Speaker 1: We've never seen Kirk make plays like this. Maybe this
Speaker 1: is the Kirk Cousins that we thought we were getting
Speaker 1: four years ago, and he's now finally coming, starting to
Speaker 1: come to fruition because he's more comfortable as good as
Speaker 1: they were against the Lions and the Panthers for them
Speaker 1: to be you know, a version of that in these
Speaker 1: next four games. I think you're gonna need Anthony bar
Speaker 1: to continue to be Anthony Barr. It might be the
Speaker 1: bye week, but we don't take a break around here.
Speaker 1: We've still got another episode of MVP coming your way,
Speaker 1: and it's a special one, not just because the Vikings
Speaker 1: are now three and three following a walk off victory
Speaker 1: against the Panthers, but also because we have a special
Speaker 1: guest alongside us today. You know him, you love him.
Speaker 1: It's Siamonson. Si, how are you doing? You were here
Speaker 1: alongside Gabe Henderson, J Nelson and myself. Hello, it's wonderful
Speaker 1: to be here. A bye week. I think that's the
Speaker 1: right week to have me in because my emotions towards
Speaker 1: the team are at their mellowiest. I don't have any
Speaker 1: angst going forward. I can take a breath about what's
Speaker 1: behind us. I think you have me on a good week,
Speaker 1: a week where I won't derail and ruin your show. Well,
Speaker 1: you know that's we have a little careful hand in
Speaker 1: planning those kinds of things. I know. Having some extra
Speaker 1: time to recover from this one was a lot. But Gabe,
Speaker 1: you just came back from the game. You were there,
Speaker 1: you got to witness it all a person, and I
Speaker 1: know it was your home state, your dad was on
Speaker 1: the sidelines. How was the game for you? It was fun.
Speaker 1: We left with the win. My cardiologists would tell me
Speaker 1: not to attend any more Vikings games this year, but
Speaker 1: we but we want, we want, and just to be
Speaker 1: able to have my family on the sideline, that was
Speaker 1: cool to have. That was cool to see. They had
Speaker 1: never been to a been on an NFL foll let
Speaker 1: me put it that way. So be able. So to
Speaker 1: be able to do that in our home state and
Speaker 1: gain a couple of pounds the process, Um, it was.
Speaker 1: It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. You got a
Speaker 1: Panthers fan, so, um, we did not grow up Panthers fans.
Speaker 1: To answer your question, Um, we didn't grow Bikings fans either.
Speaker 1: We'll just leave it at that. But he just wanted
Speaker 1: a good game. He just wanted a good game. My
Speaker 1: dad were read to the game. Yes, is so weak,
Speaker 1: I'll rid him out. He's a case. He grew up
Speaker 1: with Cowboys thing. He's Americus team. You're gonna You're gonna
Speaker 1: be that guys. He's he's growing. Now. Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Gabe and I talk all the time, so I know
Speaker 1: he is monumentally and wholeheartedly invested in this, in this
Speaker 1: football team and in this state. But I do know
Speaker 1: in our next game, we are playing the team that
Speaker 1: he grew up rooting for. Running around in his tiny
Speaker 1: little Emmett Smith so sweet. Yeah. I used to throw
Speaker 1: up the X when I was in middle school too.
Speaker 1: So Dez Bryant, go back to Michael Irvan, to your
Speaker 1: Troy Aikmans, Tony Romo has we might need to unpack
Speaker 1: that next week's episode. That Yeah, So my dad has
Speaker 1: already asked me. He was like, so, who are you
Speaker 1: cheering for next week? I was like, Dad, my job
Speaker 1: goes a lot better when the Vikings waiting. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the game, Jay, I wanted to call on you for
Speaker 1: a second because I know you just like Size, a
Speaker 1: lifelong Vikings fan and grew up here all that kind
Speaker 1: of jazz. So I mean, five out of six games,
Speaker 1: I've I can't take it anymore. I'm I'm losing years
Speaker 1: off my life. Welcome to the Vikings Bandwig, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the fan group. This is what it's like, This is
Speaker 1: what you're in for. This is not only the Vikings,
Speaker 1: but you know, we've had this discussion a little bit
Speaker 1: all of the sports teams potentially. This is kind of
Speaker 1: the way that it goes. This is what keeps you interested.
Speaker 1: But the one thing that that does do for you
Speaker 1: as well as you find out really quickly how invested
Speaker 1: you are in this team. Yeah. Yeah, because either you
Speaker 1: get to the point where you're like, mentally, I can't
Speaker 1: handle this and I have to really wall myself off,
Speaker 1: or you're wholly invested in every single week as a
Speaker 1: roller coaster. So welcome to the roller coaster. I'll give
Speaker 1: it to you this way. Like being in media, sometimes
Speaker 1: you become numb to the fact of your fandom, Like
Speaker 1: you have to play this certain non bias for a
Speaker 1: lack of a better word, where you're kind of like
Speaker 1: neutral in a lot of settings. And so for the
Speaker 1: past ten years, like I kind of haven't had those
Speaker 1: feelings really. I mean, you know, obviously when I watch
Speaker 1: LSU a little bit more. But when I covered LSU,
Speaker 1: it kind of became this like, Oh, I'm shooting AJ
Speaker 1: McCarron throwing an overtime touchdown in my face because I
Speaker 1: have a camera on my shoulder, and I'm like, I can't.
Speaker 1: You're already job mad about it. I have to make
Speaker 1: sure I get this game winning shot. And it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're like deflated. But now, I mean even less I
Speaker 1: had the wild game, I'm jazzed. I like have like
Speaker 1: I scream at the television now like I screamed at
Speaker 1: the game, Like it's kind of cool to have it
Speaker 1: back despite it being like agony, when I am the opposite,
Speaker 1: I'm professional and I respect you for that. When I
Speaker 1: was at ESPN after the Minnesota Miracle, I made my
Speaker 1: own custom Minnesota Miracle T shirt, wore it on Sports
Speaker 1: Center on Snap and did a whole segment where I
Speaker 1: trash talked Sean Payton to the point where one of them,
Speaker 1: like one of my boss is like, hey, we get it.
Speaker 1: This is like a fun version of Sports Center, but
Speaker 1: we need you to dial it down just a little
Speaker 1: bit because that was like, that was a titch too much.
Speaker 1: So I I'm impressed that you could pull that off,
Speaker 1: because I am humanly not cake I think. I think
Speaker 1: to Tatum's point, I feel like I asked Pa or
Speaker 1: liber after every game, like should I be this emotionally
Speaker 1: invested with this team? And every week they tell me no?
Speaker 1: But for some reason, rights, how can you not like
Speaker 1: the Vikings if you're not a Packers or Bears or
Speaker 1: Lions fan. They're starting to the organization is starting and
Speaker 1: I don't I don't love this. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: a great thing. I'm just commenting on the reality of
Speaker 1: the situation they are starting to take on, are starting
Speaker 1: to take on, you know, to a certain degree. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know the Cubs and the Red Sox had a
Speaker 1: far longer history with it. You know, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of losing organization in sports. You know, the Lions
Speaker 1: have lost a lot, the Jaguars have lost a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, the Timberwolves have lost a lot. There are
Speaker 1: so many teams and so many sports have lost a lot.
Speaker 1: But there are a few teams who they're they're losing
Speaker 1: has a charm to it, And you know, the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns with the paperback, like there's a charm there. With
Speaker 1: the Red Sox with the curse and the Cubs with
Speaker 1: the curse, there was a charm there. And I think,
Speaker 1: and I don't. I'm not excited about this, but just
Speaker 1: with the way the last few years have gone, with
Speaker 1: all the kickers and now having what has to be
Speaker 1: the most absurd six games start in the history of
Speaker 1: any sport ever played on this earth in terms of
Speaker 1: just game play and the way things have finished and
Speaker 1: should have finished. You now see like Peter Shagger talking
Speaker 1: about it, Mill Simmons talking about it. So now the
Speaker 1: Vikings are, you know, kind of one of those teams
Speaker 1: that they are frustrations and they're to certain degree failures
Speaker 1: or misses or losses have this charm and rootability to it.
Speaker 1: So I think that Gabe might be you know, that
Speaker 1: draws you in because you want to see that entire
Speaker 1: fan base and people like my dad and you know,
Speaker 1: all these people have lived with this their whole life
Speaker 1: to just get that ultimate release when they've lost so
Speaker 1: many times in such a difficult way. But I like,
Speaker 1: whatever the hell this six weeks have been, I that's
Speaker 1: that's something new. This is not this is not missing
Speaker 1: the kick in the playoffs. These six weeks have been
Speaker 1: We could very legitimately be one in five with a
Speaker 1: loss against the worst team in the NFL, like a
Speaker 1: horrible loss. We could just as easily be five and
Speaker 1: one with a win against the like a good win. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you put in the prep doc, like, what's you what
Speaker 1: is your temperature on the season? Where are you at
Speaker 1: to this point? Um, I don't move. That's where I'm at.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna move way and not why I'm so tired.
Speaker 1: I'm so tired yet enthused and confused. It's just these
Speaker 1: six games have been bizarre. Man. If any of you
Speaker 1: at this point are starting to realize why when it
Speaker 1: comes the offseason and we talked about getting excited for everything,
Speaker 1: and I try to be as even keel as possible,
Speaker 1: this is why it is trying to essentially wall yourself
Speaker 1: off from the emotion of oh no, what just happened
Speaker 1: or oh my god, that was amazing. It's it's trying
Speaker 1: to have some sort of self preservation given that this
Speaker 1: can be a week to week thing where it is
Speaker 1: the highest of the highest, the lowest of the lows,
Speaker 1: and as we were just talking about, you know, how
Speaker 1: how have people who've been lifers forever who followed this team,
Speaker 1: how can they do it? This is why you have
Speaker 1: a new found respect for guys like Dennis Ryan or
Speaker 1: Fred Zamberletti, who was literally there before from the very
Speaker 1: first game his entire life and has gone through the
Speaker 1: range of emotions with this team. For me, having been
Speaker 1: on the inside here now for as long as I
Speaker 1: have and seeing people who've been here for longer, there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a remember this and remember that,
Speaker 1: and trying to pick through that to try and find
Speaker 1: a way to explain away your emotions, because there are
Speaker 1: those moments where you just you're so invested and it's
Speaker 1: either you're either so excited or it's just so soul
Speaker 1: crushing that eventually, I think you find a way to
Speaker 1: kind of harden yourself in order to prevent yourself from
Speaker 1: being either hurt or too high on something. And it's
Speaker 1: it's just part of being a Vikings and a Minnesota
Speaker 1: sports fan. So does this make me a Vikings fan? Now?
Speaker 1: I find myself venting a lot about the Vikings to
Speaker 1: people within the company and people that are just fans. Dude,
Speaker 1: you if you saw my text threat that I am on,
Speaker 1: my human text threat that I am on with Jay
Speaker 1: and Chris Corso you would be like, you guys should
Speaker 1: throw your phones in the river on Sunday. Why do
Speaker 1: you let him keep texting you? Jay's better at this
Speaker 1: than me. I'm I'm the guy who rides a crazy
Speaker 1: roller coaster that almost threw me off, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I'll get on again, fully knowing that they
Speaker 1: didn't do any of the fixes, like you know, like
Speaker 1: it could very well happen again. I just climb on,
Speaker 1: get in the car. A glutton for punishment. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's absolutely I'm real dumb that way. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: and then as bad as as bad as we sound,
Speaker 1: maybe as like we're like, oh, it's just so deflated.
Speaker 1: There have been some very very great moments and a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of just of promise and potential.
Speaker 1: I know that's a dangerous word when you're six weeks
Speaker 1: into the season, that word potential, but it's there and
Speaker 1: this week is a good week to reset. So uh si,
Speaker 1: after the after the wins that we have this season,
Speaker 1: we do this like minute of power, power, minute of positivity. Um,
Speaker 1: I can I can let you go first if you
Speaker 1: feel it or do you need us to kind of
Speaker 1: pump you up, and then we'll get to you at
Speaker 1: the end. I'll let I'll let other. I'm a gentleman,
Speaker 1: so I'll let another can go first, all right, jastright,
Speaker 1: just put you on the spot. J all right, you ready, yes, ma'am? Okay?
Speaker 1: Three two one. After watching this game in Carolina, I
Speaker 1: found myself literally standing in front of my television going
Speaker 1: come on, Greg, come on Greg. At the end of
Speaker 1: regulation and when it didn't go in, there was this
Speaker 1: moment of all right, what do we got? In years past,
Speaker 1: I think there'd be the feeling of saying, oh, no,
Speaker 1: I don't know if we're gonna be able to do this,
Speaker 1: but watching what this offense has been doing that only
Speaker 1: in this game, but in multiple games so far this season.
Speaker 1: There was a sense of confidence. When we won the
Speaker 1: coin toss, I'm like, we're going to drive down the
Speaker 1: field and score and end this thing. I think for
Speaker 1: me that is a welcomed change this year is just
Speaker 1: knowing that when you get into a situation where there's
Speaker 1: a tight score at the end of a game, you
Speaker 1: feel like, if that ball is in our hands, we
Speaker 1: have a chance and we are going to win. So
Speaker 1: that's been a fun thing for me to be able
Speaker 1: to watch this year. On top of that, doing it
Speaker 1: in Carolina, where I was last time we were facing
Speaker 1: a Cam Newton. Seeing us be able to get a
Speaker 1: win down in Carolina with or without a Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: was a solid win in my opinion, and I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed watching that game. If you have all of these
Speaker 1: large wins, I guess you don't know how your team
Speaker 1: responds in those moments. Unfortunately, we have the other side
Speaker 1: of the coin where they're always in those moments and
Speaker 1: so you don't know how they'll respond. And you're right.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of confidence that Kirk Cousins will
Speaker 1: put together another late in game drive because obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of his late in game drives that he's been
Speaker 1: able to do almost every single week of the season
Speaker 1: haven't always ended in our favor. But really not to
Speaker 1: Kirk's fault. It was another game where we were down
Speaker 1: to this. I think everyone in general has had this
Speaker 1: feeling of I need to find a time to meet
Speaker 1: with my cardiologist just to make sure that we're gonna
Speaker 1: be okay. You never said the word cardiologist more in
Speaker 1: my life. But for me, the fact that we have
Speaker 1: had multiple games come down to you gotta have it,
Speaker 1: and our offense has at least put us within striking
Speaker 1: distance to have a chance to win, versus having to
Speaker 1: punt the ball away and cross your fingers that the
Speaker 1: defense is going to be able to, you know, flip
Speaker 1: the field again. For me, the fact that your offense
Speaker 1: at this point is battle tested multiple times with the
Speaker 1: murderers row of teams that are going to be coming
Speaker 1: up here. Yet in the last eleven games, I think
Speaker 1: if you are in a close game there there is
Speaker 1: going to be a sense of confidence that hey, we
Speaker 1: can still get this done and pull off a victory.
Speaker 1: It's just how many years is going to take off
Speaker 1: of our lives watching these games. I don't have the
Speaker 1: answer to that, Gabe, you got an answer to that.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I told Rick Spilman earlier this week
Speaker 1: that I'm twenty nine going on seventy eight. He probably
Speaker 1: thought that was funny. He said, it's very exciting. Right,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know if iving answered to Jay's
Speaker 1: question other than just live through it all right, you
Speaker 1: got a minute, I got a minute, all right, three
Speaker 1: two one. My power of postivity has to be the
Speaker 1: fact that we put together a complete game on offense
Speaker 1: and defense sands the last drive of the game. We've
Speaker 1: been looking for this defense to step up and only
Speaker 1: given up two hundred in I think fourteen yards two
Speaker 1: hundred and ten yards throughout the first three and three
Speaker 1: quarters of the game. I think that says a lot
Speaker 1: about how special this defense can be if we continue
Speaker 1: on that track. On the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: the fact that we have five hundred and seventy one
Speaker 1: yards the total offense, zero sacks allowed, Dalvin Cook had
Speaker 1: a quiet one hundred and forty rushing yards. I think
Speaker 1: that is a recipe for success for this offense going forward.
Speaker 1: I was thoroughly impressed with this entire team as a
Speaker 1: whole and the fact that we put it together from
Speaker 1: the first play, not up until the last. But the
Speaker 1: fact that we were able to show some flashes of
Speaker 1: who we can be as an offense and as a defense.
Speaker 1: I was excited with that. Granted, you want to put
Speaker 1: your foot on these guys throat, like Mike Zimmer said,
Speaker 1: but I'll take whatever I can get it very nice,
Speaker 1: right on time. That's something that we haven't really seen
Speaker 1: is you know, plays twenty plus yards and we know
Speaker 1: Kirk has the arm, can he can do it. We've
Speaker 1: got the receivers, we've got the speed. So I'm just
Speaker 1: ready to see that happen. So, you know, it didn't
Speaker 1: one hundred percent work in that game, but I can
Speaker 1: take that away as something that we could potentially see
Speaker 1: down the line. Those shots that they took. We can
Speaker 1: take it with a grain of salt that we didn't
Speaker 1: complete it. But the fact that Clint Kubiak is wanting
Speaker 1: to take some shots out of sudden change, that says
Speaker 1: a lot about our offense. That was one of my
Speaker 1: keys to the game this past week is when we
Speaker 1: have those sudden changed moments, take some shots. The first
Speaker 1: sudden changed moment was to pick on the first play
Speaker 1: we ran the ball. The second play only result in
Speaker 1: the three points. The second time, when we got the
Speaker 1: fumble play action passed on the first play thirty five
Speaker 1: yards we ended up scoring. So getting aggressive in those
Speaker 1: moments that was shades of Denny green Man. You're a
Speaker 1: lifelong fan of his team. You remember nineteen ninety eight
Speaker 1: when at the time the Vikings had the highest scoring
Speaker 1: offense in the history in the NFL. When we would
Speaker 1: get a turnover, do you could be on your two
Speaker 1: yard line, You're like, well, he's gonna go to eat,
Speaker 1: He's gonna take a shot. And I think there's just
Speaker 1: something just mentally crushing for the opposing to not only
Speaker 1: be deflated by a turnover, but then to be gouged
Speaker 1: immediately where you don't even have a chance to catch
Speaker 1: your breath and react to the turnover, you're already on
Speaker 1: your heels. I think that can spiral momentum your direction
Speaker 1: so quickly. So I think that shot right off the
Speaker 1: turnover was to feel and wasn't it. Yeah? Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a thirty five yard plaques and pass. Well, that's
Speaker 1: the thing I mean, I mean, you hit it right
Speaker 1: on the head, like there's the ability is there? You
Speaker 1: just have to do it. I mean, that's the thing.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's been half the battle for me.
Speaker 1: I think this first half of the season, or at
Speaker 1: least this first third of the season, has been so
Speaker 1: much of trying to figure out who are we like,
Speaker 1: what do we have as weapons, what's our identity? We
Speaker 1: were playing the run game as much as we were
Speaker 1: Delvin got hurt, Alexander Madison stepped in and was able
Speaker 1: to do some really good things. They're on offense, but
Speaker 1: we're now at the point where I think we understand
Speaker 1: what kind of weapons we really have, what is possible,
Speaker 1: and being able to get to this bye week now
Speaker 1: being three and three, knowing what we're facing coming forward,
Speaker 1: the self scouting that the defense and the offense are
Speaker 1: going to do for this team, hopefully then can find
Speaker 1: other places where we can start to exploit teams given
Speaker 1: a bunch of the weapons that have really stepped up
Speaker 1: and become key contributors here on this offense. And I
Speaker 1: think the fact, and maybe I'm maybe in a minority
Speaker 1: on this, but I think the fact that we are
Speaker 1: six games in three and three and we still don't
Speaker 1: have a true identity, I think that is a good
Speaker 1: thing because we a team can't say this is what
Speaker 1: they want to do. We have so many weapons, like
Speaker 1: Jay said, we can do so many different things that
Speaker 1: there's so much room for growth at three and three.
Speaker 1: Being in all these games, the fact that we can
Speaker 1: still say, okay, well we can start run the ball
Speaker 1: effectively if we want to. We haven't really established who
Speaker 1: our old line is. But at the same time, once
Speaker 1: you stopped their run, we still got some deep threats
Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball. And now we're
Speaker 1: starting to stop the run on defense. Now we can
Speaker 1: figure out how to be smart on the back game
Speaker 1: with our secondary. There's a lot of room for growth
Speaker 1: for this entire team. One thing that's positive off of
Speaker 1: that is the fact that if you get any game
Speaker 1: or they start to shut you down in the running game,
Speaker 1: you know you can open up passing wise and vice versa.
Speaker 1: If all of a sudden they're shutting down and bracket
Speaker 1: coveraging Jefferson and those guys. We saw how big of
Speaker 1: a struggle at least it was in that Cleveland game.
Speaker 1: Now that you've been through that, hopefully on the offensive side,
Speaker 1: they're game planning for a way to remedy that again.
Speaker 1: And we're going to find out, because there's some really
Speaker 1: good defenses coming here in the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: what potentially that's going to look like. So as long
Speaker 1: as you're finding ways to not become one dimensional, I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a huge benefit for you
Speaker 1: for the back half of the season. All right, So
Speaker 1: I'm about to put you on the spot three two one. Well,
Speaker 1: my positivity is going to come from a place of reality.
Speaker 1: That's going to sound like a negative, So stick with me.
Speaker 1: He only have fifty seconds. That game had the glimpses,
Speaker 1: you know, the deep shot to feeling that they've mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, the drive and overtime. We've shown time and
Speaker 1: time again that this team can really move the ball
Speaker 1: up the field when it wants to. And you put
Speaker 1: five hundred and seventy one yards on the board and
Speaker 1: you get three turnovers, you don't expect to be playing
Speaker 1: in overtime, you know, But the glimpses are there that
Speaker 1: if this team gets a little more aggressive, which I
Speaker 1: think everybody wants to in the right moments and in
Speaker 1: the right places. I think that game against the Panthers,
Speaker 1: even though I don't think the Panthers are a great team,
Speaker 1: showed that this team can compete on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball against really good teams, which is what's about
Speaker 1: to happen. Very nice. Yeah, it's about to be clearly clearly,
Speaker 1: it's the internal clock. You've got the Cowboys, you're on
Speaker 1: the road at the Ravens, at the Charger, You've got
Speaker 1: the Packers coming up. It's not going to be easy,
Speaker 1: So you can't make those kinds of mistakes, and you
Speaker 1: have to capitalize on the ones that like the three
Speaker 1: tournovers as you you have to capitalize, and those you
Speaker 1: can't settle for field goals. You saw a lot of
Speaker 1: both this past weekend, like people who were really like, hey,
Speaker 1: a win's a win's a win, and you saw a
Speaker 1: lot of fans who are like furious that it was
Speaker 1: that close again. And I think the truth lies somewhere
Speaker 1: in between those two, you know, gigantic emotions and to
Speaker 1: be able to play the way we played and be
Speaker 1: just a few moments away from executing a full floor
Speaker 1: to ceiling football game that very easily could have been
Speaker 1: a thirty one, you know, seventeen win a thirty like
Speaker 1: you held them. When you look at a block punt,
Speaker 1: which is a major, major mistake, When you look at
Speaker 1: the fourth and four from your own the fourth down
Speaker 1: on your own four yard line another major mistake, and
Speaker 1: you look at the first two like Gabe mentioned turnovers,
Speaker 1: when you probably could have been a little more aggressive
Speaker 1: going for the end zone. There. Those are all situations
Speaker 1: and that if one or two of those go the
Speaker 1: other direction, because you're never going to execute everything perfectly.
Speaker 1: You can't expect to have three turnovers each game. You
Speaker 1: can't expect Robbie Anderson to drop I don't know, thirty
Speaker 1: eight balls in a singular game, even though he's on
Speaker 1: somebody's fantasy team on this program. Well, you saw glimpses
Speaker 1: of what you saw in the Cardinals game, right, and
Speaker 1: that is the team that I want to see all
Speaker 1: season long, Like, yes, you're not gonna not make mistakes,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna blow, You're not going to be perfect,
Speaker 1: you'll blow an occasional coverage. Well, this team, with its
Speaker 1: talent and what you saw against the Panthers again, you
Speaker 1: should be able to compete against really good teams and
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position where if those crucial moments
Speaker 1: bounce more your way than the other team's way, if
Speaker 1: you execute a little bit more than the other team,
Speaker 1: you should be able to win those games. And that
Speaker 1: So that was a long way to get to a
Speaker 1: really weird positive. But the Panthers game to me was
Speaker 1: like a it's just a less fortunate, maybe crucially less
Speaker 1: executed version of what we were able to do in
Speaker 1: the Cardinals game. So if you can clean up those mistakes,
Speaker 1: knowing who we were in the Cardinals game. That gives
Speaker 1: me the confidence that we are going to compete against
Speaker 1: this crazy schedule we have coming up here. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: gotta think one thing you didn't mention was JJ's fumble too. Right,
Speaker 1: This Carolina Panthers team have fourteen drives on Sunday. Three
Speaker 1: of their scoring drive well three of their drives only
Speaker 1: went past thirty eight yards, and one of those drives
Speaker 1: was the last drive of the game. So that says
Speaker 1: a lot right there as far as we should have
Speaker 1: taken care of business. I mean, it looked like we
Speaker 1: should have just easily steamrolled the same But you got
Speaker 1: those key plays, with those key moments where you got
Speaker 1: to execute and not let the other team get momentum,
Speaker 1: and that block punt and that fumble and some other
Speaker 1: things happened in the game gave them some of that momentum.
Speaker 1: So that's a bad time to talk about how that
Speaker 1: should have been the Lions game as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of like the I mean it should
Speaker 1: A cold of wood is kind of a theme at
Speaker 1: this point in time. This is an amazing moment for
Speaker 1: the bye. You know, I would prefer a buye a
Speaker 1: little later in the season, you know, just generally. But
Speaker 1: I think given what we've gone through and what's in
Speaker 1: front of us, you couldn't have asked for a better
Speaker 1: week for the bye because we all know this is
Speaker 1: a crucial season for a lot of important people. You know,
Speaker 1: this is a big season for Mike Zimmer, It's a
Speaker 1: big season for Rick Spielman, it's a big season for
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins. You know, we've all heard that narrative over
Speaker 1: and over and over and over again. And I think
Speaker 1: what is Mike Zimmer best at, you know, having honest conversations.
Speaker 1: He doesn't both you're at this moment here where you
Speaker 1: know you're close as a team, and I think when
Speaker 1: all those coaches are able to spend this extra time
Speaker 1: together and really push on one another and be honest
Speaker 1: and self scout like I think I even heard Zimmer
Speaker 1: talk about Coach Zimmer talk about that in one of
Speaker 1: his pressors, you know, for the bye week. And so
Speaker 1: when that happens, my hope is that some of the
Speaker 1: inconsistencyams were like, we should have squashed this Lion's team out,
Speaker 1: We should have squashed this Panther's team out. We should
Speaker 1: have been in a better position in the Browns game,
Speaker 1: we should have executed better in the Bengals game. But
Speaker 1: I think you're just in this perfect position. Like perfect
Speaker 1: position is not the right word, because you know you'd
Speaker 1: love to be five in one or six and oh
Speaker 1: but if if you're a competitor and you know how
Speaker 1: important to season is for you, like what more could
Speaker 1: you ask for? As Kirk or as Mike Zimmer, as
Speaker 1: Rick Spielman, Like you want to you want to be
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in the NFC. You want
Speaker 1: to prove who you are. You've got this perfect moment,
Speaker 1: this perfect bye week, after all this weirdness, to really
Speaker 1: focus up and walk forward and prove who you are
Speaker 1: and prove what you do. So I'm gonna until proven otherwise,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna look at the bye week and where we're
Speaker 1: at right now as a possibly a really big positive
Speaker 1: and a chance to get right. You have to think
Speaker 1: that the same things that we see while we're watching
Speaker 1: the game, well we go back and watch the tape
Speaker 1: or anything like that, they're seeing that stuff too, and
Speaker 1: they're trying to figure out a way around it. So
Speaker 1: as much as we sit here and like we think
Speaker 1: we figured out all the problems, like they're doing that too,
Speaker 1: and that's what this week is for. To your points,
Speaker 1: I I think it was week one of the season
Speaker 1: that coach Zimmer came out of the locker room or
Speaker 1: was going into the locker room at half and basically
Speaker 1: was like, Kirt needs to get the ball out quicker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was and every fan at home was like,
Speaker 1: we agree. And then the team adjusted and they got
Speaker 1: the ball out so quick against the Cardinals. They got
Speaker 1: the ball out so quick against the Seahawks, and so
Speaker 1: you know, and there was a different game with the Browns.
Speaker 1: They bring a different sort of pressure. Stefanski knows what
Speaker 1: we like to do on offense, He knows Kirk really well. None,
Speaker 1: no one on Twitter or on a podcast is going
Speaker 1: to have the football understanding of what's going on from
Speaker 1: an intricate xs and you know standpoint. But we all
Speaker 1: know where this team's at, and the coaches, you know,
Speaker 1: Coach Zimmer has always been pretty forthright about where the
Speaker 1: team's at and where he thinks the team's at. And
Speaker 1: so that's the sort of that mentality is what gives
Speaker 1: me a hope like end of October, November, December, that's
Speaker 1: when you really want to be jelling. So if we
Speaker 1: were going to go through all these up and downs,
Speaker 1: let's take them in the first six games. Even though
Speaker 1: there were a couple of easier teams in that stretch.
Speaker 1: We were six games in, we've gotten to see some
Speaker 1: big moments, some really good plays, things of that nature.
Speaker 1: So we're going to do some in season superlatives and
Speaker 1: we'll just kind of rapid fire quick answers go around
Speaker 1: the table here and kick things off. So six games in,
Speaker 1: what has been your favorite moment? I think Week one
Speaker 1: just having fans back at US Bank Stadium is by
Speaker 1: far the most memorable thing for me thus far this year,
Speaker 1: and not having fans last year, and then experiencing that,
Speaker 1: experiencing that Dustin Lynch concert Week one, right before the game,
Speaker 1: having all the purple out there in the plaza and
Speaker 1: then they made their way over to the stadium. So
Speaker 1: having fans back for the first time and having our
Speaker 1: twelfth man affect Rossell Wilson, who had his first game
Speaker 1: at US Bank Stadium in his career, made that game
Speaker 1: just a memorable to me. So it's going to be hard. Honestly,
Speaker 1: we can get to week seventeen and I can probably
Speaker 1: still still have the same answer, right, It's going to
Speaker 1: be hard to top what Week one did to me. Ye,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna actually piggyback a little bit off of what
Speaker 1: Gabe says there, and it's an actually a specific moment
Speaker 1: for me. The fifteen minutes beforehand we call it kickoff
Speaker 1: for those who have been at the game. We revamped
Speaker 1: everything this year, and Monday ran the first three and
Speaker 1: a half minutes and then there's kind of a lull
Speaker 1: that right before it kicks into the second part of showtime.
Speaker 1: The fans actually got up on their feet and started cheering.
Speaker 1: Just one being back, but two being able to see
Speaker 1: what we put together and just having that roar of
Speaker 1: emotion from the fans and seeing them stand up and
Speaker 1: cheer loudly. Legitimately, sitting in the control room got choked
Speaker 1: up watching this, saying, I can't believe how much I
Speaker 1: missed this. It was so great to have everyone back
Speaker 1: in the building. Like you said, that Seattle game in
Speaker 1: general was electric, but for me, that specific moment of
Speaker 1: having him back, having them excited, and having him appreciate
Speaker 1: what was about to happen, and what was happening was
Speaker 1: something that really got to me. So kudos to the
Speaker 1: fans for making me the emotional guy that I tried
Speaker 1: not to be on game day. I love it, sigh,
Speaker 1: was your favorite moment so far this season? Stick with
Speaker 1: me here. I think the Kirk Cousins, Mike Zimmer shove
Speaker 1: celebration love it. I like that. It was so. I'm
Speaker 1: a comedian, so just from a peer comedy standpoint, watching
Speaker 1: a quarterback shout his catchphrase while shoving a sixty year
Speaker 1: old coach who then shoves him harder back, it was like,
Speaker 1: that was the funniest thing I've ever And I'm not
Speaker 1: one of those people who think it was some like,
Speaker 1: oh there's something brewing under I thought it was so
Speaker 1: funny and so great. And I have eight siblings and
Speaker 1: there are a lot of different personalities in there, and
Speaker 1: we all love each other and we all get along
Speaker 1: and sometimes we want to shove each other and shout
Speaker 1: you like that. So I think just the dynamic of
Speaker 1: their evolving relationship this year and now they're watching films,
Speaker 1: it's kind of cute. Well when you hear PA talking
Speaker 1: about how they're trying to understand each other. It's just
Speaker 1: a very funny situation that I love. And if this
Speaker 1: team goes on a run, Like, if this team goes
Speaker 1: on a run and really does something special this year,
Speaker 1: how can you not hang a photo of them, like
Speaker 1: just like they look. Remember that old Gabe, you're an
Speaker 1: NBA guy, That old picture of Doctor Jay and Larry
Speaker 1: Bird just a hand around each other's throat. That's so
Speaker 1: fame now they were fighting. But like, if if this
Speaker 1: team that, if you, yeah, I think that's more of
Speaker 1: a Larry Bird shout. If this team really does something,
Speaker 1: frame that picture and hang it up right there, because
Speaker 1: I thought that was just such a weird, raw, funny,
Speaker 1: fantastic moment. Did you see that one that he tweeted
Speaker 1: out from this past week? Yeah in the tunnel? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he like with his catchphrase on it, you know, having
Speaker 1: fun with it. I appreciate the humor. Kirk is such
Speaker 1: a tightly wound guy. You know, that's not a secret.
Speaker 1: And I'm not even that's not even a criticism. We
Speaker 1: all know that. You listen to the way he runs
Speaker 1: his schedule, you listen to the way he runs his life,
Speaker 1: you know. And and Zimmer is such an intense guy.
Speaker 1: You know, that dynamic of those two getting more comfortable
Speaker 1: with one another and loosening up, and you know, even
Speaker 1: just flowing within one another and within the team. I
Speaker 1: think that's a super powerful thing. Any anybody who's ever
Speaker 1: been in a locker room knows that when leaders, when
Speaker 1: our walls breakdown a little bit, that leads to nothing
Speaker 1: but goodness moving forward. And so I yeah, it was weird,
Speaker 1: it was funny. I think it was a good thing,
Speaker 1: and I think if we go on a run, that
Speaker 1: is going to be an iconic Viking moment, despite how
Speaker 1: much people theorized, criticized, and laughed about it. My favorite
Speaker 1: moment is also from the first game of the season,
Speaker 1: just the dominant performance over Russell Wilson, someone who has
Speaker 1: really had the Vikings number over the last few years.
Speaker 1: First loss to the Vikings and seven tries, and before that,
Speaker 1: the Seattle had beat the Vikings by an average margin
Speaker 1: of fourteen points, so it just was kind of like
Speaker 1: he kind of owned them at that point. So now
Speaker 1: you know, the first one of the season, first win
Speaker 1: back home, first win in front of the crowd. My
Speaker 1: first win is a Vikings fan. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: just crazy. That's probably the best thing you can ask
Speaker 1: for your home opener with fans playing against a team
Speaker 1: that you never beat and then winning in that type
Speaker 1: of fashion. Ask for anything better than that? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean every time you game playing for the Seahawks, it's
Speaker 1: contained Russell Wilson. That's exactly what happened. So all right,
Speaker 1: moving on, let's talk about our votes for the best
Speaker 1: play of the season. I'm gonna go with the last thing.
Speaker 1: What if you've done for me lately, and that's kJ Osbourne.
Speaker 1: He has scored a touchdown for us lately and that
Speaker 1: is by far my best play so far in the
Speaker 1: first six weeks of the season. The twenty seven yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: the walk off, the hellmin throw like Stefan Dix did
Speaker 1: during the Minneapolis miracle, and the way that he's been
Speaker 1: clutch all season. I think he is deserving of whatever
Speaker 1: opportunities or whatever prosperities that's coming his way, whether that's
Speaker 1: this season or next season. Having seventy eight receiving yards
Speaker 1: in that game and then having fifty six of those
Speaker 1: receiving yards on the last two drives of that game,
Speaker 1: that pretty much tells you everything you need to know.
Speaker 1: About kJ. He's clutch. He knows how to make big plays,
Speaker 1: and he makes him when we need him the most,
Speaker 1: especially against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of alliteration, so I'm out spelling clutch with a
Speaker 1: K clutch kJ, I'm finally say, you want to go,
Speaker 1: best play in the In the Seattle game, he had pressure.
Speaker 1: I think it was coming up the middle right at
Speaker 1: him on his back foot with someone like. He didn't
Speaker 1: turn away, he didn't roll, he didn't avoid, He just stepped,
Speaker 1: faded away, delivered a ball across the middle that was
Speaker 1: caught for a first down well being hit, I honestly
Speaker 1: think outside of a throw he made his first season
Speaker 1: against the Packers, it was the best throw of his
Speaker 1: entire Viking career. Was that the first down completion to kJ? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was an insane pilling Yeah, that's that's who Kirk
Speaker 1: is capable of being. And so I think when you
Speaker 1: when you hear people get frustrated, or you hear people
Speaker 1: like and when the old line is struggling and they're frustrated,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have time, you know that that was a
Speaker 1: superhuman throw. That was one of those throws that when
Speaker 1: people are like, hey, are you are you a top whatever? Guy?
Speaker 1: Are you this per And like, every once in a while,
Speaker 1: in an important moment, you got to lean back when
Speaker 1: the pocket is messy and you have to make something
Speaker 1: happen despite your surroundings. And I think that's what a
Speaker 1: lot of people have been begging Kirk to do. And
Speaker 1: to see him do that in a game that then, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, turned into a steam rolling I just
Speaker 1: I thought it was fantastic. So for me, that's that's
Speaker 1: my play of the year. That's right. I mean even
Speaker 1: to that point, he had a similar play against the Lions,
Speaker 1: blitzed up the middle third down, he just lobbed it up,
Speaker 1: takes to hit. Granted it got called back so it
Speaker 1: didn't count, but as the play to JJ that got
Speaker 1: called back on third down. But it's like, man, like,
Speaker 1: we've never seen Kirk make plays like this, so the
Speaker 1: fact that he's doing it now, it's like, okay, like
Speaker 1: maybe this is the Kirk Cousins that we thought we
Speaker 1: were getting four years ago, and he's now finally coming
Speaker 1: starting to come to fruition because he's more comfortable. When
Speaker 1: I promise you, when you see you know, Cowboys, Packers,
Speaker 1: you know Ravens. When you get that run, you're gonna
Speaker 1: need one or two of those plays. One one of
Speaker 1: those plays, two of those plays in a game could
Speaker 1: break you the right direction when you're playing a really,
Speaker 1: really good team. So it's it's nice to have seen
Speaker 1: him done it, done it. Which nice to have seen
Speaker 1: him sounds like my people, All right, Jay, your best
Speaker 1: play of the season so far. I think my oh
Speaker 1: while moment was the Eric Kendricks one handed I and
Speaker 1: T versus Detroit. I think in that moment, again a
Speaker 1: game that was way closer than most people thought it
Speaker 1: should have been, but having him stick out the big
Speaker 1: paw and you know, snagging that out in mid air
Speaker 1: and having a decent return with that, I think the
Speaker 1: juice that happened from that play was big, not only
Speaker 1: for the defense, but to get that ball back into
Speaker 1: the offensive hands. I think it was a critical moment
Speaker 1: in that game that helped us get to the point
Speaker 1: where we could finally finish that thing. But for me,
Speaker 1: that Kendricks I and T was just super athletic and
Speaker 1: super impressive. My best play also comes from the Lions
Speaker 1: game with all of the tall tales of Vikings kickers.
Speaker 1: I know it hasn't been the perfect season for Greg Joseph,
Speaker 1: but in a moment where you cannot lose the Lions,
Speaker 1: you cannot drop to one in three, you cannot snap
Speaker 1: a seven game win streak, he nails a fifty four
Speaker 1: yard field goal. This is after he misses the one
Speaker 1: in Arizona, and he was four or five for the
Speaker 1: day with a career long of fifty five, so he
Speaker 1: had already missed one the day. And so to know
Speaker 1: that he was able to block out all of the doubt,
Speaker 1: the haters, the history, any of the tales you hear
Speaker 1: about the Vikings kicking situations, and for him to get that,
Speaker 1: I know the win versus Allions and it should have
Speaker 1: been more, but for me especially, I guess after Mike Zimmers,
Speaker 1: I'd give him a break. We gave him a break
Speaker 1: and he came through in the clutch. So all right,
Speaker 1: moving on, let's go to the next one. The next
Speaker 1: superlative is the biggest surprise so far this season. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go again. I'm gonna go with Kirk coming
Speaker 1: into this season with all the one year contracts and
Speaker 1: all the changes and everything being rebuilt and all the
Speaker 1: new players and everything. You know, I thought we'd take
Speaker 1: a while to gel and last year he had a
Speaker 1: really rough for six games with a whole bunch of turnovers,
Speaker 1: and I didn't expect him to be that guy. But
Speaker 1: you know, I thought it would take this team a
Speaker 1: little bit offensively, and it would take him a little
Speaker 1: bit to get rolling offensively. And I have been pleasantly
Speaker 1: surprised at the consistent, for the most part, high level
Speaker 1: of play that has come from him, you know, and
Speaker 1: that's you expect a certain but it's what we were
Speaker 1: just talking about. You expect a certain level from Kirk.
Speaker 1: I've been pleasantly surprised by the things that have gone
Speaker 1: above my expectations. That's a very very good point, Gabe.
Speaker 1: Your biggest surprise so far, bigger surprise thus far has
Speaker 1: to be McKenzie Alexander bringing in a guy that has
Speaker 1: already spent four years here, got a contract elsewhere, and
Speaker 1: then you bring him back. Mentally, you think, Okay, this guy,
Speaker 1: he's just back to get another big contract, but you
Speaker 1: don't know how he's going to buy into it, especially
Speaker 1: with Zemmer saying, you know, McKenzie Alexander. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that was hardheaded at the beginning, but he kind of
Speaker 1: figured it out the way that McKenzie has been playing
Speaker 1: right now. Outside of that one play against the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals where he dropped the interception and Tee Higgins caught
Speaker 1: it ended up scoring a touchdown, McKenzie Alexander has been
Speaker 1: phenomenal this year. Like the question is now and do
Speaker 1: you move him outside that P two is hurt or
Speaker 1: do you keep him inside? I think you keep him
Speaker 1: inside because he's been playing like the best nickel cornerback
Speaker 1: in the league right now. Like if you go back
Speaker 1: and just watch the film the way McKenzie was able
Speaker 1: to slide in and elevate the play of their the
Speaker 1: dB room, kudos to that guy. I'm going to kind
Speaker 1: of expand on that real fast. My biggest surprise has
Speaker 1: been but Shod Brelan. Now go with me on this one,
Speaker 1: because weeks one through three we were a little word
Speaker 1: read it one like the best of play. But Bashad Brelan,
Speaker 1: despite you know, leaving in the fourth in week four,
Speaker 1: weeks five and six have been complete turnarounds, And for me,
Speaker 1: the amount of difference in play is my biggest surprise
Speaker 1: this season. So this is a PFF stat because I
Speaker 1: am a big numbers person myself. I like to see
Speaker 1: it in action. So he allowed eighteen catches two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty seven yards and four touchdowns on twenty one targets.
Speaker 1: So that's not great. It's not great. Good Now, so
Speaker 1: weeks of four through six he was fifty targeted fifteen times.
Speaker 1: He allowed five catches for forty three yards and no touchdowns.
Speaker 1: He missed eight tackles in the first three weeks, missed
Speaker 1: one in the next three. Now, if he can continue
Speaker 1: to play like this, that's great because we need it
Speaker 1: after Patrick Peterson is now on the ir and so
Speaker 1: for me, I know it's kind of a weird surprise,
Speaker 1: but honestly, when I saw those numbers, I was very
Speaker 1: surprised to see the difference the way he's played. I
Speaker 1: mean the Carolina Panthers game in particular, how well he
Speaker 1: played that game. That does show that we are getting
Speaker 1: the Bishop brilliant that we thought we were getting earlier
Speaker 1: this season. Early in the season is the time you
Speaker 1: two want to make those mistakes. So the fact that
Speaker 1: he's turned it around these past three games has been
Speaker 1: very well, surprising in case anybody wanted to know. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of it has been made about him
Speaker 1: being ranked one sixteenth out of one hundred and sixteen
Speaker 1: cornerbacks in the league that played in the first three weeks.
Speaker 1: He was fourth in the last three weeks out of
Speaker 1: one hundred and nineteen. So just I mean, honestly, what
Speaker 1: a glow up? Jay? It is now your turn? What
Speaker 1: is your biggest surprise of the season. My honorable mentions
Speaker 1: have been Nick Vigil and Tyler Conklin given the elevation
Speaker 1: of play that they've had this season, but given the
Speaker 1: way things were being discussed in the offseason of if
Speaker 1: kJ Osborne was even going to make the roster this year,
Speaker 1: the fact that he is now captain clutch and is,
Speaker 1: without a doubt the number three receiving option on this
Speaker 1: team has been awesome to see. You know, he talked
Speaker 1: about on the audible how how much he worked this
Speaker 1: offseason to make sure that he could contribute, and if
Speaker 1: you all remember, the discussion at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: season was essentially how Irv Smith Junior was going to
Speaker 1: be our number three target as a tight end. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter about the wide receiver we'll figure it out,
Speaker 1: but IRV is going to be the guy to carry
Speaker 1: the load. When IRV left due to injury, Tyler Conklin
Speaker 1: and kJ Osborne everyone kind of looked at them like,
Speaker 1: are you guys even gonna be able to fill anything
Speaker 1: remotely close to the shoes that we thought we were
Speaker 1: going to get the fact that kJ has done what
Speaker 1: he's done week after week and has now established himself
Speaker 1: not only as the third option but as a third
Speaker 1: serious threat on this offense in the wide receiver room
Speaker 1: has been great. So for me, it's kJ Osborne. The
Speaker 1: last time the Vikings had three wide receivers on their
Speaker 1: roster who accumulated five hundred yards was two thousand and
Speaker 1: nine with Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian Brett
Speaker 1: Farve's big year. This this city has gone through a
Speaker 1: wide receiver three drought that is so laughable that we're
Speaker 1: ready to put a gold jacket on Jerry's right for
Speaker 1: his performances. So to finally, and to Jay's point, also,
Speaker 1: I think about what this means. You know, I know,
Speaker 1: I know the type of sets we normally run, I
Speaker 1: know the I know the focus of this offense, and
Speaker 1: I know, we're focused on this season right now, but
Speaker 1: when IRV comes back and you have kJ, I mean,
Speaker 1: did you got kJ and Jigit in the same draft?
Speaker 1: That is bonkers. You know, we've always had good offensive talent,
Speaker 1: but you're not talking about three very legitimate go to
Speaker 1: wide receivers if kJ continues to progress, a tight end
Speaker 1: that has the ability to climb into the upper echelon
Speaker 1: of tight ends, possibly the best running back in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and a young offensive line. That's why when I was
Speaker 1: talking about the Panthers game earlier and it was like,
Speaker 1: well we scored all these yards, we were so close
Speaker 1: to that being the sort of win it should be
Speaker 1: a big margin win where you really are explosive on offense.
Speaker 1: I think this team is going to be able to
Speaker 1: find a balance between being appropriately conservative and appropriately explosive
Speaker 1: at the same time, and I think kJ Osborne is
Speaker 1: a huge part of that, not only for this year
Speaker 1: but going forward. It's so interesting to see even the
Speaker 1: league in general, that wide receiver class from last year.
Speaker 1: That's just crazy to cause it the best wide receiver
Speaker 1: draft class of all time. I mean, he's not wrong,
Speaker 1: not wrong at all. This is debatable, but they're really big.
Speaker 1: Everything is debatable game. That's why we have a podcasts.
Speaker 1: All right, more debate up next on the best offseason acquisition, Jay,
Speaker 1: I will let you go first this time. The giant
Speaker 1: question mark when Everson Griffin was resigned was what does
Speaker 1: he have left in the tank and what can he
Speaker 1: actually do for this team? Everyone assumed he would be
Speaker 1: a backup. Everyone assumed he would be a contributor that way.
Speaker 1: He is now currently second on the team in sex
Speaker 1: with four behind Neil Hunter was six. For me, what
Speaker 1: Everson has been able to do, not only in spot
Speaker 1: duty but now in essentially starting duty has been awesome.
Speaker 1: And so I think haven't Everson back in not only
Speaker 1: for the production, but for just the juice he provides
Speaker 1: in that locker room. I think it's raised the levels
Speaker 1: of everybody on that defensive line room. So for me,
Speaker 1: it's been Everson coming back this year. So the answer
Speaker 1: to your question is what does he have left in
Speaker 1: the tank is full and that's the thing until we
Speaker 1: get to and that was one of the things breaks Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'd say it's jet fuel because he's just been
Speaker 1: shot out of a cannon for me, and the thing
Speaker 1: about it is listening to Andrea Patterson talk in different areas.
Speaker 1: They said, you know, they're concerned that Everson would be
Speaker 1: basically burned out by the end of the Sea season,
Speaker 1: so they want to find ways to kind of spell
Speaker 1: him and to get him to that back into the season.
Speaker 1: But I mean, the production that you've gotten so far
Speaker 1: this season from him, how do you try and pull
Speaker 1: that back? You can, especially when you have some high
Speaker 1: flying offenses coming in, So hopefully Everson can continue on
Speaker 1: this run the way that he has been. But it's
Speaker 1: been fun to watch the season. SI your best offseason acquisition,
Speaker 1: mine's going to be predictive. It's not something that's already happened.
Speaker 1: It's something that's just started happening. I think it's Christian
Speaker 1: dea saw, you know. I Rashad Hill is fantastic at
Speaker 1: what he's expected to do, you know, and he's a
Speaker 1: great filling. But even in one game, I think we
Speaker 1: saw the difference that Christian derra Saw is capable of
Speaker 1: bringing to the football field. And I think if his
Speaker 1: focus out there is making sure he finishes every single
Speaker 1: play and is engaged start to finish on every single play.
Speaker 1: By the end of this season, I think you're gonna
Speaker 1: have people buying Christian derra saw jerseys. That's not something
Speaker 1: that I thought I was going to be thinking normally
Speaker 1: with offensive lineman. If you're a Minnesota Viking fan, you
Speaker 1: put in your brain like, okay, we drafted him. Now
Speaker 1: begins the three year process of whether or not I'm
Speaker 1: willing to consider that this guy should keep being on
Speaker 1: our offensive line. I thought he looked fantastic on Sunday
Speaker 1: against a very good defensive line, and he's gonna have
Speaker 1: some real tests and I my prediction is he's going
Speaker 1: to make a lot of people look very smart by
Speaker 1: the end of the season. I like it. I like
Speaker 1: it game. I'm gonna go Dalvin Thomlinson. I know our
Speaker 1: run defense doesn't show the amount of effort that he's
Speaker 1: put into driving centers and guards back, but when Michael
Speaker 1: Pierce went out and other teams started running away from
Speaker 1: Dalvin Thomlinson, it showed how dominant he's been. Like the
Speaker 1: past two games, teams haven't been running for yardage the
Speaker 1: way the Browns did or how the Cincinnati being was.
Speaker 1: Did the Cincinnati Beings game like, I've kind of like
Speaker 1: thrown that game out of the window. This by Sunday,
Speaker 1: Dalvin Thominson a second and a half, a forced fumble,
Speaker 1: two QB hurries, and not to mention what he did
Speaker 1: in the run game by just pushing Matt Parrotti's back,
Speaker 1: Like what he's done versus what we had the past,
Speaker 1: the previous years. I think Dalvin Thomason is going to
Speaker 1: be a detackle here to stay here in Minnesota. And
Speaker 1: I love that that selection. Even when we selected him
Speaker 1: this offseason, I just remember looking at his tape and
Speaker 1: I was like, like, teams aren't going to be able
Speaker 1: to run the ball up the middle, and now teams
Speaker 1: are starting to try to figure out, Okay, how do
Speaker 1: we run away from this guy? How can we neutralize
Speaker 1: this guy from getting pressures? Granted this team, we have
Speaker 1: the most pressures out of any defense in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and I know people are saying, well, that's Everson Griffin
Speaker 1: and that's Daniel Hunter. Well, when you usually have two
Speaker 1: good defensive ends, that allows quarterbacks to step up in
Speaker 1: the pocket. When quarterbacks can't step up in the pocket,
Speaker 1: that's usually due to your defensive tackle getting pressure on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, the interior offensive line. So kudos to
Speaker 1: that guy. He's playing amazing. Um. I think that has
Speaker 1: to do a lot with our plus minus rate. Last
Speaker 1: year we finished the season at minus one and turnover ratio.
Speaker 1: This year we at plus two at three and three.
Speaker 1: So a lot of that ghost our interior defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot a lot of that has
Speaker 1: to do with Dalvin Tominson. And you gotta think Michael
Speaker 1: Pierce would also be in that conversation hadn't been playing
Speaker 1: the last two games. He's supposed to be back on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Oh really, well, I know the defense was a big
Speaker 1: spot of concern after last season, and there were a
Speaker 1: lot of offseason acquisitions made on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: And that's where mine comes in. I and you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of I chose this before knowing he was
Speaker 1: going to make it on the IR But but for me,
Speaker 1: you know, we're doing the first six games. Unlike say,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to break the rules, So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go the first six games my best offseason acquisitions. There
Speaker 1: you go. Chris Corso's gone. Now that there you go.
Speaker 1: I've got with Patrick Peterson for this guy to be
Speaker 1: playing at an elite level that he is as the
Speaker 1: pro that he is. It's exactly why he was brought in.
Speaker 1: He has helped guys come along in the locker room.
Speaker 1: You know that he's been there for a guy like
Speaker 1: Kim Danceler who's really starting to come into his own
Speaker 1: this season. He's going to be relied on a lot
Speaker 1: more now that Peterson's on IR and it's really it's
Speaker 1: really gonna you know, he's not It's gonna be hard
Speaker 1: for him because this is something he's not used to,
Speaker 1: but hopefully it'll be a quick fix. He'll get back
Speaker 1: in there. Just the fact they neutralized guys like DeAndre
Speaker 1: Hopkins and DK Metcalf was just impressive. Um, I just
Speaker 1: don't feel like he's really missed a beat. And the
Speaker 1: veteran leadership was just huge after so many first and
Speaker 1: second your players were playing corner last year, so um yeah,
Speaker 1: that's mine. Yeah. And to your point if Cam Danceler
Speaker 1: or Chris Boyd and how they played last year, I
Speaker 1: liked those guys in this situation this year with these
Speaker 1: increased playing minutes because of P two being out this
Speaker 1: year more because they got a guy in P two
Speaker 1: in the room, so they've they've had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: learn from a veteran, learn from a guy that's that's
Speaker 1: done it, been there, done that, and even though they
Speaker 1: weren't playing on the field per se, now they have
Speaker 1: that that knowledge ingrained them. Okay, this is how I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to attack this guy. This is how my technique
Speaker 1: or how I'm supposed to react to this certain route
Speaker 1: or this certain concepts. So I know there will be
Speaker 1: some growing paints with these guys and then in the
Speaker 1: coming weeks, but I don't think it will be as
Speaker 1: bad as it was last year when we were trying
Speaker 1: to figure out. Okay, these guys have never covered an
Speaker 1: NFL receiver before, Oh, can Dashley has Davante Adams Week
Speaker 1: one in the NFL. I'm not saying, I'm I'm going
Speaker 1: to be a little bit better this time. Like it
Speaker 1: a lot better this time? All right? Yes, very very good.
Speaker 1: All right, Well let's get well into there's two more.
Speaker 1: One is the offensive MVP and the defensive MVP. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna start on the offensive side of things. Si,
Speaker 1: who is your offensive MVP so far this season? So
Speaker 1: you know, I know, I think somebody else is going
Speaker 1: to have this one as well, but it's Kirk, you know,
Speaker 1: you ask a lot of Kirk. A lot has been
Speaker 1: asked to him in his entire time here, and you know,
Speaker 1: when he starts really living up to what's asked for him,
Speaker 1: I think you have to consider him the MVP. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been without his superstar running back at times. You know,
Speaker 1: he's had the aligned struggle at times, he's dealt with
Speaker 1: the penalty issues, and all he's done is lead what
Speaker 1: should be four game winning drives. I mean, for a
Speaker 1: guy who's entire reputation nationally was an inability to come
Speaker 1: through when it mattered the most. I mean, he's technically
Speaker 1: led five possible game winning drives. It's just we've you
Speaker 1: know six if you count important drives. You have the
Speaker 1: game tire against the Bengals, he leads that one. You're
Speaker 1: in the process of leading the game winner and we fumble.
Speaker 1: You have, you have the game winner against the Lions.
Speaker 1: You have what should have been the game winner if
Speaker 1: we can't make a kick against the Panthers, and then
Speaker 1: the game winner against the Panthers. So I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's a lot of and the Cardinals one. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I didn't say those in the right order. Point remains Kirk.
Speaker 1: It's almost every game is what you're saying. And then
Speaker 1: twice and twice with the Panthers, Yep, good, good model
Speaker 1: for me. I'm gonna jump on that one in piggyback
Speaker 1: because that was my guy too. And even just looking
Speaker 1: at some of the statistical stuff that he's done, he's
Speaker 1: third in completions behind Brady and Mahomes. He's seventh in
Speaker 1: passing yards, ninth in passing touchdowns, and only has two
Speaker 1: I and T s for the entire first six weeks.
Speaker 1: He's been absolutely dealing and on fire, and I just
Speaker 1: I don't know at this point. Given everyone always was
Speaker 1: citing that, you know, Delvin's the guy that drives this offense,
Speaker 1: Kirk's been the guy holding everything together and putting us
Speaker 1: in position to win week after week. You gotta, for me,
Speaker 1: look at Kirk as well. Gabe, I'm gonna go jj.
Speaker 1: I think what he's done so far this year, coming
Speaker 1: off a year like last year, when you have fourteen
Speaker 1: hundred receiving yards, the sophomore slump was the biggest question
Speaker 1: for everybody, and the fact that he is on pace
Speaker 1: to have over fourteen hundred yards this year of ten touchdowns,
Speaker 1: that says a lot about his playlist far, he's only
Speaker 1: receiver in the NFL with sixty five plus receiving yards
Speaker 1: in every single game this season. Since we one, He's
Speaker 1: had at least eighty in every single game this season.
Speaker 1: So he's been that lightning boat, especially when Dalvin Cook
Speaker 1: was out. We needed, like Kirk, Kirk has been on fire,
Speaker 1: but Kirk needed someone outside of Dalvin to take on
Speaker 1: some of that extra pressure or that extra juice that
Speaker 1: would that this offense needed to, you know, make that
Speaker 1: step in there, in there, I guess, just in the
Speaker 1: progression of what this team can be. And I think
Speaker 1: JJ has been that person. He's been the guy from
Speaker 1: week one to Week six, and I think that it's
Speaker 1: only going to continue to get better each week. I
Speaker 1: think JJ needed it a game like Carolina last week
Speaker 1: where he had a fumble, he only had eighty yards,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to say he only had eighty yards,
Speaker 1: but he only had eighty yards. Because now, coming off
Speaker 1: the bye week, he has more juice, he has a
Speaker 1: chip on and shorter. Now he wants to prove people wrong. Okay,
Speaker 1: yeah you said this about me, but now here I am.
Speaker 1: So he's there was a game earlier this year, I
Speaker 1: felt like he didn't feel like fully himself week one
Speaker 1: and so after that that's when he kind of came
Speaker 1: alive too. So maybe it's some of those just kind
Speaker 1: of moments that bring him back to life the next week,
Speaker 1: like knowing where he can get better. JJ is a
Speaker 1: guy that needs adversity for him to like make another step.
Speaker 1: Think about their first two games last season, like he
Speaker 1: was pissed. Then he gets his first shot against the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans and he goes off. Then he continues to
Speaker 1: go off again, and this year was man like, I don't,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not getting the ball like I want to.
Speaker 1: Arizona game, he goes off like he goes off. He's
Speaker 1: a three star recruit. He's been against the odds his
Speaker 1: whole life, you know. Right for me, I'm just looking
Speaker 1: forward to the JJ Trayvon Diggs exactly. So that's my
Speaker 1: point is, yeah, he's going to have that motivation, and
Speaker 1: everyone knows at this point that you can pick your
Speaker 1: poison him or Adam. This past week, they decided to
Speaker 1: go with Adam and he touched him for one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty six in a touch I think coming up
Speaker 1: here against the Cowboys, I firmly believe Treyvon Diggs will
Speaker 1: be probably stuck on JJ, and that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: fun rookie sophomore that matchup you're gonna need to watch
Speaker 1: in week seven. Well, let me let me tell you
Speaker 1: something else. As somebody who has the wall of TVs
Speaker 1: and is watching all the games and has watched a
Speaker 1: lot of the Cowboys, Diggs Diggs is And well, you
Speaker 1: listen to this game, can you tell me if you
Speaker 1: agree and not Diggs is a beast. But given the
Speaker 1: fact that this Vikings team has not taken a lot
Speaker 1: of shots this year, and all the tape is prone
Speaker 1: to show where they like to put the ball, I
Speaker 1: can tell you Diggs takes a lot of chances and
Speaker 1: he makes a lot of breaks when he shouldn't. And
Speaker 1: this is no kidding. This is the sort of game
Speaker 1: where instead of being afraid of Treyvon Diggs, you should
Speaker 1: go at Treyvon Diggs to the tune of a bunch
Speaker 1: of double moves all game long. This is a sort
Speaker 1: of game. This could be a Randy Moss style performance
Speaker 1: where all of a sudden, you go, wait, JJ had
Speaker 1: five catches for three touchdowns and one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: yards like JJ, if you really bait Treyvon Diggs like
Speaker 1: he spends his entire time baiting them posing quarterbacks, you
Speaker 1: have a chance to roll numbers up on this guy
Speaker 1: like no one in the league has before. And now
Speaker 1: he's fantastic, But everything I've seen is double move this
Speaker 1: guy and take some chances against it. Yeah, he is very,
Speaker 1: very aggressive. That's I was literally about to say that.
Speaker 1: Just the past four weeks, the Cowboys have played Mac Jones.
Speaker 1: The week before they played Daniel Jones, the week before
Speaker 1: they played Sam Darnolt, and then the week before that
Speaker 1: they played Jalen Hurts. They haven't played a quarterback of
Speaker 1: veteran quarterback since Week one and Tom Brady and they
Speaker 1: lost that game. Granted, Week two they beat Justin Herbert
Speaker 1: and the LA Chargers, but you know there's a trend
Speaker 1: of they haven't been playing a quarterback that can actually
Speaker 1: pick a defensive party if you give him time in
Speaker 1: time outside of Tom Brady. So I know that's a
Speaker 1: hot take, and I know this Cowboys defense is really stout,
Speaker 1: but I think they were going to be hot take.
Speaker 1: After you jump on my take, Well, I'm glad you've
Speaker 1: made it hot before I did. I'm a little luke warm. Yeah,
Speaker 1: yours was a leftovers take. You repeated the leftovers hot pocket.
Speaker 1: I just have to get my sec jabs in there
Speaker 1: and say that JJ has had a lot of success
Speaker 1: against um An Alabama Secondary in twenty nineteen. So Trevon
Speaker 1: Diggs and JJ know each other. Well, that's all I'm
Speaker 1: going to say on that matter, because I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you my offensive MVP next. So you can't challenge
Speaker 1: my point. You can't just like your job and then
Speaker 1: not give us. This is a podcast, not a dictatorship. Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know about that one. I
Speaker 1: might change the rules again. Um No, But my my
Speaker 1: offensive MVP, I think I'm going to go more towards
Speaker 1: the offensive line. You know. I like a good turnaround story,
Speaker 1: if you kind of can tell through some of my
Speaker 1: picks so far. I like comebacks and people learning from
Speaker 1: what went wrong. And I think that's kind of key
Speaker 1: in this offensive line story because Week one was a
Speaker 1: disaster and we all know that it just it wasn't
Speaker 1: the best performance because of a lot of mental miscues
Speaker 1: and just not enough gelling and I know that you
Speaker 1: touched on this a second ago side with your Darisa analysis,
Speaker 1: and I agree. I think him being in there last
Speaker 1: week was key five hundred and seventy one yards of offense.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you can only go up from there. But really,
Speaker 1: if you think about it, when we're talking about Kirk's success,
Speaker 1: his confidence in the pocket and how well he performs
Speaker 1: when he doesn't have the pressure in his face, that
Speaker 1: just to me goes back to the line. I do
Speaker 1: think Kirk's making better decisions and maybe faster decisions, but
Speaker 1: they've only allowed nine sacks in six games so far,
Speaker 1: and I just really can't I don't think they get
Speaker 1: enough credit for maybe the job that they're doing right now.
Speaker 1: The mistakes that they had early on in the season
Speaker 1: really colored the image of what the team was able
Speaker 1: to do so far, and I think a lot of
Speaker 1: that was warranted. Like you said, especially week one, there
Speaker 1: were so many mistakes. A lot of people were really
Speaker 1: raising an eyebrow going what we got again this year.
Speaker 1: But given the derrisaw take and given some of the
Speaker 1: other players that have stepped up so far here in
Speaker 1: the last five games, it's been encouraging. So hopefully they
Speaker 1: continue to gel for the rest of the season and
Speaker 1: really solidify to give Kirk the time to be able
Speaker 1: to keep doing what he's been doing this front end
Speaker 1: of the season. All right, well, then let's move on
Speaker 1: to the final category in these in season superlatives. We've
Speaker 1: got Defensive MVP. Gabe. I'll let you go first for
Speaker 1: the last time. Defensive MVP does too, mister Daniel Hunter.
Speaker 1: Last year we had twenty three and a half SEX
Speaker 1: as a team. This year we have twenty one SEX
Speaker 1: as a team. Going in two week six we leave
Speaker 1: the NFL insects. Daniel Hunter is six in the NFO
Speaker 1: SEX with six and I think just his presence alone
Speaker 1: has made this entire defense better. There have been so
Speaker 1: many QB hurries, so many throwing away from the quarterback
Speaker 1: due to the new Hunter just being in its being
Speaker 1: in their face. And the fact that he didn't get
Speaker 1: a sack last week but got held on ten plays
Speaker 1: that didn't get called. I think that shows how much
Speaker 1: attention offensive lines and offensive coordinators are paying to him.
Speaker 1: And the fact that he's just being himself again and
Speaker 1: he picked up where he left off when he played
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. I think that shows how good this
Speaker 1: defense can be and will be going forward as we
Speaker 1: continue to progress. Danielle, he's the best player in our
Speaker 1: defense and in my opinion thus far throughout the first
Speaker 1: six games. Well, since we all can't pick the same person,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go on the other side and say
Speaker 1: Everson Griffin kind of piggyback with your point, because I
Speaker 1: think this defense needed more of an identity and more
Speaker 1: of a fire, like you mentioned Jay, where they just
Speaker 1: needed to be like like a nasty defense. They needed
Speaker 1: an edge. And I feel like all these guys are
Speaker 1: great and I really like all of their personalities, but
Speaker 1: Everson kind of adds this edge to things and I
Speaker 1: like that in a defense. I think he's a great
Speaker 1: compliment alongside daniel Obviously the sack member as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: Gabe is way up from last season, and I just
Speaker 1: think that, you know, again, I love a comeback story
Speaker 1: of such a sucker. I just love it. I love
Speaker 1: when a player can you know, and how honest and
Speaker 1: real he was when he's like, you know, grass isn't
Speaker 1: always greener. I'm back and I'm going to give everything
Speaker 1: to this team, and I think that's such a great
Speaker 1: example to set for all of these players in the
Speaker 1: locker room, as he is kind of like the elder
Speaker 1: statesman of it all. So that's my defensive MVP. J
Speaker 1: what's yours. I'm going with Eric Hendricks. We all saw
Speaker 1: last season how detrimental it was when he went out.
Speaker 1: So far this season he's got sixty tackles, two sacks,
Speaker 1: a pick, two PBUs and a fumble recovery, like he
Speaker 1: is the glue in the middle of that Vikings defense.
Speaker 1: And now getting Anthony barrback and having Nick Vigil step
Speaker 1: up the way he has at the front end of
Speaker 1: the season as well, I think Eric Hendricks coming into
Speaker 1: do what he's done so far this season. He has
Speaker 1: been that rock once again. And so for me, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say, Eric Kendricks, all right, SI, out of those
Speaker 1: three and I'm just kidding, you got one. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, you guys, you guys really picked the
Speaker 1: three front runners here. There's not a lot of other
Speaker 1: places to go. But you know, instead of piggybacking on
Speaker 1: one of yours, I'm not gonna say MVP, but I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do the same thing I did with the Derri
Speaker 1: Saw thing and say who when the season's over, I
Speaker 1: think will be considered the MVP. Yeah, and there are
Speaker 1: a bunch of Viking fans who are going to turn
Speaker 1: off their their phones right now because this is a
Speaker 1: divisive take that we have been arguing about here in
Speaker 1: Minnesota for what feels like forever. It's it's Anthony Barr.
Speaker 1: There's this NonStop discussion about what he brings to the team,
Speaker 1: if he's worth his value, if he because we're so
Speaker 1: used to the greatest linebackers in the NFL, Are Splashers,
Speaker 1: Ray Lewis, Lawrence Taylor, guys who gets side line to
Speaker 1: sideline and make their presence known constantly. But Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: coach is a very specific defense, right And Anthony Barr,
Speaker 1: regardless of the statistical numbers you see at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, is the wheel that turns that defense.
Speaker 1: He's the guy who should be wearing the dot. He's
Speaker 1: the guy who puts people in the right position. And
Speaker 1: you want to talk about, Gabe, you played football the
Speaker 1: most underrated and tell me if this take is dumb,
Speaker 1: But the most underrated thing in all of football is
Speaker 1: proper defensive containment. It never gets talked about on any show.
Speaker 1: It's not doing more than you should. It's being in
Speaker 1: the right place at the right time, not to necessarily
Speaker 1: even make a play, but to make the guy trying
Speaker 1: to get to that spot go a different direction and
Speaker 1: let somebody else make a play. Yeah, I'll give you that.
Speaker 1: And in this defense, Anthony Barr takes what was evolving
Speaker 1: weeks one through four and he has Now it's like
Speaker 1: you put the head on Megatron, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like it's like you've turned on the power switch. And
Speaker 1: I know fans you have their questions about him, but
Speaker 1: go ask Harrison Smith about it. Go ask Eric Kendricks.
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes in the NFL, when you ask a
Speaker 1: player about their teammate, you'll get the really generic like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they think this guy is good, but they're giving the
Speaker 1: answer that they've been coached to give. When you ask
Speaker 1: some of these guys about Anthony Barr, that's not the
Speaker 1: answer you get. You get this guy is the wheel
Speaker 1: that turns this defense. I think he is so incredibly important.
Speaker 1: I think if he stays healthy, he helps solidify with
Speaker 1: all these pieces that you guys are talking about, the
Speaker 1: correct sort of working defense that's more consistent and more
Speaker 1: in the right places at the right time that allow
Speaker 1: you to stop an offense like you're going to see
Speaker 1: occasionally in Dallas. So to me, I've always been a
Speaker 1: big Anthony Bar guy. I'm going to continue to be
Speaker 1: an Anthony Bar guy. And thought, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: that he was mistake free in the last two games,
Speaker 1: but in this double a gap scheme, Gabe, I just
Speaker 1: think he does all the things that no one notices.
Speaker 1: And then even Pro Football Focus, you know, doesn't know
Speaker 1: how to properly quantify. There were four plays in the
Speaker 1: first quarter of the Carolina Panthers game that Anthony Barr
Speaker 1: didn't make or show up in the stat sheet. But
Speaker 1: he made the play like he turned the ball into
Speaker 1: his defender, or he either got pressure on a quarterback,
Speaker 1: or he was in the right right gap assignment like
Speaker 1: he like Sam Darnold pumped Baked three or four times
Speaker 1: on that. I think it's a third play of the game,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Barr was literally guarding two people at the
Speaker 1: same time. And it's like that won't show up in
Speaker 1: the stat sheet, but what he's doing right now it's
Speaker 1: so helpful for our defense. Then, you know, in like movies,
Speaker 1: when somebody's going to break into like a junkyard or
Speaker 1: like private property and then all of a sudden, some
Speaker 1: gigantic mastiff come out and they're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna We're gonna go around the other way, Anthony.
Speaker 1: That's Anthony Barr. Just when he roams from side to sideline,
Speaker 1: even in not making plays, his presence and where he
Speaker 1: appears dictates what the He just his presence causes adjustment
Speaker 1: on the other side. And I think for this defense
Speaker 1: to be as good as they were against the Lions
Speaker 1: and the Panthers, for them to be you know, a
Speaker 1: version of that in these next four games, I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna need Anthony Barr to continue to be Anthony Barr.
Speaker 1: And to that point about Anthony Barr being Anthony Barr,
Speaker 1: I think that's tough for the fans sometimes because he
Speaker 1: may not be the most vocal in the media. He
Speaker 1: you know, he does a lot of community work, but
Speaker 1: he's not going to come and do a million interviews
Speaker 1: every week. He's not going to be the face of
Speaker 1: the defense as far as like a spokesperson. So I
Speaker 1: think that's sometimes hard to like appreciate how much you
Speaker 1: may not hear from him. One it's the ten Duncan
Speaker 1: effect too, where with Tim Duncan, you know, people think,
Speaker 1: you know, the last four or five years of his career,
Speaker 1: it was this constant conversation about how he's the greatest
Speaker 1: of all time at his position and this and that.
Speaker 1: People forget the first ten years when see Chris Webber
Speaker 1: was out there and Kevin Garnett was out there, he
Speaker 1: was always kind of undercut, like, yeah, he's good, but
Speaker 1: he didn't show emotion. He's not this explosive player, He's
Speaker 1: not all these things. And that's you know, Bar just
Speaker 1: does his job. He doesn't just because he's not dancing
Speaker 1: in the end zone doesn't mean he's not a great
Speaker 1: sideline sideline like linebacker. Bar is like a Harrison Smith
Speaker 1: to me, Like all they both care about is just
Speaker 1: their teammates, getting respect for their teammates, and then just
Speaker 1: doing their job. Like if they do that and the
Speaker 1: team wins, that's all they really care about. They'll talk
Speaker 1: to the media if they have to, but they don't
Speaker 1: really care about that because they understand talking to the
Speaker 1: media isn't going to help with their on field on
Speaker 1: field performance, so they understand that they have to do
Speaker 1: it rightfully so, but still it's just like, these guys
Speaker 1: in the locker room are what matter most, and to
Speaker 1: make sure they're good. I want to make sure my
Speaker 1: guys are getting plays. If a play comes to me, cool,
Speaker 1: I'll make it. But it's about the team. So that's
Speaker 1: why I respect and I'm sure that's why SI loves
Speaker 1: Anthony bar too, because he's a he's a team first guy,
Speaker 1: and he's he's so selfless. Yep, and speaking of you, Si, Um,
Speaker 1: we have one final question before we let you get
Speaker 1: going and wrap things up here on the Minnesota Vikings Podcast.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get your outlook on the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. You know, we should call this. We
Speaker 1: should call this size sentiment. Size sentiment. You've got that
Speaker 1: gauntlet the Cowboys after Ravens. All right, scratch that. Make
Speaker 1: sure you edit that out. I'm just teasing how I
Speaker 1: was gonna say. So let's call it size sentiment. Let's
Speaker 1: see how how we do it here, Si, this is
Speaker 1: your last thing you get to say as a part
Speaker 1: of the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. I think it's good. I
Speaker 1: think that's a good plan. Use your time wisely. Since
Speaker 1: the moment, Kirk Cousins arrived after the Minnesota miracle. Even
Speaker 1: though we went to the playoffs and beat the Saints
Speaker 1: and we had a couple it's kind of felt like
Speaker 1: we've had the same team. We've dealt with the same struggles.
Speaker 1: We've lost the same low scoring games to teams like
Speaker 1: the Bears and this Brown's loss this year, and I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just so ready for this next moment, these
Speaker 1: next four games, and a lot of fans are worried
Speaker 1: about them, but this is the culmination of all this
Speaker 1: time where now finally Kirk is playing the way he
Speaker 1: wants to be playing. It feels like he and Zimmer
Speaker 1: are jelly. You know, it's just a great opportunity. You know,
Speaker 1: you built this team, you wanted to compete. It's sitting
Speaker 1: right in front of you. You have four really great teams.
Speaker 1: Go out and go out and try to get three
Speaker 1: of these wins. Hell, at least try to get two
Speaker 1: of them. Show that you belong in the conversation. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked about this earlier in the podcast. This is,
Speaker 1: you know, a crucial year for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: you know, coaches, you know, you got a lot of
Speaker 1: players on one year deals. This is a crucial moment.
Speaker 1: I just I think it's gonna be fun. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're a fan, it's a little nerve
Speaker 1: wracking because you have no control. But I want to
Speaker 1: see this team break out of what they've been for
Speaker 1: four years and go on a run against some good teams.
Speaker 1: Let's let's go on or you know, back and right
Speaker 1: right before Kirk got here in the run of the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Miracle. You know that year played a lot of
Speaker 1: tight football games. We want a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of nice games that year, a lot of good games
Speaker 1: against a lot of good teams. Here's your chance to
Speaker 1: really take this step forward, and it's at the perfect moment.
Speaker 1: If you get rolling at the end of October and
Speaker 1: the beginning of November, you're ready. You've set yourself up
Speaker 1: with a little bit easier last few games of the season,
Speaker 1: and you can really be off to the races here.
Speaker 1: So I more than anything, I'm just excited after the
Speaker 1: last few years that we're kind of in this position
Speaker 1: where you know, the players and the coaches get to
Speaker 1: go out and either prove it or not. It's on them,
Speaker 1: and that's all that's all you can want as a
Speaker 1: fan is to have your team and a position to
Speaker 1: go out and compete like that. So I have no
Speaker 1: idea what's going to happen, no clue, And I think
Speaker 1: after these last six games, pretending like I know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen would be absolutely silly. It's very true
Speaker 1: we could go oh and four, we could go four
Speaker 1: and oh, But I think it's a wonderful moment for
Speaker 1: a lot of people involved in this organization, and it's
Speaker 1: a wonderful opportunity against some really good teams. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to put my worries aside and just enjoy the
Speaker 1: next few games. That's a great perspective, It honestly is,
Speaker 1: because this team is battle tested and I have faith
Speaker 1: in that. Personally, I like teams that show grit in
Speaker 1: these moments that the Vikings have showed in the last
Speaker 1: six weeks. I know this might come off a little
Speaker 1: cheesy or just kind of maybe too poetic, but I mean,
Speaker 1: they control their own destiny. Now they have they can
Speaker 1: make a decision. Are we going to take this fork
Speaker 1: in the road and be great? Are we going to
Speaker 1: continue to down the path of you know, mediocrity? And
Speaker 1: they can they can choose which fork they want to
Speaker 1: go into. I for one, look forward to size text
Speaker 1: messages being very balanced and very just cohesive, and I
Speaker 1: won't have to worry about any more of the worrying
Speaker 1: or ranting. Everything's gonna be fine. Yeah right, I call BS.
Speaker 1: And I also look forward to the fact that my
Speaker 1: phone will be blowing up between you and Chris Carso
Speaker 1: talking about how you're about ready to jump out a
Speaker 1: window because you can't take the amount of tense anxiety
Speaker 1: that's happening at that moment. So I like the sentiment side,
Speaker 1: I will hold your feet to the fire. And for
Speaker 1: the most part, no, that is not what's going to happen. Well,
Speaker 1: at least this week, he won't be texting you guys
Speaker 1: too crazy, excuse me, I got nothing going on. I
Speaker 1: still will. I know you've been around him, but I
Speaker 1: don't think you know him very well. If that is
Speaker 1: what you think is going to happen, trust me. Sunday morning,
Speaker 1: my phone will be blowing up right before kickoff for
Speaker 1: all these other teams going Okay, I have so much
Speaker 1: anxiety for who we're going to play. I have to
Speaker 1: find a way to pay attention to this. So I
Speaker 1: love the fact that we have these things, and it's
Speaker 1: always fun. I don't respond, and there's a reason at times,
Speaker 1: but for more than anything, I love the sentiment. I
Speaker 1: know it's not even that, it's not even about the
Speaker 1: coward side. It is purely about do I poke the bear?
Speaker 1: And do we really want to get into this for
Speaker 1: the next four hours of my life? I love how exactly,
Speaker 1: but the four hours of intensity going, do I text
Speaker 1: it back? Do I text it back? More than anything,
Speaker 1: I love having this side of being able to go
Speaker 1: back and forth on those kind of things, and nine
Speaker 1: times out of ten, I'm trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: do I craft a response here that's not going to
Speaker 1: just turn into complete chaos. So I love the sentiment.
Speaker 1: But at the same point I call bs well. For one,
Speaker 1: I love proving people wrong, just like Minnesota Vikings. So
Speaker 1: why don't you eat it? Jay Fazinga? And on that note,
Speaker 1: I think we should conclude this episode of the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Vikings podcast. Thank you so much, sy Amazon for joining
Speaker 1: us today. Love your insight, love your energy, and you're
Speaker 1: obviously we'll check in with you throughout the season and
Speaker 1: maybe even bring you in for some more superlatives or
Speaker 1: just another temperature check. For how things are going. Sounds
Speaker 1: great good. Thank you for having me, Thanks sorry, Thanks
Speaker 1: for Jane Nelson, Gabe Henderson, I'm Tatum Everett. Thanks for listening.