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Speaker 1: Welcome into this week's episode of the Minnesota Vikings Podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host Tatum Everett from the Vikings Entertainment Network,

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Speaker 1: and it's a short week here at Twin City's Orthopedics

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Speaker 1: Performance Centers. The Vikings are traveling to la to face

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Speaker 1: the Chargers for Thursday Night football. In this episode, we'll

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Speaker 1: catch up with nine to Noons Eric Nordquist about the

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Speaker 1: current state of the team from the fan perspective, and

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Speaker 1: later in the show, we'll have a friend of the

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Speaker 1: pod and former Vikings writer now Chargers editorial director Eric Smith.

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Speaker 1: Before we get to our esteemed guests, though, let's provide

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Speaker 1: an update on the quarterback position heading into Thursday night.

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Speaker 1: Head coach Kevin O'Connell said, they put JJ McCarthy through

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Speaker 1: a workout to check the status of the ankle injury,

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Speaker 1: and they don't feel like they're ready to see him

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Speaker 1: out there just yet.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's been at some of the movements that the

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Speaker 2: reactionary movements within the pocket, being able to use his

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Speaker 2: athleticism to protect himself in the pocket and then as

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Speaker 2: he's able to work through progressions. I feel really good about,

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Speaker 2: you know, the work we've done on is on on

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Speaker 2: the foundation of his fundamentals. That's been pretty evident through

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Speaker 2: the work that he's done, and he's really the commitment

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Speaker 2: to doing that. It's really just about, you know, hey,

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Speaker 2: there's a you know, maybe a guy gets edged and

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Speaker 2: I don't really know the movement I'm gonna have to make. Uh,

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Speaker 2: that's where you know, he still feels it. And if

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Speaker 2: he doesn't have the ability to do that pain free,

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Speaker 2: you know, we obviously risk setting him back, which would

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Speaker 2: be very very unfortunate with the time lost already, but

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Speaker 2: also giving him the best chance to go out there

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Speaker 2: and have success is is ultimately you know what we're

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Speaker 2: what we're looking for. I really, you know, having to

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Speaker 2: overcome certain things. You know, that's kind of been the

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Speaker 2: story of our season if you look at it for JJ,

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Speaker 2: I mean, whether it's you know, early on in the

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Speaker 2: Chicago game, we just didn't have a great all eleven

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Speaker 2: field or our execution. Then we did late in the

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Speaker 2: game and had a bunch of success and won that game.

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Speaker 2: And then clearly the circumstances involved in Week two made

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Speaker 2: it less than you know, ideal from a standpoint of

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Speaker 2: preparing a guy to play in a football game. So

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Speaker 2: and now you have the injury as part of it. No,

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Speaker 2: it's not going to be need to be something where

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Speaker 2: he's one hundred and thirty percent or we're being you know,

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Speaker 2: in a situation where we're waiting for this metric that

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Speaker 2: Quite honestly, with this kind of injury, he's got to

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Speaker 2: work through some of that here late in the rehab stages.

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Speaker 2: But it's about his effectiveness and his ability to go

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Speaker 2: out and do his job for sixty minutes without having

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Speaker 2: any setbacks or making his job more difficult than it

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Speaker 2: has to be.

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Speaker 1: So will be Carson Wentz as the starter, with Max

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Speaker 1: Brosmer as the backup and JJ as the emergency third quarterback.

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Speaker 1: Now on Sunday, the Vikings fell three and three on

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Speaker 1: the season after a frustrating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Speaker 1: The team has Monday off and there we're back to

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Speaker 1: work on Tuesday, travel to La Wednesday, then kickoff Thursday

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Speaker 1: night at Sofi stadiums let's bring in Nordo to break

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Speaker 1: this all down. Have you recovered from your you know,

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Speaker 1: marathon week so far?

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Speaker 3: Well, it's busy. It's a short week for all of us.

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Speaker 3: We're not working in the coal mine, so that's all

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Speaker 3: good recovering. So recovering physically, there was no recovery recovering

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Speaker 3: emotionally off of a frustrating loss and a game actually,

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Speaker 3: and it's tough, you know when you have the defending

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Speaker 3: champs in town to say you really felt like you

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Speaker 3: should have won that game. I feel like the Viking

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Speaker 3: should have beaten the Eagles.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, despite everything, despite the turnovers and.

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Speaker 3: The even despite the perfect passer rating by Jalen Hurts,

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Speaker 3: which should not be allowed. I think second time in

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Speaker 3: team history that's happened. So the mental recovery a little

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Speaker 3: bit different. Nita w against the Chargers, pumped up to

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Speaker 3: see him hopefully do it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what what do you identify as the reason Jalen

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Speaker 1: Hurts was able to do so well? I mean, this

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Speaker 1: is a team that really was top two in limiting

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Speaker 1: explosive plays in the league heading into that game that

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Speaker 1: they allow those three.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's for me. I like to drill things down

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Speaker 3: into like the simplest possible common denominator. And I think

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Speaker 3: as it pertains to the defense, it's all about the

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Speaker 3: pass rush right now. Missing Andrew van Ginkel, and you

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Speaker 3: know it's so young in his career, but just haven't

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Speaker 3: seen enough from Dallas Turner. And and then that creates

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Speaker 3: second chance opportunities for a guy that's shifty, so smooth

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Speaker 3: in the pocket. Jalen Hurts is super high end right,

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Speaker 3: and so are some of his weapons in Aj Brown

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Speaker 3: and DeVante Smith, and our inability to really keep him

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Speaker 3: engaged in that pocket and put pressure on him. Javon

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Speaker 3: Hargrave only played eighteen snaps in that game, which is

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Speaker 3: a little head scratching, feels like it was part of

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Speaker 3: the stop Saquon mission that didn't was successful. But the

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Speaker 3: inability to put pressure on him allow him to leak

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Speaker 3: out and get those extra two seconds with the ball

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Speaker 3: in his hands that first touchdown in the opening drive,

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Speaker 3: you can actually see where the the route was simple,

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Speaker 3: looked like an out and Vikings were playing zone and

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Speaker 3: that's Mittellis's guy, AJ Brown, And with the extra time

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Speaker 3: to move out of the pocket, Jalen Hurts is able.

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Speaker 3: I mean, this is just playing on the playground. You

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Speaker 3: just pointed him, yeah, go and and and Aj followed

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Speaker 3: suit and it was an easy walk in touchdown. So

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Speaker 3: the extra time that we afforded Jalen Hurts leads to

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Speaker 3: four total incompletions, three hundred plus yards, three tds and

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Speaker 3: a perfect passer rating and a Vikings loss.

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Speaker 1: Do you feel like that could this that well, that

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Speaker 1: this is an opportunity for that pass rush to establish

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Speaker 1: itself against a Chargers offensive line that's much maligned.

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Speaker 3: No, I think. I mean their offensive line might be

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Speaker 3: in worse shape than the Viking zone line was. So

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Speaker 3: whether you know Joe Altzman banged up, and you know

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Speaker 3: Mackai Becton hurt, but I think he's back. Rashaan Slater,

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Speaker 3: they love that cat, but he it just seems like

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Speaker 3: he can't stay on the field, and they paid him

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Speaker 3: a bunch of money and I think he's gone for

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Speaker 3: the year again. So it's it's been the up and

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Speaker 3: down and we know all of that. So well, the

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Speaker 3: offensive line that the Vikings are facing Thursday night, it

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Speaker 3: ain't the Eagles offensive line. And so you'd like to

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Speaker 3: then just think kind of plug and play man v

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Speaker 3: man that they'll have more success despite it being a

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Speaker 3: short week against the Chargers. But it absolutely must happen

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Speaker 3: because and I'm sure at some point you dial you

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Speaker 3: dial this into your set list. Quentin Johnston not the

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Speaker 3: bust that many thought he would be coming out of

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Speaker 3: TCU and the slow start to his career. Keenan Allen,

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Speaker 3: all he does is dominate the Purple. It's unbelievable.

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Speaker 4: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: We joke about a nine to dune. Is there another

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Speaker 3: player like you can pick out like Alvin Kamara? Yeah,

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Speaker 3: five or six tds on Christmas against Zimmers defense A

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Speaker 3: handful of years ago. Felt that was almost like personal.

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Speaker 1: It felt like it was brutal to watch.

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Speaker 3: You can pick out those types of individual efforts and circumstances.

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Speaker 3: Keenan Allen has a freaking career against the Vikings and

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Speaker 3: a new career level game against the Vikings. It feels

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Speaker 3: like every time, whether it was with the Bears or

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Speaker 3: the Charge uniform right, no, and and and they just

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Speaker 3: have some cool players. Lad mcconkey's a really interesting, shifty

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Speaker 3: young guy that they figured out how to to work

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Speaker 3: within and kind of that that that symbiotog or that

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Speaker 3: synchronicity that he has and in this group has with

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Speaker 3: with Justin Herbert, who is high end passer, you know,

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Speaker 3: not necessarily a high end winner yet in the NFL,

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Speaker 3: but but tremendous. They know how to get down the field.

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Speaker 3: I think their top five in the league in yards. Uh,

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Speaker 3: they just have trouble scoring, which hopefully that continues on

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Speaker 3: Thursday night. But but yeah, that that pass rush has

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Speaker 3: to be better because much like we saw from a

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Speaker 3: few explosives against the Eagles, that's how the Chargers feast

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Speaker 3: and we need to stop that.

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Speaker 1: Well, Herbert three for more than four hundred yards against

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Speaker 1: the Colts, and they couldn't win behind an effort like that,

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Speaker 1: and it's realized it's the lack of explosive plays their

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Speaker 1: run game. I think last week it was twenty yards.

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Speaker 3: Well, they Omarion Hampton's not out for the year, but

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Speaker 3: he's out, and then it was Najie Harris with the achilles.

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Speaker 1: Right, right, So they're starting Kamani Vidal and Hassan Haskins.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So we're scrambling deep into the weeds here, like Pro

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Speaker 3: Football Reference trying to figure out where these guys went

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Speaker 3: to college.

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Speaker 1: Or if you're in a seven eighteen team guillotine league

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Speaker 1: and you were running backs get hurt and you don't

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Speaker 1: know who the heck to pick up, that's how I

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Speaker 1: know those names.

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Speaker 3: I can't speak for you, but my team's never been

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Speaker 3: so destitute. Uh yeah, those are like video game names.

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Speaker 3: I don't know who those guys are, but they're real people.

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Speaker 3: And we can't and there.

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Speaker 1: You can't let them look like they're the starters, like

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Speaker 1: they're the number ones on that roster. And and and

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Speaker 1: obviously run defense was a big key to shoring up

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Speaker 1: heading into the game against the Eagles, and they were

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Speaker 1: able to do that. But now it kind of flips

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Speaker 1: the script a little bit. Blake Cashman was back, Yes,

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Speaker 1: loved that. What part of it did you love?

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Speaker 4: No?

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Speaker 3: I just I like the tandem, and it'll be interesting

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Speaker 3: to see Thursday. And I felt very comfortable with what

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Speaker 3: I saw, mostly in from a pass protection or past

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Speaker 3: coverage standpoint. Excuse me, I I just think Wilson and

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Speaker 3: he was he was a ham and eggs type of guy,

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Speaker 3: as we would say nine to noon when he was

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Speaker 3: here the first time drafted here. Just he was a

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Speaker 3: special teams guy, and if somebody got hurt, you felt

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Speaker 3: reliable that he could give you a game or two,

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Speaker 3: and and and then he goes to the Packers kind

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Speaker 3: of continues. That makes a couple of splash plays and

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Speaker 3: some spots starts for an oft injured linebacking corps there

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Speaker 3: and now he's back handles business while Cashman was out

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Speaker 3: and really has kind of established himself within flores a

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Speaker 3: scheme as being somebody that he can rely on. So

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Speaker 3: I like the way that looked, and I just felt

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Speaker 3: I felt that Cashman immediately brought a presence that some

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Speaker 3: decision making, specifically in the middle that made it an

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Speaker 3: awful day for Saquon and Tank Bigsby, And it's just

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Speaker 3: it's it's disappointed in the end. Really, two or three games,

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Speaker 3: or two or three plays within that game, specifically through

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Speaker 3: the air, some explosives changed the entire frame of it

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Speaker 3: for the Purple.

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Speaker 1: I guess going into this, you weren't exactly sure if

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Speaker 1: your inside linebackers would be such a strength for your team,

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Speaker 1: and here they are with like two veteran presence as

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Speaker 1: long as Cashman's on the field. Now that they're healthy,

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Speaker 1: right on the field, Yeah, well, I kind of want

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Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about just the offensive

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Speaker 1: identity of this team. You know, we we spoke a

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Speaker 1: little bit about before we came on here and talked

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Speaker 1: about the inability to convert in the red zone was

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Speaker 1: such a huge problem for this team heading into that.

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Speaker 1: Was it in your eyes? Is it is it calls

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Speaker 1: on the play sheet? Is it strategy? Is it time management?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 1: What what kind of I mean? There was that obviously

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Speaker 1: one penalty, sure, and so there's there's that, But the

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Speaker 1: penalties went down some this game only three and you're

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Speaker 1: still kind of having this hard time converting in the

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Speaker 1: end zone.

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Speaker 3: Well to answer, so there's there's a couple of different things. Uh, first,

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Speaker 3: I need I need more running. I need more running

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Speaker 3: than the red zone. The initial drive of the third quarter.

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Speaker 3: If if you were you know such Ardent Vikings fans

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Speaker 3: as you are you're listening to this, certainly you might

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Speaker 3: watch the game back, watch that first drive of the

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Speaker 3: third quarter and see Jordan Mason a couple double digit runs,

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Speaker 3: another one for seven or eight successful run specifically outside

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Speaker 3: on that one single drive. I didn't see it before it.

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Speaker 3: I didn't see it after it. There was the drive

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Speaker 3: many have talked about, many have looked at. I think

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Speaker 3: it was Josh Oliver an eight nine yard completion, second

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Speaker 3: and one at to six fifty to fifty ball to

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Speaker 3: Justin Jefferson. Okay, I like those odds. Cooper ma Sheen

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Speaker 3: makes a nice play incomplete on third down to Naylor,

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Speaker 3: could have run it there. And then there's the fourth

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Speaker 3: down play that's a touchdown, except it's not because of

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Speaker 3: the Blake Brandell holding penalty. So I need to see

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Speaker 3: more running. However, then I can also look back and say,

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Speaker 3: Jordan Addison in motion pre snap, he's wide open for

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Speaker 3: a first down opening drive I'm talking about he and

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Speaker 3: Carson throw it into the dirt. And one of the

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Speaker 3: next plays I think was the long was the weird

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Speaker 3: snap from Brandell. Yeah, throughout the season in total, you

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Speaker 3: are having bad penalties in awful spots that are setting

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Speaker 3: you back.

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Speaker 1: Hoping that but it's gonna be better. On a Thursday night,

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Speaker 1: plate is clean. You head into this Chargers matchup, what

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Speaker 1: is the let's go top two things you need to

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Speaker 1: see from this team in order to to get the win?

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Speaker 1: What do they need to do two things?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think in some ways we we did cover

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Speaker 3: it where the pass rush legitimately, yeah, you can force

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Speaker 3: Justin Herbert into two bad throws. Their inability to run

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Speaker 3: the ball right now is putting a lot of that

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Speaker 3: on his shoulders. And he's high end, he's super talented,

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Speaker 3: but over the course of a game, if you're if

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Speaker 3: you're going to ask him, okay, you want to you

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Speaker 3: want to hit Quentin Johnson for that sixty yard touchdown, boom,

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Speaker 3: they're in the mix and that's a problem for us.

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Speaker 3: But if you're if you if you're going to say

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Speaker 3: Justin Herbert with a bad running attack, I need you

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Speaker 3: to execute fourteen play drives to score touchdowns. I think

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Speaker 3: that's a w for the Vikings right out of the gates.

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Speaker 3: And then and then offensively, the defense hasn't created turnovers

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Speaker 3: in three straight games. I need my offense to have

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Speaker 3: a clean sheet. If my offense is a clean sheet

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Speaker 3: and we can rust the passer, we are four and

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Speaker 3: three late Thursday night when I'm doing fan line.

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Speaker 1: It is amazing how things can just quickly change. Welcome

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Speaker 1: to the NFL, right, yeah, yeah, whether it's the schedule,

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Speaker 1: who's talking now, who's on your roster, who's.

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Speaker 3: Healthy for are you excited about into the season, whether

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Speaker 3: or not they're they're coming through with their end of

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Speaker 3: the bargain. Yeah, all sorts of things are different now.

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Speaker 1: So it's just a level of adaptation, and that's what

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Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell prides himself on has been able to adapt being.

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Speaker 3: At our best when our best is required, and that

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Speaker 3: next moment is a Thursday night. At so far we

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Speaker 3: will be at our best. We are going to win

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Speaker 3: this game. It pump it up in primetime.

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Speaker 1: I'm obsessed. Thank you so much, Thank you Nordo for

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Speaker 1: your insight in this first segment. We are going to

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Speaker 1: take a short break on the other side. Friend of

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Speaker 1: the pod, Eric Smith, former Vikings writer, now with the Chargers.

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Speaker 1: He'll join us to preview the big Thursday night football game.

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Speaker 1: There's a Spalon close to you. Visit online at spolan

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Speaker 1: dot com. Welcome back into the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. This

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Speaker 1: next guest is a special tree. We are so excited

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Speaker 1: to have him back on the Minnesota Viking Podcast. Friend

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Speaker 1: of the show, former Vikings writer Eric Smith, now the

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Speaker 1: Chargers editorial director. So it's been we just talked beforehand.

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Speaker 1: This is your fourth season, and how many years are here?

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Speaker 4: It's six and a half, almost seven years.

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Well you've been in the league what

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Speaker 1: almost ten years now, that's incredible.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, this is my tenth NFL season, So it feels

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Speaker 4: like a big one.

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Speaker 1: A grizzly vet.

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Speaker 4: Huh sure, I'll take that.

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Speaker 1: Is it grizzly? I think it's grizzled, My Josh, my

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Speaker 1: husband grizzled. My husband's making fun of me because I

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Speaker 1: said grizzly the other day and he was like, that's

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Speaker 1: really not how you say that, Tatum.

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Speaker 4: No, no, I'm not. I'm not a bear. But my

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Speaker 4: dog's name is bear. You know that's so true.

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Speaker 1: How is the fan?

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Speaker 4: We're good, We're good. Yeah, yeah, we've been out here

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Speaker 4: for a couple of years. Got two girls are growing

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Speaker 4: up so fast and it's awesome to see that. And

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Speaker 4: wife and dog are great.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, amazing, No complaints. And now your former team gets

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Speaker 1: to come to your place, Sofi Stadium, your place of work,

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Speaker 1: to face off on Thursday night football? Short week. What's

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Speaker 1: the vibe around the Chargers locker room as you have this?

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Speaker 1: You know, not as long of a week, I guess

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Speaker 1: to prepare.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's probably what we're anticipating and then what we want, honestly,

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Speaker 4: because the Charges are on like a little bit of

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Speaker 4: a slide right now. You know, we started three and

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Speaker 4: oh we've lost three or four. Sunday game against the

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Speaker 4: Cold did not go well pretty much from the start.

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Speaker 4: Some players are are eagerly awaiting Thursday. You know, they

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Speaker 4: want to kind of get that bad taste out of

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Speaker 4: their mouth, and they're probably glad that it's a Thursday

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Speaker 4: game where they only have to wait, you know, four

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Speaker 4: days to play again. Because a lot of frustration right now.

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Speaker 4: But I think the guys are going to be ready

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Speaker 4: to go and try to turn it around.

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Speaker 1: How would you identify what the identity of this current

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Speaker 1: Chargers team is?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, to be honest, I think they're trying to figure

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Speaker 4: it out because you know, if we just look at

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Speaker 4: the defense, like last year, the defense was so good

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Speaker 4: at eliminating big plays, you know, taking the ball away,

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Speaker 4: keeping teams down, you know, point wise. And it was

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Speaker 4: like that earlier in the year, like when we started

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Speaker 4: three and oh, but the last month, you know, and

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Speaker 4: injuries have played a part. You know, we lost the

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Speaker 4: tea guys here and there, but just the unit overall

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Speaker 4: has just been pretty inconsistent and they've given up to

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Speaker 4: big plays both on the ground in the air. The

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Speaker 4: run defense especially has you know, been fairly leaky part

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Speaker 4: of the last five games, I think five games in

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Speaker 4: a row with you know, at least one hundred and

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Speaker 4: eighteen yards allowed. So that unit is trying to find itself,

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Speaker 4: and our defensive coordinat said yesterday, we're trying to reclaim

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Speaker 4: our identity. So there you go.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. And then offensively, like you know, injuries have hit

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Speaker 4: the offensive line for sure. You know, you really can't

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Speaker 4: expect Justin Herbert to play Superman every week. You know,

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Speaker 4: you got to give them some help. That unit's been fine,

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Speaker 4: it's just been just ravaged by injuries pretty much everywhere.

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Speaker 1: It's funny because I do feel like a lot of

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Speaker 1: what you were saying is similar to what the Vikings

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Speaker 1: have struggled with this season. Whether it's the the giveaways,

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Speaker 1: whether it's the penalties. I know, penalties have been a

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Speaker 1: big thing. The injuries have been really tough. And it

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Speaker 1: seems like one week they are, you know, stopping Saquon Barkley,

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Speaker 1: but then they are allowing the big play to happen,

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Speaker 1: those three explosive plays for a touchdown, and conversely, they

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Speaker 1: were not allowing that beforehand, but they were having some

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Speaker 1: issues with the run defense. So it's like it's hard

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Speaker 1: because it feels just like they're both They're on both sides.

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Speaker 1: The Chargers of the Vikings are just teams that really

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Speaker 1: need to play all three phases. Have yet to play

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Speaker 1: a perfect cohesive game. Well, I guess the Vikings maybe

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Speaker 1: had that Bengals game, but when you think about it

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Speaker 1: as a whole, you just want that to be like

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Speaker 1: one cohesive game where everyone in every phase is on

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Speaker 1: the same page.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah, And the Chargers probably had that in Week

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Speaker 4: one in Brazil and that was a pretty solid game

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Speaker 4: all the way around. But as the season goes on,

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Speaker 4: you know, you hear players and coaches say, you know,

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Speaker 4: you want to get better. It gets into October, October

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Speaker 4: and November and all that, and I think, you know,

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Speaker 4: we get the you know, halloweens coming up. Like, I

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Speaker 4: think both teams are just trying to find that consistency

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Speaker 4: right now.

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Speaker 1: Hi, Yeah, let's dive into some of those key matchups.

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Speaker 1: I targeted a few for us to talk about today. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the Vikings were one of six in the red zone,

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Speaker 1: but and their two receivers had Addison and Jefferson had

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Speaker 1: big games. However, if you can't convert in the red zone,

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Speaker 1: if you can't get into the zone, it really doesn't

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Speaker 1: matter how many yards you put up. However, Charger secondary

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Speaker 1: versus those white Vikings receivers, what do they expect from

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Speaker 1: this offensive attack, which as we learned in the beginning

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Speaker 1: of the podcast, is led by Carson Wentz this week?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, high alert, I think is a good way to

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Speaker 4: describe it. You know, as we record this, like, we

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Speaker 4: haven't talked to a ton of players yet, given it

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Speaker 4: for a short week, but that's fair. Those we have

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Speaker 4: talked to and coaches we've talked to. You know pretty much.

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Speaker 4: The first name you know that's going to come to

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Speaker 4: your mind when you think about the Bikings offense is

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Speaker 4: obviously Justin Jefferson. He can pretty much do it all.

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Speaker 4: You know, I've seen as we've seen in person, but

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Speaker 4: they said, you know, like Jordan Aedison can probably be

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Speaker 4: a number one receiver on most teams across the league himself.

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Speaker 4: So it's definitely a two headed attack. The Chargers secondary

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Speaker 4: has been awful, you know, they've been They've been pretty

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Speaker 4: solid throughout the whole year. It's just here and there

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Speaker 4: the last maybe like two three games that had given

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Speaker 4: up a big place to the air. And I kind

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Speaker 4: of go back to what I said earlier, like the

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Speaker 4: units at their best when they're taking the ball away

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Speaker 4: and it's just kind of come and spurts. You know,

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Speaker 4: They've had a game the two games with three picks,

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Speaker 4: but then I think five games with none, you know,

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Speaker 4: so like it's either either on or not.

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Speaker 1: There's just so many similarities.

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Speaker 3: Eric.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Vikings, who hasn't had a takeaway in

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Speaker 1: three straight games and they have seven on the year,

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Speaker 1: but five of them came against the Bengals, So it's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's like that same kind of like take give, which

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Speaker 1: will be really interesting I think when you watch these

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Speaker 1: two teams face off. But the defense did get a

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Speaker 1: nice addition this past week. And Khalil Mack when he's

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Speaker 1: back in that Chargers line, what can the Vikings offensive

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Speaker 1: line expect?

434
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think some of that depends on how much

435
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,760
Speaker 4: Khalil plays. Okay, you know, because he came back from

436
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 4: a pretty pretty gruesome elbow injury. He only played twelve

437
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 4: snaps last week against the Colt so he was sort

438
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 4: of working his way back. You would expect that number

439
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,879
Speaker 4: to pick up a little bit, you know, and the

440
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 4: Viking excuse me, the Chargers probably need that. But most

441
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,960
Speaker 4: of the snaps that Khalil played were past rush snaps,

442
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 4: Like he wasn't really up in there against the run

443
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,959
Speaker 4: too much. And like I said, you know, the run

444
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 4: defense struggled again. So if he can get in there

445
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,600
Speaker 4: against the run, I think he can kind of help

446
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 4: set the tone in that department and then you know,

447
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,399
Speaker 4: he can try to get after the passer and kind

448
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 4: of help that unit overall. But the Vikings I did

449
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 4: it again, the Chargers defense definitely missed him.

450
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:49,720
Speaker 1: You know.

451
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 4: The last four games, and the Vikings know well, like

452
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,560
Speaker 4: when Khalil Mack is on what he can do, Like

453
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,879
Speaker 4: we obviously saw that plenty in the past couple of

454
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 4: years when he with the Bear.

455
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean this.

456
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 3: Uh.

457
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,639
Speaker 1: Conversely, I'll say this, the Vikings run defense themselves have

458
00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,880
Speaker 1: had a few games where they have allowed a lot

459
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 1: of yards, a lot of things to happen. However, when

460
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley is held to forty four yards and no scores,

461
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: it's kind of a good day for your run defense. Again,

462
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: we talked about how those explosive plays really got the

463
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 1: Vikings secondary and not being able to pressure Jalen Hurts

464
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 1: and giving them the second chance opportunities has been kind

465
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,640
Speaker 1: of the Achilles heel of what happened in the Eagles game.

466
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 1: The Chargers running back room, i would say, is also

467
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,640
Speaker 1: something that has been kind of a tough, a tough

468
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: goal with a Marion Hampton out, with Najie Harris out

469
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,439
Speaker 1: with injury, and so you're you're relying on two guys

470
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:53,439
Speaker 1: that you didn't think you'd rely on this season and

471
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: Kamani Vidal and Hassan Haskins, and I guess heading into

472
00:23:58,000 --> 00:23:59,639
Speaker 1: this game knowing what they were able to do against

473
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,479
Speaker 1: Bark How do you think you know, Jim Harbaugh, who

474
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,479
Speaker 1: wants to run the ball all the time, is going

475
00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 1: to take is going to approach this offensive game plan.

476
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Chargers definitely want to run the ball, you know,

477
00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,280
Speaker 4: and they when they can do it effectively obviously that

478
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,840
Speaker 4: that helps the entire offense to help take that pressure

479
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,439
Speaker 4: off of Justin Herbert. And we saw that in the

480
00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 4: in the Dolphins game. You know, Kimani had a great game,

481
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,479
Speaker 4: you know, career high one hundred and twenty four yard rushing.

482
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 4: We just couldn't really get into that script last week

483
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 4: against the Colts. You know, we're down twenty three to

484
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:29,760
Speaker 4: three a.

485
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,000
Speaker 1: Half, yeah, that second quarter.

486
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, So it's tough to run the ball when

487
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 4: you're down double digits in the second quarter. So, you know,

488
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 4: like the run game was not as explosive or efficient

489
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 4: as it was as we saw it in previous week.

490
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 4: So I think we're trying to find some consistency there too,

491
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,440
Speaker 4: you know, and with the trade deadline coming up, you

492
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:52,320
Speaker 4: know that's a big question. You know, do the do

493
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,679
Speaker 4: the Chargers add a running back Omari and will come

494
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,439
Speaker 4: back at some point, right so that's that's that's what

495
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 4: Jim Harbaugh said. You know, I'm going to miss some time,

496
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 4: but but nag, he's out for the year with that,

497
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,879
Speaker 4: with that torn achilles, so they're going to need some

498
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 4: sort of reinforcement down the road. So yeah, just trying

499
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,400
Speaker 4: to figure it out. And like we said, the big word,

500
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 4: I think with both teams, it's probably consistency.

501
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 1: And how about covering Keenan Allen Eric You've seen him

502
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: cost the Vikings a few frustrating plays, frustrating games for years,

503
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,120
Speaker 1: and now you get to see he's back with the Chargers.

504
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 1: He's I mean, I think safe for like one game.

505
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 1: Maybe his numbers weren't super high, but he's been so

506
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: consistent this season. What is it like to to be

507
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 1: able to cover such a great professional, like a vet

508
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: like that.

509
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 4: It's awesome. It's awesome Penian. It's such a good dude,

510
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,919
Speaker 4: Like he's so funny. You know, we were always very

511
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,880
Speaker 4: happy when it came back there, like personality wise, but yeah,

512
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,080
Speaker 4: on the field, he's been consistent. You know, even if

513
00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 4: you know at he's thirty, I think he's thirty three

514
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 4: years old. You know, he reached the catches this year

515
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 4: he's actually I think eight catches away from becoming the

516
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 4: Chargers all time franchise leader.

517
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,920
Speaker 1: Good for him. I hope it doesn't do that against us.

518
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 4: Just kidding a couple you know, we thought it'd be

519
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:16,560
Speaker 4: a couple of weeks away, and then he had eleven

520
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 4: catches last week and you're like, oh, he's there. Yeah yeah,

521
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 4: so yeah, and the rapport with Kevin Herbert, it picked

522
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,639
Speaker 4: up right away, picked it right away. So yeah, that

523
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:27,560
Speaker 4: do have been great.

524
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: So I also did a little bit reading about this game,

525
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: and is it true that you guys are wearing all gold?

526
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,440
Speaker 4: No, we were Oh where.

527
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 1: Did I see that? Must have seen it somewhere else.

528
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 4: We were all gold last week against the Cold Oh

529
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 4: that's what.

530
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: Okay, that's where I saw it.

531
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 4: But this week we're wearing all navy. Oh we're kind

532
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 4: of doing a little throwing back.

533
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

534
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're calling it our our Super Chargers uniforms. And

535
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 4: it's kind of it's similar to what the team were

536
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 4: a couple of days, a couple of decades ago when

537
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,800
Speaker 4: they were in San Diego. But this is kind of

538
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,680
Speaker 4: a modern.

539
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,919
Speaker 1: Uh not that anyone can see this because it is

540
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: a podcast, But is it similar to your navy hat

541
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,119
Speaker 1: with the yellow bolts on it right now a little bit. Okay,

542
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool, awesome, Well, that'll be fun to see

543
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:21,239
Speaker 1: Vikings fans who are headed to the game. What can

544
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 1: they expect from that sofi atmosphere.

545
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,720
Speaker 4: It's gonna be fun. It's gonna you know, I think

546
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,439
Speaker 4: that having worked for both of these teams, kind of

547
00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 4: like we were talking talking before we came on, Like

548
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 4: both teams are just so similar this year in their history.

549
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,919
Speaker 4: I feel like, you know, I came to like the

550
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:44,680
Speaker 4: AFT version of the Viking a little bit. And every

551
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,680
Speaker 4: time these two teams play like it's a crazy game,

552
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 4: it's a wild ending and I expect nothing left.

553
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 1: I can't wait. Well, thank you so much, Eric for

554
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: spending some time with us back on the Minnesota Vikings podcast.

555
00:27:55,920 --> 00:28:00,160
Speaker 1: Going strong ever since you used to work here. We're

556
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 1: now working in LA So thank you so much for

557
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: making the time for us back home. And well we

558
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:05,880
Speaker 1: will see you on Thursday.

559
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 4: I will see you then, looking forward to it.

560
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 1: Another thank you to our guest both Erics Nordquist and

561
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:14,880
Speaker 1: Smith for joining the Minnesota Vikings podcast. The Vikes looks

562
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 1: to get back in the win column after a short week.

563
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,200
Speaker 1: They're going to play the Chargers on Amazon Prime. Kickoff

564
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: set for seven fifteen from SOFI Stadium. Scholl Vikings and

565
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:26,840
Speaker 1: we will check in with you next week on the

566
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:31,959
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings Podcast. Minnesota needed a go to source for

567
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,640
Speaker 1: everything high school sports. That's why the Minnesota Star Tribune

568
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 1: created Strib Varsity. Sign up now at startribune dot com

569
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: slash Strib Varsity