Speaker 1: Hey, Vikings fans, Ben Lever here, I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.
Speaker 1: They love the tennis, the pick a ball, the basketball,
Speaker 1: and of course the yummy cafe. Check them out at
Speaker 1: Lifetime dot life to find a club nearest you.
Speaker 2: Welcome to School Stories, presented by three M, the official
Speaker 2: science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight we're joined by
Speaker 2: Vikings legendary offensive tackle Brian McKinney.
Speaker 3: Thanks again for tuning into another episode of Skull Stories.
Speaker 3: Our special guest was the much larger than life offensive
Speaker 3: tackle for some of the most historic teams for both
Speaker 3: your Minnesota Vikings and the Miami Hurricanes. Nowadays, he's an
Speaker 3: entrepreneur and advocate for players to get access to the
Speaker 3: post playing career services that they need. I think you're
Speaker 3: really going to enjoy tonight's conversation with old number seventy
Speaker 3: four Brian McKinney. Well, I'm absolutely thrilled to be able
Speaker 3: to sit out on Brian McKinney. Brian, what are you
Speaker 3: doing nowadays? Just kind of give us a bit of
Speaker 3: a refresher on what your life is like and what
Speaker 3: are you up to right now?
Speaker 4: I have a company called Let's Chat, so we do
Speaker 4: language translation in real time based off your device setting,
Speaker 4: so we can translate in person, presentation, websites, subtitling, I mean,
Speaker 4: you name it, we can do it. And we're about
Speaker 4: ninety between ninety seven nine nine percent accuracy. We do
Speaker 4: one hundred and four languages with one hundred different dialects.
Speaker 4: So we've done things for the NFL, translated different seasons
Speaker 4: for their game pass and things like that, Major League Soccer.
Speaker 4: We're in food and beverage Bojangle's, Coca Cola, McDonald's, so
Speaker 4: I heard doing that. And besides that, also my foundation
Speaker 4: be major foundation where we especially where mission statement is
Speaker 4: healthy kids, healthy living, single parent homes, and mental health awareness.
Speaker 4: So I've done two events geared towards mental health, and
Speaker 4: the vicers have been you know, supporters of that as well,
Speaker 4: so I always thank them for that.
Speaker 3: Now, is that part of it still in Florida? Is that?
Speaker 3: Is that where you're still living down in Florida? I
Speaker 3: still live in South Florida.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 4: And then like now with some of my charity events
Speaker 4: and especially the mens health part, I want to start
Speaker 4: branching off the different cities. So I've had talks with
Speaker 4: Jasper and let's Pico of putting together something and coming
Speaker 4: up here and doing it either for the players or
Speaker 4: just different people in the community, and then move it
Speaker 4: over maybe to Baltimore's I played there and something new Jersey,
Speaker 4: so I want to start moving that.
Speaker 3: Around, all right. And Jasper Brinkley's new here, he's taking
Speaker 3: over a role of you know, players, this players support
Speaker 3: program unless Pico has been here forever. So it's great
Speaker 3: that you're still is you still enjoy like being involved
Speaker 3: Attle least in that way with with the NFL and being.
Speaker 4: I do just because after retiring you realize it's needed.
Speaker 4: Because the guys have a tough time sometimes transitioning from
Speaker 4: life after and not fully knowing who their identity is
Speaker 4: once they're finished playing football, So that you know that
Speaker 4: aspect definitely helps.
Speaker 3: It's a shock, isn't it. I Mean it's your whole life,
Speaker 3: everything you do, it's all based on that, and then
Speaker 3: that one day you wake up and yeah, it's over.
Speaker 4: And like a lot of guys have started at you know,
Speaker 4: five or six years old, you know, and so that's
Speaker 4: been their identity for a long time, especially if they
Speaker 4: made it to the league, so six years old to
Speaker 4: you know, however long you played in the league as
Speaker 4: big chunk of your life and then figuring out life
Speaker 4: afterwards can be challenging for a lot of people. So
Speaker 4: that's where the mental health part comes in. And a
Speaker 4: lot of people only want to talk to somebody who
Speaker 4: they feel like has been in their shoes, especially when
Speaker 4: they'd have been the bread winner. Like a lot of
Speaker 4: their family comes in with their problems, so it's like
Speaker 4: they don't feel comfortable going back to their family speaking,
Speaker 4: you know, having those conversations, so they'd like to talk to,
Speaker 4: you know, former teammates and guys around the league that
Speaker 4: they played with. So I was able to kind of
Speaker 4: form like a group and actually did a panel. It
Speaker 4: was myself, Tommy Harris, and Ray Rice and then we
Speaker 4: had a mediator and we did it for the NFLPA
Speaker 4: and we had like a bunch of guys to tune in.
Speaker 3: It was over zoom.
Speaker 4: We had a conversation where guys were able to do
Speaker 4: that back and that was back in May because I
Speaker 4: was mental health for wear in this month. So we
Speaker 4: did that with the NFLPA and they're looking to kind
Speaker 4: of do you know more of those? And I felt
Speaker 4: like those conversations that need it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's that stuff wasn't around back back when you
Speaker 3: were playing. So let's go back and you know, you
Speaker 3: there aren't many offensive line coaches or have offensive line
Speaker 3: backgrounds that are the head coach. Right, so you had
Speaker 3: not only Steve Loney as a position coach, Mike Tyson
Speaker 3: as a head coach. What was what was his impact
Speaker 3: on you as far as as far as becoming the
Speaker 3: tackle to.
Speaker 4: UH coach Ty's definitely, especially around like two thousand and five.
Speaker 4: He would have like film sessions with me, just me
Speaker 4: and him, and say, hey, come here and do this,
Speaker 4: and I don't care about certain techniques, like I'm showing
Speaker 4: you an easy way to get this job done or blocked.
Speaker 4: And if you hit, oh line coach jails that you
Speaker 4: just you know, just blame and put it on me.
Speaker 4: But I'm telling you to do this, you know. And
Speaker 4: he taught me things that made some things easier and
Speaker 4: my job easier. And in a certain sense, I was like,
Speaker 4: I wish I could have had him a little longer
Speaker 4: because he was teaching me things that I was able
Speaker 4: to use and and put on the field. But then
Speaker 4: you know, when you get a new coach, they come
Speaker 4: in and they kind of felt like they want to
Speaker 4: teach you things. So after he left, a new group
Speaker 4: came in and now they want to kind of almost
Speaker 4: make you unlearn what you have been taught right to
Speaker 4: do it their way, and you know, some things I
Speaker 4: was still trying to hold onto. I was able to
Speaker 4: still get the job done, but it might not have
Speaker 4: been technically sound, but it was still getting a job done.
Speaker 4: But I feel like he did a great job with me.
Speaker 4: And his passion was offensive line, so he knew some things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in the group that you were part of, a
Speaker 3: pretty legendary group. I mean guys like Matt Burke. You know,
Speaker 3: I look at Corbyn Losina and you know, guys like
Speaker 3: him who were Dave Dave Dixon were veterans when you
Speaker 3: showed up that were there, but then later on being able,
Speaker 3: you know, to play with like Steve Hutchinson and who
Speaker 3: are who are?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 3: Who are the guys that you remember most that were
Speaker 3: in that room with you?
Speaker 4: I remembers and of course you know, of course Hutchison
Speaker 4: and Dave Dixon and Matt Burke, And you said with Row,
Speaker 4: I actually ran in a with Row recently at an
Speaker 4: entrepreneur that Corbin Lesina like Lewinsky.
Speaker 3: Remember, it doesn't surprise me because it's kind of that's
Speaker 3: your group. That's the offensive line, right, You guys are
Speaker 3: more like a family. But you enjoy those guys and
Speaker 3: I did, And.
Speaker 4: You know, it's funny. One player who I wish I
Speaker 4: would have been able to play next to more but
Speaker 4: we only got one game out of him was Tone
Speaker 4: you FINDI. Yeah, he was like a big guy and
Speaker 4: people were kind of like intimidated scared of him. So
Speaker 4: it was like, good, I have another big guy, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean next to me. And they, you know,
Speaker 4: did so much to work him out and slim him down.
Speaker 4: And then he was able to play one game. I
Speaker 4: think it was Green Bay, and I think he might
Speaker 4: have got injured or something in that game. I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh gosh, Like I finally got a chance to play
Speaker 4: next to this guy. You know, we both came out
Speaker 4: the same year and he went to Nebraska. I played
Speaker 4: against him in college, so he was a guy who
Speaker 4: I looked forward to playing next to, Like a big,
Speaker 4: strong guy. I didn't have to worry anything about worry
Speaker 4: about him, you know, giving up any ground or anything.
Speaker 4: And you know got like one game with.
Speaker 3: Him, right and one and one guy that you were
Speaker 3: able to not all the time be hitched up next
Speaker 3: to his jim clein saucer. Oh yeah, and then you
Speaker 3: know in this day and age of the league, you
Speaker 3: don't see he just locked in times like blocking like that.
Speaker 3: So having Jimmy next year that had to that had
Speaker 3: to make you feel good.
Speaker 4: Oh it did, because I knew he knew his assignment
Speaker 4: and then I knew he didn't mind blocking. Where you
Speaker 4: had other tight ends who was like make sure you
Speaker 4: helped me, Like you know that's like I got the
Speaker 4: hindle my job first. If I can, I'll come out
Speaker 4: and give you some assistance. Where Jimmy didn't have to
Speaker 4: worry about that, but the other Titans that just keep
Speaker 4: in mind you like make sure you come out of
Speaker 4: give me some help. Like you have the opportunity.
Speaker 3: Nothing far you know, you have you have what goes
Speaker 3: on and then you have far walk in the building.
Speaker 3: And what was it like having him as as the quarterback,
Speaker 3: as a guy called the plays.
Speaker 4: I mean it was it was funny. Well it all started,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say back when we were in uh lunch
Speaker 4: and we were watching the news and when you watch
Speaker 4: the helicopter like followed the car he was in coming
Speaker 4: to the facility. It was like, this is really happening.
Speaker 4: And then so I went downstairs, you know, to change
Speaker 4: you're ready for practice. I can't remember who the quarterback
Speaker 4: was at the time, and we looked at his locker
Speaker 4: because he were number four, and we looked at his
Speaker 4: locker his number was different.
Speaker 3: I said, it happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you get out there, and I remember him, like
Speaker 4: us being out there and he was like one of
Speaker 4: the last ones to come and he comes right in
Speaker 4: the huddle. My mind like how does he even know
Speaker 4: the players? But he comes right in a huddle, and
Speaker 4: I kind of was looking like this is the person
Speaker 4: that we were trained like not to like all this song,
Speaker 4: and like now he's in the huddle with us, and
Speaker 4: I remember him like looking at him and he was
Speaker 4: looking at me like it'll be okay, it'll be okay,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, oh yeah, like snap out of it.
Speaker 4: And I just want to say he's like one of
Speaker 4: those people who I feel like there's players on certain
Speaker 4: teams that everybody raises their level play up for and
Speaker 4: as you can tell, for that season, everyone raised their
Speaker 4: level of play up, and so he is. He falls
Speaker 4: in the lines of a Ray Lewis because people can
Speaker 4: get around him raise up. If you can look at
Speaker 4: Tom Brady leave New England and go to Tampa, everybody
Speaker 4: raises their level of play up. So he's in that
Speaker 4: era of guys who can come into a locker room
Speaker 4: and everybody raised their game up because they don't want
Speaker 4: to feel like they want to let him down. I
Speaker 4: feel like that was the closest the team has been
Speaker 4: because everybody was on board and everybody wanted to play
Speaker 4: well and not let him down because he was such
Speaker 4: a legend.
Speaker 3: You think that's what that? I mean that that was
Speaker 3: gonna be my next question. What is it about those guys?
Speaker 4: You've seen them displayed like greatness for so long that
Speaker 4: you kind of want to show that you're good too,
Speaker 4: and you don't want to let them down. So you
Speaker 4: want to, you know, make sure you're accountable and there
Speaker 4: to protect and make plays, and you know, you get
Speaker 4: you know, get a win. And that was my best
Speaker 4: record as a king as being twelve and four, and
Speaker 4: that's the furtherest I had went too at the time,
Speaker 4: was you know, to the NFC Championship.
Speaker 3: Right, and then another guy back there, you know, maybe
Speaker 3: a little bit before far, but still is the you know,
Speaker 3: the best running back that I've seen more purple Adrian Peters. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and so blocking for him, I mean when.
Speaker 4: You had I mean, if you had Adrian Peterson, you
Speaker 4: had Percy Harven, you had Sydney Race, you had like
Speaker 4: a lot of great guys, right, And with Adrian, what
Speaker 4: I learned with him early is, uh, it gave me
Speaker 4: incentive to get out the way because he was just
Speaker 4: running to your back. So it's like, Okay, let me
Speaker 4: get my guy out this hole and out the way
Speaker 4: so I don't have to worry about this man slamming
Speaker 4: in the back of me.
Speaker 3: So you're just going to run into something.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he didn't mind if you were here, not like
Speaker 4: he was going to make a hole. So it's like
Speaker 4: it just gave you an incentive to really like keep
Speaker 4: your feet moving and really just the drive your guy
Speaker 4: at the hole so you can make a way for him.
Speaker 3: What was did you have a moment in two thousand
Speaker 3: and seven his first year where you were just looking
Speaker 3: you know, you're just yeah, are you definitely. I mean,
Speaker 3: like hold like the holy Cow moment when you knew
Speaker 3: that this I've seen it coming.
Speaker 4: I've seen it, you can see it coming. Uh, the
Speaker 4: way he ran the ball, I just said, Okay, once
Speaker 4: he gets down the pass protection, once he knows that
Speaker 4: and knows who he may have the block of they blitz,
Speaker 4: then he I could see him becoming the starter because
Speaker 4: he was running the ball way better. But now it's like, okay,
Speaker 4: outside of running ball, because we can't just put you
Speaker 4: in there on run plays because then everybody know, oh
Speaker 4: it's a run play. So we need you know both aspects.
Speaker 4: And once he got that pass blocking part down, damn,
Speaker 4: there's no stopping on it.
Speaker 3: But it's it is it not a mentality when you
Speaker 3: you're able to step on the field knowing that you
Speaker 3: have him where you're like, Okay, you may win, you
Speaker 3: may win it down here or two year, but we're
Speaker 3: gonna wear We're gonna wear you out.
Speaker 2: Ye.
Speaker 4: Having a running back like that who doesn't mind running
Speaker 4: people over and and all types of things like that,
Speaker 4: that's just going to wear anybody down. And and me personally,
Speaker 4: I didn't mind running the ball and wearing my opponent
Speaker 4: down to you know, slow them down in the past
Speaker 4: rush you know. So I was okay with that, especially
Speaker 4: if I had a good day of you know, run blocking.
Speaker 4: It's like run to the left. Let's you know, let's
Speaker 4: get some yards on the ground.
Speaker 2: Stick around for more school Stories presented by three M.
Speaker 2: From the field to the roof and everywhere in between. Threem,
Speaker 2: the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings, is here.
Speaker 2: Visit Vikings dot com slash school Science to learn more.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with more from Brian McKitty, but first,
Speaker 2: Unreal is back with their limited edition Vikings Drop head
Speaker 2: to nurl dot com for more details.
Speaker 3: Ready to have your spirits lifted and the laugh out
Speaker 3: loud comedy Ghosts is for you. Ghosts is all new
Speaker 3: every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over on CBS.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to tonight's edition of school Stories presented by
Speaker 3: three M. Let's get back into our conversation with Vikings
Speaker 3: legend Brian McKinney. You remember any guys, uh defensive ends
Speaker 3: of d Lineman that you want up against with that
Speaker 3: you respect the most throughout your time a league.
Speaker 4: When I first got to Minnesota, you know KGB with
Speaker 4: somebody who I respected a lot because it was very slippery.
Speaker 4: He lows to the ground in the past past protection wise.
Speaker 3: And even by that you meant can be gabajja be
Speaker 3: and meal yep.
Speaker 4: Okay, So he was he was somebody who I respected
Speaker 4: that lat because I had played two times a year
Speaker 4: and I had to get adjusted to his style of play.
Speaker 4: And other than that, I feel like everybody else, I
Speaker 4: kind of felt good about it. Good against Yeah, I
Speaker 4: feel like to me, honestly, the better which isn't good,
Speaker 4: but the better the player was, the better I play.
Speaker 4: So it's just because I just I don't know, I
Speaker 4: should have prepared everybody saying, but it.
Speaker 3: And and that's where I think, Brian you stand out.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've been around this place for almost thirty years,
Speaker 3: and that was the one thing about you was it's
Speaker 3: just you could raise. You had the you had the
Speaker 3: physical ability and capacity to no matter who you were
Speaker 3: going against, raise your level of you know, raise your
Speaker 3: level of play. And and so in that respect, you're
Speaker 3: you're unique in the history of this team as a
Speaker 3: left tackle. You eventually once once your tenure here at
Speaker 3: the Vikings, you ended up with the Baltimore Ravens were
Speaker 3: able to participate in the Super Bowl. Year you know
Speaker 3: you missed, So you missed the NFC Championship? Was it everything?
Speaker 3: Being able to do that? Was it? And this is
Speaker 3: your chance to rub it in with all the Viking
Speaker 3: fans because we never obviously won one. But to be
Speaker 3: able to walk away hawk off the field winner, what
Speaker 3: was that like? And it was year eleven.
Speaker 4: So and then you remember the year before we had
Speaker 4: went to the AFC Championship side my mom, I'm like,
Speaker 4: this is my that's twice. Now. Yeah, I've gotten at
Speaker 4: the door but just couldn't get in. So the third
Speaker 4: year I finally made it, and it was like, now
Speaker 4: that I'm here, it's like it's a year eleven, Like
Speaker 4: you gotta at least win, Like I got here all
Speaker 4: this time, so now it's like, I gotta win this
Speaker 4: because it took me this long to get here, just
Speaker 4: to get here. So and it was also myself and
Speaker 4: Edrey we won a national championship together, and then now
Speaker 4: we were both in the situation. I was like, listen,
Speaker 4: it's both year eleven for us. This is the only
Speaker 4: opportunity really, you know what I'm saying. So we had
Speaker 4: to really just focus in and try to like do
Speaker 4: our best to just kind of come out with a victory.
Speaker 3: That was I think that's another thing about your career.
Speaker 3: Your teammates, even mark you played, ed Reed is as
Speaker 3: good of a safety as y ever played the game.
Speaker 3: He was unbelievable. I mean, you know, the linebacker crews
Speaker 3: and everybody you know, you talk about ray Lewis. I mean,
Speaker 3: those guys make you better, don't they know?
Speaker 4: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I feel like throughout my career between the Vikings and
Speaker 4: the Ravens, I played with some great guys.
Speaker 3: We just talked.
Speaker 4: I talked about that on an interview recently with Edrid James,
Speaker 4: like the amount of players that I played with between
Speaker 4: here and the Ravens who were definitely like great talents.
Speaker 4: And then what's funny is in the Super Bowl actually
Speaker 4: played against Randy Moss.
Speaker 3: So you had the opportunity to go and play with
Speaker 3: Harbaugh in Baltimore. What was it like, What was it
Speaker 3: like playing for him? And what do you remember? What
Speaker 3: do you remember about him as a head coach.
Speaker 4: He was a tough for coach back then, because you know,
Speaker 4: I've seen him two years ago and I said, I
Speaker 4: know that you're not the same coach. It's no way
Speaker 4: you're the same coach now that you were with us.
Speaker 4: And he's like, no, actually I had to change that.
Speaker 4: I could tell you. I could tell his interaction with
Speaker 4: the players and everything. I could tell he's changed, and
Speaker 4: like lightened up. He said, yeah, because he can't do
Speaker 4: all the yelling and everything now because guys were shutting
Speaker 4: down and he can't afford his top players to be
Speaker 4: shutting down based off of his so he had to,
Speaker 4: you know, figure things out. So me and him were okay.
Speaker 4: I thought we would get along great because we had
Speaker 4: the same exact birthday.
Speaker 3: But we were cool.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, he was just a different type of
Speaker 4: coach at the time because mental health.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you've seen you've participated in a pretty in a
Speaker 3: very interesting transition. Yeah, transition like I mean when you
Speaker 3: first got in the league, when and when we were coaching,
Speaker 3: when Mike Tys was here. Yeah, you had two days,
Speaker 3: you had eighty plays in nine on seven and you know,
Speaker 3: I mean physically and then that I think started changing.
Speaker 3: And then again, like you said, the mental health side
Speaker 3: and just the.
Speaker 4: Concussion, mental health, a lot of things started becoming in
Speaker 4: play and you started backing off on things, So I
Speaker 4: was there, I guess, for the transition, and then you
Speaker 4: had social media that came into play and all that
Speaker 4: stuff too, which wasn't there the beginning neither. So I
Speaker 4: kind of was there at the beginning where it was
Speaker 4: very old school and just hard nose, and then where
Speaker 4: things kind of pulled back a little bit where you
Speaker 4: only started having one practice, one pad of practice to
Speaker 4: day and things like that, so I started to be
Speaker 4: able to see the change.
Speaker 3: Do you think seeing that change is kind of what's
Speaker 3: propelling you into in the mental health work that you're
Speaker 3: doing now?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, well no, really with propelled me in
Speaker 4: that direction was when I retired. There was a couple
Speaker 4: of other guys retired around the same time as me, and
Speaker 4: they were having a tough time, I guess, transitioning and
Speaker 4: then having conversations with me because they didn't feel comfortable,
Speaker 4: you know, talking to their family things like that, because
Speaker 4: they were to go to a person for their family,
Speaker 4: so they wanted to talk to other people who've been through,
Speaker 4: you know, what they've been through. And I sort of
Speaker 4: realized like, oh, this is the thing, like you know,
Speaker 4: you would hear people talk about it, but then I
Speaker 4: started seeing it and then like I see, like you know,
Speaker 4: a player had got a bigger act before and had
Speaker 4: to go to a psych war and I went down
Speaker 4: there to visit. So I was like, oh, this is real,
Speaker 4: So let me try to figure out how I can
Speaker 4: kind of put this out there more and where people
Speaker 4: can go to for some type of help or assistance
Speaker 4: when they're dealing with somebody going through.
Speaker 3: So thank you, you know, Brian, for your time. Let
Speaker 3: everybody know again kind of what your what your ventures are,
Speaker 3: and what you're doing and what you're up to.
Speaker 4: Let's chat which is a language translation based a vice
Speaker 4: the vice setting in real time, so l e t
Speaker 4: z chat dot com. They can go there and they
Speaker 4: can give you like a little video basically of what
Speaker 4: it is the company does and CANSO my be major foundation,
Speaker 4: which is mental health, healthy kids, healthy living, and singing
Speaker 4: parent homes.
Speaker 3: All right, man, well, great to see. Thanks for your time,
Speaker 3: and you know, hopefully we'll be able to Siana sideline
Speaker 3: in one of the games, so we can't miss you, right,
Speaker 3: all right, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks again to Brian McKinney for joining the show.
Speaker 2: It's always great to hear him doing well and giving
Speaker 2: back to the game of football, all right, Pete Bursus.
Speaker 2: After the so called mini by we jump right back
Speaker 2: into the heart of the schedule with another primetime game.
Speaker 2: The game's been flexed. Week nine. After the thirty twenty
Speaker 2: loss disappointing loss in Los Angeles against the Rams, the
Speaker 2: Vikings are back home to take on the Indianapolis Colts
Speaker 2: Sunday night at US Bank Stadium. The Cults are coming
Speaker 2: off of twenty three to twenty loss to the Texans
Speaker 2: in which Anthony Richardson was sacked five times. Just really
Speaker 2: never look comfortable. Now, what do you want to see
Speaker 2: from this Vikings defense. It's got a lot of room
Speaker 2: for improvement right now this Sunday night. And what do
Speaker 2: you think will be the key to containing Indianapolis?
Speaker 3: Well, I very rarely in life or in football especially
Speaker 3: do you get the opportunity to lose a game on
Speaker 3: national TV was watched by millions of people and then
Speaker 3: get the opportunity just ten days later to go back
Speaker 3: and kind of reset it. Right, You have an opportunity
Speaker 3: to get back out there and show another face, just
Speaker 3: like with the Rams and how they improve from a
Speaker 3: Sunday to a Thursday. The Viks need to do that
Speaker 3: from a Thursday to the following Sunday. Now you're gonna
Speaker 3: be doing it, you know, without Christian darrisaw So you
Speaker 3: have a few extra days to get the rest of
Speaker 3: those guys ready, all that out, the remaining offensive line,
Speaker 3: they all have to pick up their game if this
Speaker 3: offense wants to continue on its way. But defensively, that's
Speaker 3: I think the big question mark. It's been a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks now in a row of just mental errors,
Speaker 3: not being able to make adjustments, and then the pressure
Speaker 3: on the quarterback has you know, you go into the
Speaker 3: Rams game twenty three sacks and then boom, you have none, right,
Speaker 3: so that that turn there has to be changed. I
Speaker 3: think having Cashman will help, but just getting everybody back
Speaker 3: on the same page and getting that intensity back and
Speaker 3: that attitude back, and it just seemed it just seemed
Speaker 3: as if the Rams hit us with shifts and motions
Speaker 3: in every play and there was indecisiveness, and that just
Speaker 3: you can't be indecisive in this game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's always a game of adjustments. So I'm sure
Speaker 2: the culture looking at that game tape obviously and what
Speaker 2: the Rams did well with the Lions did well, but
Speaker 2: you have to have the personnel to pull it off.
Speaker 2: But on more importantly, what is Brian Flory is doing,
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, to kind of make those adjustments because
Speaker 2: we've watched both for the most part, Jared Goff and
Speaker 2: Matthew Stafford two quarterbacks with big connections in their career,
Speaker 2: they're kind of sitting back in the old rock and
Speaker 2: share of the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know for Stafford, he early in the
Speaker 3: first half of the game, he didn't sit in the pocket.
Speaker 3: It was quick screen, quick throw, run the football. They
Speaker 3: had eighty seven yards rushing in the first half, so
Speaker 3: that's how they kept pressure off Stafford. And then once
Speaker 3: the game wore on and our defense had twenty twenty
Speaker 3: five minutes a game, it was it was really the
Speaker 3: about six minutes left to go, because I you know,
Speaker 3: went back and looked about six minutes to go in
Speaker 3: the third quarter is when they really started to allow
Speaker 3: Stafford to sit in the pocket. And by that time,
Speaker 3: our our rush head you know, pretty much evaporated, at
Speaker 3: least especially a four man rush. That's kind of the thing.
Speaker 3: Grenard is still our most consistent pass rusher. It's it's
Speaker 3: everybody else that's out there in those situations. And I'm
Speaker 3: talking bass downs. I'm talking first and second down, third down.
Speaker 3: We can sub some guys in and create some things,
Speaker 3: but those base down passing plays uh uh late in
Speaker 3: the game, that's that's that's where we need someone more
Speaker 3: than just Grenard to get after the quarterback.
Speaker 2: We really expect to see the return of TJ. Hockinson.
Speaker 2: We've been talking about it for a long time and
Speaker 2: what can he do to help kind of diversify this
Speaker 2: likings offense on Sunday Night.
Speaker 3: Well, I think he can help bring a shorter passing
Speaker 3: game right and we saw what the We saw what
Speaker 3: the Rams did to us, and the quick slants and
Speaker 3: some of those things. Our style of passing game is
Speaker 3: Darnold in the pocket for a while right down the field.
Speaker 3: Those kinds of things. Those may have to come off
Speaker 3: of play actions now, but a quick passing game on
Speaker 3: base downs is going to have to center around I
Speaker 3: think around the tight end.
Speaker 2: Reminded, the vikings of the Colts game has been flexed.
Speaker 2: Check those tickets to Sunday Night Football over on NBC.
Speaker 3: It's a seven to.
Speaker 2: Twenty pm kickoff right here in the Twin Cities, so
Speaker 2: be sure to check your local listings for details. Of course,
Speaker 2: you can also catch Paul Allen, Ben Leber, and yes,
Speaker 2: Pete Bursich with the call right here all across the
Speaker 2: Vikings Radio network. The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts
Speaker 2: at five pm and kfan, so be sure to tune
Speaker 2: in with host Mike Mussman and the rest of the
Speaker 2: crew leading.
Speaker 3: Up to kickoff.
Speaker 2: Pete's aways a pleasure, and thanks again to Bryan McKinney
Speaker 2: for joining the show, and thank you fans for tuning
Speaker 2: into another edition of Skull Stories presented by three M
Speaker 2: the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. We'll see
Speaker 2: you all again next week.