Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Vikings remain undefeated after nearly blowing another double-digit lead

Episode Date: October 6, 2024

Matthew Coller and Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press break down the Vikings' game in London against the Jets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome into Vikings Jets postgame. Matthew Collar and Dane Mizutani, both here in the States. So we were just like everybody else for this game where we woke up, watched on the couch, and then were very flustered by London football. And now we're here to talk about it. And opening statement wise, Dane, I just want to say 5-0 is 5-0. There is no way to downplay how good of a start this is overall for the Minnesota Vikings.

We will have a lot to say about everything that went down in this game, but that needs to be considered as we analyze everything that went right and wrong. I would like to start by handing out a couple of game balls to every single person who plays defense for the Minnesota Vikings and will the thrill with an incredible kicking day and everyone else should be ashamed of themselves and they can stay over there.

It was a wonderful day for the defense, a wonderful day for the kicker, Mr. Mizutani, and it was a terrible day for the defense, a wonderful day for the kicker, Mr. Mizutani, and it was a terrible day for the offense. Where would you like to begin with your 5-0 Vikings? I think where I want to start is by separating the forest from the trees because we're going to dig into how bad it looked, right? But I think what I've always felt with some of the best teams in the league, whether it's in this decade or the Tom Brady teams from the past, is they find different ways to win football games. So while I'm not going to absolve the Vikings for everything that went wrong, I do think at the end of the day, sometimes you have to win ugly.

Sometimes it's not going to look good. And like I I said we're going to talk about that we are we're definitely going to dig into how bad it looked but it it means something that that you can win ugly that it doesn't have to just be blowouts it doesn't just have to be 34-7 against the Texans um and we saw a little bit of it last week like can this team handle adversity and they did they they when they had to have it they did against the Packers and today like even more adversity than last week last week was a weird like 15 minute stretch this week it was it was horrendous all game and they still found a way so I think that's where like we kind of have to remember or dig into from the jump is that it's okay to win ugly in the NFL. It's not always going to be blowouts.

And they're 5-0, like you said right off the top. They're 5-0. They don't have to give the five wins back. Certainly stuff to clean up. But they'll head into the bye week atop the NFC North, which I don't think any of us thought it would be like that even a month ago. Right. To keep perspective as we go forth through this journey of analyzing what happened. The other thing is, too, that when we spend the whole week saying to everybody,

hey, you know, guys, this could actually be pretty ugly, pretty nasty game. It was raining at one point. And then when it's really ugly and nasty, we're like, what the heck? Why didn't this look like regular great football? However, that does not absolve Mr. O'Connell from now reaching the point of a trend. And I do want to talk about the offensive side and we will get to grading every position group, which is going to be a lot of good on the defensive side and we'll talk about another masterful performance by brian flores today and the different things that went wrong with the punting although i will say it was not a 15 yard

penalty on ivan pace and that changed the tenor of the game entirely and if you are a conspiracy person you're probably saying oh okay, okay. Gave the Jets one more shot there, huh? That's pretty interesting time to call that 15 yard penalty, but I'm not, I'm not in on Aaron Rodgers's camp of being a theorist in that way. So let's talk about Kevin O'Connell and just the idea of playing from ahead here. I think that there were numerous times in this game, Dane, where I fully understand the impact of Aaron Jones being out. Something was not okay with Ty Chandler from the very beginning. The ball bounces off him. There's a turnover. And even when he was running, he didn't have the same decisiveness running today. It just seemed

like something was off with him. Maybe the sleep schedule wasn't particularly good. I have no idea, but there were numerous times in this game that were maddening with the number of downfield passes that they threw that what I've just totally failed to understand is why with Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, even heck Johnny freaking month comes through with a big catch, Justin Jefferson, even heck, Johnny freaking Munt comes through with a big catch. But Johnny Munt, several different times, has been open and made plays. He can catch the ball if you throw to him. They have guys, Naylor, Powell, who can catch passes underneath

and make things happen with those passes. And yet, over and over and over, it felt like they were going for broke with deep passes. And yet over and over and over, it felt like they were going for broke with deep shots. And the worst one by far is third and 15, taking a shot down the middle of the field. When every coach ever runs a delay handoff there and punts the ball away, you have a punter. And I know it was ugly who is capable of punting the ball 65 yards in the air you can flip the field there and you can try to make them grind all the way down the field and instead an interception puts them right in scoring position and it ends up resulting exactly the way you would if you give

Aaron Rodgers 500 chances it made me think a couple different things today, Dane. Number one was, yes, Ed Donatel was to blame for 2022, but we forget how many opportunities that year the Vikings had to put away people. They didn't do it. And then the defense ends up getting burned. That was today. Only the defense didn't get burned. And it was last week. Only the defense came through at the end with a couple turnovers, but asking them to get key interceptions every single week is a lot to do. And asking the other team to have a decrepit quarterback who's mad the whole day is a lot for the rest of the season. Jared Goff's probably not going to look like that.

Aaron Jones leaving the game is the biggest thing that happened and the biggest reason why they couldn't just close out the Jets. But the second biggest reason was your quarterback is clearly thrown off. He was knocked out of the game for a play earlier, and you're coming back and going deep shot, deep shot, deep shot. I just could not make sense of this strategy, especially as well as the defense was playing, Ding. I 100% agree.

And it's something that we talked about earlier this week off the pod. But me and you play basketball. We like to dabble in our free time, little rec ball. Sometimes a guy just needs a bucket. Sometimes a guy just needs to see the ball go through the hoop. Sometimes I think Sam Darnold just needs to see a ball go into a receiver's hand, be caught and turned up field. And Kevin O'Connell was asked about his aggression after the game.

Again, we're not in London. I did not ask him about it, but listening to his press conference, he talked about how the Jets were sticky in coverage. And that's why they were taking away some of the short game. You have Justin freaking Jefferson. He can, he can break off anyone at the line jordan addison talks all about how much he works on his releases like there are ways to incorporate the short game and not everything has to be a 25 yard pass downfield so i i agree with you i mean it's something we talked about last week against the packers when it happened um And now we're talking about it again this week. And I get it. Like it's coaches. They're going

to say like, I need to be better. It starts with me, but I don't know how much better he was this week. I don't know how much he learned from last week when it wasn't looking good. So yeah, I think you head into the buy. And like I said, you keep things in perspective. Kevin O'Connell does not need to go into that locker room and ream them out. They're 5-0. They won ugly. Sometimes you have to do that. But I think he needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror at himself during this bye and say, look, I know the crossers are going to work.

I know my offense is good enough. How can I make it work on a much more micro scale when it's looking ugly? So I think that was a good example that you brought up, that long third down. Everyone on earth, even playing Madden, you just run a draw there. And I never run the ball in Madden. But you just run a draw. Sam Darnold looked shaky, flirting with disaster, and you continue to push the ball downfield. It just can't happen.

Even when Sam Darnold breaks out of his slump that he was in, even when he finds a rhythm, it's a 25-yard pass downfield to Justin. There needs to be a quick game incorporated. I get it. Sauce Gardner, who was out for a long portion of the game, but Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed are sticky. Michael Carter is sticky. But there's ways.

Like, you have the best receiving core in the league. I truly believe that, that you can incorporate that in that short game more than they were doing today. So I want to put this comment on the screen here from Thomas. Says, it's great we're nitpicking about a 5-0 team. It most certainly is. But here's the thing. I'm going to give the speech before we go forward.

A 5-0 team now raises the bar. This is being evaluated like a championship caliber team, not like a plucky little engine that could, oh, it's cute that Sam Darnold won a couple of games. Oh, that's a nice little start to those Vikings. No, no, no. Because in Vikings history, when you get a shot, oftentimes it is ended in an NFC championship.

And that now should be the expectation. When you start 5-0, that week after week after week, you are going to have to win games by being better, by being smarter, by handling being ahead in games and not blowing leads like this. And I think it's entirely reasonable to watch that game and ask why Sam Darnold repeatedly was launching the football down the field over and over and over again on these drives. They're stopping the clock. They're not getting Justin Jefferson involved repeatedly.

Once again, we went a long stretch before we saw a reception from Justin Jefferson until, as you mentioned, it was almost deja vu from last week where it has to be a 25-yard pass down the middle of the field to get the drive going. The other thing is, too, that if you don't have a running back that you can trust as your backup, you have to find one. You have to look around the NFL and you have to start asking, all right, who's out there that is going to be able to help this team if Aaron Jones goes out? Because it can't just ruin the offense if he goes out because it was clear they didn't really trust Chandler it was also clear that he wasn't on point today but they have enough other playmakers we didn't see any real

screens I think there was one it didn't work they went away from it all the things you do when your defense is crushing when the other quarterback is shaken and when you have a two-score lead for the entire day, it felt like they didn't do. If you just showed me the plays on tape with no score, just showed me the offensive plays, and I didn't know that Andrew Van Ginkle had run a touchdown back, I had no idea what the other team did,

I would have assumed that they were down by 22 points. I would have assumed the way that they ran their offense, that they were losing in this game and Darnold's getting sacked and Darnold's launching it down the field. And yes, they did get a couple of those penalties that were helpful by throwing downfield. But after last week where we came on the post game and we said, Hey, when you guys get up by 28 points, you have to figure out answers and it's not just run the ball, but it's also just keeping the slow churn going, uh, of first down after first down, just take the clock out of this game. And it just doesn't feel like they know how to do that. It knows how, like they know

how to create explosives to get ahead in games, but there's this wiring of Kevin O'Connell that's aggressive aggressive aggressive aggressive and you mentioned rec league basketball it just I was thinking of Andrew Wiggins as Sam Darnold where when it looks great oh my gosh does it look great but if it's not there that day you shouldn't't say, hey, Wiggins, keep shooting from three-point land. You need to play a different form. That's what they needed to do today because this was way too close to blowing a 17-point lead. And yes, every time, I guess because there are new people joining the postgame,

I will say it's a great win. It's an unbelievable start. And I'm going to get to the defense, which was the reason they won today. But I think the main headline is once again, that you get up and look like the 98 Vikings. And then you all of a sudden look like a completely different team when you can't put them away. Yeah.

And there just has to, it goes back to feel. And there's only so much I can give him the benefit of the doubt for, because like you said, like this is, these moments don't come around all the time. It doesn't feel like you can be among the best teams in the NFL all the time. But when you are, when it's like this, when it's like this year, you have to capitalize on those. And because of that

like Kevin O'Connell has to improve like in like the field thing maybe it's because he's not used to playing with the lead we'll get used to it because you have a really good defense and your offense is is when it's firing on all cylinders among the best in the league as well but there is a level you're not like a conservative play caller if you just start running the ball. And I get it. It maybe looks different if Aaron Jones doesn't get hurt today. So that's maybe part of this whole equation. But the fact that I'm not sure it looks different with Aaron Jones in the game because of play calling we've seen in the past, like that gives me some pause. So like, it's okay to run the ball.

It's okay to just pick up a few first downs. And even if you don't go the length of the field, at least you melted some clock. I'm generally not in favor of like trying to run out the clock in the third quarter, but I'm in favor of keeping it rolling. I'm in favor of if you're playing with a three score lead at that point, picking up some first downs, trying to move the chains to a degree where you can play that field position game. It doesn't mean just try and bleed the clock 40 seconds out of a, out of time, at a time,

go three and out and punt like it. You can just keep the clock rolling. And when you're taking deep shots down the field, the clock stopping. And then all of a sudden, if you take a deep shot on first down, then you're second and long, you're taking another deep shot the field, the clock stopping. And then all of a sudden, if you take a deep shot on first down, then you're second and long, you're taking another deep shot because like, I don't,

I could probably count on my hands and my fingers and toes, how many times they've run on second and long over the past three years. And then if that doesn't work, then it's third and long. And we all know like, that's not a sustainable model for, for moving the chain. So it's a lot of times when you look at players and if there's a struggle from a player and coaches will say, well, I'd much rather teach this lesson to these guys after a win. Like Kevin O'Connell needs to teach lessons to himself

or someone needs to shake him during the bye and say like, we can be really good, but we need to be better in this one area of the game. So look, the defense was great. The offense was not, they walked away with a win. Um, but you're the offensive genius. Um, you need to be an offensive genius, not just when you're building a lead. When you have one, you need to be able to figure out ways to put a team away and putting a team away. Doesn't always mean going up by 35. It just means moving the chains and keeping the clock rolling sometimes. Yeah, there were just times where, to stick with the basketball theme,

that they were up double digits in a game and then chucked a half-court shot for no reason. And there was one where particularly I just didn't understand. And we'll get to the why of this in a second. But the one that I truly didn't understand was they threw a long pass on first down incomplete, then handed off on second and 10 to Miles Gaskin and got a yard. And I just thought both of those things are not right. You shouldn't be launching it down the field here and taking a risk there. And then also, if you've gotten to second down in 10, now you can't really do that,

especially with Myles Gaskin as your running back. Also, maybe there needed to be another running back on this team. We thought that they were going to pick one up after they cut Kenny Wong. They never did that. They keep playing this game with Myles Gaskin where they cut him and put him on the practice squad and then elevate him. But he's really not a guy who's had any success in the NFL for some time now. And if you can't have anyone that you can even trust out there past Aaron Jones, then you need to find someone that can. I was told in the comments that it's malpractice.

We haven't mentioned the right guard yet. I wouldn't go that far, but I totally agree with you that in a game like this, you also saw where the offensive line in the interior has been a problem, and it continues to be a problem. And Quinn and Williams seem to, we'll have to go back and look at all the grades and everything, seem to absolutely maul them. Darnold took a few pretty big shots in this game, took a couple of sacks, and then there's the block in the back, which, what are we doing there? I mean, it wasn't a call that maybe you always see, and the refereeing was all over the place but that one right there is just another example of

ed ingram has been actively hurting this team and now we're talking about four of the last five games the only one that was pretty decent was in green bay uh has caused legitimate problems and part of that too is the running game we saw aaron Jones, there's a handoff early in the game. Somebody hits him right away in the backfield, probably five yards back. And he jukes, does some crazy stuff and then gets four yards. And you go, oh yeah, okay, good run onto the next play.

But that doesn't happen with everyone in the backfield. This guy is an all universe type of player who is one of the best ever in terms of yards per carry. You don't have that with your backup and there needs to be an answer in the, in the offensive line as well. It is a good point too, by some of the commenters that TJ Hawkinson will be coming back. And I think he is kind of the answer to this underneath issue. You need a guy who can get into the zones or who could get one-on-one with a linebacker and just get you seven yards, just get you a bucket and keep moving. And I

think that that is the thing that's missing with this offense because in past weeks, Dane, it only took a handful of completions for Sam Darnold to get 300 yards because all of them were down the field. But if you're not hitting them, that is like relying on the home run, relying on the three all the time where they can't have this sort of steady churn as an offense. And I do think that that is the biggest thing that they have to find a way to improve in order to take this where they need to take it, not take it to, Oh, can they just be in the playoff race? Can they be in the, in the hunt graphic?

I mean, take it to a very special place. Uh, if you have, well, I want your opinion on Darnold though today. What do you, what do you, what do you think it was? What do you think it was that was bothering Darnold so much? Warning. I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero. This is how intense Novocaine sounds. We'll be right back. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada.

Well, I think a lot of it was just rhythm and confidence. And I think he's a guy who thrives when he's confident and early on like there were times where he was hitting the back foot finding jefferson jefferson 25 yards down the field and just letting it rip and i think you saw that confidence wane when it wasn't coming easy so while i think part of the offense looking clunky is obviously on the play calling i do think that there were times and i'm excited to watch the all 22 and this is what we lose by not being there at the game is like, we can't always see the underneath routes on, on the broadcast. We can just see Sam Darnold going back downfield,

chucking the heck out of the ball to Justin Jefferson, 45 yards down field. There was one play I saw and they didn't show a lot of replays on, on the NFL network broadcast, which was an issue, but they, was a play, and I can't remember if it was the third or the fourth quarter. But instead of chucking the ball deep, it was right – actually, it was right before the turn of the fourth quarter. It was late in the third. There was a play where Sam Darnold chucked the heck out of the ball

deep to Justin Jefferson. I think it was actually the final play of the third quarter. And Johnny Mutt was wide open over the middle. And that's where, as much as I want to harp on Kevin O'Connell for his play calling, I think a lot of this was probably on Sam Darnold as well. It looked like a guy who, when things aren't going well, tried to just get it all back at once tried to get back on on track by completing a bomb downfield to the best receiver in football and I think it's okay to again to hearken back to the basketball like to just take the layup sometimes and like just I think part of that was on Darnold so it wasn't good enough from him obviously the stats stats will show that for, well, they'll say that. I mean, let me look it up. I think he was, yeah, it was 14 of 31 for 179, 5.8 yards of an attempt.

That's not, that's not good. It's not good enough. So like he was a big part of the offense looking clunky and, and, and we need to mention both of them kind of in the same breath. Um, if we're going to be hard on, on Kevin O'Connell, who at times we've said is one of the best play callers in the league, then we also need to be really hard on Sam Darnold, who was getting MVP talks this week. So I think it makes sense. Play caller struggles, quarterback struggles,

like chicken or the egg. But he wasn't good enough today either. Look, and overall, when it comes to O'Connellnell i would give him coach of the year right now it's just that as we go forward this made me think today as we go forward you're probably going to get leads and you're going to have a great defense who could protect them but you also need to step on the gas in the right way ease into the highway as opposed to just always gas all the way down uh when you're way ahead in the race you don't have to floor it all the time and it did feel like that but you make a good point that darn old after he got hit did not look very comfortable and shout out nick mullins coming

in the game and throwing a jump ball to Aaron Jones. Kevin O'Connell will trust his quarterback no matter what, even when his quarterback just got hurt and another quarterback went in there. His thought is, let's take a shot. O'Connell reminds me a lot of Bruce Arians. The no risk it, no biscuit, just always going to push the ball downfield no matter what. But I do agree that there were times and you mentioned how rough the broadcast was in terms of the views and the second looks. And it felt like a very, very tight replays if there were any. But there were several plays where I thought, Sam, take the simple option or don't take the sack there where he loses 12 yards

and then forces Will Riker to kick it from the other side of the country. Again, Will Riker, wow, another great day. They don't win this without him. But that was where Darnold, just take it easy here. And I think we are seeing a little bit of the, I could just play point guard. No, I don't think you can. I think that is so much in his mentality, but that's also where Kevin O'Connell has to understand that the mentality of his quarterback

is to push the ball down the field. And Addison and Jefferson in short area are very, very good. There was one play where Jefferson lines up in the backfield and i thought oh okay here's a little swing pass to jefferson and then he motions out and then goes more down the field like okay well we're just not going to do this but you're right that the head coach and the quarterback both need to be better because they really have played with fire at these last in these last two games when they do have these opportunities. But we also have to talk about the defensive side here and what an unbelievable performance this was by the defense against Aaron Rogers.

The whole goal Dane was make Aaron Rogers yell at his wide receivers by the end of the first quarter. And you get that badge achieved, turn him over. Andrew Van Ginkle is the most deceptive player ever in the nfl it is incredible how people just cannot find him the interception is the exact same play that in the night practice andrew van ginkle picked off sam darnold we all went whoa where did he come from? Same exact play. This shows you to me,

the overall team strength of the Minnesota Vikings, that you can have this kind of day from your quarterback. Your running back can get injured. The other team, their strategy was to just grab Jefferson the entire game and they did it. They got flagged a few times, but they did it. And the Vikings walk out of here with a win because of the other side of the football. That is something we really have not seen from this team. Defensive victories, even when the offense struggles, not at a consistent basis in a very long time. No. And the defense, I think it's showing progression more and more each week, which I didn't think was possible because it,

it looks so good each week. But I think today was like a definitive moment where you said like this defense can carry them as far as they want to go. The offense, I think, look, we're hard on the offense. The offense has looked good at times over the first month.

So it's not like the offense has been terrible and the defense has just been carrying them. But if you were to ask me through five weeks which unit's been better it's unequivocally the defense and like to your point about andrew van ginkle like are we sure he's not the best player on the defense like i i two years 20 million dollars like remember when people didn't think quacey knew how to evaluate talent like you stole that guy um and and so the from the moment the game kind of turned on that andrew van ginkle play where pick six where he reads the coverage and drops and intercepts it and then has the wherewithal to turn the sideline and then the speed to race 63 yards to the house like that was the defense like kind of sinking their teeth into the Jets.

But you saw it pop up over and over again. An interception by Kambayim, an airmail throw by Aaron Rodgers, but I think because of the pressure he was feeling. A turnover on downs in a big moment. Certain forced punts. I think of the time they forced the Jets to punt in the shadow of their own goal post, and it probably should have been a time where they had gotten off the field and then the refs threw that flag on Ivan Pace Jr but like the defense continued to step up time and time again

I think proving to us that like yes they're a good enough group to carry the Vikings and then I just thought it was so fitting that when the Vikings absolutely needed it, like, I think we've seen the movie before Aaron Rogers is, is feeling himself. He's marching down the field. It's a game. They shouldn't win.

He throws a touchdown pass with six seconds left and they lose. No, Stefan Gilmore, who, by the way, late signing another ad for another check Mark for Casey, Stefan Gilmore reads the eyes, plays back, works back to the ball,

and intercepts a huge pass. So I thought it was fitting how this defense continued to show strides, but got the game started with Andrew Van Ginkle and then closed the game out with Stephon Gilmore. High marks across the board. We'll get to grades, but they were unbelievable today. It was all over the field it was Blake Cashman grabbing Rodgers arm in a wild dive toward Rodgers I mean the reckless abandon that Blake Cashman plays with I don't know of too many players that I've seen over the years that have no regard for their body and will do anything for the ball.

How many times per game is Blake Cashman diving at something? And that was an incredible play. And even I think Rodgers turned around to him after and was just like, man, where'd you come from? And Ivan Pace being back added a level of violence to them. He had a five-yard TFL of Brees Hall in the backfield where he just shot through and made a play. He had a couple of strong hits today, but I mean, it was just a complete effort where Harrison Smith gets a sack off the edge, does the celebration, the old Rogers celebration.

Jahan Ward had a really nice pressure late in the game where he was able to knock the ball down. And even that just put more pressure on them the Stefan Gilmore interception is just wildly phenomenal technique he doesn't wrap his arms around he doesn't grab but yet he sort of stays in the way a little bit he's moving his feet so no one can throw a flag on him and then here's Aaron Rodgers who just keeps thinking that all of his receivers are Devante Adams who are going to know exactly where he's going to put the ball over and over. And he sees it. Eyes on the football.

Falling down makes that grab. We see corners every day have the ball hit them directly in the hands, and they can't make catches. And yet, with Stephon Gilmore, he's able to make that play to close out the game. It was top to bottom defensively. It was the defensive play caller. It was the run stopping, which I know the Jets were down, but had they been able to run the ball earlier in the game or when the game got closer, then so much pressure would

not have been on Aaron Rodgers. Harrison Phillips gets a sack. That interior D lineline that we were very concerned about going into the season has overall been a really solid unit for them. And Harrison Phillips not having to carry everything has now allowed him to play, I think, a little more of a spry game where he is getting more pressure than we've seen in the past. So the way that they played against them on so many different levels, they covered, they pressured,

they confused one of the great quarterbacks in history. And on the other side, also benefited from the fact that Rodgers is clearly a miserable dude. He is not happy playing football. And I know that he was trying to be cool by getting hurt and then like, oh, I'm going to run right back on the field and everything else. football and i know that he was trying to be cool by getting hurt and then like oh i'm gonna run right back on the field and everything else he just does not look like he's enjoying football in the slightest so whatever he saw in terms of visions in his darkness retreat was not the right

thing or whatever tea he was drinking while he was scaling down a mountain in brazil or whatever instead of going to a mini camp, he should have maybe thought this over a little bit more because I think that did help the Vikings that he was so easy to get agitated that they took advantage of that. And I mean that as a compliment to the Vikings because that would be on the list of things to do

for this game. All right, confuse him a little bit, hit him a little bit, stop their run game and have him at some point yelling at people frustrated. They did every part of this Dane. And now when we go through the list, all right, Daniel Jones,

don't worry about that one, but Brock Purdy, CJ Stroud, Jordan, love Aaron Rogers five and Oh, and after this game i'm certain we'll be ranked by all the expected points added dvoas as one of the top defenses in the nfl this team has a very good case is the best defense in the league yeah 100 i think the point you made about rogers just there

was was a good one um where like this look everyone we're gonna say because he's proven it through five weeks now that like he looks over the hill he looks like he doesn't want to be here but there's still times he can look like aaron rogers i mean i think the way to knock him off that that peak of his powers is to get him like disinterested in playing football, which the Vikings were able to do. But I bring that up because it makes me think back to the quarterbacks that they've played. Everyone sans Daniel Jones, but like Brock Purdy, one of the best quarterbacks in the league

as far as just like pushing the ball downfield and hitting the spots he needs to. He looked uncomfortable. CJ Stroud, a guy we haven't seen look rattled at any point in his career he looked uncomfortable jordan love who was coming back from a knee injury like so like i i get it like there's a little bit of like i guess handicapping there like he's probably going to look better the next time the vikings see him but he looked uncomfortable and then to like just do that time and time and time again but then to do it to a

hall of fame quarterback whose first ballot gonna walk into the hall of fame and wear that gold jacket like regardless of how you feel about aaron rogers at this point in his career like the fear that he can still strike in a team like that matters and i think that's enough sometimes to carry him against bad teams, against even average teams. But the fact that he did not do that today, I think speaks to your point. This is a very, very good defense. And yeah, if we want to say they're the best defense in the league, I don't think that's something that anyone would have like a,

like an easy time debating back and forth with, because like all the, the evidence is there. And this is not a small sample size. Now this is five weeks doing it against, look at those teams again, like the 49ers, the Houston Texans,

the green Bay Packers. And now the New York jets who I know they're two and three and look like a disaster. But that was a team that everyone was number one with a bullet to win the AFC East before the start of the season. So they're doing it over and over again. And I think early on this season, I was like, well, let's wait. Let's wait.

Kind of like how I was with this team. Like, hey, let's wait. Like, no, like the proof's there. Like they are an elite defense with an elite play caller, with an elite group of playmakers across the board and just really no weaknesses we talked about the cornerbacks at the beginning of the season that felt like it was going to be a weakness it hasn't been so it's it's just really been an incredible stretch of football from that group and i don't think it's going to wear down like it did last year

because it has the pieces it has the horses i think to carry the vikings this year well and uh you mentioned those free agents shaq griffin has been a really good addition for them when he got hurt in training camp we were like oh boy now what do they do uh so we're going to get to our grades here and then the big picture on what this means. 5-0. I do want to say thank you to IShotYou99 for the super chat. Getting 2022 PTSD helped me calm my nerves. I don't think we've done a very good job of helping you calm your nerves.

But I would say this, that if you can win a game, and all week we went sort of through this, almost preparing everyone, including ourselves, for the fact that this might be a very gnarly game and it might go kind of badly. And the whole thing was, if you walk out five and oh, that that's great. And it's a little bit more than a nitpick to talk about the play calling and talk about the quarterbacking at times from Darnold, because over those first three weeks, he was so almost perfect that these last two weeks where there's been more shakiness and when they did rely on him today and it didn't work out very well, then there is reason to go, okay, they have to figure out how to deal

with the fact that their short passing game has just not been very effective in order to continue to win, right? Because there will be teams that they don't get up 17-0 because they get almost every one of these games, it's been a first drive or second drive interception right away or a score from the defense and you're going all right well now you play ahead for the rest of the day there will be times where they are down by some points and are you going to be able to rely on Darnold there will be other times where they're up in games seven points not always 17 or 28 where you need that one drive to kill a bunch of clock and win the game. And we just have not seen Kevin O'Connell really thrive in those situations so far, really, at any point during his time as the Vikings head coach. Let's see.

Another super chat from Incho DM says, nice to wake up and see five at c5 and oh yeah well good morning to you or good afternoon uh it was a little bit strange myself because usually we have you know a routine where you wake up and you kind of get your articles posted on social media and get ready for the game but it was just like oh football uh football, welcome, and had to adjust. And then everything happened in the first 10 minutes of the game. So it was a tad startling to wake up to. Let's go through the grades, though, and begin with, since we're talking about Sam Darnold, begin with Sam Darnold.

He did, once again, every time he's been asked to put a team away with a big drive, he has done it and done it and done it. And he definitely did that again here in this game, but otherwise a pretty rough ride for Sam Darnold. What do you give him? We were texting back and forth during the game and I said, C minus, and that was before he led the drive. So I'll just stay at a C. I'll bump him up a little bit. But I can't do anything more than that.

I mean, he completed less than 50% of his passes and looked generally uncomfortable for the entire game. The only touchdown that the Vikings scored on offense was aided by pass interference penalties and was capped by CJ Ham scoring so Sam Darnold did not do much today to deserve much more than just a passing grade but he gets a passing grade because when they had to have him and they did need points late in the in the game and he wasn't comfortable to that point. A lot of three and outs, a lot of punts, a lot of work for Ryan Wright today,

who we'll get to in the special teams grades. But when they needed Darnold to just step up and do something, he did. He came right onto the field, and after another ineffective run by Ty Chandler, who did not look good today, he laced a deep ball to Justin Jefferson for 25 yards. And then he found Johnny Munt later in the drive, too, for 20. So did he look good? No, I think we've discussed that at length.

Are you going to need better play from Sam Darnold if you want to continue to be a contender? Absolutely. But when they've needed him now against the 49ers against the Packers and against the Jets to lead them to points when it's all started to kind of spiral out of control like he gets credit for doing that so it's a C he did not look good but I don't know like if they don't score if they don't kick a field goal there the Jets kick a field goal it's it's 20 to 20 and we're going overtime so he gets he gets points for that but overall he did not look good yeah to me I don't even think I can get into the seas with his performance I might have to go something like D plus because well I was putting the blame on Kevin O'Connell for the interception. Jefferson was there and he just overthrew him.

And I'm sure that Kevin O'Connell, when he looks at the tape, and this has happened a few times, by the way, where, yes, it is a bad Darnold decision. The Fred Warner interception, the Aaron Jones interception, where they are Xavier McKinney last week in the red zone. But I have tended to lean toward, do you understand Sam Darnold is your quarterback? Like you still have to play this safe sometimes. You still have to play this as if he is Case Keenum sometimes.

And this was a very Case Keenum-y type of win where the defense just was able to bail them out. But there was very little about this that was even competent in this day. It was a great throw at the end to Johnny Munt. It was a great throw to Jefferson and we should weigh those things toward, Hey, they got the win and we're able to put it away. But we're, I think also being a little biased in even giving him a C by the fact that Andrew Van Ginkle took back a touchdown and otherwise they could not score. And as you mentioned, like pass interference was an entire drive. If you won't win very many games, even with an elite defense, if your quarterback plays like

this and they have to look at this closely and figure out what it was that happened, whether it was play calling the jets have a good defense the running game being eliminated and they build everything off jones not having the screen game not having opportunity well not running play action they could have done it but not striking the fear of god into the jets running play action because aaron jones is back there he is really the swing player to this offense, but I would go a D plus. You come away with the win, so I can't give you an F,

but it was as close to an F when you go 14 for 31 and as much of a compliment to the defense. Let's see. OGST1 says, is this Darnold reverting to the mean or a blip? I think you could actually Dane answer that. It's both. He was never going to just throw for 50 touchdowns and 5,000 yards and go 17 and oh, so I think it can be blip ish, but also he had set the bar so high in those first couple of weeks that almost anything that wasn't perfect was going to be regression.

Yeah, that's fair. Like, is it a regression to the mean yeah but i i don't think like every single time sam darnold struggles we have to now assume he's going to turn into sam darnold with the jets or sam darnold with the panthers after that three and i'll start um so like yeah like it was probably never going to look perfect all the time. He didn't just capture lightning in a bottle and now he's Patrick Mahomes. So yeah, there's some regression, but I think it's a blip in the sense of like, it's not going to look that bad every game.

I really don't think it's going to look that bad every single game. So yeah, I mean, it like you can't have very many games like that from Sam Darnold this season. But they had a game like that from Sam Darnold, and they won. So, and again, like, this is not insignificance. It's one of 17.

And, like, they don't have to give that one back either. They just keep banking these. And I do think there's going to be a game where, like, at some point down the road the defense it just doesn't have it today we see that all the time in sports like there's going to be a game like to go back to the question like there's going to be a blip on the radar of this viking season but when you bank that's why it's so important to bank these wins early so sam darnold terrible today i think we can all agree they won the football game he did what they needed down the stretch um so whether we're at d plus c minus c like i think we all can agree not good um but yeah they they still get the win so they'll take it

yeah i can't say enough how much it says about their overall team strength that they overcame a lot of things that went bad for them, including the running back position. Aaron Jones in the first quarter of the game is absolutely phenomenal. He makes an incredible catch. He's getting positive yards on the ground. I mean, this guy is just a joy to watch. The minute he goes out, totally different game.

Ty Chandler is shaken. He has the ball hit him right in the hands. There was nothing Sam Darnold did wrong. He flipped it right to him, and then it just bounced off him. And hey, actually, let me move Sam Darnold's grade up to a C- for saving a touchdown on that play. Great tackle by Sam Darnold, just straining to do anything to knock that guy over,

and he was able to react quickly and do it and didn't just let him run into the end zone so great work there by darnold but ty chandler was not seeing it not feeling it and i i honestly don't know if it was if his sleep schedule got thrown off i've never seen him look like that even running the football where he didn't have burst he didn't have vision and then to have that total concentration fumble what was a mess for him it is save for aaron jones an f performance by ty chandler that's as bad as you'll see a running back play in the entire nfl and if they had taken him out and had miles gaskin play the rest of the game it wouldn't have been good but uh it probably would have been about the

same or worse and it definitely makes me think that phone calls need to be made this week to other running backs, somebody that they can trust in there. So there's not much debate about it. It was a blatantly terrible game for Ty Chandler. That's an F for me. So we can move on to wide receivers. I don't know what to think of the wide receivers in this game because Jefferson did have two,

maybe three balls that I thought he was going to catch regularly that he actually didn't bring in. So where would you put them? It's this one's really hard because like Sam Darnold didn't give his guys a lot of chances, but there was like some uncharacteristic drops from from justin jefferson and those are gonna like come to mind one of the drops literally almost led to an interception like you're really lucky that you weren't like one inch further onto the the boundary

into the field side um because then it lands right in sauce gardener's hands so like i guess i'll probably just cop out and take a c because they're like when they needed big catches from jefferson it kind of goes back to what we were talking about from darnold they got that chunk play down the field i also like think back to a play down the right sideline early in the first half where like that's a touchdown if sam darnold just lays it out there and so like Jefferson did his job he beat his guy off the line and if that's a better ball it's a touchdown Jordan Addison same thing there was a play early where it was his first big catch of the day I don't know how long it was I can look it up

it was a 26 yard reception where he I think it's the play that Sauce Gardner got his bell rung on Jordan Addison catches it he's running wide open over the middle. If Sam Darnold puts that on him sooner, like Jordan Ashton might make that safety miss. And then maybe he's gone too. So there, there was a lot of meat left on the bone from like a receiver perspective. But I think a lot of that probably goes back and falls on the shoulder of

the quarterback. But I can't give them like a B or an a, they didn't find the end zone and justin jefferson's drops were uncharacteristic um and we've seen that a couple times this season now so yeah i'll just stay c um but there there needs to be like at least some accountability from the receiver's perspective and i guess part of that could also be like yes the jets have really good corners and a good secondary. But if they were as sticky in coverage as Kevin O'Connell is making it seem, then that also falls on the shoulders of the receiver a little bit, too, to like not get open like in those scenarios.

So, yeah, the trend we're going to see right now as we continue to go through these grades is that the offense was bad. And like the receivers were not like good while the offense was bad. They were in that line of like not being good enough either. So I'll stay at a seat. Extremely hard to figure out because they also can only run the routes that they're asked to run. And if you're sending Jordan Addison 30 yards down the field, every play, then he can't

impact the game in short routes where I actually thought they should have stolen from the jets a little bit with the way that they threw to Garrett Wilson over and over again with the Vikings, two wide receivers. It was a lot of slants. It was a lot of quick stuff and also credit major credit to the jets corners. That is a remarkable unit i mean they have great players there sauce gardner for the beginning of the game dj reed is just as good almost and it was a very very impressive i also think though uh that the vikings offense in running these deep

routes over and over again really wears down their receivers because it's just and O'Connell's talked about how well you know if you're putting a guy in motion you're adding him running 30 yards and you go well if you have some short routes then maybe you don't have to have your guys run 30 yards over and over and maybe the drop at the end of the game is just exhaustion because Jefferson had been battling and battling and maybe the drop at the end of the game is just exhaustion because Jefferson had been battling and battling and he's tired enough at the end of a game at U.S. Bank Stadium when he can you know stay in Minneapolis and hasn't flown eight hours and had the time change and everything else uh it really seemed like he was gassed at the end of the game um yeah I just

I thought that the receivers uh were not put in the best position by their quarterback, but you kind of need the tape to be really sure. I would probably go a little bit higher. I thought that they were there and the throws weren't there and the play calls weren't there. The offensive line was not so much there today, early in the game, the drive where they moved down and they score that they were good and they were on point but it kind of went back to when jones went out there were sacks there were pressures darnold was hit multiple times and when they need something short yardage but this is this has reached a catastrophe when they get to third and one i just want to look. Like, don't even tell me what they did.

I actually studied this. It's not just you. If you're at home going, yeah, what's wrong with them at third and one? Am I crazy? You're not crazy because they are since KOC took over the ninth worst team on third and fourth and three or less. And they throw twice as much as they run in those situations, even though league-wide running is more successful in short yardage than passing. So this is something that is a major, major

problem with the fact that they can't trust the interior offensive line to run behind them in big situations. And then Ingram today and Bradbury gave up a lot of pressures inside that I think also played a role with Darnold. One of his passes, we've seen this every week. Someone's falling at his lap and he's kind of torques his body and throws it. And when it works, holy cow, is it nice. But when it doesn't, it will sail on you when you don't have that proper base. And we saw that a little bit today. So I would give the offensive line probably a D plus. It looked like a real struggle to me today, day.

Yeah, I'm, I'm there too. And there, I guess the reason it's not an F is because they looked pretty good in the early stage, building that 17 point lead. But again,

that goes to Andrew bank ankle was a large part of that 17-0 lead because he scored a touchdown by himself it wasn't good enough from the offensive line it it really falls in line with how the entire offense played I think Ed Ingram is very lucky that Dalton Reisner is not healthy because the job would have been lost long ago. It doesn't sound like Dalton Reisner is like nearing a return. They didn't open his practice window this week. I would think if he was close, they would have done the same thing they did with TJ Hawkinson. Now they're working, you know, to maybe open that after the buy, maybe, maybe look, maybe he progresses through the buy and he's feeling pretty good and

they don't have to use that full 21 day window but i i think you're really seeing like we haven't seen a lot of oh my gosh games from ed ingram yet because the the aggregate of the vikings has looked so good but it really showed up today a couple of times there was a really costly sack late in the game where ed inggram just got, you know, he just, here, take Sam Darnold down. I'll just lead you to the quarterback. And then another costly block in the back. It was kind of a senseless block in the back.

Just like he is a microcosm of the struggles on offense or in the offensive line. Like when it looks bad, it looks really, really bad for the offensive line. And when it looks bad, it looks really, really bad for the offensive line. And when it looks bad, it looks really, really bad for Ed Ingram. So it wasn't a good day all around, but it's not a coincidence that we keep talking about the right guard

whenever the offensive line play up front looks shaky. Sean makes a good point in the comments that two runs by Chandandler that were effective were brought back by penalties the illegal motion to the nfl no one wants this penalty okay the illegal formations illegal motions no one wants that i didn't want it when they were calling it against the texans or when they call it against the v. No one wants to see exciting plays called back because the guy leaned his shoulder slightly forward, again, with the horrible job for instant replays by NFL Network.

I get it. It's that they don't want you to second-guess the referees and wait 15 minutes to see if Ivan Pace actually hit the punter or not, and I'm sure they waited that long because he didn't. But they also didn't show whether Justin Jefferson was actually not lined up correctly because I couldn't see him moving forward in the very tiny replay that they showed. So thumbs down. They get a D minus for that.

But as far as the offensive line goes, I mean, that's a good point that the one run was taken away from the block in the back. And that was a difference maker. The other thing is too, Blake Brandel, he jumps off side or false starts in a situation where they just got a big, big penalty, the game of first down. And there's no reason you're not on the road you had you had time and you go up and you don't know the snap count and once again like here's a bad penalty against the offensive line it was a it was a rough time now on the other side of things i thought the

defensive line was just phenomenal the front seven i'll just do the front set wait no you do the front seven i thought they were phenomenal that's my opinion what's your grade they were phenomenal like a they have the jets rushed 14 times for 36 yards and i get it like they were trailing so like they had to throw 54 times but this is now like it's not a coincidence anymore. Like, they're good at stopping the run. And they've done it again this week, pretty much rendering Brees Hall nonexistent today. And that's a home run threat anytime he touches the ball. And by the way, that 20-year-old kid, Braylon Allen,

who went to Wisconsin, he's pretty good too. They both looked mid today at best. And that's largely because of the front seven. Do I get Andrew Van Ginkle in the front seven do i get andrew van ginkle in the front seven like sometimes but like he plays linebacker he plays he plays i'm taking him um and then you can take him when you talk about linebackers and in the back end as well because he plays every position um he like they literally go up in this game and they like i said earlier sink their teeth into the jets because of an individual effort by andrew van ginkle so when you couple how effective they were at stopping the run

with how much pressure they were able to get on aaron rogers um and then i'm stealing andrew van ginkle from you out there uh his 63 yard touchdown like it's an a it might be an a plus and and it's just another example of how deep they are. Even something as simple as when it felt like the Jets were pressuring the Vikings or starting to apply that pressure of maybe they're going to make this a game, Harrison Phillips came up with a huge sack. It was opportunistic. It was dominant. And it was just a really impressive performance from those guys up front truly phenomenal totally shut down a run game that's capable of being very dangerous

another thing too and just popping into my mind at the end of the game uh jonathan grenard didn't get a sack today but had a huge pass rush toward the end of the game where he went right by somebody got into aaron ro grill. And he has repeatedly been the guy that they could count on in those one-on-one him versus the tackle situations. He kind of does this jump thing where he gets, he gets like up and then just explodes almost like a, I don't know, like a, like a high jumper or something going into their high jump. And the tackle had no idea what to do. Just went by him, should have got a sack, but Rogers was just able to get rid of it at the last second. But those plays were absolutely huge. You can have Andrew Van Ginkle. You get an a, because

the secondary gets an a for me as well. I mean, yes, Aaron Rogers was going to find some guys. He was going to complete some passes and Garrett Wilson is a great wide receiver. So he was going to make some plays too, to is a great wide receiver. So he was going to make some plays too, to get the game clinching interception. Hey, there's an overthrow, make a play. Cam Bynum can catch the football. If there's overthrows, if there's mistakes by the quarterback, he usually does not let them get away with it and makes plays as that deep safety. And he's in the right position. A lot of times he gets another pick he continues to be really good for them the secondary did as well as you could have asked with a Rodgers

that was coming in very angry like needing to get on the same page clearly was pumping the football toward Garrett Wilson which was something I was concerned about going into the game. Like actually you want him not throwing to Garrett Wilson. Even the touchdown was a great play by Rogers where he had to escape and throw it into a super tight window. I didn't even think it was bad coverage. It was just a great all world type of quarterback play. So, I mean,

I have to give, I mean, a minus because they gave up a touchdown, but it was, was really really excellent in the secondary and all around uh tremendous tremendous job by the vikings defense the special teams though let's just say this will reichardt gets his own grade all right yeah that's perfect that's what i was hoping you would say when i i came home from training camp every day and did the live stream and everything else.

And it's just like, this might be the best kicker I've ever seen in my life. And, you know, of course the, the comment section, don't say that. Don't talk about the kicker. He'll, he'll miss the big one and everything. Those 50 yarders chip shots. The closest he came to missing was the shortest kick that he had. And it drifted a little bit at the last second. This was huge for Will Riker. They have not asked him to really

carry them in any way recently, but this game, they needed those long kicks. They were not getting anywhere near the red zone and they were given an opportunity by a bad punt and a nice little nifty return from Brandon Powell to just be in field goal position. Okay. Field goal position means the 37 and you're there and you can make a kick. Incredible job. A plus. What about the rest of the special teams, Dane? F. F. It's not close like the game look it's it's probably a close game because the offense stagnated and i think the jets probably get rolling if probably a close game no matter what but it's a close game

in like one where i think the v the Vikings are on the verge of losing. Largely, I'm not going to say exclusively because of the special teams, but largely. And the lion's share of the blame goes to the special teams, in my opinion. And it started almost quietly. If you weren't paying attention, you missed it. There was a punt return right before halftime where Brandon Powell gets the ball. He returns it six yards, seven, maybe to the 22. And if you look back, there's a yellow flag on the ground because Jay Ward, for some reason, after Brandon

Powell had ran by him, decided to shove his guy right into the ground in the back. Instead of starting at the 22, you start at the five. They go three and out. Then you compound that mistake by allowing a 31-yard return to Xavier Gibson. This is the hidden yardage that Matt Daniels always talks about. And so while people are going to talk about the block or the roughing the kicker from Ivan Pace Jr., this thing started a little bit more quietly where like that essentially gifted the Jets a chance to score a touchdown that

one penalty by Jay Ward and that return that they allowed on punt coverage but then you look after halftime what is a Caleb Evans doing like Xavier Gibson calls a fair catch and a Caleb Evans should just run, try to run back to the United States at that point, because like you, there you should be nowhere near that guy. Instead, he looked like he tried to like scare him and in his attempt to scare him, he,

he ran into them. The play you, you mentioned about Brandon Powell, like just making a nifty play to catch the punt caleb evans almost took him out like you see this with the caleb evans it happened on defense where it just seems to spiral out of control and he seems to melt down in real time i think they took him off on coverage after that um because trent sherfield was it was in at one point and he made a pretty nice play um look it's an f for me i do think that the ivan pace junior penalty was a little ticky tack so like if you want to bump them up to a d

minus you go right ahead uh but it just wasn't good enough and like when you are a good team and you're going to be playing in close games sometimes like you cannot have that type of play from special teams and like i think matt daniel is a really good coach um i think at times like you can only coach players so much i think he probably tells it caleb evans in those situations hey when you see a fair catch don't go to the guy um and you can't control what the players do uh at that point in time so So I'm sure he tells Jay Ward, look, if,

if the returners passed you, don't block the guy in the back. Um, and then it happened. So like, it's not good enough from them. Uh, and,

and I think for the second straight week, they opened the door, the special teams opened the door for this to be a football game. Um, and, and it really needs to improve throughout this bi-week. Yeah. You know, when it comes to being a championship caliber team, which is where we're headed with the conversation here,

it takes everybody. It takes all of the things. It's not just, oh, the quarterback, just having good defense, just having, of course, it's not just having good punt coverage, but it takes everything. And when you have something like this, it wasn't the chargers that year after year after year used to be a good team and then give away points for free on special teams. It sort of felt like that at times this year where everyone else is doing their job, punt the football successfully without taking a penalty and receive the football without taking a penalty if you can't not block someone in the back then just fair catch it every time there was another play i i give powell a ton of credit for being a psycho and returning punts because that's so hard to do but he also grabbed one where they were up 10 points in the game and did not fair catch it with guys barreling down on him.

Buddy, you're up 10 points in the game. Can everyone get a memo? Can they print it out to everyone on the sideline? You are winning. Stop acting like you're having to make desperate plays to everyone, to the head coach, to the punt coverage. Why are you running at the punt returner when he's calling for fair catch and you're up by 10 points like can I mean just a little shade of situational football I guess they

left that in Minnesota but my gosh and Evans is unplayable at this point I mean I think it's time to just make him uh you know an inactive on game day and find another person to use there Trent Shurfield has been a great special teamer throughout his career I never thought I would say you know, an inactive on game day and find another person to use there. Trent Shurfield has been a great special teamer throughout his career. I never thought I would say, wow, they really missed Najee Thompson, but wow, they really missed Najee Thompson. This is something that just can't continue because every time you punt the ball away, you have to be terrified of what's going to happen.

And that was definitely today for this team. But you're right. If they don't commit a penalty and they just run three times, punt the ball away, Ryan Wright booms at 50 yards. They cover it correctly at the end of the half. I don't think we ever have to get close to talking about too much of a Jets comeback, but just like not Jalen Naylor, letting it go through his hands last week. Again, printout. Hand him the printout. You are up 28 points.

Let it go over your head. I mean, truly, do they have wristbands for this that you could put on that have the score on it? I mean, this goes back to I think that overall, since they hired Matt Daniels, his units have been good in general. But if they keep doing this, it will cost them a game. And I have felt at times, even last year, Jay Ward would lined up offsides twice and is kind of like their guy on special teams. I'm not really sure I fully understand some of the

decisions that get made there. So I think that that unit deserves an F freaking minus. And Will Reichert only balances out the special teams grade by being outstanding today. So the entire team, situational masters, no. Situational completely lost out there today for everyone except for the defense. Anyhow, they're 5-0. Tell me it doesn't drive you crazy when you can't just punt the ball away.

I mean, come on now. They're 5-0. And I've had many friends, I'm sure you have too, reach out, oh, just like you thought, huh, dweeb? I'm like, okay, all right. Well, the National Football League league is unpredictable and that's what makes it glorious but as we talk about five and oh we're going to discuss whether it can continue i've already seen 2016 come up in the comments yet yep i was here for that i covered that

um there are things that i think give them a great chance to be in late december talking about racing for the nfc and there are also things that are worrisome to me uh the sam darnold will have a couple weeks to get healthy i think he's been playing a bit banged up these last few weeks but we have gotten a shade of the inconsistent sam darnold the highs and the lows we have gotten a shade of and it has been well covered on the last two podcasts some of the inconsistent Sam Darnold, the highs and the lows. We have gotten a shade of, and it has been well covered on the last two podcasts, some of the game management stuff and situational football. The defense is incredible, but it's also been incredibly healthy, which is important that they stay that way.

At the same time, Jefferson exists still. They get Hawkinson back. The schedule gets easier. And this is, it is much more, 5-0 is not something I thought, Dane, but I thought that they would be pretty good. I thought they would be in the playoff race. And I do not think that this is a paper tiger

or this is any type of mirage or it just is sort of lucky and they got good bounces every single game five for five they have outplayed their opponent by a significant margin and the worst critique we have is could you just finish off a 17 point lead please that's the worst critique we have of this team it has been a remarkable five weeks for them. This was a must needed. Don't care how it looked just win this football game and come home at five and O type of victory. They are set up to race for the NFC. And if we were picking all NFC teams to go deep in the playoffs, to be right there at the end of the year, they deserve very much to be in the best

team in their conference conversation that is how i feel how do you feel yeah and and that's why i think it's good that we always end the podcast with like looking ahead because like to close the loop on this whole thing at the beginning of the podcast an hour ago i said let's separate the forest from the trees they are still five and oh and then we spent the next 55 minutes talking about how horrendous they were today except for the defense like this team is good enough to compete for a championship i think that's clear um i think the buy comes at a really good time i think the fact that they've showed they can win ugly like matters but like when you

look at the buy you know and where it's positioned you're gonna need aaron jones to get healthy if you played next week i don't know i don't know how good it would look it comes at a really good time aaron jones gets to get healthy you're gonna add a top five tight end back into the offense we talk about sometimes how like trade deadline acquisitions or whatever and they acquired acquired tj hockinson two years ago at the trade deadline in 2022 they're essentially doing that in 2024 but they're not having to give up anything they're just getting one of their best players back um so they've done a lot of this while being shorthanded or not at the peak of their powers. But I think why we can nitpick and dig in and kind of ask for more,

it goes back to what you said last week in the Lambeau Field press conference. No longer are we saying like, well, you know, they had a couple of good weeks and how good can they be? Well, we'll see. Like, no, they can win a championship this year. And in these opportunities, they don't come around very often. And they certainly don't come around very often here with this franchise. So they're five and oh, I could,

I think some people right now, I mean, they've probably come in debt, come down from it, but like, we're feeling real tense. Like, Oh no. Like, is this the first domino? Is it all going to fall apart? Like, no. And I, and I think that's important to remember that it's not all going to fall apart um but i i think the fact that we're looking for room to improve or trying to find ways that they can get better um speaks to how good they already are so like it's a five and oh football team. They're one of the only undefeated teams left in the league. It's okay. It's okay to, to, to push and want more. Um, but let's keep the perspective here. It's still a very, very good football team with an incredibly high ceiling,

my opinion. Um, just to the question from horse feathers, when Hawkinson will be back after the buy, um, the expectation is that he'll be backinson will be back after the buy um the expectation is that he'll be back either for the rams or the colts game but not likely the detroit game it the acl is usually requires quite a ramp up uh in order to get there that's why 21 day window is important for him to have and with the bye week you don't really he practiced on friday limited by week you don't really practice and then come back so even with that window uh he's gonna need more time i think than to be ready for the detroit game um which will be huge and exciting and i think we'll talk about it so much leading up to that one how this is one of the biggest games for the Vikings that we've been

able to talk about in quite a long time. And to do it through the lens of this team is not a mirage and it's not a bunch of late game luckiness. It is a super talented, well put together overall, very well coached overall, well quarterbacked, well-run organization. Everything is lining up to the point where they should be scaring the rest of the national football conference. I got to say, Dane, just before we close and thank you so much to this huge audience watching. Thank you all for joining in. Really, really appreciate all of you uh rolling with us

here uh through the midday slate which after this we get to watch and that's going to be great but i want to say that on the first podcast we did after the giants game you and i said before the game there was an energy there was energy energy to us the press box football i could have just hit you right through the glass and sent you flying down there. I was so jacked up for football. But that was the game where I showed up four hours early before the game because I forgot the time change

and was so excited. But there was also an energy to the team and to the fans. And it was palpable. You could sense how much everyone wanted to find out what something different was going to look like. This team had so much intrigue, so many questions to answer. This quarterback with a high upside and a big arm,

and what's he going to do with Kevin O'Connell? Aaron Jones is here. They've added so much talent. Is it going to be amazing? Is it going to be a disaster? What's it going to be? And the answer is A, the best case scenario. But it's also been a lot of fun.

I mean, a lot of times, a lot of times, and this is maybe the first this year where winning has felt excruciating, but a lot of times over the last six years, and I thought of this while watching Cousins come back the other night to beat the Bucs, how many times was winning excruciating? How many times did you get to the end and you win by a 61 yard field goal against the giants? And you go, I guess, yeah, I guess I suppose you won the game. Uh, that has not been the case for the overall picture of five and oh, it's been good. it's going to get evaluated on the level of should be good should compete for a championship and this is what we've been looking for for this team and

all the criticism through the years build a complete roster coach it well create a good culture that isn't one of fear so to speak have your stars be stars. Put them in positions to succeed. Find a defensive coordinator who can use all these guys' talents at once and build the roster in a lot of different ways to get to the point where you deserve to be here, and then do it in your window. When I look around, I don't see a lot of other NFC teams that are in a place where you would say, wow, you have no chance against them. They're really the stars of the NFC and you're just lucky to be here. I don't think that that's the case. And it feels very refreshing, Dane, as much as I need to decompress from watching them punt. I think I really think that this is the best team

that they have put on a football field since 2017. Yeah. And I think like the fun aspect matters. Like it's been fun for us to cover, but I think it's been fun for the players. And then I think like when you're 5-0, like obviously, like it's really fun. You're one of the best teams in the league. But I think like when you're five and oh, like, obviously, like, it's really fun. You're one of the best teams in the league.

But I think like the genuine joy they feel like around each other, like has played a role in this start, this hot start, this successful first month or so. And I think that goes back to the way they built this thing. I, a lot of times I like to like tonguein-cheek make fun of culture and football. I think it's such a buzzword that we can use. But it's showing up on the field. And I think with a worse culture or with a worse group of guys who might not want to play for each other, I don't know if they're 5-0.

I don't know if you eke out a couple of these wins, you know, over the last two weeks. I think when stuff starts to hit the fan, it's pretty easy to just go the other way. I think we saw it with Aaron Rodgers today. Like when stuff started to hit the fan, like you just look miserable. I think having fun and like wanting to play matters. And I think that's a big part of,

of all of this. And that's something that we probably shouldn't lose sight on. Like it might not always be fun to watch this team grind it out. But at the end of the day, like a five and O start, I don't think anyone really saw it coming. I'm not even sure if the players saw it coming, but they get to walk into that five week, heal up,

rest up, and now get ready for what should be a legitimate push forward into something that could be really special for this franchise. So it's a good thing, good things all around. Not the best game today, but we'll walk away from it now, heading into the bye week, I think feeling pretty good if you're the vikings yeah i just think that's always important to uh separate what we're talking about in an

individual game critique there is no way to watch that game and say oh yeah it went great i don't know um maybe if you didn't wake up in time for it and you just looked at the score and you went oh they won good uh and didn't ask any other questions but uh as far as the bigger picture here this is it feels like a special year brewing and we'll finish with this great stat from steven vikings have only trailed for three minutes and 26 seconds in five games that is astonishing but also as we do the dance are they for real who is for real who are the real teams how much you play from ahead is a nice signal i think and when you're playing from ahead the entire time all the way to the super bowl they'll never trail no i'm just kidding but when you're playing as someone's going to return a kickoff for touchdown and they'll be down for like five minutes or something but that's a type

of stat that any other sport if you were talking about hey in basketball how often or in hockey how much do you control the puck this is controlling the puck for the whole game like that is a good signal for the future and breaking down the rest of this and the rest of these games dame we got detroit it's coming here. Then we fly to LA. You and I will be out there in LA doing the postgame podcast in that enormous stadium afterward. We've got a trip to Jacksonville.

Thank you for the schedule. Makers come in. Still Chicago Soldier Field. There is so many phenomenal games that will be really fun to cover on this schedule. And we are following along a season that has been the most fun that I can remember. So Dane,

thank you for your time as always. And I will see you very soon. And thank you again to everybody who took the time to watch here. Thank you so much. And a lot, a lot more breakdown of this team. The train of purple insider does not slow down during the bi-week. So I will be here and having a lot of great conversations with all of you as

well. So thanks again, Dane, and appreciate all of you. We'll talk to you all soon. Thank you.