Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What's the next step for Vikings as a Super Bowl contender?

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

Brian Murphy talks about what the Vikings could add after another win and Matthew answers fan questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here, and it is time for Monday Morning Murph with Brian Murphy. Murph, before you say a thing, I have a tweet that I need to read you from our friend Kevin Seifert of ESPN. He says this, The Vikings have trailed for 3 minutes and 26 seconds this season, which we are aware of. He says, per ESPN research, that puts them in the highest of company. Only four other teams since the 1970 merger have trailed for less time

in games one through five. All went to the Super Bowl. And the teams, Murph, the 09 Saints, the 84 Dolphins, the 2023 49ers, the 99 Rams, and the 98 Broncos are the only teams that held the lead this much through their first five games. Your reaction, sir? Those were all memorable teams. I can think, when I hear those,

I can see the Super Bowls playing out. I can see the stories building up throughout the year. I mean, 98 Vikings, we don't need to talk about. 99 Rams, of course, came out of nowhere. The 84 Dolphins might've been the greatest team that never won a Super Bowl. Yeah, that's nice company to be in. And to piggyback off the lack of deficits, they've outscored their opponents 48-3 in the first quarter.

As we've said time and again, they are punishing opponents and putting them on their heels quickly. And that forces teams to alter their game plans, alter their scripted plays. And it actually makes some, injects some panic early on because now they have a body of work that also says we can't afford to get behind the Minnesota Vikings because they're either going to pummel us all the way through. We're just not, it's going to be too much of an uphill climb to, to ultimately take them down. Now, obviously the last two weeks, second half performances have left much to be desired. But I think what's interesting about this team compared to other either five and six and oh teams or other teams that have gotten out to really good

starts and look like they were going to put together a playoff team. It was either dominated by one side of the ball or there were glaring mistakes that were easy to identify that would eventually catch up to them. We can nitpick things, certainly. But boy, when you look top to bottom at the way the Vikings have really controlled their whole destiny so far through five games, it's really impressive. And I don't see them regressing in a way that they're going to lose games. They're not going 17-0. And if they do and you want to replay this, I mean, you know, I'll do whatever the fans need me to do short of, you know, personal harm. But I don't see them going 17-0.

So hang on to your receipt just for fun. I just don't see this team having deficits in personnel or makeup or coaching that says this is all a mirage. It feels real and it feels like something that's sustainable now. Injuries come into play. Random things will happen to them badly. We had talked about this too. I never felt like they were going to lose in Green Bay, despite Green Bay's ferocious comeback in the second half. I did feel a little bit that they would lose this game yesterday once Aaron Rodgers got them driving down inside close to the red zone with about a minute left because you just had this sense that, yeah, the old man's battered and bruised, but he knows how to dagger the Vikings and he has his entire career. He might have one more

in his back pocket because the Vikings had spoon-fed the team so much, the Jets so much momentum. I don't feel that way now. I mean, they, Stephon Gilmore, among the many marquee free agent acquisitions, does what he does. He makes a money play at a money moment. You can almost argue that his contract, whatever they paid him or are going to pay him, just paid off with that play right there.

Oh yeah, no, for sure. I mean, Stephon Gilmore has been really the final piece to this defense, which we thought could be pretty good. But we kept saying that cornerback group, that cornerback group, and he has played as well as they ever could have dreamed through these first few games. They still got a little left in the tank. How did you process what happened yesterday, Murph? Because on the post-game show, which started immediately after the game, I really oscillated back and forth between, I can't believe how good this defense is, another complete performance, so many contributors, Harrison Smith with the sack, Jahad Ward with a pass breakup at the end of the game, knocking a ball down and getting some extra rush. Grenard, Van Ginkle, touchdown. What a performance by the

defense. But on the offensive side, this was by far the worst we have seen Sam Darnold look. He did not have his security blanket and Aaron Jones in the backfield throughout the day. He overthrew passes. He was a little bit off with some of his timing and Kevin O'Connell kept pushing the pass button over and over and over and they kept being aggressive down the field, which turned out to be costly in this game, almost giving away the ball on that third and 15. How did you, I guess, deal with the fact that this was a pretty poor game by the quarterback, even though they found a way to win? Well, I think it's obvious the impact and the versatility and value that Aaron Jones brings to the offense. And when they lost him to that

hip injury, really things began to unravel. Darnold was off from the get-go. I don't know if it was the stadium, the rain, or just that he was due for an inaccurate, ineffective game. But you could tell early on this was not going to be his moment. He took a really wicked hit early in the game and absorbed that and had to be helped up. And he just felt – he looked uncomfortable for really the first sustained period of time, although you can tack on the third and fourth quarters in Green Bay and kind of make this the sample size you're looking at, but let's not forget, too, the Jets are a really good defense,

ferocious, especially up front, so it's not surprising they were able to get pressure, so I would say, you know, I'm not saying Darnold is regressing. I'm saying that maybe he's more in the middle of where we've seen him in five games. He's not going to throw for 45 touchdown passes, and I don't know if it's a good thing if they expect him to, at least not yet. He's still trying to resurrect his career. He's not established enough to say go out and throw for 350 yards a night and win

us everything. But it's going to bear witnessing how O'Connell updates us on Jones tomorrow, I believe, before they head into the bye. I mean, the bye comes in at a great time, obviously for his health. That's one thing I, you know, maybe reigning in darn a little bit, see how he, you know, kind of bounces back from, again, six rough quarters. If Jones is available, that kind of steadies things a bit. If he's not available, that opens up all kinds of possibilities as to maybe what the Vikings want to do with the trade deadline, how they want to diversify their offense,

because clearly he really was kind of the pieces that made that unit tick through the first four-plus games. The other thing, you know, the offensive line we had credited and still has protected Darnold pretty well, but the interior line, which had some question marks coming into the season, was exposed a bit yesterday, again, against a really tough Jets defense. Where is that going to be? What is, you know, They've been relatively healthy. That's probably going to be a unit that will eventually get nicked up over the course of 17 games. So maybe their depth, the running back and offensive line positions.

The punt team, you can chalk that up as just a bad day at special teams, but boy, what an impact they made. I mean, without those mistakes, I mean, this game could have been over in the third quarter. So if we're going to nitpick, those are the things that I come out concerned about. You can make an argument that they did not perform like an elite team and that elite teams should put a wounded animal down sooner than they did. But the flip side of that is elite teams also find a way to win when they're not playing as an elite team. And that's a badge of honor to carry. And that's, again, part of the scar tissue that you're going to build up throughout the season. And, you know, if you can play subpar and your quarterback can

have a 50 rating and you can still win by a touchdown in an unfamiliar place against an old nemesis like Rogers, hey, that's a good place to be. Well, you mentioned the quarterback rating. Did a little research on this one, Murph, that Sam Darnold has had 25 games in his career where he had a quarterback rating of 75 or less. And he was 2-23 in those games. And yeah, right, now he's uh three and 23 because the

vikings found a way to win i mean that that tells you two things one how strong they are the kicker does not miss and came through with two huge long field goals for them the defense makes plays both in the clutch but also throughout the game that they get the interception for touchdown, come right back, get another interception right after that. They have done such a great job pressuring consistently, turning the ball over. Nobody can run against them, which is a huge, huge deal that I wondered about coming into this year because they got a little lighter up front with some of the edge rushers, but they've just been terrific against the run. Getting pace back was a huge deal for them, and they were able to survive as bad as you're going to see Sam Darnold play. It's not like he has a ton of games in his career under 50 quarterback

rating. That doesn't happen all that often, 14 for 31. Although I will say if you included all the penalty flag yards and gave those as completions to Darnold, that would have looked a little better. Jefferson's stat line would have looked a little better. But still, to be able to have a complete performance outside of the quarterback and the offense and still find a way to win a game really is a sign of this team's overall strength. But I guess I wonder about what you think with Darnold when it comes to this performance in the last six quarters, if it just is that he needs a little bit more of Aaron Jones or always Aaron Jones, more than he had during the game. Or if Kevin O'Connell

hasn't quite yet figured out, how do you pull Sam Darnold back in when he's having a bad day? Because the answer seemed to be down the field, down the field, down the field. Even if it was third and two or fourth and two, it was still throw the ball down the field was O'Connell's answer. And maybe he just wants him to play like Matt Stafford did with the Rams when he threw for 5,000 yards and 20 interceptions or whatever it was in 2021. But I don't know if that's the way to get Darnold back on track when he's having a tough time. Right. Cause Stafford came into LA with a 10 year resume that had all of his warts and all

of his problems and all of his, I mean, he was too turnover prone in Detroit, but I mean, Detroit was a disaster. Most of the time he was there. Darnold's in a position, he was too turnover prone in Detroit, but I mean, Detroit was a disaster most of the time he was there. Darnold's in a position, he's still 23, right? I mean, he's still trying to resurrect his career. He's still trying to level set, as it were. I mean, and he's not there. It's almost like O'Connell got a little bit drunk on Darnold through the first three weeks and thought, well, maybe we can open it up and keep the gas pedal jammed. And if we're struggling a little bit and we're not finding a rhythm and we need to really put this game away, let's work it downfield.

Let's force it downfield almost. And if, you know, it's one thing to have Jefferson climbing the ladder and making every catch, but if he's covered and he's been taken away and you're trying to find Jordan Addison 40 yards down the field, bad things can happen in some ways because when you start throwing into that second level, tipped balls can happen, accuracy's a little harder, you're maybe under a little more duress because you're hanging in the pocket longer, and those throws can end up in problem areas. And, you know, I credit O'Connell for trying to say, look, I want to, I want this team to know that I want to be aggressive, that I have their back. I want Darnold to know that I'm, I'm confident in his big arm and big boy ability, and I want to keep feeding him

that. But he hasn't really shown for a sustained period of time that he can be that guy. Maybe he will. But I think he might want to just sprinkle some breadcrumbs in front of him a little bit more instead of saying, hey, here's a juicy steak, go get it. So I like O'Connell's attitude, but I almost feel like he's getting a little bit ahead of himself and trying to be the smartest play caller in the room at every possible moment. And look, if they had hit like that 50-some yard strike to Jefferson against Houston and had put New York down 24-0, yeah, you could have just went out and run some errands and put this one away.

It didn't happen that way. It wasn't just because of Darnold's poor play. There were other problems, penalties not just on special teams, but overall that kept spoon-feeding the Jets' momentum that they couldn't earn themselves. So they lingered, they loitered. There was a moment where you thought, man, Rodgers may make them pay for that. So O'Connell's been saying the right things. It starts with me as a play caller. I got to reassess where I'm at. The bye is always a great time to reflect on where you're at. I think we know, and certainly he knows what the identity of the team is.

He may want to look at himself and say, okay, I don't want to force things. I don't want to put Darnold in positions where he fails. I want to keep him in positions where he can succeed. Again, where's Aaron Jones going to be in that picture? Even if he does come back from this hip injury, you got to wonder how durable he's going to be throughout a long season with the amount of carries he's been getting and then stress you're putting on that defense as great as they are, as hungry as they are, as ravaging as they are and as playmaking as they are, those reps will add up down the road too.

And you got to keep them off the field a little bit more. Right. And that kind of takes us to another part of the conversation, which I was thinking about. And Hey, look, getting TJ Hawkinson back. I would like Kevin O'Connell to introduce TJ Hawkinson as this is your true security blanket as it was for Kirk Cousins. I think Cousins knew how to use Hawkinson brilliantly

where he was always there underneath. He's faster than most tight ends. He has better hands. He also has this great sense of how to get open in spaces that even though Johnny Munt and Josh Oliver have done a good job, they're not of the same caliber of a Pro Bowl tight end. And that may be the button that they push. I think that's the point is you can't just keep saying Darnold throw downfield. And also I can't discern, even if I watch the tape a hundred percent, the intent of plays were there times where guys were running deep and there was supposed to be an underneath option, but Darnold just kept choosing to throw downfield. That also may have been the case as

well. But I think that that's one of those, as we talk about next steps to be really in this list of where we started, those types of teams to be there, then I think you have to have plays and ideas with Darnold that shakes him out of it a little bit if he's in a rut and also have to realize if he is in a rut that throwing it on third and 15 when every other coach would just run a delay handoff there is probably not the play if he's a little bit shaky. The same with throwing it in the red zone, a couple of interceptions there, and he almost had a red zone interception in this game as well. I want to talk about the trade deadline though. It's not coming up just yet,

but this is the time where the trade conversations start to happen. And Kweisi Adafo-Mentz has got the bye week. If Kweisi, well, he's vacationing in Cabo or whatever for the week. If he just happens to pick up his phone and text you Murph and say, Hey Murph, I love Monday morning Murph on Purple Insider, what do you think we should do at the deadline, man? What would you say back to Mr. Adolfo Benson? Uh, don't be shy. Take every call you can. Um, look, I love the fat and, and, and build up, build up some depth. Um, I love the fact that in the last couple of years, the NFL has morphed more

into the NHL, NBA, MLB realm where the trade deadline is a thing. It's not a place to offload a pick or two, or it's not a place to piece together a better practice squad. It's now being used by front offices as a way to improve your team at that moment. And I find that exciting as a fan because most general managers, their work's done in March and April, and then they just hand everything off to the head coach and say, wake me when it's time to start firing people. But really what this allows a team like the Vikings to do, because again, you're five weeks in, I think the trade deadline's around November 1st.

So you're going to have the Lions game and Rams game. You're going to, you're going to be pretty much halfway through your season. You know who your identity is. They already know what it is now. They're going to know what their depth issues are. And I would say depth at the running back position is probably the number one priority because we've already seen how impactful Jones can be both when he's healthy and when he's not healthy because, you know, trusting Ty Chandler to pick up a convert a third and two and a fourth and two is not as much of a sure thing as Jones, right? And Jones

also gives the options in the passing game that Chandler just isn't capable of doing, at least not now. So what will be on the market then? And maybe some depth at the guard position, defensive tackle. These are positions that really get worn down by attrition, just the brutal nature of the game. If something's out there, you know, NFL GMs, you know, they love to talk about how we're really we're planning for 2025 or planning for 2026. And yes, that makes sense. You've got to have a long range plan. You've got to protect your draft assets. But you already got your franchise quarterback at number 12 last year in J.J. McCarthy. You've got you don't have a lot of draft capital. And if you are an elite team, you're probably going to be picking outside the top 25. So parting with a first round draft pick might not be as painful or risky this season.

But beyond all of that, if this is one of those one in a decade seasons for the Vikings to make a run, a deep playoff run and finally get in that Super Bowl in this market, you can't afford to play conservative. And just look across the river over at the Twins and all the beating they're taking for not doing anything when they had all the momentum from their playoff success last year. This is a moment right now. It's a moment that doesn't come along very often where you can be aggressive and plug holes that you feel like can take you to that next level and protect you throughout a 17-game season. So if one of your tackles or your guards or Jones goes down again late in the season, you have viable options behind them to keep the train running. So I say, Kwasi, take every phone call. Don't be conservative. Don't mortgage everything. But don't be afraid to say,

you know what? We're going to take a shot. And here's why, because this team has worked too hard. O'Connell's worked too hard and the fans have been waiting long enough. We're going to, we're going to take our shot. Well, and also when you look at all the metrics, they look like a Superbowl caliber team through five weeks. This isn't one of those kind of fake, oh, they made a bunch of field goals or had the other team fumble a bunch of times. Takeaways could regress a little bit. Giveaways need to regress as well for the Vikings because they've had too many turnovers of their own. But as far as all the play to play point differential, how long you've kept the lead, all these things, the DVOA,

which is the Aaron Schatz football outsiders old school stat is pointing toward the Vikings have winning the best defenses of the last 20-30 years so far through this five weeks I don't know if they'll do that for the entire season but a cornerback a defensive tackle especially who can get after the passer would be a great addition for them I think maybe Miles Sanders from Carolina, who's been a little buried there. And even Tony Pollard from Tennessee, just thinking of running backs on teams that could be contributors. Pollard was great with Ezekiel Elliott as a one-two punch.

And if they don't really trust Ty Chandler, they should look for somebody like that. But here's my question for you, Murph, though. The first round pick. This team has almost no draft capital for next year. If somebody comes calling, maybe it's Tennessee for Jeffrey Simmons, who's a beast defensive tackle, says, hey, we want that first round pick for next year. We're rebuilding. We need firsts. Are you okay with doing that? Absolutely. You have to be. Again, you pick 12. You got your quarterback last year. As you mentioned, no capital. It's a lightning in a bottle type moment for them. And I understand front offices. They're managing for the future

and they have to be responsible caretakers of the salary cap and the roster and providing the right opportunities to the right people, the right moments. But boys, fans and just general observers, they don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear about actuaries. They don't want to hear about risk management. They want to they want to hear we're six and oh, we're 7-1, we're shoving some chips in the middle and we're going to make this happen. And I don't find that being that risky considering what the Vikings have at their core positions. And a young head coach who seems like he's not only got the locker room, but he's got a lot of confidence from the fan base and the front office and ownership. And let's not forget, Ziggy and Mark Wolf like to spend. I mean,

criticize them for whatever you want. They spend to the cap and they're dedicated to winning. And they've had this team for almost 20 years. They are hungry for a title too. Would not take much of convincing to say, hey, we may have to move some money around. We may have to get creative. We may have to pay a tax. We may have to get clipped. Let's do it. And I don't see that being a hard sell of the ownership chain. What you want to make sure is that it's room that have gotten you to 7-1 or 8-2 or whatever the record may be by that trade deadline and say, we've got your back and we believe in you. And here's a little bit more help for that.

Same with the coaches. Same with the fan base. They want to be rewarded. They don't want to be told about what a great position they are for 2025 or 2026. This is a win now situation, especially in this market. And that can't be underestimated. This isn't San Francisco or Kansas City or Philadelphia where they've had recent championships. And then, you know, they've made aggressive moves in the past and they want to maybe be a little more conservative now.

I mean, just look at San Francisco right now. They're struggling. They've been aggressive moves in the past, and they want to maybe be a little more conservative now. I mean, just look at San Francisco right now. They're struggling. They've been on the doorstep and haven't won. That window may be closing. Cincinnati Bengals, I thought they were going to go to the Super Bowl this year. They're 1-4 and struggling. The Lions window may close after this season.

There are no guarantees for anything. If you feel like you have an opportunity to be playing in February in New Orleans, I think you have to do everything you can to make that possible. I agree with that. I also watched Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams yesterday and thought, you might want to do it now and the cap space for the future. If it doesn't work out and you move on from Sam Darnold onto JJ McCarthy next year, it's not like you gave up the whole team. You are going to have one of the highest numbers of salary cap space for next season after Kirk is finally off the books. So you can do this again with going to the free agent market and being a big spender. Okay. Last thing Murph, how many wins did the Vikings end up with

this year? What do you think? Yeah, we're ticking up, right? I don't even remember what I did. Did I say 10 last week? I think I was close to 10. I think so. I'm going to go 11. And I don't want to just be cheap and say every win, I'm going to go up one. Let me see how they do against Detroit. I think if they go, if they win against Detroit, I'm going to go 12 to 13 because that's going to be a monster game. And oh, by the way, they haven't been at US Bank Stadium in a while. And that's coming off the bye. They're going to be 5-0. The Lions play Dallas next week. They potentially could be 4-1. God, what a matchup that's going to be.

That's going to be the marquee game in the league. And you can only imagine how crazy it's going to be at U.S. Bank Stadium with fans coming in for a divisional matchup against an old-school rival and their first home game in a long time sitting at 5-0. So I'm going to go 11 right now. So I got them going, let's say 11-6, but trending rapidly toward 12. I've probably got them at 12. Man, what a start to the season for the Minnesota Vikings.

And we will be breaking it down every Monday on Monday Morning Murph, including next week where we'll react to whatever happened on Sunday and how it impacts the Vikings. And then we'll go from there. Long way to go, but the start that is an absolute dream for this organization. Thanks so much for all your time, Murph. Appreciate it. All right. Sounds good. Football. football questions comments thoughts feelings emotions we talked a little bit about Vikings fans last week and the emotions of being 4-0 and now that ramps up even a little bit more in terms of the anxiousness of what's going to happen next with this team, how good can they really be? Where does this thing end?

And I think what has drizzled a little bit of intrigue is the last six quarters of the Vikings offense really struggling and Sam Darnold, not looking like the Sam Darnold of the first three weeks that has also, I'm sure brought some anxiety to, all right, is this really going to go in the direction that we think it is right now? Or is it going to be derailed by inconsistent and frustrating quarterback play? An interesting stat that I ran across today from Pro Football Focus was that Sam Darnold

is in the top 10 in both big-time throws and turnover-worthy plays. And so we have gotten the Sam Darnold experience so far, but the Vikings defense, and this is from Aaron Schatz's DVLA, ranks among the best of the last 30 years in the NFL through five games. And the defensive performance has just been through the roof against very good competition. And that's one of the things that DVOA does. I know it gets referenced a lot, but it's really, we could just call it smart yards because one of the things it does is adjusts for competition. So when you beat the Houston Texans who have only one loss this season, or when you beat San Francisco who blew

a game against Arizona, but we're winning that game and have a pretty good offense. Or even when you beat the New York jets and Aaron Rogers that they had not been as bad. Most of the time this season earlier in the year, as they were against the Vikings, I guess they struggled against the Broncos as well. But overall, the performances added up through five games have equaled one of the best defenses that we have seen through five games in recent Minnesota Vikings history. You really have to go back to the 2016 defense at the start was fantastic. And 2017, the defense that year, I thought developed into one of the best in the league.

It was good from the start against New Orleans. They opened the season with in 2017, and it was looking like it was going to be okay, but then it became throughout the year elite. This defense has exploded right out of the gate and been one of the best overall that we've seen. Another interesting stat that popped out to me from PFF, because after every game, I usually go through all the grades that they gave everybody, all the scores and kind of look about, look at them for any thing that pops out to me. And then I look at where the Vikings stand overall in a lot of that data, not just the grades, but any number that just sticks out. And something that I noticed

was that no player on the Vikings defense is graded higher than a 76. So when you get into the 80 and plus range, that's when you're usually talking about pro bowlers, all pros, you get in the nineties, you get all pros, but they have every player on the starting lineup, almost every player across the board. I think it was 10 total players between a 66 and a 76 grade, which to put that in context, that basically means somewhere between good and really good has been everybody on this defense. And I think we've talked about it through the years a little bit when it came

to team building, that defenses are only as good as their weakest link and as of right now the Vikings defense does not have a weak link I thought it was going to be the interior of the defensive line Harrison Phillips has stepped up and played extremely well Jerry Tillery has added to that unit. They have used Jihad Ward quite a bit on the interior to provide them a little rush on third downs. And that's something that they didn't really have too much of last year. Another signing that's been pretty good for the Vikings, Jihad Ward and Jerry Tillery

to there truly has never been an off season like this, where every single signing seems to be coming up in the right way for the Vikings. But you go to the linebacker group, they've played well. It's not been perfect, but they've played well. And the corners, the secondaries, not perfect, but very well. Who is it that you attack? We wondered, well, is it going to be Shaq Griffin? He was cut by the Houston Texans last year. Does he really have much left in the tank? but he's played pretty well. And he was one of their better players, uh, against the New York jets. I believe he was targeted four times and gave up just one reception. Uh, and there was a key play where he was in good coverage. There was a throw behind Garrett Wilson. I want to say,

and Stefan Gilmore getting the game ceiling play. They actually went after Gilmore more than anyone has this year, and Rodgers only converted seven of 14 throws that were in Gilmore's range. There's no real weak point there. It's been Byron Murphy at times, but he had a good game yesterday and bounced back a little bit from up and down in Green Bay. The safety group, you throw Cam Bynum the ball, he's going to make a catch and make a game changing play the edge rushers, seven pressures from Jonathan Grenard, just a

consistent off the edge. He doesn't have huge, huge sack totals, but his pressure from week to week, it's almost always four, five, six, seven pressures from Jonathan Grenard. And I think it really shows there that there hasn't been one player. And even Andrew Van Ginkle, who has been phenomenal and is the MVP of this defense so far, he didn't have the best game against Green Bay. It's not like he's picked off a pass and run for a touchdown every single week. But he's been fantastic. No one has been defensive MVP. No one

has some outrageous, crazy interception number or sack number. It's just consistent across the board. There's no easy answers and all these defensive players can do so many different things that it's hard to see where this could break down aside from injuries over the second half of the season, because there isn't one thing that I would look at and go, oh, well, you know, once teams learn to take advantage of X, Y, and Z, of course they can add to it at the trade deadline and even maybe make some earlier considerations and phone calls about potentially adding to the defense to give them even more depth. But even the depth has been good. Kamu Grugier-Hill played 20-something snaps in this game

because why not mix and match a little bit with him in the game after he proved to be a game changer? The cornerback unit is really the only one that could use an extra player too. Fabian Morrow as a backup is not bad because he is a veteran player who's been inactive. I wouldn't necessarily want Dwight McClothern to be asked to do that. Caleb Evans is just a pass for me. He played okay last year, but even in his punt coverage was struggling. And I think that that ship maybe has sailed. So that could be something that they look for to add another cornerback. And Evans also got banged up yesterday as well. But I think that's really something that

stood out. And I know a lot of you on the post game were asking about the right guard position. What was that PFF grade going to look like? Well, I could tell you is about one of the worst in the entire NFL for last week. And the Jets are a really good defense. They have great players up front. But once again, we're talking about the same position being problematic for the Vikings. And I think if there's anything that's making you nervous today as a 5-0 team is that there's little bits of cracks in the foundation on offense that they could potentially seal up, which is the right guard, of course. And I thought Garrett Bradbury had a decent day. Blake Brandel has been mostly fine. The tackles have been absolutely phenomenal. I think two

pressures allowed yesterday versus that Jets team, just fantastic work. But the backup running back situation is problematic and you can't just continue to ride Aaron Jones. We saw what happened when he had to come out of the game and I mean, Miles Gaskin's a veteran player, respect him, but not someone who you can even really put in and have him perform when you need to. And when you need to trust somebody and clearly Ty Chandler is an up and down type of player where some weeks he might come in and have rockets strapped to him and other weeks he's not going to be the guy that you could just ground and pound away. I would also add that it's not

like he really got a chance. There is a tendency of Kevin O'Connell that if a single run does not go for three or more yards that he is not running again. And that's a pretty tough place to live in. I mean, if you have Aaron Jones where every run goes from three to whatever number of yards and he never gets caught in the backfield, okay, well then O'Connell is going to trust him. But when it comes to Chandler, he's a little more boom or bust, and they just did not want to ride out some of the busts yesterday. That's another thing to look for. Hawkinson coming back will be big. Got to make sure that they're distributing the ball, though.

Jalen Naylor with no targets in yesterday's game. That just seems silly when he has been such a good player for them. So there are some things on the offensive side now after these last six quarters that I think you look at and go, if you want to match up with Detroit, that's going to score a lot of points, then you're going to have to play better than that by a hundred miles against some of the defenses they're facing coming up. If they're not as good as the jets, they should be able to get back on track. But how good the offense really can be and how consistent the offense really can be

is the remaining question for me as far as is this team destined just for the playoffs? Is it destined to go into the playoffs where we're saying that they should be a favorite to win a championship? What's that gap? Or are they going to drift a little back to the pack and get into the playoffs but have to go on the road or something like that?

Because when you look around the division, Green Bay got another win. I don't think Chicago is coming for the Vikings. I don't think that Chicago is going to reel off a ton of wins, but after watching Caleb Williams performance, and I know it's against Carolina, but you still have to say that looks pretty competent. So it's not like those teams have been put completely in the rear view mirror. And the same goes for the Detroit lions, where if Detroit beats you coming out of the bi-week, then you're looking at now a neck and neck type of race.

The NFC North is incredibly good, super fun, talent across the board. And if the Vikings are great, then they should be at the top of that division at the end of the season. Are they going to be consistent enough as an offense to get there really is a question that I didn't think I was going to be asking much after the first half of green Bay. And now I'm asking a little bit more after these last six quarters. So questions, comments, thoughts, and then in about 15 minutes, we'll get to Manny Hill picking the schedule. Glad to have everybody here on this night. And just a reminder, always Monday,

Wednesday evening and Thursday evening going live. And after every single game, sometimes it will be in the press box at US Bank Stadium. And sometimes every once in a while when I don't travel, it'll be here, but always the post game show here. So if you're new, just tuning in, welcome. That's kind of how things work around here so let me get to your questions and comments also i believe the super chat is available if anyone wants to do that certainly not obligated but something that uh i was taught to do not too long ago and i've been using it um let's start with uh track says, Sam Darnold starting off throwing four for five completions before ending 14 for 31.

Do you think the hit that he took early on had anything to do with his performance? I can't put a number of percentage wise on how much I think it had to do with his performance. I don't think there's any way to say no, right? Because his confidence definitely was different. They also didn't pressure him on those first five dropbacks. And then they did.

The other thing is, too, credit to the New York Jets, who have consistently had one of the best defenses in the NFL. And you can see why. Their coverage was phenomenal. DJ Reed played way better than Sauce Gardner. He might be a better player than Sauce Gardner. He was tremendous in this game against the Vikings. Every time the ball was headed toward Justin Jefferson, it seemed like DJ Reed was right on him. And there were some penalties

of course, against the jets, but Reed was really good in coverage. They did a great job of getting after him. So it was not just, Hey, Sam Darnold blew it and missed a bunch of passes. It was, I think a lot of things at once they pressured, they covered extremely well, and he did not look as comfortable. There is a play somewhat early in the game. I believe where they're backed up toward their own end zone. They decide to do a shot play as Kevin O'Connell want to do. And at some point, by the way, other teams have figured out that you're going to run shot plays all the time and they're going to start preparing for them,

which maybe the Jets did a little bit. But in one in particular, they did not. And Jordan Addison was running wide open and Darnold just couldn't put it on him. And some of that might have been wet football. Some of it might have been getting a hit earlier in the game. Some of it might have been a confidence had gone away a little bit and wasn't as comfortable stepping up, but normally he delivers that football on a beautiful deep ball. And he just didn't in this game. It's in London.

I feel like all quarterbacks have had problems in London. I maybe should look at the stats. I don't know if there's a way to do it, to look at the stats of all the London games and to see what the accumulation of all the quarterbacks have done in London. But I don't remember too many phenomenal performances over there and certainly wasn't on the other side from Aaron Rodgers. Maybe that all plays together

for him struggling as much as he did. But I definitely think when you take a shot like that, you get the wind knocked out of you. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a little bruising in the ribs, if not worse after he took that hit, because we know that this is a very common thing for quarterbacks to get ribs broken and injured. That's why Kirk wears that big, I don't know what you call it it's almost like a belt that he has around his ribs that was maybe the MVP of the 2022 season for the Vikings because he got hit there so many times and you saw in the Netflix documentary that he was playing with broken

or severely injured ribs that may have happened to Darnold to the point where every throw was hurting him it was not a great performance but I think that we do have to factor point where every throw was hurting him. It was not a great performance, but I think that we do have to factor in. In fact, it was a miserable performance, but we have to factor in some of that. I also think that the coach who's calling the plays has to factor in some of that when it doesn't look like his guy is throwing the ball in the same way down the field, calling downfield plays over and over again is a little bit on the questionable side. I think, uh, Sean says, uh, the blessing in disguise, Sam's rough day is we could table our talk about long-term extension for him. And remember that it's a good

idea to hand the job over to JJ. Yeah. I mean, to some extent there's still five and oh, and there is still, I i mean overall the statistical performance by sam darnold over these first five games i think that it maybe tables the mvp conversation but it i don't know if it completely takes that away because we're so far away from it and that's why i was trying to avoid it because I just thought there is a long, long way to go before we get to the end of this football season. If we're talking about this already, I just think that a lot of things need to happen. A lot of dominoes need to fall before we're talking about who the future quarterback is going to be. If it's Darnold or if it's McCarthy. Six quarters doesn't take that off the table

because I think this team is really, really good. They could be in a very unique spot. I mean, think about how few teams have ever been in this position, but a lot of times it has worked out. So San Francisco going from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick, and then also Kansas City going from Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes. It's not quite the same because Darnold plays a different style than the safe Alex Smith way of playing that put a ceiling on a team. But I think we also may see that inconsistency will put a ceiling on a Sam Darnold team. I don't know that because I don't know where this thing's going to go. If Sam Darnold ends this season with 40 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 13 wins, and goes to the NFC championship game, it's really hard to say goodbye to Sam Darnold.

But if he ends the season with 26 touchdowns and 10 wins and they lose in the first round, then it's a lot easier to say, you know, thanks for the memories, but we're going to move on. And both of those things remain on the table, even as great as they've been through this time. But I think that when you're looking at, um, JJ McCarthy, the way he performed in training camp in preseason, that as of this moment, you'd be leaning toward. They still end up having JJ McCarthy as their option. But I mean, if they, if they win, I mean, Christian says right here, uh, the only hard

games left on the schedule or division games, 14 and three, if they go 14 and three, then that decision becomes very difficult. So I don't know if anything in London really changed that. Jake says any takeaways or reactions after watching the tape? I have not gotten through the entire game yet. Usually on Tuesday is when I do my film review and I'll get through the whole game and pull the plays and write the article for the newsletter.

Feel free to sign up purpleinsider.com. You can go over there. It's where I do a film study each week. So I haven't gotten all the way through it. I've only looked at a handful of things that I was just curious about. And I think what I came away with is that number one, there were opportunities for Ty Chandler to get more yards on the ground. I think they're going to go back and look at that. I mean, they committed two penalties that would have been big plays for him. But I also thought that in terms of his actual runs, there were opportunities to get yards on the ground that he just left on the table with indecisiveness, didn't break tackles that you might expect him to break.

It was a rotten day for Ty Chandler outside of the plays that got called back. And the other thing I thought too was, and I referenced the throw to Jordan Addison that came up short, is that I understand Kevin O'Connell's mindset because when you look at the tape, the guys are open. These route combinations work. And I'm sure that he's saying, well, i dial this back these guys are open just make the throw and we're good but if your quarterback is not making the throw uh that day then you do have to dial it back and that's what we went back and forth with josh dobbs over and over again um just this whole thing of well the receivers are open are open. The concepts are working. Dobbs just

has to throw in rhythm. And you're saying Dobbs can't throw in rhythm, not in the way you want. And Darnold can, but on that day he could not. So there has to be an adjustment there. You have to look at this and go, all right, yes, the guys are getting open, but he's not a hundred percent on this day. He's already been dealing with a knee injury that he's fighting through a little bit. And then he just got popped in the ribs. I mean, is there a way to make this a little bit easier than 30 yards down the field on fourth and two? And I also thought as well that some of the decisions were Darnold's, some of the decisions even to throw to Jefferson.

It is a dicey thing to decide. When do you throw to Justin Jefferson? Because there were a few plays where he's not open and he throws it, but he's also been told that that's good. And it is a lot of the time, it's just not against the jets. So what my main takeaway from my first kind of peak at the all 22 was just, it was a lot of things that went into the performance. And I think some of them could be fixed. I don't think that we're going to see a change in mentality from the coach though. So Darnold's just got to make

the throws or it's not going to work because I don't think he's going to stop dialing up these plays. Uh, the, uh, the doctor, The doctor asks if we have an update on Aaron Jones. We will get that tomorrow. Kevin O'Connell is going to talk tomorrow around 1030 central time. So we should have a good idea after that. I did not get the sense though, from O'Connell talking after the game that it was going to be something super serious. We will find out. But I haven't seen any of those, you know, Ian Rappaport or Adam Schefter. He's going to be out for whatever amount of weeks. So I think that's a good sign too, because we would have gotten that today if it was serious. Sean says, do we need to sign a guard if 66 isn't ready to come off IR soon? 67

played like trash again yesterday, and he's going to get Sam killed. It was another very poor performance at right guard. I mean, there's just no way around it. I have always been uncomfortable just riding one player, talking every week about how bad he is. I know some of you will say, you're uncomfortable with that with that. I am because it gets repetitive and it gets kind of like, yep, we all know it hasn't gone well. But in this case, they do need another answer. And the fact that they have not opened the window for Dalton Reisner means you are weeks away.

There is another guard on the roster with a lot of experience. That's not to say he's been way better in his career, but Dan Feeney has played a lot of experience. That's not to say he's been way better in his career, but Dan Feeney has played a lot in the NFL and I'm, I'm willing to try it because where they are right now is each week. I mean, you're talking about five pressures allowed from a guard is a ton. And that's what happened yesterday. It's so it's not even just the grades, but it's the numbers. It's the end and the film all tied together. You can see how much he's struggling. And I think that that experiment probably needs

to end. Otherwise you have this weak link that teams can just attack and attack and attack. But also there's been kind of a murderer's row of defensive tackles. It's just, it's just not, it's just not the, it's just not ideal. It's not an excuse. Everybody's got good defensive lines. It's the NFL. It's been three years of this. They've written it out and written it out when they really shouldn't have in 2022 and got Kirk hit a bunch of times last year.

It was a little bit better, but not by a ton, especially early in the season. And now when you do have championship expectations, the weak link system as well on the offensive line. Well, this is a pretty serious weak link. We're talking about four guys who can mostly manage and one that is ranking each week at the bottom of the league. If you could plug that hole, even a little bit, you're talking about Sam Darnold having more chances. Another small thing I noticed from the data is that Sam Darnold had, I think, 3.6 seconds to throw the ball. That's a lot. That's a lot to ask. Some of that's play actions and scrambles. So that number is

pushed a little that way, but he is being asked to sit in the pocket and let these long routes develop. If you're going to do that, you got to have a better pass blocker at right guard because there's just going to be pressure. Edwin says, if JJ McCarthy was healthy, would you consider starting him after the buy? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not at five and oh, they would not have been having that conversation at five and oh, no chance. What they would have been saying is when it comes to McCarthy, if he was healthy, if he had been, they would have been talking about, well, how many performances like that from Darn four weeks and they lose three games, then they might be making that decision to go to him. In fact, they probably would have been, but now you're just riding this rollercoaster because they're not going to go to Nick Mullins. I'm a shout out to Nick Mullins for his aggressive pass, but talk about what I saw on the tape. Oh my gosh. If he, uh, if he made a good

throw to Aaron Jones, goodbye, That would have been an easy touchdown. But Nick Mullins, you don't really want him to start too many games, so they won't be considering any sort of change at this point, almost no matter how Sam Darnold plays. But if McCarthy had been healthy, I think it would have taken at least four more weeks for them to even start to have that discussion of poor play, considering how good he showed he can be jason says any news on addison's court date he had this morning i have not seen anything

as far as his court date goes that is something to keep an eye on though because if there is a ruling on that then the nfl could come down with potentially a three-game suspension as soon as this year. It might be something, considering where they are, it might be something that they try to push back a court date. I don't know what happened this morning. I didn't see any reports on it, but they might try to push things back. They might try to drag things out to keep him on the field as we go forward. Or they also might say, Hey,

we survived a couple of weeks without him before. How about a couple of weeks this month where the schedule isn't super nasty and try to get a suspension then. I mean, I know tweaking when a suspension is going to be feels kind of wrong, but it also, when you're in this mode of five and Oh, you're trying to win the nfc you are trying to think about pushing that back to the start of next season if you can or keeping it when it's not at the uh the most unideal time which would be at the end of the year when they're

playing those division games but i i don't know yeah well when i find out uh we'll definitely talk about it uh christian says we should trade for joel betonio stud guard brandon sheriff there's going to be some guys out there that i think that they could potentially trade for and if there's an opportunity there then they should a hundred percent do it that a hundred percent uh phil says i think sam really believes in his arm that throw to JJ and green Bay was sick. Well, he should, I mean, he should believe in his arm and that's why for both of them, somebody has to pull back, pull back a little bit on, uh, on both of them really, because O'Connell is excited about Darnold's arm and Darnold will do exactly what he's asked to do with the arm, which is throw it downfield. And you almost need like a get back coach where it's, Hey, uh, let's send

in another deep crossing pass a coach. We're up by 20 points. Maybe you could just get a little bubble screen here and keep the clock moving. Uh, I think that's all anybody was really asking for yesterday because they made it closer than it needed to be with some of the aggressive play calling. Marley on the writing side, you know, sometimes I let it get a little late. Marley says, any plans to talk with an insider about potential trade targets, RB2, defensive end, probably, yeah, defensive end, defensive tackle, right guard, all spots that could make or break.

Definitely, as we get closer, but we're going to have that conversation with everybody who comes on the shows. Like, what should they do? How much are they willing to give up? There'll be a lot of different opinions on that. But as far as getting NFL insiders, I will make the effort to try to do that

for sure. Kevin says all five teams we've played are top 10 in sacks. Some of that is Darnold's taken maybe more sacks than he should. All but Green Bay are top 10 in yards allowed. We've played great defenses so far. I know that's what I'm saying about this entire season is that it's hard to pick apart any area of this five and oh start where you go. Well, that's not really real. The offense has been good overall. You just like to see a couple of things improve, but overall, would anybody take this offense? Can you win with it? Of course you you can if they play like this over five game stretches and those are darn old stats over five game stretches then you're going to be in great shape for the rest of the season and they won't play defenses this good especially as the season goes along and teams get banged up um but yeah i agree, let's see. Uh, Tang says, uh, this offense with Aaron Jones and JJ

is the flea flicker tree dream come true. KOC needs to dial that up. No, no, no. Uh, O'Connell is banned from using a trick plays. I don't want to see, he doesn't need any trick plays. I don't need Kevin O'Connell going back to that at all. Um, Phil says, uh says this team is built for Detroit. That is very true because it takes a lot of discipline to play against Detroit's offense where they have a lot of moving parts, a lot of screens, a lot of play actions, and they did extremely well against Detroit.

Or I'm sorry, against San Francisco where Detroit's offense is really reflective of what they do in San Francisco. And the run defense has been big too. There's also the fact that Detroit is playing Terry and Arnold, who is a young corner that commits a lot of pass interference that they're going to go after that defense still has questions against Detroit. Right now, the Vikings look better than Detroit. We'll see if we still feel that way in two weeks. Mike says, I don't know if any splash trades will happen at the deadline, but if they can acquire some depth at corner and either line, I would do it. Yeah. The real question about the deadline isn't, would you get an extra defensive tackle? Would you get an extra defensive tackle would you get a third running back it's really would you go

crazy for something and you know Blantos says if the Rams offered Stafford for next year's first you take it I mean that's the that's the one right that's the hardest one because you love what you've seen from Sam Darnold. Matthew Stafford has won a Superbowl and is a great quarterback proven over a really long period of time. They've been working through things with Sam Darnold to make this good, but you're talking about basically a souped up Sam Darnold if it's Matthew Stafford, but that's also insane, right? To be rolling along with Sam Darnold and then just get another quarterback. I mean, that would be crazy. I guess the Vikings could only win a Super Bowl if the season was absolutely nuts.

So I don't think that any team would do that move, but also theoretically, I would probably strongly consider it. I think where it gets realistic and difficult is when you have a first round pick for JC horn, a first round pick for Jeffrey Simmons. If you're talking about giving away somebody or giving away a draft pick for someone proven who is very, very good, but it costs you a first round pick that I think that they would do if

they get that opportunity. I don't know that they would do the Stafford thing. That would be wild. Uh, Aaron says thoughts on Dallas Turner's play through four games. Can they use him more as the season goes on? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that his play has not really stood out all that often, but has also not been negative plays when he's been out there. So I've watched him and I think it's a lot of what in a grading system, you would just give nothing like zeros. There hasn't been a ton of pluses or a ton of minuses that I've seen. I thought yesterday, actually, there were several pluses for a Dallas Turner and he's going to develop slowly, which is fine.

And edge rushers over their careers normally don't come in and get 15 sacks right away. So that's somebody that over the next couple of years, they're going to want to continue to pour into and have him be a key piece of their defense probably next year. But as of right now, he's more of just a role playing contributor who's in a handful of snaps per game. So he hasn't been an impact player through four games. That's kind of life as a rookie. It's good that they don't have to rely on him, but they could definitely use him a lot more as we go along. He also was banged up a little bit

and missed the game. So yes, I do think that Dallas Turner will contribute more throughout the season. Ned says Najee Thompson's absence has hurt. It has. That's not really somebody that I would have thought should derail you. You should have someone on the team that can be a punt gunner. I don't know why Trent Shurfield wasn't doing it before until Caleb Evans got hurt. Trent Shurfield is a very good and very experienced special teamer. Maybe it's because he was contributing on offense more when Jordan Addison was banged up, but that experiment with the Caleb

Evans, it's okay if that's over and they lean on Shurfield a little bit more, but the punt returning thing, you'd never notice it until it goes wrong right okay they punt to you you punt to them but if your punt return unit isn't good whole man you are on the edge of your seat every time you got to do it and that's how it felt against the jets uh the one thing i would say is you don't have to they botch a couple of plays on punt returns we don't have to talk about firing coaches. Okay. I saw a lot of that yesterday.

Is this special teams coach even know what he's doing? Okay. Okay. Uh, I think that over loyalty to certain players, if not all players over belief is something that this coaching staff, starting with Kevin O'Connell, they all have, they all give players probably more opportunities than you would, uh, as an objective observer, they try to develop and squeeze every bit out of certain guys. They try to find roles for guys who haven't worked out. And I think that that's played into it a little bit. Somebody like Jay Ward, I mean, just too many penalties.

Now you don't remember all the ones where he was good on because the penalties are so hurtful, but also you can't have those. You just can't have a ridiculous penalty there. And you wonder about sometimes with him, where is the IQ there? Or is there something that tweaks out sometimes and malfunctions because he's committed some silly penalties over the last two years. But I think as an overall special teams unit, they've been fine. They've kicked the ball. Well, they haven't given up anything as far as kick returns go. And the punting for the most part has been okay. It just totally malfunctioned with the coverage in New York, and Najee Thompson was very much missed.

Is the faithful Detroit's defense, my opinion, is terrible? Why can't the Vikings win that Lions game? So Manny, when he's picking the schedule, because I'm getting to the part of the comments of you guys talking about that, if all of us are picking the schedule and we just go through and we only do it based on what teams the Vikings are better than or match up well against right now, we will end up with the Vikings for every game because they're better than everybody right now. So I don't think you can really do it that way. I think it's more of when do you have a letdown or when does a really good team beat you Detroit is a great team that something will probably befall them at some point and you might say yeah that Detroit coming into Minnesota they've done a great job

they did not struggle very much with Brian Flores's defense though it is new look very much new look from what it was last year I mean I can't think of a game that beforehand I will pick them to lose right now as we do the whole Thursday, give our actual pick. And I was three points off this one. I think I said 20 to 17 Vikings and I almost nailed it. But I mean, for at least for the coming weeks, I'm probably many of the coming weeks going to say, I expect the Vikings to win this game over and over just living in reality. There will probably be some losses in the Detroit game. That's just one team that has had a little bit of their number at times with Jared Goff. And, you know, you could see them, you know, not winning that game or it being really,

really, really good, really close, coming down to a final kick, something like that. But I love that some of you have the Vikings 15-0. They're going to win this game. They're definitely going to win this game. I think if they end up with 12 wins, guys, that that would be an incredible season. Phil says, I really think they go seven and five. It'll be a letdown after this start,

just this side of 500 from here on out feels like you're underestimating after this start. Yeah. I don't think that seven and five from here on out is a huge letdown. It will feel like that in some of the moments. So that's what Manny Hill picked the Vikings to go is 12 and five, which means seven and five the rest of the way. But things happen throughout a season. You have a matchup one day that doesn't work out for you.

You have an injury one day. If the quarterback can't play in a game or whatever it might be along the way, you usually don't expect in a whole season to just beat everybody. And seven and five is not just barely on the side of 500. It's well over 500. If you're winning seven out of every 12 games in the NFL, what's that win percentage? Is that like 60 something percent? I mean, that's, is that 58, 58%. If you win 58% of your games over a long career, you might be a Hall of Fame coach. It's not actually bad.

It's only bad in comparison to 5-0. But yeah, I think they could be better. It just feels like we have to be somewhat realistic with that when picking the schedule and trying to guess what they're going to be and where to set the bar. If they get to 12, I mean, that's coach of the year stuff for Kevin O'Connell. And if it's any more than that, I mean, you're talking about going into the Super Bowl as a favorite, but we should also have to consider that if darnold has bad days occasionally if if sam darnold plays seven of the next 12 games well and has five games that look

like yesterday that's a great season for sam darnold overall but you're gonna lose some of those games and i think what you have to hope for is when you get into the playoffs, that you get more of those good games than bad. You get the first three games of the season and not the last six quarters. Uh, let's see. Mike says we could complain about Sam Darnold's play, but there was plenty of blame to go around. KOs play calling was a bit suspect, lost Aaron Jonesones early in the game which cannot be overlooked and the jets defense is legit uh i agree mike i think it was everything it wasn't just one thing and it never is when a quarterback doesn't play well it's never just the quarterback didn't know

what he was doing might be that way in cleveland with deshaun watson at this point but most of the time it's not just well the quarterback was lost out there and they couldn't do anything. It's scheme pressure opponent. And they allowed 60 passing yards to Bo Nix and Bo Nix look pretty good yesterday against the Raiders. So it's, I mean, that's a very good defense with a lot of really good players and no one deserves just the blame. But when your quarterback ends up with a 50 quarterback rating, when the rest of the season, he was what at 110 or something.

I mean, it's a, it's a big fall off from where they were. And it does put it in the back of your mind. Is this going to continue or will it be a rollercoaster? And none of us really know. So you guys who think that they're going 15 and two, like we don't really know how Sam Darnold is going to perform the rest of the way. I tend to think that it's probably a good bar to set.

Have eight good games the rest of the way. Eight good games, four off games, and you win a ton with this Vikings team. If that's what he could do after getting through this, this first five, even if we considered that three and a half games were great and one and a half were bad for Sam Darnold. I mean, I guess you could say he had his moments in some of the other games, but I would have given extremely high marks. I'm sure we did on the post game show for his first three and a half and then one and a half. What is that? 35 out of 50. So that's 70% of his games. If he played 70% of his games well this year and 30%

bad, you are going to the playoffs. You're in the NFC, you're in the, at the top and you're in the nfc you're in the at the top and you're fighting for who's gonna have the home playoff game and i don't think it's unreasonable to expect that but also there have been some things they've really uh leaned on when it came to the passing game over these first few games that opponents are going to really focus on as we go forward, deep crossing routes, something that opponents are really going to focus on. So the punch and counter punch of this, I will really be curious about how Kevin O'Connell punches back. This is a great thing about having a coach who was under McVay and was in the NFL for his entire career and as an assistant coach, is that knowing how to adjust and adapt as the season goes along is pretty important. But that's a major factor because other teams are going to be looking at what they've been doing

and look for some of those tendencies. Look for the tendency of this team to pass twice as much as it runs on third and three or less. Just as an example, the, some of the play action stuff and all that, like, are they going to figure some of it out? Travis says,

when we have Hockinson back, that's another weapon alongside the core and running game. Won't need to run that much either. Just another thing for defenses to worry about. Hockinson coming back is absolutely, absolutely huge for this team. No doubt about that. I totally agree. I think that Hawkinson is the guy who really can change the dynamic

entirely. It's not just someone dropping back in. It's someone being that underneath weapon, that guy who could get open in small spaces. And as long as Sam Darnold just trusts him. And I mean, gosh, I don't know that he's ever played with a good tight end. Chris Herndon had a year with the jets. I think that was with Darnold. I think, has he ever played? I mean, I don't think he even played. I don't think George Kittle even played in the game that he was out in San Francisco. This will be the first time that this has ever happened for him. And it could be big. Alex says, if Darnold comes out of the bi-week, which is spelled B-Y-E, by the way, on fire, then we really need to crown KOC as the quarterback whisperer.

I mean, I think that what O'Connell has done, and this is why it's hard with the criticism to balance, always kind of going back to, hey, guys, this is a specific critique of the play calling in this game, but the overall body of work for the start of this season could not be better for Kevin O'Connell and Brian Flores, this coaching staff, the players, to go 5-0 in the NFL against the teams that they've gone 5-0 against, traveling to Lambeau, then traveling to London.

I mean, it has taken everybody to get there, and the leader at the top has done an absolute A-plus job. So I don't want that to ever get lost in some of the, and the leader at the top has done an absolute A plus job. So I don't want that to ever get lost in some of the, hey, now we're going to look in a microscope here. We're no longer just kind of big picturing everything because the next year's draft is what we're talking about by October. Now we're looking under a microscope and saying,

where is every little detail that you might need to get to those 13 wins to get deep into the post season. And that's where protecting leads. And look, we saw teams blow leads in the playoffs last year. We saw Detroit blow a lead in the playoffs. And so you don't want to be that team. You don't want to make that mistake. Uh, if you're KOC, because Aaron Rogers and his old body and his anger wasn't able to get it done. But if you're playing another team that's in the NFC championship or you're playing Detroit at Detroit for a chance to win the NFC, well, they're probably not going to

let you off the hook in the same way that the Jets did. So I think that has to be keeping in mind when we talk about this. But as far as the QB whisper, I think what O'Connell has done is played to the strengths of Sam Darnold. The guy throws a heck of a deep ball most of the time. And, you know, I think that he's put him in situations to run play actions, take deep shots.

He actually looks like Gary Kubiak's offense a lot of the time, which I, of course, you guys know I really respect. But once there wasn't something there when it came to Aaron Jones to be able to work off of, then that whole thing changed and it just did not work in the same way. Taylor says, I think you give Chandler one game to prepare and see what he can do. He has the juice, but he needs a full-time shot before I write him off. So I'm not writing off Ty Chandler, and I would not write off his talent as far as his pure running ability.

But at some point after this long of having him on the roster, it becomes pretty clear that he's not Aaron Jones. And I think that if they can bring somebody else in that they could trust a little bit more and who can get tougher yards a little bit better, that they can have a mix of three running backs. Chandler in the right circumstances is blazing fast and he's an explosive play waiting to happen. It's just the whole game plan. Everything put on him was obviously a little bit too much and has been a little bit too much for him almost every time. I think Cincinnati, he was good in 2023. Yeah. Last year it was a Cincinnati where he started. He was pretty good. I think in a game against Detroit, but, but it's hit or miss with him and that's

fine. It's a, it's a good player to have super explosive, a little hit or miss, but Aaron Jones has to do everything and is so good at it. James says one issue with trades is they have very little 2025 capital to make moves. Might have to just empty the bank. You're absolutely right about that. And if you got to empty the bank, then you empty the bank because you have plenty of cap space

and plenty of players under contract going forward that will eventually hurt you. Yes, if you don't have those players on rookie deals you can work around it as long as they go to McCarthy next um so that's a tough decision I really do think it's a tough decision so far everyone that I've asked on the show has all said the same thing hey you got to go for it I don't know what's in the Wilf's mind I don't know what's in Kwesi's mind when it comes to this if they want to hang on to that or not. Truth says, all I'll say is whatever they're doing right now is making them 5-0, but we can do better. Well, they can do better. I'm

not the one playing. Yes, you're not the one playing. None of us are. So it's always easier for us to say that they can do better. But you're are. So it's always easier for us to say that they can do better. But you're right. And that's why I'm trying to say that keeping perspective on the 5-0 start while looking at it very closely and nitpicky, I think is the right thing to do here. Because at the moment, they are a 5-0, absolutely tremendous team with expectations that we took from, hey, maybe they'll fight for a playoff spot to let's shoot them through the roof.

And it's been a while for everybody. It's been a while for everybody. Now readjust your minds, folks, from years past where it was, if they won three games in a row and got back in a playoff race, oh, yeah, okay, they're back in the playoff race. This is exciting. We're in the in the hunt graphic well not anymore now it's you should be at the top uh you should you should not let a team get back in a game when they're down 28 or when they're down 17 if you're gonna stay at the top that's kind of the point um let's see jay says uh i think you mean the offensive

line. The O-line did pretty well. Darnold had all day in the pocket compared to most quarterbacks. He was hunting the big play, hanging onto the ball too long. Chicken and egg a lot of times. You're right. That's this offense with Darnold and the play actions and the deep shots, it will result in hits. It will result in longer holding onto the ball. I don't think the O-line had a bad day overall. I think that it was a factor how often they were able to pressure him. And that one hit was definitely a factor. It was really just one particular part of the line. And that's just the numbers.

When it comes to offensive line, I always lean on the numbers. It that's, that's just the numbers when it comes to offensive line. I always lean on the numbers. It's hard to analyze offensive line play, but when somebody's getting beat over and over, it's not hard. Anybody could go back and look and go, yep. I mean, that that's a big loss for a certain player and then a big penalty as well. At the end of the game. I mean, just one, one particular part of the line has been really problematic for them and we'll see if they replace it. Mike says, could Sam's timing have been off because the Jets defensive backs were not letting our receivers get off the line cleanly. They were very handsy. I have to imagine that played a part.

Yeah. Their cornerbacks did a great job. They fought and they battled and they made life difficult for Jefferson. Normally, you are seeing Jefferson get clear, clear separation by the time the ball's coming his way. That didn't happen. He had multiple targets that were very well contested. That's definitely part of it that could have thrown off the timing on certain plays. But when I looked at the all 22 tape, I also saw opportunities that were missed for wide open receivers downfield. I saw him not looking to some underneath stuff and I'll do an article on this and talk about it a little more as we go

forward. But I definitely saw opportunities were there for Darnold to play better and he didn't. And they have to look back at it and figure out why and where. And I think that asking him to hit those throws that went deep down the field when he wasn't seeming to feel right was a lot. But I mean, we can pick it apart in a lot of different ways what happened. The reality is the last six quarters of quarterback play, whatever I mean, we can pick it apart in a lot of different ways. What happened? The reality is the last six quarters of quarterback play, whatever the explanation, if it stays like that, we'll be tough to win 13 games. If you get 70% of your performance over the rest of the season is good. And then we have the occasional game like this that's going to be a phenomenal season for

Sam Darnold he might not win MVP but he might get the team to 12 or 13 wins uh Ty says are there any running backs in the free agent market that could be better than Chandler probably not might be worth a chance if you get to this point in the season I mean Kansas City is playing Kareem Hunt who's got to be totally washed I have no idea who is out in free agency who would come off of their couch. Maybe Latavius Murray or Jarek McKinnon. Maybe, maybe those guys. Those guys are pros. I have not heard what exactly their deal was for this year.

I don't think either one of them has a job. I would welcome both of them back. Maybe Latavavius just to pass protect let's see uh tyler says uh when was the last time we had linebacker depth years you you have to go back to ben gideon i think when they had um bar kendrickson gideon and he was pretty good that would probably be the last time but it was always pretty short after that yeah having kamu gruge hill what a guy what did they sign anybody that didn't work out like kamu gruge hill making plays and now filling in and taking a role sometimes as kind of a versatile player who

could cover tillery gruge hill ward every one of these guys every one of these guys it's remarkable uh taylor says hot take does hitman come back still playing very well 2025 questions are hard but uh i i have no idea no idea if he's going to come back or not and he probably won't even tell anybody until he'll just not show up for training camp. We'll go, where's Harrison. And then they'll say, Oh yeah, he retired. It'll be something like that.

Oh man. More, more discussions about trading for Matthew Stafford. I mean, I think that's, that's all it's all. It's on the wild side of ideas. I like talking about it.

Maybe I'll ask some people about it. Cause it's fun. That's a fun discussion. Janet says, I think sam's footwork has been a little off and he just uh went for it towards the end yeah i mean uh even his timing was off in the green bay game and then the same kind of thing happened um like it for a lot of the part of the jets game, there, there was a lot of different times where I don't know, footworks hard to really determine because I'm not the quarterback or the quarterback coach and saying, Oh, his footwork looked off, but I know timing and his timing was off in some

of the plays, the green Bay game. I don't know if that is part of it, uh, where the timing was off in some of the plays at the Green Bay game. I don't know if that is part of it, where the timing was off or just wasn't throwing the ball the same. Digital Plains Media says, I hate nitpicking play calling. Bikes are 21-0 when tying the turnover battle under KOC for a reason. Aggressive downfield with the football. I've been waiting forever for it. So, first of all, I mean, if we didn't nitpick play calling, what would football be if we didn't look at every single part of it?

The other thing is too, it's not exactly nitpicking when it is a clear logic thing. And I like this conversation of when is it right to question the play caller? And I think that over the last two weeks specifically, there have been times where you say, all right, look, I'm with you as well. I like the idea of being aggressive, taking a shot when you can put a dagger in a team or something like that. But think about what Sean McDermott and Joe Brady did in Buffalo yesterday. They were trying to be aggressive. Oh, wonderful. They're being aggressive. Whoops. They stopped the clock and gave the ball back to the Texans who then had seven seconds left,

got a first down, kicked the game winning field goal. But here's your, here's your, thank God you were aggressive ring. Congratulations. You blew the game, but you were aggressive. So good job. I mean, the thing with the KOC is the same sort of deal. Aggressive just can't always mean good. When it's third and 15, your quarterback's been struggling. He got hit in the ribs earlier. All you have to do is punt the ball away. Hopefully not commit a penalty, punt the ball away, send send them make them go 65 yards to get back in this football game and you're probably winning and instead ripping another long pass over the middle that ends up being picked off it's like well he was so wild on his throws yes you could have seen that coming and and i think the same thing goes for hey here's a fade ball to aaron jones because we're

desperately trying to get him a touchdown. It's picked off on second and one in the red zone. When you need a field goal, like there's logic to this. Each one of them has to be broken down individually in these last two games. I think it's been problematic and the results speak for themselves that they've let these teams come back into it. So if you just say, hey, we can't question play calling, it's aggressive. Well, first of all, it's football. We can question whatever we want. But I think this one is pretty logical.

I mean, in comparison to the big picture of Kevin O'Connell coaching this team, I mean, of course, this has been fantastic. It's been one of the great coaching jobs you're ever going to see through five weeks. Of course it has. But I think we can live in both worlds where we can say, you know, if you keep doing that, it will bite you at some point. Giuseppe says, I know this looks like a typical pop-up season, but if JJ is legit, then this could be sustained quality run for a few seasons.

Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, as it pertains to the trade deadline, that's why players who are under multiple year contracts or someone you can sign like JC Horn come to mind for me, um, along with, you know, filler parts, like another running back or something. But I agree that the overall leadership and the way they've guided this group through from where they got here to now, to the point of being the best team in football. I mean, you, you also believe that, uh, you can do this consistently the decisions they've made as far as personnel, you could do this consistently. The decisions they've made as far as personnel, you could do that consistently. Now, maybe you're not going to hit on every free agent signing

through every single offseason, and maybe they do hit on some more draft picks when they actually get draft picks back in the future. Those things tend to even out a little bit, but they can evaluate players, and they can find roles for players and they could create a place where people want to be and they can maximize a quarterback skills. If you could do all that, like this sounds to me like San Francisco. It sounds like Philadelphia ish before recently, but still Philadelphia in recent years. That's what this

kind of stuff sounds like. I do believe there'll be good over multiple years. At the same time, if you could trade a first for somebody who gives you a chance to win the Superbowl now, if you're all, I mean, if you're saying, well, we'll do it some other time, that's a hard place to be in the NFL because things change so quickly. John says, can reporters watch any practice during the week or are you just allowed to interview the players after uh yes uh during the week we can watch about 10 to 15 minutes of practice before we go back inside so we don't see the parts like in training camp when they're doing the actual plays and implementing the offense defense and all that we only see the warm-ups type of so they're doing their stretching and then we see them throwing the ball around you know hitting

the football on a stick or whatever warming up and during that time usually what we're doing is taking attendance seeing who's out there seeing who might be limited in practice, stuff like that. Little Iggy says, why is he wearing a Detroit Lions color baseball hat? Well, they're not playing the Lions this week, so I'll just save this for next week. It's because it was the hat that was down here in my studio. Sometimes I put on the black one, sometimes I put on the white one, but I was hitting some golf balls in the backyard and had the hat on and just put it on. Also, big Lions guy.

No, I'm just kidding. It's do you like it? It's very I think it's very vibrant. It's a nice hat. You won't miss me when I'm out there. Anthony says, can Lucky Jackson play Gunner? I think he can. I don't know.

I've never seen him play Gunner, I don't think, but it's got to be better than what we saw the other day. Travis says, Detroit is lucky as they did as well as they did last year. If Kirk and JJ didn't go down last year, Detroit would got stomped out. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Those games where Nick Mullins went crazy. It was kind of a little bit of both though, where it was Nick Mullins creating a ton of huge explosive plays and also throwing interceptions. Uh, I, but I don't think Detroit was lucky last year and I don't think they'll be lucky

this year. They're a great team. They've built their team incredibly well through the draft. It's a complete team on offense is one of the most dangerous in the league. Still some questions on defense, but there's, there's no downplaying how good Detroit is. And sometimes I, we just are in different spots where a lot of you want to say, screw Detroit. They're not that good, which I totally understand. But from my perspective, the Vikings facing good teams and playing them is very exciting. It's like, all right,

well, this team's really good. Your team's really good. Let's play football. See who wins. And I think that's going to be the case when it comes to Detroit well, this team's really good. Your team's really good. Let's play football. See who wins. And I think that's going to be the case when it comes to Detroit and them going up against them in two weeks is that's two great teams. Let's see who wins. That won't determine the whole season, but it will sort of set the tone for that race. If they beat the lions. Oh my gosh. I mean, then you're talking about just however high this thing is right now. That's like the last part of it. It was okay. Don't have a letdown game in London.

Now beat the team. Who's the division favorite. And if baby, a favorite to go to the super bowl again, after they already did it against San Francisco, who that would really be something. Peak tribe says lines are still the best team in the division until the Vikings take it.

The North easily the best division in football. Three potential teams in the playoffs. I agree. Yep, best in football. And I also agree with the Lions' point. I mean, the one thing about them is they have a quarterback that is proven. Yes, the Lions have not been as good this year. Golf has not been as good this year. Although I seem to remember him going 18 for 18 passing, or was it 19? Um, that offense

is very good that I just don't think that there's any downplaying how good the lions are. And since they were in the NFC championship, and since they were the team that, uh, you know, had high Superbowl odds and they've so far mostly lived up to being that good. They are the team to beat, which is great. Send your team against the team to beat. And if you beat them, then you're the team to beat fun stuff, right? I think it's fun. Uh, digit says, uh says Jefferson has a great game every game. Either he black holes two or three defenders. So Addison or Naylor are wide open or he is wide open. Yeah, I mean, that's what it means to have a clear cut number one wide receiver.

The one thing I would like to see them do is just make it a little easier for Jefferson. Sometimes doesn't have to be all the time. And I know how much attention he's getting. But ball in his hands. Doesn't always have to be 28 yards down the field. Ball in his hands. And we've got that rule that somebody goes to jail if he doesn't get 10 targets.

And the other day, it was pretty close. And forcing the ball to him and having it not work is always okay with me. If that happens like it did the other day it was pretty close and forcing the ball to him and having it not work is always okay with me. If that happens like it did the other day, you get flags a lot. It doesn't get picked off too often because he could deflect the ball away. It's just that sometimes it feels like Jefferson will not be a part of what's going on for a whole quarter or something like that and that is what can't happen as much as it has the last couple of games where jefferson is a part of things and then he's not for a while and then finally in the fourth quarter oh yeah there he is again make sure he's

staying involved and he had a drop he's got to catch that ball along the sideline. Alex says, are punt coverage and return teams going to be an ongoing concern or is it fluky stuff? And up north says, bring back David Palmer. Love that comment. Love that comment. As I just was a huge fan of David Palmer. I thought he was awesome. In today's game, David Palmer gets used

in a lot of fun ways, I think. The answer to me, Alex, as far as the punk coverage is, I don't really know because the punter has been shaky. Ryan, right? Good. Sometimes not as great. I didn't think he did anything wrong in this game. The guys who are covering the punts are pretty new at this because they don't have Najee Thompson. That might require a change. Brandon Powell has been a very reliable punt returner through his years, but you can't push somebody in the back as your dude is returning the punts. I think it was more fluky in that game, but I still am a little bit nervous as far as on a on a punt to punt basis you you don't have a lot of

confidence it's not like every time you go back to punt you could just go to the restroom or something you got to watch what happens on each punt with this team but it was excessive for that game that game was maybe as messy as it's ever looked so i i don't think that we need to start firing people and everything else uh you know when when we're talking about the special teams but it was a rotten day for them uh let's see mike says i do want to play rogers every week if his receivers could catch we would have been in real trouble or or you mean do you say do you mean don't want to play rogers every week well you know when it

came to uh their passing game the defense was marvelous for the vikings but there were several times where they looked worn down at the end and receivers were open and this is when we talk about that, be aggressive thing slash be smart. Part of it does have to be discussed that the defense has gotten really worn out these last two games and they made key plays at the end, but they were on the last legs in making those plays. And I just don't think that you could continue to ask them to do that, to go out there after throwing interception on third and 15 and just say, Hey, defend half the field against Rogers after you were just out here. And it's not just run the ball. I'm not saying that it's not just run the ball. It's also creating a steady stream of first downs of here's eight yards here's six yards here's three yards they have not been able to do that it's mostly been here's 28 yards or here's a sack

or right or here's an interception uh brent says uh every team now will take the vikings seriously and they could uh and if they could beat us, it would be their season. We have a target on our backs. You're right. Yep. Everybody's, everybody's going to be studying what the Vikings are doing. When they go into their bi-week, they're going to be saying, how do we stop them? What have they been? What are they doing to succeed like this? A hundred percent. Bobby says golf doesn't handle pressure. Well,

Vikings are number one pressure. The thing about golf is he doesn't get pressured very often because of their offensive line and because of his brain. And this is one thing that just doesn't get measured very well by anybody, by QBR, by PFF, by quarterback rating. Quarterback rating might be the best here because it's just results. Jared Goff faced this defense last year was phenomenal. Now it's much more difficult this time around that he's facing it, but he is so good at

managing a game at taking the underneath stuff. When it's there, taking the short stuff, when it's there, hitting the occasional shot, reading a defense, going to the right places he doesn't handle pressure well but the guy barely gets sacked he's he's a tough quarterback to go up against this this matchup is great ben johnson versus brian floris let's let's play some football already who needs a bye week actually this is the first bye week that's kind of fun to talk about where they're going when was the last fun bye week 2022? 2022 maybe? They trade for Hockinson? Or no, that was deadline. When was their bi-week? It was like late in the season that year. This is the first time I can remember for sure that there was a bi-week and we were saying, hey, can't wait to get to the next one. So look at that. I finally reached the bottom of the scroll

on the comment section. Caught up with you guys. Yeah. Najee Thompson. They can't, they can't, they can't bring back. Cause he's, he got injured this year. Okay. When could rise to return? That isn't a good question. We asked the other day and O'Connell said they're not quite open, uh, ready to open his window yet. Um, I, I understand, uh, Luis, the, the personnel is very different between this year and last year's, uh, defenses. I just mean that Jared Goff has played really well against a lot of defenses over his whole career over his entire career. Um. So this isn't like some sort of new quarterback that's just seeing this for the first time. You guys still waiting for me to, yeah, it is after nine o'clock.

I guess the bye week would be the time for me to bring the guitar down and jam for you guys a little bit. Maybe we'll do that. Maybe Thursday night. Manny's got something going on Thursday night. So we're deciding between recording or me going live anyway. Might depend on how the voice is doing. I was kind of hoping to rest the voice a little this week. I was getting scratchy by the end of last week and a little bit right now, actually.

Kareem Hunt has 72 yards. Okay. So I was saying, Hey, they've got Kareem Hunt has 72 yards okay so i was saying hey they've got kareem hunting and he's doing well uh any news on gabriel murphy no not yet um wouldn't worry too much about that he's not really going to play a role this year in the future though i think he can okay that was some good football talk everybody great stuff and uh take a look for my article on everything that went right and wrong in the game. That's what's coming out tomorrow. Purpleinsider.com. Sign up for the newsletter there. Like, subscribe, tell your friends. We got a really fun week lined up. Kevin Seifert from ESPN is going to come on. Sean Syed, who is a part of a scheme and stats podcast, is going to break down KOC scheme and why it's been working for Sam Darnold, Jeremiah Searles, the whole, the whole gamut of people who come on the show will be on

this week. So thank you so much for all your great stuff. Wednesday night chat, as always keep the eye out for that. And, uh, we will talk to you all later. Thanks everybody. I forgot it the other day, but I'll say it now. Football.