Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Which NFC East teams are playoff threats to the Vikings

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

Which teams are a threat to make the playoffs? Why is Dallas a top contender? What do we think of Daniel Jones? Is Washington going to be bad or would they be a surprise contender in the division?  Read Matthew Coller's written work at PurpleInsider.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. Hey everybody, Matthew Collar here. Before we get into the show, we're excited to share an exclusive trailer with you. After the show, from Blue Wire Studios comes Golden Goal Stories of Soccer Legends. Each Monday, two new episodes. We'll take a look at some of soccer's biggest stars and the biggest moments that define their careers.

All narrated by Brandon Kelly, the host of Blue Wire's Always Cheating podcast. From Messi to Rapinoe and many, many more, each episode will focus on historical plays and the personalities that made the sport great. So stay tuned after the episode and check out Golden Goal, Stories of Soccer Legends, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another episode of Purple Insider and I'm glad to welcome for the first time on the new show, had him on many times on the previous show, Charles McDonald. What is going on, Charles? Nothing much, just, you know, quarantine activities, which is a lot of video games and eating and trying to sneak in work when I can. Now, when we first started having you on the show back in the day, I think you were contributing

to Football Outsiders, possibly, and then it was SB Nation, and now it is the New York Daily News, and you're like legit now. You're not just the internet. You're like print. I'm very proud of you, Charles. Thank you. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm excited that coronavirus is ruining my – what would be my first full season, like being in person and covering the team.

Because I got to the Daily News last year. My first game actually was the Vikings-Giants game last year. So I haven't had a full season on the beat, and it looks like that's going to have to continue to 2022. Well, we'll see. 2021. I mean, if any league is just going to push forward no matter what happens, if there was a league that could put right under their letters,

if he dies, he dies, it would be the NFL. Yeah, I was just saying, like, they have been waiting for any excuse to pull back media access, and now, oh, it's not safe for you to come to media availability, well, the NFL has always wanted to kind of focus on their NFL media and tell the stories the way they want to tell them and not have you report who is at practice. One of my favorites is when they put things like, you can't tweet who was playing at practice. Like, so what should I report on exactly from practice, even though there will be fans up in the stands taking videos and sending them out on Twitter and things like that. So the Vikings actually do a tremendous job, I think, of balancing that and giving us access and stuff.

But it is a fight for reporters all around the league, and that just got more interesting as we'll be doing a lot of our interviews this way, the way you and I are are over a Zoom call with players this year. But I would be happy just to be covering football the way that things are going so far. Oh, yeah, for sure. So you're there covering the New York Jets, New York Giants. And one of the things that I think is funny is anytime I do an interview with another radio station, and if it'll be like an out-of-market station,

they'll ask me, what do you think of Kirk Cousins? And it's a very long and complicated answer. Like, well, you're going to give me about 50 to 60 seconds to tell you what I think of Kirk Cousins here on your radio show. It's kind of a tough task. Has everyone been asking you, for everyone that you've done, what do you think of Daniel Jones? Yeah, pretty much uh i think i've i've so i've been on uh mina khyme show twice since i got hired there and both times we had a long discussion about what do you think of daniel jones and like i've written about daniel jones and every time i go on like other radio shows what do you think of daniel jones like i know he's not that interesting not not to hate on him or anything but uh you know

they're better topics to be asked about but yes I have uh had a lot of experience talking about being in Jones in the past year so I think that actually Kirk Cousins is interesting because he always gets his teams just so far and puts up amazing stats but then the people who watch him play are always like I don't know know, right? And then there's this whole Monday night football game thing, and can he lead people, and he's got this bizarre personality, so there's a lot of meat on the bone with Kirk Cousins, and from what we saw of Daniel Jones last year, aside from one great game against Tampa Bay, a lot of meh, but I've got some different ways to talk about this, so you don't have to just tell me, well, he makes a lot of men but I've got some different ways to talk about this so you don't have to just tell me

well he makes a lot of mistakes but for some talent there um I I pulled up the touchdown pass leaders from 2000 to 2010 and I'm gonna go through them and I want you to tell me or I want you to stop when one of the quarterbacks sounds like it might be what Daniel Jones is in the NFL. Okay. So I'm just going to go down the list and then you say stop and we'll compare them to Daniel Jones. All right. So Peyton Manning is number one, Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Donovan McNabb, Matt Hasselbeck, surprisingly, Kurt Warner, Eli Manning, Carson Palmer. Can we stop at Eli? Okay, let's stop at Eli.

I mean, it's a natural comparison. But is he anywhere close to as good as Eli for raw talent? I don't know if he's, like, as rawly, you know, has as much raw talent as Eli, but they kind of play similar where, you know, we're going to take these chances down the field and for better or for worse and i think for for dj last year uh like like you said outside the tampa game and then the game against uh washington to close the season you know a lot of it was dj don't be throwing that pass and i i you know he he's he's he's aggressive like Like, if you look at pro football reference and look at his intended air yards,

like, he's up there, I think, in the top 12 of the league last year. Like, he had no qualms about throwing it down the field, but I don't think that that's his biggest strength. And I think you could say the same thing about, like, late career Eli. It's like, Eli, you're taking a lot of chances for maybe a physical profile that you don't have anymore. And that's kind of where I am with DJ. And also they look exactly the same, like when they're in the moment.

And like, it was uncanny, the picture that, I think they took from like the first week of training camp last year where DJ standing behind Eli and they both like look the same in their face masks and they both stand the same and like they're the same build. And it's, it's, it's kind of eerie like like how much they look they look alike but i will say that you know early career eli i think was more physically gifted as a passer than in jones's and mid-career eli is legitimately very very good there was something that was interesting um that pff did where they looked at quarterbacks and how they perform when they

threw 40 passes or more in a game. So when it was kind of all on their shoulders or when they were trying to come from behind. And it wasn't surprising to me that Eli Manning's numbers were actually really good because at one point in his career, he could drop dimes and his risk taking was really good. And he would have a lot of big time throws and had weapons to do that too as well late career Eli just does not have anything left and if your comparison for your starting quarterback who's at his second year is late career Eli not great I'm gonna run through a few I'm gonna run through a few more and I want you to see if there's anybody else that sticks out to you so uh Carson Palmer, Jeff Garcia, Dante Culpepper kerry collins ben roethlisberger

trent green john kitna john kitna no i don't i don't remember i don't really remember too much about kidna that's okay yeah that's all right uh philip rivers steve mcnair aaron brooks uh no he's nothing like steve mc Mark Bolger, Jake DeLome. That's interesting. Jake DeLome, I could buy that because I don't know if this is just me. Like I lived in Charlotte at the time when DeLome was the starting quarterback for the Panthers. I always thought he was like a little underrated.

Like he wasn't good and he certainly has bad moments. Like the playoff game against the cardinals the year the cardinals went to the super bowl i think uh he had like five interceptions and i think that was the last time he started a game for the panthers but you know his high points were about good enough and we saw that if if you put steve smith and uh musha muhammad around him in a pretty good running game, he can deliver something. Maybe that's where Jones is too. Like he's not going to be someone that elevates the entire team,

but if you put enough pieces around him, maybe he's going to run one year. When I think of Jake DeLome, and forgive me for this, because it's ultimate NFL cliche, but like gritty, definitely gritty. Like kind of like really enjoying himself out there, really like gritty, definitely gritty, like, you know, kind of like really enjoying himself out there, really into the game, really competitive. I don't know if I see that with Daniel Jones's personality, but I do see Daniel Jones as a guy, and maybe their comparison would be someone like Andy Dalton, where he could win some games if he's got a really good team around him and one year he's going to be great I don't know when it's going to be out of these four years he'll just go crazy

one year because all of those risks that he takes will work out just for one season and he'll put together a really good year and they'll sign him to a 400 million dollar contract and then it will be a mess going forward it seems like there's a pretty good potential chance that they do it. I think he's actually going to be kind of fun to follow along because of how much they stuck up for that draft pick. Like the draft pick didn't make a ton of sense. They overdrafted the hell out of him. And so now you just kind of got to live with that,

and you really got to push it. It reminds me in a way of really a lot of the other quarterbacks in that draft outside of of course Lamar Jackson where you know Bills fans are desperate to believe that Josh Allen is good just like please please be good because if he's not he's the guy that we had and we traded out of the Mahomes pick you know that we decided to get or he's the guy that we picked over Lamar Jackson, who becomes an MVP. I feel like there's a lot of that in that draft with Baker, with Darnold, and with Josh Allen.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think with fans of all teams with rookie quarterbacks is, like, when you have a rookie quarterback, whatever came before that was not fun to experience. And, you know, the Giants went through that with Eli, like you said, the Browns certainly went through that with whatever came before Baker Mayfield, the Ravens with Lamar Jackson, the Bills with their history, basically since Jim Kelly.

It's not fun to get to a point where you have to go get another rookie quarterback. So like the fact that anyone could put anything out negative about that guy, whether he's been playing well, or he's been playing bad, it's hard to think about you're going to have, you're about to sit through another rebuild, another missed quarterback pick, another new staff, like four more years of complete crap, which I think is why people get so defensive about these quarterbacks.

And, you know, Gettleman was like weirdly – Gettleman was like, you know, talking the big game after the Tampa Bay game, and then they get to the offseason and Joe Judge is hired, and they're doing like this weird thing where Judge refused to say that any player was a starting, including Saquon Barkley, which was, you know, kind of funny. Like someone asked about the combine. So, you know, if there's no depth chart, like would Saquon Barkley be a starter? And like, he kind of had this look on his face, like, ah, you got me,

you got me. Can't always play the tough guy. But, you know, it's interesting to watch how the Giants have kind of played this Daniel Jones thing. And now they're back talking about about him like he's the future of the team. So I don't know if it was just like a rift between Gettleman and Judge, but, you know, that's probably only interesting to a couple of people, including me, around the team on a consistent basis. probably uh smart though for joe judge to start using player names and declaring starters because if you're going to try to pull this wannabe belichick thing i give you 18 months like it's it's the guarantee if you're going to play these silly games like i always think this with uh baker mayfield where baker mayfield says things in the media and you go do you see any other quarterback doing that like the same thing for the joe judge oh there's no depth chart do you see any other coach with this bs any other coach

where you think that this is gonna fly i mean the players are gonna laugh at you do you not realize who you're coaching they're not they're not a bunch of high school kids or something you can't treat them like this and i'm sure that somebody pulled him aside and said, okay, please stop with this bit because everyone's making fun of you. Yeah, I think his thing was once he started talking about guys' projective stars somewhat, it was like, oh, you know, I had a chance to talk to him in the virtual meetings. Like, really? That's what changed your mind?

The virtual meetings? Like, you didn't even get a chance? Like, he hasn't got a chance to meet any of his players face to face yet which is kind of interesting to think about as we get ready for training camp like training camp is going to be the first time that these guys meet him uh and you know we'll we'll see if we make it through training camp and how the season goes but you know that's kind of an underrated storyline like all these guys who are first year head coaches Stefanski in Cleveland have had no in-person contact in any of the players which is which might be something that affects them in the regular season right yeah

I would think it would be an advantage for the Vikings to still have Zimmer and Kubiak you're running the same exact offense trying to install a new offense in an offseason like this it's going to be weird although I think that you'll have to give me your opinion that if there are just practices slash scrimmages instead of preseason games, it's actually more helpful for your team because A, starters don't get hurt usually in practice and they do get hurt a lot of times in preseason games and B, you're working on stuff you're actually going to use. I mean, these preseason games are just a massive waste of time and I see some ex-players and things saying, oh, no preseason games.

It's going to be rusty. I don't know. I think they would just benefit more from having the extra practice time. Yeah, the only guys I – excuse me. The only guys I kind of feel bad for are, like, the roster fringe guys because, you know, maybe they just don't get a chance to really do much in practice. And, like, the back half of the third preseason game and the fourth preseason game is kind of, like, their only chance to play. So I do feel a little bit bad for those guys.

But I don't know how much it impacts the – the only reason I think it could impact the regular season play is if we get to a point where it's like we're cutting down on the amount of days we could do training camp because because because the thing that football it's like if you could draw up a sport to transmit coronavirus like like i was thinking i was thinking about like the the possibility that someone gets onto a field during the game like what if it was like bob like Bobby Wagner and he had a false negative or something like how many people does Bobby Wagner come in contact with during a football game? Every single player on the offense, his entire defensive team.

Then you go back to the sidelines and talk with people. It just seems like an absolute mess. Like if you get to a point where maybe you're cutting down on preseason practices because teams are getting sick, that's the only real way i see it affecting you know regular season play and if that happens i'm sure there's going to be a mutiny with the coaches being like oh that's not fair you know this team got two more weeks of practice than we did because someone got sick and so you know i'm just i'm just

interested to see how we get through preseason and if we can get through preseason and training camp because i don't think they're going to end up playing any games and if we can get through preseason and training camp so i don't think they're going to end up playing any games uh if we can get to like training camp the quality of play should be okay but obviously getting through training camp is a major question mark before we get back to the conversation want to remind you to go to sodastick.com to get your original minnesota sports inspired goods baseball is and SodaStick just launched its latest partnership with Hormel Foods and the Tommy Watkins Foundation to pay homage to the Hormel Row of Fame. It debuted in the Metrodome in 1992 and though it's been long retired, you have an opportunity

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inspired goods code purple insider for free shipping right now yeah it really feels like an impossible task and i saw that i think it was tom palacero of nfl network who was talking about them using the trackers to see who the person came in contact with. You're like, like you said, like a linebacker. I don't know. Everybody, I mean, even, what, in the locker room, how do you manage? Even if they cut down the total roster, that is a really tight space in the locker room, even for the Vikings who have a brand-new facility, but for older teams. And how about they go on the road?

I don't know if you've had a chance ever to be inside the Chicago Bears road locker room but my gosh I mean I have no idea how they fit all those human beings in there to begin with you're going to socially distance that somehow I mean it is an impossible task that I know it's you know I tried the whole offseason to kind of be like it's okay it'll be fine don't worry about it. But as we get closer, I just can't figure out in my brain how this all works when MLS is canceling games and teams in basketball and baseball are shutting down facilities. The testing is not like you just look at somebody and be like, looks like he's got the COVID. I mean, like you said, it can be imperfect. And if somebody is out there spreading it around,

you could end up with a whole team. And what are you going to do? Make them have their practice squad play against the New York Giants? I mean, it just, it doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, but I'm hopeful. I'm going to stay hopeful. And so we're going to talk about the NFC East real quick here. And then I've got some four quick kind of quick hit fun questions for you. All right. I want you out of 16 teams in the nfc i want you to tell me where you would rank all the nfc east teams right now oh man uh i first of all let me see again i'm a huge fan of dallas's offense like i think that first i think that they're in a good spot to have a great season because

they really did underachieve last year. They had one of the best offenses in the league by yards per play. They were by far the best team in the league. They were 6.5, and I think the Chiefs and Ravens tied

for second place with 6.2. So, you know, a.3 difference doesn't seem like a lot, but when you start actually adding up the amount of plays, the amount of yards, it's a pretty big leap. And the reason they lost so many games was just, you know, silly decision-making. Like, the game against the Vikings last year, I thought that Dallas probably should have won that game. And they just kind of had brain farts at the end. And their special teams were so bad that they ended up losing games. But if you just go by a pro football reference or football outsiders

expected wins, they were supposed to be like an 11-win team last year based on their offensive and defense performance. But they, you know, just kind of got unlucky and finished 8-8. So I think that that's a better team than they were last year. And they got CeeDee Lamb and added him to the offense. So I think Dallas is like a Super Bowl contender and one of the elite teams in the NFC. And I think that for me, I would feel comfortable saying

that this is a team that can definitely go on a title run because I feel like the NFC is kind of wide open this year because I don't know what to expect from Tampa Bay and Brady in that situation Breeze if he's playing like he did at the end of last year like I don't think that that team is as scary as they usually are with New Orleans and then the 49ers uh you know Jimmy G is good and Shanahan or Jimmy G's all right and Shanahan's one of the best offensive player callers in the league, but that's not an unbeatable offense.

So I think that Dallas has a chance to win the NFC as a whole, and I would put them, you know, maybe as one of the top teams. I don't know if that's like a little too high. I know people don't like the Cowboys. They don't like Dak Prescott, but this team like really kicks ass to me. Washington would be last. Like, that offense, outside of Terry McLaurin, who's supposed to scare you? Their running backs are solid, but I'm not really afraid of Adrian Peterson

at this point in his career. Darius Geist, like, we think is good, but he hasn't been able to stay on the field. And, you know, outside of McLaurin, their weapons are just not great. I'm a fan of Haskins, but I just don't see how he puts it up in this situation. And then the Eagles, I think I would put them probably like five or six maybe, but I don't really know what to make of all these guys coming back to receiver because they lost Jeffrey and Jackson to injury last year, assuming Deshaun Jackson is still on the team after his poor choice

in social media posts. That's being polite. That's being very polite. Yeah, it's being very polite. And then, so you get Deshaun Jackson,on jeffrey pmo you back on the team uh you're inserting jalen regor so like the three receivers it sounds like a good plan but there's a lot of unknowns because jackson and jeffrey are not you know in their athletic prime anymore and regor's a rookie so you know you have three unknowns that receiver that on paper sound like a good idea

uh but you don't really know much about them receivers that on paper sound like a good idea, but you don't really know much about them. And that's kind of how it spread across the whole team outside of like Wentz, off of the line. The question mark because they've lost Brandon Brooks, the injury, and if last year was any example, Andre Dillard does not look like a starting tackle in this league. And the defense has just kind of reshuffled

the whole thing as secondary. Like getting Darius Slay is good, but defense has just kind of reshuffled the whole thing as secondary like getting gary slay is good but everything else is kind of a mixed bag and then the giants i would probably put them you know a few steps above washington because i do like some of their offensive pieces but the uh the defense has a lot of work to do the giants strike me as a very seven and nine z type of type of team. The one where it might be kind of, you might bet the over just because would be Washington. If your quarterback Dwayne Haskins takes a big step and he's just better, even if the rest of the offense does not have a whole lot of impressive

weapons, if he's a lot better and he at least has that number one receiver, they do have a lot of good players on their defensive line. And now they have a coach who seems like a real head coach, not just an offensive coordinator who was plugged in there and didn't know really how to connect with people or know anything about defense. Ron Rivera coaching, it changes it a little bit. I would change the win-loss depending on what name they decide to go with. If they pick a bad name, then I'll just take a win or two off.

But I really do think that their defense, I saw them play against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium last year, and I was like, man, there are a lot of guys there who can get after the passer. I mean, they might have a really excellent defensive line when you add Chase Young to that mix. Yeah, Washington is interesting because when you look at, like, if you just look at the names of their defensive line, we saw Radley Moth, John Allen, Ron Payne, Matt in a day,

so I'm pretty sure I butchered the last name, Ryan Kerrigan, Montez Sweat, and now you add Chase Young. It's like all those guys we all know individually have talent, but it kind of feels like as a group they've never been able to put together like there's never really been any years where you know Washington's getting like 55 sacks and just have a dominating pass like even though you know it would seem like when you throw those group of guys together they would be able to do that but maybe Chase Young is the piece that takes them over the top. And, like, that is – like, I'm – like, it sucks because I think the offense is going to be boring, but that defensive line is just going to be so overwhelming

on pass downs because Chase Young can play anywhere on pass downs. And then you have a bunch of guys like, you know, the three guys in the interior, Payne, Nadeus, and Allen, they can all rush from three spots on the inside. So there's a lot of possibilities, and they're probably going to need them to create some turnovers if they're going to score the ball this year. But, you know, I said this on me and a time show, and Washington is kind of like an experiment where you can look at,

like, the draft evaluation debate that Anna Lake's Twitter was having before the draft where you know if you're set on bringing back Haskins for year two then maybe you trade down from number two get a King's ransom and then upgrade your offense because you know I think Chase Young is obviously a transcendent prospect and he'll probably be someone that's like a pro bowl of immediately. But how many wins does that bring you versus upgrading your offense? And, you know, that's kind of an interesting little thing to track this year at Washington. Yeah, I go back and forth on the defensive line part of it, too, because I think about it schematically and now how, you know, teams have kind of found ways to mitigate great defensive lines under a lot of circumstances.

You run play action, you make everybody go that way, and you roll that way, and that's kind of like the way that the Vikings kept Kirk Cousins from being sacked a bunch of times last year. But then again, there is the part where in big situations, it's third down and seven. You've got to drop straight back, and if they've got four guys who can all beat their man in two seconds or less, that really makes life pretty difficult on you. And I also think from

watching the Vikings defensive line over the past few years, it can also cover up some secondary problems too, if you can get after the passer a little faster. And sometimes you'll have guys who have wildly good seasons who aren't that good at cornerback. I think part of that is just, you know, how well you pressured the quarterback overall. Someone like Chase Young is a freaking monster. I mean, it's not easy. Yeah, yeah. Like that. But the other side of the coin, there's like five or six free agent pass rushers right now.

Guys who don't even have teams who are good at rushing the passer. Like all of a sudden we just have this bevy of defensive linemen who can get after the quarterback like we've never had before yeah that's funny i actually uh earlier man i don't remember when it was because like my you know conception or understanding of time it's just so messed up right now i think it was i think it was at the start of quarantine or – yeah, yeah, right at the start of quarantine. I actually talked to my pal Bud Elliott who worked for – he worked with me at SB Nation, and now he works for Rivals, like doing recruiting stuff for them.

And I talked to two scouts about, you know, it's kind of crazy how ridiculous the defensive line talent is right now. And they say, like, it all kind of starts in high school, where if you're, like, if you're a coach on a team and you get some kid who's, you know, 6'4", 240 pounds and can run like a running back, I'm not going to make that kid block. Like, I'm going to go put him on defense and we can get out from the passer or maybe i'll give them the ball on running back and like you see more than more of these situations where these kids in the high school that are explosive athletes and big they're getting put on defense or if you have like these explosive kids on offense they're getting put at wide receiver and now like you're starting to see that change in the nfl where there's so much wide receiver

talent there's so much defensive line talent is because like the game has changed so much on like a on a big level in high school where you you put athletes in the space where they can create and now we're seeing the NFL I thought that that kind of trickle up pipeline was kind of cool but that's a sidebar that just kind of triggered my memory from earlier and also high coach, you know that if you have one defensive lineman who can run right through somebody, that you can win games just based on having some giant beast who destroys everyone. I did want to circle back on your point about the Eagles, because they're an interesting one.

I think Eagles fans are the most aggressive online of any, and I don't think it's close. So if Eagles fans are hearing this, sorry, but it's true that you just can't project this team as a legitimate Super Bowl contender at this point. Their quarterback is constantly getting hurt. There's no Nick Foles to fall back on now. Jalen Hurts is not going to be ready this year, nor is any rookie quarterback, I don't think, if Wentz gets hurt. But normally if a guard got hurt, we'd kind of go like, well, so whatever, find some other

guy, but Brooks is different. I mean, this guy might be the best guard in the NFL out for the entire season. The old wide receivers, the point about, you know, not having an offseason to bring in Rager, and I'm not sure that like Doug Peterson's genius has lasted and this is the thing that happens with offensive minds sometimes is where you kind of have to reinvent yourself after a couple years because everybody did everything they could to study you when you were at the top and I just don't feel like it's had the same pop as it had a couple of years ago maybe that's more talent than Doug Peterson I just look at them as kind of another team another team that could go eight and eight nine

and seven seven nine based on how good their field goal kicker is yeah I will say that last year uh Wentz Wentz earned a lot of respect from me last year like the way he played down the stretch uh because they lost everybody last year to injury. You know, by the end of the season, it was funny. Me and my coworker, Pat Leonard, at both Eagles games, there's this little running back, Boston Scott, for the Eagles, and both times they played the Giants, like he shredded them. Like I think he must have had between 15 to 20 catches between the two games we started calling them the giant slayer and i think you know the fact that that went to

make someone like boston scott and greg wardy play quarterback and houston like you know they made the playoffs it may be it maybe they had a little more to do with dallas completely blowing the back half of the season but uh you know i i think when you have wentz that's a great starting point uh he's become a lot a much better nfl player than i thought he was going to be uh but you know like to your point outside of that what's what's scaring you the defense is in the nfl like they've kind of figured out that 12 personnel stuff it certainly wasn't as deadly as it was last year where urts and goddard and now you're really kind, even though you're bringing back two familiar names at receiving with Jackson and Jeffrey, you're kind of starting over there because you don't know what either of them are going to be coming off injuries in their 30s.

And then Rieger is a first round rookie. And then last year, you got nothing out of that receiver from Stanford that they drafted. I can't remember his name right now. But, you know, you kind of had a lot of whiffs at receiver in the past year, and we don't know if that's going to change. Wentz is good, but I don't know if, you know, he can sustain being Superman for a whole 16-game season. Hey, before we get back to the conversation, I want to remind you that sports are coming back

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Use the promo code BLUEWIRE to receive your new welcome bonus. That's promo code BLUEWIRE. BetOnline, your online wagering experts. And I agree with the Dillard point that it didn't work out for him last year. I mean. He was terrible. The best version of Carson Wentz, and this goes to when you play for a spread offense in college

where they catch the ball and throw it real quick that you're passing blocking numbers are usually pretty good. But, you know, you're going from Jason Peters at left tackle to a guy we don't even know is an NFL player. You're going from Jason Peters at left tackle to a guy we don't even know is an NFL player you're going from Brandon Brooks to whatever I mean there's a massive drop-offs there and even Kelsey Lane Johnson like Lane Johnson's been hurt a little bit Kelsey's older by a couple of years that offensive line was every bit as good as Dallas's was a few years ago and maybe we should have compared it to old Dallas offensive lines it was so good in 2017 and I always maintained that that was the reason they

destroyed the Vikings not because the Vikings were too emotional about the Minneapolis miracle it's because they couldn't pressure Nick Foles and I completed a 60-yard pass where he held the ball for six seconds before letting it go so I, I mean, that offensive line was so dominant. Not having that, it's going to be hard for Wentz to repeat it. I could see him grinding them into the playoffs. But they're an interesting team to watch that I wouldn't want to, if I were a gambler, put down a bet on an over-under because I feel like they could surprise you either way. Yeah, yeah.

To me, Philadelphia's biggest block to get to the playoffs is, I just, I really just am that high on Dallas. Like, barring injury to Dak Prescott, I don't see why this offense shouldn't be like top three in the league. Mike McCarthy coming over and that's a change but so far McCarthy said that he's going to keep Kellen Moore as a play caller and Kellen Moore wasn't perfect last year but to get that as in your first year as an offensive coordinator in the league like that's really really impressive and I would like if I'm Dallas fan I'm hoping that we get a season because I would be so fired up about what they could do on offense. I mean, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and Skidi Lamb with that offensive line, which is maybe not as dominant as they were when Dak first got there, but it's still really good. And then Ezekiel Elliott, it's just so much firepower.

And I think that they have been sidetracked the Super Bowl like my pick is Chiefs Cowboys if we can get that far yeah the way that I would pick how good someone's going to be now if you just said you could only decide based on one thing is like give me their top three receivers I'll look at them and decide if I think they're going to the Super Bowl I mean even last year with uh I mean if if we count, you know, Kelsey as a receiver, the Chiefs have amazing weapons. Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Kelsey, and then San Francisco's got several guys who are really, really good. Emmanuel Sanders' trade was a big deal for them. They've got the best tight end in football. They have Debo Samuel, who's great after the catch. If you just stack those up, you can have a pretty good idea of how someone's going to

succeed unless your quarterback is complete garbage. But in this case, obviously, Dak Prescott is not. So I want to close. This has been a fun conversation about the NFC East with just four kind of random questions for you, some pertaining to the NFC East and some not entirely. But I want to start with this, Charles. Tell me which NFC East team has the best all-time roster. You get to use every player who's ever played for the four teams currently in

the NFC East. Who's got the best roster? Oh, man. I'm trying to think. Would it be Dallas? Because I can get – at my quarterback, I can go Aikman or Romo. Or Staubach. Or Staubach. If you're going back in the day. At receiver, we can do Michael Irvin. At receiver, we can go three deep with the 88s and throw in T.O. with Michael Irvin, Drew Pearson, Des Bryant, Terrell Owens.

Pretty strong. Devine, I mean, you can just pull off that 2014 group and throw in. Man, they had a big guard back in the day. I'm trying to remember his name. Larry Allen. Larry Allen. Larry Allen. Like, you throw Larry Allen in, a guard with Zach Martin, Travis Frederick, Tyron Smith, and then pick the right tackle. Eric Williams would be the back-in-the-day guy.

Yeah. The person who grew up in watching the Buffalo Bills lose to the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowls. I remember their whole roster. And then even on defense, like like you could do Deion Sanders, DeMarcus Ware. There's a reason why Dallas has been not only one of the most popular teams in the NFL, one of the most popular teams in the world, it's littered with stars.

And I think that if you were to start putting together all NFC East, all time teams, I think Dallas would have to go number one. But, you know, it would be tempting to go Giants just for Lawrence Taylor. Like, you got to think about how good that is. And I don't know if they have the offensive peaks that Dallas does, but Lawrence Taylor is a lot of fun. If you go Eagles, you can have Reggie White, but you can also have Vic and Cunningham on the same team.

And maybe you can just use them in different ways. Cunningham can double as the punter if you want him to. Yeah, actually, I didn't think about the Eagles, like, all-time defensive line would be Reggie White, Fletcher Cox, Jerome Brown. Jerome Brown, yeah. Yeah, and then I don't know who would be the other defensive end. I'm sure they've had somebody who's, you know, boarded my Hall of Fame because that's another team too.

Maybe it'd be fun to like sit down and actually put it together. I mean, it's got a lot of free time right now. Yeah, right. I'm not thinking about this. This is – Now I'm actually like intrigued by it. Yeah, okay. Well, this is definitely another podcast potentially to do every division.

That's in week three that's not happening. Yes, exactly. Here on the Purple Insider Podcast, we, you know, go through the AFC South in its all-time roster, and David Carr is our starting quarterback. Next question for you. In honor of training camp potentially coming soon, I want to know the camp storyline that you think was the funniest that we've

talked about in the last few years. Just whatever comes to mind first. It turned out to just be completely idiotic. So leading up to the season, we're, like, having some debate or we think this team or this guy or whatever, and then the season comes and it's just all blown to hell in, like, two seconds. Oh, last year with Lamar Jackson when, you know, the whole summer, can this guy read and, you know, control an entire offense?

Can he read a defense? Like, is this going to be sustainable? And he comes out, and I thought his preseason play was pretty good. Like, not stellar, but pretty good. Like, he had that moment against the Packers where he duped, like, a million guys and scored a touchdown. And there's a debate on whether that was good or not, to dupe three guys and score a touchdown. And there's a debate on whether if that was good or not, could you three guys and score a touchdown?

I remember that. And then he just comes in first week, five touchdowns and was like, I mean, we've talked about it. Like just an unbelievable season last year. And there was so much concern over whether or not he could even be a starter. And he's the first unanimous MVP since Brady like a decade ago. So that's my favorite for sure.

And you could have seen it coming. In fact, you and I did. We talked about it during that draft class. We've got the receipts, as the kids say, online. Because anybody who actually watched him in college saw him make plenty of really good throws. So anyway, that aside. Yeah, we could do a whole – I'm pretty sure we have the borderline whole podcast on that.

I think it's just stupid. Yes, it is. But it still hasn't entirely gone away. Will Cam Newton fit into the culture of the Patriots? Like, I don't know, man. I don't know. He does have lots of hats uh anyway um so next question for you is i was reminded um of that matt patricia i was reminded

by a photo that pro football talk posted that matt patricia coached last year while riding around on a four-wheeler at training camp because he hurt his leg so he's riding around on a Detroit Lions four-wheeler and I want to know if we have camp this year let's pretend there's no COVID what would be the coolest way for you to cover camp let's say the team said you know what Charles you can do anything you want during training camp it's all yours how would you cover camp oh man if I could do if I, all the access in the world that I wanted? Yes. Do it whatever way you want, and if you want a vehicle to ride around in, you can have one.

Oh, I am getting – well, I'm going to get, like, a little golf cart. I'm just going to drive around, and, like, if they'll let me, I'll sit in on the huddles and ask guys, like, you know, like, let's say there's a big defensive mishap practice and being able to ask the guys right then and there what happened. And then, you know, maybe I'll drive over to the other

field and ask, you know, I forgot, oh, Colt McCoy, the giant, you know, why did you take six in practice? Like, what happened on that play? You know, be a little bit annoying, but hopefully get a lot of good stuff at the same time. But definitely, definitely with the golf cart. Wait, Colt McCoy plays for the Giants?

He's the backup quarterback. Oh, I didn't know that. That's another podcast is like, who's this guy play for now? That's amazing for for me i would want a setup for a bird's eye view that had a couple of fans blowing on me and maybe a canopy of some kind and then all the ice cold diet dr pepper i could drink and i would just sit up there i don't even care what mistakes they made that won't matter to to me, Charles. And by week one, the second quarter, all the stuff we talked about in camp doesn't matter.

So I'm just going to sit up there and sip my Dr. P and I am going to watch practice in an ice cold environment because you know what? It's hot as hell out there. That's why. All right, last one for you. A name change, no doubt, coming for the Washington Football Club, but I hope they keep their colors, because I really like the burgundy and the gold or yellow, whatever they call And the gold that they have, too, like, on their color rush jerseys, they go all purple with gold numbers.

Like, I think that that's one of the best looks in the game. 49ers with the red and gold, like, I think that that's just classic. Can't really screw it up. And I like that they've gone to – you know, like, their uniforms that they had when Frank Gore was like as he and Patrick Wills just got there I thought those jerseys always kind of sucked like they were just doing a little bit too much with the

numbers and like when you have red and gold just keep it classy keep it simple and I think that they've done a really good job with their jerseys and my third one that's tough I think i think i'm gonna go with the raiders just silver and black keep it simple like i like the i like the minimalist jerseys

which is kind of why the falcons jersey is you know a touchy subject for me uh like i like i everyone was on the same page the falcons should just make those throwbacks their full-time jerseys again you know red or you know really just black and silver and then you know you got some red outlines and you're golden they i think they do a little bit too much but it's almost like they had something good and blew it which has never happened i went the whole time we've been talking for a long time, and I went this whole time without making a single 28-3 joke. Look, you're better than most people because most people try to sneak that in as soon as they can. I'm like, look, how many years do I have to go through this?

Is this just going to be a thing? I rep them too hard? It never goes away, man. I think that's going to be it. I mean, I grew up in Buffalo Buffalo as I mentioned probably once a podcast but it never goes away I was four or five years old first sports memory is Scott Norwood shanking one to the right uh in the Super Bowl to lose and people will still be like man Buffalo you guys know how to lose the Super Bowl like what I was for man I had nothing to do with this and uh you know it just follows you it's kind of like

for Vikings fans Gary Anderson the one shining moment for the Atlanta Falcons franchise is Gary Anderson at missing after he'd made all the kicks and they still bring it up all the time so I'm sorry but you have to carry that burden for your entire life it's fine it's fine i mean look it's my fault for rooting for them in the first place and believing in them because uh is that like because it's not like the super bowl is the first time they had blown an epic lead or let me down so i should have been i should have been better prepared for the blowback than uh than i was but now like if the jokes are funny like i'm in on it like i even talk to people with the falcons and we crack up at some of these jokes like if it's clever um

well uh a 23 28 three lead i mean it is that it's one of the worst ever and then considering the situation so the only thing you can do is really laugh at it. Well, I think you made some very good picks. And the only one that I think would be controversial for me is I've always been an enjoyer of the Cincinnati Bengals uniform. I think it's great. Like, I think the helmet is great. You could say it's cheesy, but how long has the team been around? I don't know.

I just love the black and orange. It looks like a tiger or a Bengal, I mean. I like their old jerseys. I think their old jerseys are really good, really good. But the curtain ones aren't – like they don't really do much for me. I just forgot the chargers. Like you can swap the Raiders out for the chargers, and that's my top three. Ravens, 49-inch chargers.

Powder blue I assume you're going with. Yeah. Of course. No, all their new uniforms are on Netflix, so I don't think you can go wrong with any of their new choices that they have. I think that's a great pick. Well, this has gone

a lot longer than I promised you because it's just, you've got nothing going on. You're just staying inside. You're just playing video games. You're playing Grand Theft Auto. It doesn't matter. So anyway, you have the greatest Twitter handle of all time. I'll always say it, at4verts. I even wrote an article about the four verticals play.

So we're on the same page there with at4verts. A must follow on Twitter for all football fans. And again, just very happy that everything has worked out for you. And I hope to God we have football and you get your first training camp as a beat reporter for the New York daily news. I cannot tell you how much fun it usually is to stand on the sideline and make fun of the players who are not making the team. So. Yeah. I didn't look, I, I just, I hope, even if we can't be there,

it would be nice just to have something new to watch on TV, even if it's only, like you said, two weeks before it all falls apart. Yeah, I know. That's for sure. Well, it's strange times, but I'm glad we could get together and talk some ball. Charles McDonald, thanks for coming on, man. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

This is Brandon Kelly, the host of Blue Wire's new podcast, Golden Goal. From Lionel Messi to Marta to Pele, our show takes a deep dive into soccer's superstars. From Zlatan Ibrahimović's brash confidence with the play to back it up, to Megan Rapinoe's heroic outspokenness and World Cup flair, each episode examines a personality of the world's game. We'll dig into Maradona's Hand of God performance and subsequent downfall, the teenage trio at Dortmund that signal the next generation of superstars, and that infamous headbutt that slung Zinedine Zidane from glory.

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