Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings are making Jeremiah Sirles nervous

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

Matthew Coller and former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Sirles get together to talk about the comeback win over the Colts and the reason Kevin O'Connell is focusing on some of the errors that led them to a 33-0 deficit. Why Sirles is worried that some of their lapses are going to end up catching up with them, halftime adjustments and why Duke Shelley should keep playing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to another episode of purple insider matt to collar here and it is a tuesday morning left guard with jeremiah searles who is prepared to recap a very normal football game that we all watched on saturday with very normal reactions to that and no one texted anybody else at halftime and said they weren't going to watch anymore. That definitely didn't happen. Jeremiah, what's going on, buddy? Oh, you know, just trying to figure life out again on a Tuesday after an absolute wild freaking –

that was what, Saturday? That was Saturday, right? I was in Oklahoma crane hunting, shooting Sandhill cranes, and I told everyone, I was like, dude, we've got to watch this game. We've got to come back and watch. It's going to be a fun game. At halftime, they're all like, hey, loser, we're turning this off and watching Jackson State play against North Carolina Central or whatever.

And we did. We literally turned it off. And then all of a sudden I saw across the ticker at the bottom, it was like 21-36, and I was like, no, there's no way this happens. And we turned it back on and got to watch an absolute hell of a finish. But my gosh, that first 30 minutes of football made me want to just gouge my eyeballs out. I know.

Look, I am going to admit here. I have not wanted to talk a whole lot about the first half of that football game, because why would anyone want to listen to a discussion about the first half of that football game? As miserable as it is. I think that it's a very easy to,

you know, dismiss what happened there by saying look you came back and some of it was random and i would agree with that like a blocked punt a long kick return and some of the stuff was just weird um but then with the comeback like there's a million different ways to look at it you can look at it as they found some things that haven't been there all year like osborne and the screen game, which we've been railing against for the entire season. Or you can also look at it and say, yeah, when a team is up 33, you're usually going to put up a bunch of stats. You just normally don't have enough time to finish the job. So it's not that shocking that they were moving the ball

and scoring touchdowns. What's really shocking is that they just were able to continue to do it and do it and do it and not get stopped. But I guess I look at kind of where this fits within the bigger picture is the team is never out of it. I mean, that's the one thing you have to say is that because they have so many players like Patrick Peterson, who gave the halftime speech said just score five touchdowns and everyone went like, I guess so.

And then they did it, uh, you know, Peterson Nostradamus or whatever. Uh, but, um, you know, I think that in the bigger context of it, having done this already in Buffalo, having won a lot of these close games, the tension that you feel in the playoffs will certainly not be foreign to this team. They will be well-prepared for all of the most anxious moments that are to come in the playoffs will certainly not be you know foreign to this team they will be well prepared for all of the most anxious moments that are to come in the postseason you know i agree with you the thing that i'm really impressed about with this team too is their ability to have adversity hit and then the ability to like not take a loss in order to correct it you know it's adversity's hitting in real time you know you

mentioned buffalo you mentioned against um against this week as well and it's like it hits and then it's not like oh they had to lose watch tape be humbled come back you know the to talk to leadership the adjustment in real time especially with a first year head coach has been really really good um that helps a long way my only issue with that is if you don't have those adjustments made and you're not ready to roll out the gate you're playing playoff teams there is no 30 point comeback you're playing you're playing the eagles you're playing the cowboys you're playing um even the commanders looked competent the other night you know like those things you can't have block punts. You can't have those things.

This team wasn't ready to play. And I'm going to start on the first half for this podcast because I think it's really important. It's really easy for us to say, look at what Ola did. And like with the first half, there was a glaring issue, which was the Colts came out ready to play and the Vikings did not. And whether that's because they thought they were just going to steamroll the Colts or they just thought this was a tune-up game or whatever, I hope that was a very humbling experience for a lot of these guys

because that cannot happen the rest of the year. You have to show up every single game ready to roll from the word go because this team is way too talented to squander away a playoff opportunity because they just weren't ready. Because physically, mentally, whatever it was, you weren't prepared for when the game is kicked off, all cylinders rolling. You know, and a lot of that came from poor management on defense, you know, giving up too much stuff on first down, too many holes in the run game. I mean, they were gashing us early in the run game with Zach Moss.

And then all of a sudden on offense, we just seemed like we were sleepwalking out there. Receivers weren't wanting Chris Routes. The offensive line wasn't blowing guys off the ball. You know, Kirk was kind of all over the place i just didn't understand what happened in that first half to not have us be ready to go and that's really frustrating and hard for me to see when you are in a team in your own control destiny have taken the two seed a chance at the one seed you know there's still so much out there i just don't understand where this lax of preparation came from this week well not only that but you they had gone to Detroit and had a bad loss,

a two-score loss to the Lions in which they kind of got shredded on defense, and they spent the whole week talking about like, okay, we got to dial in here. We got to get this division taken care of and make all these defensive fixes. And I did see some different things on the all 22 tape that they did differently. One of them was blitz. And I think, you know, O'Connell's been saying we need to play tighter coverage. I think they did, but also Matt Ryan was not going to beat you. And these receivers weren't going to beat you either. So we'll see how tighter coverage plays out.

I don't know that the giants, or I don't know that any of the remaining teams are really going to challenge them. So that's, that is a weird thing in itself is how you evaluate the defensive changes and whether they're successful. But I thought that it was disturbing that they didn't move the ball on offense, that they just came out and made kind of a bunch of mistakes, but also gave up yardage. And they made Matt Ryan look good. I mean, I tweeted out in the first half, like, Hey, 2016, Matt Ryan arrived. He kind of made a couple of real good throws there. And it was like, wait, is this the fixed defense that the Vikings have?

Now, I got a question from a listener about this, about halftime adjustments. Now, I've always thought that halftime isn't long enough to like, all right, everybody, let's redo the entire game plan anybody got some dirt for me to draw up some plays you know uh but you've been in those locker rooms at halftime when you're losing in a game i how much can be done like is there something that they might have done to adjust or did they just wake the bleep up i know i think for this game specifically i think they just woke up, you know, but what historically halftime adjustments look like or more along the lines

of like, all right, here's what we thought the coverage they were going to play on a standard first, second down. Here's what they are playing. So that means that these plays are out, these plays are out, these plays are out, and these plays get elevated to the top of the call sheet, you know, or like, Hey, in the run game, this has looked really good. So we're going to get going to get back to this or we're going to put this you know it's a lot more of just kind of adjusting where the plays are called not necessarily installing brand new plays because you're right there's no time for that but there's a lot of times like hey this was a third tier play that we thought coming into this game but based off of the base defense coverage that they're running or the base defensive front that they're running this now is a really good play with numbers angles whatever it is you know so I think there might have been a little bit of

that you know there might have been like hey this is they're they're not sitting back and playing uh they're not blitzing anymore in the second half right so we can get to more of the zone beaters versus the man beaters um in the in the play action schemes or whatever it is you know so those kind of are what the adjustments look like but also it's more just along the lines of a kind of a reset you know when the things are going off the rails which in the first half nothing was going right like you couldn't stop the bleeding it just was completely off the rails and so halftime gives you kind of a second to get in there and you know take a big deep breath allow things to reset and then just kind of really be like okay everyone it's the age old saying what hates like zero zero it's zero zero but it really kind of is a new game you know it

gives you a chance to go out there be like okay let's just start over see what we can do and chip away at this thing and versus I think that Indy's offensive and I think Indy's halftime looked very different you know you talk about how hard it is to win in the NFL. It's equally as hard to handle winning in the NFL. You know, Indy walked in the locker room and I'm sure they all kind of looked around like, what's happening? Is this really like, how do we keep doing this? And I think they shelled up in a bad way. And that starts with Jeff Saturday not knowing what to do as a head coach. Guy was a phenomenal center in the NFL, but doesn't mean you get to wear the HC on the ball cap.

You know, so I think for the big thing is just them. They went in there and panicked and shelled and said, OK, let's just we're not going to change anything that we're doing. Everything we're doing right now is working. So we're just not going to change it. And that came out and completely bit them in the ass versus the Vikings were able to say, OK, look at what we did. What's what's better? What's worse? Get back to this.

Get back to that. And all cylinders go. And you just completely saw the paradigm completely shift in the second half yeah one of the funny things about the second half is that matt ryan throwing the ball between 10 and 19 yards so the intermediate passes was actually really really good in that game that they found open receivers over the middle of the field. They created a couple of explosive plays through those intermediate passes, little play actions and things like that. And it seemed like they were just afraid to throw it anywhere except for picking a random bomb down the sideline from their own two yard line. It's just like, what is happening over there? And that that's just always how it's got to go. Like one team has to completely

melt down to have a comeback like that and give the vikings credit for taking advantage but like you mentioned i don't think anybody is wrong for saying hey uh you better not fall down 33 or show up like that to a playoff game i mean if washington comes, their defense is not giving you 39 points in a half plus overtime. It's just not going to happen because Indianapolis' defense, it's got some talent, but they were missing a couple corners. They completely stopped blitzing because they have no idea what they're doing. And again, I don't think Ron Rivera is going to have no idea what he's doing.

None of the coaches in the playoffs. It's just going to be a completely different ball game. So if you're looking at the accumulation of the last five games for them, where you had the loss against Dallas, the bounce back against New England, which was good, but the loss against Detroit, the barely win against the New York Jets. I know I have the wrong order. And then what happened here, the overall accumulation of that is there's some things that they're doing that are clearly better on offense, I think, since the New England game. And there are also some things as a whole that remain pretty concerning for who they are as an overall team for their strength in the playoffs.

Yeah, you know, at this point, we were hoping to have more answers than questions about this team. And I think that in the last five weeks, it's completely gone the other way. There's way more glaring issues than there is staples. You have 18. I can't tell you the anxiety I felt in my chest when I watched 18 laying face down on the ground. It literally was like season's over. In the back of my mind, I was like, if he doesn't get up, we're done for. Playoffs, it doesn't matter.

And so when you have that much riding on a guy like 18, and then you look at the rest of the team, you're like, man, there's too many issues at DB. There's too many issues on defensive line. I'm starting in my own brain to think, is this team not even going to have a shot at contending at a Super Bowl? Yes, I know we're going to be a 13 14 win team yes I know we won the division but when you literally take a big step out of Viking fan world and look at the big NFL picture like

you're not mentioning the Viking when you're talking about juggernauts and chances to take and to go win it and whether that's right or wrong and people say we're underdogs and they're not giving us enough credit like it's just really hard for me when I watch teams that are elite I mean and yes they all a lot of teams stumbled this weekend sure but like it's just a different type of football when you're watching these teams execute versus watching the way that especially on the defensive side of the ball for Minnesota the way that they execute and it's always that defense wins championships. I just don't know if I feel comfortable believing that this defense

is capable of bringing a championship to Minnesota. Offensively, I think we can because of the stuff you said we fixed. I just don't know if defensively this team has it. Yeah, and you really don't get an idea from that game. The weirdest stat from that game by far is that they only allowed one offensive touchdown to the Colts that it's the Colts I mean yeah right right no that's the thing and the Colts still racked up a good amount of yardage and in the first half they still moved the ball pretty successfully and so I can't sit here and say that all problems are

solved um that. That's the interesting interpretation of this game that I think people end up in one category or another. You either watch that and said, we can't be stopped. Team of destiny. If they can do this, then they can do anything. And I'm willing to buy into some of that I mean like considering the players they have the talent they have but also I yeah I mean I think that you'd be sticking your head pretty deep in the sand to not acknowledge how some of this has had to look in recent weeks even though the win against the Jets you you absolutely earned it that W lives forever and the same thing with Indianapolis but you go,

that's Mike White, that's Matt Ryan, that like neither one of those teams will probably be in the playoffs. And I mean, even the, the, the Patriots win, you're like that team probably isn't going to end up in the post season. So, you know, you might look around and go, wait, how many playoff teams did we beat one in Buffalo when they had to fumble at the goal line, you know, that kind of thing. And, and I think that there's going to be a lot of anxiety when wait, how many playoff teams did we beat? One in Buffalo when they had to fumble at the goal line, you know, that kind of thing. And I think that there's going to be a lot of anxiety when it gets to the playoffs for the Vikings of, okay, like both the team and the fans, now you have to really prove this

because there isn't a Jeff Saturday here to bail you out. Maybe in the first round, it'll be a flawed team like the New York Giants or the Seattle Seahawks. But if man Campbell walks in here again with those Detroit Lions, I mean, you're going to wonder, are you, are you really for real? And the thing about these last couple of games, Jeremiah is, I don't know if we can find out anything more.

I think we kind of know everything there is to know. And now it's just, let's see how these last couple games play out to who they're going to play and the seeding and everything else because I don't think we can walk out of the Giants or Packers or Bears game and go, oh, yeah, well, actually, this is completely different. I think we can walk out of those games with a lot more confidence, but I think we could equally walk out of those games with a lot more concern. I lean more towards the concern side because you go,

you go do what you're supposed to do in those games. And I think all of us are going to be like, okay, that's the play. But if it just keeps being kind of this same, like scratch and clawed out against these last three teams, like doesn't instill a bunch of confidence going into the playoffs. And I've been, I've been saying it for three weeks now, like you ramp yourself up into the playoffs you build and you build and I don't know if it's just going to take one game of us really kind of

getting over the dam of where we put a complete game together but I don't even want to see blow outs anymore I just want to see efficient football and you know the second half for the full team was obviously efficient football but I want to see a fully efficient game I mean punting special teams offense defense run game screen game pass game sacks turnovers kind of getting back to that what we were the first eight games of the season as we get down the stretch here especially when you're playing against teams that you're not fighting for your division you're not fighting you're still fighting for the two seed but this is a great time of year to just really just let it all out there and just let it go. But I just I worry about it, man.

And I don't know if it's just my my skepticism of former player looking at what I can believe, what I know and see in the NFL, or if it's just me trying to just pick apart a good thing, which I've been known to do, too. It's like, hey, they're winning. Let it happen. Let it be. Let it go do their thing. I just really look at it like I want them to win the Super Bowl. Like, can this team win the Super Bowl? And then I watch teams like Kansas City, and I watch teams like Buffalo and the Eagles, and it's like I just don't know if I see the same thing.

I just don't know if I see the same tenacity. I just don't know if I see the same completeness. You know, you look at the Eagles' defensive line. They're ones. They're twos. They're incredible. the same completeness. You know, you look at the Eagles defensive line, their ones, their twos, they're, they're incredible. You know, I just see such drop-offs from our depth for the Minnesota Vikings, which is where I struggle to believe that we're really going to make it. But at the same time, finding ways to win in the NFL, it's hard to do and they're finding ways to do it. So

I will never discredit this team of their being able chance to find a way to win. I just worry that if we stumble even a little bit at the beginning of a game, our chances of being able to come back against some of these playoff contender teams, not these lower level giant or like Jets, Colts, you know, teams that were just more talented. Then I just worry about our ability to control a football game up front defensively. Hey, can we stop them running the ball if they're up by 10? You know, can we get the ball back? Or, hey, we stop them running the ball if they're up by 10 you know can we get the ball back or hey we're down by 14 can we really throw the ball all over the yard and come back from 14 points down against playoff caliber teams I guess for me that just leaves me a lot to be kind of

decided undecided about it's the most wonderful time of the year folks and what I mean is that time where you put liquid death in your family's stockings just to see their reactions. No seriously I know you guys have heard me talk a lot about liquid death for weeks now but it's become 50-50 in my household with soda which is something I never thought would happen. The biggest thing is that it comes in a tall boy can and this mountain water tastes fantastic when it is ice cold out of the fridge plus i appreciate their care for the environment liquid death is bringing an end to plastic bottles one can at a time plus they donate 10 of profits to end plastics that don't get recycled check out

liquiddeath.com slash insider or go to hy-v whole 7-Eleven or see where you can get Liquid Death at liquiddeath.com slash insider. And yes, it does fit in a stocking. Well, and I also wonder, like, can you get ahead by two touchdowns and keep a lead with your offense? Because we haven't seen them do that either there have been a lot of games where they've been up against Chicago up against Arizona and you know up against the Jets by a couple scores and it just ends up not mattering and that's the other part of it to me like could I see a playoff game where they play the Seahawks or the Giants who I don't have a whole lot of respect for as like overall quality teams. And they get up two scores and then they let somehow Saquon or something

or somehow Geno Smith like come back in the game and stick around and make it to the very end. And at some point you won't win every single game that happens at the very end. So that's where you want to see the second half of that game, the second half in Detroit where your offense and your passing game is really cooking, you want to see that from the outset as opposed to, hey, it's happening when we're down in the game.

And it's kind of been the story for years with Kirk Cousins and the Vikings. It's just this time they finished the job at the end of the games where, say, last year maybe Cousins got eight chances to win a game at the end, and he won four, which is what you'd expect, and they end up missing the playoffs, where this year he's gotten seven chances, and he's won all seven. That normally doesn't happen, and it definitely doesn't happen every time when you're playing good teams week after week after week. So where I'd love to see them start against the Giants and against the Packers

and against the Bears if they play starters is I mean how about that offense right off the jump which they have had some success with this year but then continue to keep the gas pedal down stay aggressive Kevin O'Connell I think there's times where even O'Connell has been like let's short pass like let's try to hold on to the ball a little bit here get our defense arrest I think think it's gotta be like all gas, no breaks for this offense the rest of the way. But I do think it's interesting from your perspective that you're kind of shook by this still what happened that people would expect the guy who played to be like, yeah, us go us go win.

And even like your texts on Saturday or just your face right now, it's just like very, very shooketh by this. It's just, it's not something, I mean, you can't go down by 30 points and then even if you go back and win, you can't feel good about that. And it's a weird thing to say. And I know that like, yes, they feel good about finding a way to win, but you can't feel good about the way you started that game, especially when you're looking around the league.

Like the Colts have gotten dog stomped by a lot of football teams the Jets have gotten dog stomped by a lot of football teams you know I think for me it's just a combination of the shookethness of what this team looks like because again I'm not looking at it from a woo we won I'm looking from a contender at the Super Bowl lens you know I want to look at that and the if you win the Super Bowl you are a complete team from A to Z and when you are having so many questions about what is complete and what is not in this team or who's healthy who's hurt and all these things it just worries me for and I hate even saying that like are we gonna get bounced in the first round you know like because I think that's a realistic expectation for some but I think this team's so talented I don't want it to be and that's the problem is I'm

in this constant fight in my own brain of like no this team is really good and they have a chance at making a run and then there's this little man in the back of my brain's like they're gonna get bounced in the first you know and like so I have this complete conflict going back and forth in me and I just can't find myself on either side of the fence and this team's not helping me instill confidence on either side with the way that these games are going you know Kevin O'Connell's having the same problem as you yes he is if you listen to his press conferences which of course I was on his yesterday and then there after the game and even with Kevin O'Connell he did not want to go full, like

no one believed in us and we're the best and, you know, put the rings on our fingers at this moment. I mean, he multiple times said like, there's a lot we have to look at. In fact, we have to look way more at that first half to find out what happened than we do at the second half. So I think that your mentality as a player is very similar to his as a former player and a head coach where it's like, okay, but all that stuff really scares me. And you've seen it really in his face all season long. And if it reminds me of anything, it's just the case Keenum thing where specifically we knew that that team was super talented. The number one defense, good running game, elite receivers, all that sort of stuff. But the one big question mark that rested over everything was, are the wheels going to come off case Keenum? And every single week,

Mike Zimmer was so nervous about it. And he said some regrettable things about case Keenum along the way. And I mean, just, I mean, you can't say that a guy has a horseshoe around his neck, man. Like, uh, you know, you just not, that's not going to incite belief for anybody, but, um, I did think the team kind of rallied against Zimmer when it came to that sort of thing. But, uh, it was, it was just interesting that he wasn't alone though. Like everybody felt that way like is the is the thing gonna happen here where the backup quarter you're seeing it with Gino a little bit Gino Smith they have to be nervous in Seattle like oh no our our backup quarterback career backup is 500 again you know

that kind of thing uh and I think the same thing exists not for Kirk or not for Jefferson or Zadarius or any of these things but just just as an overall team, like when you have magic, it always has a tendency to run out. It certainly doesn't have to. That's why they have to be a better team over the last few games and into the playoffs than they've been for the most of the season. But that just is kind of the, the inertia of the league is that magic eventually is magic because it's not sustainable and that's the thing that i think you even see the anxiety in kevin o'connell when he's talking to us i you

you nailed it you couldn't have said any better you know i think everyone feels it no one wants to admit it but everyone's just saying we'll just keep riding this thing till it dies but eventually eventually it comes to your players making plays. And you can have all the matches in the world, but I mean, having Harrison Smith back was so big. So, so big. I mean, you're starting to get guys, Dalvin Tomlinson starting to round back out into form

where he's kind of back to 100%, not 80 or 85, you know? So getting those guys back, Derrissaw coming back, huge. You know, so I think a lot of the magic too is like, we were able to win those games without those guys back, Derrissaw coming back, huge. You know, so I think a lot of the magic, too, is like we were able to win those games without those guys. And those guys can all kind of sprinkle their own type of fairy dust on to keep the magic alive because they're so good. You know, so yes, Kevin O'Connell feels it. I think I feel it.

I think all Viking fans feel it, but don't want to admit it. But you just have to understand that this team has to play perfect to win against really good teams. And that worries me because when you're playing against playoff caliber teams that have ability to overcome mistakes, that's fine. Now we've overcome mistakes against non playoff teams besides the bills. You know, the bills is kind of the one thing where it's like they went out there, but I mean, that was the best game I've seen the Vikings play all year from, from start to finish. That was one of the best games I've watched them play all year you know and so it worries me because when you talk about the ability to

overcome and adapt yeah that's great that you know how to do that but do we have the personnel to do it against the Dallas Cowboys that beat us by 40 do we have the personnel to do it against the Eagles who are just a complete team and those are the guys we're facing we're no longer facing the colts and that's for me the the i don't know if we have enough depth or enough personnel to overcome mistakes that we've been making over the last five weeks yeah and uh i mean i i do want to ask you about the resting players or not resting players um take as well but let me get in a little bit in the weeds here just like actually super in the weeds you think they should just keep playing duke

shelly yes i think so too i don't know why you wouldn't yeah the guy's been making plays he plays his balls off i mean the effort that that guy gives is you don't always see it on the tv copy but if you turn on the all 22, that dude is running all over the field. Like he is always in the frame. He's always around the ball, whether it's a pass on the other side of the field, whatever. And that is contagious.

When you have a guy that is a scrapper and a claw and just happy to be there on the team out there, just given all kinds of effort, it's contagious around the whole defense, you know? So I think you got to stick with Shelly I think you you keep him in there um and because he's just making plays I also think that he might just understand we're supposed to do better than Cam Dantzler uh this defense might not be a fit for Cam Dantzler he might just be more of a press man

guy than he is like having to make a lot of reads and decisions and things like that. But Duke Shelley has six PBUs this year. And I mean, that's crazy because Patrick Peterson has nine and leads the team and is one of the top in the league. Like it's not easy to get a lot of past breakups and Duke Shelley seems to be aggressive and make plays on the ball without getting flagged so far this year. And that's another way, by the way, the Vikings, you know, came out with a lot of complaints after that game,

but they didn't end up on the bad side of flags. They did on some fumbles, but not so much flags this year. So you hope that that doesn't run out either with as aggressive as someone like Duke Shelley plays and he's undersized. But referees clearly from the Washington game don't know what pass interference is either because I've never seen a man climb on another man's back and ride him like you would do with your child

and then not get called for pass interference. That one's up there with the Saints one from a few years back. Those ones are equally egregious. The Saints one's still 1A, but that's a 1b one for sure just a total total side note though I mean you should be able to review certain things that are not reviewable I thought they were going on the right path with pass interference I also think the forward progress thing I get where it's sort of the, well, you know, we made this call with the forward progress, but I also think like, why can't we look at anything? Why can't we look at a, uh, you know,

if you, if you hit the quarterback too hard and fell on it with too much of your right butt cheek or something like what, why can't we look at almost anything? Because I thought if you could see that Michael Pittman jr. Was still moving forward with his forward progress I understand why you can't say the guy picked it up and ran it for a touchdown because if everyone stopped playing like okay well that's fine you're going to run everything for a touchdown but with forward progress with pass interference like these things are costing people games and that weird call with Terry McLaurin every receiver every play checks with the referee and to then throw the flag was super, super bizarre. Uh, that's, that's going down a different rabbit

hole than I want it to go. But I was blown away by the reffing in Vikings Colts. And then just across the league. I mean, you have to, it's just amazing to me year after year, after year, that this is always ends up being a discussion and never seems to get better. No. And I don't know if it ever will until there's some form of accountability and i don't know i don't have an answer for what the best form of account if people like find them i was like how much money you think these guys make like like and honestly and then you start adding fines in there people are gonna be more scared to make calls like and i get that there's certain calls that are quote judgment calls right it's like the idea of the umpire in baseball, right? You can never be pro.

It's part of the game like but there's a thing of being part of the game when it used to be so obvious what the fouls were, you know, I think that was much different from a referee standpoint of like a hold is a hold, you know, pass interference is pass interference rough in the passer when you just rip a guy's head off and punch him in the face like personal foul. or when you just rip a guy's head off and punch him in the face like personal foul but now the the goal posts have shifted so much of what is allowed and what is not allowed that it's hard to say we'll just review it because it's such a judgment call and every ref is going to see it from a different perspective and if even if it's like let's kick it back to new york and see what

they say like no ref in new york's gonna be like that ref was wrong in real time like it's really easy like they review it be like oh he should have called it you know but real time with millions of eyes watching like it's just they won't do that to each other I don't think a reffing crew or a reffing union or whatever it is like they're not going to sit there and just bash you on in real time even if it was like you know the for the catches and the touchdowns like those are always pretty obvious these calls are just not obvious. I mean, they are to us in slow motion, but I also think that because they've moved the rules so much, these refs don't know what they're looking for half the time.

I just wish that they would put somebody up in the booth and communicate with them the whole game. Like, you know, just have someone up there and then have stuff that happens be reviewable. I mean, the pass interference thing, I thought they were almost there with it, that they screwed it up from the outset. Everybody hated it, but then they were almost there. And then they just trashed something that was probably important. Because if you're Washington and you could have reviewed that, it would have easily been overturned as pass interference. The guy was up on both shoulders, ready to piggyback him all the way home.

I mean, it was an easy, easy call. And you know, that changes that could, that play right there could change who the Vikings end up playing in the playoffs and a lot of different things with just that. So that was kind of just like a side rant because that Vikings Colts game,

the refs lost complete control of what was going on out there and botched so many things that you're like, I don't even, I don't even know because Colts reporters were asking the, the Jeff Saturday about the flags and stuff. And the Vikings are like, Hey, didn't you take two touchdowns off the board for us? There were fumbles and like I, everybody went home mad. So I guess it's equal, but yeah, that was that. Anyway, that was a side rant. I want your, I want your opinion though, on playing guys to the end

of the year based on the seating, because I think, you know, I'm going to have more on this too, from an analytical type of approach, but just from a player perspective, would you rather just play every single game or would you rather get the rest in going into the playoffs? I think it's very much dependent on age of player. I think once you reach a point where the seating is pretty much set, you know, I think if you got a guy that's in six plus, you rest him. You know, I think if it's a guy that's six and under, then you get him that meaningful playing experience here at the end of the year. You know, you only get so many shots a year at playing live bullet football. And so if he's a starter and he's a guy that's a young player, you play him through the end because you don't want him to get a chance to take a deep breath.

You know, when you're a young player, you just got to stay underwater. You just got to grind. You just got to understand what it is to make a run and understand what it takes to really be in it. If you're a veteran guy, that's been there, done that a guy like Peterson, or even a guy like, I would say even a guy like Brian O'Neill, you know, that's been in the playoffs multiple times or Kirk cousins, like those guys need a rest because their body are beat up, you know? So I'm very dependent on age of player, what it looks like, but also if the one seed for even a second of a doubt is out there for you, you got to push for it. You have to push for it no matter what. And with Jalen Hurts getting hurt and maybe not playing this week, you know, there's chances that they do falter and they stub their toe kind of like the Vikings have. So I think if the one

seeds ever, ever, ever in like in reach, you go for it like hell. But if you have two locked up and you're good, you rest your older vets. Folks, you have just days left before Christmas, so make sure you're going to SodaStick.com to get all of your Minnesota sports-inspired goods. That's hats, T-shirts, hoodies, SodaStick.com. S-O-T-A-S-T-I-c-k.com use the promo code purple insider there for your last minute holiday shopping yeah i think if two is set then it's very a very easy choice it's just

that if it's not and san francisco can still to, which is very plausible, there's no debate for me about the number one seed. Then you get to rest people anyway. You have to take the big swing for that. If Philadelphia has to play Gardner Minshew, which it looks like they will. And if they lose, which they very could very well could then, you know,

maybe it's still in reach and you play it all the way to the end just to find out. And the whole conversation will be moot. But I think if it's between the two and the three last week when we when we talked about this a little bit, I sort of said like, oh, yeah, they'll take three. What's the difference? And I think that Kevin O'Connell, like he didn't play anybody in preseason, like he has found this to be very important. He did not, unlike a previous regime regime push guys out there when they're questionable uh questionable in previous years almost always meant you're playing because the

trainer is going to tell you you're fine but uh in this case um you know we saw garrett bradbury questionable and austin schlottman played instead and you know you know, we've seen, you know, some guys take that extra week, Christian Derrissaw after he was, you know, eligible to come back for the concussion protocol, he sat out one extra week. And I think that's been very smart knowing where they are. So I'm not, I'm not sure. And Kevin O'Connell, you could hear him going through the internal dialogue when I asked him the question, because he was like, yeah, I want to see some people get more reps, but we do have to take some plays off but we might want to fight for seating but we might not because it's just like because you got to win in the first round to get to the second so

it's a it's a I think a a really good problem to have for Kevin O'Connell but also a difficult decision for the head coach like this one it's this one's not on McVay man this is a call you have to make yeah and you know and it sets a precedent for years coming up you know if you if you set a precedent of like oh I rested guys now and then you lose in the playoffs then it's like I can't do that again next year or you know you rest guys and you win then it's like oh I have to do that next year you know it's just it's this is another one of those things where as a first year head coach he's lucky to find himself in these positions you know it's a blessing that he's been able to do so well,

and it's a testament to his hard work of why they've been able to be so good this year. But these are just hard decisions that you have to make when you wear HC on the hat. So I think for him, he's going to look at it from a very player-friendly perspective because that's how he's done everything throughout this year. But at the end of the day, you just have to make sure that you don't allow anyone on your team to take kind of just a little bit of a break you know if you're not playing you're still practicing you know if you're not playing you're still engaged you're on the sideline this isn't like because i think sometimes i look back at um what was it the giants where they all went down to on the bi-week and they all went down to the boat trip and got

like you know like there's some sense of when you kind of pull yourself out of the season and of the grind of the monotony of every day, like your body kind of has this tendency to take a, who we made it, you know, like, and that's where you have to fight against just human nature of how do we keep these guys involved and how do we keep their bodies in the routine and everything that's going, but also allow their bodies to take a break. And it's a hard thing. It's a really hard thing to do do especially for the younger guys which is why i said the older guys that have been through it understand it you just have to make sure you don't let your younger guys fall into that trap i mean once we drop tuesday morning left guard it's always like that it's just like there's that we made it we made it dude big build-up high climax take a breath hot hot takes duke shelly takes um screens we've been calling for

screens for weeks screen to win it i mean come on now i'm just saying that if the screen game actually works it's a big deal huge big it's a big deal that screen that they threw to cook i don't know like somebody asked earlier this year uh like a fan question hey do you think that they're saving some stuff for later i think no but i do think that uh if they were saving all the good screens for a moment's notice they found it in that game like delvin cook being used as part of the receiving game was such a big deal in 2019 i kind of like never let it go that they have not repeated it and that they waited until that moment to get it back but that needs to be a thing like that little it wasn't even the screen i mean the screen was amazing like as far as the execution and

cook's run and everything but there was like a little slant that he ran out of the slot or kind of like in a not quite aiffer, but sort of just like, like in a tight end position, almost I was like, Hey, that's a thing. He can do that. Like we saw him do that against Pittsburgh last year. We've seen him do it over the years where he kind of runs a little slant into the middle of the field and he's hard to stop at full speed, catching the ball in the middle of the field. So maybe they found something there as far as love to see it, hate to see it. I'm sure your hate to see it has to be the same as my hate to see it. Mack Jones trying to tackle Chandler Jones.

And you know what? Hey, here, if you want to know how you would look against an NFL player, if you tried to tackle them, that's what it would look like. You'd be like, I got them. I'm going to widen my stance. I'm going to go low. And then they would stuff your face into the turf and run right past you.

I couldn't believe that when I watched that. First of all, I was like, Bill Belichick's going to have an aneurysm on the side of the field and just kill someone. But then at the same time, I was like, is it his fault? And I was like, no, it's Matt Patricia's fault. It's Matt Patricia and Joe judge's fault that they're over there just jerking around, hanging out like, yeah, dude, make something happen. And then, you know, that they were like, Oh, not that don't make that happen. But I will say Jacoby Myers press conference after the game, he owned up to it, owned a mistake. And I have a lot of respect for

guys that do that. But honestly, my hate to see it is just how the Texans couldn't finish the job. You had them. You had the champs on the ropes. You had a chance to take your shot, and you just couldn't finish the job. And I, gosh dang it, I was watching that game like, come on, you can do it. Because I live in Nebraska. There's a bunch of just pretend Chief fans. So I wanted nothing more than just be like the Texans.

You let the Texans beat you, but I just hate that they couldn't finish the job. I'll throw out another hate to see it, which is you hate to see that Brett Rippin put up more points than Russell Wilson has all year. You just hate to see it. Not more money. Not more money. 164 million guaranteed and brett

boise state ripping comes out and puts up more points i i don't know what more to say other than you just hate to see that yeah and i mean george payton somewhere the gm for the broncos is finding a hole to crawl in and live in for the next six years. I mean, yeah, it was just like, who wouldn't have made that move? If you were George Payton and someone called you and said, hey, do you think you'd want like Russell Wilson? Yeah. And yet it turns out that Teddy Bridgewater was a way better quarterback for them than Russell Wilson.

Like who would have thought that that would be the case? You know, I'm going to go with the love to see it. And that's that Mike Williams is back in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers. He is so fun to watch. He is arguably one of the best 50-50 ball receivers to go up and get it. And with Herbert back there as the gunslinger, that can just be like he's down there somewhere. And him to just go up and just absolutely moss people and

use that big frame he's one of my favorite receivers to watch that team is sneaky very good if they can get somewhat healthy before the end of the year i mean i have never seen a team in the nfl get decimated with injuries like that besides the team i was on in 2016 you know where it's just like game after game you're someone else is down key guy down get a guy back he re-inversed himself like if that chargers team can guy down, get a guy back, he re-intervenes himself. Like, if that Chargers team can get healthy and get Bosa back, Keenan's coming back into form, Mike Williams is coming back into form, they get a couple of their old linemen back,

and they find some serviceable D linemen, that team could make a run. You know, I think that there's a chance they could still sneak into the playoffs, if I recall, that that'd be much the team in the AFC that's like, you don't want to run into that football team when they're clicking, because that's a fun team to watch. If you're Kansas city, you gotta be nervous because if they get the seven and you get the two, like after Buffalo took care of Miami at the end of that game in the snow, I mean, and then it's supposed to be like 10 degrees below in Buffalo, which is very

unusual there. It does. It actually never gets that cold. So that's really weird for them against Chicago. But I mean, if you're Kansas city, like that's kind of screams first round upset for them to come to Casey and Justin Herbert's play that way.

I was going to go love to see it, that my Superbowl picks are still alive. Despite some, some hairy moments, my Superbowl pick, I believe was the chargers versus the 49ers and uh yeah still still feeling pretty good about that one actually at this moment brock purdy in the super bowl why not bcb baby bcb i mean the it just as fun in a year where everyone talked about how horrible

the draft was like one guy could come out of the draft and lead a team to the super bowl and it's the last guy picked that's just too funny uh my i had one more oh love to see it my last love to see it is the vikings finally did something that i campaigned for them to do years ago they signed josh rosen great move a plus a plus in the in the move grading system two pluses a plus plus i once upon a time after miami i was like i don't know like why not just pick them up and just sort of see what you have there sometimes a guy develops over years like it happens um so that was the take and now it finally comes to fruition i mean i don't want to say that me and quacey are beating the same heart at this point for getting josh rosen but it might be true

maybe maybe he's been listening for years and we just didn't even know yeah maybe we finally turned a corner we finally turned a corner with rosen he's he's just ready to become the next coming gm he's grown up a lot yeah i i'm ready i'm ready to say gm of the year for quasi for this josh rosen move stop it stop it maybe coach of the year we'll discuss that maybe next week maybe uh jeremiah this was fun and it's funnier to even just like um just watch you like the how much you struggle with this with this where this team is at i think you're everyone i just want them to be so good but i just can't i can't put my heart out there to just let them just stomp all over it i just can't do i gotta guard it a little bit just a little bit of

protection it's better to have loved and lost i don't know as a wise man once said yeah we'll see i was thinking about some greeting card sort of thing that I could say there. But anyway, great stuff as always. And we will talk. We'll continue to stay on Tuesday, even if it's another Saturday game. So we will talk then after Christ's birth. And we'll do it then. We'll see you.

Merry Christmas. Or a celebration of Christ's birth. Like he was already born 2022 years ago. It's not the point. Happy holidays.