfortable that they're actually a balanced unit. And then it's just the lulls, and I don't know what it is, if it's Kevin O'Connell as a play caller, if it's Kirk Cousins, if it's offensive line base, but there's just always times. And last year, this would be like a quarter or two where they just would go three

and out and three and out and three and out. And they, they look like they weren't, they didn't even know what they were doing at times this year. There's been a little bit of that. They've been able to kind of consistently move the ball through the air, create explosives. They have maybe like the best wide receiver. I'm not, I'm not going to say ever, but the dude is just unbelievable. It's incredible to watch Justin Jefferson play every week and what he's able to do with route running at full speed and not slowing down at all when he's getting out of his breaks and catching everything in a 10 mile radius. So that helps a lot. And Kirk Cousins has played well, but last week it was third down. They went four of 14. It was red zone. They were one of four.

I don't know exactly what the issue is with those things. And if you ask her cousins, he'll give you his favorite answer, which is that it's not any one thing. It's a combination of things. And each play is its own entity. And that's true, but there's gotta be some commonalities of why they haven't been able to finish in the red zone. Um, at least last game, they weren't able to finish in the red zone, why they've had the three and out issues, why they've struggled on third down. They just haven't been able to kind of consistently put it all out there the way that we've seen in a lot of spurts. The best version of this team is the San Francisco 49ers in terms of a team that's not built on a transcendent quarterback, generational quarterback, but one that has so much talent at every other

position around them that it just takes a good coach or a great coach. And I think O'Connell could be that if they had that talented of a roster and they just don't. So they, I don't think they could ever be a great offense in Kirk's window because it's just going to take them long enough to rebuild that interior line, the running game, um, the depth to grow at receiver with Addison becoming a part. Um, they, they don't have it right now. That's why you haven't seen a complete game, because they're not a balanced offense.

They can only run against bad rushing defenses like the Chargers. And they're going to throw on anybody because they've got that kind of level talent, but it's always going to be on a razor's edge because Kirk is going to get annihilated 12 hits in a game like he did against LA. And you're going to have to just live on that edge of him getting the ball out to those weapons. And I think they're going to need, if it's Kirk for a team, they're going to need a great offensive line, a great defensive line. Because it's not Joe Burrow.

It's not Jalen Hurts. It's not any of these guys that give your team a chance, no matter who you put out there. Well, I also think that it is a function fundamentally of kirk cousins uh do you guys have a guess how many scrambles kirk cousins has this year two the answer is zero he does not have a single scramble all season long which i mean i wouldn't want him to because you would get him hurt potentially or whatever you want to avoid that there was one negated by a pen but we're nitpicking yeah i was like gosh i thought i remembered him running once but yeah it's a point being maybe there was maybe there was one and it just didn't go down on the pff

thing because i think it was a penalty that negated it oh that could be it well there was the time vita vea destroyed his own linebacker i thought that that was a Kirk run. Okay. So maybe it is, maybe it is too. And they missed that, but, uh, either way, like there, when you are wrong on the offensive line, he never makes you right. And so we saw that from Herbert where Herbert in the, and I, it was super impressive in this game, how he played, but the protection broke down around him and he watched Jordan Hicks. And when Jordan Hicks went with the running back on a route, he just ran. And that's something that just does not happen with Kirk Cousins. So he never makes you right. He never escapes.

He's never making a play on the move like the third and 17 where Herbert's rolling to his left. And it was hard not to watch Herbert and go, there's all that's missing, like the raw talent wise. And I think that that leads to inconsistencies it leads to mediocre third down performance and i also think that one of the things the chargers did that impressed me so much was they just got a bucket like they just oh let's get seven yards here on first down little hitch boom seven yards like here's a little

slant seven yards. And the Vikings offense just doesn't seem to be built that way. It's like, let's send Jefferson down the field and get him big plays and explosives. But sometimes that leads to, if that didn't work on first or second down, you're just kind of out of luck. Right. And so I think it's kind of built for big plays as opposed to a San Francisco where it's like short yards after catch, short yards after catch. And I'd like to see more of that because I think that could be a little more consistent at times than just aiming for these like 20 yard passes.

Yeah. The charges were just on schedule the whole time. There were no negative plays. There weren't a lot of third and longs. It was the third and 17 and Herbert makes an unbelievable play to kind of throw back across to the middle and and find a guy um yeah this viking scene i think they want to to do that and find them that's why they want to get the running game going they opened with five consecutive runs and it worked well and

they were driving and then the uh the turnover monster reared its ugly head again and tj hodkinson lost the football but just big picture with with Kirk Cousins stuff, like the window for having a team that could win with Kirk Cousins and having the roster talent around him was like 2017 to 2019. He wasn't on the team in 2017. If he had been, I mean, no discredit to Case Keenum and everything he did that year, but maybe they go even further.

I don't know. They probably weren't good enough to beat the Eagles in that game. 2018, they had weird things where they had DeFilippo and they tried to throw the ball a million times. 2019, I thought, still had a potential to be a really good team. That was the last – I mentioned the stat. That was the last time they won a game by 17 points, and they won a few of them that year.

I remember there was a Chargers game that year where they won by like 30 and they just looked really, really dominant in that game. That team had great talent on defense. You were still, that was Diggs last year. You still had Diggs and Thielen. It was just the offensive line wasn't quite good enough and they got buried in the trenches against Chicago and against Green Bay and against the 49ers in the divisional round. And since then, Rick, I mean, Rick Spielman did not realize that the window had closed and he tried to extend it. And I don't know if that was coming down from, from the Wilfster or whatever, but they tried to keep it open and it wasn't open. And that led to what you saw in 2020 and 2021. And then, you know, they changed regimes and they tried to kind of reopen the window. And they did as well as they possibly could have last season to win 13 games.

But it was still a fundamentally flawed team. The roster talent was not there around Kirk Cousins. If you're going to have this level of roster talent, you need to have a Justin Herbert type quarterback. So either there's no either. You don't keep Kirk Cousins and try to build that back up. It's not going to happen while he's 36, 37, 38, getting paid a similar amount. So you have to find the quarterback, and then from there start to build the roster up

and have it catch up with the quarterback. How do you feel about the screen game? I think Wasey might agree with you because there's a reason why the Vikings did not want to give Kirk a third guaranteed year. Their contract negotiations fell apart this offseason because Kirk wanted three years, two additional to this, and the team would only do one additional to this. So they decided, all right, well, maybe that changes after this year. Maybe they somehow re-fall in love with Kirk and decide to give him that kind of security.

But to your point, they do not want to enter into any kind of longer commitment with him because yeah, this is the twilight of his career. And as we see Matt, this roster is not set up, uh, to compete at the level they need to around him. I just love that short past conversation turned into a massive will rant about how they had their window closed in 2009. I'm not breaking any news there. I was just, I was just thinking about it and thinking about the Herbert Kirk dynamic. No, there's nothing you said that I disagreed with. I just thought it was funny.

It was just like, you know, Herbert had that one run for 10 yards and then they got rid of his Xavier Rhodes and then the ball Joseph and they never replaced him in the 2022 draft is like, okay, well, all right,

we're good. So anyway, you guys think they'll win the game or what well not to victory lap but i i was the only one to pick the charges last week i think i was just uh you know thinking that the bad vibes were going to continue and i i turned out to be right that you could have easily won that game obviously i'm not going to be bold enough to pick a panthers win here but i also can't just sit here and say Oh yeah, this will be easy It's a get-right game They'll finally win the game by 17 points

I just have a feeling they find a way To mess up And have Brian Burns Get a strip sack or Derek Brown Blow something up or just something weird happens And we're talking about a close-ish game In the second half I think they find a way to win

Because Kirk Cousins and it's Bryce Young in the third game of his career, but I don't expect it to be just an easy, comfortable ride. When is the last game that we had? I really mean this because I can't think of one where we were like, oh, yeah, well, they should, and then they did. What is the last actual football game? And then they did like well what is the last actual football game and then they just not that they lost them all but they made it easy they just

dominated so thinking like last year okay chicago week 18 that doesn't that doesn't count they were tanking but like we thought they should really plow arizona that didn't happen they hung around chicago with justin fields almost ran for a 60 yard touchdown, except for his Amir Smith. Marsad held like when was it wasn't last year, maybe 21, probably not 20. It might've been 2019.

I don't know. It doesn't happen that much. Can you think, when is the last one? Like, is it? No, I mean,

it's, it's been a while since, yeah, you said the last 17 point win was how, how long ago? It was that chargers 29 pointpoint win in 2019, I believe. That was the Phillip Rivers seven-turnover game, right? So yeah, it doesn't happen, and I don't think it's going to be Sunday.

To your point, the only thing I'm confident in is that it won't be easy, whether it's a tough win or a tough loss. It's going to be some kind of close game. I have to think Brian Flores can find a way to beat Bryce Young. And that's the matchup I keep going back to. And I understand Kirk is probably going to get harassed by this pass rush. I just have a hard time seeing the Panthers put up the 20 plus points that's going to be needed to win this game. And you feel good about their absolute best player is bright um brian burns yeah

and you have christian derrissaw to kind of mitigate that i'm gonna go for it i'm gonna i'm gonna take a swing here oh no a win four no no no no big win okay i'm going even more bold okay isn't it more bold to predict a big win a big win is more bold than a loss yeah i'm going for it i'm gonna say they win like 21 to 3 or something like that 24 to 6 i'm gonna say they blow them out because bryce young has nobody to throw to and he turns the ball over four times and uh the season is back on that's gonna be my if they do that then there's at least intrigue and you can at least say all right you got to get to two and five because you're not you know i don't think they're beating the chiefs or 49ers you gotta beat the bears obviously then you gotta go you gotta go to lambo and that's like continue your season yes or no if you lose

that game you're done if you win that game you're three and five and then the schedule is like you could rip off a winning streak theoretically it's like atlanta new orleans uh vegas chicago denver who looks horrible like It's possible. If they lose this weekend and they go to 0-4, I say we just talk about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey the whole show next week. Oh, yeah, they could be here. Well, one of them will be. Travis will be here.

I don't think Taylor will be here. Actually, Travis is not showing up. Taylor will be in his place. She could play tight end and the Chiefs might still win the game. Holmes to Swift. Yeah, she put on a good show. People got real mad when I said that US Bank Stadium was loud during her show.

How dare you? It was a really good show. Anyway, well, thanks Will. Thanks Andrew. This is improved lighting, by the way. Shout out to TCO Performance Center that gives us a nice space that just was never designed for actually videotaping it.

So thanks, everybody, for listening slash watching. And we will do this again next week. And we'll see what the vibes are at that point. Later, everybody.