Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings' defense needs some tweaks (A Fan's Only pod)

Episode Date: December 10, 2022

Matthew Coller answers Vikings fan questions, from whether the Raiders are the 2021 Vikings to whether we finally see the defense start to blitz this week to player celebrations to how fans should handle such a weird season. 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. This is a fans-only episode. Matthew Collar with you as always. And first, let's just get into the injury report real quick. Christian Derrissaw is listed as questionable. He only participated in one full practice this week.

So I would be a little surprised if he started against the lions i think that maybe waiting one more week might be wise but they had this week to evaluate him he was back at practice but it wasn't until friday that he was really a full go but if they feel like he is ready then they may put him out there i i think that caution is best when you have a player that has all pro potential in christian derisaw and also there's such a big domino effect to having someone like him because you can leave him out on an island you don't have to have receivers chipping or tight ends helping or any of those things with Derrissaw. So they want to have him down the stretch. I think that proceeding with caution is probably a good idea,

but we shall see when the inactives come out on Sunday, whether Derrissaw is going to play or not. Also, Cam Dantzler, maybe by the time you're listening to this has been activated. I would expect him to play the way that Kevin O'Connell and even patrick peterson talked about him it seems likely and a little surprisingly harrison smith is questionable and so is garrett bradbury and those are two to watch as well i mean garrett bradbury there's always ups and downs with his play but i think overall this year the fact that we haven't

talked about him really at all uh tells you that there has been improvement there and he's reliable and he's been with kirk cousins i mean healthy i mean almost for his entire time outside of those couple of games where mason cole played uh but if it's not him then it's probably austin schlottman um and at that point that is a it is a downgrade for sure. Going to somebody who's barely played in the NFL versus a guy with a ton of experience. Who's been, I would say solid this year in Garrett Bradbury. So that's to watch. And of course, Harrison Smith, I mean, I would be surprised if either one of them did not end up playing. Josh Mattel has certainly proved the last time against the lions that he is capable of filling in.

But, of course, I mean, we're talking about Harrison Smith here. So there's kind of a drop off from just about anyone to Harrison Smith. But that's kind of what we got going on as far as your injury reports for the Vikings going into this game. So there's some that could impact this game kind of significantly on the Viking side will be something to watch as we lead into it. So let us get into your questions and we'll start off with at CJ McAuley on Twitter, a longtime supporter of the show.

Always appreciate you, CJ fans only question, or am I calling people friends of the show, supporters of the show, whichever you want to put it. We'll say friends. CJ's a friend. All right. Have we considered that the Vikings and Raiders have somehow switched

variance polarities from this and last year to extreme levels? Now, you might laugh at CJ's suggestion that there are similarities between the Minnesota Vikings and the Las Vegas Raiders, but you shouldn't because here's the crazy thing about the NFL, just in general. Last year, the Las Vegas Raiders went 10 and seven, made the playoffs and almost beat Cincinnati with a minus 65 point differential. I mean, that is just completely shocking. This year, Las Vegas, for all of their flaws, including forgetting entirely how to play defense against Baker Mayfield, their point differential and a 5-8 record is minus 5.

They are 12th in points scored and 25th in points allowed and 25th in yards allowed. Now, if I go over to the Vikings who have a plus 10 point differential, they are 10th in points for and 22nd in points allowed. Those two things are pretty close to each other. And yet the Vikings are 10 and two and the Las Vegas Raiders are five and eight. And so I guess this sort of goes back a little bit to what I wrote about the other day in the conversation that we had that when you really look at the Vikings close games, they're much more like an eight and four team. And I think if we went through the Raiders and I can take a quick look, there's probably quite a few of those that aren't just your regular old random one-score game.

I'm not going to go through every single one. The Raiders are not coached very well by Josh McDaniels. It's so interesting to see them top 10 in yards and 12th in points, but it feels like Derek Carr has not had his typical kind of Derek Carr season. His numbers are just pretty bleh. 89.4 quarterback rating, 20 touchdowns, 10 picks.

They've had a really tremendous running game with Josh Jacobs, so that's probably made up for some of those issues, which is weird because they have one of Earth's great receivers in Devontae Adams whose numbers are really, really good. He's averaging 15 yards a catch, but they can't stop anybody on defense. And maybe they just don't have the players to make a big stop at the end of a game that maybe the Vikings have. I don't know.

Before this, the wild thing about them is that they had won three games in a row before losing to the Rams, and all three of the wins had come within one score. Just a really weird season. They lost to Kansas City by one point. They lost to Tennessee by two. They lost to the Chargers by five. I mean, yes, yes, last year's Minnesota Vikings,

who ranked 14th in offense and 24th in defense, which sounds almost exactly like this year's Raiders. Last year's Vikings are this year's Las Vegas Raiders. Yep, that's totally right. Except for maybe, I don't know what the culture is like in the building for the Las Vegas Raiders. I doubt it's very good, but it certainly wasn't in Minnesota last year. There is something to winning close games, I think. And the reason it regresses is probably random for sure,

but also that players turn over from year to year. So if you won all the close games last year as the Vegas Raiders, maybe you don't have the same players. Maybe you don't have the same coach. I mean, you think about that Gruden left and the special teams coach stepped up and did a really good job with that team and probably deserve the job. And it seemed like they were really playing for him. And they also have a great kicker that the Vikings gave them. All those things might play into it, but the reason it's hard to rely on year after year,

in part, is because people leave in free agency. Players get older, dynamics change, coordinators change. So maybe one year you have some guys who come up in the clutch all the time, and the next year you don't have those guys. That has to play into it to some extent. Like like i refuse to believe that it's all random but i do think it is predictive over a long period of time if that makes sense so i think that the raiders deserve all the criticism they're getting but also when we just went through some of those games two point loss one point loss five point loss i mean these these losses of theirs have probably landed on the random side to the point that instead of being a five and eight team

they maybe should have been a playoff team and i would say the same thing for last year's vikings they went eight and nine their point differential was minus one a game or two here or there that goes their way instead. Maybe those first two games of the season and instead they're 10 and seven and they're in the playoffs right now that doesn't make them a great team. Um, just like if Vegas had won some of those games, that wouldn't make them a great team, but they are the unlucky duckling of this year. And it's just been a wild season, but I would say against Baker Mayfield, they definitely earned their own luck by refusing to play a defense that you would use at the end

of a game, just crazy stuff to give an opportunity for Mayfield to take a shot down the sideline there and to give up a 98 yard drive. I mean, just be embarrassed of yourselves. Um, but Hey, look, I mean, the Vikings almost did it last week and found that one way to make a stop. So those are the margins of victories in the NFL when you play the dangerous one score game, um, game, if that makes sense. So yeah, what a, I mean, it's a great observation, CJ, what a crazy year for both of these teams and both with new coaches. I mean, imagine if these things had gone the other way, how we'd be talking about this Viking season.

But again, I don't think all of their one score games are just completely random. Maybe just a couple of them. And I think the Jets was probably, it was probably the second most random outside of the Bills game where they needed to have a um fumble at the goal line uh but that that was an all-timer so i'm not going to take away from that one uh all right next question from at ro28 on twitter uh i don't have a question oh so i guess it isn't the next question but i do have to vent and you're invited to comment all right this is this is something that's allowed for fans only.

If you want rants and you want me to react to rants, you can do that. By the way, if you want to send me emails, purpleinsider.com or on Twitter, at Matthew Collar, the place to get on the fans only show. Let's see. The Vikings have a strong nucleus of very good defensive players, most of whom are still effective. I have no complaints about the play of Smith, Bynum, Peterson, Hicks, and Kendrick. Cedaria Smith, Delvin Tomlinson have been banged up, but great for the most part. For a guy who's missed so much

time, Hunter has been okay too. I think Hunter recently has been even better than just okay. I think he's been good. Yes, there has been a revolving door at one cornerback spot, but you can't blame all of Mike White's yardage on Duke Shelley. The guy who deserves to be put under the microscope is Ed Donatell. I think you have to blame his system. Despite his defensiveness in press conferences, his stubbornness to change his scheme that's not working and make better use of the personnel, i.e. blitzing,

is the reason enough to look at a better option for defensive coordinator in the off season. Maybe West Phillips could convince his dad to fix what's clearly broken. You know, earlier in the year, a lot of you asked this question about the scheme, right? And is it the scheme?

Is it the scheme? And, and here's what I would say. If you look at what Denver was able to do last year under Vic Fangio playing a very similar scheme, they kept Denver in a lot of football games and played really, really well. Right. So I think that personnel is where it starts. Like a lot of people are using this defensive scheme. And if you have the personnel you can do it but if you look at a team like the chargers brandon staley took this scheme over there they haven't had good personnel this year they've had some injuries and i think what it requires is really good corners like thinking about the nickel corner position specifically and how chicago with fangio was able to thrive the corners in denver drafted Patrick Sertain over there

I mean yeah I think that that is a real requirement of this defense and the Vikings have just not had healthy corners or a good nickel corner so the guy playing in the middle of the field is getting routinely lit up and I meanllivan is kind of becoming like the dakota dozier where every time he gives up a pass into his coverage it's like oh this guy again but it's really actually happening a lot uh 610 yards allowed into sullivan's coverage is number one on the vikings and even i mean a caleb evans barely played and gave up over 200 yards into his coverage uh duke shelly it's been such an adventure it's either big plays or pbus but at least he's made some plays on the ball and even cameron dantzler who they should be thrilled to be getting back was

giving up 118.8 quarterback rating into his coverage the linebackers are getting targeted a ton jordan Hicks and Eric Hendricks are next on the list. I don't think that those guys, and this is where, so this is where I'm going to come over to your side, because I don't think that those guys are bad pass defenders. And yet by the numbers, they're getting a ton of yards against very high completion percentages. I mean, throws going jordan hicks direction are being completed 78 of the time and i think this is because there's just so much room to cover in the middle of the field when you drop everybody back and i think that you're right about the blitzing i i've i've

gotten there that i kind of wanted to hesitate and say it is it is personnel first and and i and i agree with that the if you say like yeah weak link systems and they're attacking the weak links that's absolutely true but mix in a blitz man at some point you do need to be more aggressive in some of these spots and it was so interesting that i was talking to tage seth who's a analytics wizard uh he does the take the points podcast we've had him on the show before but super super smart guy and he was looking up the blitz rates and they actually blitz less late in the games which you know i mean there's some notable ones where they've made some plays on blitzes but blitzing less going after after Mike White and Mac Jones less in the biggest moments kind of speaks to how much

it's been some of those guys stepping up and making a play. And Donatello said this week, he just believes that Zedaria Smith and Daniil Hunter are going to be able to do everything. But the reality is even in a good game, if you get five pressures from each of those guys, there's probably 20 to 25 dropbacks where those guys aren't getting pressure and opposing quarterbacks are spending way too much time comfortable. And I just, one of the old cliches in defensive coaching is to blitz the bad ones and cover against the good ones. So if you blitz Tom Brady, Tom Brady is going to light you up. So you try to cover against the good ones. So if you blitz Tom Brady, Tom Brady is going to light you up. So you try to cover against Tom Brady and rush with four, which the New York

giants did well in a couple of super bowls. The fact that Donatello would not go after somebody like Mike white with so little experience was really, I mean, I think the Jets were probably surprised by that to tell you the truth. So yes, I think that down the stretch, we're going to see how stubborn he's going to be because I've got to think when we've seen on the offensive side, Kevin O'Connell making adjustments that he can't be only watching half the game. Mike Zimmer got criticized for this, but Kevin O'Connell has to have taken notice that his team is just bleeding yardage and not able to hold on to leads when they get them as an offense. And I have to believe that he wants to make some changes there. And I don't think it's even just blitzing but i also think like changing up the coverage now i am not uh ed donatel or vic fangio or kevin o'connell when it comes to looking at how they are

covering but a lot of times it just kind of looks like the same thing over and over again and i think they need to make some changes there i I think that they believe too much in their system and not enough in trying to cover up the major weaknesses in some of these spots, and I do think getting Dantzler back is going to help, but there's no changing who your nickel corner is now. There's no changing the fundamentals of the scheme. It just has to be send Harrison Smith more often on blitzes. There are things that are not super tricky to change and pick your spots a little

bit better, you know, in order to create some pressure at some big moments. I just, you know, the amount of big plays, the amount of yardage you just like we talk about the things that aren't sustainable. I think we all agree that you can't let the other team march down the field over and over again and hope to stop them in the red zone in fact the vikings hadn't been stopping teams in the red zone before even last week to show you how inconsistent that is they were in the bottom third of the league in red zone defense and then all of a sudden stepped up in this one game but it's not a week week to week thing. This is a huge concern. And if Ed Donatel does not make some changes, then they might need to make some changes.

I agree with that. I agree with that because they do have enough star talent where it should be better than this. And as we are constantly making these comparisons to last year, I think, you know, if Mike Zimmer, it had Zedaria Smith and Daniil Hunter, I have to think that his defensive ranking would have been better. I know like that's, it's not in vogue to ever say anything nice, but he was a better defensive mind and defensive play caller

and coordinator than what we've seen. I think that we're used to seeing kind of getting the last drop of blood out of the stone the last couple of years and the defense getting hurt and that being the problem. But they have not been that hurt. You have one cornerback position that's gone down. I don't think Zedarius has missed a game, right? He didn't miss a game. And then Delvin Tomlinson misses a couple, which they're able to survive with some of their run stuffers. They have been a healthy defense, unlike the last couple of years where they lost.

Bar, 2020 Kendricks was out for a little while when they gave up 52 points. Like, Daniil Hunter, Everson Griffin. I mean, it's just, it was a mess. That has not been the case. There really are no excuses for the way this defense looks. And I think that I've probably turned a corner from saying, well, you know, the weak points are the weak points,

and maybe that's the issue too. No, you guys are right. Blitzing more needs to happen. And even if it results in some big plays, they're one of the worst in the league at giving up big plays. So you're already having the problem that you're trying to prevent, but you're not actually preventing. And what really blew my mind watching the film back was how many times these corners

were playing in the parking lot in some of these big moments. And just you run a little, I think Cam Bynum mentioned this, a little in-breaking route and you're open almost every time. They also have to tackle better it's it's the players as well but adjustments have to be made and how they make them I think really will be shown against Detroit against Indy we won't really learn about this I'm not confident that you know the Giants are going to tell us a lot or maybe Chicago a little but that's Justin Fields running around I don't even know if Aaron Rodgers is going to tell us a lot or maybe Chicago a little, but that's Justin Fields running around.

I don't even know if Aaron Rodgers is going to be playing by the end of the year. So, I mean, this is, this is a kind of show me something for the defense type of game here against the very explosive offense, but that's a, it's a, yeah, it's a great, it's a great rant. It's a great vent. And I, and I agree with it folks., it is time once again for us to have a discussion about liquid death. Now, here's the thing. My wife has been one of those people for a really long time that has carried around a water bottle and it's metal and it's gross and she drops it on the ground all the time. And so I said, look, why don't we try some liquid death?

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well, especially the lime flavored sparkling water, which is very good. So make sure you give that a try. Go to Hy-Vee, Target, wherever you get your groceries, go to the water aisle, look for the can that looks actually like a tall boy beer. And if you want to learn more about where to find it, go to liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquiddeath.com slash insider. All right. This comes from at Derek Burkhkhard on twitter uh let's see fan of the podcast been a consistent listener over the past couple years thank you very much um question one is with o'connell indicating a possible irv smith return this season is there any reason to believe

he can add anything to our offense or should we assume our offense is what it is? Yeah, that's a tough one. That is a tough one because you're talking about somebody who has just missed so much time and wasn't all that effective. However, can you throw him in there in a certain package to at least create a threat? Because Johnny Munt is just not a threat. Again, though, it's a lower body injury. Speed is really Irv Smith's game. Yeah, I mean, if you're a head coach of the team and you know that Irv Smith has talent

and he's a second rounder and you've seen the talent in some of the training camp practices before he got hurt and in, you know, know earlier than that even where he started to get back on the field you're probably thinking well i'd rather have that guy than johnny munt who is just a at least for some specific types of plays who's just a blocking tight end right i'd rather have somebody who can actually catch the ball and go downfield a little bit um but you know i i just don't know how much it's really in the cards, considering he's going to have to come back from a fairly serious injury and then be ready to play in the playoffs. But having him is better than not having him. The other thing that's funny to me is and anybody who says TJ Hawkinson has been good is right. Like TJ Hawkinson has been good.

But the funny thing about this team is that they just have not found ways to push the ball down the field to anybody except for Justin Jefferson and it is remarkable because when Irv Smith was in there averaging 7.6 yards per catch we were all going like oh geez this guy and then he had the one really bad drop. Of course, TJ Hawkinson is averaging 7.5 yards per catch and Irv Smith was at 7.6. I mean, this offense is just not allowing anybody else to make a difference down the field. And, uh, you know, Hawkinson, no doubt has been better. He's made some contested catches. He has converted some third downs. Really important role, and I think he's a better player.

But, I mean, find an explosive here or there to anybody except for those guys. Let's see. Your other question was, any tips on how to enjoy the season and each win instead of being just relieved the Vikings didn't find a way to blow the game? I don't know. I'm not an enjoyer of things. I mean, for me, it is more interesting to talk about this than it was last year to rehash everything that was driving everybody crazy about the history of Mike Zimmer and Rick

Spielman, right? the history of mike zimmer and rick spielman right so going over their drafts and going over their the way they treated people and how the building was and all that like you guys heard it a million times last year as they as we went on and on because we had just talked about those guys so much and they had come up short and yada yada yada so it's more interesting for me to discuss this to have those podcasts every thursday with will which i really enjoy doing where we kind of dive into you know the topics that matter to everybody and the hardcore previews of this position versus that position that's been really interesting but as far as like fun goes as a fan the way that you guys sort of deal with it the anxiety that you

deal with i don't like i i this is like i'm always focused on different things than you are right like so i'm focused on making sure i am paying attention to the right things during a game and that i have the right narrative in my head. Like the, the story of this game is what I'm always trying to capture. So I'm paying attention to which plays turned things. What, you know, what was some of the themes of things that were happening and how did it change and what does it mean to the bigger picture? And what does it say about all the context and everything? And then in the locker room, what players can I ask questions? And, you know, can I ask Kevin O'Connell something after the game

or early in the week about something that happened in the game? There's all those things that spin in my wheels or that are whatever. The wheels spinning in my head, I don't have the, I'm aware of it, of course, the Viking fan, they're going to blow this, they're going to blow this. They're going to let me down. They're going to whatever, right? Because I'm just focused on different things. So it's a little bit hard for me to put myself in your shoes.

But if I try, I guess I would just say this, that when you look at the history of the Vikings and boy, do they have one, you go back to 2019, right? We questioned, is this team really good enough? And in 2019, by the way, they outscored their opponents by 104. Maybe we were a little too harsh on the Vikings at that point, but they had just had some miserable losses that year to good teams,

and we didn't really believe in them coming off 2018 but uh okay so you know they go into the playoffs and we were all kind of like man i don't know and then they gave you one of the most exciting playoff games you will ever see in in new orleans that was one of the most uh just like intense atmospheres that i've ever been a part of in the Superdome. That throw to Kyle Rudolph, the throw to Adam Thielen at the end. Starting off the game with a fumble and then holding him to a field goal and all the things that happened in that game. Delvin Cook had an incredible game. The playoffs are what you remember forever, right?

And that does cut both ways. And then the next year year they missed the playoffs and went seven nine and you go back to 2017 i think you guys know where i'm going with this like 2017 you're right there on the cusp you get the minneapolis miracle again incredible memory for everybody and the next year what happens eight seven and one uh 2015 to 2016, missed the playoffs. 2012 to 2013, missed the playoffs. 2009 to 2010, missed the playoffs. I mean, this has been a trend with this franchise for many years. The last time they made it back to back was 2008 to 2009. And before that, you have to go all the way back to 99 to 2000 for back to back playoffs. Things in football are super tenuous.

I saw a stat about how many teams were in the playoffs last year that are going to be out of the playoffs this year. It's just how this league goes, right? You ride the wave and then you crash back to earth unless you have Rogers or my homes or Dan Marino, right? I mean,

that's just, that's just life in the NFL. And so when it is one of those years where you have a chance to really win something, I mean, just savor it. I mean, every game is probably driving you crazy and getting your heart racing, and you probably want to punch the television every time they give up a 40-yard pass when they have a chance to end the game but um you know this is it's all part of the journey of having a great team and uh you know we can debate all the other things where they rank

in this or that but you know you are what your record says you are you're a 10 and 2 team that's how you're going to be seated in the playoffs and uh i won't be hypocritical i mean all of last year i said they're not giving you the wins back just because you know they were close and in this case what have i said all year you don't have to give the wins back uh just because they've been close you know same sort of thing like they don't give them to you and you don't have to give them back. So you're 10-2. You're in a position to compete for the Super Bowl. Just drink it in, my friend. Just drink it in. And you know what?

If it ends up hurting you in the end, well, you'll be okay. I mean, it's all part of the Minnesota sports journey of being built up, and then, you know, you know how to finish the sentence unless you're the 91 or 87 twins or the links. Uh, all right, next question. I mean, that's the best I can do. The best I can do is look, this just doesn't happen every year. So just, just sit back and watch what happens. And the other thing I would say is this, that nothing that you do to yourself, as far as anxiety goes, uh goes affects what happens.

So that's another thing to keep in mind, that whether you are worried about them losing and blowing it or not will not change whether they blow it or not. Right. So you probably thought against the Saints before the Minneapolis miracle that they blew it. I certainly did. And yet they did not.

So, you know, I mean, actually both Saints games, really, you know, when they went to overtime, I thought, here we go. You know, this is going to be one of those meltdown Vikings, classic playoff losses. And then, you know, cousins came through. So you never know it's football, right? Nick Foles won the Superbowl just a couple of years ago. All right. This one comes from at JTMN Skull on Twitter. Is Kirk taking more hits this year than since he has been a Viking? His stats are worse this year, but seems improved in his grit. He seems to be willing to take a shot by a defender as he's delivering a pass more this year. Thanks and love the show. I think that there was a concerted effort in recent years. And I don't know if there's a way to exactly figure out quarterback hits, how many times he's been hit specifically.

But 2018, I thought, was the most. And if we go back to that, I'll just take a look at the pressure in 2018. It seemed like 2018 was probably the most pressure. He was being asked to be out of the shotgun a lot. Let's see here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He faced a lot. Like, overall, had the second most pressure dropbacks in the NFL in 2018. Um, so that, that definitely

tells the story. That was when I remember him getting hit a lot. Uh, but this year I think it's been some really booming hits that we remember. Uh, you know, one area he has been particularly good and this year, well, there you go this year, he is second in total dropbacks that have been pressured. And I think a major part of that is just who they've played. They've played some really great defenses. But how often those pressures are turning into sacks? He's actually been pretty good at getting rid of the football.

18th in pressure to sack. So how many sacks he's taking make up his total share of pressures. 18th is in a good way. You know, Joe Burrows at the top, you know, he takes a lot of sacks, Russell Wilson, but in a good way, getting rid of the football. And there's just been a lot of really memorable hits. I think that Cousins has always been tough. I mean, I, from day one in 2018, when he had an offensive line anchored by Tom Compton, and I think Rashad Hill was the starting right tackle at the beginning of that year. We got that impression right away that he was tough. I think other parts of his leadership elements, he has not felt comfortable in that.

And this year he does seem more comfortable. So maybe you notice offensive linemen peeling him off the turf a little faster or something. I don't know. But when you stand in one place, you are a target. A lot of times with running quarterbacks, we make a lot out of, well, you know, you can get hit while you're running. But if you're a pocket quarterback, they know exactly where to dive. And we've seen that quite a bit this year with the pass rush up the middle so i have no questions

and never have about whether kirk cousins is a tough quarterback where i think he has actually improved is getting rid of the ball so instead of taking that tough sack instead now it's just a tough pressure it's a tough QB hit. He was sacked a lot in 2018. I'm trying to look at that pressure to sacks that. Yeah, it's a little bit better this year. Actually, it was okay in 2018. It was okay then.

But he was sacked a ton that year where I feel like he hasn't been sacked as much so far this season despite taking the amount of pressure but um it it's an element of his game being able to stay healthy through the hits that is so unexplainable because he's been hit a lot over the last couple of years and you know jimmy g has somebody fall funny on his ankle but kirk cousins just finds a way i mean i think. I mean, I think that is a skill. I think that is a skill. I mean, Teddy Bridgewater has been hurt all the time, really, since he came back from his knee injury. He was hurt with the Panthers.

He was hurt with Denver. He was hurt with Miami. It's kind of a trend with him that he kind of tries to dive when it's not ideal or he hangs in the pocket a little too long and doesn't just get rid of that football i think kirk has made a concerted effort sometimes for better or worse to just know when to when to let it go and it was the ultimate chuck and duck with that throw to jalen rager um the other day so he seems to be able to get it out and also find a way to protect himself. It is sometimes another Minneapolis miracle that he hasn't gotten hurt so far, but that's, you know, they are on the better side now of the defensive lines.

Like the rest of the way, they're not facing quite as many beasts as they were before. Not the easiest, but also certainly not as dangerous as the New York Jets. Tis the season for you to buy the best Minnesota sports themed apparel in the world for all of your friends and family. Go to sodastick.com. They have great holiday shopping deals there and use the promo code insider. That is S O T A S T I-S-T-I-C-K.com code INSIDER for all of your holiday shopping. All right, this one comes from at ICU2Ugly on Twitter. Which would you rather have, the number one seed, which means the Vikings get the coveted bye in all home games,

but likely face the Cowboys and Eagles in those games, or in the second seed, which you might possibly have a road game. No buy, but your likely opponent is the Giants 49ers with a third string quarterback instead of Dallas and Philadelphia. Well, let's see. I guess, yeah, I mean, look, if you're going to win the Super Bowl, you have to face Dallas and Philadelphia at some point or one of them.

You're facing one of them at some point. Would you rather face them at home? Yeah, you would. And I know Dallas came in here and beat the ever loving heck out of you. But would you rather go to Philly again? You don't want to go to Philly again. The other big thing is that you get a week to rest. You don't have to travel, travel. I mean, this, I remember

quite well going from new Orleans back to Minneapolis, back to out to San Francisco, or, uh, it's not really San Francisco. It's closer to San Jose, but you know what I mean? That was a lot in itself that trap. I mean, you're going to a different time zone, and you're having to go south and then back up and then out west, and you're getting your practices in, and you played an extremely physical, long overtime game. And we've discussed that with why the Vikings are underdogs sometimes. Sometimes it's just the number of plays.

So if you are the team that's sitting there waiting at home and the other team has an overtime first round game and they get beat up in that first round game, this is why one of the great accomplishments in NFL history is that Giants team that went from the wild card to the Super Bowl where they played on the road every single week. And I mean, give the Rams credit for going down to Tampa Bay and doing what they did there last year.

I mean, think about how hard that was going on the road in the playoffs. The Giants had to do it four times and how insane that is. But doing it once can be really hard. I don't think you want to go to Philly. I don't think you necessarily want to go to Dallas at some point, which you'll probably have to do. I'd rather think you necessarily want to go to Dallas at some point, which you'll probably have to do. I'd rather sit at home and wait and see what happens. See if there's an upset. I mean, I guarantee you the Green Bay Packers, though they blew it, were thrilled that San

Francisco was showing up instead of Dallas. I don't know if that's exactly how it would have gone, but you get my point. Like San Francisco showing up out there because they got the upset. You never know who's going to pull off an upset. So if you're sitting at home and then Washington pulls a shocking upset, oh, well, great. You get to play Washington instead. I mean, that's just, that's such a big break. You know, so I think that you absolutely want to have that week off if you can get it. And if they have to play hard all the way to the end to try for it, they should.

And there's a decent chance that they do. I mean, looking at Philadelphia's schedule, it's not a guarantee that they just run the table. If they lose one, the Vikings can't catch them. But if they lose two, then maybe that still makes it really difficult, but it's possible. So, yeah, I mean, keep playing all the way to the end, because if you could get that by, it is worth its weight in gold. All right. From at McGillis one on Twitter. Can you explain to me why guys like Duke Shelley and Shannon Sullivan who get torched all the time feel the need to flex and cross their arms on the odd play that they defended in completion. Sometimes these celebrations after drops and overthrows, too.

Perhaps speak to the culture of the defense in the NFL and where the line needs to be drawn between high-energy defensive stops and quietly going about your business as a replacement-level corner. Oh, no, no, no. You're not getting me on this one. Nope, nope, nope nope nope nope i think that when you make a play in the nfl or even if you don't i mean you should celebrate that because energy is a big deal and i am going to cite bill belichick in this that there was an nfl films thing where there a scene. You can find it on Twitter where Bill Belichick is telling his defense.

Somebody made a play in the backfield and you guys didn't celebrate. Why didn't you do that? I want to see more energy out there. And, you know, it doesn't matter if it's an overthrow or it's a past breakup or if you're bad or if you're great or whatever. You're trying to stay as amped up and as dialed in as you possibly can be. And I think that's part of it, is that every single stop you make,

that just being as energetic as you can out there, when you get a pick, do the crazy celebration, whatever it is. I mean, okay, if you're down 42 to 14, I would agree with you that maybe that does not qualify. But if you're talking about a close game where that crowd is going absolutely crazy and you make a play on the ball, go nuts, man, go nuts. Because you want everybody feeling that at that moment. You want the crowd feeling it.

You want your teammates feeling it. And here's the other thing too. I am a fairly competitive person maybe you guys have noticed so maybe two years ago before the pandemic i played in a rec basketball league with a couple other people in the local media and uh it was really competitive league it was more so than i was originally told, actually. Thank you, Dane Mizutani, for that. But I'll tell you, I am not the next coming of Kevin Garnett. But when I made shots, I was like, let's go. And, you know, I don't know. It's sports.

It's sports. Like, I get what you're saying. You're Duke Shelley. What are you doing? But I don't look at it that way. And I don't think they do I think they look at it as every bit of energy that you can conjure for a long game they were out there for 85 plays and still had the focus at the very end I mean that comes from can you imagine how exhausted you must be by the 85th play on defense against the New York Jets

when you've given up play after play after play after play, and you need to be dialed in on that last one for Cam Bynum to remember that route combination from his notes, which he put on Instagram, and make that play. That takes a heck of a lot of energy. I put out a lot of podcasts, but I don't have that much energy. So, yeah, no, i don't think i don't think i agree with that and plus you know what i mean you're trying you're trying as hard as you

can with somebody like duke shelly to exist in this league he's a small guy he's a practice squad kind of player fighting as hard as he can i mean live, live it up, man. Like, this is a short life in the NFL for most players. You make a play, celebrate that stuff. All right, this comes from Jeff via email. What's your opinion on teams allowing their big name, big salary quarterbacks to keep on playing as long as they can stand up and fling it to some degree? Is it as simple as the injury will probably not get worse by playing or that they have no backup to speak of?

Oh, you mean so when players are clearly out there injured, but they're going to keep playing. It's because the backups are really mostly horrendous. That's really why. Is that most of the time, and we talked about this in training camp when the vikings made the deal for nick mullins my hot take on it was i'm not doing an instant reaction for a backup quarterback because if he plays you lost if he plays it's over and i and i know i know you need them for one or two games and so forth. And sure, that's true. And there's probably a handful of guys who could do that.

But for the most part, an injured, hobbled starting quarterback is often better than the backup. And part of being a starting quarterback in the NFL is usually fighting through a lot of pain. I mean, we've seen the Matthew Stafford injury report many times before. A lot of times you are beat up by the end of the game. I mean, do you think that Kirk Cousins felt good by the fourth quarter that came when he had to make that throw to Justin Jefferson? Probably not. Like toughness is a huge deal when you watch guys play and you're scouting them. I mean,

this is something I talked about with last year, Jim Monas, who is the former director of player personnel and a longtime scout. And I asked him what he looked for in quarterbacks. And he's like, look, I mean, toughness is a huge deal. It's a huge deal. Can you take shots? Can you stand in there? Can you lead the guys?

So a lot of these guys have already been through that and they know how to play through injury. There's definitely a line. Yep. There's definitely a line. Yep, there's definitely a line. And maybe Russell Wilson, maybe that's been the problem all year. Maybe Russell Wilson's been banged up, and he just can't run anymore, and that's one of the problems. Maybe he needed to be healthy, but there were too much in terms of expectations. So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a good question,

but I think everybody knows if you have to play your backup, you're just in a lot of trouble. Most of the time. Uh, all right here, this, uh, we'll get one more last one in.

This one comes from at rat trapping. Just asked a few questions and, uh, fans only. Uh, I recently sent you a luck metric chart that had the Vikings as the sixth luckiest team earlier this season. So let's just say that, you know, this question's a couple of weeks old,

but still relevant. I saw the Vikings also have the third best wins above replacement loss to injury of all 32 teams per PFF. Are they incredibly lucky? Did we pick the right coach with a top heavy roster to take advantage of the league as it's currently constructed? I feel like the margin talk that came before the season is playing out right before our eyes. And even though it's sometimes ugly, we're still winning because of good coaching and preparation. Yeah, I mean, that's really the fundamental question of this season, isn't it?

I mean, that's what it really comes down to this whole year. And it's kind of like we're going to decide this in the playoffs, but the playoffs can also be weird and random too. Yeah, I mean, everything has gone their way. But sometimes it does. And that's the best I can really do. Like, yes, if they lost three of their key players this team wouldn't have this record if kirk cousins went down for two games they'd be oh

and two in those two games more likely than not um i don't know the miami game was a little ugly but aside from that one right like uh most of the time if you lost zedarius for three weeks if you lost patrick peterson for a couple weeks if justin jefferson was out for five games you might have gone oh and five that's just the reality of this roster but at its best it has a lot of players who have reputations for making great plays and i do think coaching is part of it. I think that inside of games, Kevin O'Connell has made decent enough adjustments by the fourth quarter. I don't know what is happening in the third quarter,

to tell you the truth, why that is such a disaster all the time. I don't know, but they stay together and there doesn't seem to be finger pointing. There doesn't seem to be frustration. There was a time in 2019 where Kirk Cousins came off the field, and he was yelling at somebody. Maybe it was Clint Kubiak, who was the quarterback coach at the time,

or a receiver or something, and he just seemed, and they're in the midst of a good season, and they're playing against a tough opponent at a tough place, but just seemed like he was so flustered at that moment. And how many times have we seen that from Cousins this year? Probably not many. In Miami, a little bit. I think that everybody got on each other's nerves a little bit in the heat there

when they were struggling, but not often, not often. And Peterson, Patrick Peterson described him as being very calm on the sideline. And I don't know that we've always seen that from him, uh, looking like he was common and command and trusting and believing in everybody. So, you know, there's absolutely something to that, but there's absolutely something to luck. Uh, but here's just the truth about the NFL is if you you get to a certain threshold you got a chance if you get to a number two seed you get to a number one seed you get to 13 wins you have a chance and that's all you're looking to do so even if you were lucky earlier in the season which

you could make an argument based on the lack of injuries lost that they have been lucky but you know there was another stat too that outside of the quarterback they've gotten one of the the highest war numbers from pff out of anybody in the league from everyone except the quarterback uh all added together so they had some huge l's for sure like we talked about earlier but some huge victories in great performances by Z'Darrius Smith, who's played like a defensive MVP for a good section of the season

before getting banged up a little. And Justin Jefferson, who's in the conversation for offensive player of the year for MVP. I mean, those types of things aren't random. Justin Jefferson making an amazing toe tap back of the end zone catch is not random. That's an amazing player doing something amazing. And that gives you a shot as they go into the

playoffs. But it will be the fundamental question we ask even over these last five games. If they start blowing people out and really coming together, then I don't think we're asking that as much anymore. If they have a bad game against Indianapolis or something, or lose badly to Detroit or whatever, then that conversation is not going away. So anyway, great, great questions from everybody. I'm always overwhelmed with the number of questions that I have, and I apologize to everybody whose question has not made it in yet.

You know, if you sent them a while back and it might have got buried or something like that. And I apologize if that's the case. I get a lot and I try to get to as many as I can. So I really appreciate all of you guys sending them and we will talk to you again after Detroit.