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Speaker 1: Welcome into the postseason edition of the Minnesota Vikings podcast.

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

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Speaker 1: The fourteen and three Vikings are headed to la for

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Speaker 1: the first round of the NFL Playoffs. As number five

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Speaker 1: seed in the NFC, the Vikings now face the NFC

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Speaker 1: West winners in the La Rams the NFL saving the

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Speaker 1: best for last again as it's Monday night football kick

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Speaker 1: from SOFI Stadium, and now it feels like a really

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Speaker 1: good time to bring in our guest, former Vikings running

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Speaker 1: back Robert Smith. He's a longtime friend of the program. Robert,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for talking to us today. How

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Speaker 1: have you been enjoying this season?

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Speaker 2: It was pretty enjoyable until this past weekend.

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Speaker 3: It was a tough loss. You know.

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Speaker 2: There was so much build up going into the game

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Speaker 2: and just excited to see a really good game, and

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Speaker 2: I thought that it would be a high scoring affair

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Speaker 2: on both sides, and of course it only ended up

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Speaker 2: being above thirty for one team, so it was it

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Speaker 2: was kind of a letdown. But I think you know,

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Speaker 2: from a timing perspective, you always talk about wanting to

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Speaker 2: play your best going into the playoffs. But when you

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Speaker 2: prepare to play your best and you don't, I think

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Speaker 2: it can expose or at least reveal some of the

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Speaker 2: weaknesses that you definitely need to work on. So if

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Speaker 2: there's a bright spot, that would be the one.

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Speaker 1: This team was on a nine game winning streak before

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Speaker 1: this game, and you like to see this happen in

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Speaker 1: a contest where you've already clinched the playoff berth. So

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Speaker 1: now you know you put stuff on tape that maybe

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Speaker 1: teams can see from you.

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Speaker 4: But how can you learn from this experience?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you look at the way that teams

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Speaker 2: have exposed some of your weaknesses and some of the

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Speaker 2: areas that they felt that they were going to be

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Speaker 2: able to gain an advantage. I think you start to

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Speaker 2: look at your protection schemes, you'd look at the execution

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Speaker 2: of those schemes. And then on the defensive side, you know,

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Speaker 2: there aren't many Jremior Gibbs fortunately in the National Football League,

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Speaker 2: and he's one of those guys that can just change

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Speaker 2: a game and it forces a really bad matchup a

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Speaker 2: lot of times with the linebacker and situations like that,

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Speaker 2: you need to react a little bit better and in

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Speaker 2: some cases just tackle a little bit better by taking

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Speaker 2: better angles.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and you talk about the defense. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: feel like they had a really really.

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Speaker 4: Good day there in the first half.

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Speaker 1: And coach even saidas I think this week in Ex's

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Speaker 1: and O's with Paul Allen, that if you don't have

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Speaker 1: the complimentary football, it doesn't matter how well your defense

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Speaker 1: plays there in the first half, because in the second

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Speaker 1: half it's just wasn't sustainable.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely not.

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Speaker 2: You know, you're on the field too much, and I

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Speaker 2: think guys just get a little bit worn out and

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Speaker 2: get a little bit worn out. Sometimes you do take

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Speaker 2: those bad angles and even the fundamentals start to break

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Speaker 2: down a little bit. So just chalk that one up

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Speaker 2: to experience. What else can you do? Right, The most

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Speaker 2: important play is always the next one, and the most

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Speaker 2: important game is always the next one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. It's funny because I think that the mindset of

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Speaker 1: this team has been and what I felt myself around

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Speaker 1: this facility since the game on Sunday night is that

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Speaker 1: they're moving on. They're going to correct what they need

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Speaker 1: to correct, and they know they're gonna be honest. They

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Speaker 1: know that they need to get better in certain areas.

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Speaker 1: But if I have to say, like, following Sam Donald's

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Speaker 1: lead and his mental fortitude I think has been a

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Speaker 1: bit a nice blueprint for this team. It takes me

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Speaker 1: back to that Jacksonville game, was a game where they

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Speaker 1: didn't score a touchdown, and ever since then he's been

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Speaker 1: on a heater.

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Speaker 4: How can he start that all over again?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just going back to fundamentals. And

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Speaker 2: I think the thing that made Sam Donald different this year,

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Speaker 2: and you saw a little bit with San Francisco a

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Speaker 2: year ago, and we had an opportunity to call it

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Speaker 2: one of his games when he was a.

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Speaker 3: Starter down in Carolina.

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Speaker 2: He's just gotten so much better with his fundamentals of

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Speaker 2: playing the position, whether it's understanding protections how he needs

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Speaker 2: to climb or slide, move subtly in the pocket, and

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Speaker 2: his anticipy patient just reading defenses extremely well. And credit

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Speaker 2: Aaron Glenn and that Detroit Lions defense, even with the

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Speaker 2: missing pieces, I think that they made Sam hold on

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Speaker 2: to the ball a little bit longer than he wanted

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Speaker 2: to sometimes probably should have gotten rid of it maybe

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Speaker 2: two or three times. And that's the thing about the

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Speaker 2: quarterback position. You have to have a short memory and

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Speaker 2: you have to just kind of let it go sometimes,

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Speaker 2: and I don't think that was the case with Sam Darnold.

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Speaker 2: And as you go into the playoffs, I think it's

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Speaker 2: good to have that lesson in live action under your belt.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it really is kind of interesting. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it didn't feel like all of the win was out

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Speaker 1: of the sales.

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Speaker 4: I mean, this is a fourteen win team.

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Speaker 1: And to be able to accomplish that in the NFL,

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Speaker 1: I mean throughout your years of playing. Obviously there weren't

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Speaker 1: seventeen games and whatnot, so that was really hard to

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Speaker 1: get to. But how hard is it to be able

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Speaker 1: to stack wins like that in this league?

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Speaker 3: That's extremely difficult.

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Speaker 2: And I think when you look at coach O'Connell's record,

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Speaker 2: I think it was somewhere around twenty six and eight

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Speaker 2: or twenty six and nine, and those one score games,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of those were one score games.

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Speaker 3: I think the.

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Speaker 2: Fundamentals are there, the structure, the foundation is there for

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Speaker 2: the team. And again, when you look at film like that,

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Speaker 2: as difficult as it can be to kind of relive

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Speaker 2: the loss that you just have, it really does kind

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Speaker 2: of point out those areas where you get better and

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Speaker 2: that ultimately is what each person has to do on

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Speaker 2: each play is look back and say, did I really

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Speaker 2: step the way that I was supposed to step? Did

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Speaker 2: I take that blitzerer on the way that I was

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Speaker 2: supposed to Did I use that correct angle when I

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Speaker 2: was going in for that tackle? Did I see that

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Speaker 2: route combination unfolding the.

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Speaker 3: Way that it was?

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Speaker 2: And so when you go back and you individually look

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Speaker 2: at your one to eleventh, it becomes a pretty clear

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Speaker 2: path as to how you need to improve.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this team hopes to have improved over that

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Speaker 1: stretch of games since the last time they played the Rams.

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Speaker 1: Obviously this is a team they saw before. The Veggans

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Speaker 1: have two losses on the year, one of them being

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Speaker 1: the Rams, and it was a way total different situation.

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Speaker 1: You're coming off of that Lions game, you have a

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Speaker 1: short week, you go in, your left tackle goes down

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Speaker 1: mid game, You're forced to play with your backup. Now

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Speaker 1: you've had a few games to get even better. Cam

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Speaker 1: Robinson in a trade has been a sneaky move by

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Speaker 1: this front office this entire season.

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Speaker 4: How do you think this.

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Speaker 1: Team can use what happened in LA to their advantage

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Speaker 1: this time? Being that it's so or can they use

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Speaker 1: it at all since it's been such a long time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a you don't really kind of

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Speaker 2: look at it that way. And I think you know,

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Speaker 2: what you've seen out of the Rams really over the

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Speaker 2: last couple of years is they've gotten better as the

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Speaker 2: season has gone on, and I think, you know, it's

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Speaker 2: going to be a tough defensive challenge our offense against

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Speaker 2: their defense. I think it's a tougher challenge, maybe even

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Speaker 2: tougher than what they faced against the Lions. And you

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Speaker 2: don't really think, I don't believe that a team's going

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Speaker 2: to be the same because they generally don't play you

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Speaker 2: the same way that they did before. The things that

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Speaker 2: you see in that first matchup are going to be

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Speaker 2: a lot different than what they're going to use against you.

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Speaker 2: And I think again, it's fortunate for the Vikings to

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Speaker 2: have had that loss at the end of the year

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Speaker 2: because you better believe that the Rams are going to

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Speaker 2: be breaking that film down and say, well, this is

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Speaker 2: that we can try, this is a protection that we

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Speaker 2: think we're going to be able to exploit, or these

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Speaker 2: are players defensively that we think we can get out

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Speaker 2: of position so I think it's more about breaking down

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Speaker 2: the individual matchup on that week than it is going

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Speaker 2: all the way back to whatever that was. I guess

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Speaker 2: it was October and say, well, I think this is

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Speaker 2: what we're going to build our Branda.

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Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned that. Have you watched any RAMS

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Speaker 1: games this season?

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Speaker 3: It's been a while, you know for me too.

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Speaker 4: But one thing that I saw that was really interesting.

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Speaker 1: Obviously this past week when they lost to the Seahawks,

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Speaker 1: they rested all their starters. But before that, to your

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Speaker 1: point of their defense, they've been playing exceptionally well in

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Speaker 1: the last three weeks. Before then, in weeks fifteen through seventeen,

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Speaker 1: they only allowed eight points per game on average, four

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Speaker 1: point eight yards per play on average, two passing touchdowns total,

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Speaker 1: and eighty three point seven rushing yards per game. I mean,

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Speaker 1: hearing those stats, you're like, man, what are they doing correct? Like,

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Speaker 1: what are they doing so good right now?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think when you look at the execution of

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Speaker 2: their defense and you just kind of see the way

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Speaker 2: that this staff has really been able to kind of

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Speaker 2: mold this unit into what they wanted it to be

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Speaker 2: all year long, I think it's just they've They've gotten

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Speaker 2: so much better both sides of the ball, really, but

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Speaker 2: I think particularly on the defensive side of the ball,

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Speaker 2: just playing very disciplined football. And you know, when you

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Speaker 2: have a unit that believes in itself, it's got some talent.

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Speaker 2: You have coordinator that you know has been around the

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Speaker 2: game for a while and understands how to use those guys,

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Speaker 2: they get better and better as the season goes on.

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Speaker 1: We are currently talking to former Vikings running back Robert

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Speaker 1: Smith here on the Minnesota Vikings podcast, and Robert, I

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Speaker 1: really wanted to get your thoughts on the run game

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Speaker 1: this year. You know, it's always been a point of

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Speaker 1: emphasis for Kevin O'Connell and the staff is to establish

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Speaker 1: that run game, and I really feel like this year

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Speaker 1: they were able to get a better, you know, a

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Speaker 1: better operation, Goug, I guess you can say than in

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Speaker 1: the past two seasons, mainly because Aaron Jones has been awesome.

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Speaker 1: What do you like about his game?

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Speaker 3: I just say he's versatile back.

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Speaker 2: He can just do so much and he's not the

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Speaker 2: biggest back in the world, but he runs with great body, lean,

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Speaker 2: he finishes runs extremely hard, and then when you do

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Speaker 2: give him those opportunities to come out of the backfield.

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Speaker 2: He's so quick, so good with his lateral movement for

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Speaker 2: a guy I believe he just turned thirty, you know,

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Speaker 2: for a running back, that's a senior days, right, So.

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Speaker 3: It's been around the game that long and it's kind

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Speaker 3: of molded his game.

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Speaker 2: I think he's gotten even better at making people miss.

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Speaker 2: And when you don't have the speed that you had

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Speaker 2: in your early twenties, you get a little bit better

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Speaker 2: with your lab movement.

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Speaker 3: But he's done a nice job. Think I think he's

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Speaker 3: done a great job of following as.

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Speaker 2: Blockers, and you know, you see a little bit more

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Speaker 2: insert out of the scheme where you have wide receivers,

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Speaker 2: you have tight ends kind of moving into the line

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Speaker 2: as blocker, almost like a like counter power more of

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Speaker 2: a gap scheme type of philosophy mixed in with some

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Speaker 2: of the zone schemes. So I think they've done a

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Speaker 2: tremendous job and Aaron's been a great addition.

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Speaker 1: We have to pause right now, but more from Robert

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Speaker 1: Visit All true dot com slash code. Welcome into the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings Podcast. I'm your host, Tatum Everett from the

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Speaker 1: Vikings Entertainment Network, and if you listen to the first

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Speaker 1: half of our show, we have a very fun guest

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Speaker 1: this week. It is former Vikings running back Robert Smith,

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Speaker 1: and our conversation continues. Now, those things that you say,

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Speaker 1: like that you've seen them change THEMIT for two more

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Speaker 1: gap skives. Is that something that you've seen Kevin O'Connell

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Speaker 1: intentionally add or adjust into his scheme.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's kind of it's been something

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Speaker 2: across the league that we've seen more of, you know,

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Speaker 2: as these boxes get lighter depending on the personnel or

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Speaker 2: depending on the formation, and sometimes you go with a

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Speaker 2: true lead blocker like a CJ. Ham, or sometimes you

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Speaker 2: use those tight ends. And of course, the great thing

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Speaker 2: about versatile tight ends, you know, like a TJ. Howkinson,

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Speaker 2: is you know you can use a guy like that

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Speaker 2: to pull around, get up into the line of scrimmage,

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Speaker 2: or you can release him and have a favorable matchup

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Speaker 2: against a linebacker or a safety. So that's you know,

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Speaker 2: you talk about complimentary offense and defense, we also have

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Speaker 2: complimentary run and pass schemes. You really want to have

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Speaker 2: counters off of runs, so you see action one way

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Speaker 2: and then you have it coming back the other way.

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Speaker 2: You want good play action off of those, so you

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Speaker 2: really want to kind of give up defenses similar looks

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Speaker 2: with your run game with slight variations.

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Speaker 1: How do you think the one two punch of with

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Speaker 1: cam Akers in there has been It's kind of been

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Speaker 1: a little bit of fresh air and just incredible to

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Speaker 1: see him come back over what he has faced with

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Speaker 1: two achilles injuries and being able to run like that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been awesome.

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Speaker 2: And you know, when you've been through an injury one time,

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Speaker 2: kind of coming back the second time, it's a little

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Speaker 2: bit better. You have a little bit more confidence early

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Speaker 2: because you kind of know the different milestones that you're

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Speaker 2: going to experience and you're a little bit more patient

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Speaker 2: with it. You understand that it's a process. But it's

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Speaker 2: been great. And obviously coach O'Connell had the experience with

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Speaker 2: him when he was with the Rams and knew what

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Speaker 2: kind of player he was, but more importantly what kind

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Speaker 2: of person he was. He's from a personality and mentality standpoint.

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Speaker 1: So now Robert, we are headed into the playoffs and

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Speaker 1: it's going to be a tough road.

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Speaker 4: You have to win four games if you want it all.

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Speaker 1: And it really starts with the Rams as a player,

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Speaker 1: Like what makes playoff football different?

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Speaker 2: It's win or go home. And I think it's not

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Speaker 2: just what makes the playoffs in the NFL different. I

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Speaker 2: think what makes football so exciting. I mean you talk

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Speaker 2: about basketball or hockey or baseball and you're like, well,

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Speaker 2: we lose this game, we'll get them when we get

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Speaker 2: back to our place or something like that, right, like

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Speaker 2: you don't thankfully you don't have seven games series.

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Speaker 4: No series is right.

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Speaker 2: It's that excitement, but it's the urgency really that it

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Speaker 2: brings to the game, and it brings to your preparation

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Speaker 2: more importantly, because we say so many times games are

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Speaker 2: won and lost during the course of the week and

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Speaker 2: the way you prepare, and I think especially coming off

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Speaker 2: the loss, the disappointment with all the build up going

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Speaker 2: in to that Lions.

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Speaker 3: Game on the road. Now you have to go on

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Speaker 3: the road again.

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Speaker 2: That business trip starts a little bit early, but that

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Speaker 2: focus is that much more intense.

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Speaker 4: How does that change things?

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Speaker 1: Because it's interesting that you know, sofi stadium rams, it's

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Speaker 1: not known as this like treacherous fan environment.

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Speaker 4: Like we were just experienced at Ford Field.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I've never heard a crowd like ford Field,

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Speaker 1: like I mean I have, but only in like massive

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Speaker 1: games and sometimes we're in the press boxes and we

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Speaker 1: have those closed air press boxes. So like in Seattle,

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Speaker 1: for instance, I didn't hear a thing. I'm sure the

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Speaker 1: Twelfth Man is awesome. I've heard great things, but like

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Speaker 1: me being in the press box not a thing. But

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Speaker 1: Ford Field is wide open and my ears are still

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Speaker 1: ringing like a few days later, so we're thinking so

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Speaker 1: Ifi stadium and as a player you don't really have

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Speaker 1: to worry about that too much.

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Speaker 4: Can that be an advantage, you.

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Speaker 3: Know for me?

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Speaker 2: And I think the best way to prepare is to

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Speaker 2: try and block out as much of that stuff as

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Speaker 2: you can. Obviously, on a game day, when you do

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Speaker 2: have that noise, it's just more difficult to make communication,

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Speaker 2: you know, on the offensive side.

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Speaker 3: Defense.

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Speaker 2: Defense can be a little bit better on the road

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Speaker 2: because they're quiet for that opposing offense, and so you

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Speaker 2: can do a little bit more on the verbal communication

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Speaker 2: side with your signaling. So I think it's just important

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Speaker 2: to prepare the best you can and understand that games

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Speaker 2: always come down to execution. You make a few plays

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Speaker 2: here or there, even in that first half again Detroit,

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Speaker 2: and maybe get that safety call that should have been

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Speaker 2: galled against GoF right, little things like that, you know,

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Speaker 2: you get after that, But little things like that, you

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Speaker 2: don't worry about the environment so much as really just

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Speaker 2: kind of vectoring.

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Speaker 3: In, zeroing in on your job on.

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Speaker 2: That particular play, because it always comes down to particular plays,

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Speaker 2: and the thing is you just don't know which of

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Speaker 2: those five or six plays are going to be the

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Speaker 2: difference in the game.

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Speaker 1: So let's kind of look forward to Monday night and

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Speaker 1: we're watching the game. Is what are the Vikings doing

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Speaker 1: right in order to walk away and keep their season alive.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think offensively, particularly in the middle of that

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Speaker 2: offensive line, you're going to need better play there. There

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Speaker 2: are a couple of times where they kind of lost

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Speaker 2: blitzers in the middle, and it's kind of something that

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Speaker 2: happened in the first game two against the lines, and

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Speaker 2: I think three of the first sacks came from the

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Speaker 2: linebacker level. So it's really I think the interior of

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Speaker 2: that offensive line. You always need to be stout at tackle,

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Speaker 2: but I think from a running back perspective and helping

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Speaker 2: out with pass protection, you really kind of have to

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Speaker 2: put a little bit more emphasis on those blitzers. Make sure,

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Speaker 2: especially if you're a running back out, you don't leak

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Speaker 2: a little bit too early, even if one of those linebackers.

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Speaker 2: Blitzing is the assignment of one of the linemen.

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Speaker 1: Okay, and then defensively, I mean, this unit was not

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Speaker 1: able to get a sack on Matthew Stafford.

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Speaker 4: How can they bring him to the Crown and.

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Speaker 1: Just be sure to rattle his game because you know

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Speaker 1: he's a vet.

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Speaker 4: It's like a Jared Goff situation.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's you've got a pressure him, or he's

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Speaker 1: just gonna do his checkdowns and then hit you with

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Speaker 1: a deep ball.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he'll light you up.

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Speaker 2: And you know that Super Bowl victory that they had

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Speaker 2: against the Bengals, that's actually the only Super Bowl that

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Speaker 2: I've ever been to, and that was out there at SOFI,

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Speaker 2: so I saw Stafford to operate in real time and

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Speaker 2: you know, had the no look pass and everything like that.

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Speaker 3: He's been around the game a long time. He's seen everything.

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Speaker 2: So it really does come down to execution, and it's

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Speaker 2: really about execution of your particular technique. You know, we

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Speaker 2: think of units all the time, but it's really it

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Speaker 2: comes down a lot of times. And this is Brian

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Speaker 2: Floores in the way that he designs things. You want

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Speaker 2: to try and get isolation on the outside. You know,

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Speaker 2: you want Van Ginkle and Grenard to have those opportunities

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Speaker 2: to be one on one against tackles, and then for

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Speaker 2: them it's kind of reaching into that bag of tricks,

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Speaker 2: the toolkit that they have from a pack rush tool

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Speaker 2: standpoint and going out and executing it, because you are

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Speaker 2: going to have to try and find a way to

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Speaker 2: pressure him because, as you said, you give him time,

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Speaker 2: he's going to make you pay.

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Speaker 1: All right, Robert, Well, one more thing before we let

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Speaker 1: you head out. This coaching staff, this locker room chemistry.

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Speaker 1: As someone who's been in several locker rooms before, what's

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Speaker 1: it been like to see that evolve.

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Speaker 4: Over the year or over this season for this Viking screen?

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Speaker 4: Like how special is it?

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Speaker 3: It's been great?

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Speaker 2: And you know, Coach O'Connell invited me up to talk

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Speaker 2: to the team in the summer of twenty three, and

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Speaker 2: as you know, I'm up there a fair amount of time,

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Speaker 2: so I've been in that locker room. I've seen these

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Speaker 2: guys and they really are a great unit. And I

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Speaker 2: think it's just it's, you know, from the top down

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Speaker 2: in the organization, from the Will family down to Quasi

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Speaker 2: and a coach of course, with coach O'Connell and his staff,

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Speaker 2: they're a very sincere group. And you know, there's the

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Speaker 2: saying that players don't care what you know until they

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Speaker 2: know that you care when you're a coach, and I

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Speaker 2: think you certainly have that not just with the staff,

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Speaker 2: but you have that from the organization, and so this

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Speaker 2: is a group that believes in themselves, but they also

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Speaker 2: understand that that belief has to come with an understanding

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Speaker 2: of what it is that you didn't do the previous

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Speaker 2: week that you're going to need to do on the

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Speaker 2: road to come away with the victory this time.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Monday night, Robert, what's the setup look like? How

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Speaker 1: are we how do we game prep for this throughout Monday?

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Speaker 4: Are you? You know?

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Speaker 1: Do you go about your day normally? Do you think

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Speaker 1: about it? Do you watch some tape? Like what are

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Speaker 1: you doing to get ready?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: No, I don't do a whole unless I'm calling a game.

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Speaker 2: There's not a whole lot of prep going on. Being

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Speaker 2: excited about it, you know, it takes me back I remember,

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Speaker 2: you know on those late games, a lot of times

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Speaker 2: you're sitting around the hotel and you can't wait until

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Speaker 2: that and get started. So you kind of experience that

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Speaker 2: from Afar because you know that the players are going

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Speaker 2: through it, and you think about what they're going through.

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Speaker 3: But I'm just excited. I'm excited for them to have.

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Speaker 2: An opportunity to go out and get the taste of

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Speaker 2: ford Field out.

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Speaker 3: Of their mouth.

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Speaker 1: Me too, Me too, Because for me, I've loved the

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Speaker 1: way that this team has responded whether they're bad games.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they just didn't have a very like spirited

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00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,720
Speaker 1: performance against Jacksonville and watching them come back and be

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Speaker 1: so confident, I really think that that's the key, just

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00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,000
Speaker 1: finding that confidence once more and not letting that get

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00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 1: to you thinking it's a fluke.

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Speaker 4: Thinking it's like, we know what we did.

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Speaker 1: And like, the one thing I took away from Kevin

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Speaker 1: O'Connell's press conference that I thought was just really really

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Speaker 1: awesome is that we're going to look at ourselves in

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00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 1: the mirror and be accountable for our mistakes, but we

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00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,080
Speaker 1: want to know why it happened. So it's not being

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Speaker 1: upset or pointing fingers or anything like that. It's about

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Speaker 1: being accountable and understanding the why, which I mean, if

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Speaker 1: that's what we're going off of, I have a lot

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Speaker 1: of confidence this week.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, I mean that's that's what it comes down to.

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Speaker 3: The tape doesn't lie.

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Speaker 1: Well, your tape never lied. We love having you, Robert Smith.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for everything that you do for us,

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00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,680
Speaker 1: for being one of our awesome vikings. Legends and if

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00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,720
Speaker 1: we have a playoff game back here, Robert, I expect

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Speaker 1: to see you.

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Speaker 4: Okay, deal, all right, deal, Thank you so much, appreciate you,

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Speaker 4: all right.

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Speaker 3: Thanks Adam.

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Speaker 4: Laurie, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: So much to former Vikings running back Robert Smith, one

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00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,959
Speaker 1: of my all time favorite Vikings legends, to catch up too.

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00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,719
Speaker 1: I love the fact that he still watches all the games,

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00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 1: is still so invested in what our team is doing,

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00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: and what they are doing right now is heading to

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles for the first round of the NFL playoffs.

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Speaker 4: Fans, don't forget.

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Speaker 1: It is a Monday night football kickoff from Sofi Stadium.

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Speaker 4: And if you're trying to get.

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Speaker 1: Into the Viking spirit, check out Vikings dot com. There's

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00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,320
Speaker 1: a playoffs tab. It'll show you local fan rallies. We

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00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 1: have all the exciting playoff content to get you ready

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00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,679
Speaker 1: for the big game, and we want to see you

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Speaker 1: in person.

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Speaker 4: There's even a watch party.

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Speaker 1: So for all of those details, check out Vikings dot

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Speaker 1: com on the playoffs tab. This has been your MVP

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings podcast. I'm Tatum Beverett. Thank you so much

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00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:36,400
Speaker 1: for listening.

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Speaker 4: And skull by