Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings are 4-0 after hanging on to beat Packers

Episode Date: September 29, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press talk from Lambeau Field about the Vikings' close win over the Packers that... possibly didn't need to be so close Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome inside Lambeau Field, Matthew Collar and James Itani, the Pioneer Press, following the Minnesota Vikings' two-point victory over the Green Bay Packers. What a day it was for the Minnesota Vikings, for, I guess, your nerves to be reminded that, yes, this can very much happen to the Vikings team, and now the Minnesota Vikings are 4-0. So, in the opening statement, I just want to say this, Dane, that I understand where a lot of people want to go

with this conversation. I totally get that what you just saw in the second half of that football game was pretty gnarly and that they did not close it out the way that they should have. And there were numerous times where early in the third quarter, I was saying, maybe you should just keep giving it to Aaron Jones, or maybe you should just throw some screens or whatever else. And the defense was not infallible as it was in the last couple of weeks here on the road, a different story than it was at U.S. Bank Stadium. But let us not, Mr. Mizutani, miss the forest through the trees.

The Minnesota Vikings are 4-0. This is a dream scenario. If I told you before the game and I didn't tell you anything about how they got there, that they won 31-29 and they were able to close them out with a very impressive Sam Darnold drive, you would have shot to the moon with excitement.

So I understand that finally, for the first time, we have something to complain about, which we have not before this day. But let us not miss the fact that they will go to London against a mediocre Jets team with a chance to start this NFL season 5-0 when the outside universe thought that they could be a six or seven win team and we were only thinking nine wins both of us before the season but now they are almost halfway there with one of the most impressive four game runs that we have seen since either one of us has covered the team considering that all of these teams outside of the new york giants

the last three games are all tremendous football teams. And I just have to say about Jordan Love, not perfect, a wild ride, but my gosh, he was crazy good in the second half of the game. He's not somebody that you can just let down your guard with. So this, though, for the Vikings, I'm going to lean toward in this postgame show that this is more impressive than it was frustrating in the second half and that they are now in position to make a case for themselves as the best team in the National Football League. Your thoughts, Dane? My thoughts, I agree or I can see why people would be frustrated, like you said. But I would caution, like, let's just enjoy this ride because they are 4-0.

And this is a team, like we talked about, wasn't supposed to do anything from a national perspective. There was an ESPN bet model that said they were going to be the worst team in the league. Like, this team had zero expectations going into the season. And then they beat the Giants, then they beat the 49ers, then they beat the Giants and they beat the 49ers and they beat the Houston Texans. And now they beat the Green Bay Packers. I get it because this could have been such a dominant victory where you just celebrate them as how good can they be? You

can still do that. And I think why you can still do that is because this is the NFL. And generally speaking, we don't get a lot of blowouts. I know the Vikings have done it twice this year to the Giants and to the Houston Texans last week. So you just kind of assume when they go up 28-0, we got another blowout on our hands. But it's the NFL. And this is the Green Bay Packers. And they are one of the better teams in the NFC with one of the better quarterbacks in the NFC playing at home. They were going to punch back. Did you let them in the game at times with the Jalen

Naylor muff punt? Absolutely. Were there things the Vikings need to clean up? Absolutely. And we will talk about all those things. But big picture, they're 4-0. They walked into Lambeau. They were dominant for 30 minutes. And when they had to have it late, they got it. This is two times now where Sam Darnold had to have a drive late in a game, and he got it. He did it against San Francisco, and he did it today against Green Bay. I mean, I think that's probably the reality people should try to live in. I get it. The game was extremely frustrating, stressful, up and down, roller coaster, whatever cliche you want to use. But at the end of it, the Vikings are 4-0 like you said going to London next week

with a chance to go 5-0 and head into that bye week sitting pretty nice so very impressive all around kind of start to this first month but I thought today's game at times impressive at times left things to be desired but overall just a kind of continuation of of a team that appears to be on the rise so we're going to talk about both sides of the win i know most of you want us to jump right into the second half and how that went but i would like to begin with the first half of the football game where the vikings won this game so let's talk about that first uh number one is just a reminder a bulletin uh jordan addison still very good at football very good he after the game said his ankle felt good and he seemed quite pleased with his performance and he should be because he comes right out of the gate runs a

ridiculous route shakes his man completely and goes easy into the end zone. Seven, nothing just like that. I mean, this team has found a way early in games and their opening script to get ahead. And you can't complain about letting leads slip a little bit in the second half. If you're not destroying the other team early in the game and to have Jordan Addison back along with Jalen Naylor. So Jalen Naylor did not have a big game by any means today, but the fact that you know that he can to go along with Addison, to go along with Justin Jefferson, this is starting to be the thing that they were aiming for. And we also got some news today from Adam Schefter that we should look for TJ Hawkinson a little bit more after the bye week that maybe

the Rams or even the Colts game is when he'll come back. But thinking about this offense and what it can look like with TJ Hawkinson back in the mix and what it did look like for the majority of today for Sam Darnold and how he was able to just jump on the Green Bay Packers defense. They got good pass protection early, but that's always combined with receivers being wide open. It's way easier to drop back and throw it when you're confident about who you're throwing the football to. And to have Addison back in the mix is a reminder like, oh yeah, this guy Jones ran the football pretty well. They pass protected pretty well. Justin Jefferson did some special things with his reception in the end zone. But when we always go back to Sam Darnold and his confidence, and you assume that a guy who's been through so much in his life would be a little bit shaky in his confidence. The fact that he has these guys is the most easy confidence booster. And now I don't want to take anything away from Kevin O'Connell and the offense and the design and getting guys open and getting them one-on-one, but his life is way easier when he has Jordan Addison to be wide open on that route. And, uh, Donald was talking about after the game, just how the organization and the locker room welcomed him in and why he's been performing the way he has here.

I thought another tremendous game. We'll grade it a little later, but another tremendous game for Sam Darnold, the biggest thing always comes back to these receivers, their ability to make special plays. And at the beginning of the game, they get up because of it. And then they close the game because of it on that final drive where you got a Chris Carter catch from Justin Jefferson. And then it's all combined together to be, I think, strong and also deserving of talking about that this can continue to happen because we've always seen it continue to happen when it comes to guys like Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson. Yeah. And this receiving core, I think, and when you add in TJ Hawkinson is, I think it's the best in the league. Like I really do. You have the best

receiver in football, Justin Jefferson, the way he shows it continuing to do it week after week. I mean, the touchdown catch was disgusting. The way he slowed his gate and kind of just, he's totally covered by Kishon Nixon, and then he's not. He just slows down, catches the ball. It looked like Randy Moss. And then he looked like Chris Carter late. So when you have someone like that leading the receiving core, I think sometimes you can say, well, that's just the guy.

That's it. But there's so much more after that. And I think we almost forget how good Jordan Addison is until we see him in person again and again and again, because there were that was through that two weeks when Jalen Naylor was putting up production here, I am thinking like, I mean, maybe, maybe it's just whoever's in that wide receiver to roll is going to be able to flourish because there's so much attention on Justin and the scheme works out well. And it's not.

Jordan Addison's special. And if you have him paired with Justin Jefferson, with an emergence of Jalen Naylor and TJ Hawkinson coming on the way, you're right like I think I was impressed with Sam Darnold's poise and confidence late but it's really easy to have poise and confidence when the Packers cut it to six and you're able to just go out there look in the huddle see Justin Jefferson see Jordan Addison see Aaron Jones who had a good game see two left tackles or you know left tackle Christian Derrissaw and right tackle Brian O'Neill like there's just so much there to kind of uplift Sam Darnold even when there are moments of struggle but yeah I think you're right when you highlight the receiving core and just the group of pass catchers that would make anyone confident and I think we saw that play out multiple times today and in really

big moments on the defensive side early in the game, it looked like Jordan Love shouldn't be in the game, actually. And I guess his knee got a little more healed in the second half when they put less pressure on him. And he made some special throws, but some receivers were really wide open in the second half.

But the way that this defense has been able to cause turnovers, I feel like has been one of the biggest factors for why the offense has been so successful is that they're just getting extra opportunities, multiple interceptions, taking the ball away from Jordan Love. And it's always hard to determine, like, is that something they can keep doing? Byron Murphy gets the pick. They get, he causes the fumble at the end of the game and what was it was it five turnovers for the packers today i mean to be able to do that on the back of the last couple weeks they

got a lot more sacks a bunch of sacks uh what was it maybe 15 over the first three weeks it was ridiculous uh the way that they were able to pressure the quarterback but today it was not that same level of pressure i don don't even know. Did they sack Jordan Love maybe one time, one time today? And that was really it. But they found ways to do it in different, different ways by causing turnovers. And they weren't perfect in the second half of the game. In fact, they really struggled with wide open receivers and yet kept showing up at the biggest times. Sometimes that can be a regression thing that can be, well, you're not going to get five turnovers every game. But I think when we look at the accumulation of the first four games, what we see is a lot of different ways of winning. Against Houston,

it is turnovers. It's also stopping the run. Early on against Daniel Jones, it's pressuring him. It was putting C.J. Stroud in hell inside of U.S. Bank Stadium. This is not a place where you're going to be able to pressure the quarterback the same. It's just not the same atmosphere as it is on your side in U.S. Bank Stadium. But especially early in the game, I thought they did a good job of not letting the Packers run over them and took advantage of the fact that Love did look very rusty at the beginning of the game. Yeah, I mean, at the beginning of the game, it. I mean, at the beginning of the game, it looked like Jordan Love shouldn't be in the game. And that was a testament, I think, more so to the Vikings than Jordan Love's knee. I think we saw as the game progressed, Jordan Love did

get into a groove. Is he 100%? I don't know. I would guess not. But he looked like a shell of himself, probably partially due to rust but largely due to what the vikings are capable of doing on defense and i think it's a good point you made about like there's just different ways to do it it's not always going to be a dominant performance like we saw last week against the houston texans where they made cj stroud look like he didn't know how to play quarterback for a long time like that's not how it's going to play out every week. This is the NFL, and these are the best of the best. And while they made Jordan Love look as uncomfortable as they made C.J. Stroud look, as they made Brock Purdy look, as they made Daniel Jones look,

they made him look that uncomfortable through about 30 minutes. There was always going to be, I think, an ascension from Jordan Love playing at home when that juice is kind of back in the building. But to your point about how there's different ways you can win. Well, yeah, the Packers put up twenty nine, but the Vikings forced two big turnovers late. Jordan Love kind of popped one into the sky and Byron Murphy just camps under for an interception. But then late in the game, when there's another opportunity for the Packers to make it close, Byron Murphy punches the ball out.

And that's just, I think, it's a commitment from the Vikings defense to attacking the ball and then finding ways to kind of impact this game, even when you're not blanking them, like I think we've been used to over the first month. So it's great signs for the defense. And it's, I think, another example of how good this defense can be. It doesn't always have to be hold the other team to seven points.

I know there was a lot of smoke about how through three weeks, they had only allowed 30 points. And now they've allowed basically 30 points today. But I'd still say it was a pretty good performance from the defense. And I think another thing that needs to be said is after the game, when you hear Blake Cashman or even Kevin O'Connell talk about this defense, they're not satisfied with what they did today. They weren't like, oh, we turned them over four or five times.

We're good. I think everyone was kind of lamenting that second half. And I would assume they're going to come into London pretty hungry for a better performance against Aaron Rodgers. Well, there was a really interesting conversation, you could call it, that we were having with Kevin O'Connell after this game because it was multiple questions and multiple answers that he weaved into his idea of aggressiveness. And I thought it was him basically saying that I know you guys, meaning us, are going to do your postgame podcast and you're

going to say, hey, Kevin, remember Aaron Jones is on your team when you're up by 28 or even 21 in the middle of the third quarter, not just run the ball over and over, but short passes, screens, keep just keep that clock churning. The longer you have the ball, the longer they don't have the ball. And the one thing you can't do is turn it over like throwing an interception in the red zone where that was another spot. If you just run the football, then you're going to be pretty successful there. And I thought the king of this was Kevin Stefanski of just putting teams away in 2019 and against San Francisco. And then here again today, I thought they left the door open. Well, it's not, it's a fact. They absolutely left

the door open today, but too much by being aggressive. And essentially what O'Connell says is I'm not going to apologize for that. And it was kind of hell or high water with the aggressiveness because at times it being aggressive and throwing the ball, they had one negative run from Aaron Jones. And it was like, all right, I'm not doing that anymore. He lost two yards back to the pass. It's like, that's, it's okay to be in second and 12 when you're running that clock. And if you throw a short, quick pass to somebody and you keep it moving, there was a time where Darnold got sacked,

where it was like a nine step drop back or something. And they were able to get in and he's saying well we didn't you know protect well enough you shouldn't have to be talking about past protecting that way when you are up by 21 points or 14 points then you shouldn't have to worry about the other team pinning its ears back and coming after you because you should be playing it in a way that is safely aggressive not running deep routes down the field where Sam Darnold doesn't have an easy check down. This is my issue.

But essentially what O'Connell says is I don't care because then they're up by two and they could have done the same thing, which was hand off three times that we were talking about or played it safe and they decided not to and then stayed aggressive and it worked out in their favor with a couple of huge plays by

the greatest receiver on this planet and that's how they end up closing out the game and winning it so where is your mind dane on how kevin o'connell approached the second half because i didn't feel like they got conservative i saw and maybe he's mentioned that or something or somebody mentioned that like that no i thought they were throwing more than I would have expected. But he's going to keep doing that. That's his philosophy. Yeah, I can understand the frustration of. Vikings are up by 21 points.

Keep running the ball, keep running the clock each time you run. It doesn't necessarily mean you're you're succumbing to a three and out either. You have Aaron Jones, who's very, very, very good. But I guess what I would say on the opposite side of that is how many times have we watched football in the past? And we have scolded that head coach for saying, you can't run the clock out with 30 minutes left in the game. You have to stay aggressive.

You have to keep your foot on the gas and so while i can appreciate that kevin o'connell wants to put his foot on the gas and keep his foot on the gas and keep being aggressive i do think that there's probably a happy medium there and it's a feel thing and i don't know exactly where that feel lands, but I think that there is a, it still needs to be figured out to a degree. I appreciate the aggressiveness because I have watched, I went to the University of Minnesota, I've watched teams just get a lead

and I've watched them just run into the back of the center and the guard and just hope that they can just melt 40 seconds off the clock three plays at a time before they punt um and that you can't win a football game like that so i i do appreciate kevin o'connell's aggressiveness in that sense but you're right there are ways to be aggressive with like conservative play calling to a degree we kept talking about this in the press box like you can throw a screen like the screens work you can have like a crosser over the middle we saw that late where justin jefferson just catches a little crosser and takes it for 27 yards it does seem like there is this

idea of like well i want to show the guys that i'm aggressive and i want them to know i believe in them and while i do appreciate that i don't think that always has to be, you know, five step drop, three guys going 20 yards down the field. There can be like a happy medium there. But I'm not going to sit here and just hate on him and say, keep running the ball and try and get that clock to die. Because I am the first one, a lot of times, scolding a head coach for trying to run the clock out. But there needs to be some feel. And I think that over time, he's going to get a better feel for how to play with a big lead. He never has before this year. It's always been close games.

So maybe there is a little bit there of like you have to kind of be in it to know when to do what um i think for him aggressive staying aggressive just means pushing the ball downfield you can stay aggressive without doing that well that's exactly my thing because i know that i was uh harassing you and will raggetts in the press box where it was like guys why aren't they running the ball why aren't they running the ball more uh in this situation because you do have two really excellent running backs if they didn't then i would understand it a little bit more but this is aaron jones's house for a reason and not only can you hand him the ball you can throw him the ball you can line up him up a

wide receiver it seems like there are safe ways to do this that don't include always having to dagger someone and also when i that's why i found this so interesting is that when he talked about why he was doing it he was not saying guys i have this data and quacey gave me these numbers about being aggressive toward the end of the game and we've studied this this this this, he was saying, I want to prove it to the locker room. And well, that's great. I think that the locker room knows that you're a good coach and knows that you believe in them and knows that you believed in them. Well, everybody else was hating on the outside or the doubters, so to speak as that's, I won't even get into that but uh you know what i'm saying like i don't think there's anybody who ever thought that kevin o'connell didn't believe in his players or didn't believe

in sam darnold he has been the biggest sam darnold guy from day one that they got him where he came out and he said let's not everybody forget about sam darnold they draft a quarterback and he's scolding us like hey don't forget about sam, right? I know you're talking about the exciting rookie, but I believe in this guy. He was telling people from what I heard outside of the building that he believed in Sam Darnold. He doesn't need to throw passes and put him in situations where he might throw an interception or he might get sacked because he's over trusting him. He does have to remember that Sam Darnold is still prone to some stuff like this. And today was the day where I thought we saw the most scary Sam. And you look at the end of the day, his numbers are absolutely fantastic again, but there were way

more, ah, I don't know, Sam, what are you doing? Type of things where you do want him to throw it away. Uh, and you do want him to be a little more safe with the throw up that ends up as an interception that I know might not have been. By the way, real quick, we have a new thing. The super chat. This was suggested to me. So I thank Lefty for jumping in the super chat says absolutely has to have better situational play calling. And I think thanks for that, Lefty. I really appreciate that.

So feel free to get involved with super chat. I'll put your thing on the screen in the post game. But I mean, I think that that's what it really is. It's the situational play calling. And he has to also understand that everyone knows he buys into them. And that it doesn't always have to be some sort of like, I need to show you, I need to show you. And at the same time, they just beat the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau and they did it in part because they were aggressive at the end of the game. And that's where I keep kind of swinging

back and forth on this entire subject because I would be more the type of person analytical to lean toward. Don't just kneel it down don't because the other team will come back that's where it feels very delicate when it comes to that yeah and the situational play calling and the need to improve that was on display i think there was a third and one late where you could probably just run the ball. They end up throwing a crosser. I think it was late in the first half to Brandon Powell. Brandon Powell actually gets hurt on the play. And then Jalen Naylor has the muffed punt.

So there were times where I think, yeah, the situational play calling left something to be desired. But the aggressiveness is why they won the game. It's why they won the game. It's why they went up early in the first half. And it's why when the Green Bay Packers cut it to six, it's why the Vikings were able to go down and put three points on the board. A lot of teams in that scenario would have curled up, said, oh no, our 28-point lead now is a six-point lead. We got to get this clock running. What's the first thing they do? They throw the ball to Justin Jefferson. Again, that goes back to the you can be aggressive smartly. You can be aggressive. It wasn't a 25-yard pass to Jefferson up the seam. It was a little crosser that ends up going for 17 yards, and it was a great throw by Sam Darnold. But I think that aggressiveness needs to be complemented when you are only up six and you are willing to go down

and understand that you need points on that drive and not just try and run the clock out and pray that Aaron Jones breaks off a big run. So there is a duality of it, right? Like, I think for most of the second half, we're sitting there screaming, like, run the ball more. But if they would have just run the ball when they cut, when the Packers cut it to six, I think it would have felt like, you know, you don't really have a feel for what's going on here.

And another part of this, too, my thought process in saying to you over and over, as I was eating my second brat and cheese curds in the Lambeau press box, was that I thought the defense would be better than it was in the second half. And so we're putting a lot of this on Kevin O'Connell and I do think it should be, it's not just that it's not pass V run. It's what type of pass you're calling. And the fact that Justin Jefferson was taken out of the conversation in the third quarter is also another part of it uh dane this is before you but i used to have a bit on the post game show that if

jefferson didn't get 10 targets that someone needed to go to jail that someone need to be arrested and hauled off in a wagon to prison if jefferson didn't get 10 targets i don't know if he got there today checking right now and the fact that I'm not sure and the fact that he disappeared in the third quarter is absurd. That should not have happened. There should have been. What do you got? He got eight targets. Someone's going to prison. There we go. Let's bring the bit back. That's just that is a fact. Someone needs to be arrested for a win. Maybe you send an intern, but someone's got to go. That's the type of situation where you have these superstar players, just get them the football into their hands. That is my only point. But still, when we look at the accumulation of points that this team has been able to put up with the aggressive mindset, it's a lot of points so far. They have one of the best offenses in the NFL at this moment, and they have a 4-0 record. so how much do you really want to spend on this on the defensive side though why in your mind do you feel like it was so much different

today than it was against the Houston Texans yeah I think that has a large thing to do with just when you go up by 28 points um and you don't want to get beat over the top I did the they like started to kind of play almost like and they always play a shell but it was like felt like very much prevent defense down the stretch in the first in the second half um and and i think that is probably just brian flores not wanting to give it all back in one play make the packers go the length of the field um the only problem is that the packers went the length of the field very, very quickly. But I think that the aggressiveness and the way that they were kind of playing defense through the first month, besides this game, was kind of nullified by the fact that they were up

by so much. And I know that sounds kind of counterintuitive, like in general, like putting an offense, an opposing offense in must-pass situation would allow you to dial up all these things and further confuse the offense but I think this is just kind of how it goes in the NFL when when one team jumps out to a big lead oftentimes the other defense it's just human nature like it kind of they rear back a little bit so I think it was more that I don't think this is something that's going to become an issue long-term, but I do think it's something that they need to address here heading into London next week.

Marley says, Matt, can you do a deep dive on KOC's tenure with third quarter offense? Feels like most games, there's a struggle to move the ball in the third. You know, I definitely have felt that way at times, especially back in 2022 when they were leading and they just wouldn't be able to put someone away. I usually attributed that to the quarterback because it was oftentimes Kirk Cousins mentality to. All right, we're up by six points, so check it down.

I mean, it's very unusual to be up by 28 or by even uh 21 in the second half of the game that's the thing is with this whole we're all adjusting to this we haven't covered games like this in a really long time um but as far as o'connell and when they're leading and trying to put someone away i do feel like that's an area that they need to figure out a little bit that said they did it last week against the Houston Texans was this just a this situation things didn't go the way you expected or is this a bigger Kevin O'Connell type of thing I would also like to you know push the brakes a little bit and just remind you that they're four and oh now I mean and we're talking about what

did Kweisi Daffeloffel meant to say champagne problems at the moment man what is this coach going to do when he gets up 21 in the second half can he even handle it can i mean that's that's quite a thing to talk about but i i don't disagree marley with what you're saying that throughout his tenure it has felt like they have not always been able to kind of finish the job there but i think what what Dane is saying is also relevant as well, which is it's the nature of the beast. I mean, look around at the different games today and how many had a lead, had a two score lead. Somebody else came back. This team has a ton of talent. Would you be surprised at the end of the year if the Green Bay Packers have 10 wins themselves or 11 win themselves?

They've got receivers. Jaden Reed is fantastic. Their quarterback is very, very talented. As you saw today, they have defensive players who can make plays. I kind of go back and forth a little bit on this. And I agree with the Flores point where I, it reminded me of what he did against Chicago last year and where they tried to play Justin Fields way back and they just left too much space. And the thing is, if you blitz like crazy and they hit a big play, then everyone's going to say, why did you blitz like crazy? What were you thinking? But if you play way back and they complete pass after pass, you, they're going to say, well, you, you know, allowed too many of

those completions. I don't know if there's a perfect way to do it, but I would lean toward, in this case, I don't want Flores to run the ball on the defense and wind the clock. I want him to stay aggressive. I want him to blitz. Some part of it though, may have been just the fact that they're at Lambeau field and not us bank stadium. And they may have felt like this is a little bit, you know, not the place to go crazy like they were able to last week with CJ Stroud. So anyway, that's really all I have to say about the second half because they won the football game and had they blown it, this would be a hundred percent of the entire show focused on that, but they didn't. They found a way because I think they're so deep

with defensive playmakers that even when they don't have their best day, someone is going to step up and take the football away or get a big sack or something like that. So this is a thing that even when the defense doesn't play as best, I believe that there's enough talent that you can rely on somebody getting in there, getting a pick, getting a big sack, whatever it might be. But this was definitely the first time, I think, with Brian Forrest where we went, what the heck? Probably one of the first times that we've questioned him really since he's been here, and it's in a win over the Packers, which says something. Each week, if you're new to the postgame, welcome and thanks so much for joining us.

We're inside Lambeau Field. It's very sunny out, so we tried to find a place where you could actually see us and we wouldn't get washed out. But let's go through our position-by-position and coaching grades that we do each week and start with you and the quarterback. A very eventful day for Mr. Sam Darnold. What would you grade Sam Darnold? And play along, please, in the comment section. Yeah, I'll give him a B+.

And it's a B+, emphasis on the plus, because of the drive in the fourth quarter. He was lights out in the first half. Just three touchdown passes. Probably could have been four, but they decided to give Jordan Addison a ball on the jet sweep. Sam Darnold played lights out in the first half nothing no notes nothing you can do wrong but kind of to piggyback off of the the third quarter play calling like sam darnold's issue through a month um and champagne problems again because he's four and oh has been he's third

quarters they seem to stall out he's mentioned it a couple a couple of times now and he seems to lament that after the game but why i end up on a b plus is because regardless of how much the offense stagnated after halftime when the vikings needed points when they walked back onto the field the packers had just cut it to six lambeau field is going nuts and this is really the first time i feel like Sam Darnold had, had felt genuine adversity because even I, the drive against the Packers was, or the drive against the 49ers I thought was very impressive. We've talked about that one at length.

That was at home. It's a six point game. Lambeau field is going nuts. You're walking back onto the field. If you go three and out there, I think you lose and you if you go three and out there i think you lose and you don't go three and out instead you first play 17 yard pass to justin jefferson two plays later 27 yard pass to justin jefferson and while that stalls out before you get into the end zone you put three

points on the board and those three points end up being the difference in the game so b plus for for me it's not an a because i think that there were times where Sam Darnold probably could have pushed it forward, built on the lead. He didn't. He had an interception on a ball that I probably think I would have overturned it if I was the ref. It looked like Xavier McKinney bobbled out of bounds. He had a fumble where he just clearly didn't feel a blitz from Kashawn Nixon. So there were areas or things that were left to be desired there, but lights out in the first half. And when you had to have it late, you got it.

Um, so another step in Sam Darnold's growth, I'll say B plus, uh, blue stork says, uh, both teams got lucky and unlucky all game. Our first half domination bailed us out of our bad luck.

Yeah, there was, when we talk about luck in an individual game it's hard to do uh bounces fumbles interceptions overturns and referee calls and things like that but i did think that this side this game had both sides of that for either team uh the packers got some good luck with the ball slipping through jaylen nailer's hands normally he would never be out there and just a suggestion for jaylen nail, if you can't see it in the sun and it's blowing in the wind, just let it go. No one is ever going to cause any problem if you let it go.

Don't try to reach up over your head. That's kind of, and he's a great player, so I don't mean this is an insult, but it's what any of us would look like if a punt was coming at us. If you don't practice them in games like Brandon Powell, it is is very hard to do he just should have gotten away from that one but that happens there and then you also see you know an interception that the packers get to get to keep that's another good luck the vikings cause a fumble at the end of the game with byron murphy that's fumbling is kind of good luck on your side um so i haven't felt like through four games that it swung the pendulum one side or the other. The Vikings have just played better through four games in each one of the

games, which is probably why I don't want to spend all day talking about the second half, because still, if you ask me which football team played better, I would say the Vikings to your grade for Sam Darnold. I think a B maybe a, yeah, it's hard to say. What did he end up with? 120 quarterback rating? Yeah, 123 for quarterback, 20 of 28 for 275,

three touchdowns. Pretty damn good. Yeah, you can't be too tough on Sam Darnold there. So probably a B plus. The interception is a little bit on the underthrown side. You can't get strip sack there. That's another thing where he has to be aware that he has to see the blitz. Maybe it was a protection issue. He's got to pull the ball in a little bit more, but some of the throws today, once again, the throw to Justin Jefferson is equally as amazing of a catch where Jefferson just casually does something absolutely absurd. And I think that's the catch that Darnold was talking about it for the game when he said it was one of the best catches he's ever seen. But the fact is, I'm not sure which one he was talking about because there were two of them. There was two catches that Justin Jefferson

made today where you just went, oh my gosh, which kind of makes me think a little bit more of Jefferson did some unbelievable things that helped Darnold's quarterback rating be what it was. A lot of the throws that he made were to wide open receivers, which he does not have to apologize for, but it was a little more on edge today than it has been at other times. And the strip sack and the interception, those are two different opportunities to put the game away and both reminded me of what he did in san francisco throwing the pick to fred warner where it was just a little bit unnecessary to throw the ball like a little bit tuck it and protect it a little bit more in that spot um but what aaron jones said where i was sold on a high

grade still for sam darnold is you i I think maybe asked Aaron Jones, like what Sam Darnold was like in the huddle. And he was talking about how calm he was, how he was reminding everyone of details. Hey, and this is at Lambeau. This is the crowd sensing that there's something happening and he's going to other players and saying, Hey, if you've got a question, look to me, I've got the answers. I'm the dude. And and the fact that sam darnold is taking this i'm the man type of approach in the biggest situations not looking to aaron jones not looking to somebody else to be the leader that that that gets high marks for me that was a very memorable and now he's two for two in situations where hey go finish the game and he ends up doing it. As far as running

backs go, there wasn't much from Ty Chandler today. Didn't suspect there would be. I thought Aaron Jones was nothing short of absolutely fantastic. I mean, he's got catches out of the backfield. He had near a hundred yards, but maybe the most impressive play of the day from him was on the big throw to get them started. Aaron jones steps up and sticks a dude right i mean just blitzer coming through step up make a big block and i don't think what you maybe fully understand by seeing him on tv aaron jones is small he is not a big guy he's like five foot nine but he played like he's about six foot four in that moment and just stuck that blitzer and this is why when you ask people about aaron jones they lose their minds the crowd loved him

here today uh he said the players after the game the packers were giving him a hard time because he didn't score and he was like uh who won the football game um but just aaron jones i give an a for him i thought overall running running backs, it was okay. It wasn't his fault he didn't get the ball more from Kevin O'Connell or that he could have utilized Ty Chandler more on a little swing pass or something. Sorry to obsess over that, but I'll give Aaron Jones' return to Green Bay nothing short of an A.

Yeah, I'd stick with you with an A, and I did think that you mentioned it, but the interaction that Aaron Jones described to us reporters after the game where the Vikings are walking onto the field about to kneel the clock out and the Packers defenders are literally, according to Aaron Jones, telling him, you didn't get your Lambeau leap. We kept you out of the end zone. And he said, like you said, I don't care. I got the win.

And by the way way he did get a lambo leap he leaped into the crowd as the vikings were walking the locker room cool moment for him um this place adores him um and if you ever meet anyone that knows aaron jones and you ask about aaron jones they will tell you he's the best person they know everybody says that everyone i've ever spoken to says aaron jones is the best person they know everybody says that everyone i've ever spoken to says aaron jones is the best person they know and uh he's a pretty good football player that went for 93 today and also 46 yards receiving so he's pretty damn good football player too aaron jones is the type of player that you just hope every franchise gets to have once in a lifetime this kind of player

who impacts people the way he does so it's really special for him he gets the a uh wide receivers a like a a plus a plus a plus um justin jefferson is amazing like we could say that every week like that can just be a scheduled tweet but the catch in the end zone coupled with the catch on the sideline, I think I described it earlier in the podcast, he was Moss on the catch in the end zone. He was Carter on the catch on the sideline. And then you got 72 yards from Jordan Addison, two touchdowns.

Ankle looked pretty good on the stutter and go on the first drive of the game. Also looked pretty good when he juked Keyshaun Nixon out of his shoes on the jet sweep. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, the one-two punch, it's going to be really, really hard to scheme against. Just really no notes there. The receivers are really good, and it's crazy to think that they are getting a top-five tight end in the league back here within the next month. Sky's the limit with those guys. And we're going to get to that portion of the program shortly about whether they continue this, where the bar gets set now,

because it is a different world when you're four and oh, then even two and oh, three and oh, this is basically a quarter of the season that has now been completed. And they are in the driver's seat in the national football conference. i don't i mean when you talk about that though it has to be discussed how good addison looked along with sam darnold that he had played in training camp and then the first game first half of the first game really well with darnold it looked like they had a good connection and he ran a couple routes in the giants game they're like wow okay reminder first round draft pick here and then to come out and do it again even just

bolstering sam darnold's confidence in his receivers spectacular game and i just thought get it to those guys on short passes a little bit more when you got a chance to go win a football game trust them and with the football in their hands uh also if we include tight ends josh oliver catches a touchdown and then recovers the onside kick to make sure that that wasn't going anywhere at the end of the game so a couple of key plays for him the offensive line is always tough on an instant reaction because sometimes we think one thing and then we look at the data and it's something else uh once what was it two sacks two sacks for sam darnold i thought though early in the game he had a ton of time and then

in some of the biggest moments he had a ton of time and in between the overall pass protection was not always ideal for him and he was pressured too much uh this is back to me i'm gonna give it a b minus they ran it really well at times. There were other times where they just needed a yard, get the yard. And I think that it's nice and cute last week where they did the end, end around or reverse, whatever you want to call it. And the big moment on fourth down in the middle of the field, it felt like the Packers kind of knew that might happen.

And it also felt like the Packers knew who they didn't trust on the offensive line to go behind in those, you know, and one type of situations or short yardage situations. So the fact that they did not get that fourth and one, when they should have been able to finish the game off, they didn't go for another one, which I was okay with when they punted away. But I also thought, man, if you really trust your offensive line here this

is going to be an easy handoff first down and the fact that they didn't do that there's still issues there there's still pressure there it's not a perfect offensive line but this is about as good of a run of defensive lines that you will ever see over the first four weeks even the giants you have to give them a ton of credit for their d line to survive it and win every game and have sam darnell not get sacked or pressure that often i i think overall is is really good for them they're all healthy which is really good for them uh i don't know how the right guard played today we'll have to review that i guess when we go back through the pff stuff but i will give them B minus. They had great moments early in the game, struggled a little bit later on.

I think that's fair because in the and one situations, you didn't get it. Fourth and one, you get it, you win the game. Great play by the Packers, but also if you're a line and you're an imposing line, that's going to get an A from,

from Dane and collar. You got to get the, the, the end one there. Ed Ingram, there was a weird play where Aaron Jones caught a screen and Ed Ingram slowed down. He could have ran to the pylon.

Ed Ingram was obsessed with blocking this guy. That guy didn't really matter. If you just run, Aaron's going to follow you into the end zone. That was a play that stood out. But I'm fine with your B-grade because I thought Kenny Clark had the opportunity to absolutely destroy this game.

And he did not. He did not have a sack. He did not have a TFL. And I need to go back and re-watch a certain film on Ed Ingram. But there were times where I thought he was going to get bench-pressed into Sam Darnold. And he didn't. So this could have had the opportunity to be a disastrous game for the offensive line. And it absolutely was not. And I have been, in recent years,

probably one of the larger Garrett Bradbury defenders. I know that he still can have his bad games. He is battling through multiple injuries over the beginning of the season, and I thought today he did as well as you could have asked him to do against his nemesis. Now, maybe Clark isn't what he was even last year because he's been battling a toe injury. But if you're going to hold up and give up, I don't remember any time where Kenny Clark was just blasting through and getting after Sam Darnold. And that's how he can have the game he had.

If they're getting interior pressure and crushing him, it would have been so much harder. The protection overall in the second half was definitely not as good and so they don't get an a but i don't think it's worthy of a c because it was so good early on in the game the defensive line i am curious to know what you think here because i probably wouldn't have it that high but i don't know where you have it yeah like c plus feels like maybe a little harsh grading but they they didn't generate a lot of pressure i think a lot of that like i have to go back and watch because it wasn't was it they weren't generating pressure was it that they weren't sending pressure like what we've credited the vikings a lot with though over the first month

is that their four-man rush has been able to get home. And it didn't really today. So I can't go A. I would maybe hover around like a B-. But I think maybe we'll just go C+. We'll grade hard because they were so good for the first three weeks of the season. Did they sack Jordan Love today? They had one sack sack Jordan love today?

They had one sack of Jordan love today. They did hold the Packers to 86 yards rushing, but I think the scoreboard held the Packers to 86 yards rushing. And I think Jacob's average, like five yards. Yeah. So more, it just,

it wasn't like a banner day for the, for the defensive line. You didn't get home. You didn't see, I think, the mind games that you see out of this defensive line sometimes where it really did look like they were in Brock Purdy's head, and it really did look like they were in CJ Shroud's head. I think that the turnovers probably got into Jordan Love's head, but the pressure, I don't think it really got home as much as we're

used to. So C plus with the caveat that I understand that that's a hard grade, but I think they have earned the right to be graded. Difficultly because they they've shown their ceiling. And I don't I think they would all agree like they didn't hit it today. They didn't come close to it, but they did enough early on but I'll say C plus if you want to go B minus that's fine too I probably would go C plus I just didn't think that they were as effective as you would want and this is where in a game like this where they are missing that one thing on the D line the interior pressure is where i thought that jordan love had a lot of opportunities to be in the pocket or to scramble a little bit uh that it doesn't mean that they played horribly

i didn't think and i guess when we go back and look i wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of pressures on him where the pocket was collapsing and he had to scramble and guys were winning against their blocks um but i also thought that if you get to the quarterback one or two more times, this game is really over. They just didn't quite get there in the same way. Another part of that too, is that they just didn't send many people at the quarterback, which probably could have made it look a little different, but yeah, I don't want to be over critical about it. C plus B minus is fine, But when you have set the bar as high as they have, we're probably also grading on a curve of where they have set the bar. As far as the linebackers

and secondary, this one is hard because I can't figure out how much... It wasn't like anyone was getting roasted. It just seemed like there was open people. I mean, I thought Josh Metellus had a bit of a tough day. He had a penalty and there was another screen pass where he overran it. So in coverage, uh, there, it turned into a big play where it was a bubble screen and to give up what 400 yards almost to Jordan love, even in the game circumstance, all they need is a couple of stops. There's a little bit better coverage and they're going to get off the field at At the same time, how can you complain too much about interceptions, fumbles caused? I might have to put it in the same place where it's more of a B-

because I'm balancing out, well, you made all these plays to keep yourself in it, but you also had to make those plays. But also, you can't really make those plays if you're being asked to play in the parking lot and try not to give up you know the uh the big explosive even though you did anyway so i i'm very back and forth on this i think it's it's a hard one to determine because if you're down 28 points you will throw for a bleep ton of yards we went over this for years with you know who about the stats that got put up,

but at the same time, you can't be as close as it was. You can't rely at the end of the game on just getting an interception or a fumble. Yeah, I think being buoyed by turnovers isn't something that you want to rely on week after week, but they get credit for in a time where they were hemorrhaging points throughout the second half, they came up with two really big plays down the stretch. Kind of a gift from Jordan Love, to be honest, on the Byron Murphy interception. But that play's there to be made, and he did catch the ball.

That has been an issue for Byron Murphy at times, where the ball's there and it's not caught. He camps under it, he catches it, and then he makes an even better play on the sideline, punching the ball out of Tucker Croft's hands. Cam Bynum recovers it, does like a back handspring in the end zone. Maybe don't do that, Cam. Love you, Cam, because he's a fun guy. But the last thing you need is your starting safety to get hurt on doing a backflip. Yeah, I think b minus is fair like a lot of this like

we're we're thinking about it in the the sense of like what their peak looks like which is what we've seen for three weeks um and today it looked not so good after halftime and that's okay um but like overall i think why we're hovering b minus c plus is just because like there felt like there was still meat on the bone here for this defense um and i think they feel that too i think that's pretty clear they feel that as well well and that matches up with what kevin o'connell said after the game where it felt like it wasn't it wasn't a really celebratory post-game press conference it felt like in some ways he was a little defensive but also saying like yeah we know that this was not the ideal perfect performance

today and that they didn't just close out the game as they probably should have when they were up as much as they were so it would be hard to give a's across the board here. Special teams F to the Packers for missing a couple field goals that really changed the way this game ended up playing out. I don't have much more to say other than Ryan Wright had one that went out of the end zone and then one that he did a really good job on. Will Reichardt made the key kick. Even if it is close, it still was a clutch kick at Lambeau Field. There was nothing to talk about

with kickers on the viking side for this day that's important uh as far as coaching though how do you weigh the coaching grade when we know what happened in the second half but we also know how prepared they were with their opening script to jump on this team by 14 points yeah i i think i'll probably be at a b plus just because it it did feel like it goes back to that feel of like how to play with a league um and i i think if we're just talking about the first half it's an a plus um and you should have been up 28 zero had it not been for maybe this is a little bit of coaching, but Jalen Naylor trying to catch the ball over his head. You were effectively up 28-0 because of good coaching, good scheme. Obviously, the players make it happen.

But after halftime, it wasn't great. There's a reason it ends as a two-point game when it felt like it could have been a blowout runaway. But I'll stay at B+, just because i think like the first half matters they don't have to give those 28 points back um and then when you had to have it like kevin o'connell like as much as we want to debate and we will like the aggressiveness versus the conservativeness and like where's the the happy medium it was correct to be aggressive down when they cut the lead to six and and you lean on sam

darnold and you lean on justin jefferson and and you're willing to not kind of curl up and turtle and and just hope that we can run the clock out and the packers screw up like they made that happen they went down the field um and i i think the coaching deserves a lot of credit for that for having the confidence in the players to go out and make it happen there were there were things that that we're gonna they're we're gonna lament and when we go back and watch that re-watch the game there's going to be certain moments where we say like that wasn't it or like that needs to be better kevin o'connell said it probably 10 times today it starts with me it needs to be better um that doesn't feel like lip service that feels like something he actually believes um but i'll still say a B plus because it was almost a blowout. And then when it It is, as you mentioned, very difficult to ignore

when we give the grade, wanting to give an A-plus for the first half. Maybe in coaching, part of it is Jalen Naylor stay away from the football. That could be some of it. Okay, here's some critique. They wasted some timeouts where they really didn't need to. Now, O'Connell did a good job with his challenges, but they wasted some timeouts where the call wasn't getting in. And I've wondered if sometimes O'Connell is arguing with the referees and doesn't get the call in as fast as he needs to with Darnold. There was a little bit of confusion there where he just took the snap and then slid down.

And then there was another time where he took a snap and just threw it out of the back of the end zone because they didn't get the look that they liked when maybe simple would have been a better thing there rather than a oh well if you don't like the look throw it out of bounds but that stopped the clock so the the whole management of the game overall when they got the lead was not good at all i probably would have given a b maybe even a b minus because i felt like on both sides they just didn't have a good sense for how to close out this game and they nearly gave it away uh because of that that said just from now on there's going to be a different grading system when you're four and oh there's

different grading system this is now folks a championship caliber grading system because this isn't if this isn't like hey you know maybe they'll win seven eight nine games and they'll be in the playoff race when they get to detroit at the end of the season and oh good job sam darnold you didn't botch everything so you get a b plus oh no no no after today when you start four and oh in the National Football League, that means you are shot to the top of all those very important power rankings that a lot of websites do. And you know how much those mean to me. It means that the bar has risen now from, hey, maybe this will be a playoff team.

Oh, wow. They're kind of the darlings of the start of the season to, you know what? You have a ton of guys that are in their late twenties or thirties or mid thirties. Some are as old as me that are playing on this football team. You have veterans, you have expensive players. You have a quarterback who was drafted number three overall. You got great coaches on both sides. Go win something. Like I think after today, I'm changing my mindset from, Hey, this is pretty good to, Hey, you know what? Now you should go win something. Like I think after today, I'm changing my mindset from, Hey, this is pretty good to, Hey, you know what? Now you should go win something. You've proven to be good enough.

Go do it. Don't blow a 28 to seven lead and let the other team be in it in the last second, finish them off. That is the new standard, not just, and it's look, it's four and Oh, it's Lambeau. You won. That's great. But I think a switch flips now to don't go to London and disappoint. Don't come back against the Detroit Lions and go, well, you know, we lost to the Lions. They're a championship team and we're still on the... No, no, no, no, no. You're supposed to be there now after what you have done. I mean, you've got a left tackle who's the highest paid. You've got a wide receiver who's the highest paid.

You've got first round draft picks, though I was told that Casey couldn't draft anyone, that Jordan Addison is out there playing spectacular football. You've got depth. Kamu Grugier-Hill makes another huge play today. You've got depth here at all the positions. There is no excuse for this team not to, the way they are right now,

go down the stretch as one of the best teams in the NFC and compete for the conference, compete in the playoffs, all those things. It's a long way to go. But in my mind, today changed that. If they came here and lost, I'd go, oh, well, it's going to be kind of one of those seasons where we bounce up and down and they've got some good and some bad. Now my expectation is different. My expectation is that we are going to Detroit in the last week of the season to fight for the NFC North, to fight for top billing in the entire conference. And anything less than that, I will be now critical of because that's the bar that you've set.

I don't care what it was from Vegas six weeks ago. I don't care what our predictions were six weeks ago before the season, because we don't know what's going to happen in the off season, but now that we've seen it and the number of players who are in the key point points in their careers, like Aaron Jones, this is, this is now an important year to actually win. And when we always, sorry, Dane, when we always look so far out into the future, and I love you front office brained people who want to know what's going to happen in 2026. I'm one of you. I feel you.

But the moment is now. I don't care about the JJ McCarthy, Sam Darnold decision. Honestly, at this moment, it's interesting to talk about, but I don't give a bleep because next week they play the New York Jets in a huge game for them to go 5-0. And I also think, too, that when we always are looking future, future, future, we got to remember there's only so many of these seasons that you get. Yeah. Like Randall Cunningham goes 15-1.

The next year, things don't go the same way. In 2017, 2009, you got your year. It popped up. It happened. They didn't take full advantage and actually get there. Take full advantage. Get there. Make it happen.

That's my bar now. And it's not going to be anything short of that. So if they go on a losing streak, I'm going to say, what a huge disappointment. And when they do lose, and they will eventually, we're going to grade them much tougher, I think, than we would say. Because I came into this year prepared to be like, well, they lost to San Francisco, but they're not there yet. Mindset changed. That's what this means to me. That was a great, great segue, because every podcast we end with, what does it mean? And you basically just took grades

and turned it into what does it mean? Because what does this mean? It absolutely means that they're a championship contender. Now, I was thinking to myself, I think I said it to you, I think I said it to Will Raggetts when they were up 28-0. Are they the best team in football? Are they? I get it. They hemorrhaged points in the second half. It was close. Green Bay is a team that I think is going to be a double-digit win team in the NFC. Where does that leave the Vikings that they had such a good first half and such a bad second half. But I think when I have that moment of, are they the best team in football through four weeks at the, in the first half of

week four, like that says everything that needs to be said about what the expectations for this team should be moving forward. And I don't think you have to just take it now as, well, when is the other shoe going to drop? When is Sam Darnold going to turn into a pumpkin? When is the Minnesota sports curse going to come back? You're right. You only get a handful of these every so often. Every lifetime is probably a little bit like not enough but like there aren't a lot of moments like this where it feels like they could be one of the best teams in the nfl

and so i yeah i think lean in if you haven't already and be hard on these guys now and like have expectations and like if they go to london next week and they lay an egg that should make you really mad because this team should be above something like that now they have talent they have coaching they have all the players i think that they need to to reach a top level of success and they're getting more with with a guy like hawkinson coming back in so i do think the sky's the limit i've been kind of cautioning people, well, should you go all in? Should you push your chips to the center of the table?

Go ahead. They're 4-0. They just walked into Lambeau, and they beat the Green Bay Packers, and now you can start to project out. The Jets lost. They could be 5-0. Then you get the bye.

Then you're coming out of the bye. You go to Detroit. That's a big matchup. If you get the buy then you coming out of the buy you go to detroit like that's a big matchup if you beat detroit then you're six like you're allowed to do all those things now because of what the vikings have done through the first month of the season this is not a small sample size this is a quarter of the year and i think in like other sports a lot of times the quarter poll is like when you figure out is this team good we're basically at that they're a good team i think one of the best in the league and i think we should start talking about them like it horse racing people are infuriated that the quarter poll is actually three quarters of the way but don't correct him on that i got it i got you horse racing people

uh but yes it used to be so much more uh easy to talk about oh through one quarter of the season when there were 16 games now the 17th has made it a little more wonky but if it was if they had gone 4-0 and they had beaten the jaguars titans and colts i would have said okay folks and look i remember 2022 was a difficult season to cover this team because we kept seeing all the reasons that it wasn't going to sustain. And yet they kept winning. And so it was like hard to do post games. Cause we'd go,

well that Taylor Heineke just kind of threw you an interception or the guy double doink or whatever. This doesn't feel this way. They are four for four at outplaying teams. So that is the expectation that they should outplay teams. And the other thing is too, that if Sam Darnold is capable of playing this well, and it has not been perfect, but it has been about as close to perfect as you could have expected outside of a couple of turnovers.

If he's capable of playing this well, then he's capable of doing it for a longer sample size. And we have seen that through the history of this team, that there are quarterbacks who have come in and had great seasons and at least through four games, we're getting there. We did see it in 2016 with Sam Bradford. I think that's different because of the structure of the team. They had such bad tackle play. There were so many injuries. There was so much drama that was self-created by a gentleman who lost one of his eyes during the season. Way more drama, way more ups and downs throughout that year. At this point,

they were two weeks away from firing a coordinator, which doesn't feel like where we're at with this Vikings team. So I think it is a lot different. But you said, you know, in a lifetime and for this franchise, that has kind of been the thing. It's only been a handful of times throughout the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s. And now here where we are now, it's only been a handful of times that you can say that they even started three in one or better're doing. There's nothing actionable. It just changes our expectation. Now the expectation is forget what we said before. And let's think about where they're going from here, which makes the next couple of weeks. Well, the bi-week, but London, then the lions out of the bi-week really, really fascinating to talk about, which is why there will be probably about 14 podcasts that show up in your podcast feed and on YouTube throughout this week, we'll have the chats.

We'll have guests of course, as always, I'll have a guest guest on one of my favorite guys, Will Parkinson for this week. So thank you all so much for joining and watching from Lambeau field. It's been a great time here. It's actually probably the most beautiful that we've seen it go into Lambeau just here today.

So it was wonderful. So thank you so much, everybody, for joining. Thank you very much, Dane Mizutani. And check out the purpleinsider.com for my articles, Pioneer Press for his from Lambeau. And we will catch you all very, very soon. Thanks, everybody, so much for watching us. Football.

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