Speaker 1: Throughout this game and just being able to come up
Speaker 1: in this system, especially being a rookie and then now
Speaker 1: my second year of planning under him and learning different
Speaker 1: things under him is a great thing because I can
Speaker 1: see the future from myself and just getting better each
Speaker 1: day as I'm planning, they're telling me what they're seeing
Speaker 1: based off of their past experience. So just having them
Speaker 1: in the room and meetings was a big change for
Speaker 1: us and something great for me. We're listening to the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings podcast, or as we lovingly refer to it
Speaker 1: around here, MVP. This is episode one fifteen, and can
Speaker 1: we say victory Wednesday? Still? Are we allowed to do that? Guys?
Speaker 1: It's always the turning point for the week to go
Speaker 1: to the next week. But yes, we can rebel in
Speaker 1: the fact that we did get a win this past week.
Speaker 1: It was just the manner that it happened. People are
Speaker 1: a little angsty about it, but I think the nice
Speaker 1: thing is you gotta win. You're going to Carolina right
Speaker 1: before the bye keep the train rolland at this point,
Speaker 1: and that is why we have the Positivity Power minute,
Speaker 1: because we can't dwell on the negative. And speaking of
Speaker 1: positive things, we have a special co host today on
Speaker 1: the podcast. You just heard Jay Nelson, who's here with
Speaker 1: us every week, but this week we have Vikings team
Speaker 1: reporter Eric Smith. He is all over Vikings dot com
Speaker 1: with his incredible writing. He's a great follow on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Eric Underscore l Underscore Smith. I wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure I got that correct. He's also on Viking Entertainment
Speaker 1: Network's latest show, Opposing Viewpoints. Hi, Eric, Well, hello guys,
Speaker 1: thank you for having me and man out to a
Speaker 1: great introduction. I feel all warm and special inside there
Speaker 1: you go. I know when I start, when I was
Speaker 1: writing it, I was like, wow, I'm like writing a
Speaker 1: proper introduction, the official official welcome to the show. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you this happy to be here. Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: you've been here before, but we're excited to have you
Speaker 1: around again. And kind of continue talking about this Vikings
Speaker 1: team who were walk off winners against the Lions. It's
Speaker 1: now two and three on the season, with one more
Speaker 1: game before we hit the buy and it's a big
Speaker 1: game on the road at the Panthers, and so Eric,
Speaker 1: we usually do this whole event session when we lose.
Speaker 1: Luckily we don't have to do that this week. I'm
Speaker 1: glad for that. Let's let's be positive. Yes it was ugly,
Speaker 1: but we gotta win. So yeah, let's let's focus on
Speaker 1: the w and that is what matters. So we call
Speaker 1: it the Power Minute of Positivity. And Eric, because you
Speaker 1: are it's a guest co host this week. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have you go first, Okay, So I'm gonna put you
Speaker 1: on a timer. We're gonna count down from sixty seconds
Speaker 1: and I as much positivity as you can. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: bad lead off. There you go, all right, and three, two, one, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start with Greg Joseph. And you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of people wanted to get rid of him, honestly
Speaker 1: after Week two when he missed against Arizona fan who're
Speaker 1: upset with the long history of kicker struggles with this franchise.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of fans who were just like, whatever,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the next guy. And Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: was like, wait a minute, let's give him another chance,
Speaker 1: and he delivered. Came through on Sunday again, Detroit set
Speaker 1: his career best with fifty five and then obviously none
Speaker 1: none of his four field goal were bigger than the
Speaker 1: fifty four yarder. To end it, so happy for Greg.
Speaker 1: The other thing is the Vikings pass rush is much
Speaker 1: much better than it was a year ago, and probably
Speaker 1: that has to do with Daniel Hunter being back and
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin being back as well. Both of those players
Speaker 1: did not play for the Vikings last year, but they
Speaker 1: are probably two of the of the ten or so
Speaker 1: best pass rushers the team has ever had, and so
Speaker 1: it's good to have those two guys back in the fold.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing is, you know, I know
Speaker 1: it was ugly, but I'm glad they gotta win. Oh
Speaker 1: where the money? Glad to know I win? That works too. Okay,
Speaker 1: what else were you gonna say? I was just gonna
Speaker 1: say as we go into Carolina, you know it hasn't
Speaker 1: been the prettiest season so far. Yeah, and just a
Speaker 1: chance to get to three and three, to give yourself
Speaker 1: a chance to be competitive after the buye. I think
Speaker 1: that needs to be harped upon. Comparative to last season
Speaker 1: where you kind of tripped coming out of the gate,
Speaker 1: You're at a point now where you're better than you
Speaker 1: were last year. Kind of the same situation, but you
Speaker 1: have a chance to write the ship sooner than last season,
Speaker 1: and so that that is the positive spin on that.
Speaker 1: For sure. If you win Sunday and you're three and three,
Speaker 1: you kind of reaf that and say, okay, let's take
Speaker 1: a deep breath. You know, the schedule is very tough
Speaker 1: after the bye, but at least you have a chance
Speaker 1: to be competitive. If you fall to under five hundred
Speaker 1: and you lose in Carolina, it's just really tough flooding
Speaker 1: the reft of the way. And Carolina right now is
Speaker 1: feeling the same way too for them. You know, they've
Speaker 1: they've played a bunch of games at home so far
Speaker 1: this season. They see us walking in the door and saying,
Speaker 1: you know, we need to get right as well, because
Speaker 1: they are going to play a ton of games on
Speaker 1: the road coming up here for the rest of their schedules.
Speaker 1: So this this game Sunday, I think is gonna be
Speaker 1: a bit of a dog fight for both teams trying
Speaker 1: to make sure that they're on the right side of
Speaker 1: that win. I can honestly see, whoever wins the game,
Speaker 1: it may be in contention at the end of the
Speaker 1: year for a wildcard spot, and whoever loses it's maybe not.
Speaker 1: It's funny how you can kind of you try and
Speaker 1: make those like predictions and see down the line and
Speaker 1: how things are shaping up already. But only time will tell,
Speaker 1: all right, Jay three two one. I think the most
Speaker 1: positive thing that I can say about this past weekend's
Speaker 1: win was the fact that you did get to win.
Speaker 1: We've just been talking here about the fact that you're
Speaker 1: on the doorstep of being five hundred here before the bye,
Speaker 1: which I think is something that fans will definitely take.
Speaker 1: I know inside here, I'm sure the players and coaches
Speaker 1: are also looking at it saying this is the only
Speaker 1: option moving forward for us. For me as a fan
Speaker 1: watching that game on Sunday, like I said before, there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of ankst that came to it,
Speaker 1: But the fact was you saw Greg Joseph hit two
Speaker 1: fifty plus yard kicks in order to bury that game,
Speaker 1: in order to seal the victory, even when it looked
Speaker 1: kind of dire there right at the end. But for me,
Speaker 1: the fact that Greg Joseph hit both of those kicks,
Speaker 1: there is a kind of a hurdle there that you
Speaker 1: have now for the future. You know that if it
Speaker 1: comes down to needing a thirty seven second drive at
Speaker 1: the end of a game to try to bury a
Speaker 1: long kick to give yourself a chance to win the game.
Speaker 1: We have the ability in the capability to do that.
Speaker 1: On top of that, Justin Jefferson in the first half
Speaker 1: was on fire in that game. Hopefully he can do
Speaker 1: that again. This way you go, there, you go. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know this is the powerment of positivity, but it
Speaker 1: is frustrated and to not see him as dominant in
Speaker 1: the second half of the game, knowing that that was
Speaker 1: something that works so well, and I don't particularly think
Speaker 1: the Lions made all these crazy adjustments to keep him
Speaker 1: out of things. So hopefully we'll be able to see
Speaker 1: more of jjcase clearly. And something I think we've talked
Speaker 1: about previously on this podcast is that teams have to
Speaker 1: choose between Theeland and JJ and the past two weeks
Speaker 1: they've really negated Theeland, which has made Justin come alive,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of like this like back and
Speaker 1: forth pull between the two. I've gotten a lot of
Speaker 1: fan email this week being harsh again the Viking the
Speaker 1: offense of philosophy, and Clint Kubiak and Mike them are
Speaker 1: in saying, you know, why don't why aren't we throwing
Speaker 1: the ball more you know, and I see their point
Speaker 1: because you know, Justin Jefferson is a special talent and
Speaker 1: sometimes you just got to throw him the ball. And
Speaker 1: you know, if it's third and eight, you know, I'd
Speaker 1: rather throw him the ball than than maybe anyone else
Speaker 1: on the team. Honestly. The thing that was crazy on
Speaker 1: Sunday was watching some of those throws that Kirk was
Speaker 1: hitting him with on the sidelines especially. I mean he
Speaker 1: was bracketed, double even triple covered sometimes and Kirk was
Speaker 1: dropping in the bucket. And the nice thing with with
Speaker 1: JJ and Feeling and those guys, they are savvy enough
Speaker 1: at this point as receivers they don't show their hands
Speaker 1: until the very last second to prove that the ball
Speaker 1: is going to be right there. And there were multiple
Speaker 1: times in that game as I was, you know, running
Speaker 1: stuff up in the control room watching it, and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, that was an incredible throw. And so there's
Speaker 1: another positive piece there for me is just the fact
Speaker 1: that Kirk was dealing, and you know, it just kind
Speaker 1: of again proves give him some time, he will slice
Speaker 1: and dice you. And when you have a team that
Speaker 1: was without Delvin Cook again on Sunday and you're looking
Speaker 1: for a big time playmaker to step up and make
Speaker 1: some plays. Having Justin do that in the first half
Speaker 1: really gave you a shot in the arm and just
Speaker 1: proves this team can have multiple weapons on offense. And
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing what happens again here coming
Speaker 1: up on Sunday, hopefully they can unleash the Beast again. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm going to put myself on the timer now, Eric,
Speaker 1: if you want to do the honors and just press
Speaker 1: start three two line go. I kind of want to
Speaker 1: piggyback off of what you're talking about with Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: because I think everyone saw the moment at the end
Speaker 1: of the game where he was shoving Mike Zimmer and
Speaker 1: I know it's like kind of went viral and little
Speaker 1: did we know he was miked up for NFL films,
Speaker 1: So then everyone got to hear exactly what the exchange was,
Speaker 1: which if you haven't gone on Twitter and taken a
Speaker 1: look at it, it's definitely worth seeing. But I think
Speaker 1: it's so important that they were able to complete a
Speaker 1: game winning drive because you saw it against the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: you saw it against the Bengals. They can drive the
Speaker 1: ball down when they need to. They can get into
Speaker 1: scoring position when they need to, and they haven't been
Speaker 1: able to capitalize on it. And so for me, that
Speaker 1: was a huge vote of confidence, not only for your
Speaker 1: positive note on Greg Joseph getting that kind of like
Speaker 1: just confidence, straight confidence back in himself, not that I
Speaker 1: think he lacked any but that he was able to
Speaker 1: do that in front of the home crowd really convinced them.
Speaker 1: And then also that they were able to capitalize on
Speaker 1: a game winning drive boom. I love being right on time.
Speaker 1: Nicely done, Thank you. I don't know if any of
Speaker 1: you've seen Good Morning Football's Peter Shreger, but Peter Shreger
Speaker 1: was actually talking about our season so far this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I welcome to the fold. As a Vikings fan, you know,
Speaker 1: there's always a time in the season. There's always been
Speaker 1: multiple games where you're like, man, we were that close,
Speaker 1: and yeah, that's happened multiple times here and that that's
Speaker 1: where I think a lot of this angst as well
Speaker 1: from Sunday came from as just people saying like, man,
Speaker 1: we haven't fully put a full game together this season.
Speaker 1: We had a really good game against Seattle, but we
Speaker 1: haven't seeing the ability to just take an opponent that
Speaker 1: you should handle and just finish it completely across the
Speaker 1: board offense, defense, and special teams, and I think everyone
Speaker 1: felt like Sunday should have been one of those games
Speaker 1: because it kind of you were stuck in the mud
Speaker 1: and it went the way that it did on Sunday.
Speaker 1: I really feel like this team is going to be
Speaker 1: motivated on Sunday to come out in Carolina and really
Speaker 1: put their best foot forward. And even in the Seahawks game,
Speaker 1: though as good of a win as that looked, it
Speaker 1: was good defense in the second half, the offense was
Speaker 1: you know, not there. So it's still not like that
Speaker 1: complete game performance that we're looking for, which is kind
Speaker 1: of exciting because you know the potential is there, but
Speaker 1: at the same time you're like, all right, when is
Speaker 1: that moment going to happen. Yeah. So we're obviously five
Speaker 1: games in and four of those games have been decided
Speaker 1: by a touchdown or less. I think the potential is there.
Speaker 1: I think there's also maybe you know, the games go
Speaker 1: along and you're in more and more of these close games,
Speaker 1: I think I'm starting to realize that maybe this it's
Speaker 1: just who the Vikings are and that you know, we're
Speaker 1: not a bad team. You know, I know we have
Speaker 1: a sub five hundred record, but we're not a bad team.
Speaker 1: But we're probably not in the upper echelon, you know,
Speaker 1: with Arizona and Buffalo with only having one loss or
Speaker 1: no losses. We're probably right around in the middle with
Speaker 1: a potential to be good, you know, but a thing
Speaker 1: don't break our way, then maybe we slide down a little.
Speaker 1: So that just kind of who the team is right now.
Speaker 1: We're just kind of right there in the middle with
Speaker 1: a bunch of other teams. And that's probably what the
Speaker 1: NFL is. That's just a bunch of parody and it's
Speaker 1: who can make plays each week. If you if you
Speaker 1: make the plays like we did on Sunday and have
Speaker 1: a final drive, then you win. If you don't make
Speaker 1: the plays against like we did against Cleveland, and you lose.
Speaker 1: That's that's how it works. The NFL tends to be
Speaker 1: a battle of attrition, right and it usually is one
Speaker 1: of those things where every team has issues with injuries,
Speaker 1: every team has as hurdles that they have to overcome.
Speaker 1: If you think about it, so far this season we
Speaker 1: have had adversity and that you lost Delvin for multiple
Speaker 1: games here or at least hasn't been right for multiple games.
Speaker 1: Michael Pierce has now been injured. But then you're starting
Speaker 1: to see also kind of the glimmers of hope with
Speaker 1: Anthony Barr coming back this week, and then you know
Speaker 1: there's people that are pointing the finger that Deissau was
Speaker 1: getting some more run this week as well. Yeah, playing
Speaker 1: with my bullets, Like there are the the detriments of
Speaker 1: losing some of these players, but there's also you know,
Speaker 1: you're you're adding a lot of potential talent coming in
Speaker 1: here for what could be. So again, there are more
Speaker 1: places to sell hope here that your team is still
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. And there are a lot
Speaker 1: of teams in the leagues that are that are that way.
Speaker 1: And how many times we've seen at a hot team
Speaker 1: that started at the beginning is the one that falls off.
Speaker 1: The team that's been trying to figure it out finally
Speaker 1: puts it together at the end of the year. Just
Speaker 1: what I was going to say, because you just never
Speaker 1: you need is to make a run towards the end
Speaker 1: of the season. What you did in the beginning matters
Speaker 1: as far as getting into the postseason, But as long
Speaker 1: as you're a team who's finally clicking towards the end,
Speaker 1: you might be hotter than a five and oh Arizona
Speaker 1: Cardinals team. And if you look right now at even
Speaker 1: a team like Carolina, they it off three. No, they
Speaker 1: were they looked right. I thought they would win the division.
Speaker 1: I thought they were world beaters at this point. Tom
Speaker 1: Brady now is kind of like, yeah, okay, I got
Speaker 1: something to sound like that. It's exactly right. But the
Speaker 1: thing for me with Carolina is that Shack Thompson going
Speaker 1: out and a couple of their other playmakers that they've
Speaker 1: had that have been on injuries as of now. That's
Speaker 1: why I think they've got a sense of desperation coming
Speaker 1: up here this week too, is that they've lost some
Speaker 1: of the the big playmakers on that defense that's been very,
Speaker 1: very good. And I think they're they're kind of potentially
Speaker 1: regressing a little bit where we're kind of ascending a
Speaker 1: little bit. But but even after this last weekend, everyone's
Speaker 1: going to say, you got to prove it yet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: speaking of great defensive playmakers, that is who our player
Speaker 1: guest this week is. It was quite a performance on Sunday,
Speaker 1: earning his first sack ever at US Bank Stadium defensive
Speaker 1: lineman DJ Wanam. So let's bring him in now on
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings podcast and for the first time on
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings podcast, We've got Kings defensive lineman DJ Wannam.
Speaker 1: You got your first sack in US Bank Stadium this weekend.
Speaker 1: What was what was the crowd reaction like for you?
Speaker 1: It was amazing, man, just haven't being able to get
Speaker 1: my first second US back stadium this year. Just hearing
Speaker 1: the crowd and being on the big play manages made
Speaker 1: it even better. You got a big bear hug from
Speaker 1: your teammate to deal Hunter. What was that like? I mean,
Speaker 1: he probably was pretty stoked for you. Yeah, he was. Man,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, I've been always you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, just following them, trying to walk into
Speaker 1: the footsteps and just him you know, being excited for me.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Just making that big play
Speaker 1: was a big thing for both of us. What is
Speaker 1: it like to you know, I know you probably don't
Speaker 1: look at it like you're playing in his shadow or anything,
Speaker 1: right right, No, of course not, But there are probably
Speaker 1: people out there that are, like, you know, it's got
Speaker 1: to be hard sometimes, Like it's great to learn on
Speaker 1: one hand, but on the other hand, hard to handle
Speaker 1: that pressure. Yeah. I don't really look at it this pressure.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's most like social media stuff, which I
Speaker 1: don't get on as much anyway. So I mean, I
Speaker 1: just I just taken a roll with you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, getting better each week, and I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: continue doing that. You know. For somebody who scrolls Instagram
Speaker 1: and online shops while watching TV, that's me, I find it.
Speaker 1: I think it's hard to turn that off and not
Speaker 1: do that because of this day and age of social media.
Speaker 1: Where and how what do you do in order to
Speaker 1: like not tempt yourself from looking at that stuff. I
Speaker 1: honestly don't know. It's just kind of a natural thing
Speaker 1: that I do. I don't. I just don't just don't
Speaker 1: get on it. Just don't go to it, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So don't know, it's pretty easy for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do you do you have the apps on your phone though,
Speaker 1: or do you like get rid of them during the
Speaker 1: season and bring him back on. I get rid of
Speaker 1: Twitter because that's where most of the stuff is. But Instagram,
Speaker 1: you know, so I keep I look on there every
Speaker 1: now and then. But yeah, one of my one of
Speaker 1: my favorite people to run into in the hall here
Speaker 1: since I've been here. I've only been here since June,
Speaker 1: so I'm fairly new, just like you. My favorite people
Speaker 1: to run into the hallway with is Andre Patterson. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he's always in a good mood, yea. He is so
Speaker 1: nice and just chipper all the time. I know, you
Speaker 1: get to see both sides of him. Maybe when he's
Speaker 1: a little bit more fired for sure. But what is
Speaker 1: it like playing for somebody like coach pat Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: It's it's amazing, man, just the history that he has
Speaker 1: behind himself, him having no John Randall and all those
Speaker 1: great you know, saying defense Alama that he's developed or
Speaker 1: throughout this game, and just being able to know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, just come up in this system, especially being
Speaker 1: a rookie and then now my second year playing under
Speaker 1: him and learning know what I'm saying different things under him.
Speaker 1: Is it's a great thing, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: because I can see the future from myself and just
Speaker 1: getting better each day. How would you rate your level
Speaker 1: of improvement from the first day you stepped the practice
Speaker 1: nine and day difference, man, you feel it. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: a night in day difference. You know. I'm but I'm
Speaker 1: still getting better each day. But compared to last year,
Speaker 1: I was like two forty five soaking with playing a
Speaker 1: fourth technique. It was it was. It was a long season.
Speaker 1: But you know what I'm saying, I definitely can see
Speaker 1: the improvement drastically. What are you at right now? Right now,
Speaker 1: I'm at two sixty Oh, okay, carrying the extra beats
Speaker 1: hopefully in those muscles, right. I mean you got to
Speaker 1: work hard for that. I don't think people realize how
Speaker 1: much you have to like, how much food you have
Speaker 1: to eat. Yeah, especially with the amount of work, the games,
Speaker 1: the practices. Nor I'm saying, if I missed one meal,
Speaker 1: that's like four pounds that I've lost just off of
Speaker 1: missing the meal. Yeah, so you gotta stay on it
Speaker 1: each day. I mean sometimes it feeling you have to
Speaker 1: kind of force features. That's what exactly what it is. Well,
Speaker 1: good thing the Vikings Cafeteria has good food. Can't complain
Speaker 1: about that part. You can't complain. Can't complain. Um. You
Speaker 1: know another thing that's different for you this season is
Speaker 1: that there are a lot of veteran faces, but newer
Speaker 1: faces for you. I know, last season there was it
Speaker 1: felt like a lot of new guys, first year, second
Speaker 1: year players, and now there's a little bit of age
Speaker 1: in the room, a little wisdom. I guess you can say,
Speaker 1: how has that dynamic changed from the past two seeds?
Speaker 1: Like from last season of this season, it changed a
Speaker 1: lot because you know, we gotta got a lot of
Speaker 1: guys that have seen different things, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: that have experienced and being able to go out during
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, just as I'm playing, they're
Speaker 1: telling me. You know what I'm saying. What they're saying
Speaker 1: based off of you saying that past experience. So just
Speaker 1: having them in the room and meetings is a big
Speaker 1: change for us and something great for me. Yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: you think the youngest guy on the line right now, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's got to be like you're just soaking
Speaker 1: up all the knowledge. Oh yeah, do you ask a
Speaker 1: lot of questions I learned based off with just like listening, observation, observation.
Speaker 1: They're listening, so I mean I asked the question here
Speaker 1: and there, but I'm mostly just listening to them while
Speaker 1: they're saying they're talking them, shotting it down, writing it
Speaker 1: down there like okay, I got it. Yeah. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like you have a notebook or do you take
Speaker 1: anywhere every day? You got good handwriting? Yeah, it's pretty good. Okay, good.
Speaker 1: I mean I wrote notes down for this interview and
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh gosh, what did I write there? Even
Speaker 1: read what I'm writing. But that's no, that's a good
Speaker 1: It's a good practice to have. Right. So this is
Speaker 1: a big it's a big game this week. You've got
Speaker 1: the Panthers a chance to go to get to three
Speaker 1: and three before the bye. I know that every game
Speaker 1: is a big week and that's how you approach it.
Speaker 1: But heading into this one with the opportunity to play
Speaker 1: an offensive line who's struggling with injuries, a quarterback who's
Speaker 1: not playing his best right now, when you see that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, it is it. Do you see a
Speaker 1: better game plan to get to the quarterback? You know,
Speaker 1: mostly keep it the same, you know we can and
Speaker 1: week out, you know say we respect each and every
Speaker 1: one of our opponents that we play. Um, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, And just going into the game, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, We're gonna always you know, whoever
Speaker 1: it is in front of us, we're gonna, we're gonna,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do our thing, you know, So we're gonna
Speaker 1: get after them. So regardless of the opponent who we're playing,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm saying, we always you know, saying, look
Speaker 1: up and respect the opponent. But you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: we're excited for a Sunday. We're gonna get aft through it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's funny. We're in Halloween season and
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm expecting Sam Darneld to see some ghosts
Speaker 1: on the field day. So. Um. But speaking of Halloween,
Speaker 1: word on the street is that that is your birthday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's my birthday. That's crazy growing up. What is it like,
Speaker 1: I guess to have your birthday being on such a
Speaker 1: kookie holiday. Um, it's definitely different for sure. But like
Speaker 1: as far as like celebrating it, when I was younger,
Speaker 1: we pretty much didn't. I don't know for what reason,
Speaker 1: but my mom didn't really let us go outside and
Speaker 1: trick or treat or whatever get candy. No. So I mean,
Speaker 1: but you know what I'm saying, it's it's definitely different.
Speaker 1: It's cool. Just being able to say my birthday Halloween.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. That's different. Nobody really birthday.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It is on Halloween. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, do you have like a favorite
Speaker 1: Halloween costume growing up? But it sounds like I got
Speaker 1: no costume? Did you dress up in college at all? Never?
Speaker 1: So you you have, you have a Halloween birthday, and
Speaker 1: you've never worn a Halloween costUS, never worn a Halloween costume.
Speaker 1: I think we've I feel like we need to change that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like you gotta change that. But here's the problem.
Speaker 1: We have a game on Halloween, so you're gonna dress
Speaker 1: up as a Vikings football player. So it's it's a
Speaker 1: very popular Halloween costume for other people. Oh yeah, explain
Speaker 1: your business uniform. It's your business glowth Well, you know
Speaker 1: I had this like exciting, well not exciting, but I
Speaker 1: had this little fun Halloween game to play with you.
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure how many of these things we
Speaker 1: can get to that you'll be on board for. So
Speaker 1: it's basically just like a Halloween to get to know
Speaker 1: you a little bit better, DJ, because I know that
Speaker 1: you know you're new around here and fans are kind
Speaker 1: of getting to know you, and um, do you have
Speaker 1: a favorite Halloween candy? Favorite Halloween candy or candy? And
Speaker 1: John wrong, I'm gonna go jolly renches. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Based Okay, So do you prefer like fruity
Speaker 1: candy to chocolate candy? Um? So, I like both chocolate.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I gotta go white chocolate.
Speaker 1: The cook is in cream bar, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's that's my favorite chocolate book. As far as like candy,
Speaker 1: sweet Wise, I'm gonna go jolly renches. All right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna need you to do an audible thumbs up or
Speaker 1: thumbs down? Okay? Are we cool with candy corn thumbs up,
Speaker 1: thumbs down, thumbs down. I'm with you on that one.
Speaker 1: I don't understand candy corn me neither. What is your
Speaker 1: What is in your opinion the best Halloween or horror movie?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to go Paranormal Activity. That's a horror
Speaker 1: movie book, Jason, Jason, Man, you like some of that
Speaker 1: real dark? So I love I love scary movies. Do
Speaker 1: you really love them? Yeah? I don't know if I
Speaker 1: can handle that. He's actually everyone of them. How many
Speaker 1: hot hot like do you do you watch them regularly?
Speaker 1: How many would you say you watch like a month? Um,
Speaker 1: horror movies maybe like three or four? Man like to
Speaker 1: be scared? Um, I just like I just like the thrill.
Speaker 1: I just like seeing it. There you go, There you go.
Speaker 1: So your a roller coaster guy, then if you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: no roller coasters, Okay. I was going to ask you
Speaker 1: what your favorite Halloween tradition is, but I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess it's just celebrating your birthday with your family. Well
Speaker 1: like Halloween, like we're always well, I'm always nor our
Speaker 1: football season, so very true. I'll never really get the
Speaker 1: chance to celebrate it anyway. So well, let me ask
Speaker 1: you this. Um, I know you've got big plans for
Speaker 1: your birthday this year being Halloween. Um, is there any
Speaker 1: family going to be in town or anybody going to
Speaker 1: be celebrating your birthday with you? Yeah? My parents are
Speaker 1: actually gonna be able to come to their first game
Speaker 1: in US. Yes, Oh my gosh. That's amazing. So they
Speaker 1: weren't able to make it last year, no, because of COVID, right,
Speaker 1: so they'll be here. Oh my gosh, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: so pumped for you for sure. When you when you
Speaker 1: know they're out there, do you kind of like have
Speaker 1: a little electric juice in your you know, a little
Speaker 1: springing your step, just a little bit, a little bit mo. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially my dad, you know what I'm saying. He always
Speaker 1: jacked up, So just having him there, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a big thing for him. Yeah, for sure. I wish
Speaker 1: you're brother could make it out. Huh. He's got it
Speaker 1: deep in the SEC schedule now. He got a long
Speaker 1: season for himself, so maybe he'll play with me. Who knows,
Speaker 1: who knows? Who knows. You'll have to talk to Rick
Speaker 1: about that. Well. Thank you so much, DJ for joining
Speaker 1: us here on the Middle of Eggings podcast. We'd like
Speaker 1: to have a good time over here and get to
Speaker 1: know you a little bit better and best of luck
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Thank you all right, big thank you to
Speaker 1: Vikings defensive lineman DJ Wanna. What a fun guy and honestly,
Speaker 1: it was so great to see him breakthrough, get that
Speaker 1: first sack of the season and get all that love
Speaker 1: from his teammates right after. Yeah, Jay's progressing well, you know,
Speaker 1: he did not start Sunday everything. Griffin got the starting
Speaker 1: play with him, so, you know, I think fans are
Speaker 1: kind of wondering, Okay, where is he at in his progression?
Speaker 1: I think he's doing just fine. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: a fourth round pick. No one expected him to come
Speaker 1: in and be Danio Hunter, even though there are a
Speaker 1: lot of comparison to him when he got drafted. Let's
Speaker 1: not label anyone like that. I mean, that's just too
Speaker 1: lofty of of expectations. No, And I think Andre Patterson's
Speaker 1: pretty careful about that label as well, because he has
Speaker 1: made the comparisons before, but mainly more like the motor
Speaker 1: his personality, not really comparing the physical attributes, or like
Speaker 1: his athletic ability. When he gets labeled, you know, compared
Speaker 1: in any way to Denil, people expect double digit sacks,
Speaker 1: especially when he's in a starting role. So let's maybe
Speaker 1: timper that a little bit and just let you die
Speaker 1: a break, right, Yeah, let him let him just be him, right.
Speaker 1: That's that's so true though. I mean you got to think, like,
Speaker 1: as much as it's beneficial to have Daniel Hunter there
Speaker 1: to mentor him and bring him up, it's also got
Speaker 1: to be like, Wow, I wonder like the expectations for
Speaker 1: me or you know, I'm a completely different player. My
Speaker 1: expectations should be treated as such. Yeah, every player is
Speaker 1: different and every player is kind of their own entity. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. And with with the Vikings long history of
Speaker 1: great pass rusher too, there's there's always high expectation for
Speaker 1: any defend the vand or defensive lineman to get drafted here.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think DJ is doing fine. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think everything will continue to start. He has really really
Speaker 1: come into his own and honestly, I get so juiced
Speaker 1: just watching him. I did the Game Day Live interview
Speaker 1: with him last week and he said, he's like, I
Speaker 1: love how candid he was. He was just like, I
Speaker 1: want to put a whoopon on him. You don't really
Speaker 1: get sometimes like people that still talk like that, or
Speaker 1: players they're very like, don't give them bullets and board
Speaker 1: material whatever. Sin's like, I don't really care, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to say it because that's what I want, and
Speaker 1: I just it's very refreshing. Yeah. I think the Viking
Speaker 1: have benefited from his play this year, but also the
Speaker 1: energy that he brings. I mean, I think the team
Speaker 1: with desperately lacking that a year ago. All right, well,
Speaker 1: now let's bury the past and look forward to the future.
Speaker 1: We have a huge game on Sunday, the last one
Speaker 1: before the bye week. The Vikings completed that three game
Speaker 1: homestand and now they're on the road at a Carolina
Speaker 1: team who's dropped the last two games. So they're kind
Speaker 1: of not feeling too high, as we mentioned a little
Speaker 1: bit earlier in this podcast, and we're feeling good. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna give We're gonna go around and do what
Speaker 1: we always do to prepare for this big game. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go with the two things we're excited about with
Speaker 1: this matchup and one thing that makes us nervous. So
Speaker 1: Eric took the honor's last time. We'll let you go
Speaker 1: first in this one. So take it away justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1: Throw him the ball. That's probably I won't go on
Speaker 1: a long rant just throwing the ball. He had five
Speaker 1: catches for one hundred and four yards in the first
Speaker 1: half and just dominating. But in the second half he
Speaker 1: only get two targets, two catches for twenty yards, and
Speaker 1: if you look at the stat line, you say, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: seven catches one hundred and twenty four yards. He had
Speaker 1: a good day. But those of us who watched the game,
Speaker 1: I think we know the potential was there for so
Speaker 1: much more. And you go back and watch the film
Speaker 1: and some kind of misthrows from Kirk where JJ was open,
Speaker 1: and like I said earlier, just throw the guy the ball.
Speaker 1: I'd rather throw it up for him and really anyone
Speaker 1: else on the team, honestly, and sometimes you know, I
Speaker 1: know the Vikings have a run first approach, and that's
Speaker 1: the nature of Mike Zimmer. He wants to ground and
Speaker 1: pound and wear down the other team. But if you
Speaker 1: have a player who's a top to me, a top
Speaker 1: five wide receiver in the league, you have to get
Speaker 1: him the ball as often as you can. And I
Speaker 1: know that the coaches and players have said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: they kind of changed up the coverage and they were
Speaker 1: bracketing him and rolling in safety over the top. That
Speaker 1: happens every game, and that happens Dafon Digg, DeAndre Hopkins.
Speaker 1: You know, all the number one receivers in the league
Speaker 1: have that coverage, and yet they still find a way
Speaker 1: to be productive. So maybe, you know, let's plan for
Speaker 1: that a little bit, and I'm sure the coaches do
Speaker 1: so if they do kind of bracket him, Well, what
Speaker 1: play or what you know, bundle of plays can we
Speaker 1: go to that will beat that? For as much as
Speaker 1: we want to be a run first offense, to me,
Speaker 1: he's the best player probably on the team. Honestly, I mean, well,
Speaker 1: when Dalvin Cook is not in the lineup, he is
Speaker 1: the best player, don't you think, the best skilled player?
Speaker 1: Because Dalvin Cook is questionable and we don't know if
Speaker 1: we'll see him on Sunday, we don't know when we'll
Speaker 1: see him, and so when it is a game where
Speaker 1: you know he's not going to be in the lineup, yeah,
Speaker 1: that would be awesome to see it kind of thrown
Speaker 1: around a little bit. I think the one thing I've
Speaker 1: noticed about these coaches, you want to be your identity.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, most coaches say,
Speaker 1: like I want to create the best plan for the
Speaker 1: players that I have, and like you said, if you
Speaker 1: if you see the ability to pass more, maybe that's
Speaker 1: you know, something to keep in mind, because I think
Speaker 1: that's usually what coaches trying to do, and coaches also
Speaker 1: want to win, so honestly, how can we win? You know,
Speaker 1: I posted a tweet the other day, like I said,
Speaker 1: the Vikings like to run the ball. So the tweet was,
Speaker 1: you know, the Vikings ran the ball twenty eight times
Speaker 1: on Sunday, but six of those times we're second and
Speaker 1: eight or longer, and that's not a surprize. We know
Speaker 1: the Vikings like to run the ball, even on second
Speaker 1: and long, but those six runs only total twelve yards.
Speaker 1: And it's fine if you run it on second and
Speaker 1: nine and get six yards and then it's third and
Speaker 1: three and you're in a much more manageable situation. But
Speaker 1: if you only get one yard, then it's third and seven,
Speaker 1: and then you know, that puts you in a tough situation.
Speaker 1: I understand the need and the want to run the ball,
Speaker 1: but if it's second and long, to me, two passes
Speaker 1: had a better chance of getting of moving the sticks
Speaker 1: than getting a first down, then a run and then
Speaker 1: a path, especially if you're throwing it to JJ one
Speaker 1: or two of the times. So you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying we need to throw to him every play. I
Speaker 1: understand that the Vikings like to run the ball and
Speaker 1: are good at running the ball, but if we can
Speaker 1: just maybe like move the sliders a little bit on
Speaker 1: how often he's getting the ball he's just such a
Speaker 1: dynamic talent. Maybe we can sneak into the offices and
Speaker 1: just kind of doctor it up a little in the playbook.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, don't get mental about Yeah, I understand,
Speaker 1: I understand the team's offensive philosophy, and I think an
Speaker 1: approach that can work. I also think it'd be a
Speaker 1: dynamic wide receiver out there. Try to get him the
Speaker 1: ball as much as you can. All right, Number two
Speaker 1: thing you're excited about, Yeah, Christian dar saw right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, finally an id to see them contributions from
Speaker 1: more rookie players. I know that eleven man rookie class
Speaker 1: has kind of had a little bit of a tough
Speaker 1: go with it with injury and playing time, but Sunday
Speaker 1: was the first stepping stone of him being the starting
Speaker 1: left tackle hopefully for a long time for this franchise.
Speaker 1: He was effective when he was in there too. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought he played well, you know, he only played
Speaker 1: I think twenty eight snaps. I think Rashad played thirty nine,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't exactly a fifty fifty split, and that's understandable.
Speaker 1: You know, he's kind of still working his way back
Speaker 1: from that procedure he had in August, and he's still
Speaker 1: kind of getting back into football shape. You know, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if there's another rotation of Source again Sunday.
Speaker 1: But I think after the bye, if you're kind of
Speaker 1: going to have like a two game rotation type thing
Speaker 1: after the bye, then maybe that when he's the full
Speaker 1: time starter and you know, it could be a case
Speaker 1: where he takes over that spot for the next ten years.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know, but he looked good. He
Speaker 1: taught room to grow, and that's expected, you know, of
Speaker 1: being in your first NFL game. But I think that
Speaker 1: the potential with him is high. And we all know
Speaker 1: if you can get a franchise left tackle for you know,
Speaker 1: the long term, that one of the best options in
Speaker 1: the best area to have covered. Every team begs to
Speaker 1: have that, especially when they draft a guy coming in.
Speaker 1: I mean, we even saw a last week Penasol with
Speaker 1: the Lions out there. You just you know that they're
Speaker 1: expecting him to be out there for a decade plus
Speaker 1: and they go through and you invest somebody that high
Speaker 1: in a draft pick. I just think Mike Tice this
Speaker 1: week was on skull Stories with Pete Bursach and they
Speaker 1: were talking, you know, any advice you have for Christian
Speaker 1: darrisaw and his answer was essentially, as the game starts
Speaker 1: to slow down for you, it's it's going to be easier,
Speaker 1: but to start just rely on your technique and all
Speaker 1: the things that you've been taught over the years, because
Speaker 1: just have that base to know that, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a reason you've been drafted this high, there's a reason
Speaker 1: this team has brought you in. Revert to back to
Speaker 1: the things that worked for you. And I think that
Speaker 1: was the thing that people were talking about after Sunday,
Speaker 1: was just watching some of the plays and saying, you know,
Speaker 1: dropped the anchor and just really held his own against
Speaker 1: some of those guys that were really bull rushing. And
Speaker 1: there was a lot of things to be excited about
Speaker 1: for Christian Dersa. Yeah, I think he's only going to
Speaker 1: get better. I think that he's gonna get thrown into
Speaker 1: the fire, honestly. I mean Carolina has Brian Burns, Dallas
Speaker 1: has the rookie Micah Parsons. If you look down the
Speaker 1: second half of the schedule, almost every team we faith
Speaker 1: had a lethal pass rusher, and that's probably the case
Speaker 1: every week. I was like, I feel like that's been
Speaker 1: the case so far, but it seems like the best
Speaker 1: of the best are coming. Yeah, we played both Bosa
Speaker 1: brother coming up. TJ. Watt turned down for what. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's definitely taken the mantle from his brother too, just
Speaker 1: as far as being one of those elite pass rushers.
Speaker 1: So Christians definitely gonna have his work cut out for him.
Speaker 1: When you know, it was almost like it was almost
Speaker 1: like a baton on just a tiny bit, right, just
Speaker 1: because the age difference to age injuries, all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff that jazz TJ. You know, Yeah, he's definitely
Speaker 1: one of those guys. So you're right, I mean, Derris
Speaker 1: Saw definitely he's gonna have to mind his speas and
Speaker 1: ques and be ready every single week when that's gonna
Speaker 1: I mean, that's gonna be the way it is for
Speaker 1: the rest of his career. So this is just you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, getting ready to go and hopefully for a
Speaker 1: bright future. So Eric, let's get to what you're nervous
Speaker 1: about for Sunday. Same thing I've been nervous about every
Speaker 1: week now, and that's our run defense. We've given up
Speaker 1: a hundred yards every game this season, and you know,
Speaker 1: I thought that Barr coming back would help, and I
Speaker 1: think it did a little bit, but Michael pierced without.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of a Cat twenty two where you
Speaker 1: haven't had a full, a full arsenal yet. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it is, but it's just it's just not clicking.
Speaker 1: And I think the talent is there. You know, we
Speaker 1: deinly have all the pieces. If you if you go
Speaker 1: to each individual player in the line up, you say, okay,
Speaker 1: that player is good. But collectively, you know, we just
Speaker 1: haven't been able to stop the run and we've given up,
Speaker 1: you know, one hundred yards in every game. I think
Speaker 1: we're one of five teams that have done that. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it's there were twenty second and run defense right now.
Speaker 1: It's it's not it's not great, but um, you know
Speaker 1: the past, the passing defense is obviously much improved. With
Speaker 1: Anthony Barr kind of back in the mix. I think
Speaker 1: maybe with him being in charge of putting everyone in
Speaker 1: their place, it could be a little bit more effective.
Speaker 1: If Christian McCaffrey is not as effective this game, that
Speaker 1: could also help out fingers crossed. Um, I don't wish
Speaker 1: anybody any injuries. I just mean, if he's just not
Speaker 1: one hundred percent, it might not be awful to see
Speaker 1: us seventy five percent McCaffrey right right. If McCaffrey goes,
Speaker 1: you know, he's a dynamic talent for sure, and you
Speaker 1: know in both the run and the pass game. But
Speaker 1: you know, it'd be nice if we have a game
Speaker 1: where we hold him to seventy yards rushing and get
Speaker 1: him in third and long a lot and you know,
Speaker 1: get five or six sacks. That that's the ideal way
Speaker 1: that the Viken want to play defense, and that hasn't
Speaker 1: been the case. I mean, like I said, one hundred
Speaker 1: yards to out on the ground in every game so
Speaker 1: far this year. Eventually that's going to wear you down
Speaker 1: game by game. But also once we get into November
Speaker 1: and December two, if you're trying to stop the run
Speaker 1: forty times a game, that's a tough flooding. Offensively, they've
Speaker 1: been kind of a mirror of what we've had the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks as well, with McCaffrey out. You know,
Speaker 1: Chuba Hubbard coming in number two, guys stepping in. He
Speaker 1: had some pretty good weeks as well, And so if
Speaker 1: McCaffrey's in there, you have to account for him, no
Speaker 1: matter what. You have to put spies on him, you
Speaker 1: have to basically have people just mirroring him for the
Speaker 1: entire game. Chuba coming in there for their offense. It's
Speaker 1: literally like Madison walking in for ours, where he's a
Speaker 1: different skill set and at Oklahoma State he was he
Speaker 1: was a beast, and so for you know, defensively, Andre Patterson,
Speaker 1: those guys are going to be looking at this trying
Speaker 1: to figure out, Okay, how do you game plan for McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: how do you game plan for Hubbard? And then on
Speaker 1: top of that, you know what I'm going to talk
Speaker 1: about here coming up here, Sam Darnold is going to
Speaker 1: be there X factor as well in being able to
Speaker 1: keep that offense moving. If we were to be able
Speaker 1: to stop both of those running backs, well, all right,
Speaker 1: then let's just dive right in then, Jay, I like
Speaker 1: the t So let's go with your two things you're
Speaker 1: excited about of one thing that makes you nervous, all right,
Speaker 1: picking up on what we were just talking about. Then
Speaker 1: for me, um I will I will jump into the
Speaker 1: I'm kind of excited about the fact that we get
Speaker 1: to play Sam Darnold this week. Yeah, you're you're dancing
Speaker 1: a little bit on the fence of what direction that
Speaker 1: team is going to be able to go depending on
Speaker 1: Sam's play. But given what happened the first three games
Speaker 1: versus the last two games, I'm actually kind of excited
Speaker 1: about the fact that we get to play Sam this week.
Speaker 1: On the first two games, he was he was fairly
Speaker 1: lights out. He had eight hundred and eighty yards passing
Speaker 1: sixty eight percent completion, three passing tds, three rushing tds,
Speaker 1: only one pick in six sacks. So you're still able
Speaker 1: to get to Sam. But in these last two games
Speaker 1: that they've had, especially against Dallas, He's only through thrown
Speaker 1: for four hundred and seventy eight yards in those two games.
Speaker 1: But one of those games he had a three hundred
Speaker 1: yard game. So this last game he only threw for
Speaker 1: one seventy eight. But in that span he's had three
Speaker 1: passing tds, two rushing tds, five picks, and eight sacks.
Speaker 1: So like there is a formula there for Sam to
Speaker 1: if you get in his face, he will make mistakes.
Speaker 1: I know we've we've said this week after week after
Speaker 1: week this season, especially with your your Baker Mayfields and
Speaker 1: those kind of guys as well. Jared Goff. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like between Mayfield, Goff and now Darnald. It's like where
Speaker 1: teams have had success. Especially Dallas was up the gut
Speaker 1: and it was getting in his face and making him
Speaker 1: uncomfortable because the pocket wasn't necessarily there. They've currently had
Speaker 1: three offensive linemen that have gone on ir so far
Speaker 1: this season, and one of those guys was Pad elf Line,
Speaker 1: who we all know. And then their offensive tackle Cameron
Speaker 1: Irving was listed as questionable with an injury as well.
Speaker 1: So like, their offensive line is beat up and Sam
Speaker 1: is not going to be comfortable, especially if we're able
Speaker 1: to get push up the middle. So well, we saw
Speaker 1: what happens when your offensive line is not one hundred
Speaker 1: percent healthy this last week against this spiking spress fresh
Speaker 1: He's me given exactly what Eric was talking about there.
Speaker 1: You know, you're nervous about the run game because I
Speaker 1: think that they're going to have to try to rely
Speaker 1: on that. But for me, it's if you can get
Speaker 1: to Sam in those situations and enforce him to make
Speaker 1: some mistakes, that's that's an absolute difference for our offense.
Speaker 1: Just flipping the field and getting Sam here in footsteps
Speaker 1: as the as the game's going on. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: almost like Sam Darnold will turn the ball over, So
Speaker 1: it's what you do with it afterwards. Yeah, you can't
Speaker 1: kick a field goal. You can't turn the ball over
Speaker 1: again or punt like, you can't have that happen. And
Speaker 1: I think that's also part of the problem, is that,
Speaker 1: like capitalize on your turnovers. Absolutely. Yeah, you can't go
Speaker 1: three and out, you can't get stuck in the mud
Speaker 1: and those kind of things. Those can be game changers,
Speaker 1: and you just if you're able to make him make
Speaker 1: those mistakes, you have to capitalize. You're You're exactly right.
Speaker 1: Number two things that I'm excited about actually is something
Speaker 1: we talked about just a little bit ago, Greg Joseph.
Speaker 1: I'm actually excited about the fact that, given the good
Speaker 1: note that we left this last game on, you know,
Speaker 1: I did a little bit of looking here. So far,
Speaker 1: he's hit five kicks of over fifty yards. Yeah, isn't
Speaker 1: that crazy. So it's been on it's been a long
Speaker 1: time since since. Yeah, that's the thing. It's it's been
Speaker 1: a long time since we've had um someone we can
Speaker 1: rely on. From from deep like that consistently, and it
Speaker 1: just feels like, yes, there was the kick earlier in
Speaker 1: the season that that he missed from that distance at
Speaker 1: the end of the game. But I think as the
Speaker 1: season progresses and if if if we rely on him,
Speaker 1: or at least if he's called upon to do this,
Speaker 1: he knows he can do it. And so five kicks
Speaker 1: of over fifty yards, he's eleven and twelve on extra points,
Speaker 1: in ten to twelve on field goals. So like, if
Speaker 1: he can continue to progress and get more confidence, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be great being able to trot him
Speaker 1: out there and expect for him to hit those kicks. Well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: especially like I said, if we're going to be in
Speaker 1: the clothes game, you know, if we're not gonna win
Speaker 1: by ten or you know, by ten, and I got
Speaker 1: that four of the five game that have been one
Speaker 1: possession or last, we're gonna need Greg to come through.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why we've seen so are the season,
Speaker 1: And that's a that's actually a league thing too right
Speaker 1: now that, yeah, isn't that interesting? Well, how many missed
Speaker 1: extra points this weekend? Like broke a league record on
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, which was crazy that that since
Speaker 1: the Green Bay game at the end where there were
Speaker 1: five miss kicks in the in the final essentially ten
Speaker 1: minutes of gameplay was insane riveting television. But you know,
Speaker 1: and that think about the anks that those coaches and
Speaker 1: players are having during that game too, just we got it,
Speaker 1: we don't, We got it, we don't, And it becomes
Speaker 1: just this mental battle that point. But yeah, so for me,
Speaker 1: I'm just excited about the fact that you know, we
Speaker 1: have a guy here that that we expect moving forward
Speaker 1: is going to hit these kicks and and um, I
Speaker 1: think that's something that the entire team should be excited about.
Speaker 1: The last thing for me what makes me nervous this week,
Speaker 1: it's kind of something we also hit on a little
Speaker 1: bit that Carolina defense, especially against the run. Um they've
Speaker 1: been super stout this season. These last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: they have been leaky. So there is some game film
Speaker 1: there on what we can potentially do to to you know,
Speaker 1: neutralize that a little bit. But going into this week,
Speaker 1: they were number one in the league an opponent passing yardage.
Speaker 1: They were number two in the league in total yards
Speaker 1: given up, number three in points allowed. In number eight
Speaker 1: in league against the run. So like that defense had
Speaker 1: been putting on like a historic pace through the first
Speaker 1: three weeks. But the fact that they're like many other teams,
Speaker 1: including ours, they're dealing with some injury issues. And one
Speaker 1: of the biggest ones this past week when in the
Speaker 1: Philly game, they were without Shack Thompson, who was their
Speaker 1: leading tackler at linebacker, and I think, you know, with
Speaker 1: him out and then jac Horne went out with a
Speaker 1: foot and Justin Burress went out with a groin. Both
Speaker 1: of those guys went on ir prior to the Philly game.
Speaker 1: Like again, they're dealing with this battle of attrition and
Speaker 1: injuries and stuff. So I think that there are ways
Speaker 1: that we can gash them, especially if Dalvin's in great
Speaker 1: if he's not, Alexander has proven that if we need
Speaker 1: to call upon him to carry the load when it
Speaker 1: comes to a running game, I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: the offensive line's gonna have their work cut out for him.
Speaker 1: But there are ways to exploit this defense. Well, that's
Speaker 1: exciting year because this offense one of these one of
Speaker 1: these games is you know, is going to have just
Speaker 1: an insane performance. It's going to click and come together. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the potential is there. I mean, we saw
Speaker 1: that in Arizona. You know, they had a great game.
Speaker 1: We didn't win the game. Yeah, that's very true. One
Speaker 1: of mine is similar to years Jay and the fact
Speaker 1: that Sam Darnold will turn the ball over and you
Speaker 1: can rattle him and he's not feeling his best self
Speaker 1: right now. So I think that this Vikings past defense
Speaker 1: that's been top ten in the NFL. They have seventeen
Speaker 1: sacks on the year in eighty six pressures. I mean,
Speaker 1: they they're going to be in their faces and especially
Speaker 1: with a beat up offensive line, so that's kind of
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see them continue their dominance. It really
Speaker 1: has been a very bright spot at a consistent spot
Speaker 1: in this team, which I think the consistency factor is
Speaker 1: the most important part of the point that I was
Speaker 1: trying to make my next thing I'm excited about. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty pumped to experience my first Kirktober and so far,
Speaker 1: I think the hype is there, the hype is real.
Speaker 1: What I was most excited about is he kind of
Speaker 1: started October Kirktober off pretty pretty pretty bad. I'm on them,
Speaker 1: that's true, that's very true. But then he had that
Speaker 1: he had a bad game. Passer raining went way down
Speaker 1: against the Browns, but you know, he is eleventh in
Speaker 1: the NFL's when it comes to passer rating, which I
Speaker 1: like to see, I think it can go up. I
Speaker 1: think that bad game that you know, that dud sixty
Speaker 1: percent I think was hit our sixty point seven passer
Speaker 1: rating or something along those lines, was what kind of
Speaker 1: makes his average creep a little farther down there. But
Speaker 1: ten touchdowns, two interceptions. But I think the most important
Speaker 1: part of that equation, though, is despite the offensive line
Speaker 1: having moments of not as good play, I guess you
Speaker 1: could say they have only allowed nine sacks and I
Speaker 1: think that's pretty key because we all know Kirk does
Speaker 1: better with time in the pockets. So it's the ninth
Speaker 1: fewest in the NFL, and so, um, you know that
Speaker 1: that kind of to me sets this up for hopefully
Speaker 1: the next two games are in October, so from what
Speaker 1: all the rumors about this being Kirk's month, I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see that in Carolina. Yeah, he's played well. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no denying that, and I think what's frustrating is
Speaker 1: I think the team, the Vikings, need to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the game where he does play well, because we've
Speaker 1: seen in the past, and you know, not every quarterback
Speaker 1: is going to be on for seventeen games. And when
Speaker 1: the game where Kirk is on and he's really on,
Speaker 1: those games have to be wins. The games where he's
Speaker 1: not on, you know, people need to kind of pick
Speaker 1: up the slack around him and help carry the team.
Speaker 1: And that's that's where the two and three record, to me,
Speaker 1: it's frustrating. It through five games, I think Kirk has
Speaker 1: played overall really well, you know, and if we had
Speaker 1: a winning record, you'd probably feel better about it. But
Speaker 1: you're two and three and you're like, Okay, we got
Speaker 1: to keep digging ourselves out of this hole, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's why Sunday is it's such a big game.
Speaker 1: Put it all together for a week, you know, have
Speaker 1: Kirk deal, had the defense stuff up, and feel good
Speaker 1: about a full fledged wind Going into a buy third
Speaker 1: down makes me nervous. It always does. Right now, I
Speaker 1: feel like this is something that I felt good about
Speaker 1: one game. I think it was the Seahawks game where
Speaker 1: they had a sixty percent conversion rate and third down,
Speaker 1: But overall it's a thirty nine point one percent nineteenth
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and if you want to sustain drives,
Speaker 1: which we so desperately need to do, it makes me
Speaker 1: nervous when they get on the field. I think what
Speaker 1: leads to more anxiety is the fact that Carolina leads
Speaker 1: the NFL and third down defense, and so I know
Speaker 1: that that was also something the Lions hung their head
Speaker 1: on last week. You know, they weren't not that great
Speaker 1: on first and second down, but third down was kind
Speaker 1: of where they were able. The defense was able to
Speaker 1: get a lot of stops and a't someplace that we've struggled.
Speaker 1: I mean, we weren't great last week, and third down
Speaker 1: still able to come away with a win. But I
Speaker 1: think that also leads to the margin of victory being
Speaker 1: so small, is not being able to sustain the drives
Speaker 1: and not converting on third down. Yeah, that kind of
Speaker 1: goes back to what I said about maybe trying to
Speaker 1: throw the ball the more. You know, if you if
Speaker 1: you throw the ball more and you have a chant
Speaker 1: for bigger play than and you know, longer, longer chunks
Speaker 1: of yardage, maybe you don't have to worry about third
Speaker 1: and seven. The distance is the thing that that fans
Speaker 1: are looking at it. It's third and seven. Why you're
Speaker 1: handing the ball off third and seven? Why are you
Speaker 1: doing a quick dumb pass? You know, those those kind
Speaker 1: of pieces. I just I'm hoping that if we are
Speaker 1: willing to open it up a little bit more, whatever
Speaker 1: the heck that means at this point, because that's whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, that's in the zeitgeist of everyone's saying just
Speaker 1: open it up and let him throw and let him
Speaker 1: go crazy. It's more of the play calling at times.
Speaker 1: They're they're saying, just get the ball out of his hands,
Speaker 1: Just get get the ball down the field. Just hand
Speaker 1: it off so that playmakers can make their plays for me.
Speaker 1: With third down, it's so much predicated on you got
Speaker 1: to get more than one or two yards of rush.
Speaker 1: You've gotta get that ball down the field. And whether
Speaker 1: that is doing a quick screen, whether that is just
Speaker 1: throwing some outs to the sidelines, whatever it's going to be,
Speaker 1: get to your third and shorts and then make sure
Speaker 1: that you know if they know they're loading up the box,
Speaker 1: because we're probably gonna run it, switch it up and
Speaker 1: throw a pass just over the top or throw it
Speaker 1: down the seam, and just keep moving those sticks because
Speaker 1: that's a game of momentum for the offense. And honestly,
Speaker 1: with Dalven out on Sunday, the run game wasn't great.
Speaker 1: If you look at the box score, you think, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: Madison ran for one hundred and thirteen yard done twenty
Speaker 1: five carries. Yeah, he had a good day, But obviously
Speaker 1: forty eight of those yards came on that one run.
Speaker 1: And even then he had to make a guy myth
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage. It wasn't like it with
Speaker 1: a wide open hole, you know. So if you take
Speaker 1: away that forty eight yard run, then you're looking at
Speaker 1: twenty four carries for sixty yards seventy yards. You know,
Speaker 1: it was only two and a half three yards to
Speaker 1: carry that. That's not going to cut it. And it
Speaker 1: just it all kind of blend together. If you can't
Speaker 1: run the ball effectively on any down, then you're just
Speaker 1: not going to really move the stick that often. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very true. It is all just a circle of the
Speaker 1: circle of life. I don't know why that could popped
Speaker 1: into my head for a second. There you're a giant
Speaker 1: Lion King fan. Giant, don't even This is a whole
Speaker 1: other podcast with my Disney obsession, so we won't go
Speaker 1: into that. But but no, Um, it's an exciting time.
Speaker 1: There's a big opportunity ahead for the Vikings this week
Speaker 1: when they hit the road to play Carolina, And honestly,
Speaker 1: I think what two weeks ago, we probably would have
Speaker 1: been a little bit more scared of this team and
Speaker 1: not maybe think a win was as possible or it
Speaker 1: was going to be a lot harder to get done
Speaker 1: than we did, you know, two weeks ago. So that's
Speaker 1: always the positive note to end this podcast on. But um,
Speaker 1: we're going to do a couple of shameless plugs before
Speaker 1: we get going Eric, what you got going on? And
Speaker 1: cooking up this week? Either we do every week opposing viewpoints,
Speaker 1: looking forward to that that if you don't know that,
Speaker 1: that's the new show we started this year with Tatum
Speaker 1: and I and then we have a reporter who covers
Speaker 1: the opposing team. We've done it every week so far
Speaker 1: this season. We try to make it fun, you know, lighthearted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like I walk away learning something about the
Speaker 1: opponent definitely every single time, kind of setting it up
Speaker 1: and then knowing what we have to do in order
Speaker 1: to negate what they talk about because I think you
Speaker 1: do a really good job of bringing that up. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's been a lot of fun and you
Speaker 1: get to know other people around the league, other personalities
Speaker 1: and other opinions. So yeah, those are that's on Thursday,
Speaker 1: So those that'll drop on Thursday, and then Jay, we've
Speaker 1: got the Audible this week back for another week and
Speaker 1: this week's guest is probably my nomination for the Vikings
Speaker 1: locker room for the most interesting man in the world.
Speaker 1: This week's guest is Stephen Weatherly. It's great to have
Speaker 1: him back. He was in Carolina last season. Having Stephen
Speaker 1: back on this defense has been great to have him
Speaker 1: as part of that defensive end spot that's just been
Speaker 1: rotating over and over again. And Stephen is always a
Speaker 1: great interview, so you never know what hobby he's picked
Speaker 1: up next. Very true, and I'm sure you'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about his time in Carolina too, and how
Speaker 1: you know excited he is for this week to get
Speaker 1: back there and play for the Vikings instead. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: so check that out Thursday night on Cafe n six
Speaker 1: to seven pm and then Friday nights for Fox and
Speaker 1: then Bally Sports and Earth this weekend as well. So
Speaker 1: check those out for both radio and TV broadcasts. And
Speaker 1: then we've got the Game Day Live interview that I'm
Speaker 1: with Eric Kendricks this week. I'm super pumped to have
Speaker 1: him across the chairs for me. That will air on
Speaker 1: Game Day Live, which if you didn't know, happens on
Speaker 1: Fox nine at nine thirty in the morning, right to
Speaker 1: get you primed and ready to go for that noon
Speaker 1: kickoff and Postgame Live will be following the game. This week,
Speaker 1: we have four Vikings running back. Robert Smith, the legend himself,
Speaker 1: will be our analyst for that game. So pretty pumped
Speaker 1: about that. He hasn't been here in three weeks because
Speaker 1: we've been We've been home, so just keep sticking too.
Speaker 1: The Vikings Entertainment Network, Vikings dot Com, all of the
Speaker 1: digital channels for all of the content to get you
Speaker 1: ready for Sunday's big game. Big thanks to Vikings Team
Speaker 1: report Eric Smith for jumping on the podcast today. Eric,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We appreciate your time. Yeah, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. Looking forward to a good game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Let's go right for Jay Nelson. I'm Tatum Everett. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. We'll see you next week.