Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings pull off another tight win, beating the Giants with a 61-yard field goal

Episode Date: December 24, 2022

Matthew Coller and Paul Hodowanic talk about the Vikings victory over the Giants, what Kevin O'Connell said after the game regarding playing a complete game, how the defense didn't carry over some of the things they did last week and the greatness of Justin Jefferson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purple Insider is presented by Liquid Death, delicious water that's bringing death to plastic. Learn more at liquiddeath.com slash insider. Hey everybody, welcome to the Purple Insider podcast after the game where we talk about how they pulled off a last second victory and how it looked like it was a little dicey there and then all of a sudden they found a way. I feel like we have done this every week so many times and had so many of the same discussions that we have reached the point where we're not even questioning whether it's sustainable because they just keep sustaining it. But we do have a lot to talk about. Matthew Collar, Paul Hodowanek of WCCO Radio, as always here with you and a very Merry Christmas to all of you and particularly Greg Joseph, who on Christmas Eve will never forget this one, a 61-yard field goal to win the game. But of course, it was once again all a good night for Justin Jefferson, who just finds ways every single week to amaze us, to blow

us away, to do Michael Jordan or LeBron James-like stuff that we never thought imaginable. I mean, this is what Randy Moss looks like, and he might even take it to other levels at times. So he came through in the biggest clutch moments. Kirk Cousins under pressure made a few big throws. The defense allowed Daniel Jones to look very comfortable and sound for most of the day.

However, they made some big plays. Also, the Giants made some plays to hurt themselves in this game, as so many Vikings opponents have. But, Paul, as we started calling it last week, the anything is possible Minnesota Vikings season, I think this just sort of carried on. It was like, after last week, what is this? Like a 4 out of 10 for this team. I mean, just your average routine victory that might be one of the best wins of the year for any other team, any other year. But for this season, it's like, okay, well, you know, they did it again.

And good for Greg Joseph, a guy who was criticized early in the year. And I think people were asking, wait, should they look for a better kicker when he had missed some of those long kicks? And then he comes through with an absolute bomb, sort of a throwback to what he had been doing in training camp, which was kicking very well from deep. And then he didn't carry that over, but he certainly did today. So the Vikings are 12 and three. They hold off the San Francisco 49ers for another week, and now that discussion about the number two seed becomes even more interesting with the fact that the Vikings are really just two wins away from securing that if even San Francisco wins out, and they'll have some conversations to be had about whether they're sitting players or not, but I think if the two

seed is right there, considering what this building is like to play in, I guess after listening to Kevin O'Connell post game, it feels like he would lean toward them playing as hard as they can in Chicago in week 18. So I guess we'll have all those discussions, but Paul, your instant reaction to another very tense, crazy game that came down to the final play. Yeah, I was very intrigued about this game, almost for the sole fact that this could be the Vikings opponent in three weeks, especially if the Giants won this game. They have that inside track on a six seed. The Vikings still would have a chance at that, or would likely then at this point, the three seed,

that could easily be the matchup, and it could be the 2-7 matchup. So my overriding take and how I was trying to approach this game is, how would this look in three weeks if these teams played again? And I think if in three weeks this is the exact team and they're playing in the exact stadium, potentially on the same day, three weeks from now, I think they might get beat by this Giants team because the Vikings won

the turnover battle. They had to make a 61 yarder to win the game. Richie James drops a third down conversion as the Giants are driving. Like I think if this one is played over and over again, the Giants played better than the Vikings, but I don't know how many times I feel like I've had the chance to say that on one of these podcasts. It feels way more than half the games this season. I could have said that exact same sentence. It just felt like it carried a little bit more weight to me this time because these teams could easily match up again. And so it's not, well, once they get to the playoff

against a different team, this is how it would look. No, this just might be how it looks in a couple of weeks playing this exact team. And so obviously they come back with heroics from Greg Joseph, heroics from Justin Jefferson, turnovers that came at really opportune times for them, when both turnovers came in this game. So I kind of come back to where you're at and just say, anything is possible. This team has the ceiling to win several playoff games. They have the ceiling to get bounced in the first round. And I think for moments in this game, you saw both. I think more often than not, you saw the team that may well get bounced by a team that looks just like the Giants.

And so the question really remains, can they continue to pull these plays out? And I just think until they don't, I'm going to assume that they have something up their sleeve that they're able to do I think we've now gone from the point of okay when is the when is it not going to happen to I have to be like proven that it's not going to happen because this team just continues to do it and some of that is just flips of the coin that continue to go their way but I think there is something inherent about the way the team plays about way the confidence the team has the belief the team has like there has to be something to be said for it at this point because we're 12 and 3 and they're 11 and 0 in one score games and so why that's a statistical anomaly certain things have to go well for them

and they have to have certain characteristics in order for that to still be 11 and 0 at some point it just can't be the coins come up 11 times on heads or something like that like they are influencing it in some way. It doesn't leave me more satisfied after the game because at 10-0 in the first quarter, I thought maybe we were going to get our first normal Vikings game and I should have known better because we certainly didn't. And they needed more heroics late game to pull this off. Yeah, I mean, I think every single post game,

we could spend our time on the things that went right and they did great to win the game. And then we could circle back and go, but you know, and you can see that in Kevin O'Connell after all of these press conferences. I mean, that was the, that was the first thing he said. It was really like, well, we still got to put together four quarters. And I don't think this is ever going to be a team that just puts together four quarters. It's just not who they are. They have a lot of inconsistency on offense. They had a number of three and outs again today. And yet at the biggest times, Justin Jefferson finds a way to come through, but also TJ Hawkinson as well, who deserves just as much credit and has given this offense another gear to them that they did not have before. And I think you're really

starting to show up now that, you know, he's very comfortable in this offense. And then, I mean, he just made an unbelievable Randy Moss level catch. I mean, Hocken Moss is something I didn't think that I would ever tweet, but I mean, what a play that he made going up over two Giants players. And then, I mean, even later in the game, it wasn't that relevant, but made another great catch on a third and 17 that almost converted a first down. I mean, he's a really good player. And I was thinking about how different this would be if they had continued with Irv Smith. If Irv Smith hadn't gotten hurt, like would Irv have emerged as that guy?

I don't think that Irv is as good as TJ Hawkinson. I mean, sort of remind yourself, because he's been on the team for a little while, like, yeah, this guy was a mid-season acquisition that they went out and got and has really become their number two wide receiver. He is their trusted guy that they can go into week in and week out, where you see Thielen might have a game and then have nothing like he had today or KJ Osborne. Great example where last week he's all over the place. And then this week we don't see him, but to have a second option beyond Jefferson that you could throw a jump ball to, or that you can trust, or that you can scheme

open the way they did for the first touchdown. I think that's a huge difference maker because you know that Jefferson is going to make big plays and he's going to come through at the biggest moments. But even an amazing day for Jefferson is 130 yards where you usually need 275 to 300. So you need these other contributors like they got today from TJ Hawkinson. And it feels like they're stronger now as an offense. And of course, Derrissaw coming back, than maybe they've ever been at any point. And yet still there's just those moments with this team where, you know, a dropped interception was very, very close. And the pressure that the Giants were able to create throughout the game really hurt the Vikings offense.

They got sacked a couple of times. And overall, as a passing offense, I think I saw it was like five yards a pass, just a pass play, even though the yards per attempt don't look too bad for Kirk Cousins because of the sacks driving them back versus the giant side of the ball where they did sack Daniel Jones a couple of times, but man, he was effective in a lot of other situations. So it's sort of like, we just keep throwing the ball back and forth. Like, Hey, you want to say something they did good. Well, you got plenty to work with.

I mean, Patrick Peterson came up with a sack and a blitz off the edge where they were a little more aggressive with some of those corner blitzes. And then he gets a huge interception where almost on a weekly basis, you can rely on Patrick Peterson to step up and make a big play. But on the other side of that coin, the defense left the middle of the field wide open on many, many situations. Daniel Jones had big runs today, including one that set up that fourth and short. Saquon Barkley had a big day. He broke through with that, I think it was 26-yard touchdown run when the Vikings really needed a stop.

There were some coaching things that didn't go really well today. Kind of a bizarre fourth down call, mismanagement of the timeouts, which Kevin O'Connell took responsibility for. So there's enough that went wrong for them to put them in a situation where an inferior Giants team, in my opinion, I do not think this Giants team is as good as the Vikings, is right there with a chance to potentially beat them.

And they couldn't get the clutch stop this time as Daniel Jones drove down the field and got the two-point conversion and so forth. And I guess it did run through my mind, Paul, that I was like, oh, okay, so the clutch defense kind of ran out a little bit there that's been there so many times this year. But then, of course, Justin Jefferson

is just better at football than almost every other person who has ever walked this universe. And he made two big big plays a 16-yard catch on fourth and nine a 17-yard little screen pass that Kirk Cousins checked into from what Kevin O'Connell said to set them up for the Greg Joseph field goal so I mean the if the question is can you keep winning this way it's always going to come back to do you have enough superstar talent to keep making the plays that make up for the inconsistency that you have? And the answer against a team like the Giants is yes. The other teams that they've played, it was Washington is in the playoff hunt.

The Buffalo Bills, they did it in Buffalo. And then that's the team that's winning the AFC. So yeah, I mean, I think they can do it against teams that are good. I mean, the question is going to be when they get into the playoffs, can they do it four times in a row to win the Superbowl? I, you know, I don't know, but when you look at the way that the whole league has played out, it certainly is an edge for you to have been in all of these games. You have more experience in the close games, which seem to be all over the league all the time. I think last week, Paul, we had like

nine games that were separated by one score by the end of Saturday and Sunday. This is the NFL and the Vikings are built to win in the games that are being played all around the league. Will that change? I mean, that's always going to sit in the back of your head what happened against Philadelphia and Dallas. But I tend to think as far as one week at a time, first-round matchups, somebody's going to come here. It might be the Giants. It might be Washington.

Detroit, what happened today to Detroit? I don't even know. But you certainly are given pause by a defense that was as porous as this was today but then on the complete opposite side when the vikies get the ball back i had no question at all and said to our friend sam extram i said they're going to throw the ball to jefferson win the game when they got the ball back and that's exactly what they did so like who are we to tell them that they can't keep throwing the ball to justin jefferson and winning games even if there is a lot to discuss here that really didn't go super super well for them yeah this i i mean largely i think this game and this season as a

whole at least from game to game is really like a vikings choose your own adventure chart like i think we could easily go and we could talk all the negatives. And I think we would be completely justified in talking about Daniel Jones, a very mediocre quarterback, having a really solid day against the Vikings defense and maybe some of the good vibes that you had from the second half of the Colts game. Do you feel those as much? I think that's, if you want to go negative, you go there and you go to offensive line, play on the other side of the ball.

And if you want to go positive, you talk Justin Jefferson, you talk Hawkinson, you talk continued use of, or continued kind of being able to come up with these turnovers in big moments. You come up with Greg Joseph, like you can really be justified in either direction you go, which is not always the case that has been with this team. Like I think you're like both sides are completely justifiable. And I think what it just generally comes down to is you're going to get a

marriage of the middle of that in pretty much every single game. And that's why we've continued to see one score game after one score game after one score game. And it's why they have a floor of losing in the first round to a team. That's not very good in the giants, at least in my personal opinion. And it's why I could easily see them beating the giants and then beating the 49ers. And then you get to a game with likely the Cowboys or beating the giants and then beating the 49ers. And then you get to a game with likely the Cowboys or the Eagles and you just

see what happens. Like they're just at this point seem equally like, um, probable. And at this point, I think every, with every week, with more information, I want to try to lean closer towards one end of that spectrum. Every, as we get closer, I want to say, no, no, no. This team really does feel like more like the one that's going to lose in the first round and not this. And I think what I just need to come to grips with is it, I'm not going to know it's going to, we're going to go into the playoffs, basically just wondering who's going to get the last drive, how it's going to go.

Is Justin Jefferson going to come up with a miraculous catch? Is the defense going to come up with a turnover? Because I've gone past the point of expecting or hoping for the Vikings to just blow a team out to show us they can do it. I just don't think this team has that ability, but clearly they have the ability to stay in these games and win these games because they've won 11 of them and they've lost zero of them. So I think there are encouraging signs in Hawkinson. As you mentioned, that's a big one, I think, because even though Thielen and Osborne didn't get going today, I think one of them is pretty much every game you can count on one of them to do a couple of good things for

you. So if you can get Hawkinson to the point where he is consistent in what you're getting from him, and then you just need Thielen or Osborne and not both of them, I think that's when you elevate this offense because for the most part, the defense had its warts and I'm sure we'll talk about it, but I think what kept them from really breaking this game open was a lackluster offensive performance for most of their drives. And so I think if you can get a performance like Hawkinson gave you, maybe not to that extent, but 70% of that on a week-in and week-out basis, that's where I think you can finally start to see a consistency

from this offense to a point where maybe they can, maybe it can not come to a final drive. But even as I say that, I think, well, something else will just go wrong and it'll end up right where it has been every point this season, which is who's got the ball last and what can they do with it?

Yeah. I mean, you know, when you think about the playoffs too, and even how the two teams got to the Superbowl last year, Cincinnati and the Los Angeles Rams and how crazy those games were. I just think about the Rams in Tampa Bay and that insane comeback that, you know, just was finished off by Matt Stafford, long touchdown. And then in the Super Bowl, in the NFC Championship, like every game for that Rams team. And it feels like there is a comparable here, but there's also a comparable last year of the Tennessee Titans,

which you kind of identified earlier in the season where they got the one seed last year. I would love to know how many people could win that trivia bet of who got the one seed for the AFC last year, because he was a way, way, Kansas city, Buffalo. No, it was freaking Tennessee because they had a wait, wait, Kansas City, Buffalo. No, it was freaking Tennessee because they had a lot of similar things go their way. And even when you look at, and I did this week, Ryan Tannehill's performance last year and some of his numbers and his

efficiency versus Kirk Cousins this year, there's some similarities there. There have been offenses that are like this in the past that make the playoffs, that win 11, 12, 13 games. But it's very hard for them to go all the way through the playoffs with the inconsistency. And when you look at even how often they produce points, it's in the middle of the league. But they almost always get touchdowns. I mean, they usually are finishing off those drives. And that's kind of been the difference in a lot of ways. Like opposing teams are scoring pretty often. But we saw it again today where there's a Daniel Hunter sack and

there's, you know, a play here or there, or a dropped pass from the other team that causes them to kick a field goal instead of score a touchdown. And that's just the margins that they're playing with. And I think what they have to hope is either that, you know, one of those teams that they're playing is a little weakened and you're sort of on even ground or that you just get a matchup that's favorable, right? I mean, if you, whoever you play in the first round is a favorable matchup. Like I think that the last team you'd want to play is Detroit because they know you so well. And usually not today for some reason, but usually they've been really, really good offensively. I still think the Vikings are a better team than Detroit inside

us bank stadium. They're a better team than anybody that they'll play, including the giants. Although now after this, I think the giants might, because of their defensive line and their ability to pressure, they might be a very difficult matchup. Also Saquon Barkley is just different, man. I mean, wow, the number of times that I thought they had him wrapped up and he found a way to make a play is just a spectacular player. There was a screen pass they threw to him and I think he gained like one yard, but it was amazing play. He like made a great catch and dodged a tackle. And it's like, wow. I mean, it's kind of like, you know, watching some Barry Sanders highlights at times

with Saquon Barkley. So I think that would be difficult for them because if opposing teams can run the ball, they just have even more struggles. And that was what the Giants were able to do today. They were able to run the ball, do some play action passes, get guys open over the middle of the field. And we also saw Chandon Sullivan went down for one play and Josh Metellus had to play nickel corner. Like you always are kind of getting these hints of how thin the roster can be and what one or two injuries could do for them. So there's all this evidence to say that you're sort somebody making the biggest play at the biggest time to come through and Kirk Cousins with a big drive. And I don't think I'm willing to say that that just can't happen or continue to happen because of the way that the league is set up this year. So just kind of back to focusing on some parts of this game. I thought that as far as the Vikings defense and the adjustments that they

had made last week, I saw some of them still, but I almost felt like I didn't see the aggressiveness that I expected from Ed Donatello after the success they had against the Colts. Now, some of that might've just been, look, you have a more athletic quarterback and Daniel Jones really showed it.

And I, of course I was here at the stadium so I wasn't watching at home but I hope someone on the broadcast said he's more athletic than you think because every Daniel Jones broadcast has someone saying he's more athletic than you think but I thought he was athletic and he a couple of times escaped the pocket made plays the touchdown to Hodgins, it looked like he was going to run and then he sort of stopped and threw it to him where he drew in Eric Hendricks. So that made a difference for them at times as well. But I didn't see the let's blitz a bunch of guys at Daniel Jones who did look a little anxious in the pocket at times

and he does take a lot of sacks. And I didn't see very tight coverage. I mean, that was the big thing they talked about. Tight coverage, tight coverage. There were a lot of open guys today. And I think that if there is one thing, when you kind of go back and forth with this, hey, can they keep doing it?

Hey, can they not keep doing it? If there's one thing that makes you the most nervous, it has to be that Mike White, Daniel Jones, like a lot of quarterbacks that we don't think of as being that dangerous. Isaiah Hodgins, Ricky James, who are these people? Like we were joking around the press box today, like name a Giants receiver challenge.

Like, can anybody do it? Who are, this is not exactly, you know, Amani Toomer or Odell Beckham Jr. here. This is kind of nobodies that they have getting wide open against this Vikings team. So I think that on the defensive side, even though there was some blitzes and some of them got home, and I think when we call up that blitz percentage and we look at it, it will still be pretty high. It did not feel to me as if they were as aggressive as I expected. I kind of thought them to look like, or expected them to look like Wink Martindale on defense where they'd just be

blitzing a lot. And there was a lot of, you know, the too high and the people who call him Ed Donna Shell, which is honestly very funny. But early in the game they did, and then they kind of went away from it. Yeah, and I think part of that is expected. I think I looked up earlier this week, Daniel Jones, I think, is the fifth highest PFF grade when blitzed this year. So we're not talking about someone who is horrendous during those plays. So maybe Donatello was thinking, hey, we need to pressure him, but we can't blitz. And I also think they did blitz in some key scenarios,

and I think you're definitely on third down. You seeing it more often than not it appears uh when they really need it they're dialing it up and it and it worked to patrick peterson sack uh a couple other pressures but it also happened they blitz chandon sullivan i believe in the first half he was coming around he was just a step late and daniel jones threw it to isaiah hodgins who had beat patrick peterson for a 30 yard gain or something like that. So that's exactly kind of what Donatello is trying to limit with some of those. And I also think there was going to be some natural regression in terms of those numbers from last week, just given the scenario the Vikings were in last week.

You know, they had nothing to lose down 33-0 at that point. They're trying to make this ferocious comeback. It makes sense that they're just kind of turning up the heat on Matt Ryan, who was one of the worst quarterbacks when blitzed, one of the worst quarterbacks when pressured. Like that was the exact game script where you just kind of say F it, like F what we've done this year, just throw a bunch of blitzes at him. We're not going to get back in this game unless we make some big plays

and we make stops, and so we're going to need to take risks. And so I was interested to see what Donatello and what this defense would do when they're up 10-0 and they're not backs against the wall, need to take risks and so I was interested to see what Donatello and what this defense would do when they're up 10-0 and they're not backs against the wall need to get stops they're more just kind of playing their game and more in a scenario when you would stereotypically say let's just limit them let's make them kind of dink and dunk down the field like for a while in this game this was the exact kind of game that Ed Donatello and this defense, when it had been working this season, like that was the scenarios they wanted to get in. So I think the game script versus how it looked last week

and kind of the different players that they were going against, knowing Jones can beat you with his legs if you're not just really committed to those gaps and those rush lanes that you're taking. I think all that kind of attributes to them being less aggressive. I don't know if that's necessarily the right decision based on how many yards you still gave up to him and so i'll be interested to see all the numbers and kind of go back through and see exactly when they blitzed and when they didn't uh so i don't but i'm not necessarily surprised some of that defensive stuff um

regressed a little bit but at the same time like you're playing maybe the worst receiving core you're going to play all year so if you don't trust your guys to man up and really play tight against these guys then you're sure as heck not going to be able to do it against the Seahawks in the playoffs you're not going to be able to do it against the 49ers the Cowboys the Eagles like that's when you start forecasting ahead and saying well this is maybe the worst wide receiver group you're going to play and you were letting these guys beat you so I think as we've discussed at nauseam this year they have defensive issues that weren't going to be fixed by just blitzing more uh they just have some real like talent issues they have superstars but they also got some duds out there and they have some holes defensively and so i think maybe last week

in the second half we got a little bit too high on what it could be and the reality is this is always going to be probably an average at best defense. And that's why we talk so much about the offense and what it can do because the defense, both in the modern NFL and what the specific personnel is on this team, it's just too much to ask them to repeat that second half Colts performance over and over and over again. And I think you saw that today. This is more just like what the defense has looked like all year and what I would expect it to look like because we played 15 games. I'm going to go with the 14 game sample, not the one game sample of how they're going to look the rest of the year. It's the most wonderful time of the year, folks.

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you can get liquid death at liquiddeath.com slash insider and And yes, it does fit in a stocking. But you know, I thought that they did some smart things beyond even just blitzing, which kind of made the most noise because it's the most obvious. Look, they're sending a bunch of blitzes last week, but I didn't feel like Harrison Smith continued to move around the same way that he was

in the second half of that game. That when I was looking back on it on tape against the Colts, you just saw Harrison Smith lining up in a lot of different spots. And at times, Matt Ryan would drop back and he would be in a different place from where he lined up. And there was just confusion. And that almost seemed like a button they only wanted to push under serious desperation, which they should be pushing that button all the time. In fact, if they just, if they just try to act desperate all the time on defense and they give up some big plays, but they also make some big plays. I think that everybody's okay with that because this idea of like, well, we're going to kind of mix in blitzes or you're kind of going

to only use those things when you absolutely have to. I mean, that results in Daniel Jones throwing for three hundred and forty four yards in a game where it was close the whole time. So it wasn't like the Vikings got way up. And that's the only reason that he was able to put up that yardage. And think about this. I mean, if not for a fumble and then a dropped pass on third down and three, what kind of day are we talking about from Daniel Jones and the Giants offense as far as offensive production? I mean, they still scored their fair share of points here today against the Vikings without with two drives that were blown up by just mistakes from their pass catchers that it could have been quite different. So I think you do walk out of here saying, yeah, you know, I mean, it was right to look at those things that they did, but I don't think the Vikings defense is going to be fundamentally different. They're going to allow a bunch of yards.

They're going to have to hope things go right, including like a blocked punt. Although I did wonder if the blocked punt weirdly actually helped the Giants because the Vikings scored very quick. This is like if you're a Madden player, you totally understand this concept because if they had punted it away and the Vikings have a long drive and then score, the game is just over. But instead, they scored quick, gave the Giants time, and the Giants took advantage of it by moving the ball down the field.

So I think that if you're anxious about the defense, you're just right. Like it's, it has everybody healthy and has all the adjustments that they could have made. And still Daniel Jones looked like drew breeze out there, delivering balls to open receivers, making plays. And then he even, you know, not in drew breeze like fashion, but he escaped the pocket a few times, but even, even most of the game, he didn't even have to run or scramble. It wasn't like he threw jump balls where there was luck. It was open wide receivers. I think that's probably the concerning part when you talk about the defense is how just generally open people were. And that's why, like you said, it has to come back to, can you consistently score on offense? And the answer under Kirk Cousins in general as a Minnesota Viking

has always been not really. I mean, they've just never really had this play in and play out, drive after drive after drive. I mean, when they get up 10 to nothing in this game, I'm sure that you and I have seen enough to know, okay, well, this is probably still going to be a game. Because they just do not have this put teams away, nail in the coffin, take care of them right here and right now at 10 to nothing on either really

offense or defense. But offense is kind of where you do that, right? When you get up in a game and this was like the Colts last week, they just need one more touchdown and the game is absolutely over, but they couldn't do it because they're the Colts. And the Vikings have done this all year where when they need the clutchiest of clutch touchdowns, okay, now it's going to be finding Justin Jefferson, getting aggressive through the air and making plays. But so many times there are just these three and outs that are incredibly frustrating to watch. And one thing that I think Kevin O'Connell probably hasn't figured out and maybe we'll never figure out is that you are absolutely allowed to keep running Delvin Cook. I thought that Delvin Cook was getting some really good gains here. I don't know if you have the box score up there in front of you, but throughout the

early part of the game, I felt like every time he touched the ball, he was getting four or five, six, seven yards. And then it was just like, no, we just can't really, we don't really want to keep going back to him. Maybe that's just Kevin O'Connell's identity as a play caller, but it's also, you'd want him to identify when that's happening because so often with Delvin Cook, and this was, I know this was an argument of the previous regime, and I don't want to sound too much like that, of course, but one thing that was always right about the way the previous offensive coordinators called the game was if Delvin Cook is getting four, five, six yards over and over again, one of those turns into 50 almost every single time.

And it's almost like they didn't give them a chance to, or give him a chance to turn one into 50 throughout this game. And then what you're relying on is the roller coaster every week. That is Kirk cousins where on one drive, he can look spectacular, but on the next drive, there could be pressure. And look, I mean, he probably threw four interceptable passes today. I don't know how pro football focus is going to chart this game, but there were several, including one that was literally caught by the guy.

And the what's a catch thing continues. I'm not going to complain about it because it did look like the ball hit the ground. But the Vikings were on the wrong side of one of those last week with K.J. Osborne. We're like, wait, so like 0% of the ball can come in contact with the ground as you're going down. How's that possible? The ball is very big. So I think in some games they would review that and say, it's a pick. In some games they wouldn't like the NFL has no idea. But the point just being that, you know,

there were times in this game, just like against the New York jets, just like in Washington and Miami and so many other contests they've had this year where you're like, where's the – oh, there it is. Like where did the offense go for a long period of time? And you're relying on your punter to flip the field, which Ryan Wright may have had his first bad day with a couple of shanks and one that went through the back of the end zone. But there's been so many times this year where they're kind of relying on

flipping the field and the other offense, maybe not coming through or something like that, which, you know, the Giants missed a lot of opportunities to do, but then they just explode and have these fantastic, wonderful drives that you're like, where, where, but at this point, and this is how I feel about everything, Paul, right now, I don't think that anything can change about who they are. It's just whether they win or lose these games,

like prepare yourself. This is a playoff game. This is what a playoff game will look like. It's going to probably be tight. Your defense is probably going to frustrate you. Your quarterback's going to have ups and downs where he looks like the best quarterback in the league, or it looks like he's completely flustered. They won't rely on the run. There's a little bit of coaching where you still wonder with Kevin O'Connell. I mean, look, he has not really broken the game as far as being aggressive and things like that.

But sometimes he is, and sometimes he's not. It's like there's a randomizer. The fourth and two, you don't get any more aggressive than things like that but sometimes he is and sometimes he's not it's like there's a randomizer the fourth and two you don't get any more aggressive than going for that and throwing it deep down the sideline but then they're you know we're sitting there with a chance to go up by nine points by going for two and they don't and they kick an extra point and they keep the Giants alive where I think that you know if you're being super aggressive especially with the players you have you probably just go for two there but it was almost like kevin o'connell's i don't know i can't you know i just let me make him get eight points but this defense is is just not good enough to rely on on shutting those things down so i don't know like all way of saying that i don't think there's any more solutions, except for obviously more tight end screens,

which actually for some reason worked today, I think because the Giants sent so many blitzes that they actually worked today. But definitely still not more tight end screens. That's kind of where I'm ending up. It's like, this is kind of just like who you are. And now it all comes down to how that plays out in the biggest moments.

And I think we know, and I think we're pretty confident in the fact that this offense three four drives a game is just gonna look automatic for a lot of the stretches like it's it's not that they don't put up any points because they have drives where they look incredible and i think as analysts we look at that and we say, okay, why is that not repeatable? And I think we're, we can be sometimes confounded about why can't they just continue to do that? Um, not asking for it every drive, because obviously that's would be the best offense ever. And that's not what we're asking from this team, but just that it happens a little bit more often because you just see when it clicks, it feels like it's one one like it's Jekyll and Hyde one drive from the next it's like they just so easily move the ball down the field one

drive and then they just are stalled it doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason about when it's going to happen and when it's not and I think why that concerned me a little bit today specifically in this game is the Giants have a couple guys up front that you have to worry about came on Thibodeau rookie looks really like he's going to be a really nice player. Obviously, Dexter Lawrence, Pro Bowl, are a really, really good player inside. But this defense as a whole, the Giants, is playing without its starting cornerback. They are decimated with injuries on both sides of the ball. They're ranked 29th in both football outsiders, defensive DVOA.

They're 29th in defensive EPA per play. They're 30th in defensive EPA per play. They're 30th in rush EPA per play allowed. So this is not a very good defense that this team is playing against. So it's like, okay, against, like I understand against a Jets team, you looked in really, really good for long stretches against a Bills team with a good defense. You played well in stretches. It's just when you play some of these opponents that have lesser defenses, you want to see, okay, these are the teams you're supposed to be able to sustain it on. But i think my thought on it is just when you have an offensive line that just is kind of as shoddy and can be has really good tackles but

struggles on the interior it's just kind of the way that you live a little bit because sacks are pretty much as good sacks and drives pretty much most of the time if you get sacked you're probably not getting a first down on that on that set of downs and so Kirk Cousins sack four times today so that's just most likely like four drives that are just thrown off kilter because of pressure and he was pressured throughout the day he took some big hits so this isn't necessarily uh well it's not Kirk's fault but I think when you have deficiencies along the offensive line which again that's something else we talk about at nauseam it just lends itself to being kind of off and on off and on it's how much can you scheme it how much are you calling the play calls exactly right when they need to be called right when they're blitzing when they're not blitzing it comes down to that

instead of feeling like you could have a consistent game and that affects the run game that affects the pass game and so that's where i looked specifically today and figured man i don't know and they're going to play good defense also good defensive lines that also stack up well in the back end in the jump or in the 49ers or even in the commanders like you're going to have better defenses that you're going to go up against in the playoffs and we'll see if the just you know know, two, three drives, four drives where you look like gangbusters is enough. And I, that's what my hope, one of my hopes was, was can they just sustain it a little bit more often, more frequently, because we see the highs

and they're enormously high. Can we just eke a little bit more out of that and a little bit more consistency? Because then, yeah, it might not matter how bad your defense is. Isn't it funny though, when the team plays the same game every week and it's like well so we've got very new conclusions coming out of this one that are just like the last 11 times they've done the exact same thing i mean it is

like i'm sort of racking my brain of like okay so what what can we say that we really learned or that was different or that changed aside from you know you know, I really do think that TJ Hawkinson coming out of this one as kind of one of their stars now. And he makes the Pro Bowl, but I think this was like the first real Pro Bowl performance by him where he was big, you know, time in and time out, which does give you a little more confidence. But even then, you still end up with a fair share of punts throughout the game they will eventually get Garrett Bradbury back which helps in comparison to Austin Schlotman I thought that Schlotman was fine at least from my watching live I wasn't watching him every play so we'll see you know kind of what the numbers say about that but as far as a backup center to come in and play guys like this,

guys like Dexter Lawrence, guys like Leonard Williams, I mean, those are absolute beasts. And the Vikings weakness will just simply always be their weakness, which is that interior pressure. And that's not going to change. But this year, on a lot of occasions, they have found ways to overcome it at some of the biggest moments. I mean, they did it against Indy with DeForest Buckner. They did it against Miami with the interior of their defensive line that was causing problems against Washington. So they have been able to overcome it, even if they've had these bouts with, you know, being frustrated by how much they're struggling to move the ball or how consistent they are on the offensive side. So there's kind of just like these realities of who they are and what they need to overcome in order to go deep into the playoffs. And we sort of have all of

those things laid out at this point. Although you can say they don't have to overcome the kicker, at least at this moment, or maybe people would say I'm toying with fate, but I thought we jinxed them. We supposedly jinxed them way back in training camp when we reported how good he was kicking from deep and I guess he shook that jinx I did think it was interesting today that they rotated on the defensive side a little bit as far as bringing in Brian Asamoah quite a bit bringing in Josh Metellus from time to time for Harrison Smith on the offensive side they did not do that at all. I mean, we didn't see, and I'm not surprised after last week,

we did not see Jalen Rager, I don't think, for a single snap. And I'd be pretty surprised if he appears at all in a playoff game or anything like that. Like, they kind of have who they have, and there's not much else they're going to do. Like, they tried giving Rager more chances, and he instantly turned that into two interceptions for Kirk Cousins last week. So we weren't going to see a whole heck of a lot of that.

So now really the discussion turns to who they can play, whether they're going to play these starters, which we've kind of talked about quite a bit. But I think that if Kevin O'Connell was resting on the ledge of, do we do it, do we not do it? You know, week 18, how's that going to look? You know, they may have to wait until after the Packers game to decide to see where they're at versus the 49ers.

But if they had lost today, you could kind of say that's going to be hard to do because you're going to be tied with the 49ers. And then the 49ers have a good chance to win out. And I don't have the score in front of me or what they're doing right now but they just don't have a very hard schedule the rest of the way but now that they get this win then I lean more toward they will probably try to go for it and try to secure that number two seed so in the divisional round you've got a team coming here and this is why even despite what some of the bigger picture studies and numbers would tell you. And again, they really didn't increase their point differential today just by three more points.

And now they go to Green Bay where, you know, it's pretty likely to be a close game again. But, you know, I think that being at U.S. Bank Stadium in a game of inches every single game for this season that I was leaning toward the side of you should rest your players either way. You have to get through the first round to get to the second. But I think after they get this win, I probably go to the other side of that and say, you got to put the gas pedal down. Now, if that results in something happening with a key player, I mean, that could be really costly. So it's not going to be an easy decision, but the win today kind of changes the landscape of that discussion a little bit,

I think, Paul. Yeah, for sure. And if Washington right now, or they're tied right now in the second quarter of that game, but yeah, if San Francisco does lose, then the Vikings only need one of these last two. So if that happened, if they happen to lose today which obviously many people listening this will already know then maybe they just need to win one more game before they can clinch and I think like the Eagles are kind of going through this scenario right now in just that how much do we rest how do we not rest you want them obviously primed and ready to play so that's obviously a luxury that the Vikings haven't really decided on yet I would assume they continue to go for it, if not to just keep the guys kind of rolling. And I think you might see some more rotating of, you know, Harrison Smith has popped up on the injury report from time to time over the last

couple of weeks and Eric Hendricks and Jordan Hicks have had their little blips and bruises. So it doesn't, it doesn't surprise me the guys that they did decide to rotate in and out. And I think if we're looking at it, I think they have, they can still kind of continue to do that, especially at the spots where they feel like they have a capable guy in Brian Asamoah, a capable guy in Josh Metellus. I think that continues over the next couple of weeks, but I would not expect unless there is a scenario where they've completely clinched it for them the rest of the season to really do that. You asked that to Kevin O'Connell at the beginning of this week, and he kind of seemed like, hey, we want to put the pedal down and kind of keep that going. Obviously, we're going to be considerate of injuries. We're not going to be reckless, but he seemed pretty

convincing to me in that answer of, yeah, we want that two seed. We want that good mojo. We want that extra playoff game at our home stadium, and I certainly can't blame them for that if we're talking about a game of inches, like you mentioned, having every aspect of that on your side, having a whiteout on your side, I don't know how that looked to you in the stadium on your side, can't hurt for them. So yeah, I would, like you said, expect them to just kind of full throttle this,

not be reckless if a guy's hurt, but kind of continue playing everyone unless they absolutely have no reason to. Folks, you have just days left before Christmas, so make sure you're going to sodastick.com to get all of your Minnesota sports inspired goods. That's hats, t-shirts, hoodies, sodastick.com, S-O-T-A-S-T-I-C-K. dot com use the promo code purple insider there for your last minute holiday shopping uh it looks like everyone was wearing white that's what it looks like um hot take they did do the wave at one point which you know some people get very offended by the wave i i don't know end

zones look bad though it was so hard to understand that first touchdown like if his foot was in like i get that they had to have that blue or the the purple there just to see those calls like to understand because otherwise it's all white and they don't know but yeah that was that was jarring do not do that again no just go with a all purple end zone. So everybody can see, including the wide receivers, because if you're a wide receiver, everything's probably a blur running at 18 miles an hour into the end zone on a route or something and trying to go up. And where am I even toe tapping? Please don't do that again. The rest of it, you know, I mean, the pomp and circumstance of Vikings games, and this is one of the reasons why they would argue for fighting for the two seed,

is it's as good and as powerful as any stadium in the NFL. The fans at the end of a game, the whole thing, the skull chant, the, you know, whatever, the gala horn at the beginning, just how loud it gets and how shook the other teams start to look in this stadium. You know, we didn't necessarily see it on the last drive today, but through the years we've seen that in plenty of the close situations and that may play into it. And if that's how it's going to be, then yeah, they probably want to fight for it. I still,

if it comes down to that last game, I'm still going to sit there watching, wondering like, is this the right call if somebody gets hurt? Like every time somebody goes down, you're just going to have that nervousness all the way to the end. But I guess put that under the best problem Kevin O'Connell could have ever dreamed up at the very beginning of the year. So now let me finish on this question, though, Paul. You saw the Minnesota Vikings play the New York Giants. You saw them play the Washington Commanders. You've seen them play the Detroit York Giants. You saw them play the Washington Commanders.

You've seen them play the Detroit Lions two times. We have not seen them against Seattle. They're still in the mix, and honestly, Green Bay is still in the mix. This is a different Green Bay team from what we saw at the very beginning of the year and might be a Christian Watson revenge game against the Vikings next week. So that's going to be an interesting matchup there. I think they're stronger than they were at the beginning of the year. The fact that they're still, you know, in the fight just in general, what do you think? I mean, what do you think as far as who the Vikings fans should cheer for them to face? Because, you know, I'm on the

fence here. I think you said it right. That if you play this game over 100 times, the Vikings probably win 40 of those times because it took a fumble. It took penalties. Oh, my gosh. I mean, the Vikings had two penalties for 14 yards. I have no idea, by the way, how the Vikings avoid penalties the way that they do. They are one of the best in the league in terms of not taking penalties. And I know everyone says, well, that's coaching. And maybe that's true.

But holy cow, the penalty differential is just out of this world for this year. And the Giants committed a ton of them. So maybe they don't do that all the time. 61-yard field goals don't go in all the time. So, I mean, there is that. But also I think the way Daniel Jones played is in the 98th percentile of the way Daniel Jones can play. He was extremely good today. I mean, if you told me that was like an Aaron Rodgers day against the Vikings in his prime, I would have been like, yeah, that kind of looked like it.

That looks like his stat line and how efficient he was. I wouldn't trust those receivers all the time. There were some pretty good catches mixed in. I mean, I don't trust those receivers all the time. There were some pretty good catches mixed in. I mean, I don't know. Like, I think the Vikings against any one of those opponents should be expected to win, can definitely win. And the Giants do not really scare me, even though I think that they, in a lot of areas,

played better football than the Vikings today. Yeah, I think out of those, like if we're taking the Lions out of it, I don't think they want to see the Lions at all um but if they have Giants Seahawks Commanders I think like I don't know if I want to play the Seahawks team when you have two dynamic wide receivers in Lockett and Metcalf and a coach in Pete Carroll that has just been in so many of these games and then you go to I think Commanders Giants I think you're kind of splitting hairs there on what you're looking at but i think like this giants team is just so injured i think daniel jones like you mentioned played a really good game i'm sure the defense the defensive woes played a part in how well he played because we're making they're making

daniel jones and mike white and all these different quarterbacks mac jones look insanely good so it's not um just them all having career days or they're all having career days against Vikings. But I think that has something to do with the Vikings. But yeah, if I'm looking at those opponents, the Giants might be the least scary to me. All these teams are in the playoffs because they've won more games than they've lost at this point. They're going to be solid teams and they're all going to have areas where you wouldn't

want to face them. But the Giants, when you have a so-soso quarterback when you have so-so skill players when you have another first year head coach when you have all these injuries that's kind of where I'd want to go uh and I think they should be favored against all those teams I think they should beat any of those teams like that they are 12 and 3 they should beat one of those teams they have more talent than any of those teams uh it's just about matchups at this point. It's kind of like the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies last year. Like the Grizzlies were kind of the best matchup that the Timberwolves could have.

And they almost made a game of it, even though they may have not like had the same amount of talent like that happens in the playoffs too. You may face a lower seeded team that just kind of has your number. I think that team looks more a lot like the Lions with just stout, a stout offensive line and an offense that can go berserk on you. I think the Giants can't really go berserk on you on offense, just given their personnel. So that's where I would want to go. Yeah. I mean, every one of those teams has some pretty extreme weaknesses. The Giants have no receivers. Washington has Taylor Heineke for now like would you even be shocked if Carson Wentz ended up coming back and playing if Heineke continued to struggle like I think you'd want

Taylor Heineke here of all the picks you take him but Geno Smith is largely turned into a pumpkin over the second half of the season which was kind of to be expected for someone who has been a career backup great story couldn't enjoy the story enough but also a career backup. Great story. Couldn't enjoy the story enough, but also a career backup, just like Taylor Heineke. Daniel Jones is a legitimate NFL starter. He's not a great legitimate NFL starter, but like, I wasn't surprised to see him make some starter level throws and some starter level athletic plays out there in this game. And I agree with you that even though the Lions just gave up an ungodly amount of yards on the ground, which I'm like, what?

I'm going to have to go back and see how that even happened against Carolina. But they know this team, and Jared Goff has been here. He's been in this stadium a bunch of times. He's played really well against the Vikings historically. Like, I think he's last on the list. He's taken a team to a Superbowl before. I don't think you want to face that guy in comparison to the other

quarterbacks that, you know, would you be surprised if three years from now, Daniel Jones is a backup somewhere? Like not really. Right. So all those other guys are just not scary quarterbacks. So I think you're rooting for pretty much everyone except for the Detroit

lions though. Again, I cannot believe what just happened in Carolina. Good for you. Good for Steve Wilkes. I mean, you kind of love to see it with, it could be a playoff team. I mean, how about that? Now that's the, that is the thing to consider here when we're talking about the super bowl. And when I see all the Vikings can't do this or that, it's like, look, if they end up playing Carolina somehow and you can say, oh, it can't happen. But like Seattle, when they got in at seven and nine, they beat the new Orleans saints. Like you get a home game. Like who knows as far as now they wouldn't play them in the second round, but like, who knows

last year, green Bay had maybe one of the best teams that Aaron Rogers has ever had. And there was a blocked punt. And then the Rams got to play Jimmy Garoppolo instead of Aaron Rogers at Lambeau in January which would have been really really tough so you never know when you get into the playoffs and my expectation is really just that it's going to look a lot like this and something we're going to have to just focus closely on is not even just how they look going in because at this point it doesn't even matter like started today if you're the Vikings but how healthy are they going in how banged up are people how how are individuals playing like are they playing their best ball because I feel like Zedarius Smith had a lull there and then has come

back and played well Daniil Hunter is really dialing it up in recent weeks you were seeing you know no dip from Justin Jefferson at all. And Kirk Cousins, I think has been on a major upswing overall, even with some of the ups and downs and the PFF grade controversy from last week. And look, he's probably not going to get a great one from this week after some of the mistakes that he made throughout this game that didn't get caught. But, you know, overall, when you look at his numbers, these last three, four games, he's having one of those upswings to go into the playoffs from how he's played.

And as far as confidence goes, I don't know who could be a more confident quarterback in the entire NFL than a guy who's led eight game-winning drives. Who would have ever thought that? Really, for any quarterback ever, not just Kirk Cousins. So let's finish on this.

Give a, give a sentence about Justin Jefferson, the all time single season record for the Vikings beating Randy Moss. He won this game. He won this game. Like as he does so often three third downs where he won this game. I don't know know like i i'm out of sentences about justin jefferson other than just to say the people in cleveland who covered lebron james the the people who covered i don't know barry bonds like the most unstoppable human beings to play sports team sports put it put him there put him there and you what? Like a receiver should probably not ever win MVP. Mahomes won again today. Josh Allen won again today. It's hard for those guys not to get it, but man,

if somebody's going to get it, it's like how dominant Lawrence Taylor was on defense for the giants. That's Jefferson on offense, Barry Sanders for the lions. It's like watching a receiver version of that. I don't know. Like there's no other way I can describe it other than this is just incredible dominance. Barry Sanders for the Lions. It's like watching a receiver version of that. I don't know. Like there's no other way I can describe it other than this is just incredible dominance. Yeah, it's greatness. It's historic.

I think he probably won't win the MVP, but usually they give the offensive player of the year to the best non-QB. He should be right in the running for that. I haven't seen, looked at betting odds or really been in the discourse of who's leading that, but he should be right there for all of those awards. And yeah, passing Randy Moss's single season record, uh, that he should have beaten last year. He should be beating his own record this year.

He didn't get that opportunity obviously last year, but I mean, it's, it's a remarkable player that we don't often see at a non quarterback position where he where he just he flips the game uh in pretty much every aspect and that's so hard to do as a wide receiver because you're relying on a quarterback getting you the ball and an offensive line keeping their guys in check for long enough for you to get open like it's it's remarkable because it doesn't happen that frequently but just at any point when they need a big play and i think we've looked at a lot of ways to try to understand why Cousins is just making more of these game winning plays than in previous years. And I think it might just be, he's throwing more of them to Justin Jefferson and not any

other wide receiver. You could tell me it's Diggs, Thielen, anyone go down the line, CJ Hamm, whoever he's throwing the ball to like Justin Jefferson just changes all that math, all that calculus, even on that play like the screen play. I don't know if another wide receiver gets them that far to where they even can attempt a 61-yarder. So he's the most important person in this franchise. We talked about it so much before the beginning of the year.

You've got to lock him up. You've got to do whatever you can to make him happy. And I would hope he's happy at 12 and 3 and setting records he has a chance a remote one at that to to get Calvin Johnson's all-time record like this is history we're watching not only this season but how good he is this young in his career still with time to improve and so yeah you're talking about injuries I think you got to like wrap him in bubble wrap you got to do whatever you can to keep that man on the field because they could lose three guys along the defense three guys along the offense and if they still have justin jefferson lining up i still believe that they can win any playoff game uh i it really

doesn't matter who else gets hurt to me if he's on the field that they have an opportunity and for him to be a quarterback and for you to say that that is that is among the highest things you can say about someone i mean he is he is just greatness like you're just you're just witnessing absolute professional sports greatness every week and as long as he's playing they have a chance to beat any team in the nfl that's why i look at it even if they lost to some of these teams earlier, there is no team. He can't take over a game, no corner who can stop him. It's just, yeah, there's no other way to describe it. And I think you're right that if you were to talk about one thing that caused all this caused 11 and O caused the game winning drives, and that's not to take

away from cousins and not every one of them was throwing to Jefferson but if you look even at the Lions one back in week three the two corners took Jefferson and KJ Osborne was wide open I mean that he is the cause of this and the result is this team is 12 and three I mean who who would have ever thought a wide receiver could do that I mean just like this like they have not had complete performances from their offense, but this guy is dragging them week in and week out with just a mediocre defense. And the running game has not been super, super effective throughout the season. It's this guy. And yeah, that's, that is, it is Barry Sanders. Like when running mattered a lot, how he would take those lions teams and make them competitive year in and year out. So that's the highest compliments that you can give. And a guy that after the game, I was standing there.

And the first thing he said was like, I understand that, you know, our other guys don't get quite the target share because a lot of it is centered around me, but they are just as important as me and talking about TJ Hawkinson and KJ Osborne. I actually agree with that. I mean, I think that the accumulation of the other weapons has to show up just as much as him on a week to week basis. But I also think that tells you about how he's handled fame. It's been just incredibly well. You won't find 10 other athletes who have shot to this level of superstardom and handled it as smoothly as he has and continued to perform. And by the way, I think he's 23.

So it's really something to watch. We witnessed greatness. Paul, Merry Christmas to you. Thank you all season for being here. You will continue to do so, of course, but your contributions are invaluable to Purple Insider. Thank you all so much if you're watching on YouTube for watching us. The Purple Insider podcast happens every day, so make sure you go subscribe there if you're watching on YouTube for watching us. The Purple Insider podcast happens every day,

so make sure you go subscribe there if you're watching us for the first time. A Merry Christmas to everyone. You're in a position with a 12-3 Vikings team to go into the playoffs with a chance to compete for the Super Bowl. And after the last couple of years, you should be thankful for that as you go into the Christmas day. So thanks so much to everybody for watching and listening, and we will talk to you again very soon.