Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Was the win over Seattle the best Kirk Cousins showing as a Viking?

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

From inside US Bank Stadium, Matthew Coller and Sam Ekstrom break down the Minnesota Vikings' win over the Seattle Seahawks. Was this the best we've seen from Kirk Cousins? Are the Vikings finally leaning into Cousins offensively and trusting him more? What does it mean that they are using all of their weapons on offense? What do we make of the tale of two halves on offense and defense? How the Vikings' win sets up for a huge game against the Cleveland Browns and lays out the path to .500 by the bye week or better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Wow the Minnesota Vikings offense looked really good against Seattle post game podcast from inside US Bank Stadium Matthew Collar and Sam Ekstrom here and let me just fire a question at you right off the very top here best Kirk Cousins performance as a Minnesota Viking yes or no I know I don't think it was I would have to think back through I mean mean, they had like nine yards of play two years ago against Detroit. And I know that the name brand Seattle Seahawks would tell you that this is a very good opponent that he just did it against and a great defense. But I don't think that's the case. I think this was a bad defense that he just tore apart. Now, am I

detracting from what Kirk Cousins did today? No, I think it was a fantastic Kirk game. And it was a productive offensive day. Seattle had no answer. They ran the ball well, they passed, everything was good. Is it the best offensive performance that they've had in Mike Zimmer's eight years, as he declared? Might be a little recency bias to rain on the parade. It was really good though. Top five, top 10. I mean, the receivers were constantly open. Running game was efficient. Third down offense was tremendous. If you want to knock them, they didn't score a touchdown in the second half, but they did a sustained drives and keep the ball away from Russell Wilson.

So from like early second quarter on, I mean, that 23-0 run they went on, that's as good as they've looked, obviously, in a couple of years. Okay, let me make a comparison for this one, because I think this was very similar to the game that they played against the New Orleans Saints to open the 2017 season, where, no, it was not absolutely perfect. They didn't put up 56 points or something, and the defense was not absolutely

perfect in that game either but they made a lot of big stops when they needed them and it was against a team that okay at this moment I am not convinced will ultimately be good and so this might be one where we look back and say okay bigger than uh or know, we made it bigger than it ultimately was eventually down the road because the way that Seattle coached today, I just don't know that that's going to win in their division. Their division is very, very tough and their coaching was very, very bad. Their defensive scheme was a major struggle. Wide receivers open all over the field. The in-game decisions were pathetic, to be honest. I mean, just as bad as you get in the year 2021, in the year 2003, maybe fine to punt away where they kick a field goal and miss it or to punt at fourth and five in the middle

of the field. But when you have one of the world's great quarterbacks, that is a way to lose a game, especially when the other team is running up and down the field on you and sustaining long drives so f minus for Seattle in terms of their coaching their defensive personnel has just completely deteriorated but their quarterback is still as good as he has ever been Russell Wilson was great today and the fact that this team in Seattle last year went 12 and 4 makes the playoffs every single year and the fact that the Vikings were 0 and 2 back against the wall absolutely needed this to reset their season and have a chance to make the playoffs you go 0 and 3 things become really really tough from there I think that that qualifies as Kirk Cousins' either biggest win or close since 2018.

I mean, aside from the game in New Orleans where they win the playoff game. Clearly that. But regular season, maybe there's another comp of the 2018 game where they went to Philadelphia. And again, eventually that game didn't look quite as good because I think Philly went maybe 9-7 that year. But at the time, it was a huge game early in the season Kirk played really well took some hits and made some big throws and he did that today I mean everything that Seattle gave the Vikings they took advantage of offensively and I think what we see here is they know and Clint Kubiak knows how to get the ball to all of his playmakers, whether it's screens

or deeper throws to Justin Jefferson, or just having an answer on a blitz with KJ Osborne coming over the middle, everything was there. And I think we've said this many times over the last couple of years that when you lay it all out there, when you give pass protection or running game, open receivers to throw to, Kirk Cousins is as good as any quarterback in the NFL. And that's always been sort of a knock to say that. But then when you see it in action, you go, well, it's not exactly a knock. It's more of a description. And it's a description that comes to fruition every time a defense plays like this. Like you said, was very lion's-y in the way that it played, and he just beat the tar out of them.

Yeah, this was every facet working together complementarily. The offensive line grades, I assume, will be pretty kind to the group in this game. They were very good. That's two games and two sacks for Kirk Cousins and one that got nullified by a defensive holding call that we can talk about as a pretty clear turning point in this game. But this is a team that could win some shootouts. And I think now through three games, if you take out the first half of the first game, five halves of football where this offense has been very good. Their three and out percentage, which was a big knock on them last year. They're sustaining drives when they need to.

Sometimes they're scoring when avoiding third down entirely. Like they did that for their first touchdown today. They did that two or three times last week. They're just really efficient on first down Kirk Cousins is is making fewer of those what the heck throws um we haven't seen bad Kirk really emerge at all yet um and sometimes with Kirk I think things snowball like I think sometimes if he gets kind of down early in the game feels that pressure he's made some throws where maybe Mike Zimmer's like made a comment to him like hey you can't do that maybe that puts him on edge and he't had that. He's kind of been all like, you know, forward momentum so far on offense this year. And people keep saying that he's different, you know, like he kind of denies it. He downplays it. But Thielen said he's different. Madison said

he's different. Zimmer said he's different. So I think I tend to believe those voices in saying that maybe something is happening here in year 10. And it's still a small sample size. I want to stress that. We're only three games in. But there might be a revelation here for what Kirk Cousins can be and do turnover free through three games. He seems even more willing to stand in there and take hits, kind of Bradford-like in that regard, which I know Mike Zimmer respects a ton. So continued good things from Kirk, and this offense is going to need to outscore some teams because even like 41 minutes or no, 49 minutes of shutout football. No, I got that wrong.

41 minutes. I apologize. 41 minutes of shutout football late in the game down the stretch. I mean, I still think there's issues on this defense to be resolved, but the offense covered up for him today. Yeah, okay. We'll get into that, and we'll get into kind of the turning point and everything else. But in terms of the broad strokes by the way I was a month early I predicted in our predictions before the season that Cousins would win player of the month

I think in October but he is giving himself a pretty darn good chance to do it for September and and that's the thing about Cousins and his career is there are these peak moments that are truly remarkable in 2019 which i've started to think like this season sort of has a 2019 ish feel to it where there's a lot of drama early on and they sort of get into a role a little bit and then we'll see when it comes to the big games they're going to have to go to san francisco They're going to have to go to Baltimore and Green Bay, not in that order. And we're going to find out when they play some better defenses along the way. But when we looked at the beginning of the schedule, it's like, who's got a good defense here? Cincinnati certainly does not. Arizona and Seattle definitely do not. And these are the games that have worked for cousins in the past when you have

defenses that play a lot of single high defenses that aren't particularly good at stopping the run this is why i picked the vikings to win because this has all the earmarks of a great kirk cousins performance and i think he uh outperformed even my expectations i thought this would be a little closer but there's a formula for this offense to win and when it gets tested later in the season then we're going to really see how this works but when they can run effectively and they didn't really need the play actions today but come through on third downs as they did so often in this game didn't quite finish as many drives as they needed to but find open receivers i think

justin jefferson after an early drop put any concerns to rest that justin jefferson is anything less than he was last year he's absolutely terrific today thielen makes a great catch in the end zone like this these are things that this team is capable of the offensive line the last two weeks has not really been tested though the defensive The defensive lines of Arizona and Seattle are not good. Chandler Jones is good, but that's it of all the players and Watt. But even Watt is not anywhere near what he used to be. Those defensive lines are not impressive. And so as we go forward, maybe we'll see next week against Cleveland,

a team that just beat the tar out of the Chicago bears and embarrassed them. Well, how does that defense look against this team? But the broad strokes of it are, this looks like an offense that not only can carry this team at times, but may have to carry this team at times because in the second half, I feel like Sam, the offense did all of the work in the second half and the defense stood and watched. And then they had to run out there and make a couple of stops. But the fact that the Vikings offense was on the field for so long, that was the big advantage here. I think there is a lot to talk about with the first half of that game and how easily Seattle steamrolled their way potentially to a victory if there was not a suspect holding call on the defense on Seattle

we could have been looking at 24 to 7 and and it's a huge swing in this game and give credit to the Vikings for taking advantage of a good break that they got but the way that the defense was playing early in the game I thought it was a reasonable possibility we were going to be talking about the Vikings getting blown out. At that point, it looked like they were getting blown out. So I think there's still a lot to look at on the defensive side and say, is this going to have to be a team that wins shootouts? Yeah, there rarely is a turning point as defined as it was in this game, but a third down sack inside your own 20 that's going to give it back to Seattle, who has just produced 201 yards in three drives and 17 points. And the only thing

that had slowed them down was their own block in the back call. To give it back to them at that point, it felt like the wheels coming off of the season like oh and you're staring at oh and three and from that point on Seattle had one meaningful drive in 18 minutes of game time the Vikings double dipped scored going into halftime Seattle had you know a little dink and dunk before halftime which didn't matter then Vikings come out second half eight minute drive touchdown Seattle did nothing for almost a quarter. They had a missed field goal in that stretch, a decent drive for them, and that seemed to flip the momentum a little bit more as well.

But then Vikings defense got to play with a lead in the second half. It seemed like they got after Wilson more, probably did make some adjustments. They stuck with their coverage. I thought they got better as the second half went along, as the lead increased, as defenses tend to do. The crowd got more into it. It was kind of a mausoleum in here late second quarter, and then they came alive in the second half. But if this offense is going to convert at the rate they have the last two weeks, which has to be among the best in football, they could win some 30 to 27, 35 to 31 kind of games. And they almost did it last week. I mean, last week should have been 36-34. And you're

walking out of there saying this offense is incredible. This is the story. And I think there's just a little more of a killer instinct to this offense than we saw last year when they seemed a little more complacent. Alexander Madison was terrific. So if Dalvin is out for any meaningful amount of time, I think that you can probably survive. Mike Zimmer said, hey, there's still room to improve if Dalvin comes back. So yeah, this game was going nowhere for the Vikings before that penalty. And it's hard to say what happens if it doesn't get called, but it feels like a 17-point deficit they would have had to overcome. And so often, I mean, that's football, right? There's one point in the game where if you take advantage of it, you win,

and if you don't, you lose. And at that point, when they get, I forget exactly the order of operations, but they got a couple of big plays from Alexander Madison in there, a couple of runs, there was a screen pass mixed in, and then all of a sudden they're on the other side of the field. And it felt like even if they ended the drive there and punted away, it was still a massive difference than punting from your own end zone, which, by the way, Jordan Berry did not punt a lot today,

but that guy can really punt. That's just a side note. But his punt at the end of the game was incredible and he's been good for them but i okay so a couple of things that we've talked about throughout the years that cousins has been here one of them has been that zimmer doesn't necessarily trust him and the other one has been sort of you need a third receiver you need to lean into Cousins. Can you get the offensive line to average?

These are all things that I feel like have come up year after year, offseason after offseason. And now if we're checking boxes here, Cousins is earning more trust from Zimmer, no matter what their personal issues might be. There has to be, after these three games, a little more trust built up. They have an offensive line that two weeks in a row has performed solidly if not very good against average to below average competition of course but but good they have a third wide receiver in kj osborne who didn't have

huge numbers today but came up with one of the biggest catches i I think what we're seeing is maybe sustainable, not necessarily to the point where they could be the best offense in the NFL. They're not going to face a defense like this all the time, but sustainable in that they can take advantage when the other team opens the door like Seattle did today, or when they do get behind in a game or when the other team is scoring, or when everything doesn't go exactly perfectly in a game like today, where they got behind that you feel like a 10 point lead for the other team. Isn't a death knell to what you're doing. And I think that like those solutions have sort of come some by accident and leaning into cousins and throwing more maybe

by accident with Delvin cook out today. So I'm curious to see if when Delvin cook does return, that there's still more aggressiveness. I don't remember too many second and long runs today. Maybe they just weren't in those situations, but there has been more, it seems leaning into cousins and not only relying on him when he throws play action on first and 10. Yeah. So I think part of that is the defense hasn't been as they expect. It's been worse. So they've trailed in every game, right? They've trailed twice in the second half and then not today in the second half, but they were down by 10 and the passing game just proved to be unstoppable. So they kept doing it. But they've also established the run along with that in two of the games.

And I think you saw in Cincinnati what happens when you're a little bit stubborn, trying to run the ball, and if there is an encouraging aspect of that game, it's that that offense was able to recover and give themselves a chance to win. I mean, their onslaught against the Bengals in the second half was actually pretty impressive because they decided to throw the ball. So you're right. They've kind of stumbled upon the solutions. And I guess you can say the Herb Smith injury was the start of it, because if not for that, KJ Osborne doesn't play as much as he has. We might be realizing that the Chris Herndon trade might end up looking foolish in hindsight, but that's okay. I mean, it's still a day three

draft pick you gave up. But Tyler Conklin doing more things today than I think we saw from Kyle Rudolph any time last year. He's just got a little more speed. He's more athletic. I think Cousins has good report with him. So I think there's a lot of pieces on this offense that can mix and match. Like, you know, I think you like Madison behind Cook. You like Osborne as your top backup receiver. Like, you just have some pieces that you can mix and match with. I am curious to see what happens against Cleveland because they're going to get, you know, number one, Stefanski knows the system. He knows what they're trying to do. Number two, he's got talent on that team. So is Cleveland going to flummox them and how will they respond to that? Because they they haven't met a lot of resistance against Arizona and Seattle. And I think so. They've, they've passed the tests of beating good defense or beating bad defenses and

kind of having their way. What's going to happen when they meet a really good one, probably for the first time next week. I was going to make another point to just about Stefanski, knowing what they want to do and what they want to do, I think is just changed a little bit because when they've run bootlegs this year, almost every time there's a player upfield and Cousins has to throw it away.

And they've gone away from it. And it does seem that they're going to quicker passes, getting the ball out of Cousins' hand, which is more of a 2018-ish thing. And Mike Zimmer was asked about it after the game. And he said, no, no, no, that's not the case. But factually, it is the case. And when you look at his average depth of target, it down you look at his release time it's up and i'll check after this game what those numbers are but clearly getting the ball out a lot quicker i think

and that had to be part of the plan of this year because last year they were running the matt schaub gary kubiak offense 09, where it's these long developing play actions, deep crossing routes, which do work in the NFL, but not when the other team sends someone upfield. So it seems like they've had the ability to adapt, which also gives you some confidence in Clint Kubiak. Now, again, like you said, they didn't score five more touchdowns in the second half. There was certainly an opportunity at the end of the game where Zimmer decided to kick a field goal bad move and left the door open ever so slightly but Pete Carroll by far had a worse day in terms of decision making than uh than Zimmer's call there but uh I think that what we've seen from Clint Kubiak is a lot of things that are

different than Gary Kubiak and maybe even from Kevin Stefanski from last year. So I guess I wonder when Delvin Cook comes back, how this thing looks, if they are as aggressive, if they're in situations to be aggressive, and if Cousins can continue protecting the football and throwing all the time. Because that has been the thing with those turnovers is they usually come in bunches and so i guess as we're projecting forward how all of these things combine i'm interested to see now just i'm sorry we're swinging back and forth offense defense you know breaking this thing down but um it's time to make everson griffin the starting defensive end. Agree? Yes. We'll need to watch it back, but I can't remember seeing DJ Wanham today.

Did he play? Confirmed that he played. Did you see 98 out there? I think he was dressed. You think? I think so, too. Didn't see much from Stephen Weatherly, either. I did see Everson Griffin flashing and getting a sack.

Sack Daddy dance. Fans loved it. You're right. I think it was justifiable to say that he needed a month to get back in game shape. He's there. He looks easily like the number two defensive end. And you're not insulting DJ Wanham. He's not going to lose all of his confidence because it's Everson Griffin. I mean, obviously he's got enough equity that it makes sense to give him the job and, uh, you know, make DJ Wanham your, your third down guy. That's fine. I mean, if you want athletic pass rushers on the field in those situations, I think he still has a role, but maybe he wasn't quite ready for it yet. And Everson

Griffin looks really good to me. So I think that's a must. And tell me if you agree with this, Matthew, the, maybe the, the pressure numbers and the sack totals, the last two games aren't reflected, but I think they've done a pretty good job on the defensive line, at least flustering these quarterbacks. Now, like Kyler Murray last week is going to make plays out of that. But like Andre Patterson pointed out this week, why was he running? Because he was flushed from the pocket. And sometimes that's like an undisciplined rush, but sometimes it's a good rush too. And I feel like they've done enough to unsettle the last couple of quarterbacks that if they continue doing those same things, they're going to get to Baker Mayfield um they're going to get to

certainly Jared Goff they're going to get to Sam Darnold the next three weeks um and I think that that's a pretty encouraging sign and maybe they can get you know want him a sack build his confidence get Weatherly a sack and uh and keep doing some of those things and I think kind of moving from the defensive line backward I think that's where the cracks start to appear is the further away from the ball is where the issues are happening right now. Fans are going back to stadium. So you have to be ready with the best Minnesota football gear. That's why you have to check out soda stick. I saw a ton of soda stick gear around training camp. I expect to see it in the stadium as well. There's so many cool designs on hats, t-shirts, and hoodies for the fall weather,

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Again, that's SodaStick.com. Minnesota sports inspired goods. And keep your eye out for our soda stick giveaways well with the defensive line so gosh it's so interesting just how a game unfolds and what that means to the numbers and how we remember it because in the first half Seattle was just gashing them on the run. And they score a touchdown that goes, I think, 30 yards. They're getting big gains against the defensive line. They were running no huddle.

They were able to keep Everson Griffin and Sheldon Richardson out there. And it was a very clever strategy by Seattle to do that early in the game, knowing that the Vikings had been rotating on the defensive line. But even when Delvin Tomlinson and Michael Pierce have been in there these first three weeks, opponents have not had any problem running the football. Cincinnati did it well. Arizona didn't run a lot, but when they did, they succeeded.

And by the second half of this game, when the Vikings, as they call it, double dip, when they scored at the end of the first half, which has been such a problem for them, that was a huge drive. And then they come out and get a field goal. It really changed what Seattle could do on offense. I mean, they just couldn't be as patient. They couldn't run the ball constantly against the Vikings and it helped them

a lot. But I think that that is something to watch against Cleveland because Cleveland is an elite running team. One of the best in the league over the last few years. If you allow Cleveland to run over you, you'll never see the ball on the offensive side. So that's kind of an interesting little wrinkle to the defense. On the back end, they solved their problems in the second half largely. Again, with Seattle sort of desperately trying to push it down the field. A few big plays that they got. You know, Eric Hendricks made a couple of really nice plays and things like that they did a great job of containing russell wilson he didn't break out

and have any 50 yard runs or anything like he did a couple years ago but the attacking of bashad breland early in the game was so clear what seattle wanted to do and that seems like it's going to be a week-to- week kind of thing and also patrick peterson getting roasted by dk metcalf and also cam dansler tweeting after the game that what what did he say exactly i'm biting my tongue about this whole situation yeah yeah not a good look and uh and then included fr which means for real for all the yeah the the linguists out there. For those with swag like myself. So we won't get into whether Kirk has more swag or not. But yeah, Cam Dantzler, I think, doesn't want to be on this football team anymore. And that'll be interesting to track because normally when players have acted this way,

they find their way out pretty quick. That tweeting things about their playing time has never been very acceptable for mike zimmer so we'll see what happens there but i mean there there is issues when it comes to the cornerbacks i don't think anyone's playing very well even we saw xavier woods miss a tackle today they gave up a huge play to a tight end i mean we are if like the first half and the second half are so different because the offense had the ball for the whole second half that we sort of rewrite how it went, but it was a miserable first half for the defense. They were just giving up everything.

And I think that that is not easily solvable. I don't see Patrick Peterson having the burst that he used to have. I don't see Bashad Breeland as being the solid veteran that we thought he was going to be. And I don't think we've seen Harrison Smith having the impact that Harrison Smith normally has on offenses. So I think as you go into these next couple of games, Detroit has a very poor offense and oh my God, the way they lost the game today was just one of astounding the great press box moments like not related to the vikings but watching that with you and everyone else in the press room wow right that was true that was incredible as he lined up for everyone is like it'll be a record it'll be a record oh my god and then it bounces off of the crossbar goes up in the

air we're like is it in was it short what happened and then it's in i the crossbar, goes up in the air. We're like, is it in? Was it short? What happened? And then it's in. I mean, it's just insane. But that's not a good offense. I'm not convinced Carolina's a good offense. So really, this Cleveland test is the big one for them to see whether this defense can start to come together a little based on what they did in the second half of this game.

That's going to be a huge difference maker because as much as we talk about this one sort of saving the season or hitting the reset button on the season as we're talking right now green bay is beating san francisco but if if they lose then we're like okay i mean everyone's sort of at square one again but it has to carry over they have to figure out something to do with Breland and with what's left of Patrick Peterson and the safeties who have occasionally been on the same page and occasionally not. I think that these are prevailing issues, even though the second half sort of shoved those under the rug. Yeah, no doubt about it.

And this happens a lot with Zimmer defenses. They don't come out of the gate playing well. And then something does get figured out sometimes. You know, their last four meaningful drives was like missed field goal, punt, punt, turnover on down. So something did get adjusted. They were having trouble with the substitutions, the no huddle. But the run defense is alarming. Breland is alarming.

Xavier Woods, who I'm a huge fan of, hasn't been quite as good the last couple games. I do think there are moves to be made, though. I think that Everson Griffin, opposite defensive end, we talked about that already. Anthony Barr probably coming back at some point. He's on that track. And I have to agree with Cam Dantzler. I think he should play. I think he should have played today. Now they know more than we do. They see him in practice and practice performance does matter like to Mike Zimmer a lot. It's not, not about necessarily who's playing, you know, badly in the game. If the backup isn't playing well in practice, he's not going to play.

And I think there was probably some momentum in Dantzler's mind that he played well last week. And then he talked to the media this week and got a lot of questions about how well he played and probably got in his head that he was going to play today and then didn't, you know, behind a probably injured, ineffective Bashad Breland. That's going to be on tape. Everyone's going to see that Breland is the guy that's getting targeted. They're going to go after that. If you've got one weak corner, then that affects the whole secondary because it only takes one to really mess everything up. And I think you can still improve this defense. I just think that it's a little patchwork right now. You've got all these pieces

trying to figure things out. The tackles maybe aren't creating as many second and longs as you hope they would with those TFLs. Not quite the Linvald-Joseph effect yet. Maybe there will be a game like that. But yeah, to me, it's a work in progress. I don't think you've really solved anything. I thought Patrick Peterson today probably had had his worst game. I think I defended him last week because he was credited with that 77 yard touchdown. It's more of a mental error. I mean, I'm more concerned about when he just gets burned. And I thought that happened a few times today. So yeah, I've got worries about the defense and I assume Mike Zimmer does too, where he's going to recognize some of these things that are going wrong,

and maybe we'll see some new personnel next week. How much on a scale, say, let's go 1 to 10? Creative scale there. I know, incredible, incredible. That's what you listen for is creativity like that. But how much does this win mean, like 1 to 10? I mean, is it like a 10 out of 10 you saved the season now you can forget oh and two ever happened and steamroll your way to four and two at the buy and feel like you're an nfc north contender that would be 10 one is it means nothing

and thanks pete carroll for just mismanaging so many things in your terrible defense. Like what is, where do you put, well, call one a win versus the Lions in the Matt Patricia era. Like where does this sort of fall on your scale? Yeah, I think it's about a six and a half. You know, compared to Owen three, I think it means the most by what it avoids. It avoids a cataclysmic start to the season

and gets you to, I think, the next week with a chance to emotionally and mentally reset yourself because all of the good Zimmer teams have used 2-2 as a launch pad. If you get to 2-2, you've got all this previous experience to pull from. You've gotten through sort of the rigors of the early season, working out some of those problems. And then I think you can go into, you know, the buy at four and two. I really think there's a good chance of that.

Oddly, Carolina is going to be over 500 at that point. So that that's even though they played nobody, that's still maybe not going to be a pushover game. It's probably on par with going into Cincinnati. So you're going to have to play well there to go 4-2. But I think it's on the table. And I think they're already one-point favorites against Cleveland. I think that they can win every game in this building. I know you wrote about the home field advantage and how

US Bank Stadium probably provides a little more than most other venues. And I think that's true. I think the fans were great today. And I think they legitimately can make a run at it. And there's always the concern, though, on the other side of it, where this is the best we'll see of Kirk. It'd be hard to get better and that he's due for a regression to the mean. And as we know about Kirk Cousins, he tends to always level out. So usually it's start bad and then get better. And the worry is going to be that he starts well and then regresses and that he commits a turnover at some point.

It's got to happen someday. He's going to fumble. He's going to throw a pick. Well, that's the thing about Cousins' career is that there is no mean. There's either peaks or there's valleys. And that's it. It's months where you can't explain why it was so great and months where you can't explain why it was so poor and we're seeing the great and the great has to get them to a point where he has some wiggle room so if you win the rest of the way and you're four and four three and three and then you have one of those games where it's like i don't know you play at soldier field and it's just a no-show and you lose it doesn't wreck your season but if that comes against detroit that might wreck your season and i think that that is right there even after the high of a win, where if you're a Vikings fan, the thing you're nervous about is, okay, you've seen how good they can be.

But every year there's that one game where you go, what? And that wasn't really Cincinnati. I mean, that game was right there to be won. That game, whenever that may come, it really depends on the time of the season, how much that's going to hurt you. And I think what I'm saying is just the you need this to continue you absolutely that's what oh and two did for you is there is no wiggle room the rest of the way to the bye week it has to be as good as it was today offensively and it has to be better than it was today defensively or getting to three and

three at the bye or better is probably not going to happen. So I think this sets up for a very interesting next week. The whole, what if they win? What if they lose? If they win, then it's wow. Season back on two huge wins at home. There we go. If they fall to one in three and we'll talk about this more later, but then it's going

to go, well, what did it really mean to beat Seattle? It was just kind of a random thing. So this game, I think had a lot to say about what the offense can be and a lot of things that are sustainable, but now they have to do it. So give me your final thoughts and Hey, Greg Joseph, good for you. Good for you, pal. Greg Joseph, a low stress six for six today. I don't think he had a kick longer than 43 yards. Um, yeah, good for him. He needed that opposing kicker missed a field goal. Um, shocking, stunning. Could not believe it. Yeah. Um, yeah, let's, uh, let's write Kevin Stefanski stories and who else, who other former Vikings are on their team? Fadi Adenaboabo i think got picked up

by them is that exciting to you yeah i'm i'm pretty excited about that no more sunday ho i think he's gone oh man i think he's on a practice squad drew petzing former receiver coach mike priefer oh yeah special teams coordinator a lot of vikings angles all three phases my friend cleveland is two and one correct uh correct yep they lost to kansas city they've won their last two and they just beat the brains out of matt nagy who should not have a job anymore you anyone who listens to the show knows the one thing that drives me absolutely crazy is bad coaching and we got to watch a lot of that chicago game and i just in talk about disbelief in total disbelief at what in the world they thought

they were doing on offense. And I didn't even think that Justin Fields was like that bad. I thought he had nowhere to go with the football, which we saw so much for Mitch Trubisky over the years. And I don't understand why they continue to roll Matt Nagy out there. The Vikings are going to really, really wish they had gotten the bears early in this season. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Because if they get it together, like they did last year a little bit, that's going to really, really wish they had gotten the Bears early in this season. Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Because if they get it together like they did last year a little bit, that's going to be much tougher. All right. Well, we'll be back together, you and I, on Tuesday. And we've got Murph on Monday, Jeremiah Searles Tuesday morning left guard. Sage Rosenfels has agreed to stop by and complain more about Matt Nagy and talk about this game and preview the Stefanski revenge game, if you will. So a lot of cool stuff coming up this week on the Purple Insider

podcast. So thanks for listening. We'll catch you then.