Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Tyler Dunne breaks down Terence Newman's comments about Mike Zimmer and the impact of Kevin O'Connell's culture

Episode Date: September 3, 2022

Matthew Coller is joined by Tyler Dunne of GoLongTD.com to talk about his article about the Minnesota Vikings' new culture. He discusses Terence Newman's surprising comments about Mike Zimmer and the tangible impacts of Kevin O'Connell on the veteran players, in particular Kirk Cousins. Read his article here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here and joining me from Go Long TD, Tyler Dunn, who has just put out a long piece on the Minnesota Vikings, their new culture, and Mike Zimmer, some interesting insight as well. Tyler, what is going on, man? man what's up i feel like we're due for this you know every it started every couple years but now we're doing a little bit more regularly right i was out there in person we uh hung out at that brewery so i think we got to pick up the pick up the pace here i like it oh we definitely do and i've always got time for you and vikings fans always have time for your insightful reporting because it's like every time every time you're out there or every time you're talking to vikings people my eyebrows raise because i'm like oh what is going to come from this it's always something interesting and this particular piece and people can go find it i tweeted it out but also uh go long td on substack go long td.com it'll take you right there uh it's is very interesting about the new culture that

kevin o'connell is trying to put in which i think and you even write this at one point with when you say culture a lot it's just like z z z you know like fall asleep but i think that when you contrast it with what these players were coming from to what they're getting with Kevin O'Connell. And that's really tied together with things that Terrence Newman said. I think it hits home of how much difference this could be. And so let's talk about what Newman said. I have not seen Terrence Newman say anything on the record about Mike Zimmer and his culture before until he talked to you for this piece. And I was really taken aback because he was always a Zimmer defender and a Zimmer guy and a lifelong Zimmer guy.

But he even had to admit that when you are a grouch all the time and you don't treat players well and you don't treat them like people but just commodities that are there to win you football games, that it really grates on people. And I saw a bunch of tweeters say, if you lost Terrence Newman, then you lost pretty much everybody. And I think that really is indicative of how bad it got at times with Mike Zimmer. You just nailed it. I mean, yeah, Terrence Newman, he was drafted by Bill Parcells, who, as everybody knows, was Mike Zimmer's mentor. I mean, he came up as an old football soul, right?

He loves the grime of the position, the grime of the game. I mean, we both love talking to Terrence Newman. I've told you a million times, he's the reason I have a shaved head. He looked at me in 2016 and said, what the hell are you doing? Let it go. That's pathetic. That was the first time we met. So he's a straight shooter as straight

as they come and yeah I think that he really kind of embodied a lot of the positivity and the good that comes out of a Mike Zimmer right and we talked about this for my series in November 2020 when I did that you know are they going to rise up with Mike Zimmer I mean the headline of that was straight from a Terrence Newman quote and said, you know, when he's beating you down like this and he's berating you, you know, if you can rise up in that practice moment, you're going to rise up on game day. And there is something to that. But when it's day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, season in and season out, and he's constantly grinding and grinding. Physically, of course, the practices in Minnesota are – God, I'm all for physicality.

I love talking about the Steelers training camp and how they still hit, but Mike Tomlin is smart about it. It doesn't sound like Mike Zimmer was necessarily smart about it and how he would wear guys down physically so you get to the game and guys are worn out, but mentally I think it's just the constant berating grown-ass adults in meetings it got old and it got old fast and he had favorites you know we get into all of this and the stories that we'll have up part one's up now we post in part two here soon but it's yeah i mean that pissed guys off when he's got some favorites and he's constantly picking on those young guys. And it just got to a point where enough was enough. They had to move on. They had to go this exact

opposite direction. So to truly understand, like you said, Matt, like what Kevin O'Connell's talking about with this culture and why it was so needed, you do have to look back a little bit. Yeah. And I think that that has to be said because, you know, a lot of times everybody who comes in as a head coach is just going to say, we've got to change the culture, we've got to change the culture, and it can mean a million different things. This kind of does have the same feeling, but less corny and extreme as Matt Patricia going to Dan Campbell.

Like, yeah, Matt Patricia abusing players and telling the media to sit up in their chairs is not what that franchise needed when they needed to rebuild themselves but this is a little bit different but i did want to read uh and we'll get into that just the situation they're in being different from how it looks most of the time when you fire the worn out ogre and then you bring in the new person normally that's rebuilding but now there's actually pressure to win uh which they admit to you that there is. But this quote from Newman really stuck out to me.

He says about Mike Zimmer, he was never in a good mood. People sense that stuff. You come in and you have an attitude. What the F are you mad about? There's this dude over here playing with a bum knee and giving it everything he's got. Could have sat out, but he said, you know what? I want there to be for

my boys. I want to go out. I want to push myself. He's referring to the player with the bum knee. And then this guy's over here, grumpy about the possibility of getting fired and still making however much money he's going to make next year because he's got a guaranteed contract. Tell me how that's fair. And I think I have a pretty good sense of who he's talking about with the bum knee still going out and playing there. But yeah, that with Zimmer, I think that his lack of ability to understand everybody else in the room and what they were going through and dealing with as trying to give them everything they could. And those players were tight in the locker room. There's a lot of veteran players who've known each other for a long time.

And yet he just didn't seem to ever understand that he was coming across as kind of selfish by being this way. And especially by not communicating enough with the players and understanding where they were coming from in certain situations. He just missed, he just missed on that. That was like Zimmer's big Achilles heel he knew how to do a lot of things but that was the one thing that seemed to bring him down is that he just had no interest in what was going on with anybody else completely because they're

either I mean and that's kind of like the granular right like day-to-day not understanding what these guys are going through where Kevin O'Connell does and he played um which is crazy that Zimmer he really should know at this point because he has coached a very long time but he doesn't get that but also not understanding that you know you're either unbelievably naive to be that irate over media talking about your job security right that's another element of this big picture wise people are calling for his job That irate over media talking about your job security, right? That's another element of this big picture wise. People are calling for his job and he's bitching about it behind the scenes.

And I heard this from multiple people. It drove him nuts. He couldn't understand why people were calling for his job. And he would let that out on the players. Like that's how it was the last few years. He was mad at how he was being perceived and then he let it out on everybody that he's coaching day in and day out and misery just is contagious it absolutely became contagious so that's why Kevin O'Connell's trying to take it

the opposite direction where yeah it might it might seem corny at times it might seem like oh we've heard this before but it means something to be as positive as he is because he wants that to catch on. And the same way, I guess, the misery caught on, but for all the right reasons, right? If you're just constantly putting these messages on T-shirts and putting it up on a shield and talking this way all of the time, you know, it's just going to be like osmosis. It's just going to become part of you, of who you are, how you attack the profession. And he is a quarterback. Let's face it. I mean, he was a third round pick. The Patriots gave up on him. He bounced around team to team, to team, to team, and then he was done.

So he gets the callousness of the NFL. I think in a way, Mike Zimmer, Mike Zimmer never did. If you remember from the hard knocks knocks with the cleveland browns contagious bro contagious um well so this is this is where we have to go to now is is how much this is actually going to matter because as much as all of these things i think did weigh on this team the one thing about um the Mike Zimmer era, and you went through all the close games that they lost, and there's been a few little jabs of like, hey, you know, maybe when players don't feel like they're going to get screamed at, they could

play a little more loose and everything else. And there is a part of me that just recoils a little bit and says, oh yeah, it wasn't the player's fault. Right? Wink wink. Like, Hey, like as if Mike Zimmer ran out on the field and didn't make that play when a Cooper rush through to Amari Cooper for a game winning touchdown or Hey, did Mike Zimmer make you go too far in the end zone? So the lions could beat you with it. Like Mike didn't do that stuff. You guys did. So now it's on you to change that. But the problem is also, Tyler, is that you don't get to go back in time. It's like if you went back in time two years and gave the team to Kevin O'Connell, I think maybe we're talking about some different outcomes here,

like with the way people were handled, but also maybe a more patient approach of rebuilding the team. But now all of these guys who were with Zimmer for so long, they're in the latter parts of their career. Kirk Cousins is 34 years old. Like, there's a lot of things that you can't sort of just go rewrite history, that it's sort of a new set of challenges that O'Connell has to face that I don't think is as simple as just, hey, let's everybody love up on each other. You're absolutely right. I mean, because we've heard that before and it has failed before.

At some point, the actual football is going to matter. And I do think that there is a correlation between, you know, if you really get to the nitty gritty, Terrence Newman talked about this. Ben Lieber, I know you guys all know out there, talked about it as well. If you're a defensive player and you're overthinking things and you're worried about taking this step or that step especially a defensive back and a Mike Zimmer defense that does affect performance I really think it does like if you're that terrified of screwing up and it's a complicated scheme it's going to slow you down

it's such a reactionary game I mean Ben put best. Like you're already a half step kind of behind the offense. So with Wade Phillips, his coach, and a lot of coaches are like this, Jim Schwartz. I mean, there's a lot of coordinators who lean into simplification, just see ball, get ball, just go. And that's kind of what a young team needs. So it was a terrible combination of a lot of young players, demanding coach, 33 defense. So it was a terrible combination of all right a lot of young players demanding coach 33 defense so it was bound so i think that simplifying things is going to help but also

they had to kind of make a bunch of difficult decisions and i think that in a very short amount of time uh the the entire regime here made the right decisions on okay like we've got a few weeks to figure out what we want to do with k Cousins. Like here are the quarterbacks that are available. Here's what we can do with the draft. We can punt on this season and think about next year, but no, he's top 10 in this. He's top 10 of that. He's top four in passer rating. Let's go. Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson. I, to me, it's admirable because I think a lot of front offices, a lot of head coaches can walk into a situation and just say, oh, look at this. Look at this absolute dumpster fire of a roster I have. Let's get rid of everybody, buy ourselves time,

tell ownership we need three, four years, and think about the future. Where they're kind of having it both ways. I'm sure this is probably a theme of your podcast, right, Matt? Like they are trying to win now with a core, but then seven draft picks just get cut from 2021. So I think what you have now is like a really good core. Like they've got some studs that make you think they can realistically

compete for a Super Bowl. And that NFC, it would not surprise me if the Minnesota Vikings are in the Super Bowl. But what about the depth, right? The depth has to be a concern. Because then some of Rick Spielman's mistakes come back to bite you in the butt. Yeah, you're snorting a little bit of the purple Kool-Aid right up the nostrils there. So let me let me bring this back a little bit.

It's pretty good. Hey, it's pretty good. I can't turn it down. The natural high of writing an article that everyone's talking about on Twitter. But so here's the thing. It's admirable if it works. If it doesn't work, it was not a good idea. I mean, unfortunately, we're always trying to judge the process at the time. But really, this is results and results only because they said the words competitive rebuild did absolutely nothing

to the rebuild part uh like trading a late pick for jaylen regger is not rebuilding like uh cutting seven recent draft picks is not rebuilding uh this is to try to make the absolute best roster they can come up with to try to compete for the superbowl that you're talking about. And if they don't have a season that puts them in position to go into the playoffs where they can compete for the Superbowl, because that's how I judge things. Once you get to the playoffs, even Rick Spielman says in your article, like you never do know exactly how it's going to work out one bad game, one good game. But if you win 12 games, then you have put yourself in a position to win a Superbowl. If they win eight, then they use put yourself in a position to win a Super Bowl.

If they win eight, then they use those several weeks to make the wrong decision. And I think that's the one thing that maybe those guys are starting to come to grips with a little bit is, and I've just sort of seen this process because you talked to them, I know, early in the offseason. Once you get into camp, things get a little dicey, like right off the bat. Like, I i mean you got a quarterback who kirk cousins admits to you like the offense the learning process has not been the easiest and there have been a lot of practices with frustration with kirk cousins and long conversations on the sideline with kevin o'connell there's no matt stafford button to push where you just go like boop and all of a sudden the rams offense just uploads into kirk cousins right uh and also you know quesia da fomenta got his first taste of uh you're a gm now

bro you can't go say your quarterback's just good and not great because people are going to care about that and they're going to talk about that love the honesty love it like but isn't it isn't it interesting though that you have this like we're gonna fix the major problem that was here which was the culture and that's what we're gonna try to make us win but at the same time like you didn't really hedge bets toward the future so this kind of has to work as you guys learn to do this on the fly there's so many things you could sprinkle into it too i mean what about the draft when you're trading with teams in your division right down spots you're handing them players who could

you know kick kick your ass this year where fans are going to remember that I mean there's an inherent risk with trading in the division there's a reason you don't see it the Packers get guys the Lions get so well you know Jamison Williams is going to be on some fans' minds. Zedaria Smith, huge signing, huge gamble. But that could pay off in a big way. So you're right. I think we're so used to just kind of going one direction or the other. Like either there's this team that's all into analytics, you know, some of those old Sashi Brown, Cleveland Brown teams,

and you just know, all right, they're just going to try to get 16 17 draft picks and they're not going to win this year and you kind of know when a team's taken and usually fans kind of get behind it where this team they could have gone that route um but yeah i think that i think it is safe to say they are trying to win now with the core that they have now while still kind of see that's maybe and you've talked about this too though man they kind of hedge in a way it's not like they just handed kirk cousins a six-year contract right they didn't just throw 250 million dollars at them they can get out of this next year they can move on next year but they're they're giving it a shot and i like it because it's like our way our culture we're to see how this works with this team, our playbook,

our stuff in LA that worked. Let's see if it works with Kirk cousins, much different than Matt Stafford. But I think you can draw a comparison and that look, it was so bad before in every conceivable way that if we kind of change the moving parts around these players around the score, it can work out. It can work out. I mean, Kirk Cousins and Mike Zimmer are almost getting into a fight after they win a game on the last second kick.

I don't think that Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford were, you know, almost going to swap haymakers. That stuff adds up. I don't know. I think football is a game played by human beings. It's played with a ton of emotion. And all that, all those variables are going to be minnesota's favor in 2022 compared to 2021 yeah and after everything that you lay out there i there's just the natural part of me that goes is it though or does it though or will it though

because kirk cousins has always been kirk cousins and this, this is part, the part that I maybe wonder about the most, like, so Mike Zimmer had his problems with lots of players for sure, but he did like previous quarterbacks. I don't know that he picked this one at random to like, or it was the one that took up a lot of money and didn't come through in a lot of big moments and a lot of big games. And Rick Spielman is quoted in your article. And I hurt myself rolling my eyes of just like, well, like, you know, Kirk has kind of proved he could come through in these big games. And you're like, when did that happen? I mean, there were moments there were games.

Of course there are, of course there are some moments, but there's also, let's get you on this Kirk bandwagon. We've got a few minutes here, but, but there's also, but there's also let's get let's get you on this kirk bandwagon we got a few minutes here but but there's also but there's also far too many games where it's not just the fourth quarter of the final drive like if you're focusing on just that well yeah sure i mean he's got somewhere it succeeded somewhere it didn't but it's the bigger picture of you are usually a driver two away a player two away a gutsy throw away from going 11-6 last year, and instead you go 8-9. It's not all his fault.

No one would ever say that. It certainly was Zimmer. It certainly was the defense, but it's kind of always something. And so here's what I want to know from you, because you talked to Kirk as well. What is the tangible part that all of this does? What can I say that the way they're acting toward kirk like how is that going to result in him playing differently than he has before i think that's the offense right it's the scheme and you would get into

those weeds a lot better than me i mean it's probably not it's probably not as bad as as you know people who cover the league might think it is. I mean, you locals see it day in and day out. They did a ton of points, a ton of yards. It wasn't all trash. But I do think you had a head coach that was kind of like lording over things and had a presence, a shadow. He was this grim reaper type of presence over Kirk Cousins' shoulder where,

yeah, he's not out there calling the plays. He's not schematically setting things up like the Kubiaks were, Stefanski. But he always had that power. He could always just kind of intervene and say, hey, start running the ball or do this or screw up those RPOs at practice like he did back in 2018. It's just this lingering presence that doesn't help. It doesn't help right it doesn't it doesn't help and i you know maybe click kubiak was a very good coordinator play caller all that stuff i don't

think he's on that mcveigh plane so if you can get somebody from that stratosphere that coaching tree everybody's trying to find the next mcveigh this is somebody that worked with him day in and day out this is somebody who somebody who played the position. I mean, all signs point to Kevin O'Connell and this offense working in today's NFL, where you are going to have, like her cousin said, plays that look really complex or simple or look really simple but are complex. That's today's NFL. I don't think the Minnesota Vikings were operating on that level,

and I think a big reason for that is a defensive head coach who, you know, he'd rather win with a run game, a strong defense, 17-13, bruises, bloody, let's go. It's more complicated. I love that kind of football game, but it's more complicated than that. And you had to intellectually get on that level to keep up in today's NFL. Kevin O'Connell gives you a chance complicated than that. And you had to intellectually get on that level to keep up in today's NFL. Kevin O'Connell gives you a chance to do that. Would Mike Zimmer have played that way if he had Drew Brees as quarterback? That's a good point.

I mean, chicken or the egg, right? Of course, no, he wouldn't. He obviously wouldn't. He obviously wouldn't. That's the whole point. It's like the whole point I'm making and why I'm skeptical about this is I totally believe that this team is doing a lot of things smarter than they were but how much that changes fundamentally

the dna and plus like is this roster if it gets banged up even a little going to be any different as far as its strength and i think that's huge yeah i think with zimmer and the offense that he absolutely nailed the scheme that is best for Kirk Cousins. And I don't know that that's the case with Kevin O'Connell. That has to be proven to me. I think he absolutely nailed the scheme. What he did not nail was when Kirk was throwing it too short,

he would tell him to throw it far. And when he was throwing it too far, he'd tell him to throw it short. And it was just like, oh, Kirk, you're throwing too many picks. Stop doing that. Okay, I'll check down all the time. why don't you throw more aggressively down the field? Like, well, what do you want this man to do? He did that through like with the media stuff with Kirk, it was like, Kirk, you need to take more responsibility at the podium. And then it was like, wait, you're saying too much. It was like, well, you're going to have to figure out which

one this is. So I do think that a consistent message for Kirk Cousins, as opposed to Zimmer, knowing that you could set him off either way. And then that his answer was always put the ball in Delvin's hands here. I will give you the instance that I think it could be different when they won the game against new Orleans, they were up at the end and they could have finished off the game in the fourth quarter. They didn't need, they didn't need the Kyle Rudolph touchdown, but they ran three times for three straight losses and then had to punt the ball away to one Drew Brees, who did what Drew Brees does and drove down and tied the game.

I think that Kevin O'Connell will be tested in those areas. Will you, despite the ups and downs of Kirk Cousins, believe in him to finish that game off? Because far too many times it was like, yeah, let's just give the other team a chance to play a little more defense because I don't trust Kirk here. That's where they're going to have to have some guts and do that. Also, too, does he have the athleticism that that position demands?

In this offense, I mean, look, Sean McVay, he won a lot of games with Jared Goff, but he got to a point where he said, okay, we can win nine, 10 games with this offense. I mean, look, you know, Sean McVay, he won a lot of games with Jared Goff, but he got to a point where he said, okay, we can win nine, 10 games with this guy. We can come this close to Superbowl with this guy, but for my offense to really work, I need just a tick more athleticism, a stronger arm. And that's what Matthew Stafford was. And you've made this point when we've talked offline, right?

Like Matthew Stafford was the first overall pick for a reason because he's got some elite traits. And that is what this offense, at least with McVay, does kind of need, at least to really hum to that Super Bowl level. So I think if there's anything that gives me pause, it's that. Like, Kirk Cousins is very good. He's a top 10 quarterback statistically. On those big chunk plays, is he going to have the athleticism to get to the spot,

get to that throwing platform he needs to within this scheme? That remains to be seen. And intellectually, yeah, it's complicated. It was like June when we were talking, so it was a little early. But you saw it in training camp too where it takes a lot to learn this offense. Where is he at with it? Do they simplify it early on and grow it into the season there there are a lot of moving parts i just feel like it is a quarterback friendly

offense it is something that you want to play in if you're interested in scoring a lot of points and if things click you never know i'm with rick spielman on that on that you know if you can get into the playoffs shit anything can happen. We've seen it. If history actually really showed that, then I would agree with you. But, I mean, the last – okay, so – Maybe not win the Super Bowl, but you can go on a run. You can win some games. You can. I mean, look, if they get to the NFC Championship and lose there,

then I'm not going to say, like, ah, see, it didn't work. So, I will concede then then then they they got where they were trying to go um now but when you talk about the offense see this is very interesting to me because uh i think that the nfl is 98 everybody knows everybody else's schemes they know exactly how it works dudes on the internet see practice clips and tweet out playbooks and like so everybody knows like what's going on there uh but there's two different versions of mcveigh there's mcveigh with cousins in washington and goff in la that's sort of the training wheels offense and then there's the omg let this thing go crazy lead the league in picks but also in passing ep, Matt Stafford offense.

I think they're playing the Matt Stafford offense. I think they may end up having to change to the Jared Goff offense because exactly what you said. And here's something that I'd love your opinion on as an outsider on this. I do think that a lot of analysis of Kirk Cousins, who he is, whether he's clutch, whether he's a leader, and he's definitely not like, he's definitely not Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow. I think that the answer is probably much closer to, he's not a great athlete than it is like, oh, all these personality problems cause them to lose the games. I think that you correctly diagnose the issue that causes more of those troubles that he has than who he is. And that's where, you know, his mind is going to have to operate at a really, really fast level

because he has to get the ball out quicker because he's not just going to evade the rush in a couple seconds, make a play on the run. Like he is going to have to think quickly so that yeah that that's a that's a huge unknown that's really interesting though so you really think that they might go that staff route they really might try to take this thing you know to a 401 501 level right out of the chute i think out of the chute they will whether they stay with that is going to be really the question and and don't don't you think that's the big test it's like our when it goes sideways you remember 2018 against the bills right like when you yeah when you have one of those games which will inevitably happen with this quarterback are you gonna run it out there the

next week and do the same thing and just believe in it or are you gonna go like now i know why he ran delvin cook so much which isn't a bad option, though. You know, that's the thing. I think that they can, even the Rams, I mean, there were some games when they had to get out of some jams. And Stafford really didn't play lights out toward the end of the season, if I recall. Like, he had some picks.

He was, I mean, look, if Jaquisi Tartt picks off that pass in the NFC championship game it's Matthew Stafford peed down his leg again and he's you know nobody's talking Hall of Fame so I think that they did kind of lean on the on the ground game it's about knowing when to do it like what is this defense doing to us how can we combat this and what are they going to do to Justin Jefferson they're going to have to shade a safety over the top what does that then free up for other people and then how do you scheme up Justin Jefferson at that point? Do you use him like Cooper Cupp? Do you get him in motion? Do you get him moving?

Do you get him in the slot? And I just, I think the Vikings are going to figure it out because I believe in their personnel. I think that there's a lot of teams that would die to have Dalvin Cook as your running back, let alone the guys behind him who are pretty good and Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, who can play, K.J. Osborne, and Irv Smith who I feel like nobody has even seen yet. That's a lot to work with, and I feel like if the defense is able to shut something down, that Kirk Cousins and Kevin O'Connell will be smart enough to figure it out and counterpunch it. And that goes to the, like, we'll see. Like, I've sort of joked around about, like, the worst thing to that goes to the like we'll see like i've sort of joked around

about like the worst thing to say on a podcast is we'll see because like i don't see about it we'll see about everything right but uh that that's where though it falls under the category to me of this team has more variance between a great season and a bad season than they ever had during zimmer outside of one year where everything came together. Every other year was kind of like, is it going to be seven, eight, nine? And I remember last year during camp, we're like, that's like an eight win team. And then they were an eight win team. It was like, there was, even though it was crazy kind of how we got there, it was like, nah, this is exactly what we thought where this has more variance. And part of it also is because of the packers and i

know you do a lot of writing on go long tv about the packers and i'm curious about your opinion there because there's a lot of weird things that aaron rogers is putting in his body these days there's uh no no uh davante adams anymore but yet i am gonna be the last person to throw any dirt on that coffin because, you know, Aaron Rogers is Aaron Rogers. So I'm curious about your sort of feeling on them as they are in a different spot, but still have the same goat. You know, they wanted Devante Adams back, obviously, why wouldn't you? And they're willing to make him, I believe the highest paid receiver in the league. And Devante Adams wanted to take a lot of money and he wanted to play with his best friend and he left town. So I think what Green Bay had to do after that was figure out, OK, are we going to kind of chase what we've been,

chase what hasn't worked the last 11, 12 years and find another receiver in free agency, overpay somebody? I know Green Bay has won a lot of games. You have Aaron Rodgers. Like, guys aren't in a rush to live in Wisconsin. We've seen a lot of players turn down the opportunity to play for the Packers lately. Odell Beckham Jr. being one of them. I mean, a lot of it is the way Green Bay does business. They don't want to pay veterans money that other teams would pay them.

But I think it was smart for them not to chase, not to be a hamster on a wheel, not to try to win the same game they've always tried to win in January because it doesn't work. You couldn't beat a broken-down Jimmy Garoppolo at home. The offense, your offense, was anemic at Lambeau Field. So try to win a different game. I mean, go out and draft just two dudes from Georgia in the middle of your defense. They're going to knock the snot out of you.

Kenny Clark might be the best nose tackle in football. Devontae Campbell is one of the best playmaking linebackers. Jial Alexander, you have a locked up long term. You know, he'll at least give you a puncher's chance against a Justin Jefferson. So I think it was, I think it was smart. You know, we'll see. I mean, they could get into some games and be unable to keep up with a team like Minnesota because you have receivers who can't get separation. But right now I like the thinking out of Green Bay to just embrace

a different game. Now the question is will Aaron Rodgers embrace that different game? I don't know. This is somebody who's been able to call his own plays. He wants his pedal to the metal. He does not want to just punt the ball and pin a team deep in their own end when now they're kind of built to play that kind of game. Are they going to do it? I think Aaron Rodgers is smart enough to realize

that he's getting up there in age. This defense is really, really good. You drafted three rookies who it's going to be a while before they're seeing the same thing that you see out there, the change plays on the fly, like you did with the Devontae Adams with that telepathic connection, all that. I think he's smart enough to realize, okay, I got to run the ball. I got to – whatever Matt LaFleur calls, let's stick with it and win a low-scoring game. And I do think they're built to win that kind of game. I'd take Minnesota to win the opener, to be honest.

I think the Vikings win at home because I think it will be a while before Green Bay can figure it out on offense. But I think they did this offseason. It's more about January. And they're better positioned to win that time of year now than they were last year. I agree with you on the Vikings. They should have a pretty big edge in the first week. I mean, particularly with a new coach there.

Aaron Rodgers commented last year. He was totally right. That U.S. Bank Stadium just totally right that u.s bank stadium just wasn't that loud it will be this time right like i think the frustration the fans felt it like everything you've said about terrence newman like the fans could feel it how many eight you know seven and nines eight and tens whatever whatever uh eight eight to ten win seasons like how many of those can you have before the fans are like, can you just do something here? So I think that that's going to be a big factor trying to adjust without Devante Adams,

but also something that catches my eye about the NFL is that teams sort of go one way or the other with offenses. It's either like the Rams and Stafford, it's all out. It's fired all over the place, throw it like crazy shotgun, all that, or a lot of teams are playing a similar way to how the Vikings have in the

past. And it's like the Packers are playing like Gary Kubiak football. Like they're handing off the running boots, play actions, except for they have Elway, a quarterback. It's like this, this has one before where a team had a run first.

And I know I'm going back a while, but even recently with ryan tannahill it's like these run first play action type of offenses i mean they had a lot of success in tennessee san francisco minnesota's offenses were successful i think it's a it's a fascinating strategy to sort of shift him more that way in his older age. It is. And that's, I think he'll look, it is as much as he wants to be in control, as much as he wants to be at the line of scrimmage, doing his thing, calling audibles, you know, going through the encyclopedia in his mind.

I mean, he, I've talked to young receivers in that offense that were like he audible to a play that we never even ran before. And Aaron Rogers had to apologize to that player after the fact and say, oh yeah, that was like from 2014. You were, you know, you were in high school, you were in college. You can't do that stuff anymore. And you have to lean into Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon and what's a really good offensive line.

And I think that even he knows what is going to work best, not just for the team, but for him. His arm strength isn't what it was. It's still really good. It's not what it was three, four years ago. I mean, you can kind of see it on a Hail Mary here and there where he can't just like flick of the wrist, chuck it out of the stadium. But he knows that.

He adjusts. And I think that this is kind of a more of a macro adjustment on his part to realize what the strength of the team is play into that he's not going to throw picks he just hates picks and when you get into the playoffs just win a different kind of game and it's weird to say because the defense did its part against San Francisco it was the special teams that you know had that epic fail and the offense that couldn't do jack. But I think that still leaning into what you are, what you can be. We've seen it with San Francisco.

It doesn't work often, but it can work. Even in this quarterback crazy offense, crazy league, I think that there is still a lane to try to win with defense. And let's face it. I mean, we're talking like Aaronaron rogers is tj rubly my god it's a four-time mvp there's a good rubly reference for your vikings listeners they might remember that one in 95 but he still is you're you made him the richest player in nfl history at the quarterback position to elevate the play of everybody else so it's also incumbent on aaron ro to turn Romeo Dobbs into a stud,

to turn Alan Lazard into a legit number one. I hate it when everybody acts like, oh, my God, I can't believe Green Bay is doing this to Aaron Rodgers. No, he's one of the best ever. This is what the best ever do. They make other people better. So let's see it. Okay, I think they could have drafted a receiver

instead of jordan love but uh you got another hour let's talk jordan love for an hour uh no jordan love is uh if if he actually succeeds at some point he'll be the first development quarterback and i don't know how long it's like a throwback to our childhoods like i remember when they used to develop quarterbacks? I mean, how about that? Um, but, uh, he, he could also be the next Craig Nall. If you want to throw out, uh, Packers legendary backup quarterbacks. So let me ask you a real quick question and then we'll wrap on something fun. But, um, why do you think Rogers is the way is like, what happened there? What caused this? Like, it's, it's just very strange. Like he's just on podcasts and he says things that don't make sense. And he's, you know, I don't know,

climbing the Alps and drinking the water and licking the frogs and like, well, what is, what is with this man? Oh man, this is, this is something that definitely requires a full episode too. I think that, you know, he's been described to me, and this is back to 2011, 2012, 13, when I was really on that beat, but as somewhat of a chameleon, right? I mean, he can be different, a different person to different people. And that's not a criticism. I mean, he does have all these different interests and he has for a long, long time.

I just wonder, you know, obviously I think he's, he's seeking what we all seek, you know, meaning in life. And a lot of us draw that from family. He doesn't. He does not talk to his family. A lot of people draw it from religion. I mean, he's been on record talking about his religion, and it's kind of all over the place. So obviously we're trying to figure this guy out, and we're all taking stabs at it. But, yeah, I mean, I think he's been through a lot of different relationships.

He's been on all these different spiritual journeys. He's been criticized nationally. And this is somebody who is maybe nobody, nobody in professional sports holds a grudge like Aaron Rogers. He's unbelievably sensitive to criticism. And that's a good, I mean, that's part of what makes him great. I mean, you say something mean about him, he's going to go out and prove you're wrong. So maybe it's just some guy trying to figure stuff out still in life. Like, what are we doing on this blue marble in the solar system?

Why are we here? And he's just trying to figure it out. And it's taken him to some pretty wild places. Hey, I enjoy listening to some of these podcasts. He says some interesting things. But I don't think I'll be trying any of the drugs that he's been trying. It's just not my cup of tea. Literally not your cup of tea. I think that where it's hard to understand someone like him is that you and I, though we have nice Twitter followings are so far out of the spotlight in

comparison. And we, and we are simple men. You're a bald guy with a beard who writes for articles. And I am a guy who can't have a beard and is, uh, you know, running a little thin up top at the moment, a little concerned about that. And these are my problems, right? Like I'm mowing the lawn. Like there's not, there's not national pressure on me at all times. There's not millions of dollars. There's not like being comfortable with yourself in that spotlight. I can't imagine that it's, that it's easy at all. And then, you know, every time you try to date somebody, it's like the whole world has to know everything where you're going, what

you're doing, what's going on with it like i think that there's some people who are just like man like payton manning always has seemed like man i've always been famous who cares i don't know maybe it's part of it that rogers went to a community college and then like wasn't the highest draft pick sat on the bench and then suddenly was like you're a megastar man and you got to find yourself within that. I don't know. I think it's fascinating from that perspective. But as an extremely simple person who has three hobbies and a dog and nothing else going on in my life except for football, I don't think I can relate very well to Aaron Rodgers

and how he sees the world. And there was a shift in terms of what people even knew about him and his relationships and what he does away from the field. It might have been 2011 or 2012. I mean, he was insanely private. And that was when he still was close with his family. And, you know, nobody knew much about his fiance. Like it was a high school sweetheart from what I remember. And it was like, you didn't go there as a reporter. You did not. Nobody touched it. Even his closest allies in the media wouldn't. I think that there was like, you know, at the Green Bay Press Gazette's like, and I was at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,

but like the Press Gazette's entertainment section, like referenced something that he was doing, like with a girlfriend or something. I can't remember all the details, but it wasn't even like the beat writers that did it, but it was in the paper when that happened. I mean, he just didn't talk to the beat writer. He was pissed. Like it was like, Oh my God,

I can't believe that your paper did this. And then at some point it shifted where it was like Olivia Munn. Right. And then it was Danica Patrick. And it was, he's talked publicly about these relationships, like out in the open in an extreme way. I mean, the MVP awards, he's, you know, thanking fiancées and girlfriends and professing his love.

It was a pretty big shift. I mean, probably right around the time where he cut off his family. And there's a lot going on there that we just don't know. And he won't go there. I saw Peter King ask him a good question, you know, when he was in Green Bay this offseason, this summer. And Aaron's talking about a spiritual journey. He's like, Peter's like, well, did it take you to reconcile lane? And he didn't, he's like, ah, no, not yet. Pretty much. So there's a lot to this man that we don't know that we'll never know.

And I think you're right. I think a lot of it has to do with constantly being in the spotlight. And that's a realm that we'll never know. You're right. I mean, we just can't conceive what that life is like day in and day out. Anything you say, anything you do is a headline. It's not a world I'd want to live in. I like my simple life. I look forward to cutting along.

That's like the highlight of my week every week. I like my simple life. I look forward to cutting along. That's a, that's like the highlight of my week. Every week. I married my first girlfriend. I just like, I don't even know, you know, like could not. Yeah. I picked a winner, but you know, just I decided like, I'm the person that goes to the track, picks a, picks a horse. I win. I'll take my money and go. I'm not, I'm not going to be like, oh, I'm on a hot streak. No, no, no, no. I just picked the winner and I stuck with it.

The last thing I was going to ask you is, I want you to tell me the train wreck of the year football team. Because it's always like, who's the Super Bowl pick, Tyler? I don't know. Who's the train wreck of the year? Oh, thank you for asking me that, Matt. Because, no, I mean, honestly, doing these features, these profiles, everything's great this year.

Everybody's excited. Everybody's optimistic. And I love it. People are happy. They want to talk to you. But I got a train wreck for you. I actually wrote on this last week at Go Along, the Dallas Cowboys. I think we're seeing the stars align in Jerry's world for just an epic, epic, maybe not Dave Gediman, New York Giants-level disaster

because Dak Prescott's a top-tier quarterback. There's still some – Micah Parsons is one of the best defensive players. But, I mean, all the signs are there, right? I mean, between some early injuries, between paying Zeke too much money, you paid Amari Cooper too much money, then you got rid of him, and you lose one of your pass rushers, Randy Gregory, to Mike McCarthy as your head coach. And we've seen what happens to him late in the season.

To Jerry Jones, multiple times this training camp, publicly say we've got to get Ezekiel Elliott the ball. Got to do it. He's got to be a focal point. I mean, not many owners are doing it. Are the Wilfs popping into Vikings training camp and talking to you guys and saying, all right, here's what we got to do, men.

Like, it always ends this way. I mean, we're going on 26 years without a Super Bowl and they're the richest sports franchise in the world. I think the wheels could just come off this season for Dallas. I think that's a tremendous pick. I don't even know if Washington can count as a pick. Like, aren't they in a perpetual state of train wreck? So that would be a selection of mine.

Chicago is probably already there. That's not a hot take at all. Carolina could be awful. Trying to think of one that could be like a little bit, a little bit hot takey is is maybe um maybe miami like may like if if the tyree kill thing if the tyree kill thing doesn't work and and their coach like i don't know does he have any idea what he's doing i don't know people think like oh well he knows another coach so he'll just be like the same person. No?

That is definitely not proven by history. See all of Bill Belichick, all of his people. But, you know, New England is another one. You have Matt Patricia and Joe Judge calling plays. I mean, I have no idea what is in for poor Mac Jones at that point. But, yeah, I think that there's some possibilities. And that's one thing I can't wait for. So, uh, let's make sure that, uh, we re-up your article and where to find it. Um, so it's on, again, if you already follow me on Twitter,

then I have tweeted out, GoLongTD is, uh, your sub stack. People can go there and subscribe. Your brilliant newsletter. I am a longtime subscriber. Day one, really. And the name of the article is, It's a New Day for the Minnesota Vikings, part one. And I think you're posting part two soon. So awesome work, man. And really great to get together with you again.

Hey, I appreciate you, Matt. You know, if I've said it once, I'll say it a million times. You opened my eyes to the Substack world. So we are definitely grateful for you and, you know, introducing this all. And it's been a hell of a good time. Love every minute of it. And also I want to throw out there, if you made it to this point of the podcast, you're listeners, you're loyal listeners.

I did this on a Bengals podcast. I want to see if the Vikings fans can bring it. And you want to read this series, right? It's for the paid subscribers only beyond the free preview. Subscribe, whether it's monthly, annual. Hit me up on Twitter, DM, or email me, and we'll send you some go-along swag. So try to lure the Vikings nation over to go-along if they out there, just subscribe, read the story. If you enjoy it, you want to stick around, we'll hook you up.

Okay. And we should have mentioned this earlier on the show. Maybe I'll have to splice it into the beginning, but how about this? Yeah. If you, if you already subscribe to purple insider and you subscribe to go long TD, let me know and I'll give you 10 bucks back on your subscription. If you're, if you're a yearly subscriber or, or a month free,

how about that? So let me know, shoot me a DM. If you subscribe to go long today, then, or whatever day you're hearing this, then, then we'll do something for you.

We'll make it worth your while. So Tyler, great work as always. And we will talk again soon, my friend. Thank you for everything, dude.