Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Week 1 and 2020 Vikings predictions with ESPN's Myron Medcalf

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. This is Greg Olson, and I'm thrilled to introduce my new podcast, TE1. TE1 will chronicle a 60-year evolution of the tight end position, from its origins as an obscure, overlooked blocking role, to the versatile superstar position that it is today. I'll explore the evolution of the position through conversations

with some of the all-time game-changing tight ends. And just like thechanging tight ends. And just like the incredible tight ends we sit down with on my new show, the Chevy Silverado is in a league of its own. This truck is all about grit, strength, and dependability, the same attributes it takes to be a tight end. welcome to another episode of purple insider matthew collar along with espn's myron medcalf what's going on myron man we got football this week so it's bizarre man because we didn't really talk about the nfl the way we've talked about the other leagues, you know, like Major League Baseball, college football.

You know, we just kind of let the NFL go and do its thing, man. Like, don't talk about Fight Club kind of thing, and maybe it'll happen. And, like, here we are, man, like, with an opportunity to actually start the season. And based on the numbers they've had, I think we're going to finish it too, man. It's exciting. exciting like if we don't say it out loud then nothing will happen like nobody moves and that's kind of what happened though it was like i remember three months ago when it was like

oh man all these guys tweeted about protocols and they're concerned and you're like uh-oh this doesn't look good and now it's like Thursday we get Houston Texas versus Chiefs man so I'm excited and then you have the fact that like there was the money issue and we thought oh this is going to be a baseball situation where they fight over money for two months and we play an eight game season and it's going to be a complete disaster and it's not going to count and there's asterisks everywhere. And it's just none of that has happened. And honestly, congratulations to the NFL. I've made the joke before, but I'll make it again.

I wish the NFL was running America in the way that it dealt with COVID because they honestly deserve to be congratulated. They had one blip on the radar of some tests that went the wrong way, and then they solved it within a day and moved forward here and my hope is throughout the season we end up with better testing that gets faster results more accurate results and we can potentially even get fans in the stands more than two percent or whatever the stadiums and then we go forward I mean I'm not super confident about how America in general is handling this but the NFL has done such a great job that I am now at like 90% confidence

that we go the whole 16 weeks and all the way through the Super Bowl. Yeah. I mean, when you hear college football coaches saying, we're not going to reveal the test results because it gives our opponents a competitive advantage, which is what Lincoln Riley said at Oklahoma. It's scary to hear that. But for the NFL, their gift has been transparency. I mean, when the false testing thing happened, what I appreciated about that was they communicated what was going on,

but teams shut down practices. Even though there were no guarantees, they still delayed things, pulled guys out of practice just as a precaution. And that to me is how you have to approach this. Like, we don't know for sure maybe, but let's be, you know, let's take the precautions until we know for sure. So I think that gave them a lot of street cred, just being so open about everything that's happening. Yeah, man, we're going to play football and I think we're going to get a Super Bowl. I had the thought that I wonder if, and I kind of wish it could have been this way,

someone like Michael Pierce maybe should have had a second chance at deciding to play instead of not playing because they really didn't have an idea of how safe this was going to be. Same with any of the bubbles, the NBA or WNBA bubble. I was listening to a Zach Lowe episode where he was talking about before it all started, hey, what happens if half of the Denver Nuggets, for example, bubble. I was listening to a Zach Lowe episode where he was talking about before it all started, hey, what happens if half of the Denver Nuggets, for example, let's say that half of their lineup ends up out, and then you're in a playoff series. Would they shut it down? Would they delay it? And there's been no positive tests at all, and the same with the WNBA. Soccer did its bubble. Everything worked out okay, but we didn't know at that time and I kind

of wish that they had put an opt back in clause but then I don't know maybe that messes up everything with the salary cap and so forth but I do wonder if Michael Pierce is sitting there going I didn't know it was going to be this safe I thought I was really putting myself at risk so anyway well the Vikings will move on without Michael Pierce, play the Green Bay Packers this week, and we can just talk football, and that's it, and I love it. So I want some predictions here for both week one and then for the season at large. So why don't you kick it off here and give us a week one prediction.

On another episode, I had Rami Maklov pick the most bizarre possible ways that this game could go because you never do know. But kick us off here with a week one prediction, Vikings and Packers, Myron. Oh, man. Well, first, I'm just excited to see it. I really am, man, that we're here and starting at home with a game like that. No fans. I still don't know how to – it's going to affect some teams different.

I mean, it's just – it will be a thing, maybe not even for entire teams, but for certain players. So I'm very curious about that. I think my prediction is Dalvin Cook goes 175-plus yards from scrimmage, and that's the key to the game and that's what decides the game i think that to me is the the thing that not only will be important for this game but i think that's his ticket to the extension he wants i mean i think dalvin cook is out to prove and really has to prove uh that he is vital that he is not one of these replaceable backs that you can find for a minimum contract, that he's different.

And against the Packers, he's had some great moments. So I think Dalvin Cook is obviously in this position where he's looking around the league and going, okay, McCaffrey got paid. Kamara looks like in New Orleans is going to get paid. The rest of these running backs, it's all sort of uncertain. And he's coming into game one without the deal he wanted, without the money he wanted. So I'm certainly sure he's feeling some pressure. But the one thing that I think that can be exploited with this Packers team that, my goodness, I don't know how you stop them from pressuring Kirk Cousins with Kenny Clark and Z'Darrius Smith.

But there are gaps, and San Francisco exposed that in the NFC Championship game. I mean, you can beat up inside, create some of those pockets to get the big plays that you want out of Dalvin Cook. I think 175-plus yards from scrimmage for Dalvin Cook. I'll add two touchdowns to that, and that is the difference in the 31-27 Minnesota Vikings victory. Okay, I like it, and I also like the idea of picking higher scores for this week. If we kind of compare it to some of the bubbles we saw in the NBA and WNBA when they first got there, lots of scoring. It had been a while since anybody played. Short training camps or just a few scrimmages.

And I think defense is the hardest thing to sharpen up. And we've seen this in years past where it's, oh, well, they're on pace to set every record that's ever happened on offense through the first six weeks. And then the defenses start to catch up. They start to make adjustments. So I'll agree with that.

I'm going to make a prediction off of yours, and then we can just go back and forth like this, that if Delvin Cook gets to week one without a contract, that he does not get one, and he is franchise tagged next year by the Vikings, that they're just going to say, look, we don't negotiate these during the middle of the season. I can't remember during the Zimmer era any player who signed a contract extension in the middle of the season.

So that will be the cutoff, and he'll just have to play it out and see what happens. I think that's right. It's probably accurate in terms of, you know, I think there was a chance, and it feels like that chance is over now. I think Dalvin Cook will be the most important player coming into week one, regardless of the contractual situation. I think Justin Jefferson becomes your number two playmaker in that game. I think the Packers, I think Jefferson in the slot, I think he has a chance to expose some things against that Green Bay defense. I think he has to be, you know, you don't say great or anything like that, but he has to be effective in a game like this.

You got to give Kirk Cousins opportunities and as many weapons as possible when you're facing that defensive front and just how they destroyed them last year. I mean, there was nothing that Kirk Cousins could really do to get comfortable. And if he's got to make quick decisions, you need, I think, Justin Jefferson to really not play like a rookie and to actually show up and make some big plays. And I think the opportunities will be there for him on offense.

And I think Dalvin Cook's performance will open up a lot of things. I think Justin Jefferson is going to not make people forget about Stevon Diggs or anything like that. But I think it'll be one of those like, okay, you know, maybe we have something here after week one. See, I was thinking about Jefferson as totally the opposite way, that we're going to come out of week one and say, did they draft a receiver in the first round or what? Because it's just my thought that it's going to take a while for them to really get him up to

speed, full speed with the offense, even though they've had a couple of weeks here of training camp, I don't think you can really understand how much is poured onto someone in compared to college. If you've been around before and you've gone through a couple of NFL seasons, you know how everything works. You know how the Kubiak offense works. This is why BC Johnson was their number two wide receiver during training camp. The guy knows the offense. He knows all the techniques that you're supposed to run. But I mean, I think it's really, really a lot, a heavy workload for Justin Jefferson. And my suspicion was that it wouldn't be until week five, six, seven, just like we saw from Irv Smith last year, that his ascension started then.

And if I was to pick the guy other than Adam Thielen to have a big day, I think it's going to be Irv Smith. Just looking at the way that they practiced throughout those couple of weeks and being out there every day, I saw a lot of great to be Irv Smith. Just looking at the way that they practiced throughout those couple of weeks and being out there every day, I saw a lot of great things from Irv Smith. And I think he's ready to take another step. And I think that for week one and for the entire season, that Irv Smith will be the second leading wide receiver on the Minnesota Vikings this year.

Reaction? Well, you know I like Irv Smith. I mean, I'm an Irv Smith guy. I mean, so I'm fine with that. I think he's got to be top three every game. I don't think there can be a game against a good team where you're like, Irv just kind of showed up, one catch, 10 yards, that was it. I think he's got to be top three.

I do like that prediction. Where I think that Justin Jefferson's benefit the most is I think defenses will need more time in the NFL than offensive units. No fans. You would think that's a benefit, but that to me is the

great difference maker a lot of times in big games. It's almost eerie, I would imagine. And you can hear so much, which that can work for or against them. But I think defenses around the league are going to need more time to come together. Whereas the first four to five weeks of the season, it's going to be a lot of raw talent over scheme. It's going to be a lot of just, you know, who's got the playmakers ready to go, and that's where I think Jefferson.

I love that Irv Smith prediction. On the other side of the ball, I don't think Devontae Adams is going to destroy this secondary. I understand the concern about having four guys on the depth chart who have barely played a season combined. I understand everything that comes with that. But when you add a defensive monster and now you've got a healthy, I think he's healthy, Daniel Hunter and the pressure that I think they can put on an aging Aaron Rodgers,

who I probably overestimate compared to most. But the one thing that's true about Aaron Rodgers is with time, he's continued to play the same way, which has hurt him. The Drew Brees, the Tom Brady's, the pocket passer guys who really just said, let my arm do the work, protect me at all costs. And that's how we win. Aaron Steele really wants to be that young guy slinging the football around the field, making big plays.

And history suggests that those guys get worse year by year as they hit their late 30s. And I think another year with Aaron Rodgers, who the Packers didn't give him the additional targets that we anticipated, I think he takes another step down just based on how he plays.

I don't doubt the talent. I do doubt the style of play. And I think Devonta Adams as a result, they've got a mystery on offensive line too. I mean, we're hearing that we don't even know what their offensive line is going to look like here come Sunday. I think he's going to be under a lot of pressure under a brand new defensive line that looks furious now. And I think he's

going to make a bunch of mistakes that put Devontae Adams in a situation where the throws just aren't there in week one. And it'll be more of that than a young secondary kind of clamping down. It'll look like that maybe on paper, but we'll know that it's really Aaron Rodgers needing some more time to get his feet underneath him in maybe the most pivotal year of his late career, especially considering what they did in the draft. I want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original Minnesota sports-inspired goods.

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Code PURPLEINSIDER for free shipping. I definitely think that this year defines Aaron Rodgers going forward, like the late career Aaron Rodgers. We've joked before that he's washed, but he's still been a top 10 quarterback, even when he hasn't been the number one quarterback. But does he remain there for a while and slowly kind of fade out, or even go into his 40s where he's extremely good, like Tom Brady or Drew Brees? Or does he just fall off the edge of a cliff? And I tend to think that your Randall Cunningham,

who was the playmaker who moved around all the time, suddenly becoming a pocket passer to throw bombs to Randy Moss, is unusual and probably won't ever happen again. If you play that way, you're probably always going to play that way. I don't see Russell Wilson later in his career just take a three-step drops and firing balls over the middle. Like, you got to be who you're going to be in order to succeed. I think out of camp, some Packers reporters are saying, well, it looks like Rodgers is buying in more to the system. Right, but that's not when things are flying and you're

doing just sort of your instinctual things to do. On Adams, it's interesting with him because last year he smoked the Vikings, 106 and 116 yards. That was against Xavier Rhodes a lot, who he always had, Xavier Rhodes' number, even when Rhodes was good. But now he's going to go against a combination of cornerbacks that don't have a whole heck of a lot of experience, and I'm really going to be interested to see how they deal with that because I think every team's plan is going to be, let's make other people beat us other than Devontae Adams. Let's roll coverage that direction. Let's make

sure that we've got a lot of people paying attention to him because if we go, you know, if we play normally defense as if a team had two good receivers, you know, then Devontae Adams is going to smoke one-on-one whoever we have. And where I was going to go is that I think the Packers offense will put up a good number of points. I like your 27 prediction. And I think that Aaron Jones is still going to lead their offense because the Vikings defensive line got significantly worse when it came to the run defense with Yannick Ngakwe and not having Michael Pierce or Linval Joseph. I think that the corners

are not as good at tackling as the previous version of the Vikings corners, and it just opens up the door for some big plays. And they also sent Aaron Jones down the field sometimes last year. Would not be surprised if he ends up getting a few opportunities to make big plays I'm going to say that he ends up being their leader in total yards from scrimmage it's hard to argue I mean he did cut him up on Monday Night Football in that last game I guess I'm just curious to see if people understood how close that Packers team was to not just being an average team, but being a team that didn't get to the playoffs. I mean, they, they, everything was, you know, things went in their favor in these close games.

And history says that that just doesn't happen two years in a row. So for me, the Packers on paper, we're not necessarily a contender, even though they make the NFC Championship game. So for me, I'll be curious to see, like, can they duplicate the things that they got in some of those critical moments? I think you have to make a prediction here on that. How many wins are you going to make them this year?

So I think the Packers take a big step back, and I think they are a 9-17. I just think you had to get Aaron Rodgers some help. I just think you had to put him in a better position as he ages. How many times can you go and grab a bunch of receivers off the street the way that they had to last year and things work out? At some point that catches up to you especially if your quarterback slows down you've got a whole an offensive line that you're not even sure about just days before game one um and we may have already seen the best of aaron jones i mean the history of uh green bay packers quarterbacks

whether it's running backs whether it's a dorseysey Levins or an Edgar Bennett, I mean, they have sort of these moments where they're like, oh, my goodness, this guy is this versatile threat. He can do it all. And then you look like a couple years later and it's like, oh, okay, he was okay, you know. So maybe we've already seen the best of Aaron Jones. I just think they have a lot of close games, 9 and 17,

for the Green Bay Packers. But I got another number that I think is important. I want to make sure I'm saying his name properly. It's Yannick Ngakwe, right? Yannick, yes. Yannick, yeah. Yannick Ngakwe, the Neil Hunter. Give me 23 combined sacks between the two.

That's my prediction. That's a great number to set it at if you were doing an over-under because the last couple years, Daniil Hunter is nearly a 15-sack guy, and Yannick Ngakwe has been over double digits once, but even when he's not, he's at eight or nine. And, you know, I do think that Zimmer's scheme will help Yannick Ngakwe and Andre Patterson's coaching will help him in terms of how many sacks he can get to, how many times

he gets to the quarterback. I think just, it does help Daniil Hunter too, a lot to have that other guy over there, because I was anticipating a ton of attention going his way. I think that that is right on. I think that's exactly where I would put it. And there is a domino effect here, and I'll jump off with a bigger picture prediction here for this one. There's a domino effect to Yannick Ngakwe that now opens up Afadi Adenabo to do more along the defensive line, that now helps in the back end quite a bit for these young cornerbacks to not have to cover for as long because there's concern there and not have to cover as many players like this is a thing that doesn't get talked about a lot when you can rush

with four and they're very very dangerous you need to keep a tight end in you need to keep a running back in and it's just not as many people going out for routes because you're concerned about the edge rushers. I think Zimmer's defenses have benefited from that for a long time with Everson Griffin and Daniil Hunter. And so I'm going to predict that the Vikings sneak inside the top 10 as a defense. They are not number one. But in terms of points against, I'm going to say that they end up ninth.

I love it, man. When I looked at the depth chart to see those names, it's amazing where we were three weeks ago with no Yannick Ngakwe, no Daniel Hunter, you know, not sure what his situation was. And then, like, you see those two names on opposite ends of the defensive line, and you're like, I wouldn't want to play these guys. Now, outside of that, you're sort of like no real concerns until you get to Anthony Harris and Harrison Smith.

But I don't know, man. I think this is a unit, if those two guys play to their ceilings, right, this is going to be a terrifying group in terms of pressure and quarterbacks. Those two guys played to their ceilings, right? This is going to be a terrifying group in terms of pressure and quarterbacks. The problem is they're playing a lot of good quarterbacks this year. They're playing a lot of quarterbacks who seem to excel in those moments. But the addition of Unique made me think – originally I thought this guy has to be a team that has to score 27 in order to beat good teams

the addition of unique made me feel like you know what if they're a 21 to 24 kind of team and that defense plays to its capabilities they're going to win a lot of games but can they put up those points consistently I'm going to predict that the offense falls just outside that top 10. Somewhere around 12, 13, 14 wouldn't surprise me. Just because they're relying on a bunch of new parts. You mentioned Irv Smith who just has to take a step up. I don't think you have a top 10 offense unless Jefferson is good and effective and consistently in the rotation. Healthy Dalvin Cook, we know what he does.

We haven't seen him healthy yet. But I do wonder kind of where he's at, especially if this thing gets ugly. You know, it's one thing for Dalvin Cook to say, okay, I'm here, I'm playing. I understand the circumstances. But we've seen how teams can fall apart, especially if you start two and three or something like that. I wonder what his attitude will be. And I'm not saying he's a guy who has ever caused trouble in the locker room,

but it would be natural for anybody to watch Alvin Kamara and get a big extension here in a few days and Derrick Henry. And you know all these guys group text and they talk and you're sitting there without a deal. But I do think consistency will be the issue. I'm not convinced Garrett Bradbury makes this big leap from a year ago. He had a lot of problems with big, strong guys up front, and he's going to face a bunch of them here on Sunday.

I don't know. I'm not anticipating some gigantic leap. And if that doesn't happen, then where exactly does this offensive line get tremendously better? And if they don't get better, then to me it's that Packers game for Monday Night Football, potentially every Sunday, and that unless Dalvin Cook is really good and unless Kirk Cousins gets a bunch of time to execute you could be in a really difficult situation from week to week which is why I think 12 to 14 offensively is where they

will be at compared to being a top 10 team I don't think they're they're that I totally agree and part of it is last year they were 10th, I believe, in points. And when you think about some of the games that they played against incredibly mediocre opponents, and they put up huge numbers, they kind of swung those things. They dominate the Washington football team. They dominate the New York Giants. The Philadelphia Eagles defense at the time was missing, I think,

all of their cornerbacks in the game that they played against them and digs went crazy. And I think that they just had an easy slate when it came to some of those teams. They played Detroit twice and Detroit had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. If they improve at all, that makes it tougher. And Green Bay is still going to be hard. Chicago is still going to be hard. So I look at them and see very few games where you just sort of snap your fingers and say you got 30 points because it's that easy because that other team is super trash. And we knew that the Giants and Washington, we knew those teams were going to be just pushovers when it came to the Vikings offense.

So this year, I think that things will be stacked up a little bit more difficult. And the other thing is too, that, you know, Kevin Stefanski did not get any credit for last year. It all went to Gary Kubiak, but he was a good play caller. Pro football focus had him as one of the best play callers in the NFL last year, which they figure out by the player grades versus, you know, what happens on the play. So if players didn't have to do a whole lot, for example, and they still got, you know, good yards, that means it was schemed up well and called well. So I, you know, I don't know, none of these things are perfect, but, you know, repeating those couple of things I think will be difficult. And unless

suddenly there's a bunch of injuries on their schedule and they end up with some really easy games against bad defenses, it's going to be, it's going to be a tougher road. And you also don't end up with a huge number on offense if you start with the running game. Like protecting the football, not turning the ball over, not throwing 40 times a game. Like you just don't start in a position to be one of the best offenses in the league when Kansas City and Dallas exist. So let me ask you this, Myron, as we've rolled through some of these different predictions, where do you think the Vikings finish in the NFC North, sir? I think they win it. I mean, I think, I don't know that the league is going to be great. I mean, for whatever reason, the Bears are going to start Trubisky.

I think Detroit could improve. I don't know what that means in the grand scheme of things. I don't think they're better than Green Bay or Minnesota. I think Green Bay, again, you go back to that draft, and I understand why you draft a quarterback for the future, but I also feel like you've got to feel like you have somewhat of a window if you're playing in the NFC title game. And to suddenly go into let's build for the future mode,

like what future in this NFL? NFL fires everybody. So it just didn't make a lot of sense to me. And you're putting an aging quarterback who still likes to play kind of that backyard football style with holes on the offensive line and one receiver that we trust. It could be bad for Green Bay for every lucky break they got. And I don't mean luck in like a way that they,

they didn't earn it, but just a sense of like in those 50-50 games, a lot of things went in their favor. I think it'll be the opposite this year. They just won't win all those games. Whereas I think the Vikings, if anything, they kind of know who they are now under Kirk Cousins. I think unique just adds something to a defensive line that just looked like it wouldn't scare anybody before that addition.

I think he's going to have a chance to pressure every quarterback in this division, including the guy in his late 30s, Aaron Rodgers, who, you know, is going to be chased a lot, I think, with those two guys up front. So I think the Vikings win Packers number two. That's how I see it going, man. Get back to the conversation in just a minute. But first, you've always counted on restaurants, and now they're counting on you. And while their dining rooms may be closed, they're still open for delivery with DoorDash. DoorDash is the app that brings you the food you're craving right to your door. Ordering is easy. You open the DoorDash app, choose what you want to eat, and your food will be left safely

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You know, I think that the Vikings, if if they remain healthy are a 10 and 16 but there's five to seven players if they get hurt that they're not a 10 and 16 that they end up being a 7 and 19 if adam feitland misses five games they go seven to nine if harrison smith misses five games they don't even have a backup safety on the roster as we're recording this if If Harrison Smith gets hurt for five games or Anthony Harris, you're probably going seven to nine. I mean, the same thing even for someone like Mike Hughes, the only halfway experienced cornerback and the only guy who's played nickel before, which is very valuable in today's NFL. If he goes out, you're again, probably going seven and nine because the offenses are going to be able to take advantage. If Yannick Ngakwe gets

hurt, you might go seven and nine. Like there's all these, all these guys, all these potential outcomes where there's really no one to step in. Sure. I think Justin Jefferson will be very good eventually. If Adam Thielen goes down, B.C. Johnson and Justin Jefferson have, what, a year total between them and one seventh round pick. I mean, you're going to have a really tough time moving the ball downfield if Adam Thielen gets banged up at all. And the same even for, like Irv Smith we talked about, six weeks without him. It's going to be really tough for you because the schedule doesn't give you many breaks. There's those back-to-back games against Carolina and Jacksonville.

And other than that, you got somebody good to face or a division opponent week in and week out through the entire season long. So if they stay healthy, they're a 10 and 16, maybe even 11 and five. But if you see a few guys go down, then I think we're talking about trouble. And of course with every team, it's if the quarterback goes down. But in this case, there isn't like a Case Keenum where you say,

oh, you'd easily go, you know, 2-2 or 3-2 or something. This is if your starting quarterback goes down, I don't know if you win any games with Sean Manning. As much respect as I have for him in the career he's built out, but if you're going against Aaron Rodgers with Sean Manning, you're in a pretty tough spot. So yeah, I agree with your prediction that they could and should, but I think that the depth on this team, at least in terms of players who are experienced and could step in, is very, very thin. All right, before we wrap it up, I need two more predictions

from you NFL league-wide, and I'm not going to go off the board here. I'm going to make this very simple. MVP of the NFL and who wins the Super Bowl? Oh, man. I will start with the Super Bowl pick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay. All right. Yeah, let's get it started. What Jameis Winston did a year ago was chaotic, right?

But for that guy to put up 5,000 yards, it says a lot about the guys around him. And then you bring in a guy at the last second, like a Leonard Fournette. I just think comfortable Tom Brady with a bunch of athletic weapons feels like Drew Brees being introduced to Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara late in his career. And all of a sudden we're like, wait, Drew Brees is still throwing for 4,000 plus yards, 5,000 yards? Like, did he get that much better?

Well, he got some really, really athletic guys around him who made him look pretty good. Yeah, he's good, but they just simplified things. And I think that's what Tom Brady has. And if you just took the name away and the controversy and the Belichick stuff, we would be looking at this completely differently, in my opinion. He's got access to an offensive unit that Jameis Winston tried to mess up and still wound up with 5,000 yards. So what is Brady going to do? So give me Tampa Bay.

Who do they beat to win the Super Bowl? They beat Kansas City. Every road goes through Kansas City. That's not going to change. You got to beat Mahomes to take the champion. It'll be like Rocky and Drago a little bit. The older guy. I'm not saying Mahomes is Drago, but just in the age, different.

My MVP is Russell Wilson. I just think it's going to be another year where he's got to carry a really heavy load. And if you don't have Mahomes last year, if you don't have Mahomes last year if you don't have Lamar Jackson if you don't have some of these other guys at just these explosive seasons you look at Russell Wilson and like he deserved more praise for just how he willed that team into a position where they're one win away from changing their entire playoff path and who knows what happened so i think this is the

year for russell wilson we're having a lot of conversations about yeah but where does he rank among the best quarterbacks i'm like let's be honest if he wins that second super bowl and they give it to marshall lynch we're not having any of these conversations right about russell wilson right like the dudes at all time. He is one of the greatest we've seen. He doesn't have to be Brady or Breeze. Let's stop acting like this guy's suddenly not even, you know, barely a top-ten quarterback. I think he wins MVP.

And, yeah, man, those are my picks. What about you? Okay, so I'm going to make one that could hit and I look pretty smart or just totally blow up in my face. I think that the Dallas Cowboys lose in the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens. I'm going to go that way. That's right. Because here's my thinking on this. The NFC East is horrible.

That Dallas Cowboys offense is incredible. So I think that they can go 13-3. They can win the NFC and get that one spot. Remember, now it's not two buys. it's only one team gets a buy. I think that team's going to have a huge advantage over everybody else. They can play at Jerry World, and they end up going all the way with that crazy good offense, and Everson Griffin ends up in the Super Bowl. And Baltimore, because of Lamar Jackson's experience in the previous playoffs, That helps him a ton. Even though his season won't be as good as it was last year, like Mahomes,

his playoffs will be better, and he'll end up taking the Ravens to the Super Bowl. And I will say if that all happens, then Dak Prescott, on the franchise tag, wins the MVP of the NFL. I'm going there. Oh, my goodness. I'm going there. Oh, my goodness. I'm going there. You went there all right. Whoa.

I was not expecting that. I'm buying Dallas. I think that their division is terrible, and the Eagles are already hurt. They've already had to move somebody into left tackle, and Jason Peters from right guard to left tackle. You know he's getting injured at some point. Their receiver that they drafted and were high on, he's already hurt. I think the Eagles are done being a great team.

The Giants might win two or three games. And the Washington team can improve, but I don't think they're going to be good. So right there alone, Dallas could run through the East. And their offense last year led the NFL in yards per play. They can do that again with even more weapons this year with C.D. Lamb. So I'm buying big time on Dallas. And, again, that very well could blow up in my face. I just think that Jason Garrett was holding them back a lot last year.

I think they were a great team that got severely held back by their head coach. Well, for all the people who didn't watch mike mccarthy after the super bowl you know i think i think there are a lot of reasons to to be concerned about who mike mccarthy is as a coach in 2020 and if he's if he's adjusted and adapted he's more open-minded he can be a hell of a coach and it's the mike mccarthy who just sort of put on blinders, good luck. All right, fair enough. Well, this predictions episode was very fun, Myron. And I look forward to us getting together, you know,

on an every once in a while basis and breaking down things and making predictions and having a good old football time. Football, man, it's happening. I'm ready for it. Hi, my name is Bobby Peters, and I've recently written a book titled The 2017 New England Patriots Pass Game Manual. If you've ever wondered what makes the New England Patriots offense, specifically their pass game, so successful over the years,

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