Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What should the Vikings learn from the divisional round teams?

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

Matthew Coller gets Manny Hill's reaction to Eric Eager saying the Vikings should trade down and then they go game by game discussing what the Vikings can learn from each team that remains in the playoffs in the divisional round Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Novocaine. Only in theaters March 14th. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collard here along with Manny Hill as always except for on a slightly different night because we had playoff football last night so here we are to react to all of that. I want to start the show Manny by questioning if Eminem is taking away from the Detroit Lions. Well because it's a musical artist who they show on TV with some of his reactions. And I've heard that for another team, when they show an artist in her suite or whatever, it's a problem. Why not start off with a little snark right away? But good, good for Eminem.

He's battled through it for a long time. Get it? Battled through it. He crossed eight mile to lose himself at Ford field in a victory from the Detroit lions. He had one shot, one opportunity and Jared Goff took it. And without throwing up mom's spaghetti over his Jersey. So what a night it was. That was, that was off the dome, by the way, I didn't even prepare that. So Manny, what I want to talk to you about this evening is of course the playoffs, but what I want to do is have a little fun with it.

We've been a little dark on the show recently talking about the quarterback situation, all the things that need to be fixed for the Vikings. So what I want to do is go through the teams that are in the divisional round and talk about what we would steal from them, except for no quarterbacks allowed. You can't just take their quarterback because we will all do that of course. But that's what I want to do a little later in the show, but I got to get your reaction. I, uh, one of the things I respect about ESPN, and I really mean this, I'm not even being snarky here is that someone will have a take on one of their shows and they will have five other shows react to it i think it's very clever was it like you don't

have to come up with new takes you're just like wow this analyst said this what do we think and so we're gonna do that right now eric eager you all know him from Sumer Sports, said on yesterday's show that what the Vikings should do is trade down, try to get more draft capital, and then draft Bo Nix because he doesn't expect Nix to need to be picked where the Vikings are taking at number 11. Now, the draft is a ways away, but I thought, well, that's a little spicy, and I would love to hear what Manny Hill has to say about it so without your head freezing tell me what you think about that idea and let's hope uh let's hope my internet is good tonight um it always seems to happen about nine minutes into the show which i have about four minutes now to do it so anyway um uh it's it's interesting i mean and eric obviously i respect his you know his opinions and and and you know analysis on football he's he's just one of the best it's an interesting scenario that could come into play you know i think it's you're taking a risk because you don't want to you don't want to trade down too far and then have somebody then leapfrog you

by trading up because they really want Bo Nix and then taking him one spot before you. So that's kind of the risk you would run, but you know, you trade back, you get more draft capital, you have more to kind of work with. And that would give Kweisi Adolf mensa and and koc an opportunity to more opportunities to land you know potential impact players so um i don't know if i would do it if i were the vikings because especially if they let kirk cousins walk because if that happens and then you don't really get the quarterback that you want in the first round. Now you're kind of in trouble.

Now you're probably looking at signing a big bridge guy and just having him be your quarterback for 2024. And then maybe you try again in 2025 to get that young guy. But it's interesting. I mean, if you can get more draft capital and still get Bo Nix, if that's still, you know, and if KOC likes Bo Nix, then I would say go for it. But it would be a risk because if you don't get him, then you're kind of like, okay, maybe we'll take this edge rusher at number 19 or something.

So that's kind of my viewpoint on it. Yeah, I'm conflicted because in one way, I think whatever their plan is, is fine. And this is not a good take to have because you're supposed to make it spicier than that. Uh, you're supposed to be very definitive, plant your flag. I like this prospect. I don't like that one. And then what you do is tweet it out. And if the guy wins a playoff game, two years later, you retweet yourself to show everyone how smart you are. That's the way you're supposed to do this. But from my perspective, I'm looking at it like, well, it's a very uncertain roll of the dice for any quarterback. And we've seen all of these things work. We've seen drafting number one work. We've seen trading up to take Patrick Mahomes work. We've seen drafting number one work. We've seen trading up to take

Patrick Mahomes work. We've seen waiting till number 32 work. We've seen right. Uh, drafting sitting for three years, developing that works, uh, depending on, uh, you know, if you're one particular franchise and you can do that. So there's no, if you do this, that gives you a way better chance at success. And even if the gap between Bo Nix and Jaden Daniels is somewhat significant, as far as being a prospect goes, it, both of them give you a similar advantage as far as the salary cap and building around that player. And in both cases, you can drop that player into a great situation, give them great receivers. And as you mentioned, you got to get a pass rusher at some point.

And I was doing a little bit, ever so little early draft prep here because the combine, you know, it shows up eventually. And I'm starting to try to figure out who some of the names are. And one thing I noticed is there's a database of draft boards and mock drafts and stuff. I think you just, I just Google mock draft database. It comes up. Is that there's a lot of edge rushers expected to be in the first round, but then there's a big fall off. At least that's as of right now. So then you go, oh, well, gosh, if you trade down, could you get another top 50 pick or something to be able to get an edge rusher? And there's supposed to be a decent amount of depth in the defensive tackle. Could

you get a defensive tackle somewhere in that ballpark? Because for gosh sakes, somebody up the middle rushed the passer, right? From that, it's enticing. But what if you trade back and then someone surprises you by taking Bone Hicks instead? And then you just go, oh, now we don't have our guy. And then in the post press conference, Kweisi Adafomenta is going, no, we always wanted a defensive tackle. And Andy Dalton's our quarterback. That's who we're trying to win with you're like wait what what just happened here right there's always that possibility exists and the other thing too is always in forever the higher you draft the better your odds are so even if other quarterbacks that aren't one two three have succeeded your chances are are better. Just, just like

intrinsically, you get to pick first, you get to get, get the best guy. And that makes me want them to go all in and go up to get Jaden Daniels. So the extremes here are far and you can make an argument for both. But I think if you told me trade up and get Jaden Daniels or trade back and get Bo Nix, I don't believe in my draft analysis, but I still think Jaden Daniels or trade back and get Bo Nix. I don't believe in my draft analysis, but I still think Jaden Daniels is probably that much better of a prospect. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think it, for me, I think it just comes down to, it's a nice idea of trading back if you can still get the guy you want.

But I'm personally, I'm, I'm a little too paranoid about doing that and then somebody coming up a spot or two ahead of me and taking bonix or michael panics if michael panics were to fall or something like that and we really wanted him i i'm too paranoid of something like that happening so i would just sort of err on the side of caution and just be like, you know what? If I'm not going to move up, maybe I'll just stamp at here at 11 and just take Bo Nix at 11,

take Michael Penix at 11. Even though I could probably trade back to like 19 or 20 and still get him. I'm going to just play it safe and just take the guy. We really want him. I want to make sure we get him, and I don't want to try and be too cute. There is a significant edge in drafting someone with your pick, and I remember talking about this with Mac Jones,

and I guess I'll always wonder if Mac Jones did come to the Vikings, how it might have been different than going and being coached by Matt Patricia and Bill O'Brien. Cause I still go back to, he actually played well for a whole season in the NFL. And then you see Gino Smith and Baker Mayfield show up later and go, should we declare people dead this early? Same with Ryan Tannehill. And none of those guys are perfect, but I still think about that sometimes with uh mac jones that's just an aside but the point is that the patriots drafted mac jones with their own pick which meant you don't have to give up anything for him and it doesn't crush you if it goes wrong

draft picks go wrong the vikings know about this but the lewis scene thing it went wrong but yet you have other safeties on the roster. You filled those spots that happens. And if you give up three first to trade up and get Mac Jones, then it's catastrophic. Unless your team is already to win the super bowl, like San Francisco was with Trey Lance. Then they were able to survive it, but only because they drafted superstars before that. And they were already in that position. So it's, there's all these moving parts to it. And, you know, I was just doing my write-up for today on the defensive line and looking at the options and there are lots of free agent options and the draft has

a number of players that, that they could get. But I think what they have to be a little bit cautious of is they've made successful free agent signings in the recent past, and they haven't really made that big of a difference because you have to have this strong foundation of young players or it just doesn't work. So to Eric's point, I think that's what he's saying is you need dudes, you need guys, you need players on rookie contracts who succeed. And if you trade away all that stuff to get Jaden Daniels, even if you, even if you go out and get a Delvin Tomlinson, he works out great. They still ranked whatever it was, 27th and defense with him or Z'Darrius Smith or Patrick

Peterson. And, you know, I also wonder too, if what he's proposing is the most realistic because jayden daniels will be gone by number three anyway so a lot to uh a lot to discuss there as we go forward into draft season but i wanted to focus on the playoffs uh i wouldn't say it was a very fun wild card round i only had fun because there was one classic game between the lions and the Rams. I'll remember that one for a long time. That's one that 12 years from now, Manny, I'll text you and be like, guess which game I'm watching. And you'll be like, oh, was that the time that Stafford through the incompletion and had 387 yards exactly two touchdowns. And I'll

be like, yeah, that's the one. But uh but give give me your before we go to the divisional round teams that won number one thing that you're taking with you from the wild card round the number one like whoa this happened and now things are different for me what would that be i think it's i can't go anywhere except for green bay and dallas what we saw in that game i mean it's kind of twofold it's on one side it's the dallas cowboys have choked in the playoffs yet again in a situation a game that they should have won against what everybody assumed was an inferior opponent, and they just wrapped themselves again. Couldn't stop anybody on defense. Turning the ball over on offense.

The offense really did nothing until late in the game when the Packers were up by five touchdowns already. That was just embarrassing on the part of the Dallas Cowboys. The flip side of that is Green Bay. Wow. Whoa. Jordan Love in particular. Wow. And whoa. Look out NFC North. That team is and I think what really stands out to me with the Packers is

that they're the youngest team in the league. And they are doing this in the postseason. They rebounded from a tough start. People were kind of doubting us, you know, us included, kind of doubting Jordan Love like, I don't know if this is really going to work out for them. And then they just caught fire. And even though they still have some issues on defense offensively what matt lafleur is doing what jordan love is doing is just really impressive and i mean they just they just beat the doors off

the cowboys and there was really nothing dallas could do to stop them and uh that was really impressive and that really kind of changes things because i i kind of viewed it as okay the packers made the playoffs. They're going to go into Dallas is probably, you know, they'll probably play fairly well, but Dallas is the better team and they're going to end up winning. And the Packers will just have some nice things to kind of think about going into next year. But this is now that team is really,

really feeling good about themselves and Guta Kunst and Matt LaFleur are feeling great about what they have going on. And it's, it's impressive that that's what really stood out to me throughout the entire weekend. Yeah. I mean, we, when we talk about the Lions, we all knew that the Lions were a good team. And we also probably believe that despite their win, there's limitations to the Lions. Now they're going to play Tampa Bay bay so they may have end up in the nfc championship anyway but with the packers this was the one that i think most people didn't see coming i because uh we work with jonathan harrison who cannot stay in mike mccarthy i picked green bay just for him uh no truly i picked green bay because i thought this dallas team is wilted under pressure but also there's a stat I'm going to throw your way that was even enhanced after this week

that since the Green Bay Packers played the Minnesota Vikings and Jordan Love looked pretty terrible since that day, Jordan Love was the number one PFF passing graded quarterback in the entire national football league. And Dak Prescott coincidentally was the only one that threw more touchdowns, but 27 big time throws second in the league for Jordan Love. I mean, he was playing like a top three quarterback in the second half of the season, which made me think that's not the same Packers team that started off slow when it's being operated by that quarterback. And for all of wildcard weekend,

Jordan Love was the highest graded quarterback in the entire league. It was not just throwing to open people. That was some of it, but there were tight window throws. There were playmaking throws off balance, all the same stuff that he did against the Vikings. He was doing against the Dallas defense. They also ran the ball extremely well and played off of that very well. And that is the one, if there's one game that you should watch as a front office, as an ownership, as a head coach and think we have to do better, it's that one. Because that team just isn't going anywhere. This guy can play. It's not fluky.

It's not accidental. Oh, he just threw some bombs and had a Case Keenum half of a season or something. No, that's not. It's a first-round draft pick with a huge arm that is going to have to be dealt with. It's not impossible to beat teams with quarterbacks with big arms. You know, Rogers only got one and Breeze only got one. But if you're going to play against those guys, you have to be at a higher level. Your defense has to be better.

It can't be the defense of the past if the division is not very good. And your quarterback has to be better. You can't finish 13th in offense or something. You've probably got to have somewhere in that top five to seven offense range to compete with a couple of teams in Detroit and green Bay that are now going to project his top 10 offenses every year going forward because they're not going anywhere. Jordan love is young and apparently younger than Kenny Pickett, which I didn't know until today.

And isn't that crazy? And, you know, the Lions team, Jared Goff's not even 30 years old yet, and he was in that Barbie movie. It's crazy. He's very busy. He looks just like that guy. It's amazing. Ryan Gosling, yeah.

He's not even 30. So he's not going anywhere so he's not going anywhere they're not going anywhere that game was the single one that should take the needle and push it over the top to you got to take a longer term approach but uh so i totally agree with you with the packers but let's go through the teams that won and let's let's steal some things from them let's say if you could take whatever take it from these teams and what the vikings can things from them. Let's say if you could take whatever, take it from these teams and what the Vikings can learn from them and so forth. And again, for the Texans and Ravens, you can't steal C.J. Stroud and Lamar Jackson.

Actually, you know what? You could have drafted Lamar Jackson number 32 in 2018, but they decided not to do that, so I had to toss that in there. What do you want to take from these teams manny well from the texans not necessarily cj shroud specifically because not allowed to do that even though that's what i would totally do um but i think the the overall plan and vision of the houston texans over the last couple of years, since they moved on from Deshaun Watson, they've, you know, cleaned up the front office and made a lot of changes. They're not saying that the Vikings need to do that.

But I think just taking the overall vision and having that plan of we're going to bottom this thing out and we're going to draft the hell out of our roster and we're going to really turn this thing over. We're not going to hold on to veterans that were great five, six years ago. We're going to let those guys go and we're really going to take this franchise into a new era. So I think if I'm taking anything from the Houston Texans, I think it's just the overall plan and vision. And, you know, you're there already, I think just by winning that playoff game over the weekend over Cleveland, they have kind of put themselves ahead of where I certainly thought they would be at this point. this year than what they had been with a new coach and a young quarterback and everything. But they have far exceeded my expectations, exceeded the expectations of a lot of people. And I think it's a sign that where they're headed, where they're going is really sound. You know, now they got to keep it going.

Obviously, they got to build off of this going into next year. But I think just the overall vision of what the Houston Texans have right now is just really solid. So that's what I would take from them. Folks, Lucy is upping the nicotine pouch game with breakers, pouches packing a little something extra inside. What are Lucy breakers? If you know your pouches, then you know that the nicotine doesn't hit immediately and neither does the flavor. But the geniuses at Lucy came up with a brilliant way to fix both of those problems. They put a mini liquid capsule inside each breaker's pouch. So here's what you do. You get the breaker's pouch, break it with your teeth, and it makes a satisfying pop.

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It's time to get the financial future you deserve. Get yours. Questrade. Yeah, I mean, it's hard not to look at teams like the Texans in Detroit and think about how recently it was that they were not just bad, but truly pathetic football teams. And now they are great football teams. Uh, last year, the Texans, of course they drafted CJ Stroud because why would you not draft CJ Stroud? And I love all the people who are like, I knew it. I knew CJ Stroud was going to be great. And it's like, well, he was taken number two overall.

So now if you were a Brock Purdy guy, I'll give you some shout out for that. But I'm not so sure if you could pat yourself on the back for being a Stroud guy when, again, number two overall pick. But I do appreciate all the S2 test snarking and all that. That was obvious, though. The not so obvious thing that they did was they traded up to get Will Anderson. And the reaction was largely, and I went back and look, cause I don't like the people are saying whatever sort of approach. So I looked it up and draft analysts were very split on this. I mean, some people thought this is great. He's a great prospect.

They need players. Why not go for it? And others thought, well, kind of reckless to just, you know, throw away your next year's draft to go up and get Will Anderson. And some folks projected them like you're giving away a top five pick. So what are you doing? It turns out that it was an incredible move. And I guess what you learn from that is not, Hey, go trade everything for a pick. If you like them or prospect, if you like them and be reckless, but you got to play to win. Like you had, they decided that they weren't going to win anything unless they had an edge rusher. Who's a star, which is probably true for any team in the NFL. You will not reach the Superbowl without a great edge rusher.

And we're just going to go for it. And if it busted, then it busts. What are you going to do? Like they were afraid that if this thing goes wrong, then everyone's going to criticize us. And I would say the same for, for the Vikings. Like if it goes, if you trade up and you get Jaden Daniels and it goes wrong. Oh, well, I won't criticize. I promise you, I won't criticize you if it goes wrong. I will say it was the right thing to do. Kind of the same way that, you know, we questioned at the time, the Viking signing Kirk in 2018, but I always understood it.

Right. And you could say, well, it didn't work and it didn't, but I understood it. And I appreciated that the Wilfs wanted to spend the money to take a shot. And I, and even though there were things that might've worked out better, they took a shot. It didn't work. Take another one. So the same thing goes for the Texans. You took a shot at Will Anderson and guess what? It worked. And Oh my God, is that guy good at football? Uh, the Baltimore Ravens though, Manny, I I mean this team is just the premier football franchise with how they're run so smartly from top to bottom so of course you take away that but

what else you got to learn from the Baltimore Ravens um it's a great question i think patience i think is is a big thing that i take from them in in that you know there were some questions about john john harbaugh's future a couple of years ago about just because they i think they went like a couple of years in a row without making the playoffs and they had gotten beat like on week 17 or something that kind of knocked them out of getting into the playoffs and there were sort sort of some question marks about, you know, maybe they need to move on from John Harbaugh. He's been there a while, and I know he won the Super Bowl, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think just that ownership group in the front office,

staying with him, realizing this guy's a good football coach um i think just having the patience and and the overall resolve and i think it's really kind of impacted that the culture of that organization why they've been able to stay you know competitive for for this long i mean obviously lamar jackson has a huge part to do with that um but i think just the the culture of that team is always good defensively. It seems like they're always one of the better defenses in the league. This year, they've been one of the top three or four defenses in the league. So I think just that overall sort of resolve and culture of being patient, staying the course, not making any sort of drastic decision because there was one year where they kind of fell off a little bit,

kind of sticking with what they knew and what was working for them, I think is what I would really take away from the Ravens. And it's gotten them again to this point with getting Lamar, keeping Lamar, and having him put together an MVP season, and they're the front runners to go to the Super Bowl out of the AFC. So they lost last year in the actually strangest fashion. That was when Tyler Huntley tried to go over the top on a QB sneak, fumbled the ball, and Cincinnati picked it up.

But you're saying that a backup quarterback would not perform as well as a starter and people would look at the coach and blame the coach? That's really interesting. Shout out also to all the fire Mike Tomlin people after he loses a game with checks notes, Mason Rudolph. So, you know, that, that, that's one thing I guess I would say, but my favorite thing that the Ravens did was they looked at Lamar Jackson and his passing, and this may have also been a Lamar Jackson thing. And they said, we've won a lot of games with Greg Roman doing things a certain way on offense,

but can we do them better? Can we adjust? Can we adapt? Can we go get more playmakers for him and also design a passing scheme that really leans into his arm and his arm talent. And he showed that that was really the right move. And so that says to me that if the Vikings do draft a quarterback, don't be rigid in the way that you want to approach the offense. And this is, I think the number one concern about Kevin O'Connell. Is he going to be like, this is my offense. This is how we're playing it no matter what. But the Ravens looked themselves in the mirror and said, you know, we just can't. Greg Roman is been good with a couple of mobile quarterbacks.

Seems to really understand the quarterback running game going back. Kaepernick, Tyrod Taylor early in Lamar Jackson's career, but Lamar developed. He changed as a quarterback. So you didn't need to just run with him and then look for a handful of shots. You could really put it all in his hands now as he's grown and developed as a quarterback. And, uh, I I'm impressed by that. And I would take that away. I think your culture point is right. One other thing I would throw out there is linebackers are a big deal. They don't get paid a lot because there's not a lot of good ones, but if you get good ones, so I think Ivan Pace is a good one. Make sure you get another good one. I don't know that, you know, what's going to happen with Jordan Hicks. His leg fell off this

year. They had to put it back together in the hospital. I mean, is he going to keep playing for much longer? I'm not really sure. But those linebackers can be difference makers. I think we've seen that from the Baltimore Ravens. Now, the Green Bay Packers, I know you're going to be tempted to say, draft a quarterback, let him sit for three years, and then he turns into one of the greatest players ever because that seems to be the only thing the Packers do but what should what should we really take away from the Green Bay

Packers I think in a lot of ways it's kind of similar to what I said about the Baltimore Ravens in that they tend to you know I mean I mean, let's be real here. The Aaron Rodgers situation, that thing was a mess. The way it played out, all of the drama, him being pissed off because they drafted a quarterback, you know, when he's out there, you know, winning MVPs and going to NFC Championship games, which is kind of ironic because when they drafted him X amount of years ago, it was basically the same situation. And all, what did Aaron Rodgers do? All he did was

complain about how that guy that wore number four never helped him behind the scenes or whatever. So, but I think the way that they have, the way they manage that whole drama with Rodgers, getting him out of town. They took kind of a hit, a financial hit by moving him out of town. But then I think to kind of keep this team together when the thought was that, oh, they're going to be, they're going to fall back and they're going to be pretty bad moving on from a four-time MVP quarterback and trading him away. They've, I think just keeping that team together and, you know,

kind of establishing, you know, welcoming in a new era that is off to a really good start and not being afraid to do that, I think is what I would take away from them. Not being afraid to move on from an older quarterback who's still playing pretty well and move on to something new that that does sound like a lesson for sure oh manny you know i i guess other than that obvious that is the one like that's the one that any of these teams that move on from an older quarterback, even Baltimore, Joe Flacco was still playing fairly well when they drafted Lamar and said

it's time. So there's examples all over the league and, you know, Buffalo as well with Tyrod Taylor, who I think were far enough away that people forget. He was like the ninth best quarterback in the league by PFF the year before they moved on from him. And they had the same thoughts,

just not going to be good enough. He's going to cost too much and so forth. So anyway, I look at it as the way the Packers help Jordan love the most in my mind is by tying the run to the pass, not by saying you want to tie the run to the pass, but by truly beautifully doing. And this goes, I'll actually use this, I'll double dip here, and I'll use this for San Francisco as well, that the best coaches from that Shanahan tree, Bobby Slowik does it as well. They have the other team's linebackers just

losing their minds, trying to figure out, is it a run? Is it a pass? Who's going where the wrinkles that they add to those foundational old school, Bill Walsh to Shanahan, to Kubiak, to all those things. And they just use it so well. And it all starts with a running game and whether you want to spend a high draft pick on a running back or not, uh, Christian McCaffrey is a high pick. Aaron Jones is a fifth rounder who knows, but you know what they have in common? They're good at football. And paying running backs is not a great idea, but running backs absolutely matter. And your running game really matters,

especially when you can make those two things work in conjunction. And the biggest failing of Kevin O'Connell is not having Nick Mullins throw interceptions. It's not being able to run the ball for two straight seasons. And even when it comes to, do you bring back Dalton Reisner? I don't know, because you've got to be able to run the ball better. You have to find somebody to do it better and you really have to find schematically ways to connect that with your passing game, because whether it's Kirk or whether it's Bo Nix or whoever else, asking any quarterback to just stand back there and throw 40 times,

I mean, how many times did Jordan Love have to throw even to just get ahead in that game? And they played everything off of the run, and Dallas had no idea what to do. So I would like to see them look very closely at these successful run games and go, what is the difference? Why is it that we're failing and they're succeeding? Absolutely.

I think with San Francisco, you hit it, obviously, with the running game. Making that trade for Christian McCaffrey at the right time, it was like the timing of it was perfect. He's not old. He's not really an aging player yet. He had dealt with some injuries, and that was kind of a question mark with getting him. But you got him at the perfect time that you want to get a running back when he's you know 25

26 years old because that's probably when he's going to be at his best and they're in a win now window so it it just it just made a lot of sense the other thing that i would take from san francisco is certain elements of their offense even just with their with their passing game it feels like with what the Vikings are trying to do with KOC and look I think for the most part it's worked and it's worked pretty well they've had some you know pretty solid offenses these first two years under him. But when you look at some of the motions that the 49ers are doing and just some of the crossing patterns and these slant routes and just Brock Purdy drops back, gets the ball to Debo Samuel

or Brandon Aiyuk pretty quickly on a slant, and he lets those guys do the rest of the work. Not saying the Vikings have to go all the way in on doing that with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but it would be kind of nice to see them kind of mix in a little bit more of that just to kind of keep defenses off balance and really kind of let those guys kind of showcase even more skills with just getting the ball into their hands, not worrying so much about every single time my quarterback's got to stand in the pocket

and hang in there and the pass rush is coming. But, you know, Jordan Addison's not quite there yet. Hang on just a half a second longer. Okay, now you can throw it. You know, sometimes you simplify it a little bit more than I think you can have even more success. And it's not to say that the offense is bad, but I think it could really take that offense to the next level, especially with a young quarterback.

I give you a stat. I give you a stat that you'll love that backs up your point brilliantly. This year, 14% of Brock Purdy's passes went behind the line of scrimmage okay he averaged on those passes 7.8 yards per pass attempt that is that's great overall to be to be averaging 7.8 yards per attempt i mean that's right toward the top of the league. He's doing that when he doesn't even throw past the line of scrimmage, which is entirely a hundred percent scheme. And personally, I never criticized the quarterback for having success within his scheme. What do you want him to do? Throw it in the stands? Like that's, that's the goal is to get it all the work together. The running back, the offensive line, the receivers. Oh no,

a quarterback has great receivers. Let's penalize them for it or whatever. No way. If you can get it to Justin Jefferson, that's great. You can get it to Debo Samuel. That's great. But the Vikings do not have anywhere near this success at throwing behind the line of scrimmage, screens, quick passes, bubbles, those designs and things.

It's so down the field that they miss out on this part. And if they do draft a young quarterback, actually, I mean, Bo Nix was so good at getting the ball out quickly. That might be what he needs if that's who they were looking for. And that's something that they absolutely have to learn from San Francisco. Let me get to a couple of comments before we move on to the other games. Scott says, how about going full Rams? You know that when it's time, I'll support it, but it's not time. Like the thing about going full Rams is that they were on the, I mean, they were in the Superbowl and they were and they actually won a playoff game against Seattle

before they moved on from Jared Goff, and he actually played. I think they lost. I forget who they lost. He made the Packers, but he played pretty well in that playoffs, and they said, We're a couple throws away from a stronger arm or a more dynamic quarterback, and we're a Vaughn Miller, a Jalen Ramsey. Like they, they were there on the cusp. If this team was, I'd say, go for it. In fact, maybe, you know, they kind of did.

The Vikings kind of did when they got Hawkinson. I was like, good. Like that's what you should do. Because I remember Manny, I was in TCO performance center with Will Raggetts and Andrew Kramer. We were doing a podcast, like a little round table about the trade deadline. And I remember, you know that I'm prone to getting a tad worked up. I don't know. Maybe only my good friends know this.

I would never on the podcast. But I remember saying very loudly to the, like, maybe they can hear me through the walls of TCO Performance Center. You have no future. saying very loudly to the like maybe they can hear me through the walls of tco performance center you have no future like trade for whoever now because you have no future and with the roster you know that's kind of come to fruition that like trading for hockinson made sense to try to win in 22 because it wasn't going to be strong enough and they had to rebuild over the next couple of seasons and that's where they're at. So I think that there will come a time if you do it right, where you can go full Rams,

but teams trying to do it when they're not there, then you end up looking like Denver or something with Russell Wilson. What about Bob says the Vikings vision is corrupted with collaboration. Got to choose either rebuild or run it back. Can't be in the middle just to fill seats. The thing about the fill seats thing, that to me is like a take from 2000 because the seats are going to be filled. I mean, this team is so popular that there's no chance that people don't show up

to U.S. bank stadium for games. They showed up in Zimmer's last game and filled the stadium. So that I don't think that the Wilfs are thinking about necessarily gate revenue. I think that sometimes give me your perspective on this, Manny, because you've seen this whole thing as a lifelong Viking follower kind of come, come to fruition. I think that the Wilfs just can't stand the thought of not trying to win. I think they love, they love this franchise and that if I owned a team, I would of course be totally fine with tanking, but also, you know, I can see where if you own a team and you fly from New Jersey all

the way to Minnesota to watch your games that you don't want to fly there to watch them lose by 28 points. And just because of draft status or something like I've always understood why they wanted to do that. And I would also say one other thing is that there hasn't been that many tank opportunities really throughout. I mean, they've always had good enough players. And so 2020 is when I go back to when Casey and Kevin O'Connell took over, you could have done it then you could do it now, but it's not like every year they should have tanked and they couldn't, or they, or they chose not to many times they couldn't. So I don't know. How do you feel about that and where the Wilves stand in all this? Yeah, I mean, the U.S. Bank Stadium is always going to be full.

It's just always going to be full. The Vikings, really going back to 1998, the first year Randy Moss, have never had a problem with attendance. And this includes the 3-13 season in 2011. And I think what can help with that is even if you go into tank mode if you still have you know one or two great marketable players fans are still even if the team is bad fans are still going to show up to watch that player play you have that guy in Justin Jefferson you know in 2011 the Vikings had that guy in Adrian Peterson

and Jared Allen you know what I mean so I'm not worried about crowds not showing up I I think you you hit the nail on the head with the Wilfs though as far as they just don't I think I just remember Rick Spielman's press conference after the three and 13, 2011 season. Cause after that Rick Spielman was officially, you know, he had been with the organization for a handful of years, but he officially became the GM after that season. And I remember he kind of got choked up a little bit when he was talking

about the three and 13 season. I, you know, I think that that comes from the Wilfs of just not what never wanting to be bad and just wanting to have a team that's always competitive. And I think that is what has kind of kept them from completely tearing this thing down and starting over like the Texans did like the lions, you know, kind of did for a long time. But, yeah, I mean, we've seen the evidence.

The Texans are a perfect example of how quickly you can turn this around. And you don't have to, just because you go 3-14 one season doesn't mean you're going to go 3-14 for the next five or six years. You know, even after that bad season that the Vikings had in 2011, they turned around and went one, 10 games with Christian Ponder starting 16 games for them. You know what I mean? Now, Adrian Peterson running for 2,100 yards almost had a lot to do with that

too, but you know, you can turn things around pretty quickly. If you, if you draft well, if you make the right free agent signings. I mean, if you manage your cap very well, you can turn things around pretty quickly if you do it right.

So I don't know if the Wilfs really realize that, that just because you go bad one year doesn't mean it's going to, you know, stick around forever. So we'll see, though. But I. It's just it just feels like the right way to go, man. But it just at this point right now, there's just I think there's enough talent on this roster to keep it from really falling off completely like teams like the like the Dolphins and the Texans and the bangles did in recent uh in recent years yeah and i will say to their credit and uh trust me the last people i want to protect is nfl owners so but this offseason they could have demanded that quesia da fomenta kept adam thielen delvin cook eric kendricks it would have been hellacious on their long-term cap, but they did not make that demand.

And I would also say too, that they won a playoff game in 2019. And you could see where, I think that they are pretty reactionary. That's what I would say is that they're not loud about it, but we talked about this with the Packers, like how they take action after things happen against the Packers. I think when they saw them win a playoff game,

they were like, oh, see, we can do it. So now just do that again, but win the divisional round. And it was like, no, they're going to lose a bunch of players. It's not how this works. So they didn't repeat that mistake this off season in tearing down a lot of major parts. So I've always thought that you can win with this ownership. You can win with this plan, this competitive rebuild plan.

I actually believe that it came together quite nicely to pick 11th overall in a good quarterback draft. And then you get the cap space. But I think what everybody's worried about obviously is, are you going to deviate from the plan because you're reactionary? So if this was the, oh, well, I'm reacting to, I didn't like watching Nick Mullins play quarterback. I need Kirk back or Hey, if Baker Mayfield can win, then so can Kirk, without maybe adding up in your mind that there's a $35 million difference in the salary cap hit between Baker Mayfield and Kirk,

and also Baker Mayfield went 9-8. So anyway, there's a lot there, though. Matthew says, when will we begin to hear whether the Vikings are actually trying to sign Cousins or just moving on from him, combine or before? Well, what you're going to want to do is listen to this show every day to make sure that it hasn't happened. And when it does, I'll let you know. No, I'm just kidding. But I don't know. Well, I mean, just based on his contract before free agency, it's, it doesn't have, have, have to be done, but very likely has to be done if he's going to stay before free agency. But truthfully, it could happen tomorrow. If they're going to extend them, it can happen

anytime if they're going to extend him. But I can't see a world where his agent doesn't go to the combine and ask the Falcons, how much are you willing to give my client? Right. Of course, not in a tampering way, but in some other type of wink, wink, nod, nod type of way. So that's, that's kind of, that's kind of the timeline to me is there's going to be that short period between the combine and free agency. And it's only like a week and a half.

That's when we will know. So hopefully that answers the question. Let's go back to the games and then I'll get back to more of your comments before we wrap up. So we've got Bucks and Lions. What do we want to learn about the Vikings from the Bucks and Lions, Manny? Well, from the Bucks, I would say, and listen, they've had a nice season. They won their division, and Baker Mayfield's played well, and they won a playoff game.

I would say what I would take from the Bucks is sort of the lesson of when you put all your chips in the center of the table, damn it, you better be right. You better, if you're trying to get to a Superbowl, which I would assume if you do go that route, you're better at least get there. Because if you don't, you're going to be in salary cap hell for a really, really long time. And the Buccaneers aren't salary cap. I mean, Baker Mayfield, I think he signed for like the veteran minimum or something this year,

right? He's not, not making a lot of money, you know, cause they just didn't have the money to give him like a real, a real quarterback contract. And listen, the, the Bucs, what they did with Tom Brady, it paid off. They got to the Superbowl and they won in its first year. It worked out great. Much like the and they won in its first year. It worked out great. Much like the Rams going all in with Stafford, it worked out. So you kind of take sort of the financial hardships

that they're dealing with right now, you kind of take it for what it was, and you just say, hey, it was worth it. We got another Lombardi trophy out of it. I would highly caution the Vikings from going down that route because if you do choose to bring Kirk Cousins back and you decide to go all in, you better nail it because if you don't, it's going to cripple you for a long time and then it won't be worth it.

If you don't get to a run, you know, go on a run to the Super Bowl, it's going to get a lot of people fired, probably. So I would just say to take from the Buccaneers is just sort of the lesson of like, if you're going to go that route, you better nail it. Otherwise, a lot of people are going to be in trouble. Folks, if you've been listening to the show, Otherwise, a lot of people are going to be in trouble. If you haven't heard us talk about it enough yet or you haven't tried it yet, very simple. There are yardage totals on prize picks. You either pick more or less and boom.

Each week has been a roller coaster ride of fun. And the best part is that when I have a bad week, I didn't lose much. It doesn't cost much to play. You can turn $10 into $250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money. You can turn $10 into $250 very easily. And if things go sideways for you, you're not out a whole heck of a lot of money. But normally, I do much better than this. So that is prizepicks.com slash purple.

Just more or less on yardage totals. And you are in prizepicks.com slash purple. The code purple for a first deposit match up to $100. Yeah, Mayfield's cap hit for this year is less than Nick Mullins. That's my favorite of all the stats that I've come across. That's what I'm doing. I'm not going out to TCO Performance Center and reporting on stuff. So I've just been looking up little factoids and stuff. And when I came on that one, I was like, that is insane that his cap hit is $1.7 million. And that's the only way that they were going to make the playoffs is if Mayfield played

really well for them. And most people thought they were going to win like four games. Uh, but yeah, no, I mean that, that is the thing is that it is extremely difficult. If you push the chips to the middle of the table and even the Rams, where do they go from here? They've got a couple of great receivers, but their quarterback is older. Can they make the moves to get them past what they were this year? I mean, the Rams, if they don't win the Superbowl, then where would they be right now? They would be distraught at that loss. I mean, the Rams, if they don't win the Superbowl, then where would they be right now? They would be distraught at that loss. Instead. It's like, oh, well, Stafford played great and tough, tough season, the way it ended, but whatever Superbowl a couple

years ago, who cares if they didn't, it would be pure panic from the Los Angeles Rams about what they did. And that's kind of how it's been with Cousins, where they've gone all in. And then by the end of the season, if they don't make it, like if they check down on fourth and eight, lose to the Giants, it's just this huge gut punch because it didn't work and you sacrificed for it with the rest of the roster and potentially for the future.

Well, definitely for the future. They have a $28 million dead cap hit next year or dead cap hits spread out over four seasons likely. So that is the price you pay. I agree with that. My takeaway there, I mentioned it on the show with Searles that I did earlier today, but if Baker Mayfield could take a couple of great wide receivers

and win a playoff game at home, which Kirk Cousins has never done, then I think other quarterbacks can throw to wide receivers that are great. not the only one. If Baker Mayfield can do it after being pretty much lost in the ocean of his career and find stability and find a team that buys into him, then there are other quarterbacks in this world that could lead the Vikings to a nine and eight season without destroying their future salary cap. As far as learning from the Lions, well, one thing, I mean, you can never have enough weapons. That would be one is if you've got enough, then get one more. I would say too, that it takes a little while to develop a defense. They're still not there yet. But I mean, this team tanked to get there.

I don't know. Like find a coach who believes in the quarterback as much as Dan Campbell with Jared Goff. I maybe make sure your tackles are eligible. I don't know. It's hard to make a real comparison with the Vikings and lions because they so specifically took that route of tanking to get here that I can't say, Hey Vikings, you should tank if we know that they're not going to do that. Um, but I guess it's all, it comes back to playing your quarterback strengths. Oh, well, how about this?

You can never have enough good offensive linemen because they just kept getting them. They already had Decker and they were like, you know what? Penny Sewell, let's go. Frank Ragnow, let's go. So the Vikings already have a couple of good ones. You can always have more. And once again, that is another thing that just enhances the quarterback. If everything goes in to enhance the quarterback,

you're going to have it play out to where the guy goes 22 for 22 with a clean pocket or whatever. Nail your draft picks, man. If you nail your draft picks the way the Lions have the last couple of years, I mean, this is what you get. You get a team on the brink of going to an NFC championship game for the first time in 32 years.

So, yeah, I mean, I think that's part of it. I know people, you know, with Quacey, people are going to still, people are still making a big deal about the 22 draft, and I get it. It's not turned out great. But let's see how the 23 draft turns out. Let's see what they do this coming spring, the 2024.

I think that if they can go the Lions route in terms of just nailing guys, whether it's find some gems in the third, fourth, fifth round, if you can. I mean, it's not a find some gems in the third fourth fifth round you know if you can i mean it's not a guarantee that you do that but you know what helped the vikings during the zimmer era was what they were able to do in in 2015 getting stefan diggs and eric kendrickson and daniel hunter in those mid rounds and those guys ended up being star players for you. So, you know, I think if they can, if the Vikings can do that, you know, do something similar to what the Lions have done over the last couple of years, just nail, just hit on. You're not going to hit on every draft pick,

but hit on as many as you possibly can. I think that's definitely one thing you can take from Detroit. Scott brings up Tampa Bay's front seven. I mean, that's one thing through all these teams, except for Detroit, although they have Aiden Hutchinson, who would be the best player on the Vikings defense next year if they don't bring back Daniil Hunter. But all of these front sevens, even the Packers had their problems.

Rashawn Gary, Preston Smith, Kenny Clark, these are stars. You can name them for every team, their ability with their front four to get after it. And of course, if he's not a pass rusher, he's a major impact player for them. So that's a big deal. And when we get to the Chiefs and Bills, well, I guess I would also say with the Lions,

you could learn this. They're not going anywhere. It didn't fail. They didn't Lions. They restored it. They're back. Respect. It didn't fail. They didn't lions. They restored it. They're back. Respect how good they're going to continue to be as you take your approach going forward and understand that's the bar for this division and the Packers are the bar for this division. And you know, Chicago might be on the way. So, uh, chiefs and bills, the two most obvious teams that just did it exactly right.

They both had good quarterbacks who took them to the playoffs, and then they drafted quarterbacks with super high upside, with incredible physical gifts, and these guys are freaking stars. This right here is the Brady and the Manning of this generation, whatever it is. Are they Gen Z? Are they Gen Z? I don't know. What is someone who's 12 years old right now? Help me out. I have no idea. But if I was 12 years old, I would be losing my mind about how great this is in the same way that Farvin and Aikman or Aikman and Young or whatever we're playing, Jim Kelly versus Dan Marino, John Elway, you know, the same way.

That's all of us watching Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. But I don't even think we need to try very hard for this one. You'd have to look elsewhere for this one. I do think this, okay, I'll give you one. One thing the Bills and the chiefs have that the Vikings may achieve here because it's very clear. No one is offering Brian Flores. Any jobs is the same defensive mind. If they are good year in and year out can build on their scheme and build a defense in their vision and be very good repeatedly.

It's hard to repeat good defenses, but Spagnuolo and Sean McDermott are two of the best. And I think that goes overlooked is building a defense in your vision as a defensive mind. Brian Flores could be able to do that here. And I like that prospect of him being able to pick the draft picks, pick the free agents, build it how he wants to build it over a number of years if he's the defensive coordinator here for five years or more depending whatever spagnolo got his shot didn't work out it's been a dc forever i think that would be a really good thing for them if they had continuity at that defensive coordinator position

100 i was just thinking the same thing about brian flores like he needs to sit in that draft room and go over that draft board with quasi and say yep like this guy like this guy if he's there in the second round let's take him because i can do x y and z with that guy in my defense like that's you know i mean and i i go back to the lewis scene thing and and it's just one one swing and miss on a draft pick but you kind of think like if brian flores was around then does he want to take lewis scene at that spot does he want to go into a different direction you know how does that how does that thing sort of play out um so yeah i mean i think that would be huge going back to the quarterbacks thing though with the chiefs and bills obviously both

of them are just the elite of the elite but the other thing you can take from that is neither one of them were top five picks so it's entirely possible that you think like maybe you don't need to trade you know give up a ton of draft capital to move up in the top three like if you really really want jayden daniels then by all means do it but i think what the chiefs and bills have shown is that sometimes those guys the the the great guys they slip through the cracks a little bit. They get overlooked. You know, the draft analysis is, you know, overblown. And you get an opportunity to get that guy because he falls to you. You know, maybe in this case, the Vikings, that guy falls to them at 11.

And he ends up being the best guy out of the group or at least one of the best. And he leads you to a lot of success over the course of a decade or so so i think with both of those guys alan and mahomes they kind of showed that you don't necessarily need to have the number one overall pick to get a great quarterback it would be great if you did but it's not necessarily a uh a requirement i think if you look at almost all these teams that some point they kind of took a ridiculous risk and these two are the lottery winners. I mean, especially the chiefs, they've got two super bowls, but the bills have four straight division championships. Do you know how many they won before Josh Allen got there? Uh, I think that maybe their last one was in 1994

or something before that. I mean, maybe, maybe a 99 when the music city miracle happened, but I believe they were a wildcard team. So I'm not even sure that they did it then. So, so you're talking about many, many, many years from Jim Kelly to Josh Allen with not winning the division, they got to a point with Tyra Taylor where it was, look, you could do this, you could build on this, and you could get linemen and you could get, you know, whatever, defensive players, or you can take the big shot and go get the guy with the biggest arm, this tall MF-er who freaking runs 52-yard touchdowns and throws the ball 700 yards. It's just, well, and you know what? That guy's failed before. That guy has failed in the league before. And with Patrick Mahomes,

there's guys who have not been able to adjust from college to NFL offenses. It was a cheeseball college offense that required him to run around and fling the ball over the place. And you could see where you go, well, that doesn't look anything like the NFL. And that's extremely true. But look at his arm, look at his character, look at his physical talent, his ability to run when he needs to even though he runs weird he runs pretty fast when he has to and let's just take a shot let's just take a shot and you can't win if you don't play and so that's that's the most obvious it's right there it's just

right there uh that you can learn from that that you know being okay and look at those teams if there's is there a more obvious Vikings comparison to those two teams the Chiefs how many times with Elvis Gerback and Steve DeBerg and Rich Gannon and and Trent Green who I think was actually a good comp for Kirk like a Trent Green type they would always get there and they'd always be within shouting distance. And then it would just, you know, it'd feel like, Oh, that one thing went wrong. Mariota throw a pass to himself to win a playoff game. And Alex Smith is, is just good enough, but not good enough to get you deep into the playoffs. I just can't, it just can't be right there more for you than the way that it is now. So you excited, Manny?

Excited for this? This is a bunch of great matchups, man. You couldn't have drawn this up any better. Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I think Packers-Niners is going to be a lot of fun. I know the Niners are favored by a pretty significant – I think it's, what, eight and a half right now they're favored by. But I think that game's going to be a lot of fun.

I think Texans-Ravens has a chance to be a lot of fun because I think the Texans are just fun, and the Ravens are obviously a great team. Chiefs-Bills, like, the Bills finally, like, the Bills are like, oh, no, you got to come to our place now, Patrick Mahomes, and this is going to be the first road playoff game, first true road playoff game for Patrick Mahomes. So that's going to be interesting.

That crowd's going to be lit, man. It's going to be a lot of fun. I think Bucks-Lions is going to be a lot of fun too. But, yeah, it's going to be a great weekend. I can't wait. You know, just from the Buffalo perspective, the way I look at wait. You know, uh, just, uh, from the Buffalo perspective, um, the way I look at it is, well, one, it's kind of funny that, you know, they were, when they were last great, there was always the Dallas Cowboys standing in their way at the end and they never quite got,

you know, over that hump with the Jim Kelly era. But similar to this, you know, when people will ask me about the Vikings, like, Oh, are you a Vikings fan now that you moved to Minnesota? It's like, no, this is my job to cover the team. And the same thing when I was in Buffalo, it was my job and they were so bad when I was growing up. This is how I know all those old games that you know, is because I wasn't watching the bills. Really? They were so bad. I was watching the whole league. I was looking forward to the playoffs, the big games, the John Madden and so forth. So I never really adopted it that way. And it worked nicely transitioning into media where I think it's very hard to be like a fan and ride that wave and do the job at the same time. But I'll tell you who I root for deeply is the people of Buffalo,

the fans of Buffalo, who shoved giant mounds of snow out of the way and trudged through them to sit in those stands and go crazy. All that they've been through, the DeMar Hamlin thing last year and everything else, to get to this point, this is like, this is their moment right here because you win this one. And then you are an, I blink away one game away from the Superbowl. So it's a, this is, this is a big one for them. The chiefs have gotten their Superbowls and this, I feel like this is the bill's time to do this. And it would have to be in a season where everybody also, you know, like left them for dead in the middle of the season

or everybody left them for dead. It would have to be that way. It couldn't be that they just went 15-1 and crushed everybody. So, anyway. Just think about like what everybody was saying about them when they lost that Monday night game to the Broncos. You know what I mean? The Broncos were playing terribly at the time.

Think about what everybody was saying then to now. Now, all of a sudden, they're the team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs. They're that team this year. So it's been remarkable. Giuseppe says, Collar, who is your favorite team? I remember you from AM five 50 radio. Yeah, that was a Buffalo WGR five 50. I was the, uh, bills pre and post game host.

That's how I ended up getting the job working with you, Manny, and, uh, being here at 1500 ESPN. And then obviously starting this, uh, that, that is the thing I truly it's weird. I mean, I truly have no favorite teams. I, I, I just, every, I just like everything. I mean, I, you know what I mean? Like I like, I like all of it. I like talking about all of it. I like watching all of it. There isn't a day in my life where I don't watch an entire sports game. I mean, if, and my wife does women's basketball, I had a, an ESPN personality on Twitter accused

me of not knowing women's basketball the other day, Manny, that was a funny one. That's one I don't get very often considering a link season ticket holder. My wife does women's basketball, but I was talking about Paige Beckers and so forth. Like I'll watch Paige Becker's play. I will, I will watch the Los Angeles Kings play the Arizona coyotes, whatever. Like that's just, it's just always been who I am. So I don't really have like a team, but being that I grew up in that place, it would be different for all the people I know and for my parents and everything else, like how long that's been. So anyway, uh, great stuff, Manny.

On Thursday, we're going to go through, pick these games, talk more about them, and start talking about maybe some other things other than just the quarterback for the Vikings' approach to the future. But great stuff as always. Thanks so much, everybody in the comments section. You're always great. And we will catch you next time. Football.