Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - The Vikings won in Miami but they know there is lots of work to do

Episode Date: October 16, 2022

From Miami, Paul Hodowanic joins Matthew Coller to break down a bizarre and ugly win for the Minnesota Vikings over the Miami Dolphins. What happened to the offense? Why weren't they able to spread the ball to anyone except Justin Jefferson? How did the defense give up over 450 yards but only 16 points? What did Kevin O'Connell say about the way they played in his postgame press conference. 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. so welcome to the vikings were given every single break in a game and came away still with a one score victory against the miami dolphins 24 to 16-16. They are now 5-1. And normally, I start the show by giving a big, long diatribe about everything I thought, and then Paul Hodowana comes in,

and then he gets to talk. But this time, I want to do it the opposite way because Paul is in Miami covering the game for Purple Insider. So, Paul, give us all of your thoughts. Let it all out. The Vikings get a win it wasn't one that will be remembered forever by all but uh they come away with the victory so tell tell me what is happening in your world yeah i think constantly through my head in this game i

was thinking uh a gift from what is it freaking bad they're like how do you keep getting away with this and that's kind of how i feel about vikings just week in and week out it feels like they are playing games where they probably shouldn't be winning but over and over again they continue to find a way and i think that's kind of what was reiterated post game and it's probably getting a little annoying for one to hear about just like yeah we're happy we're we're winning these games and we can talk about how we didn't play very well but that was the story again today i I mean, Skylar Thompson and then Teddy Bridgewater just going nowhere on offense. But the Vikings offense, without the excuses of having a second string

or third string quarterback behind them, just could not get the offense going. And O'Connell talked about it and Cousins talked about it. They were both frustrated about it. They just seemingly can't get the thing to work all the time or very consistently i mean 10 three and outs i think in this game just mind-numbingly they continued to struggle down and down uh on offense and really not being able to sustain any type of drive um but the defense

stepped up when they needed to against uh again some maybe inferior competition but they still had to go up against tyreek hill still had to go up against Jalen Waddell Teddy's good enough to deliver the ball to them when they need to get the ball and they didn't allow any big chunk 60 yarders or those massive touchdowns that you saw like the Ravens give up to the Dolphins earlier this year or even when they came back and beat Buffalo when the Dolphins did that they had a 45 yard catch and a 35 yard catch on the game winning drive like those plays were relatively non-existent And part of that is because they don't necessarily have the best quarterback throwing it to them, but the Vikings defense did a good job of keeping a top on the team and only allowing what 16 points and one drive was just there towards the end.

And so I, I keep coming back to this team and like being frustrated or I can sense their frustration in the offense in particular about not being there a hundred percent of the time and struggling in these instances, but they just keep finding ways to win games. So it's hard to pulverize them too much. I'm sure we will at points here, but I think through a lot of this game, it was maybe the most maddening it had been throughout this part of the season, especially in the first half.

The offense just looked listless. They weren't going anywhere. O'Connell talked about in the postgame about how they were intentionally being conservative, I think because of the different fronts that they were facing and the pressure that the Dolphins are known to dial up. It still got to Kirk, the offensive line, after having a bunch of praise heaped on it in the last two weeks. Seemed like they struggled today.

We'll see how all the data points to after this game, but they certainly seemed like they had their work cut out for them. So at points maddening, but they won the turnover differential 3-0. So situationally, they continue to play these scenarios really, really well where the other teams struggle, and that really is the difference in these games from being 5-1 to being one and five. And Kirk said as much, he said in 2021, it was like the opposite of this.

I'd come off the field and say, man, we played really, really well, but we just didn't win games. And now I'm coming off the field and saying, we're winning, but how are we winning? Like that was basically what Kirk's saying. So it's present in the locker room. They understand that this isn't quite going to plan,

but I think they're just kind of writing it out right now because it continues to come up their way, whether or not it will continue to do that. We'll see. But through six games, they're five and one, they have a two game lead now on the NFC North. Like it's,

it's still good signs for them. Even if down in and down out, looking at the micro, there are some issues that need to get cleaned up. So here's some crazy signs for them. Even if down in and down out, looking at the micro, there are some issues that need to get cleaned up. So here's some crazy stats for you. The Vikings only got 11 first downs the whole game. 11. And 10,

10, three and outs, right? Yeah, I believe it was 10, three and outs. Miami had 23 first downs. Miami got 458 total yards compared to 234 for the Vikings. And the Vikings

only had possession of the football for 24 minutes of this game. In my mind, that is getting completely dominated by the other team, especially when it was never a blowout. It was only a two score differential for a short amount of time. For the most part, like these two teams were playing their complete football game. It wasn't like, oh, we're just going to sit back because we're winning and so forth. Like they needed to play the whole time. And still they allowed Miami really from the outset of this game to effectively move the football time and time and time again. And Miami stepped on its own foot repeatedly giving the Vikings defense all sorts of breaks whether it was five penalties on the same drive which is a season high by the way or whether it was all the way down to the end we're on third and 15 they leave Jalen Waddle wide open he's

clearly got the first down and then he fumbles the ball. A tremendous, tremendous all pro play by Harrison Smith, but still one of those instances where you absolutely cannot fumble the football of your Jalen Waddle. And they gave it away in so many different ways, whether it was, I mean, even just putting Teddy behind the sticks because they were playing a backup left tackle who may have gotten concussed early in the game and they did not take him out. By the way, if you were following that on Twitter, there was some video of him getting kneed in the head and then trying to like shake it off.

Didn't take him out of the game. Zedaria Smith dominates him throughout. And still, Teddy Bridgewater is completing passes, moving the football toward the end of that game, and they could not put the Dolphins away and left the door open repeatedly because their offense was going nowhere. And that 53 yard touchdown run by Delvin cook really makes his stat line look a lot different than it was. If that wasn't an Adrian Peterson day where it was just like negative run, negative run, negative run, and then one burst at the end of the game. But what are they saying about what the issues were? Because to me, it was the classic Vikings offense problem that is always in forever.

If the middle of the offensive line gets demolished, which it did today by Christian Watkins, who's a great player, I'm sorry, Wilkins, uh, just a, just a great player. Um, and dominated them today in the middle. And when that happens, they usually tend to, uh, to fall apart. So it seemed like Wilkins was in the backfield time and time again, and they just got thrown off by that from the start. They couldn't run the ball. And then it was classic, like bad Kirk type of situation. And they're right to say getting away with a win when you play like that and get out yardaged by 200 is pretty shocking, even if they had to come up with the big plays. But they cannot go into the bye week feeling like, oh yeah, everything's good when they've had the wins look like this.

Yeah. I mean, on early downs, uh, running the ball, they had 13 early down runs. They had a success rate of 15%. So that kind of takes away some of the noise about 52, a 52 yard touchdown. That's going to make the yards per carry look better, but on just a, was this play a success or not? 15% of their run plays on early downs were success. 70% of their down, or 50% of their late down runs, but those were only two. So they really only had four successful rushes of the game. And so you saw that.

One was the Dalvin run. There was another Dalvin one just before that in that possession where I think he gets seven yards or so there. But the running game was really struggling. And it's interesting because that is the part of the D the Miami defense. That's been really, really good this year. They're top 10 in EPA defense. So expected points allowed at rush defense.

So they're really good stopping the run, but they're, I think bottom three in past defense EPA. So they really struggle covering wide receivers. And like, that's what made the beginning and really the whole entire game really confusing and confounding is because you have justin jefferson and you have adam thielen you have a passing offense that should be able to get chunk plays down the field and generate them easily you've seen them generate them scheme them up uh and it just didn't happen and so o'connell and cousins basically said you know some execution like we weren't running the correct routes on

certain plays like just weird things were happening execution wise and some of it was their scheme wasn't matching up i think they talked a lot about they would obviously shift it to the positive the one justin jefferson play they finally got 11 personnel against base defense and they felt like they could take advantage of that kirk audibles at the line finds justin jefferson out there for that big gainer. So you see it there, but it just was never consistent. That was their only big chunk play of the game. It comes down to the pass protection.

O'Connell said we had to move more bodies inside to help them. I think that was evident because Miami is one of those teams, kind of like a Zimmer team in the past where they're going to put everyone up on the line. And then you're going to have to guess what's going to happen. And clearly the Vikings offensive line had some communication issues or just didn't quite know where people were going to be coming from. There were some free rushers, some guys that just looked like they were getting passed off, but then the, like the center, like Eric Bradbury just wouldn't see him and he'd go right around the edge. Like there were too many times of that.

And so it's a talented group back there. And certainly, uh, it helped when Ogba went out and a couple of their defenders dropped out again, a Vikings opponent struggling with injuries. That's becoming a theme here. Uh, but they were able to be aided a little bit by that in the middle of the game when they actually go and score that first touchdown, uh couple guys on the sideline. But yeah, it really comes down to the pass protection and they were just not able to hold up. They didn't have a lot to say about that. You know, it's, we got to keep looking back at the film, but just anecdotally from what you

see out here, it's, they couldn't quite get the combinations. Even when the Dolphins were rushing four, they were able to really move the pocket. And I think it's that confusion that it costs causes. And I think Vikings fans are very familiar with that in coming from this Zimmer style. He dialed it up on third downs. Miami has no problem dialing it up on third down on second down on first down. They're going to do those wacky,

weird blitzes and show blitz, but we're going to drop back. That's all game long. And I think you combine that with an offense that still is not always on the same page and an offense that's sitting in 120 degree heat. Like all those things, I think compounded to the point where they only had three successful drives, two successful drives, really the rest were clunkers. And they were thankful that the defense was able to bail them out enough times to where it didn't matter. Yeah. And I'm also done with saying, oh, they should be getting on the same page. We have to give them time on offense.

If there's receivers running the wrong routes and throws are going to no one, then something is wrong and needs to be changed at this point. You've had enough time. And I remember being asked this in a fans only podcast at some point, just like, well, how long should we give it before we feel like the offense should be gelled together? And my answer was by the bi-week. And when it's still not by the bi-week, you guys have some work to do and there needs to be some adaptations and some answers to why that happens so often that it it's Kirk

cousins coming off the field, maybe as frustrated as we it's Kirk cousins coming off the field, maybe as frustrated as we've ever seen him coming off the field. Maybe he's more comfortable expressing it to Kevin O'Connell, but there were times where he was ripping his helmet off and going and getting right in the face of O'Connell and going over what just happened throughout this game. And like you said, this is not a monster defense. Not only that, but they also had one of their starting corners get hurt in the middle of the game. They had a pass rusher get hurt. They had a corner get hurt. And still they were mostly excellent against the Vikings offense that just seemed to have no answers. And I've got another stat that's

absolutely wild. Justin Jefferson had 107 yards receiving. Everybody else had 68. I mean, how does that happen? How does that happen? They have not been able to get the ball to anyone else. We saw some attempts going down the field to Adam Thielen that were unsuccessful. One was a penalty where they got some yards for that one, but Thielen not really creating separation down the field to Adam Thielen that were unsuccessful. One was a penalty where they got some yards for that one, but Thielen not really creating separation down the field.

And then Irv Smith and the screen pass. I just don't really understand it all. There was an attempt at a pop pass to Justin Jefferson. It seemed like that at some point, Kevin O'Connell just started mashing the buttons on the controller. Just like, I don't know, man, this just isn't looking right. And it's like, oh yes, welcome to the Kirk cousins experience in a lot of ways, right? Where he just shows up to a game against one of the worst passing defenses in the league, gets some pressure up the middle and suddenly

looks like he's just not in command of the offense. And it was like, wait a minute, who was starting QB three? Was it Skylar Thompson who came out and looked great? And then as Teddy Bridgewater went along in the game, even though he was struggling and their offensive line is abominable, even when Tua comes back, they have to be concerned about protecting him because they've gotten three quarterbacks hurt this year. That has to be the worst offensive line in the league. Like you think the Vikings old line played bad. That line got destroyed today by a D line that hasn't really pressured anyone. Hunter looked great today.

Zedarius Smith looked like it was 2019. Patrick Jones is getting multiple sacks. They didn't even need DJ Wanham. I mean, uh, Luigi Villain is getting in the game at this point. They're just throwing in everyone. James Lynch drew a holding penalty. That is how putrid the Dolphins offensive line was. Uh, and yet on the other side of the ball, on the defensive side, they were not able to slow them down enough. Uh, they really had to rely on the Dolphins making big mistakes because Thompson was moving the ball. And I've got to think that they score more points with him because Bridgewater, well, but then there was just, you know, the bad bounce that turns into the interception, Bridgewater trying to juke somebody out for a first down that didn't work out, like really kind of game of inches stuff happened to the Dolphins. But I think when you pull this

game back, they severely outplayed the Vikings in many, many ways. And the Vikings had the same thing happen that's happened the last few weeks where they're able to come up with big plays. But on the defensive side, I think that I I've been willing to be patient with them and say, all right, well, let's see how everyone adapts to what Ed Donatello is doing. And I thought they did dial up some more pressures today. But if you are giving up that kind of day to Teddy off the bench, and I know a lot of it came when they were down, but they weren't down so much that it's time to just say like,

oh, who cares? It's three scores or something. I mean, that's who are you going to stop? Are you going to stop Taylor Heineke in two weeks? I don't know, because you couldn't stop Skylar Thompson and Teddy Bridgewater coming off the bench with no practice all week. Like, this is just going to be the way that they're going to have to play, I think, is relying on their offense to be better

and then just big plays, turnovers, a strip sack or something here or there. The other team fumbles the football. I think that's just who they are, because I don't know that there's a solution on defense to stopping how effective opposing quarterbacks have been against them. Yeah, I think if Skylar Thompson is in there, I think they definitely score more points.

I think you saw that on the first drive. He gets out and he evades a blitz and he scrambles through a gap that was wide open because they blitzed and he was able to get an easy first down and just kind of creating more time with his legs. I think Teddy did a decent job at a couple times of pocket movement, moving throughout the pocket and finding Tyreek Hill late in the game.

But I think even through that first drive, you're seeing Thompson and you're kind of getting visions of what last week brought with Justin Fields. I think when this defense is forced to stop a scrambler, they're going to struggle. And some of those zones that bend don't break, a guy's going to leak through and a large play is going to happen. And so that's seemingly what it set up. I think Teddy coming in kind of shrunk everything down.

Okay, we know he's not going to scramble for a ton. And we know we can probably play back and really focus our attention on Hill because we don't have to worry about Thompson breaking out a big run, or we don't have to worry about Teddy bringing out a big run like they would of Thompson. So yeah, I think that obviously it comes down to that one drive where they have five penalties, I think for 36 yards that just continually brings them further and further back. But I think they were kind of setting up to have that type of game where Thompson was going to do a lot with his legs and the Vikings defense, as we've seen throughout the year with Justin Fields,

with Jalen Hurts, they're going to struggle to stop that at certain points. And so maybe that's something Taylor Heineke can exploit. I'm sure Thompson was going to struggle in other aspects. He took a critical sack that brought them out of field goal range. So there were obviously certain things that Teddy's going to do better and Thompson's going to do better. But I think McDaniel made the right call in starting Thompson because I think they were going to be able to find those chunk plays and those gaps in the Vikings defense that they just weren't able to.

And then when it became Teddy go figured out with your arm, basically that's when Zedarius can pin his ears back. That's when Daniil and Patrick Jones can pin their ears back and really feel like that pressure was getting to them a little bit, but yeah, it's, it's, it's confounding that the defense continues to kind of struggle and hasn't really put the clamps on a defense. I mean,

16 points and the dolphins had three points hanging, heading into the fourth quarter. I think you'll take that. It's just, you don't know if that's super sustainable, right? Because they do have 458 total yards and okay. They were able to stop them on fourth down or third down four out of 14 on

third down. So again, those situational plays are really bailing them out it's just how long can those go for that was the kind of the case if people remember the Dallas Cowboys last year they were creating turnovers at all these random times and every week it was like well it's not sustainable it's not sustainable and they ended up sustaining it for a really long time so these they can go on hot streaks like this with turnovers it's just a hard one to rely on over and over again. And if that's going to be the way that you're going to make your hay is just on turnovers,

that's fickle because it's going to change and your defense is going to give up points. And I really thought towards the end, if they don't get that, uh, fumble, uh, if Harrison Smith doesn't force that fumble, I think you're seeing the dolphins do what they did to the Ravens do what they did to the bills, which is just kind of a war of attrition in a different way where they're not running the ball pounding it up the middle and like forcing the defense we always think of that as that's when defenses get tired and big plays come the way the Dolphins do it is we're gonna send Tyreek Hill out and run him 50 yards down the field and your cornerback's gonna have to run with him the entire time and then he's gonna have to come back and he's gonna have to do it again over and over and over again

and we're gonna do it at home where we have the advantage of playing in this heat all the time we're gonna have our sideline that feels much much cooler than your sideline and we're just gonna run you we're gonna run laps with you and then towards the end of the game we're gonna break it open and you started to see that on the drive that they end up scoring the touchdown Tyreek is just wide open in these gaps. And you saw it on the Jalen Waddle play that he eventually turns it over. That was going to be a big gainer. And you just started to kind of see why the Dolphins have been able to come back on a

couple of teams. And you saw it with the Minnesota Vikings because they're just on the field for so much longer, that defense. I think the Dolphins had like 73 plays to the Vikings, 50 at the end of the game. You were seeing that attrition build up, but the turnover kind of got them away from it. And so it was one big play by Harrison Smith that opened that up and you have this result. And so it's, you like that they're opportunistic and that they're forcing turnovers and they seemingly have a knack for the ball.

You just want to see it in a more sustainable manner. If you are going to project this five and one team as a team that can go 13 and four like a 13 and four team is probably going to need to rely on more than just turnovers every once in a while if this is how they're going to play they're going to end up probably in the middle of the pack that's just how variance works and so it worked for him again today and i feel like we're a broken record saying well it's going to come due at some point the bill's going to come due at some point and it hasn't yet. And the division really isn't pushing them right now with the Packers.

And so they've got a lot of breathing room. So they may just be able to define that variance and really be able to continue to do this over and over again. It's just, it's a really dangerous way to keep playing. And they've been able to be on the right side of it. They're four and oh, now in one score games, like they've been able to do these things, but eventually it. They're 4-0 now in one score games. They've been able to do these things, but eventually it's going to come back to earth a little bit

because it always does. It's just when will that happen and will it come to a point where it really ends up hurting the Vikings? Folks, maybe you've noticed people in your office with what looks like an open tall boy at their desk in the morning at work. Well, it's not a beer.

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and their water and their sparkling lime are both delicious, and maybe I'll have to start pounding them in front of my friends who know I'm not a drinker just to see their reactions. So go get Liquid Death at your local Target, Whole Foods Market, or Hy-Vee, or find a Liquid Death retailer near you with their store locator tool at liquiddeath.com slash insider. That's liquiddeath.com slash insider. By the way, if you're unhappy about the Vikings being in the sun and the Dolphins being shaded, I suggest you look into the noise levels for the road team versus the home team at US Bank Stadium, because I understand that they might be a slightly different the way that the roof is positioned or whatever it is that they do there. So, yeah, I mean, this is it's a it's a difficult thing to break down because in no world, like

if you didn't see the final score, would you come away saying that the Vikings played well or played better than the Dolphins? And the Dolphins had so much working against them from whether it's their left tackle being out or it's their quarterback being hurt, another quarterback being hurt, having QB three, start the game. And then Teddy has to come in. They, they couldn't really block the Vikings defensive line and so forth. Like there's a lot of things that would have made you think that the dolphins just won this game because they played better. I think that's where there is a difference from say the new Orleans game or the Chicago game where the Vikings outplayed those two teams and let them hang around. This one was,

I think, actually concerning because they couldn't move the ball. And now we're going on how many games with no one else outside of Justin Jefferson doing stuff like at, Like at this point, you're almost ready to say that's just going to be who they have to be is the Justin Jefferson offense. Yeah, because it's you would have thought that by now someone else would have a breakout, but they just haven't. And we're pretty deep into the season for nobody else to have a breakout. So anyway, let's pull away a little bit from that and talk about the bigger picture of this game, which is the fact that the Vikings are five and one. And so I see the debates

raging on, on Twitter about like, well, you're five and one, like you don't have to say sorry for that. You don't have to give the wind back when the other team outplays you. And then you make some, some big plays interception. And, and another like good break for the Vikings was I wasn't entirely convinced that Harrison Smith pick was an interception thought it might've hit the ground, but Eric Kendricks was adamant that he had his hands under it. The entire postgame, anyone that wanted to talk to him, he was telling you, I had my hands under it. I knew that was an interception. So you'll have to take that up with him. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. I I'll believe him, but it goes under the category of, you know, there were, there were reviews last year at times that went against the Vikings.

Opposing teams have been penalized more than anybody else in the NFL against the Vikings. Like, so when the Vikings are playing them, they're racking up penalties. And that was never more true on this day, even when they got to drive going, then it was pulled back by a play that it was just a routine handoff and their guard tackle somebody. There was a play where their center went out for a passing route. It was like, what is happening with this team? Daniel got some real big praise early on, but the, let's just say details of the dolphins, uh, offense, maybe we're not that impressive. Um, but so they're five and one and the Packers lose and the Packers looks like it's a total disaster, just complete disaster. But on the other side of things, all of a sudden the Viking schedule looks harder in the second half of the year because the Jets have some players, including Sauce Gardner, which you don't have to call him Ahmed anymore. If you were, call him Sauce.

He proved it today. He's an emerging star. Zach Wilson looks like he could play. The Colts have kind of gotten it together. They got a win today. And the Giants got a great win against Baltimore. So suddenly it looks a little more dicey in the second half. And not to mention that DeAndre Hopkins is coming back for Arizona.

And this is what I wanted to ask you about, Paul, because we've talked a lot about how the defense is bend, don't break and everything like that. But this wide receiver in particular, Tyreek Hill is similar to some of the other guys they're going to face in the second half of the year. They have to go up against, and not in playing style, but in stature, DeAndre Hopkins. Then they're going to see Terry McLaurin, no matter who his quarterback is, might actually be an upgrade, honestly, to go to Taylor Heineke. And then Stefan Diggs with Buffalo, C.D. Lamb with the Dallas Cowboys. This here, I think, needs to be a wake-up call for them on a lot of levels.

If we just focus on the defensive part of it, there has to be some wake-up call element to it. You have to find a way to either pressure the opposing quarterback, which they did well today, and or at the same time, possibly shut down number one receivers because they haven't faced that many so far this year. Even Chris Alave had a good day against them, but he's just a rookie. But they kind of got a really favorable schedule. Darnell Mooney is not a superstar number one wide receiver. He's probably a three on a great team, but they're about to face some that are going to be really good. And I'm curious what you think, what you saw today that caused Tyreek Hill to have so many wide open opportunities. I think it is kind of a lot of

their philosophy in general of they were very adamant that they were not going to let Tyreek or Jalen Waddle break loose for an 80 yard touchdown passant that they were not going to let Tyreek or Jalen Waddle break loose for an 80 yard touchdown pass. Like that was not going to be the type of way that they played them. And so they played them in kind of this base defense where we're going to sit back and it's become familiar to Vikings fans watching it. Like they play a lot of soft coverage. And that was the case again with Tyreek Hill. And it at certain times felt kind of confusing of okay it's like second and 17 why are you letting Tyree Kill 12 down 12 yards downfield without even him getting touched but I think they were really really cognizant of the fact that they didn't want

that one game break breaking play O'Connell referenced that I think multiple times I believe in his post-game presser so I think that was the philosophy this entire day. And I think generally like this team doesn't have a shutdown corner that they can just set next to the best guy and say, go after him. Like Chandon Sullivan was on Tyree kill a lot of the day and had some good plays, had some bad plays. That's just going to what's going to happen when you're playing Tyree kill. And so it's going to have to continue to be that by committee type of look.

And you saw the dolphins able to exploit that a couple of times. They went empty. They got Jalen Waddle up against a linebacker. I believe they got Tyree Kill up against some favorable matchups. So things that you've seen the Vikings do with Justin Jefferson, they were able to just flip and do on Tyree Kill. And I think the Vikings don't have a Darius Slay that they can put on Justin Jefferson for big key plays and have him kind of take him away.

Like the Vikings don't have that guy. And so they're going to continue to rely on these types of things where maybe they have coverage over the top to help kind of double him in some ways, or they're going to bracket him in certain ways. Tyreek Hill is one of those tough ones because he's moving inside outside. He's so quick. It's just so difficult. And then you have a Jalen Waddle, like most of the teams they might have one guy they don't have two guys like the Dolphins do and so the Vikings got away with it that it's Teddy Bridgewater playing and it's not Tua or someone better that might just say hey I don't care that you kind of have someone over the top I'm just gonna throw it because Tyreek's

gonna outrun you anyways like maybe that happens with a little bit of a better quarterback but I think you're right I don't necessarily think this gets fixed next or in two weeks when they play the Cardinals, Marquise Brown is having a really, really good year for them with Deandre Hopkins. Like that's another two wide receiver combo that they're going to have to worry about. And I think Kyler will probably have won the arm strength and to kind of

he'll, he'll go for some of those passes. And so they'll have to see how that goes. And so I think it's just going to have to be something they manage. and i think it comes down to the fact that we've talked about this before they just don't necessarily have the roster pieces to be a shutdown defense all the time and i think it's why we look to the offense a ton for a lot of these games even if they score 24 points and that's enough is you're undermanned on the defensive side especially in the secondary with covering these really, really good guys. And the modern NFL is just the good offenses are going to score,

even on the good defenses. And so the Vikings, I wouldn't even say have a good defense. They probably have an average defense. And so the good offenses are really going to score on you. Your offense really has to follow with. So I think that's why we get hard on the defense or on the offense. And I think that's why O'Connell and Cous cousins are hard on offense as well because they know that and so i don't see a solution for arizona or for washington or for buffalo dallas has cd lamb like their next four opponents have a marquee guy and so i think

they're just going to hope to contain them and play this bend don't break style like i think we've settled into what this defense is going to be. You may have wanted to give them more time, but I think they've showed themselves what they're going to do. They're going to play this soft coverage. They're going to dial up a blitz not very frequently, but they're going to try in certain spots, and they're going to rely on Zedaria Smith and Daniil Hunter to get to the passer. And when they're playing guys that are ranked second to last and last

in PFF pass grade when they have over 200 snaps that was the left tackle and the right guard i believe uh for the dolphins today you're gonna have some success now you go up against some better offensive lines that also have those receivers now we've got a ball game now what's gonna happen are you gonna allow those big plays when the pressure isn't there because everyone talked about the pressure really bailing them out and it did today you're not gonna face offensive lines that are that bad but addressing the wide receiver issue going against top wide receivers i just don't think they necessarily have the personnel to go out and do it so it's gonna look like it looked with tyreek

and that's just big holes because they don't want to get blown over the top they're gonna make defenses go eight plays because they don't want to make them they don't want to let them go too and there's some you know there's some merit in that because turnovers happen because penalties start to happen. So some of those things happen because you're not going for broke all the time, but a good defense that's patient or a good offense that's patient and can dissect those things is going to be able to do it rather easily. You saw that with the Eagles. And so that's just the push and pull. I think that they're going to play with. Yeah. If, if we're calling it a victory to give up 177 to Tyreek Hill and 129 to Jalen Waddle, like, I hope they're not, I hope they're not looking at this and saying like, oh yeah,

this totally works. They just got all those yards and had plenty of chances to score, but had some things go wrong that I think better teams will not have go wrong for them. Of course, as you mentioned, like they don't play these absolute houses of teams coming up the next two weeks after the bi-week, but at the same time, like how is Arizona worse than what the dolphins put out there today? How is even Washington worse than what they put out there? They start a third quarterback. He gets hurt there. They're everyone is banged up on this team and they're playing very sloppy football in a lot of ways. Like if the dolphins played that same game, the way they played it with just from

the perspective of like being sharp and plus how much they had of their roster, it's like a four win team, right? If like Skylar Thompson starts every game with that offensive line and the defense that they brought in, uh, they don't win that many football games. So just like with Chicago the week before, I think they are feeling very much like they felt midway through 2020 after starting one in five and got a bunch of wins in a row. They beat the Packers in a windy game. They beat Carolina. They beat Jacksonville. And I remember Mike Zimmer saying the same sort of stuff

where he was just like, yeah, we really can't continue to play that way. In this case, they have a big cushion, but it can disappear quickly if you play like this. I think leading up to this, because I thought I was seeing signs of progress with the offense, I was much more willing to say, look, this defense is just going to be what it's going to be. And you're going to

have to rely on a Cam Dantzler fumble caused, or, you know, in this case, a Harrison Smith or a bounce that goes your way for an interception. But I think now that we're just going to have to come to expect on a week to week basis that the offense will have its moments. Like the touchdown drive in the first half was like, okay, wow. Touchdown. Like they get the ball and then they're all of a sudden in the red zone and scoring. And the drive where they hit Jefferson on the big play was the same way.

Oh, they just remembered how to play on offense at this point. But since I just am having trouble seeing them becoming a complete and consistent quarter to quarter type of offense, I think something has to get better here. And I don't, I don't know what it's going to be because the offense has been this way all season long. So is that really going to change? And the defense has been this way all season long. So is that really going to change? And the defense has been this way all season long. So is that going to change? But I think even the players, it sounds like inside the locker room agree that you can't play games like this and have the other team get 200 more yards than you and just be like, Oh yeah, they'll just get 10 penalties every week

because that will not happen. Yeah. I think, I think, I think like one thing the next two weeks the vikings do have an advantage is and they have this advantage i think today is just the coaching battle like i know we're talking about the penalties going against these teams if that's that comes from not being well coached in situations we've seen teams like the uh the lions with dan campbell making bad fourth down decisions you saw the dolphins go for a fake punt here when mcdaniel kind of kept the offense on the field for about 15 seconds and then opted to bring the punting team only to then fake it. Like you're probably better off just trying to go for a quarterback sneak there or do some type of play. If you're going to, if you want to keep the ball, just keep the offense out on the field. I

think O'Connell has shown himself. He may not be an amazing coach, but he's shown himself to be at least average above average to the point where they aren't penalized. They're not getting penalized a ton. They're making the correct decisions. They're not really giving the ball away sloppily. Like they're taking the ball away when other teams are being sloppy. Like these are coaching things. And I think they go to Arizona and with Cliff Kingsbury, I think they probably have an advantage there. They go to Washington where the quarterback and the head coach are just very weird vibes like you do have something going for you in that aspect and I think it's not all coaching and it's probably not even a major part of the coaching of why there are five and one as opposed to one and five it just at some point it comes down to these bounces

that are going their way but something has to be said for the fact that cousins after the game talked very openly and positively about having those like hard conversations with o'connell on the sideline he said i want to be coached hard like we have a good relationship like there's something happening with that coaching staff and so i think that will be more games than not a plus for them or an advantage for them over other teams and i think part of the reason why like everyone's given Brian Dabo so much credit for the giants and their roster is much worse than the Vikings and they're five and one. So O'Connell hasn't gone to that extreme because there's a lot of talent on

this team, but they've been able to do certain things and just kind of coaching soundly and not making these boneheaded weird moves or not shooting yourself in the foot repeatedly. Like the team has been able to avoid a lot of those things. And I think some of that at least has to be attributed to the coaching staff. I'm not sure that the giants roster is much worse than the Vikings. I mean,

they've got some, I don't, their weapons with Daniel Jones are not great. Other outside Saquon, but their, but their old line I think is legit. And I think Saquon is taking over. And I think their defense is actually good.

Like, they've played some good offenses and had good performances, including today against Baltimore, where the Vikings, I mean, it is going to be funny to look at where they rank in yards allowed versus points allowed because they've just had this happen on numerous occasions. But as we speak right now, Arizona has three points against Seattle in the third quarter. So Arizona, like you mentioned, is a disaster. Washington is a perpetual disaster. Miami is kind of a perpetual disaster also. So the real tests will not come maybe until later in the season, or they, at least they hope it's that way because if they play this same game and the game against Chicago, uh, where they just couldn't put the bears away, if they play these games similarly again against bad teams, there's no guarantee that they come out and go six and one go seven and one. And these leads and standings, I mean, it could just, it can happen quick. Like if you lose those games and then it's Buffalo and then it's Dallas and Hey, new England can play also new England now has another quarterback.

That's decent. Like what? But Bailey's Appy is balling. Like all of a sudden it starts, it can unravel if they don't fix a lot of these things. And I think that that's what everyone who watched this game would come away with is that like, if you continue to struggle as much as you have to

consistently get first downs, instead of like three and out three and out, Oh, big drive, explosive play three and out three and out big drive, explosive play. If they don't find a way to change that, uh, then, you know, one of these games, they are just going to mess around and find out as a, as they have not. So far, I think in part, even just because of the health of who they went up against, but let's, I mean, we do have to talk about a few things that went just particularly their way on this day. And I mean, like they played well. Do you think that the defensive line made some sort of progress today or was it entirely

the Dolphins offensive line just being tremendously bad? Because Z'Darrius Smith was the best he's looked all season long. I think it has to be the offensive line. I think, I mean, you give credit to the Vikings defensive line, but I don't necessarily think they figured something out. I don't, they didn't talk about the game of finding different things. They just said, we're going to keep pushing. And we got to the quarterback today. Like that was generally the mindset. And again, I go back to like, they, Teron Armstead is out. They're playing these like three,

I think three backup players along the offensive line. And so when that's the case, the Vikings have the personnel up front to exploit it. We've seen Patrick Jones have a little bit of burst. We saw that in the preseason. He showed that a little bit today. Zedaria Smith looked really, really good. Neil Hunter looked really good. That's again going, like if we're going to mention the weather, it's good that those guys who have been injured and probably could be susceptible to cramping, they're older, like they were playing well in the heat and they looked really, really good. They looked like the more fit side of the ball, especially in the beginning of the game. And so I generally point to the Dolphins offensive line is one of the worst that they're going to face all season. And so if it didn't look like this, when would it ever look like this? So I think it's a positive sign that

it looked good here and maybe that gives them some confidence and momentum going forward, but they didn't say, and it didn't look like they did anything different. It just looked like they were bigger, faster, stronger, and better than the Dolphins' offensive line. And so again, that won't be the case every week. And they've gone up against good offensive lines like the Eagles and really, really struggled to generate pressure. But this was a game, this was kind of a get right game and a game that they kind of had to look like this because again, they don't look good against this group.

I don't know when they're going to look good. So I think it mostly was the Dolphins offensive line. Okay, what does a 73 yard punt look like in person? I mean, it's not like US Bank where you can see all the way above you. Like we have the second deck kind of peering down on us. So I saw the ball up in the air and I didn't see it come down forever. Uh, I just saw Tyreek Hill falling further and further and further back. Uh, they certainly have a weapon in Ryan, right? Uh, if he didn't shank that one last week, I think

people maybe are giving him a little bit more credit or kind of shouting him out more because they've seen, okay, maybe not all of them go great, but he flipped the field at a big time in that game when Kirk almost goes down with a sack in the end zone for a safety. Like you're kind of on the ropes at that point. I think Thompson is still in the game at that point. Looked good on the previous drive. They're just getting stunted by these penalties. And you think, okay, one of these times they're going to convert. They're going to get the ball back at a really good spot. And Ryan Wright just kicks that one.

So yeah, it was a moon ball. But I can't even say I saw it because we don't have a great vantage point. All I saw was everyone retreating further and further back. I've seen a bunch of times Ryan Wright practicing his punts. And I mean, it's just like a cannon firing off. Even the sound of it, like boom,

like it was the sound of him punting. It was echoing off of the practice walls as it was just like flying. Like he's testing. One of the things they talked about when they built the place was, Oh, it's a large enough so we can punt unlike winter park where you would hit the roof. And Ryan Wright is testing that they have a legitimate weapon, six of his 10 punts. Yes. That's 10 punts today. Six of them. He was, he was needing oxygen on the

sideline. The guy was getting so much work. Uh, it was like, we need to give him like several cold beverages tonight because he did not need to be out there that long. And we kept making him go out there. So, but, uh, six of his 10 went inside the 21 of the, I mean, one of the true heroes of the game. And I mean that because in a game like this, where you have a backup quarterback in and they're not running the ball effectively, you were basically saying, and this is one of the reasons they racked up so many yards. You were basically saying, you're going to have to travel the entire length of the field every time if you want to score. And it is part of the reason that the Vikings were able to bend and not break other than, you know, the, the natural stuff, three times being moved out of field goal position by penalties

on a single drive, which I can't say I've ever seen. And they getting, get into field goal position. Nope. You got to go back, get into field goal position again. Nope. You got to go back. I mean, there was, if I would love to listen to the dolphins post game show, maybe I should have been listening as I was waiting for you to get back up from the press box, because I would love to hear what they had to say about that game. It was just absurd. And the lead to my recap was like, is this supposed to be on Thursday night? Like this was just that miserable of a game kind of for everybody. But once again, we reached the point in the show where we have to say they don't have to apologize for being five and one and

having things go their way, how they navigate improving off of the problematic elements of the offense specifically, because I think you make a good point that we can kind of yell about the defense all we want, but the reality of the defense is it probably isn't going to get better. It's not unless they trade for Brian Burns from Carolina, which I don't think they want to give up the draft capital or have the cap space to do unless they are doing that. Things are not really going to change. They're going to play this scheme. That's how Ed Donatel wants to do it. But offense affects defense and they're not giving up 458 yards. If the Vikings had 20 more plays than they did today, then they would

have been on the field and not Miami. It's like we always separate those two, but offense affects defense. And when you're punting 10 times, they're going to get a lot of chances. And the Vikings just came away very, very lucky that they did not give up 30 points today, because if the dolphins finished some of those drives, when they had the opportunity that could have easily happened. So they don't have to apologize, but I think they have a lot to improve on coming out of Miami. And I think that like,

there needs to be almost a sense of urgency for this team in the bye week, because now when you look at the second half schedule, I don't think it looks quite as easy as it looked when, when the Colts were playing really bad, but they had a really good game today against Jacksonville when the giants looked like a team, they were going to steamroll. I mean, heck like even Dallas did not look all that strong on the schedule when you started the season, like, Oh, they've lost some players. Now they look like they might be a great team. So there is a long way to go here. And I think they need to go into the bi-week and,

and have some pretty, pretty big corrections from where they're at today. I think that's kind of, that's kind of my main takeaway from this whole thing. It's like, you got away with a lot and you don't have to give the wins back, but if you don't make corrections, you are going to lose some games. You're not supposed to lose. Yeah. Like again, it's kind of becoming a math problem of how they miss the playoffs. I think five 38 has them at like a 92% chance to make the playoffs right now. 83% chance. Sounds like a dare, right? 83% chance to win the division division so it's all pointing to that uh but when like if you looked at it and said five and one with the division that they have you say okay this is kind of a cakewalk for them you look at some of the teams on their schedule like they should be able

to waltz into the playoffs but i think why we've spent the past 40 minutes kind of critiquing these these things is they're not necessarily small things and they aren't necessarily things that are going to be sustainable in terms of continuing to win like this like and and maybe that's a little bit kind of talking out of both sides of my mouth because they have been able to continue to do these things and they are still winning these games and that's when we point to maybe the rest of the nfl is just really struggling and the vikings are one of the many flawed good teams or flawed average teams and they're just coming out more they're slightly less flawed than a lot of these other teams that are that are struggling but i think it's the offense needs to get going past justin jefferson feeling and osborne both averaged under two yards

of separation per route and i think the average is like 2.92 yards so you're seeing anyone outside of justin jefferson is just not getting open And so he goes down for any amount of time or any team can find a solution for him. Like that's going to struggle. And if you don't get the pressure on any quarterback, like that's going to struggle. You saw that with the Jalen Hurts. The only loss is they're not pressuring. He's got all day to sit back and he is just looking like an MVP candidate when that happens. So you see these things and they're not just small nitpick things.

They're these big concepts. The Vikings still need to tighten up on. Otherwise, some of these losses are going to creep in. And I generally think like the defense was super happy in the locker room after the game, as they probably should be coming off three turnovers and the way they performed. But O'Connell was not like super optimistic, like we're doing great like his tone was man we didn't play very well uh we're happy that we won but we didn't play very well so i i think the coaching staff understands that like this isn't gonna work game in and game out and that they need to find something and so the buy comes at a good time for them to be able to do that uh they're not exactly banged up so they're gonna get one back they'll get some other guys back it won't be as much used as like a get the injured back from here but it should be used as how can we

scheme up some more things how can we unlock adam theelin how can we get zadaria smith even against the best offensive linemen to be doing what he did today like i think a lot of those schematic and coaching things can come in this week during the buy. And I think they are going to be needed if they want going up against this tougher schedule to continue on this pace. I don't know if you ever heard this, Paul, it's a game of adjustments. So, game of adjustments. You're still learning. You may be professional, Paul, but you're still learning about that. But in all seriousness, the reason I think that there's got to be such a harsh critique, as you mentioned, about the team from themselves, which it sounds like they're already kind of starting that process as soon as the game is

over of looking at the things that did not go well for them and they have to fix. But also because I think the Packers are bad. Like, I don't think that there's like any fix to that unless they trade for someone amazing as a receiver. There probably is no fix to the Packers being as bad as they are. Their defense. Isn't that good? They're running game. Hey, how about that running back? You drafted in the second round, not good, like good choice. Um, maybe that should have been a receiver. Maybe Rogers was right. And it just took a couple of years to really show itself. But you have a chance to do something here,

like to really do something, not to just go five and one to start the season. And then you fall off and then you kind of hang on and you go 10 and seven or nine and eight. And then we all go like, well, they made the first round of the playoffs and that's what they were trying to do. Their standards are higher now because they're five and one. That's we all go like, well, they made the first round of the playoffs and that's what they were trying to do. Standards are higher now because that's what I'm saying is that, cause I can already, I can already hear it, like feel it like with people like,

oh man, you're being kind of hard on them. They're being hard on themselves because once you get to five and one, the bar is raised from, Oh, I guess we'll see what this team is too. Hey, they look like they're in a good position to make a playoffs to now look Tampa Bay lost today. They need the division on the mind. They need like first round by how do we get there? Like you're a game back of the Eagles. Like that isn't crazy talk with the way you put yourselves in the standings. It hasn't given it looked like a team that maybe needs a first round by, but like that's where you vaulted yourself with five and one. So now there's more scrutiny on you because you're not just a, are you a fringe playoff team? You're a, you now

92%, you're supposed to make the playoffs at this point. Like if you don't make the playoffs, it's an issue. And so the bar of criticism has to be raised for the team. And it seems like within that locker room, they're doing that. Yep. San Francisco lost today. They have some imperfections. Uh, so there's a lot of imperfect teams in the NFC. The door has sort of swung wide open for them in both the games and the breaks that they've gotten and the big plays that they've made. I'm not taking away like an interception or a forced fumble. Like those are great plays. You just can't rely on them week to week in a bubble. They're, they're great game winning play and they should feel great about it. But like you said, the week to week type of thing, but that's why, that's why

the expectation has to be raised to expect this team to go farther than just, Hey, we're going to be a number seven seed and congratulations, raise a fake banner or something. So at very least, great for them to be in that spot. And it's going to take a while for them to go back below 500, back into the purple insider zone where we lived for so long. So yeah, they should feel like they're riding high with a lot to change. Well, great stuff, Paul. We'll look forward to your article from Miami as well.

And I'm glad that you could go down there, get a little hot weather. And when you return, it will be like 43 degrees. So I'm, I'm going to be shocked. I'm going to be, the system is going to be shocked, but I'm excited to be back. So, well, then you'll have to make some adjustments as well. So anyway, Paul, great stuff. Thank you for covering the game in Miami. Hope you had a great week hanging out there and we will have the bi-week bonanza. Maybe I'll sing some bi-week bonanza. Yeah, we'll sing. But you know, we'll have fun breaking down everything up and down. I assume we'll talk to O'Connell, to Kwesi. We'll kind of see what they say about where they stand and go from there. We will cover it all as always.

So thanks a lot, Paul. Enjoy the rest of your time in Miami.