Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings are favored to beat the Giants -- should they be? (Part 1)

Episode Date: September 5, 2024

Matthew Coller talks about the interesting line favoring the Vikings, plus Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor practicing, starting to look at the Giants and Vikings fan questions about how Week 1 will play out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and we are getting closer, folks, to the beginning of week one. So I want to talk about some decent injury news for the Vikings with their first official injury report of the year, along with a back and forth between myself and Kevin O'Connell about using bigger personnel. And of course, the title of the show tonight, the Vikings are favored to beat the giants. Should they be? And I want all of your questions and comments as well. I'm interested what's on your mind. Every Wednesday night, this is going to be the plan, is to just pop on and chat with all of you about what you're thinking

about the upcoming game, what questions are on your mind. So throw them in the chat. Anything that you're thinking about, I want to hear about it and answer everything that is on your football-y mind. So let's start with the injury report. It's not robust. It is Jalen Naylor and Jordan Addison, and both were limited in practice today,

and they both have ankle injuries. The way that Kevin O'Connell talked about Jordan Addison's injury made it sound like there is a very good chance that he will be playing this weekend. And I will always caution when I give you Kevin O'Connell updates to say that sometimes he leans toward a little more optimistic than maybe is reality that he oftentimes thinks that guys are going to come back a little bit more early than they actually do, or that injuries are a little less serious than they actually are. I think that's just his nature to be an optimistic person.

But it's not always a hundred percent of he says, yeah, we think someone's going to play that they're guaranteed lock dead of the century to actually be out there playing. So we'll see. But I think that with Jordan Addison and how long he's had since that ankle injury that he should be very close or ready to go when we get to week one so the fact that he was out there even in limited fashion uh very good news for the vikings with jalen naylor i know what you're all thinking yes i know what you're all thinking jalen, I know what you're all thinking. Jalen Naylor is on the injury report, huh? And I'll tell you the truth. I also thought that. This is a guy who each summer has shown so much potential. This year, he was terrific in training camp and looks like he can be a guy

that is a deep threat for them. Third downs, second and long passing downs where the other team is focused so much on Justin Jefferson. And here comes Jalen Naylor to make a play. That's how you envision it happening. But if he doesn't get on the field, then it won't be happening. And you'll be seeing a lot more of Trent Shurfield who brings a real toughness element to his game

and doesn't seem to be banged up all the time. So it is concerning that Jalen Naylor is on the injury report. Kind of reminded me a little bit of last year with Marcus Davenport. It was the same sort of way where Davenport had a really good summer and looked like he was going to be a key part of the team and then gets hurt right out of training camp in the first week and doesn't end up playing a whole lot. They need Jalen Naylor. He is better than Shurfield as far as a downfield threat. He's better than a Tristan Jackson as far as a pure talent. If he can add something to this team, even if it's 30 catches, but he averages 15 yards a catch, that would be

absolutely huge for them. If he's on the injury report every week and he's slowed by an ankle injury and then he's missing games, then I think that would be the end of the, Hey, maybe Jalen Naylor run that we've had over the last couple of years of talking about what he can be. So he's only limited in practice. There's no reason to, at this moment, start saying, oh man, here we go again with Jalen Naylor. But the fact that he's limited may point to an opportunity to play. It will really be Thursday and Friday where we get a better look at whether he's going to be ready to go or not. But I think what the Vikings really have here in this receiving group though, is that they don't have to rely on just one guy. In previous years, it felt like it was Jefferson, Thielen, Osborne, and no one else that you could

really play. Whereas now they have other guys that can fit into certain roles. I can't forget, you know, Brandon Powell did a pretty good job when he was in last year, uh, filling in and a couple of games caught the game winning pass against the Atlanta Falcons. I think Powell is a better route runner than you would think of when you think of a punt returner. Normally when you think punt returner, it's just, well, that guy probably can't really catch the ball. Can't really run routes. He just does one thing, but I don't think that's true for Brandon Powell. Maybe it was earlier in his career, but he can come out of the slot, get the ball in his hands, might be a guy who's pretty useful. And I mentioned Shurfield and Jackson.

So they have four other receivers outside of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison who can fill different spots and different roles. If Jalen Naylor is not able to play at this moment though, when someone's limited on a Wednesday, you think there might be a decent chance that he could be out there. And I just want to know with Jalen Naylor, the coaches have clearly seen really good things from him. We've seen really good things from him in training camp and in preseason and ever so briefly a couple of years ago, I want to know if he can play. I want to see him become that deep threat because the talent is there. It's just been the health and the body has not held up for him. And he's not,

he's not a particularly big guy and it isn't quite like Shurfield who's very muscular and looks like somebody you wouldn't want to go toe to toe with. He is more of a finesse type of downfield receiver. And that may be what leads to him getting banged up. But O'Connell said it was just an ankle tweak in practice, and we'll keep a close eye on that. So I wanted to also bring you guys an exchange I had with Kevin O'Connell, something I'm writing about, something I've been thinking about. I had a chance to talk to Blake Cashman, Josh Metellus, and Harrison Smith about it today, about whether the Vikings will use their big personnel more often. Josh Oliver, Johnny Munn, of course, is going to be in there a lot, but will they use him as a big dude?

Will they use a little more blocking, a little more too tight end, a little more CJ Hamm out of the I formation, and go a little more Kubiak style with the big personnel? And what I wanted to ask O'Connell was, since he has always been a three wide receiver type of scheme, or at least since he was in Los Angeles with the Rams, and then they use the two tight ends a little more last year, but that's where kind of his bones were made as an offensive coordinator, how he can adjust to the personnel

when it might be better as we're tying this into Jalen Naylor, it might be better to have Johnny Munt and Josh Oliver out there with Addison and Jefferson more than it is to have the three wide receivers all the time. Maybe that's only under certain circumstances, but they need to run the football better. They need to have Josh Oliver out there blocking and acting as a mismatch for linebackers and safeties because he's so big i think there's an edge there plus being just a little bit different so many teams are in 11 personnel and you know with three uh three big dudes out there that you can use cj ham and then oliver and month i i think it it gives the vikings a different wrinkle this year that they have not three big dudes out there that you can use, C.J. Hamm and then Oliver and Munt. I think it gives the Vikings a different wrinkle this year that they have not really utilized in the last two years fully.

So I wanted to bring you my back and forth, my question and Kevin O'Connell's answer to those questions. Kevin, when you were in Los Angeles, it was mostly 11 personnel. Now the personnel group here with the fullback, two tight ends who can play, I guess how much different is that from your standpoint of scheming and trying to use those players in different ways than you would from the 11 personnel? Yeah, I think it's a great question.

It's one I've thought about because I value so much the ability to have some personnel versatility on how you call a game. But yeah, that was, we were so driven in that world. Sometimes it, you know, just from a simple preparation standpoint, you get into the weekend and week out of a season. If you've got to watch, you know, multiple personnel groupings, that takes time away from honing in on maybe an extra detail in this grouping or that grouping. So it's really kind of just changed the way I go about the week, changed the way as we've kind of evolved and tried to do some things with our run game, learning different ways of not only doing that, but then how does that affect the pass game

and the ability to marry it all up. So I think we're growing and have grown over the period of time that I've been here, and we've tried to be more versatile from a personnel standpoint. But it is something, especially as a play caller, you adjust to and try to figure out you're only going to get so many ops. You only get so many plays. You can have every play in the world you want on the call sheet, but in the end, you're

going to get this many normal down, first and second down calls. You're going to get this many third downs. You're going to get this many red zone chances and second down calls you're going to get this many third downs you're going to get this many red zone chances and then you're two minute but those in total you know normally average about 60 to 70 plays any given week and you know you got to make sure your focus is not being slighted in any one area you know as especially as the play caller just to follow up does that for opponents it seems like the league is mostly an 11 personnel do you think it causes defenses sort of more preparation that's different when they know that you can use different personnel than they're usually seeing

yeah i think you just want to make sure if i'm doing it they got to do it type of thing and then they got to evaluate how we do things compared to maybe other teams that are they're more or less 21 or 12 or 13 or whatever it is and and then you know if sometimes it's hard for us if they haven't seen that's where you really see it if you know they haven't seen a team that wants to play like that you know you're you're searching for some your clips and you're really trying to evaluate how things will carry over, and then there's no rule that says they've got to play exactly the way they did in any one particular game or snap.

So you've got to be ready to evolve. You've got to have a system where you can identify things. You've got to have a system where all 11 guys, regardless of what the defense does, can have a clear-cut plan of how they want to play out each play, and then where it goes from there is kind of an in-game fun side of it for me. Football. Football, everybody. I just thought that that was an interesting way to lay it out for Kevin O'Connell about the cat-and-mouse game of even preparation between the two teams

and the advantage that you can get when you're throwing something at the other team that their systems aren't really built for anymore. And I was talking to Blake Cashman about this and he was saying, well, of course, you know, we're going to be able to play whatever the other team throws at us. But when they got the big dudes out there, you got to be more aware of play action. You got to be certainly aware of somebody like Josh Oliver, who's going to be coming for the linebackers. And I don't think that defenses really love it. Uh, when you're running out those big guys, if you can succeed, it's just that not too many people can actually succeed. So I wanted to bring you that commentary. I also just enjoy it when Kevin O'Connell's talking ball. I know that we have to,

as reporters, get, what do you think of this guy? We have to get injury update, this news item. Did someone insult your defensive coordinator? Whatever it might be on a daily basis. But I think when Kevin O'Connell just talks football, that's when he's really at his absolute best. And I always learn something. So I enjoyed that back and forth, but let's now talk about the main subject here and get those questions, uh, in the comments as well, ready to go. Um, but should they be favored against the New York giants? I think 95% of you would say, absolutely. They should be favored. They're the New York giants. And from their perspective, what I've been reading and talking to people who covered the giants, I was just on a giants podcast before this. It seems like they are very tentative to think that that

team's going to be good. Uh, it, a lot of it rests so much in the same way on the quarterback, like it does with the Vikings. And they're saying a lot of the same things that we're saying about Sam Darnold. Only the difference is that they're saying it about a rookie wide receiver and Malik neighbors. Hey, you know, you need Malik neighbors to step up and be that guy when he's never played in the league before and just looked good in training camp their offensive line is better but is it enough better to be able to block up the Vikings aside from Andrew Thomas they're really good left tackle and on the defensive side also a little bit of mirror image with the corners are a concern they're bringing

back Adoree Jackson the Vikings though are bringing back a Dory Jackson. The Vikings though are bringing back someone who was much better last year in Stefan Gilmore. It may come down to whose star receiver can play better against who and which one can get a downfield shot because I wouldn't completely dismiss Daniel Jones's ability to push it downfield. If he finally has a receiver that he can do it. I think that this game sort of screams, we have no real idea of what either team is going to look like entirely. And it feels like ugly to me, which means that it'll be a shootout for all times. And each quarterback will throw for 400 yards because we could just never really predict, especially in week one, but any week in the NFL. I think that the New York Giants, though, if you were going through just preseason, who you think are the sheer worst teams overall

in the NFL, you probably would put the Giants up there. There's points in this roster that you just go, what do they really have there? The depth wide receivers, the running back is no longer Saquon Barkley. The offensive line is not impressive. The secondary is not impressive. Whereas the Vikings, I think have more strengths in this game. Uh, the defensive lineman outside, of course, outside linebackers, linebackers, safeties, a deeper defense with talent. And assuming that Addison and Naylor are healthy, a deeper group of wide receivers as well. But both of these quarterbacks, their history, that's the thing that's going to most determine a line and where they're going to put it.

And so the Vikings being favored is sort of a suggestion from betters. Okay. We think Sam Darnold is going to clear the Daniel Jones line. We think Sam Darnold is going to be better than at very least Daniel Jones. Something else that came into my mind too, was when will the next time the Vikings are favored be? So they're favored here, not week two, not week three, probably not week four against the Jets.

That really depends on what the Jets look like. Lions after that, Rams after that. It might be a long time until the Vikings are favored again, unless they play really good football through the start of the season. So enjoy it, I guess, while it lasts, but let me know, do you guys think that they should be favored? Do you look at them on a different tier as a team than the New York giants? I would say that, that I do look at them as being farther along as a roster, uh, coaching Brian Dable. I respect as one of the good coaches in the league i i don't want

to put him way up there and of course we would never crown anyone he does have one playoff win against the vikings so you could say that and and i like the way that he coached that season last year was just a mess with their injuries and offensive line but i do think that brian dable is a good coach. They've changed defensive coordinators. That's going to be a lot different. A lot of moving parts here. These teams look very different than the last time we saw them in 2022, where it was a lot of the older group of Vikings. But now how many players are even here from that 2022 matchup, really not that many, uh, Hockinson not playing Harrison Smith, CJ ham has been here forever. But aside from that, I mean, there are a lot of guys who have

changed over obviously Justin Jefferson, but even, you know, Jordan Addison was just a rookie last season. So he's a new Aaron Jones is new. A lot of different faces for this team makes it a little bit less predictable than maybe it would have been even just last year if they had gone up against each other. So how do we feel about that? Should the Vikings be favored against the New York Giants? I think so because of where the rosters stand and also the fact that the Vikings are healthy and Sam Darnold had a good training camp. So even as much as I see, it's become kind of a topic on a lot of podcasts and it's got a little run on TV and people are talking about, Hey, could this Sam Darnold be good in Minnesota? None of us really

know, but he's had all of training camp to prepare for this game. If there's one that he should be really ready for, they've had weeks now to put in this game plan and have everything locked in. This should be the one that if he's going to perform well, and this has been a thing in his career, I think where his first game of the year, his first couple of games of the year have been pretty good, especially 2021 before the wheels came off. And I think that there is a good chance for the Vikings here. They should be the team that's

favored that I look at them going into this year. And maybe we could try to work this out of who we expect to be clearly in the playoffs. I'm going to try to work through this right now. And then I'll start answering questions. Just, I didn't think of it through these terms until we started talking about it, but think about, let's think about it in the way of who do we expect to be locked into the playoffs and then how many spots would be up for grabs. So as far as locked into the playoffs, I think Dallas is going to be there. So that's one Detroit green Bay three. I'm trying to decide Philly. I've been a little down on them, but they seem like kind of a lock,

but we'll go with three right now. Someone from the NFC South has to make the playoffs. That's for Rams will be in. I think the 49ers will be in. So that, that might be six. And then is it Philly? Is it, is it the Vikings? Is it someone like Arizona or Seattle that we don't necessarily see coming?

It might only be one or two spots that are up for grabs, but I think that the Vikings will be in the mix with those teams, with the teams vying for the seventh spot. I don't see the Giants that way, at least at this moment. You know, if the Giants come out and play great and shock us all and make the playoffs, then whoops, then my prediction will be wrong. But looking at them on paper, they look more like a team that does win six or seven games. Whereas I think the Vikings can be in the mix for that seventh spot that four or five teams are going to battle for. And then it really depends on just how it plays out, whose quarterback stays healthy. What, what other things happen along the way, the schedules and all those things. Um, Oh gosh, says, whoa, Dallas. I think Dallas is going to be great. They've been my pick all year because everybody is saying that they won't. And a lot of times the NFL has a way for

teams that are good enough and have enough talent. The NFL has a way of eventually they break through and Dallas put all the drama aside. Everybody's saying, well, they didn't do this or this contract is still out there. And this will be the year that they do it because everybody said they couldn't. That's my logic. Is that great logic? I don't know, but I think they're going to be really good.

I also, as much as Mike Zimmer runs his mouth to the Star Tribune and makes himself look bad, he's a really good coach on defense. And you guys know that. And that's, I think where they needed an area of improvement was on the defensive side. Cause their offenses under Mike McCarthy have always been really good. If they get that, they should be a good team. Philly is the one I'm less sold on because last year I was concerned about the coach and how he responded to some of the ways that a defense has started to manage Jalen hurts. So it might be Philly in the mix. San Francisco, I think feels like a lock just because they always

are, but is there regression there for Brock Purdy? They need one of these teams to be surprisingly bad in order to get into that conversation. So while you can let me know what you think as well, I just look at if we're tearing out NFL teams. So at the very top tier, clearly the Detroit lions are in the top tier of the NFC. San Francisco belongs there in the way most people look at it. So does the Dallas Cowboys. A lot of these teams that have been good over multiple years in that top tier of NFC teams. The next section down is a team like the Rams who made the playoffs last year. And I would put the Packers in the next section down that I don't put them all the way at the top, top teams. They're in more of the mix of a team

I could definitely see doing it, but also has some shortcomings. The Vikings are after that. The battling for wild card spots and the Giants are after that, as in you could draft Shadur Sanders. That's where I've got them right now, but that's the beauty of the National Football League

is that it'll all change coming up this weekend. So let's get the thoughts. Let's get the questions in here and let's roll on for the next hour or so answering some questions. And then I got some articles to write. Let's see. JP says, I don't know if we should be favored, but if we aren't favored against the giants, who will be, who will we be favored against? That's a good point. The next time on the Viking schedule that they could be favored. If it, I mean, you know, things are going to happen.

If a quarterback gets hurt and you're playing someone's backup, then you're going to be favored. If you've got your starter almost no matter what. But if we're just doing it on paper, just right now, maybe Chicago, uh, people are naturally high on Chicago, but it's a rookie quarterback starting and hard to say what types of ups and downs Caleb Williams will have in his first year home is always going to be an edge for the Vikings, but that's right. This, this is a team that so few people think is going to be any good that just like with Dallas, it makes me think maybe they will be just because of how wrong we are about football all the time. And that's why I

did the research. And I looked at the teams that were expected to win six and a half games last year and half of them made the playoffs and the other half were horrendous. Where are the Vikings going to fall into that? I tend to think because of all the talent and the coaching that they're more likely to slip into the playoffs than they are to be underneath that. But I mean, as far as how the standings play out, always as soon as they start playing, it all goes out the window. Uh, I shot you 99 says there's going to be a lot of nerves from Vikings fans on Sunday regarding how well or bad that Darnold is going to play. What can you say

to help calm those nerves? I can't give you much of a pep talk. I mean, for me covering this team, showing up at the stadium every Sunday, I always showed up with the thought, I have no idea what's going to happen. And that's why I love this job. And everything under the sun happened over the years, games that I never would have expected them to win. I mean, 2019 going to new Orleans, I was absolutely certain this team is a mess right now. The coach thinks he's getting fired. The coach and the quarterback aren't getting along. It's Drew Brees.

The Saints have been great this year. It's going to be Superdome, home field advantage. The Vikings won the game. There's been other times, and I'm sure you guys can name a few, where I was absolutely sure that they were going to win the game. 2018 Buffalo, when they were favored by, I don't know, 18 points or something. The only thing I could say about the Sam Darnold bit, which is what you're asking about, is that if he had looked bad in training camp,

then I would say, I got nothing for you, pray. But he did not look bad in training camp. In fact, I would say that overall, he had about not look bad in training camp. In fact, I would say that overall he had about as good of a training camp as I ever could have expected that on a day-to-day basis, there were some bad days mixed in, but on a day-to-day basis, Darnold was hitting deep shots to Justin Jefferson. He was finding guys, he was rolling out of the pocket and making plays. And in that preseason game, it was a reflection of what he's looked like, which is he made some really nice throws.

And I think that he can carry that over at least to some extent, which is not to say that I think he could throw for 350 yards and four touchdowns on a weekend and week out basis. But sometimes when we talk about Darnold, we talk about him as if he is just always been horrendous in every game he's ever played in. But when you look at his game logs, this is a fun thing to do fun. I mean, if you're here watching this show, then you think that this is fun, uh, to go to pro football reference and just sort that under game logs, all the games that Darnold has had and look at the ones that are good and look at the ones that are bad. And it will blow your mind because the great games he's had would make you think that he was a superstar.

And then the bad games, there's one where he has a 2.8 quarterback rating. I didn't even know you could have a quarterback rating of 2.8, but he went five for 15 with two picks and both picks were really bad. But then there's another game. And because now I'm searching Sam Darnold a lot on Google searches. Now I'm getting to showing up in the YouTube algorithm all the time. And it's like, look at Sam Darnold's 320 yard game for the Panthers. Like when, when did he do that? And you watch the highlights and go, man, whoa. And so I think with the Vikings, what it's really about is you're going to get some really good games from him. It's about curtailing the awful

games and making them closer to average games because with Flores' defense, you could survive average games, but you can't defense, you could survive average games, but you can't survive games where actually I think they hilariously won the game. He had a two anti QB win. People really look at that game because I think it was a defensive battle and they turned the ball over or something, but you know what I mean? You're not going to win very often when your quarterback rating is below 190, 60, whatever, uh, whatever number is the line of demarcation there. Maybe it's 85. You probably

lose most of your games. If your rating is below keeping the awful games out is the biggest thing. Uh, so are you going to be nervous every week that the really bad version of Darnold is going to show up? Absolutely. Absolutely. You will be. And there's nothing I can do about that until he proves otherwise, but I can tell you that he had a really good camp and he has chemistry with Jefferson. And that's a really good start for having a decent season. Uh, Daniel says, where's the cam Bynum extension 11 and six. All right. Daniel, very high on the idea of Sam Darnold thriving as far as cam Bynum. I think it's okay. If they let it play out with him. Um, it's not like they have to do that right now. They'll have the ability to negotiate with

him after the season, uh, before he hits free agency, they'll have some time there. After they win the Super Bowl in February, you've still got six weeks to sign him to a new contract. They can do it then and decide, do they want to move Theo Jackson into that spot? Do they think that Harrison Smith's going to stay around for another year? Do they want to keep him? What are their other options? How did he perform for this year? So it doesn't have to be done now. I think Bynum has been a great fit and that safety unit is phenomenal. So if they did it tomorrow, okay, that's, that's fine to get him locked in, but he also might want to see how he plays as well and then see what the market might ask because

the Vikings do have more safeties. I mean, they could lose two safeties and still have a really good starting unit. If it was Theo Jackson and Josh Metellus, um, there might be funds that they want to put into maybe a defensive tackle, maybe a corner in free agency instead of Bynum, but he has been a really good fit with Brian Flores. I think it's okay if they play that one out. Mike says, I think that the Vikings should be favored. I'm excited to see the franchise headed in the right direction, top to bottom. Yeah, this is something that we talk about all the time with you guys and with other friends of mine who are Vikings fans and other reporters.

It's kind of a main discussion is you know the franchise overall i think everybody has the same feeling about it which is the next couple of years that there will be opportunities there to build something that could be very good to where we're going into a lot of games talking about hey the vikings are favored by x number of points But this year exists in this world between that, between tearing it down last year and just hoping to be competitive versus next year, putting a bunch of money into it and trying to go to the moon with that group around JJ McCarthy. And then there's 2024, just sitting here kind of reminds me, well, now that they're going to play the giants, you almost think about like a 1997, if you're very old, uh, how it was right before

98, the team had a ton of talent, but it wasn't quite there yet. This happened a couple of years in the two thousands as well. Maybe a Gus Farratt, uh, Tavares Jackson didn't quite make it, but you had someone like Farratt where even the team around him wasn't make it, but you had someone like Farat where even the team around him wasn't quite there, but it had a lot of talent. And then when Favre got there, all the things came together in 2009. So what is this season? How are you supposed to feel about it? And I guess what I've come to is let's just see what happens. I was trying with Brian Murphy to come up with a tagline for this year. What can we call it? Let's just see what happens is probably the tagline that I could come up with because

it could surprise us. It could horrify us. It could bore us to death potentially if they are a win one, lose one type of team. We could see players emerge. We could see players not play as well as we think. I don't know, but it's all going to mean something. It's all going to mean something to the greater, bigger picture. And if they do surprise you, it could be a very fun year.

I think that I brought this up with someone. Now I can't even remember who, that one of the things that's happened in sports, which is a little unfortunate versus when I was growing up or even maybe until the internet and social media got big was. And look, as far as approaches from front offices go, I am a hundred percent in. If you're not first, you're last the Ricky Bobby approach. If you're not first, you're last. This is why you should do everything with your eye on championships. That's how I think of team building.

Try to win championships. Don't try to be average. We've been through that. It's not great, but we used to, I think, go into NFL seasons, NBA, where if your team didn't win the championship, I'm not saying it was fine. It still hurts at the end for whatever team you're rooting for. But everything is, and this goes for Lamar Jackson. It goes for Josh Allen. Well, they haven't won a Super Bowl.

So they're just not good, not good enough for the way it's viewed for a lot of people. And I think with this season, we kind of have to throw it back a little bit to maybe how you used to watch football with the Vikings, where let's just see if they have a good season and we'll go week to week. And it's always a roller coaster with this team. And we'll just have to find out what happens because it's hard to tell you right now that, oh, yeah, they could be in the Super Bowl.

That would be really excessive for where they're at. But also, I don't think that they could be bad. And the middle has a lot of potential outcomes. And that is why they play the games. Uh, Mike says surprise story for the Sunday, Will Reichert's performance wins us the game. I am interested to see Will Reichardt. Now on the list of all things I'm intrigued by, it didn't make it that high, but Will Reichardt kicker of the future starts now, I suppose. And I was on this Giants podcast that I was on. They were saying that the Giants had some record for most game-winning field goals against them of over 50 yards. I thought, who was the person that came up with that statistic?

But if you want anything to hang on to for your prediction, maybe that is it. Bad Bo says the Giants may be the worst team in the NFL. So yes, the Vikings will win. They very well might be. I was looking at their depth chart earlier and I do feel that they have enough talent to be dangerous because of their defensive line and because of Malik neighbors. But if you start talking about too many other people, Andrew Thomas is good. It's a little dicey. Deontay banks their corner. He'll be

facing Justin Jefferson. I think a lot, uh, that's something to watch, but there's a lot of gaps there where it's players that you aren't afraid of. And that team with their quarterback, if Daniel Jones plays anything like he did last year, then yeah, they could be one of the worst teams in the NFL. And if we were doing this, I wonder who's going to be the worst team in the NFL is a great question. Who could be worse than the giants? Any team with a rookie quarterback, uh, probably not the bears, but maybe, uh, Washington absolutely could be if Jaden Daniels isn't very good out of the gate. Um, let's see, I guess I was thinking about Tampa Bay having this big regression, but I don't know.

They seem like an average team to me. It's, this is a hard question. Who can be the worst team in the NFL? It's usually someone who gets their quarterback hurt. That's what makes it difficult. But if we're doing this right now, uh, I would be surprised if a Jim Harbaugh team was that bad, but the chargers are a little short on talent. And if Justin Herbert's foot injury is a problem, that could be pretty rough. Uh, the Titans, if we'll Levis is not good, could be very bad. Uh, the Patriots are probably the favorite to be the worst team in the league and then the giants. So you're, you're right. You're not going over the top by saying that they are in that mix of five or six teams that might be the worst in the entire NFL

on paper right now today. Andrew says Sam Darnold, 270 and two touchdowns, one rushing touchdown. Our center has problems with protection, has to make some on the run highlight reel throws, win by 17. It'd be an ideal start for the Vikings. It would, uh, if that's the way that it played out. I think that not just the center, the guards as well, everyone's going to have a problem with Dexter Lawrence, but one thing to remember from the game in 2022 was that Kirk cousins had big numbers in that game and the offense scored points even despite the fact that dexter lawrence was crushing them and and cave on thibodeau has been good and brian burns is one of the best players in the league at his position but the vikings have been able to not totally negate

but limit the impact of a lot of edge rushers over the years because of their tackles. Can you stop this one man? And he's a hard man to stop Dexter Lawrence. That might be a factor. Well, no, that will be a factor for how this plays out, but you bring up a point that if it was fourth and eight and Sam Darnold got pressure up the middle, his ability to scramble and throw on the, on the move and make a playoff schedule is different than Kirk Cousins. It's just his ability also to read the middle of the field, to avoid trying to fit something into a window that isn't there. That's where he's a lot worse than Kirk Cousins and why Cousins has been a better quarterback throughout his career. So can he do that? Because if you're hanging on to the ball, you're not getting it out or you're taking some risks because you're under pressure. That's been Sam Darnold's history when things

have gone wrong for him. I think this is cool. Do you think Addison is going to play this weekend? When do you think the suspension is going to hit? So I do think that Jordan Addison is going to play this weekend. That's just based on him being out there practice today oniday you know injury reports well we'll just have to wait on that but it sounds like he's going to play as far as the suspension goes i i don't know how quickly the wheels of justice are going to turn as of this moment it feels to me like he is not going to be suspended until next year you might rather have him suspended this year i don't know, depending on how things end up playing out. Um, but his court date, his first court date is set for October, but I don't think that's going to be his last court

update, uh, date. I think that's where he has to put in a plea. So he'll send his lawyer out there. I think he's going to be in London during this time or coming back from London. So he'll send his lawyer out there. I think he's going to be in London during this time or coming back from London. So he'll send his lawyer out there. They'll put in a plea. And then I would assume they get another court date if they're trying to drag this out a little bit more. Or he could just plead guilty and try to plea it down or something and go from there. I mean, there's options here that it's just difficult to know. It could be later on this year or the beginning of next year. But,

um, with Roger Goodell, there's not really been rhyme or reason to the suspensions. Uh, reconnected says, do you think the Vikings can win this game by more than one score? The Vikings more than one score. When would that happen? Hey, that's a good point though, because I, in, in the recent past, I just prepared myself for every week that I w I was going to be gripping the edge of the chair in the press box, leaning forward. The noise is going to be ramped up one score game. All right. Let's see how this plays out at the end and all that. I don't know that there's always going to be ramped up one score game. All right, let's see how this plays out at the end and all that. I don't know that there's always going to be the same type of tension with this. There might be blowouts where Darnold is awesome and blowouts where he doesn't play well.

And it's a little bit wider of score differentials than we've seen in the past because it is unbelievable how many one score games they played. Or maybe Will Reichardt will be so good that they'll win all of them again and go 13 and four. I don't know, but can they win this by more than one score? I have enough respect for what the giants defensive line can do to this team that I don't think that they're going to run over them.

But this is one that they should win. They should come out of New York with a win. And if I don't think that they're going to run over them. Uh, but this is one that they should win. Uh, they should come out of New York with a win. And if they don't, then we're going to really be talking about yikes, right? Because we know what's coming up after that. So should they be favored? I think so. Do they need this? Oh my gosh. Yes. They need this so badly. And that may play into it a little bit that they know there's a desperation even in week one to get this win for the Vikings, because if they don't, it's a problem. Oh gosh, says preseason wide receiver depth look good, but one guy gets injured and now we're freaking out. Couldn't we just bring in one of the guys on our squad? Uh, were you freaking out? Who was freaking out? I wasn't freaking out. Um, and I don't think that Naylor is going to

miss the game because he was limited. We'll have to see, but, uh, I'm not freaking out. I think that a lot of the depth receivers are similar in talent. None of them are a superstar, but all of them have different things that they do well. That Trent Shurfield does certain things well. He's a good blocker. He's good with the ball in his hands. Brandon Powell can run some routes and get open and is the yards after catch guy. Tristan Jackson we've seen down the field is more of a deep receiver if he needs to be, and they will use the two tight ends. So there's no reason to freak out.

You only freak out if it's Jefferson or Addison, then freak out. Because if someone has to slide into Addison's role, I like their depth, but no one is him. He's a first round pick for a reason because he has a special skill set. And of course, no one is Justin Jefferson. If it's Jalen Naylor, that you can work around. If it's Addison or Jefferson, it's much, much harder. Eric says, as much as Darnold has talked about, I think the season hinges on Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler. Better they run the ball, less chance that Darnold does something crazy, especially on third and long. And this is a great point, Eric, because I think about how sometimes the simplest concepts of football,

the most old school, well-established in the late 60s of National Football League, still apply today. And if you can run the football even somewhat effectively, then it just causes problems for the opponent and it makes life a little easier on your quarterback. But your point about third and long is exactly right. When you look at the numbers where Darnold made most of his mistakes and where he was a well below average quarterback was on second and third and long, but if it was second and manageable, or if it was first and 10 or less than that, whatever, a penalty or something, he was a fine quarterback. And a lot of times with Darnold's data, what I have found so interesting is that you can put it

into these buckets of when he's under these circumstances, he's a, he's an average quarterback. And when he's in those circumstances, he's a terrible quarterback. And it's all the ones that you're talking about. It's the third and longs where he's pressing. It's when he's losing. It's when he can't use play actions and screens effectively. It's when the offensive line has to just sit back there and pass protect and hope that the other team doesn't have Brian Burns and Dexter Lawrence and cave on Thibodeau. Right. So avoiding those third and longs is a

really big key part of this offense this year in ways where last year, last two years, they could just keep throwing with Kirk cousins, but you really can't do that now aaron jones and ty chandler if we went off what they did last year and they just did it again would be a pretty good running duo if they average four and a half yards to carry and you can use that and then look for explosives down the field but if they struggle or if they're banged up i mean respect to miles gaskin for winning a job. But you, if you get to the point where you're playing miles Gaskin, then it's going to be a lot on Sam Darnold's play. I think that's going to be hard. Uh, expose says, uh, am I crazy to think that if we get a good

quarterback play that week, Oh, if we get good quarterback play, we can compete. I see a lot of people picking the giants over us. Well, I mean, that goes for the entire season and that's what makes this so tricky to talk about. Should they be favored in this game? Could they be in the playoffs? All those things, because so much of it does rest on exactly what you're talking about. If it's even good quarterback play, then the answer is they can play with anybody with the coaching that they have, the players on defense, the receivers. If you go toe to toe with almost any team, not saying Detroit, but almost any team roster for roster. If you went through the Packers roster, if you went through the Rams roster, you could find this many stars, this many

guys that are drivers of success. But the difference is that the Rams have Matthew Stafford and you have Sam Darnold and you need Sam Darnold to play like some version of Matthew Stafford to get that kind of season. The fact that we've had recent examples of it makes it more possible. The fact that there's been a geno smith and a baker mayfield under similar circumstances with multiple good receivers and good coaching makes it possible they could play with just about anybody on a weekly basis if that's the case they could certainly beat the giants if that's the case and if it's not and when your whole season rests on a guy who just hasn't really done it before, that's what we were talking about earlier about the nervousness. Like,

tell me not to be nervous. I can't do that other than to say, let's just see what happens, but that's the best I got. I can't tell you, uh, not to be nervous. Uh, bad bow says running back depth is terrifying if jones gets hurt we're over yeah i don't know how many teams have three or four good running backs so there is that but jones is a massive part of this if jones what does he need to do to feel like they made the playoffs that's an interesting question Give me that in the comment section too. What would Jones Aaron, what would Jones's stat line have to be for you to say, okay, if he does that, they're in the playoffs. I'm would go with, if he has 975 yards at 4.6 yards per carry and 45 receptions, there's a pretty decent chance that they were

in the playoff race. If he ends up with 500 yards because he got banged up, then they're not. And if he's over a thousand, there's a really good chance that they're there because of the man's skill. He can drive an offense and probably doesn't give enough credit for what he did last year at the end of the season with Jordan Love. I don't think it was a total coincidence that Love's success and his play off each other. And also when Aaron Rodgers was not quite on the same level, 2022, Aaron Jones was there in the backfield playing extremely well and keeping them in the playoff race when Aaron Rogers wasn't playing his best football. He, he does have the capability to do that. This is a unique back that you put in that same category as Delvin cook. When he was good, could keep you in the race by being Delvin cook and be an outlet for the quarterback and get explosive plays where there wasn't any to be had. That's what they really, really missed

last year is someone like Alexander Madison just couldn't break off a big run. Every explosive play had to be Kirk cousins throwing it down the field. It didn't even feel like they got any screens that created big plays in 2022. As much as Delvin Cook struggled down the stretch and it was very clear it was over the early middle part of the season he did have a lot of those and what really sparked the buffalo comeback was a delvin cook explosive run remember those we haven't seen them since then really uh but those explosive runs are enormous for whether an offense can exist or can succeed. I mean, Aaron Jones is a big part of that, but I wouldn't count out Ty Chandler's ability to run.

He, what was his 30 yard run was his longest for last year. He had a couple of those pitch plays and I liked Ty Chandler on the edge because he's so quick and that's where some of your good blockers are. That's Josh Oliver. That's Brian O'Neill on the edge because he's so quick. And that's where some of your good blockers are. That's Josh Oliver. That's Brian O'Neill. On the other side, Christian Derusaw. Getting to the outside with Ty Chandler can be pretty nasty for opponents. Those two playing off each other could drive an offense.

And I think if you're Kevin O'Connell and you could stick with that and that happens, then life becomes so much easier. It's not just on Darnall, but it's also on O'Connell. It's a lot easier to have a menu of plays to call on second and four than it is to call on second and 12. And that just killed them last year. How many drives were dead on arrival? Hand off minus two. And this goes for the blocking as well but

handoff minus two all right well now you're gonna have to create a big passing play in order to get something going it all kind of does start there uh bad bow says uh flores is going to uh blitz jones and he will have to run yeah i don't know the best way to approach Daniel Jones, but I know it's not what Ed Donatello did. I think it is probably blitzing. I haven't looked up the data on this about Jones and how he deals with blitzes throughout his career. But what I would be thinking if I was Brian Flores is this guy's had some injuries in recent years, and I'm guessing he doesn't want to have more. So if you blitz him and give him a lot of pressure and just get into his head a little bit early on,

he may play it very safe after that. If you could get a few hits on him because he has had all these injuries in recent years or last year, especially Rob says, as long as we don't let Jones run for a million first downs, this is something that I want to see is Jones going to be the same kind of runner because what he had a neck injury, what an ACL injury, I think, I mean, he's been banged up. Is he going to run the same way that he did in 2022? Because that was hard for the Vikings to face. And it'll be a little easier now that you have a better situation at linebacker clearly to me with pace and Blake Cashman, as opposed to Hicks and where Kendrick's was at that time. And you have Metellus, you have different players that I think

would be better at it, but my gosh, he was able to make some serious plays with his legs. Is he going to be able to do that again against them? Or is he going to be a little more hesitant? That's, that's a factor here. Is he going to play like a guy who had confidence as he did in 2022 or like somebody who's coming off an injury. Sloth said the Vikings should win this game, but you don't have to worry that Dexter blows it up last year. Probably should have beat the Bucks. And if I recall Vita Veya made a couple of pivotal plays. Yeah. Oh, you have to worry, right? Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do have to worry. Not don't have to worry. You do have to worry. Absolutely. And this is what having a great defensive line is. I tend to think over the aggregate of an entire season that coverage is

going to be more dictating of what your defense is, because if you can't cover anyone, you're kind of screwed, right? And you're not going to get pressure every play. If you get pressure 40% of the time, that's still six plays where the quarterback can sit back there. But one guy can blow up a game in the league. And when you go through games that you don't expect the results, upsets go, what happened? Why did that team lose? Sometimes a total meltdown. A lot of times one dude had a strip sack.

One dude had seven or nine pressures and the quarterback threw some interceptions. Players blowing up games has just been a thing against the Vikings. I mean, Jaron Hall struggled last year in that game against the Packers. And so did Nick Mullins, but Kenny Clark ate them alive. And that's always the guy I'll go to, but Grady Jarrett did this to them. Uh, what was that? 2020 the year they lost to Atlanta. I think Grady Jarrett had a bunch of pressures in that game. One dude, especially on the interior. And was it, I think, was it O'Connell or West Phillips? No, West Phillips was talking about this yesterday about how interior pressure is harder to deal with because it's harder to chip. And it happens so fast and

no quarterback likes that guy in your face. I talked to Nick Mullins about this last year. And what he said was with the guys coming off the edges as dangerous and scary as they can be, you can step up away from them where you can't step up. I mean, that's, that's the natural place you're throwing the ball, right? Is stepping up into a throw. But if you're facing interior pressure, that means you got to go outside to make that play. And if they have good edge rushers, or even if your quarterback just isn't comfortable with that, he could blow up this game a hundred percent. If there's a way, if there's a path that they were to lose, it's, it's that it's that he

ends up blowing up the game. Okay. Let me, I'm going to have to do some ad reads soon. No one has reminded me of this yet. Let's see. Digital planes. Media says,

what are your three keys to victory? Oh, keys to victory. Now definitely go over this more with Andrew Kramer and Will Raggetts. We're going to be doing the round table again from TCO Performance Center. So we'll record that tomorrow and bring that to you guys on Friday night here

because tomorrow night we'll be back with Manny for another podcast, really looking deep into all the games in the week one slate. And of course this one, but as far as just three keys to victory, I mean, I think we just said one of them, which is at least limit Dexter Lawrence from destroying everything

in his path, get Aaron Jones going early on in the game, frustrate them. And then it's, it's about hitting on big plays. I don't think that you can dink and dunk your way with this team 12 play drive with this team you could do it with kirk but i don't think that you can do it with sam darnold uh let's see kerpluppi says uh zimmer interim coach by week 12 write that down yeah a lot of you think dallas is going to be terrible and that might be the case, but there haven't been too many Dak Prescott teams that have been terrible. And Mike McCarthy teams have been really good.

It's they're so dislikable. Yeah, that's the right word that it's easy to forget. They outscored their opponents by 194 last year, which was number two in the league only to the Baltimore Ravens. That that's why I think there'll be good is because just with Dak and Mike McCarthy, they've put up huge numbers. They've outscored their opponents. They've got tons of talent. They're just obnoxious. Uh, horn fan says, I don't think their run game will be good with Zeke and cook. I don't either. I also don't know at this point't think their run game will be good with zeke and cook i don't either i also don't know at this point how much the run game for them dictates a lot it did earlier in

dac's career but now they just they just throw it they just throw it all the time and it works for them uh cole says how will uh how does one stop uh dexter law Lawrence from wrecking at all? I've mentioned praying. That might be one thing. What I think it is, is the really the key is to be able to have one-on-ones on the edges. That's what I think the key is with Dexter Lawrence. Because if you don't let Brian Burns beat you, if you're one-on-one and you don't let Brian O'Neill get beaten by Kayvon Thibodeau, then you can at least give extra help on the interior, wherever Dexter Lawrence is. And I think of the extra help as being Garrett Bradbury, and he might line up directly over

Bradbury sometimes, but if he's to the left or to the right of Bradbury, then you can give extra help to Ed Ingram. You can give extra help to Blake Brandel. And then you're relying on the running back to be paying attention because they run stuff behind that. They'll run blitzes behind that or stunts behind that where you're having Thibodeau or Burns come inside against, you know, maybe Lawrence going outside and it causes all sorts of problems this offensive line's been together for a long time if they can't communicate with that stuff then you're just in trouble but with their offensive line coach being the same their head coach being the same all the players have been here multiple years they should be able to do it at this point. If they can't, it's going to be a problem, but that, that would be the plan is to give help on the interior for those blitzes and stunts with the running back. And then try to have one-on-ones on the outside and see if that works. Oh gosh, says my sneaky NFC team is new Orleans. Like they could be anywhere from 11 and six to six and 11. I don't know who that team is anymore you're right about that that bad could very much be in the cards for New Orleans uh I

mean we kind of think of them as because you have Derek Carr eight wins is what you're going to end up being but they've got a situation there that is uh with Derek Carr and the injuries that he's have. And then the supporting cast with the offensive line that he has, it doesn't look great for Derek Carr staying healthy for the entire season. I don't know who their backup quarterback is, but it's never a good scene. If you, if you end up with that backup quarterback playing, how many times the car get banged up in games last year the ceiling might not be super high for that team either they've had good defenses in the past but

they've gotten older on defense they're a team that i just don't think about at all i think about them as so stuck in the middle they are the team that you look at and you go good thing the vikings moved on from kirk cousins and kirk, whew, good thing the Vikings moved on from Kirk Cousins. And Kirk might have a very good year this year. And if he does in Atlanta, well, that's a team that picks up a guy like Kirk because they're ready to win. Although Kyle Pitts hamstring, everybody talking about Kyle Pitts taking a big step with Kirk. I don't know. But New Orleans, where are they? 2021 Viking land, 2020 Viking land, just the team stuck in the middle. You would much rather be in this spot having a let's see what happens season and on to

the future than needing to win now with a team you can't win now with. Kerpluppi, I think the Vikings are getting grossly underrated because of Sam Darnold that is causing everyone to forget about the overhaul of our defense. Yeah. I don't disagree with that. Uh, the defense is a lot better. I wrote about that yesterday, purple insider.com to go check out these articles that I referenced. Uh, I wrote about that yesterday though, that Brian Flores has a lot more tools in the bag that he is able to go to now even the depth along the defensive line the guys who made the team behind the starters they had to really earn it in training camp and someone like jerry tillery brings at least a

little more depth to that group at corner your backups are are a Caleb Evans and Fabian Morrow. Caleb Evans was starting the whole season last year and now he's CB five. I mean, that's an upgrade, even if it's not the unit that you would have the most confidence in and where the biggest upgrade is, I think is in the outside linebackers, no Daniil Hunter, but instead it's three guys. And Jahad Ward is an interesting one as well who could have a chance to be pretty good so that you're right that defense is quite a bit better and I think the reality of this team is that in the past with Kevin O'Connell the passing game was going to win the game if if the Vikings won the passing game, made them win, not really the defense most of the time, except for three, nothing, but not really the defense, not really the running game.

Those things, if they worked out, that was great. This is a shift. So now it's, if you won the game, if you tell me, well, Hey, they beat the Texans. I probably wouldn't say, Oh yeah. Well, Sam Darnold probably just dominated them. Right. I would probably say, I probably wouldn't say, oh yeah, well, Sam Darnold probably just dominated them, right? I would probably say, I bet they turned the ball over a couple of times, right? In a good way. They got a couple of turnovers. I would probably say, oh, that means Aaron Jones must have gone off because they are going to have to rely on these other parts. That means Will Reichardt went six for six and field goals. It's just going to have to be a little bit, a little bit more. Up North says, honest question, shouldn't Darnold look great in training camp? Well,

I mean, starting quarterback in the league who has Justin Jefferson to throw to, yes, starting quarterbacks should look good in training camp. But if he didn't, then I would be a lot more concerned. I think that's the point. I don't think you watch him succeed in training camp and say, folks, we got ourselves an MVP here. But you do say, all right, this looks like a guy who can run this offense. He looks like a guy who has a tremendous arm and can push the ball to Justin Jefferson. It doesn't guarantee anything because pressure is the problem and there's no pressure during training camp. So we're watching a lot of clean

reps, not all of them, but most of them. And he can't be sacked and he can't be hurt or anything like that. Like he could be in the real games, but you're more looking for, I've always thought this about camp. It's not about the things that necessarily look good outside of JJ McCarthy well that mattered a lot because he's a rookie and you just drafted him but all right Justin Jefferson looks good Jonathan Grenard looks good of course it's really about the bad things that show up in camp and for Darnold I didn't think there were that many bad things that showed up that made me think, oh man, this is going to be rough. He was running the offense. He was getting the ball out, which I thought was a positive. Struggled in those joint practices against Cleveland,

probably the top three defense in the league. But yeah, I mean, that's all we can really do with training camp evaluations is just say well it didn't look bad so i i'm not going into the season going they're screwed but it also isn't some sort of guarantee that it's going to be great the high end of it is is very much to be determined by a lot of factors uh oh gosh says uh can dallas turner cover Not that I want him doing that, but I know they tried doing that with Hunter and I'm wondering, they didn't actually do it much with Hunter. It was just that every time they did a million people pointed out on the internet, why are they dropping Hunter back? I think the numbers were maybe two snaps a game or something like that. It wasn't very often.

Uh, Turner is a guy who can drop back. Yes, he did it at Alabama and he's much different than Daniil Hunter. He, I think Dallas Turner could play inside linebacker with his speed and with his flexibility, he could play safety. I mean, he's really that good of an athlete. Someone will have to look this up. Did Dallas Turner play basketball? He just has this really smooth nature about him that you think he could cover somebody one-on-one. He actually catches the ball nicely

when they throw it to him. They do this drill where they have the guy drop back and he has to catch balls. And sometimes it looks really bad for the defensive lineman as you'd expect, but for him, he's, he just grabs it, catches it, you know, nice and smooth. So I think he actually could be an asset there. We know Van Ginkle's great at it. Van Ginkle has been a really successful cover linebacker in the past. It just gives them more options. That's what I think of this year. It's not that they have insanely more talent that they're, uh, the bears from a

couple of years ago from 2018 or the 2017 Vikings. It's just that there's, there's more there to, to do or to lean on, to use for Brian Flores than there was before. Angel Dust says over under 10 sacks for JG this season. I will go under, but not by a ton. I think Jonathan Grenard will end up with something like eight and a half sacks and it will be more distributed to the other guys than it was for Daniel Hunter last year. But I was looking back at, I think it was maybe 2020 or 2021 for Flores. It must've been 2020 where they were up toward the top of the league in sacks. I believe, and I'm trying to remember this

off the top of my head, but they were top 10 in sacks without a single guy with double digits. And that I could see happening at some point. Okay, actually, let me get to... That I could see happening at some point. Okay. Actually, let me get to ad reads and then we'll continue on the conversation. Really, really good stuff from you guys today. Just one for this evening.

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A phone company wanting people to use their phones less. Ironic. Let's find us again with Us Mode by us cellular visit us cellular.com slash built for us to get started. And a reminder that this show presented by underdog fantasy, use the promo code purple to claim your special pick and first time offer up to 1000 bonus cash. And a reminder as well,

that if a certain number of you use that promo code purple over at underdog fantasy helps the show i get that question all the time how can i help the show two ways sign up for that newsletter at purpleinsider.com or use that promo code over at uh underdog fantasy that helps me okay uh let's's see. That's funny. Wildfires podcast says, I'm quoting you on that. Vikings will win the Super Bowl in February. If they're going to win it, we all agree on this, right? If they're going to win the Super Bowl someday, it will be in a season that we go into saying

there's no chance they win the Super Bowl. There's no way they're going to win the Super Bowl when they're favorites. If they rebuild this team perfectly, it's only going to be in a season that we never expect. So there you go. Quote me on it. Super Bowl Vikings. Sean says, I don't get why everyone is dead set on giving Cam Bynum an extension.

He's been good, but isn't top tier. The money could go to a position that isn't as strong as our safety room. Yeah, I think that Bynum has been a really good fit and that safeties aren't that expensive. That could be another part of it. If you got a reasonable deal for Bynum, Flores wants to keep Josh Metellus in that role. Harrison Smith maybe retires and you put in Theo Jackson, you still feel like that's a strength. If you lose Bynum and then you have to make Metellus more of a traditional safety, you might not feel as strong about that. And if you're replacing him, you don't know how the other person is going to take that spot. right? Whoever you have replace him. It's a lot less predictable

than it would be otherwise, if you decide to keep him, but you're right. I mean, they're going to have a lot of money to spend and where are they going to spend it? Are they going to spend some of it on a safety position? Also at some point too, with Josh Metellus, they might have to redo that deal. They extended him and that was great. But if he plays well, again, they're going to have to look at that contract. And when guys play well, they get paid more money. I still think that no matter what, they're going to have a lot of money to spend. And if you put some of it into continuity on your defense, that's still money well spent. That won't keep you from a defensive tackle. It won't keep you from a corner. It won't keep you from maybe replacing Aaron Jones with another running back or a guard that you guys have wanted so desperately

for so long. Although Sam Cosme getting, what was it? 17 mil a year. Guards are getting expensive. Kerpluppi, is there any valid concern to the fact that we signed so many, uh, to one year deals, particularly on defense? What happens if we ball out this year and everyone wants money? Well, let's, let's think about that. How many guys are on one year contracts? So Jerry Tillery, I think is Harrison Phillips is in the last year of his deal. So that's two, you got a Grenard and Van Ginkle were multiple year deals. And so is Blake Cashman. Um, Ivan Pace is on a multi-year contract. Metellus is locked in and the cornerbacks though, that's where it's going to be up in the air. They're going to have to spend money at the cornerback position. Gilmore is a one-year

deal. So is Fabian Morrow and Byron Murphy is a free agent after this. And then you mentioned Cam Bynum. So there will be things that they have to do there at the cornerback position at defensive tackle. They'll have to make some decisions there. But if we look at the guys who are under contract, it is a lot of foundational pieces, the outside linebackers, Cashman and paste. So that unit's all set. Mattel is that's in good shape. Theo Jackson, that's in good shape. There's a, there's a lot to work with, but that's, that's how it always goes with it. It always goes this way with defenses where you're, you're dealing with a little guys coming in and out. It will be harder if they ball out to pay everybody, but the way that they've set up the salary cap, there's space.

And also too, once you get into, hey, we're trying to win now and we have, maybe they'll look at it this way. JJ McCarthy, after this year, we'll have four years of that rookie contract, including the fifth year option, but look at it as maybe three clean, super cheap years. In those three years, you can spend like crazy and push it down the road and restructure and do everything you need to do. So if you want to keep Phillips and you want to keep buying them and you're overpaying a little bit for them, okay, fine, because you're going to do whatever you can in that winning window cap wise to push money down the road and if it doesn't work you're pushing it into the next gm which is what happened to rick spielman pushed it into the next gm and that's why really crazy dafl mensa said he felt like he was down 33-0.

I think it was the salary cap was a major part of that. Son of a beaver says Panthers hands down for the worst team in the league. If Bryce Young plays like he did last year, then they could very well be. They did put a lot into that team though. Go look at that offensive line from last year to this year. Big gains there. Deontay Johnson's a great wide receiver who was playing with really bad quarterbacks. They have a better coach. I think they're going to be a classic team that

takes that middle step forward. They end up with seven wins, six wins, but I'm not sure they'll be catastrophically bad unless something goes horrible with Bryce Young. Up North says Giants, Vikings, Panthers, Saints, Titans for your worst teams in the league. So you're not buying into this team, eh? You think this is a battle for the worst team in the league? Okay. Saints, I could see. Titans, if Will Levis is bad, Titans could definitely be there. New England is the lock. How about the Raiders? Nobody mentioned, including me, the Raiders, but excuse me, the Raiders. I mean, you're talking about running out Gardner Minshew with a coach who's in his second year that brought a lot of energy to them and they played defense pretty well in Vegas. But also if you're the

worst passing team or one of the worst passing teams in the league, you could absolutely be in that conversation and they're in a tough division. They might be there as well. Joe says, I personally think the Vikings are going to blow out the giants, get some respect on our name early they could use it this is one where if you think about how differently things play out if they win versus if they lose kind of blows your mind because if they win the game and they can even win one of the next three it's three hard opponents but can you win one out of the next three but two and two going to london against a jets team that we'll see what they look like we'll see what rogers looks like i don't know if that team's going to be mediocre good or very good they'll have a good defense

but you're playing in london it's kind of weird over there lions and rams come up after that but getting that one victory this reminds me of the discussion from last year where losing the Bucks game, we all said, oh no, because then your schedule gets so much harder right after that. And that's exactly what happened. They ended up getting, what was it? One and four off to a start because they did not win that first game against the Bucks. Had they won the first game against the Bucks, it was, it'd be two and three.

It would be a lot more open to coming back and getting in the playoff race and take much less of a hot streak. You get one that you only have to win one of the next three to be 500. You feel a lot better. You lose this one. It's going to be pretty tough. So it is a big game for the season. Yeah.