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Speaker 1: Hey, Vikings fans, been over here. I'm so excited to

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Speaker 1: be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.

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Speaker 1: They love the tennis, the pickaball, the basketball, and of

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Speaker 1: course the Yummy Cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot

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Speaker 1: life to find a club nearest you.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Schools Stories, presented by three M, the official

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Speaker 2: science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we are joined

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Speaker 2: by Special Teams Guru Gary's Honor. Thanks again for tuning

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Speaker 2: into another episode of school Stories. Tonight's guest got his

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Speaker 2: start with your Minnesota Vikings back in nineteen seventy three

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Speaker 2: and has gone on to have an everlasting effect on

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Speaker 2: the game. Nowadays, he's still helping future generations of Special

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Speaker 2: Teams players refine their skills through their kicking camp and

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Speaker 2: specialty coaching. Please enjoy tonight's conversation with Special Teams legend

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Speaker 2: Gary's Honor. Well, Gary's Honors, It's great to have you

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Speaker 2: on our show today.

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Speaker 3: So much to catch up on.

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Speaker 2: I remember your days fondly with the Minnesota Makings, mostly

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Speaker 2: as their Special Teams coach, especially in the heyday late

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Speaker 2: nineties in particular, But so many years to cover. First,

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Speaker 2: I'll just get the fans a quick update what you're

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Speaker 2: up to these days, and where are you living and

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Speaker 2: how active are you still in the world of football.

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Speaker 4: Well, I live in Mountain Hills, Arizona, basically semi retired,

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Speaker 4: but I still do some consulting. I train high school,

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Speaker 4: college and prospective NFL specialist. I have two major combines

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Speaker 4: that I run. One in February of the College Senior

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Speaker 4: Combine and then the free Agent Combine in March is

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Speaker 4: attended by many of the NFL teams, are CFL, UFL,

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Speaker 4: or any of those new leagues. They come out and

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Speaker 4: they check out the talent level of the free agents available,

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Speaker 4: which your new kicker was a part of it. He

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Speaker 4: actually came in twenty twenty two to the College Senior

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Speaker 4: which I ranked him as a one A prospect NFL prospect.

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Speaker 3: Which we don't know what that means. Oh my god.

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Speaker 4: Well it's not ranking. But you know, Pete, you were

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Speaker 4: probably one.

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Speaker 3: But I know that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know, there's free agents and there's draftable guys.

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Speaker 4: But I one A means I think the NFL team

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Speaker 4: should take a look at this guy because I think

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Speaker 4: he's got some potential. So every year a lot of

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Speaker 4: guys have gone out and proved the scouts wrong, and

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Speaker 4: I've had quite a success rate. I think there's fifty

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Speaker 4: six starters in the NFL in the last sixteen years

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Speaker 4: of guys that I've had here that did not go

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Speaker 4: to the NFL combine that made it to the NFL.

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Speaker 4: And this past year I had Brayden Arbussen who went

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Speaker 4: with those other guys the Packers, the new long snapper

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Speaker 4: with the Detroit Lions Hogan Hattan. He was kind of

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Speaker 4: a sleeper, and actually Jake Bates with the Detroit Lions

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Speaker 4: he was the year before. This past year, I also

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Speaker 4: am part of the Hula Bowl selection committee where Spencer

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Speaker 4: Schrader came to the Hula Bowl did quite well. He

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Speaker 4: signed with the Colts, then he played i think one

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Speaker 4: game with the Jets and then the Kansas City Chiefs

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Speaker 4: just picked them up. So but anyways, that's kind of

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Speaker 4: what I do. And then you know, I train whoever

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Speaker 4: wants to get better as a punter, kicker.

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Speaker 5: Samper Hey, see this is I mean, that's something I

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Speaker 5: think as a special teams coordinator, as there's a lot

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Speaker 5: of them out there, A couple of your former players

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Speaker 5: or guys that you know like Heath Farwell, I know

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Speaker 5: you and you know the Vikings and the Bravens. At

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Speaker 5: the time we were trying to fight over them in

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Speaker 5: free agency because he didn't get drafted. But you knew

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Speaker 5: a lot about the kicking game, and it's amazing and

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Speaker 5: talk about this. I guess for fans listening, special teams

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Speaker 5: coaches don't always know kicking, do they. Like I'm saying,

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Speaker 5: when I say kicking, I mean the technique and what's

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Speaker 5: wrong with the what can be good or bad about

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Speaker 5: the kicker swing and those kinds of things. Am I

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Speaker 5: mistaken in that?

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Speaker 4: Well? I just happened to be fortunate enough to be

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Speaker 4: a kicking coach that learned a lot about special teams,

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Speaker 4: and I just happened to be in the right place

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Speaker 4: at the right time. I was at BYU because LaBelle Edwards,

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Speaker 4: in a Hall of Fame coach, saw my resume and

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Speaker 4: he said, would you please give me a call? And

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Speaker 4: I called him up and he says, you know, Gary,

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Speaker 4: everybody on this team gets coached except three guys the punter, kicker,

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Speaker 4: and snapper. And it ended up he hired me and

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Speaker 4: we had an All American punter in Clay Brown. And

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Speaker 4: we had a guy there by name Elee Johnson that

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Speaker 4: played eighteen years. But that's kind of started my career.

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Speaker 4: And as I went from there to San Diego State

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Speaker 4: and on and on, eventually I met, you know, George

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Speaker 4: Allen and he hired me Denny Green. I met in

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Speaker 4: there with Brian Billick and Denny was a special teams

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Speaker 4: coach at one time, and he says, you know, you're

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Speaker 4: I'm going to bring you in because you're one of

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Speaker 4: the few guys that not only knows the special teams aspect,

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Speaker 4: but more importantly, you know the kicker.

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Speaker 3: Ye.

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Speaker 4: And then then he would always say, you know about

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Speaker 4: the snapper. And I was always looking to, you know,

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Speaker 4: bring a new guys. Jes Gary, I worry enough about

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Speaker 4: the kicker. I don't ever want to worry about the snapper. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: so that's when we had That's when we had Mike Morris.

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Speaker 4: But your point, Pete, there's a lot of coaches that

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Speaker 4: they get in the NFL because they know a head coach.

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Speaker 4: They could have been head coaches in college, but they

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Speaker 4: come in as a as an NFL Special teams coach

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Speaker 4: and they get through the meetings and you know, there's

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Speaker 4: supposedly because you got the title special Teams coordinator, but

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Speaker 4: they really don't know the mechanics of the kicks. Like

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Speaker 4: a guy, you know, why is he missing it right?

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Speaker 4: Why is he pulling it left? Why is the long

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Speaker 4: snapper laces going backwards? And that's my whole thing. I

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Speaker 4: used to teach guys the artist snapping perfect laces. And

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Speaker 4: I learned that from a guy when I was in

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Speaker 4: training camp with the Vikings. His name was Mick Tinglof,

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Speaker 4: and Mick was in camp and he's warming up and

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Speaker 4: I was up there for a tryout. I went to

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Speaker 4: the University of Wisconsin lacrosse. They brought me in for

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Speaker 4: a tryout, and Mick was warming up and I'm noticing

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Speaker 4: and he's turning back to Paul Krauss, who's my holder

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Speaker 4: at that time, and he goes, hey, Paul, where are

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Speaker 4: the laces coming out? And he says, oh, court turned

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Speaker 4: so he he adjusted it and all of a sudden,

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Speaker 4: you know, I was twenty at twenty one and they

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Speaker 4: signed me after a great workout. And so when I

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Speaker 4: come back to training camp being a physical education teacher,

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Speaker 4: I'm going like, hey, Mick, how did you do that?

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Speaker 4: He says, well, you know, you just got to get

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Speaker 4: the right rotations and da da da, and if it isn't,

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Speaker 4: I turned the laces. Until through my career, I always

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Speaker 4: the vital man of my kicking game was a long snapper.

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Speaker 4: And I've taught so many guys. Matter of fact, in

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Speaker 4: the last sixteen years, I've had thirty eight snappers in

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Speaker 4: the NFL.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 4: And the art of teaching perfect laces has really come

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Speaker 4: a long way because almost every guy when you watch

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Speaker 4: TV and you see a good kick, it's like snap,

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Speaker 4: boom kick, it's good, but you'll occasionally see the laces

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Speaker 4: and you'll see you guys, they'll show close up of

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Speaker 4: the whole theer's spinning laces and the guy will miss it.

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Speaker 4: And like I said, it's become an art of having

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Speaker 4: a great snapper, and then why does a guy miss?

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Speaker 4: But as I was looking at the stats this year,

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Speaker 4: I noticed that some of the kickers that are having

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Speaker 4: problems lost long snappers or the punter changed. But they

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Speaker 4: came up with this stupid kickoff rule.

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Speaker 2: Wait for that.

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Speaker 4: Larry Izzo called me about a kicker and I says, Larry,

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Speaker 4: here's what I'm afraid of. This stupid rule, And I'm

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Speaker 4: telling you, I think the percentage of the kicker is

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Speaker 4: going to go down this year. I like in kicking

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Speaker 4: to golf, when a golfer try kick shots and spin

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Speaker 4: shots and weird shots or it's the perfection of what

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Speaker 4: plubb he has and what he's trying to execute. So

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Speaker 4: they're now asking these these kickers to try these Well,

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Speaker 4: hit a squib kick between the twenty and the goal line,

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Speaker 4: or mishit the ball high to the like the fifteen

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Speaker 4: yard line, duck hook it to the left corner, or

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Speaker 4: fake the guy out like you're kicking right and kick

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Speaker 4: it left. So, as you know, Pete, in practice play Sunday, Monday,

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Speaker 4: you don't practice Tuesday, you don't practice on Wednesday. You

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Speaker 4: come out and you kick field goals. You practice probably

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Speaker 4: punting in punt returns. So the kickers may be kicking

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Speaker 4: field goals, but on Thursday you got kickoff, kickoff returning.

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Speaker 4: He's still kicking field goals. Then on Friday you're trying

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Speaker 4: all these weird things with the kickoff rules. Now this

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Speaker 4: is what really gets me. Excuse me, Can I raise

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Speaker 4: my hand? We're now going to do an on side kick.

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Speaker 4: There is no surprise on side kick anymore.

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Speaker 3: Got it to claric, correct, you got.

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Speaker 4: It, Declaric. Well, why don't the quarterbacks declared they're gonna

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Speaker 4: throw it past?

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Speaker 3: That'd be nice.

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Speaker 4: I mean, it's the craziest thing.

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Speaker 5: And that's and that goes against everything because you need

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Speaker 5: it to be consistent. And when you talk about laces,

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Speaker 5: I just want the listeners to know what Gary's talking

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Speaker 5: about is is these long snappers when when they're snapping

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Speaker 5: for field goals and pats, when the holder catches the football,

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Speaker 5: the laces.

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Speaker 3: Are already up.

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Speaker 5: So not only are you snapping a football perfectly in

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Speaker 5: the perfect spot at the right speed for seven yards

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Speaker 5: the rotation, I mean, it's mastering the rotation. So when

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Speaker 5: the holder catches the football, the laces are up ninety

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Speaker 5: ninety five percent of the time.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's something that Morris did. It's unbelievable.

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Speaker 4: Pete, you're exactly right. And so, like I said, I

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Speaker 4: learned it from Mick. I passed it on. I've got

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Speaker 4: a website called perfect Laces dot com and it's the

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Speaker 4: story of how I learned coach the artist snapping perfect laces.

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Speaker 4: And I talked about mctingall Hoffins camp or whatever. But

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Speaker 4: I think it's in the old days. You know, I

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Speaker 4: grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a Packer.

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Speaker 3: Fan, but I'm sorry for that.

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Speaker 4: He usually the snapper was usually a player like Mick

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Speaker 4: or it was a tight end or as a linebacker.

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Speaker 4: I worked for a guy by the name of George Allen.

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Speaker 4: And George, even when I was a young coach, George

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Speaker 4: was the first guy to have the first long snapper.

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Speaker 4: George was also the first guy to have just a

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Speaker 4: return specialist. And then everybody starts saying, George is doing this.

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Speaker 4: So all of a sudden, they started, you know, over

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Speaker 4: the years, more and more teams had just a long

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Speaker 4: snamper on the roster. And you know, like I said,

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Speaker 4: Devin Hester, I would say was probably a great return specialist.

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Speaker 4: You know, he played a little, but he made his

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Speaker 4: money by returning. So everything was revolutionary. But I thought

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Speaker 4: George Allen was one of the first. And George was

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Speaker 4: the first guy to hire the first special teams coach.

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Speaker 4: And so George was always, in my book, like the

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Speaker 4: leader in changing things with special teams. He did a

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Speaker 4: lot for football and many phays of the game. But

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Speaker 4: My whole career as a young coach was Okay, I'm

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Speaker 4: going to win. As you always say, one third of

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Speaker 4: the game is special teams. Well, a lot of guys

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Speaker 4: say it, but they don't practice it and they don't

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Speaker 4: really give it a third of the time. But that's

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Speaker 4: how I got ahead. And I just happened to be

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Speaker 4: in the right place at BYU. I happened to meet

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Speaker 4: Brian Billock. Brian Billick picked me up at BYU, and

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Speaker 4: then Brian went to the forty nine ers. From there,

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Speaker 4: I went to San Diego State and Brian and I

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Speaker 4: coached together. My roommate was Mike Smith, and then Brian

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Speaker 4: went to Stanford and I met Denny at Stanford, and

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Speaker 4: so the whole thing, it's not always what you know,

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Speaker 4: it's who you know. And so I was very lucky

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Speaker 4: to be in the right place at the right time,

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Speaker 4: and people talked about me. And then I came to

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Speaker 4: the Vikings. And my last point was when I came there,

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Speaker 4: I asked Danny, he said, who's going to make the

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Speaker 4: decision on the specialists, because you know, he wanted me

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Speaker 4: to come there. But I had my own kicking service

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Speaker 4: and I was doing quite well. And Denny says, well, Gary,

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Speaker 4: I make the final decision, but I'm going to count

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Speaker 4: on you to give the recommendation. Who you want now, Pete,

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Speaker 4: you know this. We brought in Mitch Berger and I

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Speaker 4: can remember being down on the field and Scott Studwell

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Speaker 4: comes in and he says, Gary, why do we bring

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Speaker 4: in this guy? He's been cut six times? And I said, listen,

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Speaker 4: he's a big guy. He's a punter that I think

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Speaker 4: I can coach. He can hold and he can kick off.

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Speaker 4: And if we can get a punter they can kick off,

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Speaker 4: we can go out and get the you know, the

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Speaker 4: greatest kicker. And we brought in Gary Anderson. Yeah, and

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Speaker 4: for eight years there was no problems with the kicking

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Speaker 4: game because I was a great special teams coach except

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Speaker 4: for one game.

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Speaker 3: One kick that's your fault.

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Speaker 4: But I mean, Gary was just one of the greatest

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Speaker 4: kickers I've ever been around.

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Speaker 5: Stick around for more school stories presented by three M,

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Speaker 5: from the field to the roof and everywhere in between.

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Speaker 5: Three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings,

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Speaker 5: is here. Visit Vikings dot com slash school Science to

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Speaker 5: learn more. We'll be back with more from coach Gary's Honor.

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Speaker 5: But first, Unreal is back with their limited vision vikings.

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Speaker 2: Hails ready to have your spirits lifted? Then the laugh

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Speaker 2: out loud comedy Ghosts is for You. Ghost Is all

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Speaker 2: new every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over on CBS.

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Speaker 2: And welcome back to tonight's edition of School Stories, presented

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Speaker 2: by three M Let's get back into our conversation with

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Speaker 2: special Teams coach Gary's honor.

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Speaker 3: Gary, and you're being here.

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Speaker 5: You know you're right about your hitching yourself to a

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Speaker 5: rising star so to speak, and knowing who you know.

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Speaker 5: But the one thing about you is you also not

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Speaker 5: only had an eye for the kicking game, but you

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Speaker 5: also had.

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Speaker 3: An eye for talent. And the thing was is in.

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Speaker 5: The guy that I think of mostly in this regardless

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Speaker 5: is Robert Griffith. Because Robert Griffith was out of the league,

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Speaker 5: he was not doing anything for an entire season. You

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Speaker 5: were able to get him in here and just give

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Speaker 5: him a chance. And then Robert obviously became, you know,

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Speaker 5: a Pro Bowl caliber safety. But the list of guys

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Speaker 5: that you found and brought in, it's amazing. And to

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Speaker 5: the point where I remember with Heath Farwell, when I

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Speaker 5: found out that it was between us in Baltimore and

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Speaker 5: it was you, I knew I was on the right guy,

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Speaker 5: you know what I mean? But what was it that

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Speaker 5: you had or what else is it about you that

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Speaker 5: you had an eye for? Because it was You might

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Speaker 5: say it's just a kicking game, but it wasn't just

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Speaker 5: It wasn't just a kicking game.

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Speaker 3: You could see talent with people.

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Speaker 4: Well, I was even as a young coach. I don't care.

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Speaker 4: I coached track and I coached baseball. I coached every sport,

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Speaker 4: but you always got to look at talent and potential.

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Speaker 4: And getting back to the comedy denominator between Robert Griffiths

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Speaker 4: and Heath fire Well, they all went to San Diego State.

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Speaker 3: Okay, you're saying San Diego State's the key here, Well.

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Speaker 4: Richard Richard Brown, Yay. Most of those guys I knew.

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Speaker 4: And you know, I was the only guy on Pat

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Speaker 4: Tillman for a long time. You know when I brought

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Speaker 4: Robert Griffiths in the same thing, the Scout's coming and

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Speaker 4: he says, Jerry, why are we bringing this guy? He's

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Speaker 4: a rejiac. Same thing they told me, I'm Mitch Berger,

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Speaker 4: and I said, and I said, Denny, I know this kid.

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Speaker 4: I recruited him. I was at New Mexico and I

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Speaker 4: tried to get Robert Griffith and he went to San

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Speaker 4: Diego State and I was watching him for four years

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Speaker 4: play and we would play Santego State, and I said, Robert,

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Speaker 4: someday you're going to play for me. He said, well, coach,

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Speaker 4: this is my last year at San Diego State, so

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Speaker 4: how am I ever going to play for you? And

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Speaker 4: I says, Robert, someday you're going to play for me.

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Speaker 4: So as soon as I got the job with the Vikings,

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Speaker 4: I hunted down. I found Robert's phone number, his parents'

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Speaker 4: phone number, I got his number. I called him up

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Speaker 4: and said, Robert, I want to bring in. And I

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Speaker 4: was sold the same thing. This guy's a reject. Well

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Speaker 4: he was a reject, kind of like Pat Tillman. And

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Speaker 4: so everybody said, well, he's too small. Well, no, he

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Speaker 4: just was playing in the wrong position. You got to

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Speaker 4: put him in the right position to make plays. Till

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Speaker 4: Robert came in for a year and a half, two

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Speaker 4: years and just lit it up on special teams. And

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Speaker 4: then one safety got hurt and once he went in.

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Speaker 4: Now I think Robert played for thirteen years and went

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Speaker 4: to two Pro Bowls. I mean, you just but I've

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Speaker 4: been blessed to figure out seeing talent and go, hey,

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Speaker 4: what if we put this guy over.

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Speaker 3: Gary.

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Speaker 2: Let me interject here, because we were talking about you

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Speaker 2: mentioned golf and everything in the equipment. Obviously he's gotten

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Speaker 2: better and golf and guys are bombing, you know, three

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty hoar drives whatever. It was rare not

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Speaker 2: that many years ago, and we would see fifty yard

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Speaker 2: field goals. Now it's commonplace. Sixty yard field goals are

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Speaker 2: almost commonplace. Now, what do you attribute the not just

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Speaker 2: to the length, but the accuracy for a lot of

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Speaker 2: these kickers, not just at the pro level, college level,

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Speaker 2: And so these high school kids are now getting to

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Speaker 2: that point where they're getting noticed because they can kick

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Speaker 2: at sixty plus yards for field goals.

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Speaker 4: Well, back in my day, usually the guy that was

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Speaker 4: the kicker, like you prim was the smallest guy on

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Speaker 4: the team. You know, through the ages like Tiger Woods

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Speaker 4: improved golf so much because of how big he was,

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Speaker 4: his training and everything else. Kickers have now are getting

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Speaker 4: bigger and stronger. But this kid came to me three

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Speaker 4: years ago and says, hey, coach, here you're the guy

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Speaker 4: to see to get in the NFL. The kid's name

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Speaker 4: was Brandon Aubrey. So he comes to me, never played

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Speaker 4: high school or college footballs, So show me what you

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Speaker 4: learned and how you're going to kick. Telling you I

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Speaker 4: put on a soccer ball, he kicked it. It was

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Speaker 4: like out of sight. He came to my free agent

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Speaker 4: combine and nobody would touch him the first year because

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Speaker 4: why because he didn't play high school. At college football,

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Speaker 4: he played in the USFL. Then the next year he

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Speaker 4: played in I think it was a UFL and he

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Speaker 4: played him. Becating that my combine and my old special

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Speaker 4: teams assistant John Fossel calls me. He said, Garry, what

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Speaker 4: do you think of this guy? I said, John, you

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Speaker 4: guys would be crazy not to give this kid a chance.

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Speaker 4: But if you look at him, Mark, he's about six

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Speaker 4: two sixty three, about two oh five. And so some

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Speaker 4: of these guys, I've had more guys since they've seen

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Speaker 4: this Brandon Aubrey deal. I've got these bigger high school

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Speaker 4: college guys coming to me because they saw the story

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Speaker 4: about me. Working with Brandon obviously, what do you think

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Speaker 4: about me? And I'm watching some of these high school guys. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: a good high school kicker can easily make a fifty

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Speaker 4: to fifty yard field goal, and their kickoffs don't just

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Speaker 4: go to the end zone, they go through the gold post.

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Speaker 4: In high school, the kids are bigger, stronger. I think

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Speaker 4: there's a lot of kicking camps. They're teaching the mechanics better.

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Speaker 4: In the old days, they didn't have anybody coaching, and

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Speaker 4: you know, I've had several of my assistants go out

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Speaker 4: and they're coaching guys, but it's all about technique and pete.

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Speaker 4: You know, as a linebacker, if a coach told you

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Speaker 4: to do something wrong, as a linebacker, you go like, what,

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Speaker 4: I'd never heard of that. Or a quarterback, you wouldn't

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Speaker 4: coach a quarterback wrong. So in today's world, I think

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Speaker 4: these kids are getting coached on better mechanics. They're getting

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Speaker 4: coached early, and then they're just in the weight room

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Speaker 4: they're doing all the things. But I still believe that

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Speaker 4: throughout college ranks, I've coached most of the guys that

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Speaker 4: are finalists for the Patrick Manley Award, which is a

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Speaker 4: snapping work. I just think the snappers are better in college,

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Speaker 4: in high school, college, and all the way around. So

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Speaker 4: the whole special team's game has gotten better. And I

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Speaker 4: just like I said, I think it's evolution of the.

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Speaker 3: Kicking game and talk about the evolution of the king game.

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Speaker 5: Yes, the kickers have gotten better, you know, touchbacks go

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Speaker 5: to the thirty yelling. Defense needs to go thirty yards

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Speaker 5: now almost to be just in field goal range.

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Speaker 3: But what do you think.

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Speaker 5: Overall of what they've taken off and some of the

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Speaker 5: changes they've made to special teams? Do you think that

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Speaker 5: what they say for safety reasons that it's worth it

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Speaker 5: because it is, it's a different It's become much less

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Speaker 5: exciting question about that, you know, but the game has

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Speaker 5: changed so much in special teams. What do you think

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Speaker 5: of the changes and where do you think this game

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Speaker 5: is going to be in ten years? They're even going

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Speaker 5: to have a kickoff anymore?

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Speaker 4: Well, I would rather see them flip a coin and

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Speaker 4: take it out at like it in basketball at half

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Speaker 4: court if they want to change it and making a

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Speaker 4: kicker do something that's not the perfection. Like in golf,

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Speaker 4: you're always trying to hit the perfect shot, even though

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Speaker 4: it's a different club. But this new kickoff rule, I think,

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Speaker 4: and I told you earlier, I think it was going

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Speaker 4: to change the percentages of field goal kickers because you're

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Speaker 4: practicing weird stuff, yeah, during the week, and then you're

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Speaker 4: trying to and right, you know, right when you come

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Speaker 4: out for the game. Feed you know you practice certain

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Speaker 4: things certain days, Well, what do you practice it right

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Speaker 4: before you come out of the tunnel and you're going

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Speaker 4: to kick off. My guys would always take three kickoffs.

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Speaker 4: I'm watching guys now hit a good kickoff. They're hitting

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Speaker 4: a weird two weird kickoffs, and then your first kick

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Speaker 4: in the game is maybe a field goal. But I

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Speaker 4: would like to see him just go back to the

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Speaker 4: old thing. Just kick the ball out of the end

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Speaker 4: zone and take the ball on whatever yard line. I

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Speaker 4: think you're getting more returns when you kick it high.

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Speaker 4: In short, even though they eliminated twenty yards of coverage,

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Speaker 4: you still got an impact. You still got hits going on.

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Speaker 4: So just kick it out of the end zone. Now,

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Speaker 4: I think eventually the goal posts are going to get

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Speaker 4: more narrow. Well, I just think that. You know, when

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Speaker 4: I was when I went to the Ravens after the Vikings.

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Speaker 4: I brought in some arena goal posts that are nine feet,

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Speaker 4: and I'd make the guys kick on the arena goal

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Speaker 4: post because it just makes you know, all week you're

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Speaker 4: kicking on nine foot goal posts, and then when you

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Speaker 4: get to the game, lot of the teams they got

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Speaker 4: eighteen feet and the cellars of the same. But I

432
00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:08,440
Speaker 4: wouldn't doubt that they maybe bring in the goal posts. Well,

433
00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 4: let me just go back. They changed the extra point,

434
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,679
Speaker 4: and that in itself moving the extra point back. You

435
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,920
Speaker 4: see these guys missing extra points. I mean that kid

436
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,199
Speaker 4: that the Vikings had previous years before, I mean, I

437
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 4: can't believe how many extra points he missed. Now you

438
00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 4: get guys with big legs. But to me, you know again, Mark,

439
00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 4: I go back to golf. You know, it's fair ways

440
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,040
Speaker 4: and greens. It's not when in long drive contest. I

441
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,160
Speaker 4: always believe I want a kicker that can make everything

442
00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,960
Speaker 4: inside fifty. But still some of these coaches want the

443
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,160
Speaker 4: guy with the biggest leg, and so this whole thing

444
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 4: with getting the kicker that can make the field goals,

445
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:46,880
Speaker 4: I would go to a punter that can kick off,

446
00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,440
Speaker 4: which I've always had because again, my biggest priority wasn't

447
00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 4: how far the field goal kicker could kick it because

448
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,760
Speaker 4: I can get a punter to do that. But I

449
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,199
Speaker 4: think the rules are going to change. I mean, you

450
00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,800
Speaker 4: don't want to give a field goal kicker extra points

451
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,440
Speaker 4: for kicking over fifty or sixty. You know. I heard

452
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,880
Speaker 4: some people say, well give them four points or five points.

453
00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,560
Speaker 4: I would reduce the goal posts, and then I would

454
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,119
Speaker 4: say this in the last two minutes. You cannot win

455
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:11,080
Speaker 4: a game on a field goal.

456
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,640
Speaker 3: That would be a revolutionary that would be interesting. Yeah.

457
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:15,639
Speaker 4: Well, I'm just saying. You know, they sit there and

458
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,480
Speaker 4: play back and forth, back and forth. And I hate

459
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,160
Speaker 4: the tie rule in the NFL. Okay, if you score

460
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 4: a touchdown, you win. I like the college rule where

461
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 4: both guys have a chance, you know, to have the ball,

462
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,439
Speaker 4: and then if they both score the second time they scored,

463
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 4: then they got to go for two. I mean, they

464
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 4: actually make it interesting. But the NFL hasn't caught up

465
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,560
Speaker 4: to the college rule of you know, when you tie,

466
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 4: you know. But again, I think the go post could

467
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,919
Speaker 4: shrink and you know things they just talked about. So

468
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:45,800
Speaker 4: I don't know, what do you think about that, guys.

469
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,320
Speaker 2: I agree with the college been one hundred percent. It's

470
00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 2: so much more exciting to watch than the the NFL

471
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:52,760
Speaker 2: rule overtime rules.

472
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:53,879
Speaker 3: I could agree more.

473
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,640
Speaker 2: And maybe when your NFL commissioner someday you'll get implement

474
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 2: all these things. Gary, we got to run, Gary Suner,

475
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,399
Speaker 2: thank you so much for spending some time with a

476
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 2: great catching up with you today, for sharing your skull

477
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 2: stories with us. Take care of yourself and keep those kickers.

478
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,760
Speaker 4: Coming, you got it and stampers and bunners.

479
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 2: Well, thanks again to Gary Zoner for joining the show.

480
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 2: It's always great catching up with him when we get

481
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,880
Speaker 2: the chance. And all right, Pete versus the Vikings as

482
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,200
Speaker 2: we know one another one on the road. Last week

483
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 2: got twenty three thirteen victory over the Titans in Tennessee.

484
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,120
Speaker 2: They capped off their AFC SALD schedule with a perfect

485
00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,639
Speaker 2: three and zero record. The Vikings are still sitting in

486
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 2: second place in the NFC North. After the Lions absolutely

487
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,160
Speaker 2: dismantled the Jaguars at home and the Packers of course

488
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,120
Speaker 2: blocked the last second field goal to knock off those

489
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,440
Speaker 2: Bears for the eleventh time in a row. We get

490
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,480
Speaker 2: those same Bears on Sunday over at Soldier Field, which

491
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 2: seemingly always gives us fits no matter what the situation is.

492
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 2: The Bears showed that they still had a bit of

493
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 2: a heartbeat despite their record, and you know, they've been

494
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 2: so close to having it like six and four right now,

495
00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 2: What do you think the Bears will throw at us

496
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 2: on Sunday? And what do you think the Keys are

497
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,760
Speaker 2: making a quarterback, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams a little more uncomfortable.

498
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,800
Speaker 5: Well, when guys get fired, when coaches get fired, usually

499
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 5: get that one week perk up because the players realize

500
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,440
Speaker 5: that coaches get fired first and then their next so

501
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,120
Speaker 5: you kind of get that bump.

502
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 3: You know.

503
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,200
Speaker 5: I haven't had a chance to really sit down and

504
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 5: see what they try to do with Caleb or what

505
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,639
Speaker 5: they tried to do differently. But we as a defense

506
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,440
Speaker 5: over the last two years with Flores, have had more

507
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 5: success against younger quarterbacks, and a lot of it has

508
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,440
Speaker 5: to do with the looks that we give and them

509
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 5: not being one hundred percent sure. Back in the you know,

510
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 5: you remember, back in the day, it was always the

511
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 5: athletic quarterbacks that would give us problems. You know, with

512
00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 5: Zimmer and everything, Well, that's not as much of a

513
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 5: problem as we're much more athletic defense. It's the veteran

514
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,080
Speaker 5: quarterbacks that know what to do with the football, you know,

515
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 5: like we saw against Detroit, right, you know, again with golf.

516
00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 5: So I'm not as concerned about Caleb Williams and being

517
00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,919
Speaker 5: a rookie quarterback as I is. Maybe I would normally,

518
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 5: But defensively, I think they have a few injuries that

519
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 5: they're working through, but that defense has really been carrying

520
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,360
Speaker 5: that team. Even though they're only a four win team,

521
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,480
Speaker 5: They've really been carrying them and keeping these games close.

522
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 5: So it's it's gonna be a low scoring bit, I think.

523
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of the Bears defense, and how concerned are

524
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 2: you about the Vikings running game right now because we're

525
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 2: not seeing them getting the overall production and the ability

526
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,679
Speaker 2: to control the clock and the sorts of things, especially

527
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,159
Speaker 2: when you're on the road that you want to do

528
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 2: in the second half of games.

529
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is.

530
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 5: I mean, you have to you have to start giving

531
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 5: Aaron Jones a little bit more of a rest, and

532
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,840
Speaker 5: you know, we saw I think for the first time,

533
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,439
Speaker 5: you know, he was out for you know, a series

534
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 5: or two at a time because he's he's I think

535
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 5: surpassed already the number of carries that he had the

536
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 5: entire last season. Now, I know he was injured a

537
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 5: little bit, but he had a lot of juice in

538
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,160
Speaker 5: the playoffs, and you want to keep them at that levels.

539
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 5: He takes a lot of hits, right, He's a physical

540
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:57,439
Speaker 5: running back and he's not that big, so you have

541
00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,120
Speaker 5: to have the rest of that group step up and

542
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 5: and do some things. And you know they're different. Every

543
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 5: running back is different. But you're right, we're not seeing normally.

544
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:08,920
Speaker 5: You would say, if we're seeing the two high safeties

545
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 5: all the time like we saw in Jacksonville, saw a

546
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 5: lot of it against Tennessee, you run teams out of it,

547
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,119
Speaker 5: but you have to run them out of it by

548
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 5: getting explosive runs. Right, Just moving the chains won't always

549
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,159
Speaker 5: do it. They'll say, okay, well you can move the chains,

550
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 5: that's fine, but we'll do something in the red zone

551
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 5: right like like the Jacksonville did. But we're not gonna

552
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 5: We're not gonna let JJ get behind our defense. So

553
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 5: you have to run them out of it, and we

554
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,399
Speaker 5: have to find a way to do that. But you

555
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 5: don't have to just run the ball. You can also

556
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,160
Speaker 5: throw a quick slant screens, attack the middle of the field,

557
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 5: which which is where I think we saw a little

558
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 5: bit with a big touchdown to Jordan Addison, he was

559
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 5: attacking the middle of the field. But I just think

560
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 5: Hockinson is the way to go here in the in

561
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 5: the short term.

562
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 2: However you want to slice it. The Vikings are still

563
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,239
Speaker 2: eight and two that it's remarkable as we wrap up

564
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 2: our November schedule. No one imagined that they would have

565
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 2: eight wins right now.

566
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 3: No, absolutely not, just not happening.

567
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 5: There are too many question marks going in the season,

568
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 5: Donald being the biggest, and then you had four or

569
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,400
Speaker 5: five free agents on defense, which they're all playing well,

570
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:06,760
Speaker 5: right and.

571
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 2: Of course he's struck gold with all those guys it

572
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 2: is exactly right.

573
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 5: So and then the offensive lines kind of figured itself

574
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 5: out all by the way, we're missing darrisaw and it's like,

575
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,560
Speaker 5: I mean, look at the difference thereay injuries in Tennessee,

576
00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 5: they have the right tackle just disaster and you know

577
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 5: we went out and picked up Cam and kind of

578
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 5: solved that problem. So had you know, hat tip to

579
00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 5: Quazy in the in the front in the front and

580
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,639
Speaker 5: the staff up in the front of the building.

581
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 2: Well, the Vikings you wrap up their November road trip

582
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 2: down in Chicago on Sunday. It's a noon start on

583
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 2: Fox nine here on the Twin Cities, so be sure

584
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,760
Speaker 2: to check your local listings for details. You could, also,

585
00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:43,120
Speaker 2: of course, catch Paul al and Ben Lieber and Pete

586
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,840
Speaker 2: Bursts with the call right here all across the Vikings

587
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,479
Speaker 2: Radio network. The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at

588
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,359
Speaker 2: ten am on kfa N, so be sure to tune

589
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,240
Speaker 2: in with host Mike Mussman and the rest of the

590
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 2: crew leading up to kickoff. Pete's always a pleasure. Thanks

591
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,440
Speaker 2: again to Gary Zonner for joining the show, and thank

592
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 2: you fans tuning into another edition of School Stories presented

593
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,199
Speaker 2: by three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings,

594
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 2: and we will see you all again next week.