Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on? You're played by the play voice
Speaker 1: Paul Allen, joined by analyst and a former Vikings player
Speaker 1: and coach, Pete Versus. Following a convincing Philadelphia Eagles victory
Speaker 1: over Minnesota twenty four to seven. It is the first
Speaker 1: loss in the Kevin O'Connell era, and the team is
Speaker 1: one and one with Detroit on the horizon. Let's begin
Speaker 1: here before we start hearing from some of the luminaries
Speaker 1: with the Minnesota Vikings. But Kirk Cousins had three interceptions
Speaker 1: and they couldn't get anything going in the running game.
Speaker 1: How much did that factor into this? Peter factored huge?
Speaker 1: Is Philadelphia had an interception, We blocked the field goal,
Speaker 1: you tall, you know, we were inside the thirty yard
Speaker 1: line I believe four times, at least three, maybe four times,
Speaker 1: and put got zero points out of any of those drives.
Speaker 1: So that was huge. It was, you know, the first
Speaker 1: interception to slay, I think it was a miscommunication between
Speaker 1: JJ and Cousins. The next couple, you know, those were
Speaker 1: on Kirk. Kirk trying to make something happen, so, you know,
Speaker 1: pushing a little bit too hard, and this offense started
Speaker 1: out slowly. You know, Philadelphia, to their credit, changed the
Speaker 1: front that they played. They brought different people in the game,
Speaker 1: and you know, they wanted to play a five man front,
Speaker 1: get Hassan Reddick on the outside, bringing Jordan Davis to
Speaker 1: play nos and they did that and it took a
Speaker 1: little while for the Vikings to adjust. Meanwhile, defensively, you
Speaker 1: were holding on, you were holding on, and then things
Speaker 1: started to break defensively and mental areas, drop passes offensively,
Speaker 1: mental areas defensively. Those were the difference makers in tonight's game.
Speaker 1: When you spend the entire well not the entire wake
Speaker 1: up practice, but when so much your focus is on
Speaker 1: a team that just ran for two one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixteen yards and four touchdowns and they come out throwing
Speaker 1: and Jalen Hurts passed for three hundred and thirty three yards,
Speaker 1: it's I certainly, in no way would say were the
Speaker 1: Vikings not prepared or ready for an Eagles passing game.
Speaker 1: But it can't be disputed that many of these pass
Speaker 1: catchers were wide open. Oh they were. And that's exactly
Speaker 1: It's It's one thing. It's one thing when a guy
Speaker 1: you get the right you know, thread the needle or
Speaker 1: you get a good throw and a good catch. This
Speaker 1: is this is a situation where we were just turning
Speaker 1: guys loose. I mean that the touchdown early to Koys Watkins,
Speaker 1: that was a three level route. We had two defenders
Speaker 1: chasing the seven route, the corner route, nobody covering the
Speaker 1: clear The clear is normally the decoy. That's normally the
Speaker 1: route that you're run to clear out the zone. It's
Speaker 1: exactly what they call it a clear route, and we
Speaker 1: just said that, but we're not going to cover him.
Speaker 1: So you know, Jalen Hurts, they started hit with him
Speaker 1: throwing a week ago against Detroit, he started that game
Speaker 1: oh for five. Tonight he started five for five. So
Speaker 1: you know, credit, you gotta give credit what credits due.
Speaker 1: I mean they they have a very extensive running attack.
Speaker 1: We were physical with Jalen Hurts early. I think if
Speaker 1: we could have kept them in that game and that
Speaker 1: game plan, those hits would have added up. You know,
Speaker 1: this score twenty four to seven. You know, I know
Speaker 1: a lot of fans are gonna be out here. We
Speaker 1: go again, same old Vikings. There was This is a
Speaker 1: closer game than you think. I'm not saying that the
Speaker 1: Vikings would have come away a winner, but there were
Speaker 1: so many missed opportunities offensively and defensively, Paul, it's it's
Speaker 1: hard for me to get to that second level of
Speaker 1: that and saying ifs and thens and you know, because
Speaker 1: if if you can't, if you're not catching the ball
Speaker 1: out of the backfield, if you're not covering guys, you
Speaker 1: mean it's gonna be a long year. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: whatever momentum that we had in Week one and emotion
Speaker 1: and everything that we carried into that Green Bay game,
Speaker 1: somehow that was lost along the way. And I think
Speaker 1: you take a look at this team and they were
Speaker 1: walk up this field and I of the twenty two starters,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, you know, eighteen of them are gonna
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, I could have played a lot better.
Speaker 1: But I do want to take a second, Paul and
Speaker 1: give a hat tip to the special teams unit. Wow,
Speaker 1: they they won. You talk about three phase matchup, they
Speaker 1: won the game. They the block field goal, uh, putting
Speaker 1: us on around the thirty yard line. You know, they
Speaker 1: they were difference makers tonight, flipping the field, the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So you get, I gotta give, I gotta, I gotta
Speaker 1: you know, give a tip of the cap to to
Speaker 1: that unit and how well those guys play tonight. Coming
Speaker 1: up on the Postgame Report podcast, so you will hear
Speaker 1: the thoughts of Kevin O'Connell via his press conference, likewise
Speaker 1: for Kirk Cousins, and the debut of Ron Johnson's Three Takes.
Speaker 1: But we begin with Gabe Henderson and Ben Lieber and
Speaker 1: Between the Lines. Welcome to Between the Lines, fueled by Gatorade.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Vikings fall to the Philadelphia Eagles twenty four
Speaker 1: to seven here at Lincoln Financial Field, and Ben Lieber
Speaker 1: is joining me today, and Ben, from start to finish,
Speaker 1: it seemed like the Minnesota Vikings just wasn't ready for
Speaker 1: what the Philadelphia Eagles had. What were your thoughts on
Speaker 1: how this game started and then concluded for the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: You know, I got admit I was a little surprised
Speaker 1: by just how how little we could compete with them
Speaker 1: on a series by series basis. And I knew when
Speaker 1: when they received the first half kickoff that all right,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have something for us. I mean, it's game
Speaker 1: two for them as well, and and you know, certainly
Speaker 1: they didn't empty the whole playbook last week, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna see some new wrinkles. We saw tempo, we saw
Speaker 1: you know, right off the bat they go empty personnel,
Speaker 1: and we saw Jalen Hurts's arm. You know, we we
Speaker 1: all talked about it before the game that hey, we
Speaker 1: got to make sure that we put Jalen Hurts in
Speaker 1: situation where he's got to become a passing quarterback. Well
Speaker 1: he did that on the first drive and looked really,
Speaker 1: really good and never really lost the momentum as the
Speaker 1: game went on, and then all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: start throwing in the idea that he can pass the ball.
Speaker 1: Now they still have the read option. Our defense was
Speaker 1: on their heels the whole time. Offensively, a lot of
Speaker 1: just missed opportunities that I saw. We had the protection
Speaker 1: there that the offensive line was providing Kirk. I think
Speaker 1: Kirk missed some throws and missed some open receivers in
Speaker 1: the first quarter and then kind of settled in, was
Speaker 1: able to find some rhythm. You get that big drop
Speaker 1: by Earv, you get a bunch more drops by basically
Speaker 1: every receiver, seemed like in the second half, and you know,
Speaker 1: miss reads. You know, JJ whether or not he ran
Speaker 1: the wrong route after that blocked field goal. That was
Speaker 1: a momentum killer. I mean it was just missed opportunities
Speaker 1: that you can't have when you're playing in a really
Speaker 1: hostile environment on primetime TV. Yeah, there were two setting
Speaker 1: change moments tonight, the block field goat and then the
Speaker 1: Jordan Hicks interception, and we got zero points off of
Speaker 1: setting change And playing an atmosphere like this, you need
Speaker 1: any kind of momentum that you can get. But I
Speaker 1: want to go back to Jalen Hurts almost four hundred total. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess all purple jars today. I pretty much did
Speaker 1: whatever he won. But one thing we were talking about
Speaker 1: was the middle of the field for this defense was
Speaker 1: wide open. What does a running quarterback due to a
Speaker 1: defense that causes holes like that in the defense? Well,
Speaker 1: it's interesting, and this is why I think I think
Speaker 1: Philly's offense is going to be a hard out all
Speaker 1: season long. You go back a week ago and Detroit's
Speaker 1: linebackers were very aggressive. They were getting downhill very quickly
Speaker 1: to try to stop any sort of running game as
Speaker 1: if the ball was handed off, and they were exploited
Speaker 1: in the passing game whenever they would pull the ball
Speaker 1: out so it looked like the Vikings linebackers took the
Speaker 1: approach this week of just sort of skating and staying lateral,
Speaker 1: not committing to go downhill, so they leave themselves open. Well,
Speaker 1: what that does is put them in constant conflict. They
Speaker 1: were neither attacking the line of scrimmage, nor were they
Speaker 1: dropping back in coverage and taking away some of those windows.
Speaker 1: So they were sort of stuck right where they started,
Speaker 1: and they were in a little bit of like, you know,
Speaker 1: coverage purgatory. You're not really helping up front, you're not
Speaker 1: really helping the guys in the back end. Things were
Speaker 1: being thrown in front of the safeties, which is fine,
Speaker 1: which is the way the way the defense is designed.
Speaker 1: But again, because they didn't know at all whether the
Speaker 1: balls gonna be handed off or the balls being passed,
Speaker 1: and they're always playing on their heels, they could never
Speaker 1: get a beat on it. They couldn't they couldn't play aggressive,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of damned if you do, damned
Speaker 1: if you don't. Yeah, how did that affect third down?
Speaker 1: Because they were seven or thirteen on third down they
Speaker 1: average over ten yards per third down, and it seemed
Speaker 1: like we couldn't stopped them. So how did that run
Speaker 1: pass option affect our defense when it came to stopping
Speaker 1: them and giving the ball back to our offense. Well,
Speaker 1: we saw too many times with our corners and our safeties.
Speaker 1: Either it's bad eyes or their mental busum. It's not
Speaker 1: all on the linebackers. We had a number of occasions
Speaker 1: where it seemed like a safety would bite on an
Speaker 1: intermediate route and we get we get a big one
Speaker 1: over the top. You know, we got a couple look
Speaker 1: like on cam dancler side where he would let a
Speaker 1: guy go thinking that something's going to come back to
Speaker 1: him and it wasn't there. And then you know, guys,
Speaker 1: guys doing this too much at each other, like arms
Speaker 1: out in the air like that. Me is that you
Speaker 1: like what's going on? And so again, I just think
Speaker 1: that because you have to keep one eye on the
Speaker 1: running game and one eye on the passing game, had
Speaker 1: our defense just spinning like a top. I want to
Speaker 1: move to the offensive side of the ball. This is
Speaker 1: a shock, say everybody, but Kirk Cousins led our offensive
Speaker 1: rushing yards. Ye had twenty rushing yards. Dal should never happen.
Speaker 1: That should never happen. Dalvin cook on. We had six rushes.
Speaker 1: So what did this Philadelphia Eagles do to limit us too?
Speaker 1: I guess throwing the ball more than what we wanted
Speaker 1: to do. Well. I think they got great penetration up front. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, right from right from the get go. On
Speaker 1: the very first snap, you know, Dressau got blown back,
Speaker 1: you know, just hat in hands right in its chest
Speaker 1: on a running play, and and um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think from there it kind of set the tone that
Speaker 1: those guys are those front four, We're gonna stay aggressive
Speaker 1: and get up field. And you know, we tried different avenues.
Speaker 1: I thought we had, you know, one drive where we
Speaker 1: went twenty one personnel, which is two running backs, one
Speaker 1: tight end. It's a base. It's calling for base personnel
Speaker 1: on defense, and we spread them out. We went empty formation.
Speaker 1: We really messed with some of their mismatches and we
Speaker 1: took advantage of that. When it comes to run game,
Speaker 1: we when we have to get off scripts so early
Speaker 1: because we need to score now, we have to we
Speaker 1: have to steal back some of that momentum. I think
Speaker 1: it got us a little bit off schedule. You know,
Speaker 1: we couldn't play vertically with our offensive line, and again
Speaker 1: they just beat us up. They they flat outs, kind
Speaker 1: of flat out kind of beat us up. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I guess them beating us up only caused adversity. And
Speaker 1: going back to Kevin O'Connell's first press conference, he talked
Speaker 1: about he wants to start having adversity. Yeah. We talked
Speaker 1: in the Minnesota Vikings podcast earlier this week about us
Speaker 1: being in this honeymoon phase since early February when Kevin
Speaker 1: O'Connell got highed. We're out of that phase now. Yeah. Sure,
Speaker 1: So going forward or going back to your conversation from
Speaker 1: a Kevin O'Connell post game, where does this Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: team go from here? Well, look, I mean these things
Speaker 1: are gonna happen. I mean, the coach is not gonna
Speaker 1: go first year head coach, and not a lot of
Speaker 1: coach is gonna go seventeen to nine, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: face some adversity. Really, it's just unfortunate that it fell
Speaker 1: as flat as it did today. You know, the really
Speaker 1: the only bright spot was a special teams. They played
Speaker 1: really well, and look, coach O'Connell was you know, I
Speaker 1: think his mood was expected, you know, it was it
Speaker 1: was fine. I mean, obviously he wasn't happy about it,
Speaker 1: but I don't I don't think that he was completely
Speaker 1: dejected because he knows he's got another opportunity. He's got
Speaker 1: another opportunity to look at what went right and what
Speaker 1: went wrong. And I think everybody's just excited to see
Speaker 1: this team go back to US Banks stay him against
Speaker 1: another division opponent. Um, you know, these division games are
Speaker 1: so important. Against a really tough Detroit Lions team, Let's
Speaker 1: see how they respond. You know, seeing how you respond
Speaker 1: to adversity is not always about what happens in the game.
Speaker 1: Let's see how these guys respond to adversity with a
Speaker 1: late night of travel. They got to get right back
Speaker 1: and get right back in the game. Player, do the
Speaker 1: whole flush thing when when it comes to what you
Speaker 1: learn and what didn't go right, and see how they
Speaker 1: respond in the in the meat of this week and
Speaker 1: how they respond on Sunday. I honestly think a short
Speaker 1: week is the best thing for this Minnesota Vikings team
Speaker 1: because you can just flush it out as quickly as
Speaker 1: possible and get ready for that next game in six
Speaker 1: days against the Detroit Lions. But let's close it out
Speaker 1: with this. What's one positive that the Vikings can take away.
Speaker 1: Going into that Detroit Lions game, well, I think we're
Speaker 1: starting to get IRV Smith more involved. Look, he dropped
Speaker 1: a would be touchdown pass, he came back and you know,
Speaker 1: I think he had a couple of solid catches and
Speaker 1: made him his presence felt. But I think as we
Speaker 1: get into this, we need to start implementing him a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I thought the way they used Jalen
Speaker 1: Ragor was great early on. He lined up in the
Speaker 1: backfield as a running back. They got him out on
Speaker 1: a wheel route. Now, look it was covered, he wasn't
Speaker 1: the primary target, but we're starting to see a little
Speaker 1: bit more of him. He got involved on a jet
Speaker 1: sweep that resulted in a first down. So let's start
Speaker 1: seeing some of that speed that we keep hearing about
Speaker 1: on some of these simple, maybe gadget ish routes and concepts.
Speaker 1: But yet he's another weapon to add to this offense. Well,
Speaker 1: a lot of weapons we need that we were going
Speaker 1: to me heading into next week and beyond. But more importantly,
Speaker 1: this Minnesota Viking stam has an opportunity to bounce back
Speaker 1: next week at home at noon at US Bank Stadium.
Speaker 1: So Vikings fans were looking forward to seeing you there.
Speaker 1: For Ben Labor. My name is Gabe Henderson. This is
Speaker 1: between the Lines fueled by Gatorade. Now, Gabe and Ben
Speaker 1: talked about third downs where the Eagles were seven of
Speaker 1: thirteen and um the Vikings were four of twelve on
Speaker 1: kfa N on the Vikings radio network. You you stressed
Speaker 1: an hour before the game how important third down was tonight,
Speaker 1: and it completely went pear shape for us. It did.
Speaker 1: And we talked also about how this this Philadelphia offense,
Speaker 1: because they run the ball so efficiently, you're not going
Speaker 1: to get a lot of third and longs out of them.
Speaker 1: And we did. We got a lot of those. And
Speaker 1: then we kind of, you know, coin a phrase from
Speaker 1: Denny Green. You know, they let him off the hook.
Speaker 1: You know, they were almost sixty percent on third down
Speaker 1: a week ago. Last year they converted at a forty
Speaker 1: five almost a forty six percent rate. That was a
Speaker 1: franchise record. But that's the diversity of this offense. And again,
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurtz makes this thing start and go, start and stop.
Speaker 1: His talent, his talent set and to see him tonight
Speaker 1: sit back there and throw the way he did yards
Speaker 1: after catch, you know, tackling needs to get better. There's
Speaker 1: we didn't do much to take away what they tried
Speaker 1: to do, and they tried to do some new things
Speaker 1: and we need to make them pay for it. Let's
Speaker 1: get the thoughts of Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 1: with his postgame press conference following a Philadelphia Eagles twenty
Speaker 1: four seven victory over Kevin's Minnesota Vikings. UM. Obviously, ah,
Speaker 1: you know, very very difficult night, you know, for our team.
Speaker 1: But you got to give the Eagles a lot of credit. Uh.
Speaker 1: They they outplayed us and and really controlled the football
Speaker 1: game really in a lot of phases of the game.
Speaker 1: But when I look back on tonight, Um, ultimately I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I put I put this one on me. Um,
Speaker 1: I put this one on me. I don't think I
Speaker 1: did enough for our team in game. And obviously I
Speaker 1: think our plan, we felt good about our plan. They
Speaker 1: did some things defensively and just seemed to seem to
Speaker 1: kind of push us to the point where we just
Speaker 1: needed to make that one or two plays on a
Speaker 1: drive to kind of get going and see if we
Speaker 1: could potentially finish and kind of capture that momentum and
Speaker 1: then ultimately it's just as a football team. Although our
Speaker 1: defense and special teams with the blockfield goal defense with
Speaker 1: a you know, forcing a turn over there late, just
Speaker 1: to try to help us try to get going, and
Speaker 1: ultimately weren't able to capture that. And uh, like I said,
Speaker 1: you gotta get Philadelphia a lot of credit. But ultimately
Speaker 1: I do mean it. I do feel like this one's
Speaker 1: on me. And I told our team that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work like crazy to make sure that this
Speaker 1: does not happen again. And we're I have no doubt
Speaker 1: we'll be prepared and ready to respond like the way
Speaker 1: I know we will do You all three of Cousins'
Speaker 1: interceptions were kind of deep in Philly territory. Do you
Speaker 1: see any similarity or a common threat on those No,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, you know, the you know kind of
Speaker 1: looking back on them, Um, they'll all have their own story. Um.
Speaker 1: I think we were we were trying to be aggressive,
Speaker 1: you know on the uh you know, on all those downs.
Speaker 1: They were kind of one of them. That last one,
Speaker 1: um was kind of a longer yardage you know, kind
Speaker 1: of situation type thing when we were throwing the ball
Speaker 1: to Adam out in the out kind of the the
Speaker 1: flat area, deeper flat area. And then we were just
Speaker 1: trying to activate jj on on a kind of a
Speaker 1: second and ten. Thought we'd get a little bit more
Speaker 1: on the first down play call um ended up kind
Speaker 1: of you know, right, you know, checking the ball down
Speaker 1: and getting right into that second and eleven second and
Speaker 1: ten and try to activate something. And Slay made a
Speaker 1: good play, you know, sat inside and made a good
Speaker 1: play on the football. He's a really good player, had
Speaker 1: a good night and and ultimately we've got to find
Speaker 1: ways to make it easier, you know, on our guys
Speaker 1: and and try to give them an advantage when they can.
Speaker 1: But didn't run the football enough. Um, you know, they
Speaker 1: kind of had some things schematically that uh you know
Speaker 1: got us into uh some different you know phases of
Speaker 1: our offense by just trying to you know, get get
Speaker 1: good plays off the versus some good looks. And that's
Speaker 1: where I got to do a better job make sure
Speaker 1: we stick to stay true to what we are and
Speaker 1: what we want to be offensively. But yeah, those those
Speaker 1: turnovers were they were tough, just where they just kind
Speaker 1: of those momentum killers here and there and every single
Speaker 1: one of them has their own story, and we'll make
Speaker 1: sure that we coach them up and and put our
Speaker 1: guys in better positions. The plan defensively, um, first half,
Speaker 1: I mean they obviously they come out and they're kind
Speaker 1: of run them pretty good against you. Yeah, So what
Speaker 1: was sort of the plan and what were the adjustments? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the plan you know, was to try to
Speaker 1: you know account for obviously Jalen in the run game,
Speaker 1: and they put a lot of pressure on you with
Speaker 1: those RPOs and different variations. Sometimes they're reading to throw,
Speaker 1: sometimes they're reading to you know, pull and run, and
Speaker 1: then they've got you know, layers to what they do
Speaker 1: on those early downs. So those just kind of four
Speaker 1: or five yard hits, uh, kind of put them in
Speaker 1: manageable third downs and they were able to kind of
Speaker 1: convert here and there. I think they were over fifty
Speaker 1: percent for the night. But ultimately, when I look back
Speaker 1: on it, there was some opts for us second and long,
Speaker 1: third and long where they were able to you know,
Speaker 1: he puts a lot of pressure on the defense with
Speaker 1: how he can break, contain and you know make some
Speaker 1: off schedule plays. I thought, you know, we were early,
Speaker 1: especially early on in the game. We were right there
Speaker 1: a couple of plays I can remember where we were
Speaker 1: right there and they just made the play. And that's
Speaker 1: where I think you got to give them credit. We'll
Speaker 1: obviously have to evaluate things we can do better coaching
Speaker 1: staff wise and really me personally, to really put our
Speaker 1: entire team in a better position, um to not only
Speaker 1: get off to a faster start, but then be ready
Speaker 1: to bow up and try to respond. Like we talked
Speaker 1: a lot about doing, they get that first. They did
Speaker 1: that fast start, that firstich having all tough, was trying
Speaker 1: to get back in trying how much how much did
Speaker 1: they get any game for at that point? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you know, that's we're looking back on it. We
Speaker 1: tried to be aggressive, use some tempo, and we were
Speaker 1: able to move it um here and there once we
Speaker 1: started to activate in some of that, but ultimately just
Speaker 1: didn't finish past that. Uh you know that that touchdown
Speaker 1: past the IRV. We just got kept getting down into
Speaker 1: the high red and and and just be you know,
Speaker 1: one play away from getting you know, being able to
Speaker 1: activate some things down on the low red to try
Speaker 1: to score. But that's where I give them credit. You know,
Speaker 1: they were going to have a plan where you know,
Speaker 1: they were going to try not to let us throw
Speaker 1: it over their heads and uh, you know, keep everything
Speaker 1: in front. And we were patient enough, but it requires
Speaker 1: you to execute time and time and time again. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we just we just didn't quite have that
Speaker 1: consistency tonight that we look for and our guys have demonstrated.
Speaker 1: So we'll go back and look at it and see
Speaker 1: how we can improve. To Candidacer, he had things up
Speaker 1: in the second half overall, just what you take it away, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I I like I would have to go back and
Speaker 1: look at it. I just know we had talked about
Speaker 1: maybe getting a Caleb some time here and there, and
Speaker 1: I think just the way the game was kind of going,
Speaker 1: it felt like a time where uh, you know, the
Speaker 1: the defensive guys wanted to get him a few snaps
Speaker 1: and then um, as always, he you know, made a
Speaker 1: couple of plays, looked like he had some uh you know,
Speaker 1: some burst to him out there and then and at camps,
Speaker 1: you know, in my mind, still our starting corner. It
Speaker 1: was just a matter of just getting a guy, a
Speaker 1: young player time that we feel like I've earned the
Speaker 1: right to get on the field here and there, either
Speaker 1: by package uh you know, dime or whatever it may be,
Speaker 1: or you know, getting him in there on some of
Speaker 1: those early downs anything dropping. Yeah, we're gonna come back
Speaker 1: to him. That's one of the things that happens when
Speaker 1: you play, you know, in an offense with guys like
Speaker 1: Justin and Adam and and obviously when we you know,
Speaker 1: have our our offense in sync a lot of times,
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna be able to get some good
Speaker 1: matchups for and if if Justin's gonna dictate coverage, IRV
Speaker 1: is gonna get some opportunities. And I'm excited about seeing
Speaker 1: him make some of those plays. Um, you know, Irv's
Speaker 1: gonna have a He's gonna have a heck of a
Speaker 1: year for us. He is, he's uh, you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's in a good spot in our offense. Would have
Speaker 1: loved to see him make that play, unbelievable play by
Speaker 1: Kirk to kind of see the coverage in real time
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know put that ball out there,
Speaker 1: and those are kind of what I'm talking about just
Speaker 1: one play away. And then guys started to really want to,
Speaker 1: you know, be the guy that makes to play to
Speaker 1: change the momentum in the game, and it felt at
Speaker 1: times me included, like we pressed a little bit, um
Speaker 1: and and that's where we just got to go back
Speaker 1: to it. And I can promise you this much. Our guys,
Speaker 1: you know, as even post game, um, there's a feeling
Speaker 1: of wanting to get right back to work. Bad taste
Speaker 1: in your mouth is one thing. But we know what
Speaker 1: our standard is and and it starts with me tonight,
Speaker 1: um And, and I got to make sure I do
Speaker 1: much much more to help our guys play to their
Speaker 1: standard todown. We'll get to think over fourteen open where
Speaker 1: it was the bus there or something that was about Yeah,
Speaker 1: it looked like they nailed down our our kind of
Speaker 1: safety and a quarters. Look, you know, I kind of
Speaker 1: caught the very end of it there, um And, And
Speaker 1: that's what happens. You start, you know, you get you
Speaker 1: get that coverage, you know, to start declaring a little bit.
Speaker 1: And then and then with their run game in there,
Speaker 1: but I thought Jalen threw the ball really well tonight,
Speaker 1: and I thought they protected him well, you know kind
Speaker 1: of you know, body blows with their run game and
Speaker 1: then when those explosive you know, opportunities came, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he made a lot of those plays, and they made
Speaker 1: those plays, and that's where you got to give those
Speaker 1: guys credit. Um, you know, just our defense. Uh, they
Speaker 1: were on the field too much. We got to sustain
Speaker 1: more complimentary football early and that's on us as an offense.
Speaker 1: And then when we get those plays, momentum change plays
Speaker 1: throughout a game on the road, you got to do
Speaker 1: more with it offensively than we did. Either off the
Speaker 1: blockfield goal or the interception. I was saying it was
Speaker 1: on him to try to get open more. It just
Speaker 1: seemed like there weren't that many targets early on the game.
Speaker 1: Is it something that was planned out, No, it was
Speaker 1: you know, we uh, you know, I can think back
Speaker 1: to a couple of plays we were trying to get
Speaker 1: going for him early and kind of buy the look.
Speaker 1: You know, we ended up checking to you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of different things based upon protection, whatever it was.
Speaker 1: But Adam, you know, you saw him kind of come
Speaker 1: to life. You know, I know it was a little
Speaker 1: bit of it had gotten away from us a little bit,
Speaker 1: but he's his you know, his mediu factor with Kirk
Speaker 1: is there. Kirk trusts him inherently. Then we got to
Speaker 1: find ways to continue to get him the ball within
Speaker 1: the rhythm. But twenty one plays in the first half,
Speaker 1: so you know, not a lot of targets to go
Speaker 1: around in general when you only have twenty one plays,
Speaker 1: and and just when you can't convert on those early
Speaker 1: third downs, stay efficient. That's how we want to activate
Speaker 1: and operate and do a lot of the things that
Speaker 1: we do offensively. And when we don't do that, that's
Speaker 1: where I put it on myself, uh, to make sure
Speaker 1: we find a way and schematically personnel based all of
Speaker 1: those things we'll go back and take a look at.
Speaker 1: But um, I can promise you I got so much
Speaker 1: confidence in our group offensively, the guys up front, our
Speaker 1: running backs and obviously our skill players to make a
Speaker 1: lot of plays and and I thought Kirk Battle tonight
Speaker 1: and uh put them in some tough spots. Um. And
Speaker 1: I think our overall offensive philosophy, when we do not succeed,
Speaker 1: you know, in activating those things, it puts a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure on the quarterback. And that's where once again
Speaker 1: put this one hundred percent on me to be better
Speaker 1: for our offense, for our team. Um And and that's
Speaker 1: kind of how I feel about it. Kind of Yeah,
Speaker 1: the challenges. Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be a challenge.
Speaker 1: We'll get right back to work as a staff and
Speaker 1: then make sure our guys turn over and and and
Speaker 1: and get their recovery and however we can. We've got
Speaker 1: a nice plan for those guys, knowing this is our
Speaker 1: first short week, um, you know, leading into a tough
Speaker 1: divisional game at home. Uh well, you know, we're we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna rally and fully expect to have a
Speaker 1: great atmosphere on Sunday at us pank Stadium. And just
Speaker 1: like they did in the opener, we expect our you know,
Speaker 1: fans to combine with us playing a cleaner game and
Speaker 1: being ready to roll. Um, you know, have ourselves a
Speaker 1: day at home against a good football team that's playing
Speaker 1: really well. Right now. Yeah, he uh he did, and
Speaker 1: uh I looking at the way he checked out and
Speaker 1: talking to Tyler and Uriah, we feel pretty you know,
Speaker 1: strongly about where he's at, you know, but uh, well,
Speaker 1: we'll go through the phasing. It's very very important that
Speaker 1: that gets handled medically through the protocol. It is a
Speaker 1: short week, so we'll just kind of have to see
Speaker 1: where he's at. But uh, you know, he was all
Speaker 1: over the field tonight and having to make a lot
Speaker 1: of plays um down the field, you know, in the
Speaker 1: running pass game. So he's one of our guys, one
Speaker 1: of our leaders. And you know, not one time did
Speaker 1: you ever feel like, uh, you know, Harrison wasn't leading
Speaker 1: the way out there. But unfortunate we did lose him.
Speaker 1: U see how he is throughout the rest of the week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: look right, thanks guys. Now with Cousins, you know when
Speaker 1: when after the Jordan Hicks interception and they get down
Speaker 1: to the nine first and goal still with the puncher's
Speaker 1: chance to get back into or win this game, Cousins
Speaker 1: went to Jefferson a couple of times back left to
Speaker 1: the end zone, and they were just very soft throws.
Speaker 1: It's they were fifty fifty situations, but Kirk didn't seem
Speaker 1: to put enough on it. I wonder why you're you're
Speaker 1: right about that, and I think, well, the reason why was, um,
Speaker 1: you know, Philadelphia again, when you're when you're when you're
Speaker 1: nursing a twenty four to seven lead, that's when they
Speaker 1: got aggressive. They started the blitz. They were all out blitzing.
Speaker 1: They were sending the kitchen sink and you know, early
Speaker 1: on we weren't receivers, weren't adjusting to it. Then they
Speaker 1: do adjust to it and Brandon Graham just drops himself
Speaker 1: right off in the passing lane, and you know, and
Speaker 1: then you get down, you get down the field in
Speaker 1: the red zone and they get a sack out of it.
Speaker 1: You know, so they Philadelphia mix things up enough. Um,
Speaker 1: you know for JJ and what you'd like to take
Speaker 1: a closer look at how he played, just because Slay
Speaker 1: got him on that first third down right the first series,
Speaker 1: first third down, no question, that should have been a
Speaker 1: past interference and JJ didn't get the call, and I
Speaker 1: sensed a little bit of I sensed a little frustration
Speaker 1: out of Jefferson the whole night. You know, he was
Speaker 1: limited the stuff that was underneath. They didn't take any
Speaker 1: shots at him deep down the field. So there's there's
Speaker 1: that part of it there. They figured out a way
Speaker 1: to slow and stop JJ. And you know that's but
Speaker 1: that's this league, man, that's if you know, Jefferson, you're
Speaker 1: number one, and you're going to be facing the number
Speaker 1: one corner week after week after week after week. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully a learning experience for this offense in
Speaker 1: that respect, and they can put things back together in
Speaker 1: a short week and get against the against the very
Speaker 1: I believe beatable team in the Detroit Lions. Now for Cousins,
Speaker 1: that was his tenth start against the Eagles. He now
Speaker 1: as twenty seven touchdowns and nine interceptions, including three this evening.
Speaker 1: Two went to Darius Sleigh and uh for the man
Speaker 1: they call big play Sleigh. H he has four two
Speaker 1: interception games in his career. Speaking to Kirk, here's what
Speaker 1: Kirk had to say following the game. All Right, disappointing performance. Um, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, credit the Eagles. I thought they did a
Speaker 1: good job against us all night long. And um, you know,
Speaker 1: now we've got to respond in a short week and
Speaker 1: be a resilient group and uh and get back on track.
Speaker 1: So uh, you know, need to play better and we'll
Speaker 1: play better up ahead. Take any questions you have the challenge,
Speaker 1: I guess trying to get back when they got the
Speaker 1: larg the year of the league, just to getting deep
Speaker 1: in the lar, I had to try to change some things. Tough.
Speaker 1: Tough was that was trying to finally the work did that.
Speaker 1: That's first time they had I think we tried to
Speaker 1: speed it up a little bit. Uh, you know, certainly
Speaker 1: the two minute ish at the end of the half,
Speaker 1: we were going to be going fast regardless. And then
Speaker 1: I think the first drive of the second half try
Speaker 1: to play with some tempo, um um, So there was
Speaker 1: a little bit of that certainly as the game goes on.
Speaker 1: How did you view your three interceptions or did you
Speaker 1: see any common thread at all between any of them? No,
Speaker 1: not a common thread. Just each one's different, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: So you just take each one as they as they
Speaker 1: were and uh and um, you know, try to improve
Speaker 1: and get better. Kirt would like them at the first
Speaker 1: one join in the gable were you and kind of
Speaker 1: talked with you in the silent about it was like
Speaker 1: what happened on that one point? Yeah, I was just
Speaker 1: hoping he was gonna come flat there and uh, and
Speaker 1: so that was really what happened. How tough is it
Speaker 1: to get a rid though throughout a game? When you
Speaker 1: started three now first three, your eyes obviously got got
Speaker 1: things going and totally just started there. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it was part of the challenges. We didn't we didn't
Speaker 1: stay on the field, we didn't run enough place and um.
Speaker 1: And so those three and outs early. You know, aren't
Speaker 1: how we want to start. How much how much with
Speaker 1: those was the defense? How much a little parts the
Speaker 1: defense and trying to get things going. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: their defense deserves credit. Um, they did a good job
Speaker 1: with Russian with coverage and the combination. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: made it made it tough for us. What do you
Speaker 1: want to learn from this? You kind of look at
Speaker 1: the film quickly and respond to it next week. What
Speaker 1: do you want to find out film us? If you
Speaker 1: wanted to take it, Yeah, we'll watch it. We'll have
Speaker 1: good conversations. Uh, there'll be a lot of good coaching
Speaker 1: going on and um, and then get right back to
Speaker 1: work and just try to fine tune everything you got.
Speaker 1: You guys only got twenty five yards rushing out of
Speaker 1: your running backs. Obviously you were behind us of the game.
Speaker 1: But how difficult does that make it when you're kind
Speaker 1: of one dimensional? Almost? Yeah, I think that getting behind early,
Speaker 1: we probably had to throw a little more often than
Speaker 1: we would have liked and didn't stay as balanced as
Speaker 1: we would like to be. And um, you know that's
Speaker 1: probably just more the nature of the way they game went.
Speaker 1: And you know, we certainly want to be balanced as
Speaker 1: best we can obviously back. That was perfectly strong. Did
Speaker 1: you again touched out earlier? What did you like about
Speaker 1: how we'd play today? Yeah, you know, it's it's good
Speaker 1: to have him back. You know, it's it's been a
Speaker 1: year without him in there. So, um, you know, he's
Speaker 1: a he's a dynamic player and it's just good to
Speaker 1: get him back involved again once again. The final score
Speaker 1: was twenty four seven Philadelphia. Ron Johnson one of the
Speaker 1: more accomplished receivers in the history of Golden Gophers football. Um.
Speaker 1: He has a new feature we include on the Postgame
Speaker 1: Report podcast. It's called Ron Johnson's Three Takes. Thanks Pa,
Speaker 1: and this is Ron Johnson coming to you from Kafan
Speaker 1: And these are my three takes from tonight's game. Not
Speaker 1: a ton of takeaway from the night's game. Pretty bad
Speaker 1: blowout twenty four to seven. But you have to find
Speaker 1: the bright spots in some of these games. And here's
Speaker 1: what the Vikings can build on er smith Junior. The
Speaker 1: usage is up eight targets, five receptions, thirty six yards
Speaker 1: and one touchdown. Now here's my takeaway from that. ERF.
Speaker 1: Smiths Junior was used a ton. There were a lot
Speaker 1: of left plays on that field that he left out there.
Speaker 1: He could have made so many more plays we know
Speaker 1: to drop possible touchdown. We know the two third down
Speaker 1: routes he ran where he kind of just was swallowed up,
Speaker 1: one on the inbreaking route and one on the drag.
Speaker 1: If he improves and works on that, ARV Smith is
Speaker 1: going to be a threat. The fact that they're willing
Speaker 1: to use IERF Smith in this way, the fact that
Speaker 1: they're willing to get earth Smith into this offense we've
Speaker 1: been looking for that. It shows that he is ready
Speaker 1: to be a force in this offense. He just has
Speaker 1: to make the plays. I think Kirk Cousins trust him
Speaker 1: and we'll see what comes up against the Lions. Another
Speaker 1: takeaway number two. In the second half, the defense shut
Speaker 1: out the Eagles. Now, were they really trying to go
Speaker 1: after it or do the Eagles feel like, you know what,
Speaker 1: let's just not turn it over. There was at an
Speaker 1: interception by Jordan Hicks, so we know the defense was
Speaker 1: trying and the offense was trying. But we know in
Speaker 1: that second half the defense found a way to shut
Speaker 1: him out. They gave up twenty four points in the
Speaker 1: first half, turned it around, found a way to shut
Speaker 1: him down. You have to find ways though for the offense.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins through three interceptions. If kirk Cousins completes two
Speaker 1: of those into the end zone, it's twenty one to
Speaker 1: twenty four and the Vikings maybe have a chance to
Speaker 1: win the game at the end. So what does that
Speaker 1: leave us. This defense got better. They figured him out,
Speaker 1: but didn't figure them out soon enough. Last takeaway fourteen
Speaker 1: to nine first downs in the second half. The Vikings
Speaker 1: had the advantage. They only had six in the first half.
Speaker 1: They finished with twenty. The Eagles had sixteen. They finished
Speaker 1: with twenty five. So the offense found a way to
Speaker 1: gain first downs, but it was too little, too late.
Speaker 1: We know Kirk Cousins against the Packers looked a lot
Speaker 1: more comfortable. I don't know what the Eagles were doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know if the Eagles had his number. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he just wasn't getting the same motions
Speaker 1: and shifts that he got in week one verse the Packers,
Speaker 1: the Vikings looked overwhelmed. They didn't look as prepared as
Speaker 1: they did versus the Packers as they did versus the Eagles.
Speaker 1: With that said, I think Kirk Cousins can get it
Speaker 1: together against the Lions. There's no other option there. Darius
Speaker 1: Slay is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.
Speaker 1: He showed it tonight. He said that I want to
Speaker 1: take on Justin Jefferson. That's what Alexander wanted from the Packers.
Speaker 1: They also bracketed Justin Jefferson had a safety over the top,
Speaker 1: so Darius Slay could take more chances on some of
Speaker 1: those comebacks and those curls, and it paid off. He
Speaker 1: got away with a couple of holes here and there,
Speaker 1: and that's why he was able to contain Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1: And then in the time, Justin Jefferson just looked lost,
Speaker 1: did not feel like the ball was coming his way.
Speaker 1: But hey, that's how the cookie crumbles. The Vikings lose
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven to the Philadelphia Eagles. They are
Speaker 1: now one and one. They head into this Lions game.
Speaker 1: If they lose to the Lions, you don't want to
Speaker 1: do that. That puts the Lions ahead of them in
Speaker 1: the division. And that's something nobody saw coming. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, the Eagles were the better team.
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins didn't have a great day justin Jefferson was
Speaker 1: not the Cooper Cup we thought he would be. In
Speaker 1: his defense, well, they gave up way too much in
Speaker 1: the first half and just could not get enough from
Speaker 1: the offense in the second half. Well those were my
Speaker 1: three takes from tonight's game. Back to you at the stadium, Pa,
Speaker 1: Thank you, RJ. The Lions are one and one, the
Speaker 1: Vikings are one and one. It's a noon kickoff at
Speaker 1: us Bank Stadium. Jared Goff just threw four touchdowns against
Speaker 1: zero interceptions. Alman Ross Saint Brown, who beat the Vikings
Speaker 1: at Ford Field last year. He's having a phenomenal season.
Speaker 1: He had a long run in the game against Washington,
Speaker 1: plus a prolific receiving game just top of the head
Speaker 1: into the practice week and then obviously the game in
Speaker 1: six days. What is a singular key to beating the Lions.
Speaker 1: I think the singular key, Paul is, don't make quld
Speaker 1: making stupid mistakes. Catch the ball and it's thrown your way.
Speaker 1: You know you mentioned Alman Ross Saint Brown on the
Speaker 1: big run that he had. That was a Jet sweep
Speaker 1: that Washington just completely let go. Right, They let us
Speaker 1: Jets sweep turn into a fifty some yard run. The
Speaker 1: last touchdown that was caught by the running back, the
Speaker 1: last touchdown that Golf through. It was third and like
Speaker 1: eighteen and the running back caught the boat, fell down
Speaker 1: and was able to get back up and then beat
Speaker 1: four Washington four Washington football players to the end zone.
Speaker 1: So I mean Washington did a lot to help Detroit
Speaker 1: out in that football game. You know, they're they're struggling
Speaker 1: in the middle of their offensive line. They've got two
Speaker 1: nice offensive tackles, but the middle of that offensive line
Speaker 1: is a bit of a mess. Defensively, they're extremely aggressive.
Speaker 1: They blitzed forty percent of the time against Philadelphia and
Speaker 1: the opening game. So yeah, we've got to weather the
Speaker 1: storm early because they're gonna be aggressive and come after us.
Speaker 1: And then defensively, I expect us to really get after
Speaker 1: Golf and dominate because if you leave Golf alone, he's
Speaker 1: a good thrower, he's a great passer. But we should
Speaker 1: be able to pressure him and match up very well
Speaker 1: with this wide receiver corps. That's Pete Versage and I'm
Speaker 1: Paul Allen. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven, Eagles two and two and Oh, the
Speaker 1: Vikings are one and one and they play the Lions
Speaker 1: Sunday at noon at us Bank Stadium, and the Lions
Speaker 1: are one and one. Thank you very much for listening
Speaker 1: to the Postgame Report podcast