Latest / The Skol Hop / Was the Vikings Week 1 game against the Packers good or bad? | TSH Ep. 155

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Was the Vikings Week 1 game against the Packers good or bad? | TSH Ep. 155 · The Skol Hop

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Hey, Vikings fans. Welcome in to another episode of The
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Skrull Hop.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I'm Evan. And I'm Austin.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: We're just a couple of dudes from Iowa. We like
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: drinking beer and talking about the Vikings.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we do. And we can finally give a true
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: recap of an actual regular season Vikings game.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: And what a game it was. The Vikings won 39
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: to 22, but there were some things that kind of
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: made it seem like it wasn't all that it seems.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was fun too to get back to our
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: regular season routine of giving our roses and our thorns
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and handing out a few game balls.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: And of course, we had to look ahead to week
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: two action as the Vikings head to Chicago to play
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: the Bears at Soldier Field.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I don't want to give any spoilers, but
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I really didn't mind this cutting grasses from Dimensional Brewing Company.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: So wherever you are, grab a cold one. Join us
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: for episode 155 of the Skol High.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Skol.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Skol.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: All right, Evan, let's dive into some delicious beer here.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, please.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming it's delicious. I've never had this. Have you
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: ever had this one?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I have not.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, so this one is from Dimensional Brewing out of,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: are they Dubuque? Yeah, Dubuque, Iowa. We've been there, I think. uh,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: on the brew hop 2.0 with friend of the show
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: for us. We definitely went there.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Cause they graciously let us use their like side party room,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: like a party room had all those cool like, uh, barrels. Anyways,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: this one, it's a West coast pale ale, uh, 5.2% alcohol.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It is called a cutting grasses. Um, and I hope
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I'm not like really close to saying something inappropriate. I
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: don't know. I it's over my head right now. If
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I am, can art's pretty cool it's just a bunch
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of basically like halloween costumes people in halloween costumes cutting
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: grass i don't know so i'm excited to try this
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: evan you already cracked yours.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I think the real question is where is this gonna
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: land on the lawnmower scale for you.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Well i was telling you before we recorded it's with
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: this kind of a name it's almost got to be
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: like really high otherwise if it's not really high then
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: why name it this you know why have it available
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: on the roster if you're not gonna use it.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: It smells really good it's super hoppy which is your thing.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: It is my thing but i feel like you're coming
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: around to it more and more every time did i
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: not open this can very well it is pouring really
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: weird almost like there's a hole or something in it
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: anyways um yeah it's uh got great aroma right now
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: definitely that hoppy aroma what hops did they use cascade
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: simcoe and columbus cryo hops Um, I don't know if
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I've heard of Columbus cryo hops before, but yeah, I'm excited.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: It's really kind of darker than I expected it to be.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: It's more, almost more Amber. Yeah.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Almost that Amber.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: It's kind of cool. Yeah.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Good head retention. And I don't think either of us
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: did like a super hard pour, but yeah, it's cool.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: It's cool.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: That's a good one.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: That's a really good one.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: With a name like Cutting Grasses, I was expecting it
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: to be like super crisp, super good flavor, but light flavor.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Something you want to crack open quite a few after
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you mow the lawn or cut the grass. Evan, I
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: don't know if I'm getting that. I don't think this
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: is going to be super high on the lawnmower scale.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: It's delicious. It's a good hoppy... ipa i really like
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: it but it's got like it's almost too heavy of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: a flavor.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: It is it's heavier it's a little maltier than i
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: expected it to be it's not as like florally and
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: light and bright it's a little darker and you can
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: see that in the color but and.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: I don't mean it's it's bad because it's too heavy
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: of a flavor i mean as far as a lawnmower
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: scale it's probably too heavy of a flavor i'm gonna
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: give it I'm going to give it like a 6.5
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: on the lawnmower scale, but that doesn't mean it's bad
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: by any means. That just means I wouldn't want to
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: crack open a bunch right after mowing the lawn. I
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: would totally drink a bunch of these anytime. Also, what
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: did I say? 5.2%. Man, you could throw a handful
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of these back and still be feeling fine the next day.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I like it a lot. I don't know if it's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: high on the lawnmower scale for me, but It's not
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: bad at all.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: It's high on every other scale for me. Cause it's
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: got that like ambery type vibe to it. And it
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: kind of reminds me of our school hop. Yeah. Hoppy
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: amber that we brewed. It was good stuff.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Which had a similar color. Yeah. Now, now that you
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: say that, yeah, it's a, it's almost like they, they
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: got their hands on our recipe. Yeah. It's really good.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I like it a lot and I will have it again, but, uh, yeah,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: not for cutting the grass.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Well, we have the opportunity to talk about a regular
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: season football game.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: And the good news is the Vikings won.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, they did.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: And we both predicted a Vikings win. So we are
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: safe from the purple punishment. So that's the good news
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: for us today.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: This is when we would be spinning the wheel. Or
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: would we normally have done that?
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Probably before we did the beer because some of the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: punishments affect how we consume our beer.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: But we're safe from the beer. Or not safe from
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the beer. I'm not safe from the beer. Safe from
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: the wheel of purple punishments because we both predicted a
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Vikings win over the Packers. The Vikings did, in fact, win.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: It was 39-22. It didn't really feel like a win
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: until the very end. It was kind of a weird
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: game that way. I have some theories about that. We'll
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: get to that in a little bit. But let's get
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: back to our roses and thorns.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Where we talk roses, good things that happened, and thorns,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: some bad things that happened. Why don't you go first
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: with a rose?
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Evan, I'm just now realizing, I haven't looked at
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: our outline since you've updated yours. I've got like eight
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: words in mine.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Mine's more than eight words.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: For each of my roses and thorns. And I'm really
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: excited to hear. I'm not even going to read what
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you put for your roses and thorns. But for me,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: my biggest rose is Justin Jefferson proved and just showcased
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: that he is still the best wide receiver in football.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: He had, for him, a pretty down year last year
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: due to a handful of things. Most importantly, the varying
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: degrees of quarterback play that he had as a wide
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: receiver in 2025. But now, through one game this year,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson has matched his touchdown total that he had
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: all last year. He had two touchdown catches against the Packers.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And that super sweet and very technical two-point conversion catch
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that he had, that catch that he had took a
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: lot of body control. He had to make sure his
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: feet were in. And I know every good wide receiver
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: has good feet control and could probably most wide receivers
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: worth their name, uh, would make that catch, but it
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: still wasn't an easy catch for that two point conversion. He, uh,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: he caught passes from Kyler Murray, at least one that
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: first pass, um, of the game where he kind of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: just stole it out of the air to, I'm pretty sure, uh,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: convert a first down. Um, and then he was a good, reliable, uh,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: receiver for Carson Wentz when he came in, um, that,
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: broken play or the the free play touchdown catch that
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: he caught uh i don't know if you saw after
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the game he was talking to reporters and he was
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: like yeah it wasn't really a 50 50 ball it
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: was more of a 70 30 ball which you totally
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: expect a wide receiver to say something like that but
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: yeah my biggest rose of this whole game is that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: we got to see some good old-fashioned justin jefferson football
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and it was really nice to see.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: And i would tack on to that i saw something
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: that they Just talking about the struggles that JJ had.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I should say Justin Jefferson, not to be confused with
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: a different JJ.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: The struggles that Justin Jefferson had last year through it all.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: And we've said this all along. It's just more reiterating
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: the point from another source. Justin Jefferson has never once
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: seemed unprofessional, seemed unhappy, seemed discontent. He's just been kind
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: of laser-focused on the team and getting better. And they
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: showed some clips of him on the sideline from this
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: week one game against the Packers. He's right there at
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: one point with KOC. He's got his hands on KOC's shoulder.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: There's a big defensive play. They made it happen. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: don't remember which play it was, but what a guy.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: He's obviously a ring of honor guy, probably a future
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famer if he finishes out his career as
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: strong as he started it. And yeah, I agree. He,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: he had a great game, two touchdowns, 92 yards, not
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: a bad way to start the season for Justin Jefferson.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: You said the words future hall of famer, and that
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: might sound a little like, okay, hold on. Like he's only,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I think this is the start of his seventh season
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: in the NFL, which yeah, we can all see he's,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: he's on that. He has done great things. And assuming
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: he doesn't like, you know, get his legs chopped off tomorrow.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Like he's going to continue to do great things. But legitimately,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the numbers he's starting to enter into, like he's always having.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: good stats. Like, Oh, he's the fastest. Uh, he's got
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the most yards for any receiver before the age of
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: 23 and 24 and 25. Like those like stats that
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: are great, but they were always like, yeah, for within
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: his first five years, he's got the most yards. They
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: were always the, like, biasing those stats based on where
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: he is at that point in his career. But now
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: his stats are starting to enter like, Hey, he's, I
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: think I saw something like he's already like 98th in
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: NFL history with the number of catches or something like that.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Like his numbers are starting to enter highest ever territory
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and Um, and it's only a matter of a few
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: years before we're starting to say like, Hey, he's, you know,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: X on the list of most receiving, maybe not most
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: receiving touchdowns. Cause he's not, we've said before, he's not
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: like a touchdown machine, but like most receiving yards, it's
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: soon enough. We're going to be starting to talk about
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: how he's like 20th ever, you know, and he's still playing,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: you know? So. he's starting to prove longevity too, which
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: is really nice.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: And he could, I mean, he could end up in
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: like Jerry Rice territory.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Which is huge.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: And I know some people are going to be like,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's going to get there tomorrow, but
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, if he keeps on the trajectory that he's on,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: it's certainly plausible.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: So yeah, Justin Jefferson had a great game. Um, I'll
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: let you in on my thorns. And here was how
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: I started.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Your thorns or roses. We're still, we're still doing.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Roses, roses, roses, not thorns.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I'm having trouble today. It's okay.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: We're at the end of the day.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Um, I started out my roses section by saying there's
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: a lot, so many. Um, and I kind of can
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: just go rapid fire. And if we want to like
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: talk about any of them in depth, we can.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Um, But I think there were a lot of good
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: things that came out of the Vikings game. And I
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: know that you were a little bit more pessimistic. You
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: didn't feel the same way about this game that I felt.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I think there's two, really quick, I think there's two
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: important distinctions. I latched on to a lot of my
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: opinions midway through the game and at the end of
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: three quarters of the game. You were mature enough... to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: form most of your opinions. I'm assuming I still, I'm
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: not going to read these cause I want, I want
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to hear them organically. I'm assuming you were mature enough
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: to form all of your opinions with the big picture
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: in mind after seeing the whole game and knowing the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: end result and feeling the highs of the, the fourth
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: quarter explosion, stuff like that. So I, I mean that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: as a compliment to you, you're not like me sticking
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to an opinion that you made right after halftime and
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: got super pissed. Anyways, keep going.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Well, let's not, let's not, uh, you know, we don't
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: have to be dishonest about what happened. This game was
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: a roller coaster. And for a while, I think all
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Vikings fans were thinking like this sucks and this game.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: Now let's just take the loss, move on. Hopefully we
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: can beat Chicago who put up 59 points against Carolina
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: last week.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Jeez. Yeah. We can talk about that a little bit later.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: We'll get there. Anyways, rapid fire. Here you go. These
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: are my roses, not thorns. The good things that happened.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Will the Thrill, perfect. Made, what, one field goal? Two
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: field goals? I can't remember off the top of my head.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I believe, let me double check. I believe one field
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: goal and then continue.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And then he nailed all his extra points.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Go figure.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And the Packers kicker, who is a rookie, he, Trey Smack,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: he smacked a 59-yarder as his first kick ever, but
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: then he went on to miss an extra point later on.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but big picture, too. Trey Smack, three for three
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: on field goals and then one for two on extra points.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: And kids are going to miss a kick every once
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: in a while. If I'm a Packers fan, I'm not
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: upset about Trey Smack. Anyways, that's not what you're saying.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: What I'm saying is we have maybe the most reliable
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: kicker in football. And that's awesome, right? That is clutch.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: When we get into those games where it comes down
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: to that game-winning kick and it's a 61-yarder and you
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: know you've got Will the Thrill who's going to come
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: out and just absolutely drill it, That's awesome.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the only thing we'd be concerned about at that
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: point is if that stadium uses wires for their cameras.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Another thing, another rose. The defense balled out, especially in
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: the second half. And I'm going to go into more
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: detail on that later. But the defense played really well.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And I know that they showed some cracks earlier on.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: The defensive secondary, they allowed Christian Watson to just kind
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: of gash them for, what, almost 200 yards, I think.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: It was his total?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Christian Watson had six catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Importantly,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: his longest was that 81-yard touchdown.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: So I get that, right? But I think when you
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: play in the NFL, in an NFL defense, you're going
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: to give up significant plays. They're going to gash you
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: at some point. You're playing against professional football players. It's
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: not like you're professionals playing against college. We can't expect.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Our defense to just shut out every opponent and they
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: never gain a single yard and they go four and
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: out fourth and 10 every single time. Like that's just unrealistic.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: It's the old adage. They get paid too.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. It's professional football. So, um, you don't expect
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: the Vikings to just completely dominate. And there were some
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: things to figure out. Moving on. Carson Wentz was serviceable
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: as a backup quarterback. And I think he was objectively
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: better than, than Jordan Love, who's apparently, supposedly, an elite
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: quarterback in the league. And I know that's maybe a
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: little bit of a hot take. I'm not saying that
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Carson Wentz played amazing, but I'm saying when you look
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: at the stat lines between him and Jordan Love, objectively speaking,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Carson Wentz played better. Carson Wentz didn't get sacked as much.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: Carson Wentz didn't throw a pick. And Carson Wentz had
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: the same amount of touchdowns, more yards, or no, maybe
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: less yards, But a better quarterback rating.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Not even half as many yards as Jordan Love, but
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: a better quarterback rating.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: But again, objectively speaking, I think Carson Wentz was the
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: better quarterback on the field, especially late in the game.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Especially once the momentum shifted and it became clear that
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the Vikings were going to win the game. That was
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: when I was like, okay, Carson Wentz. I can be
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: on board with another five-game stint of Carson Wentz as
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: the starter. I wouldn't be mad. I'm still going here.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: Roses. I've got more. I've got more. The skill players
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: for the Vikings scored touchdowns. Justin Jefferson had two. You
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: already talked about him. He had two all of last season.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: He scored two in this game. TJ Hawkinson had a touchdown.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: It's been a while since we've been able to say that.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: And I think most importantly, both of the running backs
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: scored touchdowns. Jordan Mason had one. And Aaron Jones has
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: been waiting for years to score a touchdown against his
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: former team. And he finally got it. And I'll just
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: take this opportunity to talk about the Vikings run game
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: for a minute. I know that their stat lines, Jordan
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: Mason and Aaron Jones stat lines don't look like super rosy,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: super amazing. They don't jump off the page. There's not like,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: you know, 150 yards and three touchdowns for each of them.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: But collectively... And if they're going to do this whole
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Jordan Mason or Aaron Jones as the starter thing, then
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I think you truly have that two-headed monster. And collectively,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: they need to go out and do the job of
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: one super back.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Really quick, did you see the news on Jordan Mason?
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, Jordan Mason's on IR. I saw that.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: He got put on IR today.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: We can talk about that. I actually have that later
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: on as well.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right. I just wanted to make sure. I
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: know sometimes we both have day jobs, so we're not
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: scrolling Twitter all day.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: No, I did see that. But the point still remains,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: and I think it's more of a coaching thing than anything,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: KOC has long been prone to abandon the run when
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: we get into these situations like we were against the
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Packers and we're down and we're just scrapping to get
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: back into the game. And the quickest way to get
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: back into the game is a big throw, a big touchdown,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: a big gash play to Justin Jefferson where you gain
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: a bunch of yards. It's a 50, 60, 70-yard play.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: They put you in scoring position, and then you can
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: quickly get back into the game. KOC never wavered from
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: the run game. The run game wasn't amazing, and I
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: don't think any of us would sit here and say, oh, man,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: the Vikings just need to run the ball. That's not true.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I literally said the opposite at one point. They need
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: to stop running the ball. It's not working.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: They averaged like three yards of play on the ground. Again,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: not amazing, but what I think, is profound is the
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: fact that KOC stuck with it. He didn't abandon it
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: late in the game. Both of those guys got touchdowns,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: which was important. And collectively they were, what, 100 yards
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: or so?
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: The Vikings as a team between Mason, Jones, Kyler Murray,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and then even Carson Wentz, even though he's credited with
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: negative one yard. So as a team, the Vikings rushed
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: 34 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And that just, I think, that's a a shift that's
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: a change from what we're used to with uh koc
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you get into that you're down 22 17 like they
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: were and it's just it becomes the air raid let's
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: just try to get the ball downfield and make these
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: big plays and he didn't abandon it um and there
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: were times where carson wentz was under pressure there were
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: a few times i think in the third quarter where
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Carson Wentz didn't even have a chance to like breathe
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: or like even look anywhere he just there was one
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: play where Blake Brandel like stepped one way and the
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: nose tackle for the Packers stepped the other way and
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: got the edge and he was in the backfield quicker
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: than you can say surprise and Carson Wentz was on
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: his butt and that was the end of the play
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: but overall I was impressed with The commitment to the
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: run game, the offensive line did their job that way.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit more challenging to run
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: the ball late in the game like they did, and
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: they did that. I'm getting long in the tooth. We
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: have more.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Still on roses.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: The Vikings won the turnover battle, and they're really, really
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: good under Kevin O'Connell, historically and statistically speaking, when they
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: win the turnover battle. That's a rose. Anytime the Vikings
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: can win the turnover battle, I feel good about the
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Vikings winning that game. Two other roses. Quick hitting. Let's go.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: The Packers lost.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And the Vikings won.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: That last rose you had is the only thing that matters.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: More than my frustrations throughout the game. More than what
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Twitter's opinions are. More than what yours or mine combined
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: opinions are. Literally the only thing that matters. Even more
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: than the score was that the Vikings won. And When
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: you include the score.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: The scores we predicted, I think, were a lot closer
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: in margin than the final score.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so just to remind everybody, at the end of
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: last week's episode, we both predicted a win, Vikings win
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: over the Packers. I predicted a lot closer game, 21-15.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: And holy cow, you predicted a lot closer game. It
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: was a one-point game. Yeah, 24-23. And I actually remember
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: you saying, like, I could see a scenario where the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Vikings are driving down at the end of the game
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: and having to kick a field goal to finally put
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the Vikings over one point as time expires. And I
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: remember saying, like, man, I hope we can clip that
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: out and, like... Use that. Yeah, yeah. Which, I mean.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: It's almost impossible to predict stuff like that, but it
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: would have been sweet.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: But regardless of any opinions I'm going to spout or
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: you're going to spout, the Vikings beat the Packers. They
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: beat them 39-22, which if you.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Couldn't watch the game and all you did was pull
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: up the score afterwards you'd be like oh my goodness
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: this game must have been as you know dominant as
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: that like Vikings Bengals game last year where Isaiah Rogers
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: had multiple turnovers and touchdowns and they just dominated every
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: aspect of the field like I mean, no. If you
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: watch the game, that's not the case. But who cares?
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: They won. And they won. Even if it was by
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: one point, they still would have won.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: So that's the only thing that matters. 29 points and
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: 22 points in the fourth quarter. It was a fun
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: game to watch at the end.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Not so fun early on. Let's get into Thorns. I'll start,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: and then I'll let you finish. Because I think you
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: have more opinions that you want to get out. So
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: I can be a little shorter here with my Thorns.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: I do have a few, though.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Kyler Murray looked bad. He did not look good. And
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: I think you texted me or I texted you early
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: on in the game. We're like, this dude sucks. He
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: doesn't know what he's doing out there. And I told
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: somebody today at work, I said, I'm actually glad he
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: got hurt.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm not happy he got hurt. We're not rooting
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: for injury.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: We're not rooting for injury. But I was actually kind
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: of relieved when Carson Wentz came into the game. I'm like, okay,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: we have capable quarterback play coming in. He went two
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: and three last year as a starter. I'm not saying
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: he's the savior. He's not the answer. He's not the
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: long-term quarterback for the Vikings.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Some people are saying that.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: But I think he's got Kevin O'Connell's trust in a
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: big way, and that's important, especially when your play caller
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: is a former quarterback who sees the game through the
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: eyes of a quarterback. You need somebody out there who
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: sees the game that KOC does, and KOC can– get
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: on the same wavelength with the quarterback. We saw that
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: with Sam Darnold. That's what happened. That's why the Vikings
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: were so good with Sam Darnold. And it kind of
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: worked that way with Kirk Cousins before he got injured too.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Like they were kind of able to get on the
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: same wavelength and then the Vikings were winning games and
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: they were looking good and their offense was just performing
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: at a clip that was exciting.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: And it took a while. It didn't happen right away.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: It's not like at the end of the first quarter,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: we were all like, Oh, Okay, good. Carson Wentz is in.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: This is great. It wasn't that way. But man, once
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: the defense really picked things up, Carson Wentz looked good.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: And it's a thorn that Kyler Murray has hurt. It's
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: not good that he went out. But I think it's
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: actually worse that he looked as bad as he did
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: in the 11 plays that he played. I think that's
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: concerning for me as a Vikings fan. And I'm not.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Super excited to see him get back into the starting lineup.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Careful. People in the comments are going to rip you
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: apart for giving up on a guy after 11 plays,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: even though the Vikings apparently like to give up on.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Guys pretty early. You rarely see deer in the headlights
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: like that, especially with a guy who's been in the
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: league for how many years now?
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: This is either his seventh or eighth year in the league.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Did we decide, is he older or younger than JJ?
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Or like Justin Jefferson?
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: Is he.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Not J.J. McCarthy.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but he was the first overall pick
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: in 2019. Justin Jefferson was drafted in 2020. So I'm not.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Exactly sure they're exact. He has one more season in
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: the league than Justin Jefferson.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: He's still relatively young, but he's starting to creep into
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: the older category of quarterback.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: He should be prime veteran age right now. Like prime
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: as in fully developed. We know who he is. He's
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: as good as he's going to be. He should be that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: This is Kyler Murray.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: A question that I had is, do the Vikings win
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: this game if he doesn't get hurt and he stays in?
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Does he settle down? Does he get comfortable in KOC's
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: game plan at full-time regular season game speed? Knowing that,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: you know, he's done this before, but with a different offense,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: with a different system. And he played one preseason game
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: or part of one preseason game with KOC to kind
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: of get familiar, but like, He just looked lost.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: And I think to answer my own question, I don't
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: think the Vikings win this game. If Kyler Murray makes
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: it all the way to the end of the game.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I just don't, I don't see that as the reality.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I agree. I, I know it's only what two series
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: or three series, whatever he played, but Kyler Murray did
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: not look comfortable at all. He didn't look like the
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: kind of a quarterback that knew what was going on
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: on the field. Um, we are just a couple of
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: dudes in your basement that have never played football at
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: a high level, let alone quarterback at any level. But
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I have no confidence after just those few plays that
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray is fully comfortable running this offense, that Kevin
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: O'Connell is fully equipped to be able to call an
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: offense where Kyler Murray is highlighted just off those few
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: plays and other than that, all we've seen is that
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: one or two series or whatever in the preseason. Like
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: I got, like I said, no confidence, no hope in
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray at all. Um, I agree with you. I
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: felt a little bit better when Carson Wentz came in
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: because to Kevin O'Connell's detriment, I think he only succeeds
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: when he has a quarterback who fits a certain archetype,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: a quarterback who is able to, um, read the field pre-snap,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: know what Kevin O'Connell wants to see pre-snap, know how
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to get to his first, second, maybe third reads, and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: then sit in the pocket and deliver the pass on
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: his number one read. Now, do I think Carson Wentz
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: is good at dissecting the field after the snap and
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: really quick to make a decision? No, I think that's
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Carson Wentz's biggest thing is it feels like every time
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: he takes a snap, we sit there, we sit there,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: we sit there. And then he goes to his second
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: read and we sit there and we sit there and
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: we sit there and he goes to his third read
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: and we sit there and all he's been sacked four
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: times already now. Like, I think that's the biggest detriment
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: to Carson Wentz right now is it just takes for
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: him forever. However, his best form of offense and football
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: is what Kevin O'Connell calls. So that's why Carson Wentz
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: is better right now than Kyler Murray in the Vikings offense.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: But yeah, to answer your question, I don't know, unless
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: there is some big calming of nerves and light bulbs
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: turning on, if Kyler Murray didn't get hurt and continued
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to play that game, I don't think, outside of a
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: few unpredictable plays, I don't think we see the Vikings
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: winning or scoring that many points by any means.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: He made it to the second play, third play, made
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: it to the third play of the third drive. The
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: third possession for the Vikings.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Which was a third down that they didn't convert, but
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: they did convert it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Because of the penalty. the penalty and then that drive
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: ended up in a field goal um one other thorn
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: jordan mason on ir um that news didn't come out
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: immediately uh that came out today yeah which is wednesday
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: september 16th so it took until the first kind of
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: work day of the new week as they prepare to
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: play the bears and for that news to come out.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: But you have to think that that injury was sustained
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: against the Packers.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: And that sucks because I just got done talking about
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: how amazing this double-headed rushing attack is. And, you know,
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: my hope was that, man, if the Vikings could keep
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: those two guys healthy, you got two really capable guys.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: You can average 100, 150 yards a game between the
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: two of them. hopefully rely on them for at least
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: a touchdown, maybe more. They scored two in this first game.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Like that's good news for the Vikings offense to have
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: a very stable, reliable run game. Now you got to
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: wait at least four weeks for Jordan Mason to come
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: back and they got, who do they bring up?
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Uh, so they, uh, DJ Dallas.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: DJ Dallas was on the roster and actually played some
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: special teams.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but he was a practice squad player that they
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: elevated for the Packer game. So he was still, even
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: though he was on the field and made that really
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: cool block that sprung open Miles Price's long return, he's still,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: it's always interesting because I think this rule has been
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: in effect for just a few seasons now, but it's
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: interesting that teams can call up practice squad players to
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: be able to suit up and play in games. for
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: one game, and I think they can do that for
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: practice squad players up to three times each. But they
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: ended up with a corresponding move of Jordan Mason going
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: to IR. They signed DJ Dallas to the full 53-man roster,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and then they signed former Browns running back Jerome Ford
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to take DJ Dallas's spot on the practice squad. So
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: that leaves, I think, the Vikings running back room as
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: far as non-IR guys is Aaron Jones. Demond Claiborne, DJ Dallas.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Claiborne's hurt, though, too.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Is he hurt?
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I think he's hurt.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know, because unless there was something... He's definitely
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: not on... He wasn't on the injury report today, which
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: today's Wednesday. We got our first injury report of the
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Bears week. And maybe... Yeah, I don't think he was
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: on that. And I think he was just inactive for
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: the Packer game. I think it was one of those
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: numbers games where he... He's on the 53-man roster. He
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: made the team out of training camp, but he was
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: not one of the 46 guys that dressed, 47 with
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: the emergency third quarterback. But, yeah, right now it's Aaron Jones,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: DeMond Claiborne, DJ Dallas, and now on practice squad, Jerome Ford. So, yeah,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: I agree. Was that it for your thorns, Jordan Mason?
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: K1 all right my thorn and then we can we
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: can move on i think you have an interesting point
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: after this but um i think for the most part
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: especially early on in the game it i got the
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: sense that the offense had no clue what was going
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: on um we talked about it here a minute ago
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: so i won't belabor it but k1 uh kyler murray
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: did not seem like the kind of guy that had
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: won a job in camp and had been qb1 for
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: you know a handful of weeks now and had a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: good command of the offense. Which, sure, he's new to
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the team. He's never been in Kevin O'Connell's offense. But,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, they named him the starter pretty early. And
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: he's been getting starter reps in practice and preseason and
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: all of that. And leading up to the Packer game,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: he's been getting the reps. So we've seen guys like
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Josh Dobbs come in and, yeah, I know it's an anomaly,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: but be on the team for days and then start
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and look serviceable not even start he came in you
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: know for that falcons game after after uh jaron hall
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: went down anyways i he didn't look good and i'm
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: not super comfortable with kyler murray at this point in
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: time he's a professional he's made a pro bowl or
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: two he has shown in the past that he's an
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: accurate passer when he's not throwing moon balls instead of
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: getting sacked and they're immediately intercepted for his first pass
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: as a viking um he has shown that he's good
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: in the past, but right now I'm not comfortable with
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: him at all. And just the offense in general didn't,
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: it just sputtered. It never got going. And then when
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: it did, it was because of a penalty or somebody
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: fell down or some fluke thing happened here. But other
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: than that, it was whoever the quarterback was dropped back.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Somebody's in his face. He gets sacked, dropped back. Somebody's
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: in his face. He scrambles and gets injured, stuff like that.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: And then the defense up until that, surgence of Dallas Turner.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: How about the name Dallas in this Vikings game? A
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: lot of good thoughts with the name Dallas in this
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Vikings game. But until Dallas Turner and really the Blitz
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: game started working at the end of the game, before then,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the defense was not doing good things for me either.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: The defensive backs, especially And Josh Metellus, we might need
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: to start talking about Josh Metellus and how he didn't
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: end the season last year too good and then ended
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: up going on IR and getting shoulder surgery. He didn't
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: look great against the Packers. The DBs got burned a lot.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: We talked about that Christian Watson touchdown. They looked out
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: of position. They looked like they didn't know what they
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: were doing. I heard Ben Lieber at one point, and
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about something else Ben Lieber said,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: but at one point Ben Lieber was saying, like, Yeah,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: he was talking to some of the guys, and I
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: think Josh Martellus specifically. They were saying it was so
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: loud at U.S. Bank at home that they were trying
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: to communicate. The Vikings defense was trying to communicate with
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: each other, and there was at least one instance where
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: they miscommunicated and somebody was wide open and they let
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: a huge pass go. I thought they blitzed entirely too much.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Blitzing is fun when it works. But it's not fun
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: when Jordan Love scrambles around and then finds Tucker Kraft
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: for 30 yards, and it looks like it was the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: easiest thing they did all that day. For a lot
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: of the game, the Vikings offense felt like it sputtered
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: every time it thought about touching the ball, and the
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Vikings defense did not feel very good at all either.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: So that's where most of my frustrations are. And You
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: know what? It's good to be frustrated after a win
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: because we're not also talking about being the only team
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: in the North that lost like the Packers were. What
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: are you pulling up here?
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: We've got to do game balls real quick. Okay. And
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: I'm just pulling out a prop because we have a ball.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Let's do game balls. And then I've got a few
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: other things that I want to talk about. Who gets
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: your game ball?
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: He was my first rose. My first game ball goes
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: to Justin Jefferson. best wide receiver in football, best player
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: in football, depending on the play, uh, looked great, had
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: to be a really good feeling game for him. Um,
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: he was, I think the only receiver to catch a pass. Uh,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: I don't know if any other Vikings wide receivers that
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: caught a pass in this game. Um, cause Jordan Addison,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Carson Wentz way overthrew him once or twice. And, uh,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: the one target that Jawan Jennings got was the, uh,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the Kyler Murray interception first pass of Kyler Murray's Vikings career.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: So Justin Jefferson gets my game ball. He will always be,
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: and currently is the best Vikings player on the team.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: Jawan Jennings and Jordan Addison were targeted, but didn't catch anything.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: The two tight ends both caught a handful of passes.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: So you are correct there. My game ball goes to
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Dallas Turner. Dallas Turner has kind of been this work
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: in progress for a couple of years now. And I
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: think he's just lived in the shadow of Van Ginkle
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: and Cashman, and I'm forgetting somebody that doesn't play for
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: the Vikings anymore. Jonathan Grenard. I think he was living
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: in their shadow for a while. And I think, honestly,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: moving on from Jonathan Grenard really opened up the door
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: for Dallas Turner to make a name for himself. So
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: my game ball goes to Dallas Turner. He had– what
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: did he end up with– Two tackles and a sack.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: But he was in the backfield a lot. Seven QB hits. Like,
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: he just wreaked havoc. And I don't think that those
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: tackles and sack stat line really does it justice. Like,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: it felt like he was so much more disruptive than that.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: But I think the pressure that he applied earned him
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: the game ball.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: Massive, massive credit. to the Vikings for not giving up
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: on their 23-year-old young, highly touted guy that they drafted
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: in the first round of the 2024 draft. It would
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: have been very disappointing for them to give up on
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: him so early in his career.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: All right. I'm ready to get down to some of this.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I have a lot of respect for you for not
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: taking that bait right there.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: What bait? Oh, the J.J. McCarthy?
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: What?
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: What?
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't even say anything about J.J. McCarthy. I was
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: talking about the Vikings' first-round pick in 2024, who's only
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: 23 right now.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: The reason I had you go first with the game
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: ball is because my game ball went to a defensive player,
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: and I want to stay focused on the defense for now.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: All right, let's hear it. is elite, and I'm going
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: to stand by that. And I think that there was
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of strategy on Brian Flores' part early in
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: this game. And I think some of your frustration with
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: the DBs at the early part of the game, Christian Watson,
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Tucker Craft, and Jordan Love just gashing this Vikings defense.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: I think that was part of the game plan. Will
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: you allow me to play a quick video? Yeah.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know the proper way to credit this.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: We'll credit it somehow.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: But we own nothing from this audio. I think I
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: know what you're going to play. But yes, this is
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: just something we're going to use to talk about our points.
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: He's trying to show the Chicago Bears of this week,
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week. I think he's trying
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: to put everybody on alert that we're coming. We're coming
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: all the time. We're bringing more heat this year. We've
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: got Dallas Turner now, who was a freaking menace to
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: society out there on Sunday. We've got Blake Cashman blitzing.
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: We got Harrison Smith back. Hey, league, we're coming. So
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: I think this was intentionally set up to let everybody
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: sit there on Tuesday night, driving the offensive coordinators crazy. Like,
• 40:43
  Speaker 4: how are we going to stop the blitz? Where are
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: these guys coming from? They get into red zone on
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: Thursday and Friday, and they're like, What is going on?
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: We have to prepare so much for the blitz. But
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: then he's going to start to dial it back. And
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: now he can start to manipulate the offense. Now he
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: can play offensive football as a defensive coordinator. And he
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: can put them on their heels thinking, hey, we got
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: to simulate blitz. We're going to simulate this over here.
• 41:06
  Speaker 4: We're going to disguise over here. We're going to pre-snap
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: move over here. And I think the whole time as
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: the season goes on, that number certainly is going to
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: come down because you can't have 75% blitz rate through
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: the whole season. But that That number will intentionally come down,
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: and I think we're going to be just as effective,
• 41:24
  Speaker 4: if not more, because you don't know when and where
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: we're blitzing at any point in time. So I think
• 41:32
  Speaker 4: the Packers game was a setup.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: There's Ben Lieber.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Ben Lieber on Sound the Horn, his podcast.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Yep. And I love the point that he makes there,
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: that this game was a setup. I think he was...
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: I think Brian Flores, he was, was putting the league
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: on notice a little bit and he's, he's done this before.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: Like Brian Flores is a known quantity in the league
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: for dialing up these super bizarre blitz packages, bringing everybody
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: and then dropping everybody back, having like nine guys on
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: the line. And then all of a sudden, you know,
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: four of them drop back or whatever. Like he's known
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: for this, but, I think it's this unpredictability that he
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: brings that makes the Vikings' defense lethal and makes them elite,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: truly elite. But I think there's one more thing that
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: I don't... This is pure theory on my part, and
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: it has to do with arguably our favorite player that
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: plays for the Vikings right now. He's in his 15th year.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Oh, man.
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: I named him a cat after him.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: We should put.
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: I'll put that picture right here, right now. Harrison Smith.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: I think Harrison Smith was the ace in the hole
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: for Brian Flores. And here's my theory. I could be
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: totally wrong, but I did a little bit of research,
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: and I texted you some of this yesterday, I think,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: or maybe today. I don't remember. Harrison Smith played 26 snaps.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: That's roughly a third of the game. There's roughly 60
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: plays in an NFL game that a player will play.
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: He played roughly a third of them. And most of
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: them came in the second half. We didn't really see him.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: We saw him sparingly. He was kind of sprinkled in
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: like some salt in the first half. But he really
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: came in a lot. And you saw him a lot.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: And you didn't see him lined up. Back in the
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: defensive secondary, you saw him lined up on the line
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: of scrimmage.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: A lot of times, yeah.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: Looking like he's going to blitz. And here's my theory.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: I think that Harrison Smith, before he came back, sat
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: down with KOC, Brian Flores, Nolan Teasley, and said, listen,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: I want to come back. But I'm going into my
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: 15th season. I can't be in... the true safety position.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: You've got safeties already. You've got guys that can play
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: that position already. You can list me as a safety.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: That's fine. That's what I've been my whole career, but
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: I want to come in and I want to do
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: what I love to do, which is blitz. I want
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: to come in on those safety blitzes. And I think
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: that's where Brian Flores was like, all right, just let
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: me finish. Just let me finish. I think Brian Flores
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: was like licking his chops. Like, yes. This is great.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: This is awesome. And when did the Vikings really start
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: to become disruptive? It was in the fourth quarter when
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: Harrison Smith started to make his appearance. And I think
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: what Brian Flores knew would happen is Jordan Love would
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: be looking out at what the defense was giving him,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: and Jordan Love would be like, earlier in the game, like, okay,
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: I know how to react to this. Okay, Tucker Kraft's
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: going to be open across the middle, and I can
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: gash him for 30 yards here. Okay, Christian Watson's going
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: to run a nice deep route here. He's going to
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: beat the corner, and I'm going to have him for
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: that 81-yard or whatever stupid play he had. But all
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, you throw Harrison Smith into that mix,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: and I think that, through Jordan Love... for a loop
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: and he's like i don't know what i'm looking at
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: anymore and wait when did they get this guy back
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: of course you know george love knew that harrison smith
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: was back but like i think i think that was
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: part of it and maybe i'm reading a little too
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: much into it but i think there was some intentionality
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: there and i think to ben lever's point that we
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: just watched um i think brian flores wanted to put
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: the league on notice like listen we already have a
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: pretty good defense And then we can throw in some
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: of these other guys like this 15-year veteran who's probably
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: all a famer and totally wreck games. We got this
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: young 23-year-old kid who can come screaming off the other
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: side and get to the quarterback.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: Thank God the Vikings didn't give up on that 23-year-old.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: That's my theory.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: I had kind of the aha moment this morning when
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: I was getting ready for work. I'm like, that actually
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: kind of makes a lot of sense. I could be
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: totally wrong. I could be way off. That conversation may
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: have gone completely different amongst Harrison Smith and the upper
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: echelon of Vikings leadership, but it just seems to make
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of sense. And I kind of like it.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: I like what Ben Lieber said. We're not going to
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: blitz as much as we did against the Packers. We
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: made a statement, but now we put everybody on notice.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: This is what we can do. This is how disruptive
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: we can be. And of all the players that we
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: know of, none of the defensive players are hurt.
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Right.
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: You've got one offensive player on IR, which again proves
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: the point that not only can we do it, but
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: we can do it week after week and we can
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: just bring this pressure and we can just, we can
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: put your quarterback into the ground and just bury your
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: offense if need be.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: A couple of things on Harrison Smith. Uh, one funny thing,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: Yannick Eckhart tweeted, uh, and I sent this to you. Um,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: He's replying to another tweet about how many times the
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Vikings blitzed Jordan Love. And Yannick Eckhart tweeted saying, my
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: conspiracy theory is that he's calling the defense like a
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: sane person, this being Brian Flores. And then Harrison Smith
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: just audibles into a blitz every time, which is funny
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: because Harry wants the stats he wants.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: All right, let's go cover two. Let's play conservative here.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: No, I'm coming off the edge every time. Leroy Jenkins. Um,
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: and another one here, uh, probably a little bit more
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: down to earth, but Eric Thompson, um, on Twitter. And
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: I also sent this to you, uh, who actually after
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: the game each week does a really good job of
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: like doing like, Hey, these were the top five PFF
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: scores and the bottom five PFF scores and stuff like that.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: And then he does a breakdown of the snap counts
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: of offense, defense, everything like that. Um, When the Vikings
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: were not looking good, when it was 22-10 or whatever,
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: and the Vikings were in that, you know, I was
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: not feeling great about the offense or defense or whatever,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: at one point, towards the end of that, right before
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: the Vikings made the turn and started looking great, they
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: said on TV that Harrison Smith had only been in
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: for like 8, 9, 10 snaps. And that was during
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: the time when the defense looked bad, when the DBs
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: were getting burned, when the blitz wasn't working, when Tucker
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Craft was going for 30 yards on a routine pitch
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: and catch. Well, looking at the snap counts, Harrison Smith
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: ended the game with 26 snaps. I mean, 16 snaps
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: is probably about how many defensive snaps the Vikings had
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: during their explosion when they were ripping Jordan Love's head off,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: when they were causing the fumble, when they were getting
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: the pick, the James Pierre interception that was tipped by
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: Harrison Smith. How about When Harrison Smith missed that interception,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've seen it. Go back and
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: watch that play on James Pierre's interception. He missed it,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: went to the ground, like hands, face in the grass.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: Totally had no idea that James Pierre, half a second later,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: caught the tip and was running really close to a
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: pick six. He got tackled. But Harrison Smith spent that
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: entire interception return crying on the field because that would
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: have been his 40th interception, which that will happen this
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: year and the place is going to go nuts. But
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Harrison Smith, going from 10 snaps when the defense looked
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: terrible to ending with 26 snaps. My conspiracy theory is
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: that they were like, hey, Harry, I know we're going
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: to easy into this and we weren't going to make
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: you play too much and you're only going to get
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: in for a little bit and blitz here, there, and
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: be in for the obvious third and long passing situations
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: to try to get your interception, but we need you.
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: And we've heard time and time again, Harrison Smith has
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the authority in the Brian Flores defense to kind of
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: call it how he wants and put guys where he
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: wants and get everything set, how he wants him and
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: Blake Cashman have that like trust of the coach. And
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's any coincidence between Harry getting more
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: snaps and the defense looking way better. I just think
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: that was one of the equations and I'll be interested
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: to see how many snaps per game Harrison Smith gets
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: from here on out, as long as he's healthy.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: Well, and something we don't have access to, like, the
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: full camera view of the game and stuff.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: The all 22.
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't pay for that. But what would be
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: interesting is if we had the time and the resources
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: to do that, to see where Harrison Smith lined up
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: on those 26 snaps. Because I would venture to guess
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: that in this game over previous games, he lined up
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: on the line of scrimmage pre-snap more than usual.
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe, yeah.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: And I think, again, to my point, that was intentional.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: And you proved my point, too, that Harrison Smith didn't
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: play a lot in the first half. He came in
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: in the second half and really showed dominance. And I
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: think that might kind of play into my theory of
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: he's that ace in the hole that Brian Flores is
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: going to throw out there to confuse the quarterback. You're
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: not going to play him in the first half. Like,
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: this is our defense. This is who we got. These
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: are our starters. And then all of a sudden you
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: get Harrison Smith out there and it just totally changes
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: the entire dynamic of the defense and makes opposing quarterbacks go,
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: oh crap, how are we going to deal with this?
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: I had one more thought on the defense, and this
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: is probably my final thought on the Vikings-Packers game, is
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: I was concerned. You know, you hear all the time,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: if you're a football fan like we are, that um,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: you know, teams in week 15 are not the same
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: team they were in week one and things change. And,
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe it's because of injuries. Maybe it's because
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: they had a plan of like, Hey, we're going to,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: we're going to run these plays in week four to
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: really set up a whole game plan for week 12
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: and make the team think we're running this like we
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: did in week four, but really in week 12, we're
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: running this and it looks different. And that's why we
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: scored a touchdown here. I am a little concerned, but
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: not super concerned. Um, That maybe the Vikings defense, Brian Flores,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: seeing that the game was getting out of hand. Oh,
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: and then once they finally got the resurgence, the life
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: breathed into them by that big citrus fourth down stop
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: after the Packers took the points off the board. I
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: think Flores was like, all right, now there's no, all
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: bets are off. We need to put the gas on
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the pedal. I think there might've been a little bit
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: of that, hey, break the glass in case of emergency.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: and Flores maybe whipped out some plays that he was
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: planning for week 9, 10, 11, and was like, you
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: know what?
• 53:06
  Speaker 3: F it.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: We can't wait. We need to win today. It's within reach,
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: and let's just burn this little trick that we were
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: going to do in week 12, and we'll worry about
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: that problem when we get there. For right now, we
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: need to throw something at the Packers that we haven't
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: seen before. That's my concern is like, hey, they had
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: something up their sleeve for later in the season. that
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: they were like, you know, screw it. We're going to,
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: we're going to use that now because we have to
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: win today. Why I'm not super concerned is we're talking
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: about Brian Flores. Even if he burned a play that
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: he thought was genius for week 12, he's going to
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: come up with a different play for week 12. You
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like he's, he's going to come
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: up with a new wrinkle that maybe, you know, thought
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: he used too early in week one this year. So
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: it's all going to work out in the end, but,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: and maybe unleashing Harrison Smith was kind of a part
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: of that. Like all right, Harry, we know we talked
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: and we weren't going to throw you and be the
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: brain on the field in the first game. We were
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: going to give you a little bit to just try
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: to pad your stats. But, hey, we need you. Go play.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: We need to win today. Get it done. So either way,
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: like we said earlier, it all ended with the Vikings
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: beating down the Packers 39-22.
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think my final thoughts are, you know,
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: a win is a win, right? And I think we
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: talked about this pre-show a little bit. sure, maybe you
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: try to hold your cards close to your chest as
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: a coach, as a defensive coordinator. Because, and we talked
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: about this pre-show too, because the league likes to stack
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: those divisional games at the beginning of the season and
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: the end of season. They love to capitalize on our
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: infatuation with these divisional games and these rivalries and all
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: that good stuff. But I think If Brian Flores did
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: as you described, I wouldn't fault him for one second
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: for breaking that emergency glass, going into the archives, pulling
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: out those plays, and putting the Packers away. At the
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: end of the day, a win is a win. The
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: Vikings won. They beat the Packers. It was awesome. I've
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: had so much fun talking to Packer fans that I
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: work with about how awesome that game was and how
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: Much of a collapse their team suffered, and they're sick
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: of it. Tom Grassi, I don't know if you watched
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: any of his stuff.
• 55:26
  Speaker 4: I did.
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: I watched his content about the Vikings-Packers game.
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: It was all pretty good. That was entertaining to watch.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: It just feels good for the Vikings to beat the Packers.
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: You always like to see it. Even if the Vikings
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: turn out to be the worst team in the league,
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: we can hang that banner up in U.S. Bank Stadium.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Beat the Packers in week one.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: I saw, I think it was Jason Harmon. uh, tweeted
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: and he, uh, had made up or I don't know
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: if he made it or found it. Um, but it
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: was one of those hang the, hang the banner. Uh,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: the Vikings beat the Packers with Carson Wentz at quarterback. Um,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: I'll try to find it quick, but yeah, it was,
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: it was pretty funny anyways. Um, yeah, a win is
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: a win. And what was the banner?
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: You found it.
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: It's just a banner of I'll send it to you here. Um,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: The Vikings beat the Packers with Carson Wentz. So that's
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: all it was. But you know what? We'll take it
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: this week. A win is a win.
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: We will. And my ultimate point is wins are hard
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: to come by in this league. So if you can
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: come by one, especially against a team that's supposed to
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: be good like the Packers, that bodes well for your
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: team long term. So I'm happy the Vikings won. I'm
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: excited for week two.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: Going to Chicago, playing the Bears.
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, usually hosting a team that the week
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: before scored, what did they score? 59 points on the
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: road and looked pretty darn good doing it. Usually I'd
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: be a little nervous. And I'm not going to say,
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: what was that one that you had that one time,
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: the quote that you said about the Lions, like, I'm
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: not concerned about the Lions. And then all of their terrible,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: awful Lions fans, the worst fans in football, the worst
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: fans in sports, all of them ripped us apart in
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: the comments because they were like, oh, the Lions are
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: going to kick the crap.
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: Out of you.
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Whatever they said, they said everything under
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: the sun. I'm not really concerned about the Bears. Do
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be a dominant victory for the Vikings?
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see. I'll give my thoughts here at
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: the end of this episode. But I think it'll be
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: a good game. I don't think the Bears are going
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: to score 59 points against the Vikings. And now that
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: I've said that out loud, the universe is going to
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: make sure they score like 58 points or 60 or whatever. Um,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: but no, I think it'll be a much closer game
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: between the Vikings and bears than it was between the
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: bears and the Panthers. Um, and let's talk about it. Uh,
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts?
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously the bears offense was explosive, but what was
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: interesting to me is I had to go somewhere like
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: a half an hour into that early window of NFL games.
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: So I watched the first part of the Bears game,
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: and I was unimpressed. They didn't look good. The Panthers
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: actually looked like the better team coming out the gate. Now, obviously,
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: that didn't end up being the case, and the Bears
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: just kind of steamrolled the Panthers there at the end.
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: It really felt like they were neck and neck, and
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: then the Panthers got tired, and the Bears just put
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: their foot on the gas pedal.
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: And you don't score basically 60 points in an NFL
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: game every week. That just doesn't happen. nor do you
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: score 39 points like the Vikings did. Like typically you're
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: in the twenties and you don't break 30 points.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: One more thing. Do you remember the Vikings score in
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: the greatest comeback in NFL history? Do you remember, do
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: you remember how many points the Vikings scored?
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: 39, 36. Yeah.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: 39 points. The Vikings scored in that game. They scored
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: 39 against the Packers. Anyway, I just thought that was
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: an interesting, uh, yeah. Coincidence.
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: Coincidence.
• 59:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: Um, I don't think the Bears score 59 points on this.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going to continue to say it, elite Vikings defense.
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think that happens. I think it's a much
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: closer game than the Packers-Vikings game was.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I was cutting you off.
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: It's all good.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: Well, I looked up, last week it seemed to go
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: over well when we kind of looked up the betting
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: lines and stats. uh, that draft Kings was looking at. Um,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: and this, we're not definitely not sponsored by draft Kings
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: or anything like that. It was just the first sports
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: book that I could pull up stats from, but according
• 59:41
  Speaker 1: to them earlier today, uh, the, uh, the bears are
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: favored in this game, not shocked given how each team
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: played in week one. And the fact that this is
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: a game in Chicago, uh, they're favored by four and
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: a half points. Um, And Vegas thinks that the over-under
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: is 48.5 points. So, I mean, that gives each team
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: 24 points, something like that. So, a much closer game
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: than either team had in Week 1, says DraftKings. Evan,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on just the point opinions of
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: Vegas there?
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Vikings offense still has a lot
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: to figure out. Um, it seems like Carson Wentz will
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: be the kind of go-to starter for this game.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: Um, we have heard, it sounds like I've seen a
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: lot of differing opinions on Twitter and stuff, but, um,
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: from opinions that we've heard and trust, it sounds like
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray is not going to play against the Bears probably.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: And that sounds like he should be back against the Buccaneers,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: which we can hash that out next week when we
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: get there we'll.
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: Get there when we get there but i think for
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: this game it's it's almost guaranteed that carson wentz is
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 2: going to be the starting quarterback um and yeah i
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: i think honestly that bodes well for the vikings like
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: i said earlier i think koc has a lot of
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: trust there um it's another divisional game you want to
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: win this game you want to you know claw tooth
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: and scratch your way to a victory because at the
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: end of the season this game could be a difference
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: maker in playoff implications you know it could be like
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: we're in or we're not kind of thing for the
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: playoffs so i.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: Think they pretty much say divisional games they basically count
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: for two yes just with how important they are yep.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: Um so i understand the betting lines right now i
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: get why the bears are four and a half point
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: favorites i get why the over under is so high
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: you know, both offenses put up a lot of points
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: in their previous games and looked okay. And the defenses
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: are an interesting X factor, I think, in this game.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: I think the Bears defense lacks a little bit, where
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: the Vikings defense is a little stronger. So if I
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: were going to take the over the under, I would
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: take the under on this game because I think the
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: Vikings defense will limit the Bears offense. But All that
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: to say, you've got some specific players here that we
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: can just kind of rifle through quick. Carson Wentz, 220
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: passing yards, two TDs. I'm going to go under on that.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's going to throw for that many yards.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: But maybe two touchdowns. I mean, he threw, what did
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: he throw, three touchdowns in this game?
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: One to Hawkinson, two to Jefferson.
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: Two to Justin Jefferson. Yeah, I could be okay with that.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 2: Justin Jefferson, 80 yards receiving and plus 155 to score
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: a touchdown. I'd take that and I'd maybe even take
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: the over on that.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: Over on which one, yards or TDs?
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: Yards. I think he's closer to 100 again. I think
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: he's going to establish dominance early. I have Jordan Addison
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: on my fantasy team, and he's got me zero points
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: this last week. It was a little disheartening because I
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 2: was like, all right, Because, you know, the past couple
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: of years it's always been like, all right, they're going
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: to double team Justin Jefferson everywhere he goes, which means
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: Jordan Addison is going to be wide open. And that
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: just makes him like a really logical fantasy pick. Like,
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: all right, he's going to get some points. He might
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: not be flashy. Maybe he scores a touchdown, which would
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: be awesome.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: Um, but he'll at least get some targets. He'll get
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 2: some yards and that just wasn't the case. And now
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: I'm second guessing myself in my fantasy strategy.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: Well, really quick with Carson Wentz. And I, I said
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: this earlier, I think this is his biggest detriment. It
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: takes so long to make decisions that he's going to
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: look at his first read, take a while. If it's
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: not there, then time's up. He can't even get to
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: a second read. So he's got to take that dump off.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: So for that reason, you'd think, it won't be every play,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: but you'd think Justin Jefferson's going to be the number
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: one read more plays than none. So Justin Jefferson's going
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: to get that first look. If he's not open, if
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: Carson has enough time, then he might kind of glance
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: at Addison or Juan Jennings, whoever is that second read,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: and then just dump it off to TJ Hawkinson. So
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: maybe having Carson Wentz in there ups Jefferson's fantasy value
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: just a little bit, and then ups TJ Hawkinson's value
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: just a little bit as well. Who am I? I'm
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: not an NFL offensive mind, but that's just my opinions,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: and that's how I would look at Carson Wentz and
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: what his stats and strategy will be as the Vikings
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: starter until Kyler Murray comes back.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: The last player on the list here is Caleb Williams,
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 2: 230 passing yards and two touchdowns, 10 more than Carson Wentz,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: same amount of touchdowns. I don't know. I don't know
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: that I like that. I think the Vikings defense... tightens down.
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: I think your concerns about the secondary are addressed this
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: week in practice. I think they're going to game plan
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: for that. And truthfully, I don't know that the bears
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: have the high powered weapons that the, the Packers had.
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: They have some, but, um, and I'm struggling to remember names,
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: Deandre Swift, uh, and, uh, They played well.
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: For the Bears.
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: Receiving-wise, they didn't really have a lot. They had Kalief
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: Raymond with 84 yards. Luther Burden with 63. Roma Dunze
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: had 52.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: But they did spread the ball around.
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: They spread the ball around. Cole Komet, tight end, had 35.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: Seven different guys caught a ball from Kayla Williams during
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: that game. I mean, yeah, nobody got... the Christian Watson
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: 150 or whatever yards. But I mean, I, I would
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: as a fan and probably, you know, a strategist want
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: 10 different guys to catch 10 yards each than one
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: guy to catch 80 yards on one play. You know,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: like you got to spread the love around, but I,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: I agree with what you're saying. There's not, the Bears
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: receivers don't really have a superstar. It's just managing how
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: Caleb Williams is able to spread the ball around.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: And to their credit, the Bears have two really capable
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: backs that can also catch passes out of the backfield.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: DeAndre Swift and Kyle Menungai are both very capable of that.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: And Luther Burden even took one rushing snap. He had
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: one carry for two yards. So they kind of mix
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: their players in. a little bit, and they'll keep the
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 2: defense on their toes for sure. I'm not saying that
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: the Bears' offense will look bad, but I think the
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: Vikings' defense will be prepared. I think Brian Flores is
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: going to scheme really well. I think it'll be a
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: tough battle.
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. And I know you were talking about Caleb
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: Williams' passing yards, but you did just mention Swift and Mnungai.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: I think the key for the Vikings' defense is is
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: to stop the Bears' run game. Because if they can't
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: get any team, you can't get the run game going,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: the pass game is all that much more difficult to
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: get going. So I think it's almost more important for
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: the Vikings to key in on Mnangai and Swift as runners,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: and whoever else, and keep Caleb Williams, who also had
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: 65 rushing yards. I know half of those basically came
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: on one broken play rush for a touchdown, but I
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: think if the Vikings can hold the bears in check
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: on the ground, then everything else the defense wants to
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: do is just going to be that much easier. Yeah. I,
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: I think we're here. I think we're, we're giving our
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: opinions here. Evan, I don't think the Vikings win this game.
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: I'm still concerned about the, the overall offensive production and
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: the defense until the, Until Ben Lieber is proven correct
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: on the field outside of, and when I say correct
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: for Ben Lieber, I mean, you know, them kind of
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: goading other teams into thinking we're going to blitz every
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: two seconds or anything like that. I'm still going to
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: have concerns. I think the Vikings, part of the reason
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: they scored 39 points last week and looked great and
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: they turned the game around was sparked by a few unpredictable,
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: unpredictable What's the word? It's an easy word to come
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: up with. You can't do it again. Unreplicable? Replicable. There
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: it is. My goodness, these cutting grasses are really uh,
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: getting to me unpredictable and unreplicable plays. I think those
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: really helped the Vikings against the Packers. And until they
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: prove that Dallas Turner can wreck every, you know, every
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: snap of every game by getting in the quarterback's head
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: or Harrison Smith is gonna blitz every two seconds and,
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: and call the defense like a madman and it's going
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: to work. Um, I think the Vikings are going to
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: struggle a lot. So I do predict the Vikings to
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: lose this game. And I think it'll be frustrating because
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: if they can't strike that magic again, we're just going
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: to be back to the offense and defensive struggles again.
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be something like 10 to
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: 28 or something like that.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: All right. So Vikings lost 10 to 28. You want
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: to record that here on our notes?
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 3: Oh man.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: I just saw your notes too.
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's, A loss as well, and I'm going
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: to stay true to what I predicted preseason, and I'll
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: stay true to my Purple Punishments prediction. We both said
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: that this was a loss.
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I forgot that I even said it was a loss.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: So both of us are on the same page there.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's a closer game, and I'm going to
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: keep the margin thin for a while until I have
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: reason to not believe in this Vikings team. That's fair.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: It's a loss, but it's a close one. Weird things
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: happen at Soldier Field. for the vikings and that's been
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 2: the case now they've kind of turned that around i
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: think what the last two years they've won at soldier.
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: I think i think they've won six straight in soldier
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: field which is crazy because for a lot of our
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: like high school and college years for you and me
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: soldier field no matter how good or bad the vikings
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: were they just wouldn't win in soldier field so now
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: to be able to say for the last and.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's three four years yeah maybe the the The
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 2: bad taste in my mouth is just carrying over from
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 2: our younger years. But weird things happen at Soldier Field.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: And the Bears are a good team. I don't think
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: anybody can disagree with that right now. You don't put
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: 59 points on somebody if you're not a good team.
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're a great team. I'm not saying
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: they're an elite team. I'm not saying they're Super Bowl contenders.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: I'm saying they're a good team. They beat a kind
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 2: of meh team in the Panthers. They didn't beat anybody notable.
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 2: It's not like they went out and beat the Super
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: Bowl champion Seahawks in week one. They didn't beat the
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl runner-up Patriots in week one. They didn't beat
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: any playoff team like the Broncos or anybody like that.
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: I think the Panthers did make the playoffs last year.
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: I know what you're saying.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: But let's remind everybody out there, because I looked at
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: this too, nobody, no team in the NFC South won
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: a game in week one. And the NFC South continues
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: to just be the butthole of the league.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: However, I will say the Lions needed overtime and a
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: missed two-point conversion to beat the Saints by one point.
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: And they let Tyler Shug, however you say his name,
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: they let him throw for like 400 yards against the Lions.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: That right there, I don't care who won or lost
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: last week. That right there is enough to tell me
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: that the Lions and their awful fans, the worst fans
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 1: in the entire sporting community, are not great this year.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: And the Vikings will– I'm not concerned about the Lions
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: this year at all.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: You know I can cut that out.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: I know. I hope you do. Oh, you mean like
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: erase it from– Delete it. Dang it. Come on, man.
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 2: I'm just kidding. I'm joking. I get what you're saying.
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 2: And I'm excited to watch this game. Honestly– I disagree
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 2: with your score prediction because I think it's going to
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 2: be a better game than that.
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: I'm doom and gloom right now, so that's dictating my opinions.
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: Yep, and you're definitely very gloomy on the Vikings, and
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 2: I'm very optimistic. I'm high on the Vikings right now.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 2: I think the Vikings showed a lot in week one
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 2: against the Packers. The Packers, like if you look at
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 2: that dumb little prediction circle on ESPN when you go
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: to the ESPN app and you look at, like, I'm
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 2: not looking at the betting odds. I'm just looking at
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 2: who the general public basically thinks is going to win
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 2: this game. And it was the Packers by like 60%
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 2: or something like all week. That's where that dumb little
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 2: circle remained. And the Vikings proved that they're not going
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 2: to bow to these stereotypes. And even with a backup quarterback,
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 2: the Vikings can go out and win meaningful football games.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: This was a meaningful football game. You're looking at the
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: win probability chart. They weren't supposed to win this game
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 2: really at all. And they didn't really have it in
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: the bag until the fourth quarter. But once they had
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 2: it in the bag, it was done, right? Like, it
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: was over. It was kind of this knock-down, drag-out fight.
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 2: And the Vikings got the last punch. And it was
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: the knock-out punch. And that was it. And I'm not
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 2: saying they're going to do that against the Bears again.
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 2: I think it'll be really, really close. Honestly, I think
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 2: we're going to be sitting here next week going like, man,
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 2: I'm sure glad we didn't have to spin the Wheel
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 2: of Purple Punishments, but I wish we would have won
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 2: that game because I would have rather spun the Wheel
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 2: of Purple Punishments and dealt with that and have a
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 2: win than whatever.
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping next week you got to eat a whole
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: bag of Bean Boozled. Hold on. If we have to
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: spin it all, did we.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: We both picked a loss. Dang.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: So I hope we are spinning. I agree with you.
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: There's world's hottest gummy bears. There's some sardines we can share.
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: I hope we have to do something terrible next week.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: I'd be okay with that if that means going 2-0.
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly what it would mean at this point.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if we go 2-0, I'll eat whatever. I will
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 2: wax whatever body part you want within reason.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: Evan, this is a family show.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, yours would have to be pretty good.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Ev. So I don't feel doom and gloom
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: about this game. I just don't feel like they're going
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: to win. But I hope I'm wrong. I hope a
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: lot of my current opinions on the Vikings are wrong
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: because I want them to be good, and I want
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: whoever's playing quarterback to throw for 1,000 yards every game
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: and for Will Riker to continue to be perfect, which,
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: what am I kidding? That's not even a hope. That's
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: just true. I'm going to go ahead and knock on
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: the skull man center there. But, um, Evan, you know
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: what else is true? The fact that this beer is
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: really good.
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 2: It is good.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this beer. Um, this tasted a lot
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: more full of a beer than the 5.2% alcohol, uh,
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: really suggests. Um, it had really good hoppy flavor. If
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: you don't like IPAs or if you can't stand them
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: at all, I know you, They're not your favorite, but
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: you can enjoy it and appreciate it.
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 2: I like a good IPA for sure.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: But this one, if you don't like IPAs, you'll hate
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: the hoppy flavor. But man, this is really good to me.
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: I haven't backed down on my kind of still pretty
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: decent 6.5 lawnmower scale because I don't think I'd want
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: to throw 10 of these back really ever, but right
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: after mowing the lawn. But it's a darn good beer.
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: This is, it's just, Plain and simple, a really good IPA.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 3: I agree.
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: That's all that needs to be said. All right, Evan,
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: where can the people find us?
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 2: Go to the internet.
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 2: Type in the Squallop.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 2: And that's where we are. But more specifically, we're in
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: a few strategic places, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, the big
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 2: four for sure. We're also on YouTube and Spotify. That's
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 2: where our episodes are mainly uploaded and then they're kind
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 2: of distributed to other platforms from there based on those
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 2: big platforms and how they choose to distribute our podcast.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 2: But yeah, if you want to watch us, if you
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 2: want to see our faces and see the beer that
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 2: we're talking about and you'll get to see like the
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 2: Wheel of Purple Punishments as we spin it and see
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 2: The results of that, you can see some of the
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: graphics we put up, some of the things that we're
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 2: talking about. YouTube is the best place for that. Great
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 2: place to watch us. Otherwise, if you're trying to listen
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 2: to us on the go, got your AirPods in or
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 2: you're in the car, hit us up on Spotify. We'd
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 2: appreciate that. But Spotify also pushes it out to Apple Podcasts,
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 2: which is a great place to listen to us as well.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 2: And I think we're in a few other places as well. Yeah.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: One thing that's kind of cool is I think we
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: are coming up on 1,000... Facebook followers. Okay. Which I
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: know Facebook is not everybody's favorite social media, but like
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: the fact that we're on there and I know we try, yeah,
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: we're at 948 Facebook followers right now.
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: And we do try to post all of the content
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: that we have over there, even the full episodes video wise.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: So yeah, check us out if you want. We also
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: have a website, skullhop.com. Uh, email is the school hop
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: at gmail.com. And if you want any kind of merch,
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: we do, I think our T public store is live.
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: So I think that'd be T public.com slash the school hop.
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: You'll be able to get our really cool main school
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: hop logo. There's a couple other logos on there. So
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: go ahead and check that out. Um, Evan's pointing at
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: our custom, um, Mini helmet that's not anywhere, but I
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: think it was more for the logo on there.
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 2: And this bad boy, too.
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, we haven't mentioned in a while, but we
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: do have an active discount code for That's Badass Wood Art,
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: which me saying that... automatically made our episode explicit now
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: but yeah go ahead and check the show notes for
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: that promo code.
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 2: And yeah 10% off something awesome like this.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: And I don't think we get any kind of a
• 1:19:05
  Speaker 1: kickback from that but I mean it's just cool good
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: quality stuff so All right, Evan, I had a lot
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: of fun. I'm really glad that we recorded a few
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: days after the Packer game. I got my dudes and
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: looms out. I really hashed it out on Twitter, so
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: if you want to see some delusional takes over there,
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: as some people would say, and other horrible names I
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: was called on Twitter, go ahead and check us out
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: on Twitter and check out some of my long rants there.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I feel pretty good.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 2: This was a great beer. I enjoyed this conversation. I'm
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 2: looking forward to season. This is our fourth season doing this.
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to season number four. Great beer. Might
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 2: say best episode yet.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: Let's go.
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 3: Let's go.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about.
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah!