Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings bets Jeremiah Sirles would make

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Sirles joins Matthew Coller to talk about what happened with Mac Jones and the Patriots and whether he would bet on the Vikings to win 11 or more games and for Kevin O'Connell to win coach of the year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider presented by Liquid Death. Go to liquiddeath.com slash insider and learn about the Tallboy can, which actually has water. Find out where you can get it near you at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collard here along with former Minnesota Viking Jeremiah Searles. And Jeremiah, before we play your intro and get really into it,

and we've got a bunch of bets that I wrote down. Would you make this bet that we're going to go through on the show today we'll have a little fun uh as we continue kind of the bi-week bonanza and then wednesday everybody gets back to work out at tco performance center but i i need to discuss this with you i got a question this morning about mac jones and Christian Derrissaw. The Vikings decided not to draft Mac Jones. They instead moved down and took Christian Derrissaw. And on draft night, I said, look, as much as I think it was a great move to move down and get Christian Derrissaw in a bubble because it was good value and a very good prospect. The idea of getting a quarterback on a rookie contract here that could take

over for cousins seems really favorable. And now that he's off to a bad start, naturally I have received tweets that are saying, ah, it looks like they got it right. And you got it wrong. And I just want to say this because I want to get your opinion on this, that the opinion is so convoluted that it would take me a little while to explain it. But really in a bubble, it's this. It's not Derrissaw versus Mac Jones. It's really Mac Jones in $25 million versus Kirk Cousins. That's what it really is about. It was never about

Derrissaw. And we've been kind of on the Derrissaw train for quite some time now so he's a terrific player the offensive line still can't pass block very good which tells you about offensive lines and how they're more of a complete unit versus one person could you help fix that with 25 million dollars and I also think that it really shows you that if you're not Mahomes and you're not Josh Allen everybody else is impacted greatly by circumstances and what are the Patriots doing on like 40 different levels Matt Patricia what like we're gonna we're gonna play Mac Jones for a few series and then pull them out and say that was the plan all along I mean Belichick's fastball is a greg maddox right now it's going about 84

miles an hour it's just i think that if the circumstances were mac jones with justin jefferson and kevin o'connell and 25 million dollars to the roster we might be talking about a different story so it's a it's a complicated issue and I would love your opinion on it. Yeah, you nailed it with the fact that it's not player versus player. It's situation versus situation, right? Like the Patriots were in desperate need of a quarterback because Tom Brady had left, and they were like, yeah, Mac Jones, it fits our system really well. You look at the Vikings, and it's like, well, yes,

we needed a quarterback to grow and develop, but we have one. It wasn't a dire need versus I think that the situation, the quote unquote dire need in the building was we have to find a left tackle. Like since Riley Reif really like it's been kind of this, well, who is it? And then even before then it's like, well, it was Khalil really it, you know, it's been this like really uncertain thing where when you're paying your quarterback that much money, he's about as certain as it comes with a position lock so yeah you can't compare the two players and honestly if you wanted to do that comparison and live in that world like yeah okay derrissaw might be winning that matchup

but you can't put the opportunity cost on what you could do with this team right now with an extra 25 million dollars you talk about maybe add another interior defensive lineman you talk about you could add someone in the back end. You talk about another weapon. There's so many other pieces that $25 million could buy you in the NFL. And you're not talking like a borderline bubble guy. You're talking a contributor, like a big-time contributor, playmaker, difference maker, if you went there. So, yes, the situation, what it is right now, you can figure it out. But I would say on the side of where we were at on draft night

with Daris Aramac Jones, I still side with you that that would have been the quote-unquote better move at that time. But of course, anyone can look back in two years and be like, told you, stupid idiot. You were wrong. That's just not how this works. Now, on the side of the Patriots, I mean, I think Tom Brady and the Patriots' lives are just falling apart.

If you were just like, you separated the two and they like thrived for a while without each other. And now the two is like both boats are going up in flames. And you just look at the Patriots. I mean, I remember watching that Bears team like, golly, this Bears team is horrible, horrible. Like not just bad, but horrible. And they go out there and just dismantle a Belichick

defense who cares I mean Mac Jones Blaine Zappi whatever but the Belichick defense it just looked so bad like so like they just looked like they gave up it literally looked like they didn't want to be there and that is the first time for a long time that I can remember a Patriots team just looking like they just threw in the white towel in like early third quarter. Blaine Zappi is a magician or a, uh, or, or one of Frank Zappa's, uh, children, uh, Bailey Zappi is not really a starting quarterback. And I think maybe face the lions. And that was pretty helpful for him. But, uh But you know, it's, it's also the other thing too, that we expect players to just consistently get better and better and better and never hit bumps along the road. And for Mac Jones, he has Josh McDaniels. Who's one of the best

offensive coordinators of the last how many years. And then that guy leaves and you bring in Matt Patricia and Joe judge to co-offensive coordinate which is one of the silliest things I've ever heard to tell you the truth I mean will will no one work for Belichick I mean there there has to be anyone who's an actual offensive coordinator that would have been willing to coordinate an offense and the other thing is too I mean they spent I mean this is just again like Bill Belich, maybe losing the fastball here. Two off seasons ago, they spent on multiple tight ends, like big, significant dollars on multiple tight ends. They this year took a bet on Devante Parker, who's, you know, he's got something left in the tank.

But this is not Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, KJ Osborne, Delvin Cook. It's not even really close to the supporting cast and the situation. And by the way, last year when he had a better situation with Josh McDaniels, they're in the playoffs and they're a very solid offense with him. So the whole point was you're always looking for the golden ticket, which is a good quarterback to great between good and great on a rookie contract where you can stack the roster and look no farther than the Philadelphia Eagles with Jalen Hurts, who is probably a good quarterback and not a great quarterback, but my God, that roster, I mean, just top to bottom. That's the whole point. It was never about Derrisa. I mean, he was a tremendous prospect that they got terrific value for, and he's made good on that. And he's been one of the

best left tackles in the league. And yet the offense is still inconsistent and they're not completely pass protecting for Kirk Cousins and they could use another receiver. The defense has weaknesses in multiple areas. Like that's the whole point is if Kirk and Mac Jones were the same exact quarterback and you get 25 extra million dollars for one of them you're going to win with the 25 extra million dollars so I guess I just wanted to like clarify that but also say Patriots you're blowing it like you you have the golden ticket and you are absolutely blowing it. And why are you playing games with Mac Jones? Why play him for two series?

Just tell him he needs to wait another week if his ankle isn't ready to go. How about my favorite was at halftime. We're like, this was always the plan. We're going to play both of them this series. And at the end of the game, he's like, well, the game got out of hand. I was like, you're just, you don't even know what's going on right now. I mean, the co-offensive coordinator things in the NFL is like well the game got out of hand i was like you're just you don't even know what's going on right now i mean the co-offensive coordinator things in the nfl is wild i mean what great what great country doesn't have two leaders you know what captain doesn't have two

like what ship doesn't have two captains like you can't you can't have this coexisting especially with those two guys i mean it'd be one thing if like but you have two guys that have been head football coaches in the nfl if you're a head football coach, you carry a bit of an ego. It's just a fact of life. You have a little bit of I'm better than everyone else because you were at one point. You were one of 32. And so now it's like you two get in a room and figure out how to work together

and play nice with the other children. It's not going to work, and it's suffering because if you look at that offense, there is no identity to it whatsoever. They want to run the football. They want to be hard-nosed running the football, but then it's like, well, we're going to sprinkle in some outside zones, some pitch and catch, and then we're going to come downhill, and then we're going to place actions,

and then, oh, Zappi's coming in. Let's spread it out. He can kind of throw it around. It's just a circus. The Patriots offense is an absolute circus right now. That whole team is kind of a circus right now, and it's just bizarre to watch because if you were to ask anyone in my generation, you're a little older than me, not by much, but it's like, hey, for the last 20 years, and you said, what is the most steady franchise in the NFL? The answer was always, oh, New England Patriots, right? Always. And now they are in the bottom third of steady franchises in the NFL,

maybe even in the bottom five. I mean, it is crazy. I'm sure that the difference between Tom Brady being there and not was just a total coincidence. I'm sure it was just super random. There was a quote once from Josh McDaniels that a former player of his tweeted out, must be just to slam him, that McDaniels apparently told the team that he could make any quarterback into an all-pro and uh so uh but he was a good offensive coordinator I'm sure it was

more Tom Brady than anything else though I mean that's it's just sort of the fact of the matter is that Tom Brady could paint over just about anything they had a bad defense the year Patricia got a head coaching job in Detroit why I? I have no idea, but their defense got smoked by Nick Foles. Then it was like, all right, I'm a head coach now. Like what? So Tom Brady was even getting defensive guys, head coaches. Brady takes that team to the Superbowl when they didn't even have a good defense. I mean, he was just in his prime so much on a different level than everybody else that you really can't compare. And I feel like Belichick is probably always made some of these mistakes and we just never

really talked about them because it was always Brady just covering up. So everything looked genius. Oh, they let, who was it? Was it lawyer Malloy back in the day? Like, oh, they let lawyer Malloy go. And I mean, this is going way back, but I remember it being very controversial that they let him go and it just didn't matter. Cause they had Brady and he went and went to the super bowl again. It's like, you don't have that anymore. If there's, it's not that you get a rookie quarterback contract and just automatically

profit that that's not how it works. You have to nail the other stuff like philly who by the way is going to have like a top five pick in next year's draft because they've managed everything so brilliantly that it's like philly and new england those quarterbacks might not be that different different from each other in hertz and mac jones but the situation is just so massively different you can even throw the jets into that mix a little bit too. They have Wilson, who I think is serviceable. I don't think he's the greatest thing. I mean, that pick was still kind of questionable to me

that they took him that high. But you've seen they hit on Sauce Gardner. They have pieces that they're building. They hit on their rookies too, and that always helps. We always talk about the magic sauce. It's not just the quarterback position on a rookie contract, but hitting on your top draft picks. I mean, guys like Brees Hall that are playing really well,

guys like Jefferson Derisaw that are playing really well on their draft picks. You know, those are the teams, too, that have managed it so well. And I think that was a big knock on the last staff. You know, it was like the draft picks just weren't producing. And, you know, that's hard to do, especially when you have a quarterback that's tied up with so much money that you can't just go out there and pluck free agents that are serviceable. You're kind of scraping bottom of the barrel of guys like myself, you know, so you kind

of figure it out as you go through there. But yeah, I mean, I think that, I mean, the Eagles are by far the best team in the NFC. You know, I think it's, they're running away with it like there, but the AFC, I mean, the fact that the Jets are in second place, the Bills are in first place and the Packers are terrible. The NFL for me is like, it just seems like a backwards world right now. Yeah. Oh yeah.

I mean, everything is strange and that's another part of it too, is that trying to figure out how good any team is, including the Minnesota Vikings is very, very difficult because you could go through almost anybody's schedule and be like, well, there's not a lot of impressive wins there.

Like, well, who does have the impressive wins buffalo beat kansas city and that's the only one i can think of i mean really i what what kansas city did dismantling san francisco was pretty impressive but the week before san francisco kind of got beaten down by atlanta that gave up 500 yards passing to joe burrow and you can spin your head in circles forever. And the reality you come back to is this is going to be a random season. It is the most random season I think that I have ever seen.

And I was tweeting this last night, but it feels like the 90s again, where there's like three great quarterbacks like Marino, Elway, Kelly, and then everybody else, you know, Aikman, Young. So there's a handful of great quarterbacks like Marino, Elway, Kelly, and then everybody else, you know, Aikman, Young. So there's a handful of great quarterbacks and everybody else is just kind of a road cone for the teams that actually have a chance to win. And that's kind of how it feels. So the question really becomes, are the Vikings one of those good teams or are they one of the road cones?

And even if five and one, I'm not quite sure yet. I don't know if anyone is, you know, I think everyone just every week is looking for that statement win like they're gonna do it but then when they win it's not in quote-unquote like elite fashion you know so everyone's like oh well maybe I don't know but I think I think I the more I watch the NFL the more I lean towards that the Vikings are on the upper end of a good team I mean I watched games this week where teams that are just so bad, like they just can't, they can't even find a way to win. And then you put on the other side,

like if it really is this small of a margin in the NFL this year between winning and losing, like I give the edge of the Vikings because they found ways to win at the end of games and they haven't found ways, quote unquote, they haven't found ways yet to lose the games at the end. You know, it's so many coin flips at this game or the beginning part of the season for the Vikings of does he fumble? Does he not make the catch double doink? Like there's coin flips all over the place. But the fact that we've

been able to put ourselves in position to come out on the other side of that on the W side, looking around the NFL, I'm saying that we're probably on that side of the more towards the good to good to great team than we are the road cone right now at this moment and it really sort of tells you about the league that you can rank i just had this up what 13th and offense and 12th in defense in terms of points and in yardage it's 18th and 27th and i can't even tell you you're wrong about what you just said about because there's so many teams that are either a disaster or that look great one week and then horrendous the next i mean the bears are a great example what against washington they scored seven points and were a complete wreck and then they come out against the patriots team on the road you know maybe matt eberflus knew where uh belichick

hid the uh recorders or whatever that he puts in the locker room. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's it. And then he just destroyed them, and then they won. But, I mean, who can figure out the Chicago Bears even? I mean, the team that is absolutely befuddling to me is the New York Giants. You know, it's like them and the Vikings are just a pair of teams right now where it's like every week is hideous, but they find a way to win, and they find a way to do it. And Daniel, Daniel Jones is a hundred yards rusher it's like what am I watching like what is happening like this is like college football you know but it's looking around and the Giants are befuddling to me the Packers the Buccaneers it's like the Buccaneers look like

just they don't know which way is up I mean you drop a 70-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Mike Evans, arguably the most consistent duo in the last three years, where it's like, oh, that's six. And he's just like bobbling around like he's a juggler. And then Leonard Fournette forgets how to run the football. It's just those teams are just driving me bananas. But then all the stuff I'm watching, I'm always sitting there in the back of my mind going,

the Vikings are at least kind of consistently average. Like they don't have those blow up moments, right? They don't have those moments of Aaron Rodgers throwing terrible footballs. That's just like, wow, that was very like they're just kind of painfully average. But in the league right now, painfully average is going to get you five and one. That's just the nature of what it is. It's going to win you a division title more likely than not. I mean, it's really it is it's going to win you a division title more likely than not i mean it's

really it is really something uh and i agree with you that even even the the other team that's sort of you're looking in the mirror at with the giants it's hard to be overly impressed uh with the giants i mean they're reliant on a running back and defense which you know shouldn't work in 2022 and yet for this year it does. And, and they are, they're eight. Now their defense is better in terms of points, but in terms of yards, the giants 19th and 19th. So it's really like the Spider-Man meme with the Vikings. Like, what are you mediocre? Are you mediocre yet? We're winning. What's everybody else's deal. It's wild. It's insane. I mean, it's then the bottom is bad like the bottom bottom like you look down

at the bottom like the carolinas i mean i don't know is atlanta the bottom bottom because they looked really good and then this week joe burrow just kind of like teardropped his balls on them a little bit and just threw for 500 yards it's like the bottom of the nfl is so so bad and i think that's because of the inconsistency play at quarterback you know the inconsistency play at quarterback for those bottom team you got PJ Walker Marcus Mariota you're kind of like you got I mean and I'm gonna say it's Russell Wilson is got the yips somehow I mean now he's got a hamstring and I mean I wanted to put out a tweet I'm pretty sure this ripping guy right I'm pretty sure Russell Wilson made more money standing on

the sideline than he's gonna make in the season. And he just played an entire game and actually moved the ball up and down the field fairly efficiently at times. Those teams just look awful. The Chargers look terrible. I mean, it's just teams that we had pegged as kings at the beginning of the year have fallen completely off edge. And the teams that we were like, oh, they are who they are, right? Jets, Giants, Jaguars. They kind of are who they are, right? Jets giants, Jaguars, you know, they kind of are who they are like, Oh,

well maybe not. And I think that there's this mind shift that we have to have as fans. That is like, you know, the old school of these teams suck and forever and always will suck. Unless your name or the Browns might actually be okay. Now folks, I'm seeing that liquid death is starting to catch on.

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and you can always mess with your coworkers or friends because it looks like a beer it's prank season in October anyway. So have your kids drink a liquid death at the Halloween party or something. Go get liquid death at your local target Walmart seven 11 or find a liquid death retailer near you with their store locator tool at liquid death.com slash insider. That's liquid death.com slash insider. Yeah. And while there's another part of it too, that we really didn't get a surprise team to emerge, um, in the NFL where we were trying to spot them, you know, like who's the worst to first and

the jaguars are very competitive but they're not good and i mean the browns being without deshaun watson were sort of predictably bad but it wasn't like the steelers suddenly showed up and were great like you know when everyone was predicting them at the bottom detroit is the ultimate example of this like everybody's looking for like who's going to be that team i'm going to be the guy that picks that i'm going to be the guy that picks that. I'm going to be the super smart guy. I mean, the Giants, I guess, have been the best example of this.

But aside from that, there hasn't been too many like, oh, wow, this team is really good. And I think we're reasonably skeptical still of the New York Giants. So it has just been a very, very bizarre year. And there will be more coverage on this topic as we go forward

the craziness and unpredictability but i have written out a bunch of bets for you to tell me whether you would take those bets regarding the vikings oh can we can i just slide in one more thing before we get to them yes hey ollie udo no nope don't be doing that that's a no-no that's the analysis that's that's just a big no-no that's just that's the that's a real fast way to just not be on a football team anymore do uh coaches say something before the bye do they get everybody together and say now boys yes they treat us like we're eight it's like fellas fellas fellas we're gonna send you out into the wild we're gonna let you go do your thing you get four days count them four don't f it up come back recharge ready to go and without fail without fail i can't i don't know if

i was ever on a team where there wasn't at least one person that did something stupid like it it's just it literally it's like we make fun of it like oh what are we eight and then like something happens we're like oh well i get it makes sense uh yeah i mean not really a laughing matter necessarily because there's some other elements of this that were uh not not great but just don't just don't do it but right i mean that's the thing right i mean you have to just act like a professional here and understand or just how important it is that you don't get arrested just be a decent human being not even like it's like oh you're a professional athlete

it's like how about you're just a male human being in society that just doesn't do those things it's a good start right and now they kind of have a decision do you just move on from him because it's like really an IQ test. And come on, man, you were already on the bubble to begin with. Blake Brandel has emerged as their swing tackle to begin with. I think if a tackle got hurt, it would be Blake Brandel who came in anyway. So you're like the swing swing tackle already. And then you're doing something inadvisable off the field and getting yourself arrested. So you look bad. It makes Kevin O'Connell look bad.

And this is where I think, I mean, I'm not like issuing a challenge to him like man-to-man or something, but I think Kevin O'Connell's got to show a little guts here and just be like, no, that's not going to fly. I am a player's coach, but that's ridiculous. That's not going to be okay. And that was one thing. Now, I'm not praising Zimmer too much on this because there's different standards for different people

that's for sure but he seems to get really upset when things like this would happen and like J. Ron curse kind of never played again they cut multiple people who had off-field things especially when you're the bottom of the roster guy it's's just like, get out. I think it's kind of an opportunity for O'Connell to say, yep, I'm creating a good atmosphere here, but don't mess with me because if you do, you're going to be gone. Yeah. You know, and it's really going to be his first disciplinary decision as a head coach to set the standard. You know, there's something about setting a culture and setting a standard where there's

the culture of the players coach and we're here for each other. But there's also like, there's a line in the sand you know and the coaches that have a clear line in the sand of like this is allowed this is not like it just makes sure everyone's on the same page and there's no gray area now there's always be the gray area of like if kirk cousins does this you're not just gonna be like to the streets you know like but there there is a fine line of like there is a line that we don't cross and this is if it crosses like there will be ramifications whether it's suspensions or we just release you or whatever it is you know this is a good time for him to either say hey this is what we're doing disciplinary action wise internally before the

league does anything if the league does anything or we're just moving on from this position onto something else because of xyz but i'll be very curious to see how they handle this internally and how they present it because i'm sure it's going to get asked someone's going to ask it right away i mean it's going to be a first question out of someone's mouth and it's going to be very interesting how he handles this if it's kind of like we're still handling it or just like we've made a decision already yeah i think it would be a mistake to just sort of sweep it under the rug i mean especially and like you said it exactly right um it goes back to the old jimmy johnson thing where he cut a guy for falling asleep in a meeting and he said if troy acheman falls asleep i say

wake up troy uh and and that standard clearly does exist um even with delvin cook and his off-field issue that you know there was no cutting delvin cook at that point but with this it's sort of i don't mean to say it this way but it's like the perfect guy like it's just this guy is barely on the roster to show like not we're gonna have we're gonna have some discipline here we're gonna have a standard and uh if they just let it go i think it sort of sends a message that with o'connell in charge it's not going to be a tough environment in that way like that if you do something then you can cut that that the coach clearly told you not to do there's no question that he gave that speech because every coach does then you know you can kind of get away with what you want to get away with. So I think it is a bit of an opportunity to sort of lay the hammer down.

Yeah, it's too good of an opportunity to just brush on the rug, because like I said, it's a statement for you and your program and what you stand for as a head coach. All right, let's get into these bets. Yes. So I have written five and then four more rapid fire bets where you just yell a word. Okay, but these are a little more discussion so let's just start here would you bet that the vikings make a trade before the deadline no i don't think so either i i think cap wise it wouldn't make a ton of sense offloading someone

at this point um in the year and also it, if we're truly in competitive mode, it's kind of like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We don't have a glaring need, in my opinion. It's like, we have to go trade for this position in order to make the playoff run. All the stuff that, like the Jets, for example, we lost Brees Hall. We have to find a running back,

so they go get James Robinson. You know, Carolina is basically like, ah, fire sale, and they're just sending off Christian McCaffrey. I think the Vikings are kind of looking at this roster like there's no glaring needs. Let's keep our draft picks. Let's keep our players and let's reassess at the end of the year. I think that that is the right approach. If they were to mess with the salary cap, trade for a wide receiver, a pass rusher, a something, a nickel corner.

I'd support it. I would say because of the nature of this season and how bizarre it is and how the red carpet has just been rolled out for you to be a real contender and the fact that you do have significant weaknesses across the roster, I think it's very difficult to add a player midseason and have that player really help you. But at the same time, you might as well go for it because you didn't treat almost anything else. Like it was a long-term play. So why not? I mean, you already screwed your cap for

next year for the most part. Go, I mean, go look at over the cap.com. They're like over the cap right now for next year. It's not a great situation. And like, Oh yeah, they'll just do this, that, and the other thing. Oh,

as they've been doing all the time and getting in trouble doing it. That's why they have Kyle Rudolph's dead cap being like $8 million right now. Is that what you mean? Is that why Anthony bar is being paid like 7 million bucks not to play here. So you've been doing that anyway. You're not in a good situation for next year.

If they just said, you know what? It's, it's KOC time. Let's go this. And it might be the last year of cousins being here. You also want to send the message to Justin Jefferson. We're for real. We're trying to win, which is why Casey never should have used the words competitive rebuild. That was a huge mistake. I think like go all in, show everybody that you're here to win and that uh you're you're making that commitment i i wouldn't be against it i don't think it's a tactical great move to do but i think from what it says about where they stand and the fact that they are just in line to win this division i'm okay with it go for it yeah as long as they don't get as long as they don't overbuy you know i think that's something that always happens towards the

trade deadline is teams panic a little bit and then they get taken to the cleaners by the other team of like oh well we want this guy and this draft pick or this and that like i think as long as you don't overbuy like sure you can go get a sixth round or a seventh round trade but like don't start getting into day one day two picks to get rid of guys in the middle of the season here's what i don't understand so the Jaguars trade a running back. Who's like pretty good. I think he could play for a sixth round pick Christian McCaffrey. Based on name recognition,

I guess ends up getting a absolute haul. I mean, you know what, you know what the thing is here's you want to be the team at the poker table that spots the mark. San Francisco is the mark san francisco is the mark i mean they just they've done a lot of good things there but they are the mark with stuff like this and carolina just found it they're like oh yeah okay don't you need another running back

like your name is shanahan you need another running back right i mean i have no idea what they were thinking and trading that much for christianaffrey. If it was like a third round pick, I'd be like, oh yeah, go for it. Why not? Second, third, fourth. What are you doing? I don't understand that at all. I think old Mike Shanahan called in. He was like, I had, I had his dad. His dad was great. You need him. You need him, you need him. Go get him. Do whatever it takes. You go get him. And they just sold the farm for a guy like, and I, and you tell me if you weren't thinking this too i'm watching christian mccassey on sunday and i'm like he's gonna get hurt like they're gonna have him here for four days like and every time he got hit i was like oh is he gonna get up because like he's just like he's been injury prone the last

few years and i'm not saying that in a bad way but it's like if they sell the farm for this dude and he's here for four days and rolls an ankle or twists an ankle like that's the problem of why I feel like they give up too much not because he's not a fantastic caliber player and has the chance to be a game-changing player it's the longevity and his his ability to play all 17 games has just not been there and to give up what you gave up you're talking multiple good. You can find early in the draft for a guy that has just been kind of the last couple of years. I did get a few tweets. Should the Viking shop Delvin cook?

I'm like, let's not galaxy brain this now. Easy. Let's I mean, I get where you're coming from, but not when you're five and one, I know if they were three and three, I would say,

Oh yeah. But five and one. No no you can't do that uh next bet would you bet uh which one of these teams would you bet to win 11 or more games the vikings giants cowboys or any other team not named the eagles in the nfc 11 or more games 11 or more games i have to take the vikings i do i have to take the vikings we said on the set this on the last pot i thought i was ready to bump them up to 11 you know the giants dac prescott looks like crap cooper rush looks like he should maybe be leading that football team to the promised land i think the giant schedule gets a tad tougher as they get going

here and again you're not going to make a living having daniel jones rush the ball for 100 yards you're just you're not going to do it they've been really beat up up front I think they just lost another guard up front for the Giants you know so they have multiple issues going on and same thing with Saquon Barkley that I just said about Christian McCaffrey I think that he looks like he's back he's 100 but that is a team that is one injury away if 26 gets hurt they lose like and I can't bet on a team to win 11 games on a guy that is built entirely around one player on that offense. So the Cowboys, they have a bye week here and then they face the Packers, Vikings, Giants. But after that, Colts, Texans, Jaguars,

Eagles, then Titans and Commanders. I think they're winning 11 so right right now with the Cowboys they have the second best defense in the NFL and their offense is not great but that's because it's been run by a backup quarterback Dak gets his feet wet back in a game and then gets a break to practice and get 100. And then we'll come out of the break with some tougher games against the, you know, some competitive teams here. But I think after that, it kind of gets to be cruise control. And then once he gets rolling, if they even have the 10th best offense in the league, the rest of the way with Dak and last year, remember they were number one last year. Of course they had Amari Cooper, but if they're even just middling and ezekiel ellie

looks pretty good tony pollard's a legit weapon like i think that that they can have 11 wins the vikings i'm not entirely sold yet but i think just based on their schedule they should the giants is the one where you could definitely see it just the wheels come off all of a sudden those injuries i mean that does happen you get a couple of injuries on a team that was barely teetering and having to win all the close games and suddenly with those injured players and that is by the way kind of what happened to the last year's Vikings a couple of close games early but then they lose Daniil Hunter a couple other injuries the wheels come off and all of a sudden they don't win close games but I also think like just the Vikings being the Vikings

declaring them an 11 game winner at this point is like I don't know man like I I think it's fair but I also don't want to quite push those chips into the middle of the table because one thing can throw off this entire operation I mean what but what is that one thing you know I look at like the Giants it's like is it Kirk Cous getting hurt? Is it Jefferson getting hurt? Like, I feel like there's, I feel like there's enough. I mean, you look at, I mean, you want to talk about, you look at the Viking schedule too. So it's like, yes, they play the, they got the Cardinals who, I mean, call of duty comes out this week. So Kyler Murray's not going to be very good. Um, you know, then you got commanders, you go into the buzzsaw that is the Bills. And then it's Patriots, Jets, Lions, Colts, Giants, Bears, Packers.

Their schedule is equally as easy as the Cowboys. But I do think that you're right. I give the edge to the Cowboys on the defensive side of the ball. But I still think that if the Vikings can get it all put together here in the next couple weeks offensively, their offense is better than the Dallas Cowboys. Folks, I know you've heard me talk about SodaStick for a long time now, but I'm telling you, you have to start following them on social media

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To me, the one thing is just it just hinges so much on Jefferson. If Jefferson were to be lost for even three weeks and like knock on whatever would you have near you? Because if that were to happen, you're losing every game without him. I mean, he's the entire offense at this point. He really is. I mean, last game against Miami, he's got over a hundred yards and they don't even throw for 200 yards passing. I mean, they are really relying so heavily on him, but I think on the defensive side, Zedarius Smith is kind of that guy too, where if he were to go down at all, that they're going to not have any pass rush whatsoever. Patrick Peterson, even then you're playing rookies at corner. I mean, it's a, it's a very

delicate situation that could go a little sideways, but I do think it's hard for them not to get to 10 or 11 wins at this point uh all right next bet how about this i'll take buffalo and kansas city you take everybody else are you making that bet for the super bowl nope i'm not making that bet i'm not taking that bet those two teams you throw the eagles in there those three teams are the elites of the NFL, and there is distant, distant fourths. Yeah, I saw the stat from Nate Tice of The Athletic that Patrick Mahomes, in terms of percentage of his plays that turn into a first down, is playing at like 0-4 Peyton Manning level right now.

He's just been unbelievable. The game against San Francisco was complete domination. Buffalo's defense is the only thing that slowed him down. And even then he still played very well in that game. It really comes down to those two teams. No one else is remotely close to them. The only team that I would sort of be like, maybe is Cincinnati because of the way Joe Burrow has started to kick it back into high gear. Their defense, I think, can still play, and their weapons are just unbelievable.

Any given day, you could see their weapons just going off against the team, and that's where Kansas City is weak still. I'm not that impressed with Kansas City's defense. They have to find something if they're going to eventually stop Buffalo, but we were talking about, like, are you the one of the five, four, three contenders, or are you a road cone? Like, yeah, I mean, everybody else is pretty much a road cone outside of that. And Cincinnati's the only team that I'm given a little bit of intrigue to

because I think they have an elite quarterback, elite overall offense. Their line seems to be gelling a lot better. But still, I don't think that they're in the ballpark of those two teams I mean you think about what Buffalo did in the offseason like they were like okay how do we beat Kansas City it's like well we've had to stop Chris Jones okay sign Roger Saffold like they built that team to beat Kansas City like they've been beat by him twice and I think that everyone's like that win over Kansas City could be the tiebreaker between going back to Kansas City in the playoffs and coming to Buffalo.

That's a huge difference. Like, there's not a ton of stadiums in the NFL that I would call true home field advantage. You know, it's not like college where you go to Penn State and it's the wide out and there's 110,000. Like, the Vikings stadium is one because of how loud it is. And Arrowhead and Buffalo. Those three stadiums, in my opinion, in Seattle when they're rolling, like those four stadiums are loud and obnoxious and really hard to operate out as an offense. So that ability to take Buffalo

and make Kansas City come to Western New York, that could be a huge difference maker come playoff time. Yeah, I did a story about this maybe 2020 about when there were no fans and the gambling world has kind of been on this for a while that home field advantage is essentially gone that it used to be a huge deal and now teams are just really good at traveling the referees are better and I mean that is true they're not good but they're better at not like being influenced by the home crowds and things

like that but there are exceptions. And I think Buffalo is definitely one of them, especially, and you know this, it's kind of a haunting place when you go out there at nighttime, for sure. It's in the middle of a field and there's all these people just doing crazy things. And the crowd is nuts. I mean, it's really some kind of atmosphere to go to. The next bet that I have for you, and I agree with you that I would take those two teams over anyone else to win the Super Bowl. Football is random, but this year it's kind of not random who the best teams are, and they should win in the playoffs.

Packers, under eight wins. Would you take a bet that the Packers will win less than eight? Not eight or less. Less than eight. No, or less, less than eight? No, I'm taking the over. I think, I think the Packers get over eight.

I think so. At least eight, at least eight. And they also have lost. And this is the funny thing. Like, of course, Vikings fans are just dancing in the streets and they, you know,

I guess should that's their rival, but the Packers are doing what the Vikings did last year, where every game they've lost is right at the end or one score games, lots of close things. And, uh, you know, that shouldn't happen with a team that has Aaron Rogers, but that is what happens when you're a middling team is that you are dependent kind of on close games and weird stuff happening. And like not to make any excuses for them, they had a questionable penalty to negate a pick six in that game and then lose by one score. They were up 17 to three against the Giants,

could not convert at the goal line and lost the game. So they're probably a little better than their record right now. And we'll get to eight potentially nine but they're not a good team i'll be i mean we'll we'll tell how good the packers actually are on sunday night against the bills like that's going to be like you look at kind of who they played this year like they haven't played like an elite football team one of the teams we talked about like yet this year you know they played the 49ers at the beginning of the year in the preseason. But other than that, it's been, you have what chiefs that they kind of snuck away from.

It's just, I'm looking at their schedule and you're just like, yeah, you haven't played anyone. That's like a true test to your metal. Like Sunday night in Buffalo, we'll find out what kind of team you actually are. And I think the answer is not a good one. I mean, I don't think that they have a very good offense or will have a very good offense and to have even lost the players that were not good to begin with randall cobb christian watson uh there's really no answer and i mean the only answer might be them making a desperate trade which i guess you might as well but there's a lot just like

the patriots there's a lot of what what exactly were you guys thinking with this wide receiver situation like sammy watkins was really going to do it for you uh a very a very bizarre approach that has been punished uh okay kevin o'connell coach of the year would you make that bet no i think i think it's going to go to a team that was worse last year like i think the vikings were too good last year in order for them to he'd be coach of the year like it's gonna go to a robert sala or a brian dable for a team that was an absolute shambles last year now there's a lot of how the season finishes but i think people are gonna be like yeah look at that vikings roster like he had people there to be able to make into a winning

football team versus what some of these other coaches have done with teams that for the last half decade or even better part of a decade have been terrible i agree you go eight nine and you get to 11 and six it's not the biggest jump but if you're brian dable even if they sort of fade down the stretch and go 500 and they end up with like 11 wins, that is a massive jump. And not only that, but there's already the and it's New York. So that's part of it. But there's already the like Brian Dables, the cool coach who dances after the wins. Is that like once you get that train going, it is that is not being stopped. So I would also not make that bet. I think, though, that the only way it happens is if they get to 12,

potentially 13, then you have to say, all right, like if Philadelphia ends up 13-4 and the Vikings end up 12-5, I mean, you've got to put them in there. I mean, but also Nick Sirianni, if they get there, is going to get a lot of attention as well. And it's going to be funny because the Buffalo bills might win 14 and they won't give them the coach of the year. Cause it's Josh Allen.

Yeah. No chance. Sean McDermott's even in the consideration for that, which would be, which would be unfair because his defense has been incredible since the, basically since what, maybe the second year he's been there it's like andy reek when the afc west for like the fifth time in a row and they're like

let's give it to someone who surprised us that's always been that award or a lot in a lot of years it's been like wow we thought you were gonna suck yeah it's like the congrats on not being terrible all right rapid fire and then we we'll wrap up on my, I have one particular hate to see it that has to be mentioned real quick. Rapid fire, one word answers. Would you bet Kirk Cousins ends the season in the top seven in quarterback rating?

Yes. Would you bet that Justin Jefferson gets over 1,800 yards receiving? Yes. Would you bet that the Vikings defense ranks better than 15th in points allowed no me either uh would you bet that daniel hunter gets at least 10 sacks yes i think we're on the same page with all those except for i'm not sure about kirk but i'm also not sure about that whole

league with quarterback that's the thing like if you start putting i was thinking about this yesterday i was like who do i put in front of kirk like there's the easy top four right and and that's patrick mahomes like and if you talk about just like rating like jalen hertz has got a really high rating because of how he plays the game you got josh allen patrick mahomes and then you can put joe burrow up there but like the bottom four is kind of like i the the four to seven i don't think it's going to be a rotating carousel as far as who gets in there. I mean, Derek Carr is kind of playing at a pretty good level right now. I mean, you look around the league. If Dak figures his life out and they get things going, maybe they can do it.

But, I mean, I guess the only other guy that might be a surprise top seven would be Geno Smith. Yeah, yeah, if he maintains this, which I don't see why not. He's actually played extremely well. Everyone's just waiting for the whole ceiling and the bottom just to come out for him. It's almost like people are cheering it on, like, do it. Fail.

Fail like we said you could. See, sometimes, and I get accused of this, I suppose, but sometimes it gets made so much about in football. It's like, did I predict this? And if I didn't, I'm going to find reasons why it stinks. But the reason why we watch or why it's not real or why whatever else, the reason why we watch is because it's unpredictable a lot of times. I mean, and players like Geno Smith coming out of nowhere.

I love that so much. I would have never expected it, but a guy being on the bench and just practicing and getting better and staying in the league when so many guys could have just been disruptive or gotten frustrated and then teams don't want to deal with them anymore because they're punched in the mouth. I mean, really that, but when that happened though, you had to think like, oh, this guy's not long for this league. But he has really turned that around. He made a good backup career for himself and then now gets his chance. I think it's one of the coolest stories.

And suddenly Seattle's kind of an interesting NFC team, which, again, did not see that coming. Just one real quick hate to see it for me. Referees, let's not be getting autographs damn it you took my damn it damn it damn it okay go ahead while you talk about it go ahead no i just think it's it's such a bad look like and it at least at least they didn't win like i think it'd be way worse if like tampa bay won right like tampa bay wins and like maybe they had a few calls that everyone's always gonna be like oh the winning team got a few calls and the the referee's like, will you sign this for my kid? It's not for your kid.

It's never for your kid. Anytime a grown man comes up to you and says, sign this for my kid, it is 100% for him. That is forever and always been a thing. If you want it for your kid, send your damn kid. If you go as an adult to sign for something, it is going for you to show off to your buddies. He's got to get fired.

He can no longer be a referee in the nfl i 100 agree like there's for both media referees anyone who is in the unbiased realm if you cross that line then you are fired i mean the same thing with like covering the team there was the story about kyle rudolph i made this joke on twitter but like somebody with a media credential asking kyle rudolph for his gloves after they won the game and it's a bizarre kind of thing but it's like clearly this person was not a reporter and if they were then they need to have their credential pulled whoever it was because it's really important that we maintain that professionalism you cannot have refs get autographed because then you're talking about well i mean if i could just butter up the refs then i can get calls out there and i mean that i totally agree that that guy if that's what

it was and i don't know what else he would be writing i saw some people in the comments being like oh the captain has to sign something like oh he doesn't i've never heard of that in my life like what huh no that was an autograph you can tell by mike evans face too yeah you can look at mike evans face is kind of like what is what is happening now i'll say this if there's some exponential like crazy circumstance where the referee is like my son is sick or there's something going on and that's true and it all fact checks out to be true you know and there's something out on, and that's true, and it all fact-checks out to be true. And there's something out there where it's like,

this is for some special situation. That's a huge fan of yours because these refs do have lives outside of being referees. I know Cleet Blakeman. He lives in Omaha. He's a lawyer. I've talked to him many times. So they do have lives out here, but it'd have to be a damn special circumstance

in order for that to be okay to happen because you're talking about people that can actively affect the outcome of football games referees have the most power of anyone on the football field besides a player to affect the outcome of a football game if they have any unbiasedness in them at all whatsoever they got to go you got to get out i and i just can't figure out what else that would be oh Mike you dropped this check you want me to mail it for you why don't you just sign it and I'll mail it out I'm headed to the box right now I'll just I mean what in the world else could that be and the fact that the NFL quickly started investigating it made me think all right well that they must

also believe that that's an autograph as well I think think that's an easy decision. I'm sure it's not hard to cultivate referees, to train them. You don't want to fire them because you put so much effort into finding ones that are good enough to do it at this level. And if you watch college football, whoa, is it hard to do it at this level? Whoa. But, you just i mean that is the absolute like the the ultimate sin for a referee to have any sort of bias toward any player and you can't tell me that if you're fanboying him like that that you don't have any bias toward it so you do hate to see that love to see it real quick real quick pj walker come on yes pj walker what a journey might love to see it taylor heineke taylor heineke dude like the dude gets written off like we're

bringing in carson wentz and he walks out there and just balls and does his thing and just scraps around and you could tell his teammates love that guy i love them taylor's a fantastic human and you can tell that like there's a they almost it's like the commanders had a little bit of an edge to him when taylor went out there you know and that happens sometimes when you have and pj walker same with carolina right like your team kind of rallies around the underdog quarterback and embodies the whole mentality and both those quarterbacks around played really well this week the uh the best comment i've heard from a broadcaster in a long time was when they were showing taylor heineke in his little uniform as a kid in a Brett Favre uniform and the play-by-play guy goes you know he was a huge Brett Favre fan growing up presumably

for football reasons and here's him he just said it so deadpan like I heard you I heard what you said and I know exactly what you mean that was great that was the Wrangler commercials big Wrangler guy I don't know the game yeah Taylor Heineke's a big Wrangler guy just a big Wr was the Wrangler commercials. Big Wrangler guy. I don't know. Yeah. Big Wrangler guy. Just a big Wrangler. Yeah. Big jeans. Big jeans. Who is it?

Great stuff. Jeremiah. Super fun. All of your bets will be wrong and we will continue. We'll have another game to break down after the Vikings play Arizona. So great stuff, man. Thanks for all your time.

Absolutely. See you next week.