Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - TMLG: How will the Vikings approach the offensive line this offseason?

Episode Date: January 19, 2021

Matthew Coller and former Viking Jeremiah Sirles dive into potential fixes for the Vikings' O-line.. Should they keep Riley Reiff on a contract extension? Move Ezra Cleveland to left tackle? Sign an expensive left guard or look for one in the draft? What is Garrett Bradbury's outlook? Plus what makes the Bills and Chiefs' offenses so fun? And what can the Vikings take from the Packers? And Jeremiah's experience playing against Tom Brady. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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when you want to hit the reset button, reach for the beer that is made to chill. Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate! Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and Jeremiah Searles already whacking the mic with his head because he's so excited to talk about the future of the Vikings offensive line and love to see it, hate to see it in the NFL playoffs. And I also need some opinions on these offenses that are in championship weekend.

What is up, Jeremiah? Oh, you know, just another glorious weekend of solid football to watch. I'm sad there's no more college football. That is very upsetting, but it was good. I'm'm excited and then i also have this deep sincere sadness like we talked about last week like we're one step closer to the end i know we only have two weekends left of football and i feel i always want to during the championship weekend just hit pause on all of it and bask in it. Like watch every quarterback a couple of times,

because usually championship weekend is the best weekend of football. The best weekend, 100%. Hands down. I mean, just one day of everything on the line, it's the best teams. I mean, it's usually incredible. 2018, that was the one with New Orleans and the Rams with that, you know, insane non-pass interference call. And then it was Brady and it was Mahomes going at it in the later game. I mean, you know, thinking of days like that is about peak football. So unfortunately, yes, we are

marching toward the end. But I want to talk first before we get into all that about the Vikings offensive line, because, well, for one, people have not become less obsessed with the Vikings offensive line just because the season is over. But there was also a report today that the salary cap is still going to go down like they thought, to about $180 million. And this makes things very tricky for the Minnesota Vikings with Riley Reif, who, by the way, allowed all of one sack this year. A great season for Riley Reif at left tackle. But, Jeremiah, this makes it harder if the salary cap goes down that much to $180 million. That puts the Vikings about $5 or $6 million over the cap to start the offseason. They've got to make space somewhere.

So how would you deal with the left tackle position? It's hard, man. First of all, you've got to gauge. If you're, I mean, George Payton now gone, move on to the Broncos, that's going to be another hard one because he was kind of the wizard behind the curtain, right? He was the Oz. He was really good with everything as far as the moving around numbers,

finding ways to make everything match. And now you have a couple different guys that are going to have to do that. Spielman's going to have to take a bigger role in all of that. And it's just going to be very intriguing to see if Riley, I haven't talked to him, but to see is like, is he willing to stay on a familiar team as he gets in the back half of his career and take less money knowing the familiarity, not having to start over Midwest type of guy. I mean, he lives in South Dakota in a double wide down by the river.

I mean, is that something where he's going to want to take a chance and maybe go to L.A. or New York or somewhere that's going to be like a bigger market that's maybe not him? So maybe, first of all, you ask him, like, are you willing to take this pay cut and stay here, like Anthony Barr in a sort, right? Like there is something special about that. But at the same time he could be the other way where he's like F you pay me right like there's there's plenty of

ways I don't know where he's out there but you got to gauge him because if you can get him back for next year at a number that's reasonable where it's respectful to him but doesn't break the bank for the team I think you've got to try and find a way to bring him back if not you got to draft one yeah no and and bringing him back makes a lot of sense to me in a contract extension way so you can lower his cap hit and you keep him the only concern about that of course is kicking the can down the road which the vikings sure love to do and eventually you do have to pay that bill but the thing that I think a lot of teams are going to rest on this year when they set up their contracts is 17 games and vaccinations that fans will be coming back and by the way I also think and I am not an epidemiologist or whatever uh any type of scientist

but it seems to me that putting fans in the stands was not a dangerous thing concerning COVID I mean I'm sure there's a threshold for that, but the way that the NFL did it. So maybe now they have a model. I think there were, of course, less information and teams that just said, Hey, let's play it completely safe. And governments that said, let's play it completely safe.

I get that. But now we have information on this. So even if we're dealing with this to a lesser extent next year, they're going to get their money back is my point and so I think teams will say let's set up these free agent contracts to have low cap hits now and then when the cap goes up because of 17 games up because we get our fans back then we'll be able to do these things and I could see the Vikings looking at the Riley Reef situation that way because even if you draft one if they're planning to win in 2021 I mean look at Andrew Thomas this year I mean at the beginning

of the season that dude got destroyed and it looked to me in a couple games I saw toward the end of the year like he had come around and he had started to learn and started to make progress but if you're asking someone to step in day one at left tackle, even if they're very good, that could still be really difficult for them. Yeah, I mean, you are 100% playing Russian roulette with a starting rookie left tackle, even if he is a first-round pick. I mean, you see it all the time. You can luck out like Willis in Cleveland, right?

Dude went out there and absolutely balled. He had his issues, but he played really, really well. Or you see a guy like Thomas that just isn't quite ready to be the guy at the beginning of the year. But another thing I think that the teams will bank on is getting OTAs back, getting some type of preseason back so that there is that more of a ramp-up period versus just like, hey, baptism by fire, ready, go. And I think that that's going to be really helpful too because you saw the emergence of rookies more and more come on towards the end of the year, really across the entire NFL.

There really wasn't guys, I mean, Jefferson included, at the first two, three weeks of the season that were just making these splash big plays, right? Which you see more and more now because it does take more to get ramped up, but this year especially. So you draft a left tackle first, second round. You're going to be expecting him to play a lot, but I think that you'll get a better gauge of, is he ready to play with all the ramp-up leading up to it. Now the other option, of course, is to move Ezra Cleveland to left tackle.

Stop it. I have no idea how to tell whether someone can play left tackle after they played right guard. Is there a way to do that? No, there's really not. Usually you just move in they always tell people you go tackles can play guards guards can play centers and then once you hit that center position it's like you're sitting at home on your couch like it's right like you

don't usually see guys that move out from the line everyone just kind of slowly moves in so i mean when you say oh this guy started right guard for us i mean he could go play left tackle it's like what what in the what makes you say that like what is the thing that you are seeing on practice field or behind the curtain that you're just like yeah he could make the move and be ready to go someone was joking i can't remember who it was someone texted me they're like here's what the vikings are gonna do you ready they're gonna draft a left tackle in the first round they're gonna move ezra cleveland to left tackle and plug the left tackle into right guard. It's going to fix all our problems. I'll say, you guys are nuts.

That was the – who did that? Zach Martin for Notre Dame? Yeah. They played left tackle at Notre Dame, and then they plugged him at right guard, and he was an all-world guy, right? But it's just that doesn't come around that often. And then when they needed him to play right tackle – Right tackle. He was an all-pro right tackle.

He's an absolute incredible human. Yeah, he might be slightly different than Ezra Cleveland, I think. I think we're talking all-pro versus let's see if this guy can play in the league. And there were some things that I liked from Ezra Cleveland. I mean, getting to the second level, the dude is fast. Yeah, he's athletic. Yeah, there were some breakout runs that they had where you went, wow, he got out to the linebacker really quick but there were also times where teams said hmm let's see rookie right guard playing out of position cam jordan why don't you just rush inside and slam into his face or um jason pierre paul did the old reggie white like club move with the hump move on him and just threw him to the side and And those are the things that you worry about for him moving to left tackle

because the small sample against the elite rushers that he had on the inside, Grady Jarrett too, it wasn't great. I mean, it didn't say to me, wow, this guy can shut down right defensive ends that are the absolute best in the league. So I think you still need to be thinking about someone else for tackle and maybe moving him to left guard. So he's playing on the left side where he was comfortable, but I don't know because Brian O'Neill was a left tackle in college, moved to right tackle year two. He became really comfortable with it. I don't mind though, having those two

guys on the right side being extremely and ridiculously athletic. I agree. I think that if you leave him there and allow him to develop there, that's a good thing, right? That's a good thing. Anyone that is going to make it in this league, whether you're a first-round pick or a PFA, you have to be able to develop. And the only way you develop is by staying in one spot.

Unless you're a backup, if you're going to be a true starter, stay in one spot, take the soft season, get your footwork right, get your hand placement right, get the timing right, and then show up to OTAs ready to go and continue to develop. And you see a lot of guys take big jumps in year two, or you see a lot of guys not take big jumps in year two because they didn't do the right things in the offseason. But another thing is you've got to, as coaches, you've got to help your guys develop.

Like that's your job, right? Your job is to develop young players and then keep veteran players happy. I mean, at the end of the day, that's kind of your job. So if you're going to look at it and be like, okay, how do I help Ezra Cleveland develop? Well, first of all, I stopped moving him around. I stopped making him think. I allowed him to physically develop in one spot, one thing,

and just continue to do that. And it's not bad to have two young guys right next to each other. Again, you got two guys that are high-round picks going in to be one of the best right tackles in the league in O'Neal. Who knows what he could be? Again, you see guys take jumps jumps I just would hate to see him have to be moved around again and try and start all over again because they tried that with pet f line and it did not work yeah and I think that just in general whether it's offensive or defensive line this idea of we'll draft them and move them to blank like stop doing that I mean that that is just not a great

model I mean the jalen holmes thing i don't think that jalen holmes was ever going to become the next vaughn miller or anything but they bring them in and immediately move them to three technique and then after two years they go and decide to move them back out like well look draft guys at the position they play uh so anyway now at the left guard position that that clearly needs to be replaced. And I think the big debate would be, is it a draft pick? Is it a decent free agent? Is it someone who's very expensive?

Which there are a couple guys who are on the really expensive way. But the problem with that is cap space. So if you're going to keep Riley Reif, even if you extend him, it's very hard to then pour a ton of money into the left guard position i think the best model for this is try to go kind of like the josh klein route like somebody who's proven to be decent that is all you need proven to be decent and that would be a big improvement over what you had last year here's a name i'm going to throw out there. Ike Bucker, starting at left guard for the Buffalo Bills right now. He's on his rookie deal, undrafted guy. This is the end of his third year.

If the Bills decide to put an original round tender on him because he is a restricted free agent, teams can go and make him offers. And he's a guy that has come on late. He's started. He's played really well. He's a guy that's exactly like you said, right he's played really well he's a guy that they're that's exactly like you said right he's young he's cheap he's got experience and go make him an offer and then the bills can match it and keep him or you can get a guy that's fairly cheap right and those are the

kind of guys that you look around the league and you have to take a peek at and look because you can get a guy like that for two years for three and a half million right two years for four million whatever it might be and that's not a bad gig to have young guys. Again, I think that the idea also needs to be able to go young. I don't know if you want to go too old here, because if you go an older veteran, they're going to be more expensive, especially with the veteran minimums going up. Yeah. So if you're going to go, I think you need to look at not just a veteran minimum plug and play, but a young guy that you can get in on decent salary. I mean, you're not going to be paying pennies. You're going to have to be paying a decent amount to him,

but a guy that you think can be a mainstay there for not just a two-year extension, but a four-year, five-year guy, and start building some continuity along this thing instead of these one- or two-year plug and play guys. Yeah, I think there's that option, and there's also the option of how about four people who sign cheap deals and cage match in OTAs training camp, mini camp, and whoever, whoever wins wins, which is what Buffalo did. Uh, it didn't so much work

for the jets, but they also had a bad coach. Uh, so, um, but I like that route too. I mean, if you, let's say you have five or $6 million to spend. And so three guys that you, that you sign and bring in and say, hey, you've all got a chance. There's some experienced guys who are on the free agent market. It is not a great free agent market, by the way, though, for offensive linemen. So you do have to kind of take your shots there. And then one of the things that I would suggest, because with the offensive line you just kind of never know, is once you get past the fifth round, how about like four?

How about just like four to take the long snapper pick, throw that out, take the punt returner, pick, throw that out, take the kicker, pick, throw that out.

The punter, get rid of your special teams, draft picks. You can find those guys on drafted and, and take offensive linemen because the guy from new England, who was like a sixth round pick was the highest graded offensive lineman of anybody that was a rookie in the NFL this year. So I think that it's so hard to tell the difference between college and the NFL with offensive linemen. Just take your swings at it instead of, hey, let's draft one guy in the fourth,

and if he doesn't work out, then shrugs. No, I completely agree. I think there's nothing wrong with the competition piece it was a great model in buffalo it worked out really well for them because not only did they get really quality starters they had really quality backups because when you bring in three or four guys that possibly can start you're not worried as much about the development on the bench right yeah it's like okay this guy's still developing but he could play if we need him to versus you look at like drew samia and you're like, well, he's still developing,

but my gosh, can we keep him off the field, right? Like, you don't want guys on the bench that you're worried about having to go on the field and competing. So let's talk about the center position for a second, because left guard, the solutions just are not obvious, I think. No. It's like you're still in the same position. I think that in the year 2030, I'll be talking about the left guard. It's just like unless they do draft, let's say they keep reef and draft one and then, you know, whatever. And the guy turns out, you know, I don't know.

It just feels like this never ending merry-go-round that we can't get off. But with Garrett Bradbury, though, you are into arguing online about Garrett Bradbury these days. So my thing is this, that I think Garrett Bradbury is what they thought he would be. And fundamentally, they made a mistake for what they were doing for value for a first round pick. But I think he is terrific with his reach blocks he is really solid on on screens really good on screens in fact and will just never be able to handle nose tackles and twists and stunts and stuff that send people right at him it's i think it's always going to be a problem and you have to figure out a way to kind of work around it yeah i mean when you and i both

know he's not going anywhere you're not going to bench your first-round pick. You're not going to, I mean, if anything, typical Vikings fashion, maybe he can play left. Right? Like, you know what I mean? Like, you can see something like that. Everyone gets there eventually. Everyone gets there eventually.

But it's like, for him, his biggest issue is the length. I mean, guys that are coming right at you on loops and stunts from the defensive end position or even the de-tackle position are usually at full speed, coming around and they got longer arms than you so they can make contact before you. And when you got someone that can make contact on you before you can, you're automatically put in a bad

spot for when the power comes. And that's his biggest issue is he has a really hard time sitting down on the bull rush, getting pressure pushed right up the pocket. And you nail it. His run game this year was fantastic. It was phenomenal. He did really nice job of getting guys running,

getting guys reached and getting in space, getting up on the second level. But when you're, when you got a quarterback, who's number one issue is in his face pressure, it puts you in a little bit of a bind. And so I don't know if you can fix that. I don't know if you can be like,

Hey, grow four inches. Like that's not how it works. And, and for him, he's a strong kid. That's not how it works. And for him, he's a strong kid. That's not the problem. It's not his strength. It's just, I think it's a size factor. And that's why you're seeing more

and more teams want a 6'4", 6'5", 300-305 center. Because this is what teams are doing now, is they're getting defensive ends like DeForest Buckner, and they're getting defensive ends that are 6'6", and moving them inside, and saying, rush the passer. And it really does create mismatch for some of these shorter guys.

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Their apparel is screen-printed here in Minnesota on super soft, super comfy shirts and hoodies. You will love it. That's SodaStick.com. S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K.com. Original Minnesota sports inspired goods. Code Purple Insider for free shipping. Yeah, and what Zimmer had been doing with like B-Rob and some other guys rushing over the guard and over the center in big pass rush situations like hey everybody else noticed that too that that works on third and eight or something

when there's almost no chance they're going to run the ball is to put in four pass rushers or just even on I mean but this is the thing with Bradbury's even on the first down and 10 even you run a play action a straight play action or, if it's the nose guard right over him, you're going to have him back in your face if you're Kirk Cousins. And if this is somebody who's really mobile and really shifty in the pocket as a quarterback, then, okay, well, they'll move to the left or to the right. But in this case, like, that's just not who Kirk Cousins is. And I mentioned on a previous podcast, like, Drew Bledso I mentioned on a previous podcast, like Drew Bledsoe.

And Kirk is a lot like Drew Bledsoe. He gets to one spot and he's staying there. He ain't going anywhere. And I think that this problem is not really solvable, but I do think a better guard situation would help. I agree. I think you surround him with some better guys, some better helps where he's not having to carry the load.

I mean, that's going to really help. But another thing, too, is a lot of people think, like, well, why is it that sometimes these nose guards are just bull rushing him and when we watch other teams, they're not? If you have a mobile quarterback, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, I mean, you can't just vacate the center of the pocket. You can't just have your nose guard put his ears back and just say, bull rush this guy.

Because if all of a sudden he picks the side at the end and the quarterback just takes off for 15, that's a problem. So you used to, like Linville used to do this all the time. If there was a super mobile quarterback, Linville would push for three yards and stop because he knew he couldn't keep going because he had to close the middle of the pocket so that if he tried to escape, it was out the sides, right? You're not worried about Kirk Cousins taking off for 15 through the A-gap

on a pass play. And so Bradbury gets put in a hard spot at times of that too because teams know that he's not super mobile so they can say, hey, keep pushing, right? Don't get to three yards and stop. Push to six. Push to seven. Get to him. And if he takes off, linebackers can close in on him enough.

So it definitely is a scheme thing too. Guys see quarterbacks that can't move vertically in the pocket that well, and they have to let the nose guard get after it versus teams that can. Nose guards spy a lot more than you think. Low key, really good at pass rushing in his peak, Linval Joseph. I mean, no one can stop him. If he decides to put his foot in the ground and push vertically, I have yet to meet a center that can just sit on him and fully stop him.

And when he was healthy in 2017, dude was fast. I mean, he was quick. When it was straight drop back situations, he could get around people. Dude, I remember back to, I think it was 2015, we were playing what was the St. Louis Rams at the time, I still believe. He had like 14 tackles. He had like linebacker number tackles, and that was when I think Sullivan was the center for them,

and he just wanted to eat Sullivan's lunch. All week he was like, I'm just going to kill Sully. I'm just going to kill him. We're like, easy, big guy. Oh, man, that's great. Yeah, I mean, all-time favorite moment for Lindvall, obviously him returning a touchdown in 2018, and it shows you how athletic the dude really was what one of my favorites is when a team would throw a screen

pass and you'd be like looking at the linebackers like okay they're tracking this who's gonna block them and Linval comes out of nowhere like jaws and just like gobbles up the running back from behind like what that dude is like 330 i mean yeah anyway there was a slight difference in um interior defensive line play this year that uh linval wasn't there so okay so okay the offensive line in general it far away from being average to good or not that far away just like broad statement not far away i think we're two guys away from being not far away. We are a if Riley stays, that counts as one, and we're a left guard. I think you get a solid left guard and you solidify that left guard.

You allow Ezra Cleveland, and I'm going to bank on the fact that he develops. I'm going to bank on the fact that he takes a big step in year two, and you surround Garrett Bradbury with a good, not a great, a good average solid middle-of-the-road left guard, and you get a developing young guy on the right side, we are back to where we need to be 2017-ish, right? Joe Berger, not amazing, good average. Nick Easton, average to good.

And you got Garrett Bradbury in the middle. I think you get that. You solidify the middle three, and I think your tackles will be fine. But I think the biggest thing is just getting someone in there that can just hold it down and not have to be a glaring issue. To me, the difference is tell me whether Riley Reif is staying or not. That's the number one problem. If he's not, you still feel far away.

If he is, then you feel far away if he is then you feel pretty close uh let's talk about championship weekend here i want your opinion on the differences with these offenses because it's really interesting to me that in green bay you have a shanahan style offense where imagine if you put a quarterback-friendly offense with the greatest quarterback. And in Tampa Bay, you have this downfield passing offense, the Arians, no risk it, no biscuit. And then in the AFC, you've got two teams that are like, hey, quarterback, let's spread this thing out. Let's throw it all over the place. Let's get it in playmakers' hands.

I'm interested in your opinion on just what makes these offenses so unique and effective aside from great quarterback play. Yeah. I mean, I think the number one thing in Green Bay is the X factor is Devontae Adams. I mean, you look at a guy and if you look at a lot of these, I mean, really all four of these teams, they have the X factor at wide receiver. They have the bailout quarterback friendly. Oh gosh, where am I throwing the football? Where is 14? Where is 17? Where is Gronkowski?

Where is Tyreek Hill? Right? You just, they all have them. And so I think honestly, I think you could honestly throw the ball to Devontae Adams almost every pass play and still be successful and still win most games. So I think that knowing to scheme around your players and knowing how to scheme your players open

is something all these offensive coordinators have done a phenomenal job at, which is why a lot of these offensive coordinators for all these teams will be head coaches eventually here in the next three to five years. So the number one thing for the offense is just knowing your players. I mean, you look at Baltimore, right? Lamar Jackson, he is what he is. So they're going to run the football as much as possible. Buffalo Bills, complete opposite.

They lost Zach Moss. They don't trust Devin Singletary. So they're going to be like, all right, Josh, we're going to throw the football 30 times out of our first 35 plays. And so I think that's the great piece about all these coordinators is they're just playing to their strengths. And when you get this deep into the playoffs, you have to be able to play to your strengths

because a lot of people think you get to the playoffs is like running the football is what wins you games. No, we're doing what you do. Great is what wins you games. And you're seeing guys just lay it out there on the line. I mean, Andy Reed's like, Hey, we're really good at throwing the football. So fourth and one game on the line, we're going to throw the football. And it just goes along the lines with that of coaches knowing and trusting their players and trust and players trusting their coaches. I think you see a great relationship between player-coach and coach-player on all four of these teams. You can testify, by the way, to the value of having a proven backup quarterback

who can step in and take over and make a play, even though first and 25 bomb, I don't know about that from Chad Henney. He was playing 500 with his kids is what it looked like like 500 surprise package bull that was great just like throw it up there but the uh the fourth down i mean andy reed set him on the table my friend that was incredible but you're right like that that would be hey why would we not run our offense with someone else who's been the backup quarterback for a long time. So the guy knows what he's doing. He just played in Week 17.

Have him go make a play. It's just I don't think that was the play anybody expected to come. But if Mahomes is playing, which I'm kind of going to just go on the assumption that he is, I mean, I have no idea, and they're not going to give a ton of medical information, I'm sure, to the Buffalo Bills. They're going to probably wait until the very last second be like oh surprise he's playing um the the old sean hill sam bradford like i don't know maybe sean hill will start against the backers like i

don't know yeah i guess um so anyway but um mahomes versus allen to me is just like it's 2021 football. It's like they used to in Nintendo games way back in the day, they'd have something to be like future ball or something, you know, and they would have these crazy rules and the guys would be wearing like metal plates and have, I don't know, fire that they shot at the other team. And anyone who's an old gamer knows exactly what I'm talking about, like Bill Lambert's future basketball or something. But that's what this is. And that's why I love this because it's just like this, everyone, this is 2021 football. Yeah, and when you look at it and you look at this game, we go, this could be a 45 to 40 type game because I think the big thing is both these offensive have struggled, but also found ways to score. Yeah.

And that's what makes teams great is when they're struggling, they can still find ways to score. And I think the main story is going to be with both of these teams is defense, right? It's going to be who can stop the other one or who can create, I mean, Buffalo's 101 yard touchdown return for interception for a touchdown was the thing that broke that game open, right? And I think that's really, as much as we love offenses,

it's really the age-old version of defense wins championships. And I really think it's going to come down to, especially in the AFC, of which defense can get a stop or a turnover at the crucial time. And that's the thing that, if you're a Buffalo fan, really concerns you because if you look at the two quarterbacks, the big difference, they both have freak arms. They're both hard to sack. They both run around and have made great plays. One of them throws bad interceptions and bumbles. The other one doesn't. And that would be your big concern, especially at being at Arrowhead in the other game. Uh, the Packers are running the similar offense to the Vikings, but it's souped up and it's souped up because of Aaron Rogers and they throw

it to their best player all the time. It really is something that the Vikings should look at and say, you can be a pass first Shanahan style offense. Like Zimmer can have his way, which I actually agree with that. This is the right offense for Kirk cousins, but just throw it more. I think that's what you're looking at with Green Bay.

Yeah, I mean, you look at Green Bay, like they want to run the football, and they are running the football, but there's definitely a way to say we've got to pass the football to run it. I mean, if you know a team, like you're going in as a defensive coordinator to a Shanahan-style offense, like, okay, they're going to run zone reads, right? They're not going to zone reads, just zone, right? They right they're just gonna run it but so you can get safety sucked up and if you're like okay they're gonna stop the run well let's throw them spread them out and then get back to the run versus so many times people flip it including myself as an offensive line

it's like well let's run the football to pass right run run run throw it over their heads which is cool but if you can get the pass game rolling it really opens up that run game and it really wears guys out especially in the fourth quarter when they don't know what's coming right you've established the run you've established the pass and when you have a quarterback that can literally put it anywhere on the football field and Aaron Rodgers and especially at the age that he's doing it at I don't I think that the Green Bay Packers can win by double digits on this game I mean just with how well that they've been playing and the weapons that they have, because one great thing about Devontae Adams

is he is a superstar, but he's got a great supporting cast. I mean, as much as Valdez, Scanty, and Lazard are not household names, they get open because people have so much superstardom with Devontae Adams, which you can pivot that back to the Vikings and be like, okay, Adam Thielen,

are you okay with stepping into a Lazard? Are you okay with stepping into a Scanty's role where you're going to score touchdowns, you're going to be the cheer-not-the-featured guy? And Jefferson has emerged as a superstar, and I think Adam's a good enough teammate that he just wants to win. But I think that the Vikings are kind of one weapon away from being that three-headed monster that Green Bay has.

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and use the promo code INSIDER to receive 50% off and start betting smarter today. You know, I think so, too, and that's something I wrote about at the website today. It was just about, like, there's lots of options for wide receiver three. You can have another guy that's not going to get you 200 yards over a season. You need more than that from wide receiver three, I think. So let me just ask you about Tom Brady specifically. I mean, this, we were disappointed with Brady versus breeze. It was not a display of great quarterbacking that we wanted to see. Uh,

but I mean, do you have any, I don't know, experience, like you've played Brady right. Um, in games, but obviously you don't like play defense against Tom Brady, but just like being on the same field as him, watching him up close. What can you say about him? He just has like a presence about him. I mean, you're just literally, you're like, this is the greatest player of my generation, especially a guy like me who grew up watching Tom Brady.

Like I didn't, I wasn't just playing against him. Like I sat on my couch like, man, this dude is fricking incredible. And then you're on the same field as him you're like he's really incredible one thing people really he's big I think people like don't realize like Tom Brady is he's kind of gangly but he's tall and he's big and he just has this commanding presence and you even see I mean he gets fired up I mean he gets fired up out there he's yelling at everyone he's getting after there and I think he's just the ultimate field general. And, I mean, I've heard that from guys that played with him.

I've seen it firsthand. Like, the way that he can command all 11 guys on the field is pretty special. I mean, usually you see quarterbacks that kind of have, like, the general run, but, like, you can really tell he has control over everyone, but everyone also respects his opinion. And even if they're thinking, thinking, I'm doing it right, but Tom says I'm doing it wrong, like I'm probably doing it wrong. And that's because Tom's earned that respect,

and not many guys have earned it like he has with the proof in the pudding. I mean, the dude puts on his six rings and says, listen, oh, okay. So he's just incredible to be around. I mean, I shook his hand after every time I played him just because it's like, dude, I respect you so much. I think that you can ask anyone in the NFL if they hate him, it's because he's beat them multiple times, but there's not a single guy that does not respect what he's been able to do

in the football league. I had the same reaction when I first saw – I stood next to Phillip Rivers, and I was like, oh, my God, this guy is huge. But same sort of thing where you're like, this is a legend right here. But you're like, I didn't realize on TV how large and gigantic you actually are. It's the same thing with Tom Brady. I know somebody who played with him and said the same thing as you. Everything is his. In New England, it was his franchise.

It was his offense. And it's like he is in complete command, which is great. If you're a wide receiver, like, you know, who's in charge. There are, there's no, is it him? Tell me what to do one thing. And he said, no, no, no. Tom is right. It's Tom's deal.

And you do it the way that Tom wants you to do it, which I think is a, is a major benefit. And one of the reasons you see him yelling at people. So, uh, I'm going to just assume by your comments that you're picking Green Bay. Yes. How about the other game? Man, a lot's going to depend on if Mahomes plays, but I'm going to go with my Bills. And the reason I say that is because as great as the Kansas City Chiefs

have looked all year, the Bills just keep finding ways to win. And there's something to be said about that in the playoffs where you don't have to play your best ever in the playoffs you see it time and time again now you're going to have to play your best to beat the Kansas City Chiefs and I think that McDermott being the defensive mind against Andy Reid offensive mind is going to be really fun to watch I think McDermott's going to have a lot of different looks and different things and it's really going to come down to you have to limit the big plays on nothing over your head, make them earn it, which Kansas City has done. They've gone the 12, 14 plays.

But the thing you can't get into with Kansas City is a track meet. You can't get into it. And I think that you're going to see a little bit more of a ball control from Buffalo. But overall, I just think that the year that Buffalo is having, it's all kind of ramping up to show them that they are legit, they are ready to go, and I'm going to take Buffalo in this game. It's going to be close.

I think it's going to come down to a big turnover at the end where defense, one way or the other, is going to make it or break it. But I think Buffalo can win this football game. I am going to pick KC because I think that there's a Josh Allen. What do you mean, of course? I'm kidding. I know you are. This is the mean, of course? I'm kidding. I know you are. This is the unbiasedness.

I know. Okay, yeah. This is the objective journalist talking. I'm picking Casey because, again, I'm from Buffalo, so you don't usually pick the other team. Or, you know, you usually don't pick Buffalo to win it. You pick the other team. But that turnover point, I think, it just leans so heavily toward Buffalo or you know you usually don't pick buffalo to win it you pick the other team um but i just that

turnover point i think it just it just leans so heavily toward buffalo for that big turnover and think about how close josh allen was to several of them in these first couple games i mean if if an offensive lineman doesn't jump on a couple of fumbles you are talking about a different result and there was a dropped interception against indianapolis i mean i just it feels like it's coming and also chris jones to me he's terrifying game changer i don't think there's anybody who can block him and that that makes life more difficult i think for both i mean every center struggles with really good nose rushers right i mean every center but i mean mitch morris is mitch morris is a very good center. He is.

Ike Bucker's playing very well. The front three for Buffalo are playing very solid right now. Really, that whole offensive line. I mean, you watch that Baltimore game. Josh has a lot of time early on in that game. Now they start to get creative with how they're going to rush. But I think Kansas City is going to dare Josh to throw it, which is weird to say because of how well he's been throwing the ball.

But here, if I'm Kansas City, I'm going, we're lining five defensive linemen up, and we're going to go five one-on-ones. And we're going to bet that eventually someone's going to win that one-on-one matchup and make Josh throw a bad throw. And I think that's the difference with, you can do that against Mahomes, but Mahomes nine out of 10 times is going to make the perfect throw against man-to-man coverage. And Josh is probably seven out of 10 right now. So they're going gonna roll on that factor and I think that you're gonna see a lot of press man getting tight in front of these guys grills which is really gonna help them but at the end of the day that just means that John Brown or Diggs is gonna have to win one-on-one matchups which Diggs has been doing to everyone this year and

it's been really impressive to watch what I can't wait to see and this is the unfortunate nature of watching on television and then having to go back and look at the coach's film, but Tyron Matthew and how they use him and how they use him to mind bleep Josh Allen. Baltimore had one play on defense where they had a guy from all the way on the other side of the field end up going back to be the deep player and like ended up kind of fooling Josh Allen. And I just wonder like how much creativity is going to be involved there because this is it, man. This is your, this is your shot. So a kitchen sink all comes out in these games and it should be fantastic. Well, Jeremiah, I'm looking forward to it. Cannot wait. Cannot wait to break it all down with you. And we will do it again next week, man. Absolutely. We can do any love to see it. Hates to see it. We've been talking for a long do it again next week, man. Absolutely. We can do it again. Love to see it.

Hate to see it. Well, we've been talking for a long time. I know. We have. You have a life. You have a child. That's fair. He's yelling around here somewhere.

Yeah. So I just figured we'll save that for next week. We kind of really dove deep into it. That's fair. That's fair. My one hate to see, I'm going to do a quick hate to see. I hate the two weeks before the Super Bowl. It's my least favorite thing in the world.

It's my least favorite thing in the world. It's my least favorite thing in the world. Okay. Love to see you, Chad Henney. Come on. There it is. Done. Boom. Boom.

All right. See you next week. See you next week.