Latest / The Skol Hop / TSH Ep. 11 - A Glimmer of Hope

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TSH Ep. 11 - A Glimmer of Hope · The Skol Hop

0:20
All right, Hey, Vikings fans, welcome in to the school hop.
0:24
My name is Evan and I'm Austin and we're just a couple of dudes from
0:29
Iowa. We like drinking beer and we like talking about the Vikings. We
0:32
do school. My friend, what are we drinking today tonight? Evan?
0:37
You were the bringer of the beer tonight? We have Kinships Amber Lagger out
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of Waukee, Iowa, Tall Boys, yep, out of where's it from?
0:47
Prudent Packaged in Waukee, Iowa? Yep. And we've we've had a
0:52
little bit so far. We've had a few drinks and uh, Amber,
0:56
that's one of your favorites, right, Yes, anything like our Octoberfest Amber,
1:02
anything in that kind of category of beer definitely up my alley. We
1:06
had your kind of favorite category, Yeah, I pa last week last week
1:11
that hazy ipa I like that too. Yeah, But if I had to
1:15
pick, this is this is where I'm headed. So and don't get me
1:18
wrong, I love a good Amber as well. I really have only met
1:22
a couple of beers I didn't like, and those were like, I don't
1:25
know, spicy, yeah, really weird out there kind of things. This
1:30
one's hitting the spot so far. That was gonna be My question is it
1:33
is it doing good for you? It's doing good for me? Oh yeah,
1:36
And at four point seven percent, this is a this is a crushable
1:40
beer. It is it is delightful. So good shot, good job,
1:45
Kinship. We will talk about it a little bit more after we've had some
1:49
more and had some more good conversation. You know what else is crushable or
1:53
delightful or whatever other adjective we want to use. Yeah, that would be
1:59
the Vikings winning against the forty nine ers. Yes, on Monday night football.
2:02
Monday Night football. It is officially kirktober okay, Kirk Cousins. That
2:10
may have been his best game as a Viking. I mean I would argue
2:15
as such, Yes, it's up there. I don't know. He was
2:19
playing out of his mind. And on top of that, there weren't really
2:25
any drops. Uh. He didn't get sacked at all, Like, not
2:30
just he didn't get sacked a bunch, he didn't get sacked at all.
2:31
Offensive line played great, Oh my gosh. And even down to the one
2:37
play towards the end of the game where Kirk just kind of disappeared in a
2:39
crumbling pocket and I was like great. I even like threw my hands up,
2:44
like, oh, there's a sack first one all game. And then
2:46
out of nowhere, the ball's thrown and I think who caught it? Was
2:50
that a Powell catch? I don't remember, it might have been. Oh
2:52
goodness, it was. It was a fun game. It was a lot
2:55
of fun. It was the most fun I've had watching the Vikes. See,
2:58
we've got a we've got a good little text thread going from that game
3:01
that would be fun to look back on sometime. But yeah, a lot
3:05
of great things. I mean, Kirk obviously played well. The offense played
3:08
well. I'd say the defense played well also, Oh yeah, I mean
3:14
there weren't too many frustrating times. The one McCaffrey touchdown, you knew McCaffrey
3:20
was going to get his You knew there he was gonna be a thorn in
3:23
the side at some point, But really only one time. I mean it
3:28
was the only time that one swing pass. He scored twice, didn't he.
3:31
Yeah, but the one pass he caught was the thirty five yard touchdown.
3:36
And that was on like three play drive, Like they got the ball
3:39
and they just went boom boom boom down the field and they scored right yeah
3:43
to I forget what the score was after that touchdown. I think that got
3:46
him up to fourteen or maybe seventeen. It was his second touchdown and the
3:51
first one was a longer drive, and they were like at the one and
3:54
they kind of pushed him in. Yeah, was that was that McCaffrey did
3:58
he have two? Yeah? McCaffrey head too, okay, but yeah,
4:01
I mean that that pass that he caught for a touchdown. I think that
4:06
made it so the Niners were only down by five or something at that point.
4:11
And you know, you know me, I'm the pessimist. I was
4:14
saying, all right, here's here's how it is, here's how we lose
4:16
this week. But they didn't lose. I saved this tweet because I figured
4:25
this would come up, and so I always bookmark these things and I never
4:29
looked back on them. But I don't even know who this guy is.
4:33
WX account hate These games start off pretty much believing Vikings will lose, then
4:40
go to thinking, oh man, we have a chance, only to remember
4:43
later in the game that you still cheer for the Vikings for some odd reason.
4:46
Yep, that pretty accurately sums up what it's like to be a Vikings
4:51
fan. But the good news for us and for WX account whoever you are,
4:58
is that the Vikings came out on top and we kind of flipped the
5:00
script from a typical Vikings game that way. Yeah, so that's the good
5:05
news. YEP. I don't know what the money line was at kickoff,
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but I think it opened up that the Vikings were underdogs by seven and a
5:15
half points, and it you know, a fluctuated fluctuated around that point spread
5:20
throughout the week. I think at one point they were you know, underdogs
5:25
by like six points but still almost a full touchdown, and they came out
5:30
and won, like against arguably the best team in the NFL right now,
5:34
maybe the last two games for them, they're not really saying that we want
5:39
one of the best teams. There have been points this season where it just
5:43
looked like who could possibly dream of beating the forty nine ers this year.
5:46
I probably said that on this podcast, like there's no way, there's no
5:50
way the Vikings are going to beat them. I probably said it last week
5:53
there's no way. Well, and we'll get into this later, but like,
5:56
even looking at our predict you had predicted that they would win, which
6:01
I think is interesting. This was our preseason, this was pre season picks.
6:04
Yeah, but everybody in my family predicted that we would lose, including
6:12
myself, and everyone in my family predicted a win. So I don't know,
6:15
maybe your family's onto something. I don't know. I'll still go back
6:19
to my daughter who predicted a twelve and five season. How crazy would that
6:25
be if she end up being right. We're still in that territory, are
6:28
we sure. I don't think it's going to happen, but anything's possible.
6:31
Anything is possible. Yep. But I did say ten and seven, so
6:35
that's probably still realistic. Oh, I think in above five hundred and I
6:40
think a wildcard appearance is still feasible. You're within that realm. I mean,
6:46
only down two games to the Lions in the division, and then there's
6:50
not a ton of world beaters in the league right now. I mean,
6:53
got some good juggernauts, but not a lot of them. I looked at
6:56
it today, not that it matters because it's week seven or the end of
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week seven. We're going into week eight. But if the playoffs were to
7:03
start today, guess where the Vikings are are They the eighth seed? They
7:06
are the eighth seed. I mean we're one game out. No, that's
7:10
in. That's the third wild card spot is the eighth seed. I thought
7:13
it was just seven teams that made it in. No, wait, you
7:17
might be right. The first team four division. Yeah, your first team
7:20
gets the buye. Yeah, well there's four division winners and then and then
7:25
wild card spots. So yes, seven seeds seven total. You're right.
7:29
So we're one game out. But that's not a bad place to be after
7:33
going oh to three and one and four to start the season. Yeah,
7:39
and I saw something again. I didn't save it. I don't know who's
7:42
who tweeted it. But mathematically, the Vikings right now, this early in
7:47
the season, it's still pretty early. We haven't even hit halfway point.
7:51
They controlled their own destiny for the division, like they are still mathematically very
7:59
much in the conversation. I don't think that's super realistic, but it's not
8:03
outside of the realm of possibility. Well, and the Vikings don't play the
8:07
Lions until week sixteen and week eighteen. Yeah, so I don't know.
8:13
Maybe there are some scriptwriters out there who are more creative minded than we are
8:20
and are planning these things out to like, Okay, we're going to put
8:24
these two teams up against each other twice in the last three weeks of the
8:28
season, yep. And with the Vikings have three division games to finish out
8:33
the Lions, Packers Lions. Yeah, two of those being at home,
8:39
So those could be big games. And I feel like we're lucky to be
8:43
able to say that those could be big games at this point. I mean,
8:48
we're really close to talking about how many players we're going to trade away
8:54
and what Caleb Williams looks like in the draft. I mean that's still not
8:58
outside the realm of possibility later on in the season, but just a week
9:03
ago and we were that close to start talking about trading every very true.
9:07
I saw a hilarious tweet today that also said that Caleb Williams is now countertanking
9:13
to avoid going to the Broncos. Well, I mean, realistically, he
9:18
could. He doesn't have to declare. I mean he could not declare,
9:20
and I mean the college kids have a little bit of saying it. Even
9:26
if he does declare, he could just decline to sign and then set out
9:30
a whole season. I don't think anybody wants to do that, but it's
9:33
it's a card in his hand that he could do. I don't think that'll
9:37
happen regardless of who gets the first pick, and if he is the first
9:41
pick, like everybody thinks he will be, I think he's gonna be playing
9:46
in the NFL next year for the first overall picking team. We got to
9:50
go back to this forty nine ers game now because there were so many good
9:54
things that happened. What was your favorite play from the game, I mean
9:58
favorite play. Well, it might be cliche, but that Jordan Addison ended
10:03
a half touchdown, which also was followed by I've been singing Greg Joseph Freight,
10:11
No, no, no, I can't talk tonight. I'm so excited
10:13
and this four point seven er is hitting me hard. I have been singing
10:18
the kickers praises this year. He's been lights now, been very consistent,
10:22
and then he misses kicks this game. I think the Lord. It didn't
10:26
be the difference maker, but it could have been. I mean, that
10:30
extra point that he missed really looked like it could have ended up being a
10:33
losing extra point for us. And not to focus on the negatives, but
10:37
he drills a fifty four yarder, gosh yeah, and then missus a fifty
10:41
yarder. Yeah, like, come on, man, what are we doing
10:45
here? But anyways, back on positive because I am mister positive right always
10:52
that Addison touchdown that seemed like he was it was just a not again situation
11:00
that his first you know, the first player was thrown to him or the
11:03
second play I guess where I was thrown to him, and he just got
11:07
out beat for that ball. And then later on in that half against the
11:11
same guy, right, it was Ward Bolt, right, Travarius Ward.
11:13
Yeah, he was not gonna get beat again. Well, and he that
11:18
first interception, third play of the game or whatever it was, and Vikings
11:22
fans everywhere are going not again here. It is from that moment on Travarius
11:28
Ward got embarrassed. Oh yeah, like he just looked terrible. And that
11:33
Jordan Addison rip away sixty yard touchdown at the end of the first half was
11:39
kind of the like punctuating moment of the game I think for Travarius Ward.
11:46
Of course for the Vikings. I mean that would be my top play too.
11:48
Oh yeah, but yeah, you look back on that and you look
11:54
at Travari's Ward and how he performed the rest of the game, and it
11:58
was just it was ugly for him a little bit. Yeah, and he
12:01
had I think he had at least one past interference or like illegal contact or
12:05
something UH called on him just I think sheerly out of frustration because he was
12:09
performing so badly. Was it him? Did he have the past interference on
12:15
Jordan Addison in the end zone that would have been Jordan's third touchdown of the
12:20
game. I don't remember. I remember the player talking about, but I
12:22
don't remember if it was him. It was kind of in the left corner
12:24
of the end zone and he was kind of like grab it onto him and
12:28
I can't. I can't. We'd have to go back and look. But
12:31
anyways, regardless of that was him or not, I think he just had
12:35
a really tough game after that. And that that catch, that one moment
12:39
where Jordan Addison's like like you said, nope, not again, that rips
12:43
the ball away from him. I saw something else. I keep going back
12:46
to Twitter. I spent a lot of time on Twitter today me too.
12:50
But somebody was like, that's a fumble recovery and an interception or into something
12:56
a catch or something. I think that I want to say that. On
12:58
the A cast, they said that it was like, that's just that's not
13:03
just a catch. That's that should be interception fumble and a recovery for a
13:05
touchdown, which I mean, it won't go that way in the stat book,
13:09
but that's really an accurate description of the play. Yeah for sure,
13:11
because when it first happened, as it was developing, I just threw my
13:16
hands up, like another interception. Come on, you gotta be kidding me.
13:20
And then my wife was sitting right next to me, and I go,
13:24
no, he caught the ball and she's like what why she got all
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she was reading a book and she's just like what happened? And I'm like,
13:30
he just scored a touchdown and it looked like the other guy picked it
13:33
off. It was amazing. That was awesome. I so hands down my
13:37
favorite play, but there were I mean, there were still some other Campbinem
13:41
had two, maybe even three other plays of the game worthy plays. Well.
13:45
I mean he had two picks within five minutes of each other that really
13:48
game defining and they really put the game away. Even that first pick was
13:54
like, okay, we could do this. And then of course the second
13:56
pick with like what ten seconds, that was just I mean, that was
14:01
the one that put the nail in the coffin. I think I even texted
14:03
you after the first pick and said, oh, there's the first nail in
14:05
the coffin. You did, yeah. And then the Vikings didn't do a
14:11
whole lot with that drive, but they ate some clock, which is good.
14:15
But then I mean to come out and with the Niners starting to move
14:20
a little bit, and it looked like, oh, here we go again.
14:22
The one nice thing is the Niners needed a touchdown on that drive.
14:26
They were down by five. They couldn't have gotten you know, fifty yards
14:28
and kicked a field goal. They had to get the touchdown. So there's
14:33
a little bit more hope than I would have had any other time. But
14:35
man, I literally fell to the ground when Cam got that second interception.
14:41
It was, oh, how about it? So much fun? That game
14:43
was so much fun to watch. I was excited as well, and I
14:46
was shouting movie, movie, and my wife was like, what are you
14:52
what like? You just you gotta know cam By, Yeah, that's that's
14:56
just what he does. And then she was watching him celebrate and she's like,
14:58
wow, that guy's kind of crazy in a good way. Yep.
15:03
Well, and then to his credit to I mean, I don't I guess
15:05
I don't know who wouldn't do this. But right after the game, he
15:09
had a postgame interview, I think with Peli Sero, and he was talking
15:13
up his his I don't know if it's a charity or foundation or whatever,
15:16
it does a lot with Philippines. Then he said his wife, Yeah,
15:20
she's she's kind of stuck in the Philippines right now, can't get a visa
15:24
for the US. Hopefully that they can get something to figure out on that.
15:30
He tweeted about it, and I saw the NFLPA tweeted back at him.
15:33
I was like, hey, we sent you a DM like, let
15:35
us talk back to us. Yeah, so hopefully they get that figured out.
15:39
I didn't even know that. I wasn't aware that he had any affiliation
15:43
with the Philippines at all, but well, yeah, I googled it.
15:46
Yeah, while we were sitting there, because my wife was like, what
15:48
is what is he got around his shoulders. I don't know, I've seen
15:52
him with that before and I should know this, but I don't. I
15:54
looked it up and it's the flag of the Philippines. So anyways, that
16:00
was a cool moment though the cool moment, and cool that one he played
16:04
so well and has been playing well and was the one that really sealed the
16:10
deal. And two that he's using that platform for Yeah, which, like
16:15
I said, I don't know who wouldn't, but yeah, and it's a
16:18
good platform. He's not trying to like win a game and then say,
16:22
hey, buy my energy drink. It's hey, here's the good that me
16:26
and my family are putting out in the world. Yeah, it is a
16:29
good good. So yeah, for sure, Yeah, for sure. So
16:33
any other highlights from the game that you wanted to touch on. I mean,
16:37
just I don't think it could be understated. How good the defense did.
16:41
I know McCaffrey he's injured and maybe it's really bad, but he still
16:47
had some good plays. But even against that, this defense has not been
16:51
able to get off the field. They have had a terrible run defense all
16:55
season. I think this might be the first game where the Vikings had they
16:59
won the time of possession game, Like, yeah, I don't know,
17:03
it should just be very well stated. Maybe this whole Brian Flores defense was
17:10
difficult to kind of fine tune and understand, and maybe there was some unlucky
17:15
just unlucky plays in there. But I don't know. When you go up
17:18
against one of the best teams in the league and your defense looks like that
17:22
after being poor the whole season, it seems like there's some light at the
17:26
end of the tunnel. So hopefully they figured some stuff out and they didn't
17:32
just get lucky. But yeah, it can't be understated. I noticed something,
17:36
and I don't I pay way more attention to offense than I do defense,
17:41
and I think that's just a natural byproduct of the way that the NFL
17:45
has set up their league and the rules and things like that. But I
17:51
noticed, upon reflecting on the game, the role of the linebacker seems to
17:57
be much different in Brian Flores's defense than it did in previous years. I
18:06
feel like the Vikings have always been a very linebacker heavy group, and they've
18:10
relied on leadership from the linebacker position. And it's not to say that our
18:15
linebackers aren't playing well or that they're not leading, but it seems like there's
18:22
a heavy emphasis on the line and the secondary now and linebackers are not as
18:29
much of an emphasis in Brian Flores' system. Would you agree with that?
18:33
I would agree with that, and I think, to even go a little
18:36
bit deeper, I think the safety position is extremely important in Flores's defense.
18:41
Like I think, what are their six safeties on the fifty three man roster,
18:45
which is kind of crazy, And yeah, Lewis Cene apparently isn't good
18:49
enough to touch the field. But when cam Bynam and Joshua Tellus and obviously
18:56
Harrison Smith are all in there, I think it was Bidaman's Smith combining for
19:00
that McCaffrey fumble, which is awesome. But they're in there, they're making
19:06
plays and they're being a focal point of the defense. I think that safety
19:08
position, it's kind of like the way Zimmer would have some good double a
19:15
gap blitzes with the defensive lineman. I think Flores has some unique things he
19:21
does with safeties well. And there are times where he just throws everything in
19:25
the kitchen sink at the line, like it's just there's nobody back there.
19:30
There's maybe one high safety that's there for in case something goes wrong, but
19:36
everybody else ten nine to ten guys are on the line, yeah, going
19:41
after the quarterback. Yeah, and frequently I mean Harrison Smith, He's frequently
19:45
one of those guys that are jumping in and every play he at least makes
19:48
it look like he's gonna blitz in the n or not and then actually blitz.
19:52
It's he's really versatile and it's cool to see, especially at this point
19:56
of his career, that he's such a you know, Swiss army knife and
20:00
such a tool in the defense. That. Yeah, but I definitely agree
20:03
with you. It's it can't be understated how well the defense is starting to
20:10
play. And I think I agree with you that I think things are starting
20:15
to click now with Flores and how he how his defense fits into the Kevin
20:22
O'Connell system, and I think they're Kevin O'Connell said it. I watched the
20:27
postgame speech in the locker room, and he emphasized complimentary football, complimentary football,
20:36
And I felt like this was probably the most complete game that we've seen
20:40
the Vikings play. Oh yeah, without it all season, without a doubt.
20:44
And I don't want to go too crazy and say, you know,
20:48
the Vikings they're there, they made it, They're going to go undefeated the
20:51
rest of the season. Super Bowl home boy, I don't want to say
20:52
that because it's one game. I mean, and yeah, the Niners,
20:57
they they weren't full strength. You know, McCaffrey played the whole game.
21:02
I think at one point in late in the fourth quarter, the announcers said
21:06
he hasn't missed an offensive snap. So I don't know if that held true
21:08
the rest of the game, but for a lot of it, he was
21:11
in there the whole time. Trent Williams, he didn't play, did he.
21:15
I I guess said, yeah, that's huge. Williams and Deebo Samuel
21:18
were out. Yeah, yeah, that's that's huge. There's there's no we
21:22
can't talk about this game without mentioning that, because there's are you know,
21:26
three of their best players and two of them were out and one wasn't one
21:32
hundred percent. But on the other side of the coin, one of the
21:37
best players in the league was in street clothes last or two nights ago,
21:40
JJ And how awesome was that to see, at least publicly his reactions the
21:45
whole game. After the game, he put the chain on Kirk's neck.
21:49
He was oh, he was so happy, and it was so happy.
21:53
He was cheering with us, you know, like kind of like the reverse
21:56
Adam Thelen you know, he cheered with us growing up as Vikings fans,
22:02
but JJ he cheered with us after being a Viking and you know, watching
22:06
the watching the game, And I think that whole situation is really telling of
22:11
the relationship between Kirk and JJ ohs. And I think both of them,
22:17
because both of them are in a contract year, so to speak, JJ
22:22
coming off of his rookie contract in Kirk is at the end of his contract
22:27
at the end of the season. Like I think both of them feel strongly
22:33
that they don't want to play without each other mm hm. And Kirk has
22:38
said, and he's been very open, I want to finish my career here
22:41
in Minnesota. I think he likes not just playing for a team like the
22:48
Vikings, but I think he likes the community. I think he likes the
22:52
atmosphere for his family. I think it's a good fit for him. And
22:56
JJ has not said this explicitly, but I think he's implied that I don't
23:02
want anybody else but Kirk to be throwing the ball to me. I mean,
23:07
it's only been good for him. Yeah, So I gosh, you
23:11
gotta think that Quacy is looking long and hard at how to make both of
23:17
those guys happy and continue to move this team forward without you know, cutting
23:25
everybody else and you know, starting over. Yeah, and obviously we're just
23:30
some dudes in Iowa or a couple of dudes in Iowa, so we don't
23:33
know anything like officially, but if you told me JJ was kind of waiting
23:40
to sign to see what the quarterback position is going to look like for the
23:45
Vikings next year, because JJ he is, He's a Viking next season.
23:49
Like that's They've already picked up his fifth year option. He is a Viking
23:52
next season unless he retires or refuses to play, which I don't. He's
23:56
never done anything like that, like sit out and hold out or anything like
24:00
that, so so far we have no reason to believe he would ever do
24:03
that. But I mean, for his benefit, I could see if he
24:07
was kind of sitting and waiting to see one. If Kirk's back, I
24:11
think he'd be happy about that. Everything he's done has made it seem like
24:15
he'd be really happy about that too. Maybe he'd also be happy if the
24:19
Vikings had some other stability at the quarterback position. I don't know. I
24:23
wouldn't be surprised if that was his motivation, because you got to think the
24:27
Vikings have offered him a lucrative contract at this point, and maybe maybe it's
24:34
on him saying, you know, let's just sit and wait and see what's
24:37
best for this, because he even said it. He is a player doing
24:41
things that no other player has done before. So you got to kind of
24:45
manage your own get yours first, which I respect that, you know,
24:48
one of these players should get every single dime they can. But also he
24:53
had a chance to be great like Randy great, and you got to take
24:57
care of that too. So hopefully, if you had to make the decision
25:03
right now, you're signing Kirk for at least one to two to three more
25:07
seasons. They don't have to make that decision right now, but that's what
25:10
they would do. That's at least attempt to do right now. And then
25:14
I think that next domino would fall with JJ signing probably the biggest non quarterback
25:18
contract in NFL history when he signs it. Yeah, that would be man.
25:23
That would be a day. Yeah, that would be a day.
25:26
I looked at this today because I guess I didn't really follow Kirk until he
25:32
came to the Vikings. At the end of the season, he'll have played
25:34
as many seasons as a Viking as he will have as a Redskin. That's
25:40
pretty flash commander. So, yeah, six years in Washington. At the
25:45
end of this season, he'll have completed six years in Minnesota, and his
25:49
first two years in Washington he sat behind RG three. Yeah. Yeah,
25:56
So I think he only started a handful of games between his first two seasons
26:00
and didn't become the true starter until his third season in Washington. And I
26:06
think from that point on he's missed one game. That's crazy, is that
26:10
the COVID. The COVID game such a bs. Yeah. Yeah, it's
26:14
dumb, is what it is. I've initially had my ups and downs about
26:18
Kirk, you know, the first one or two seasons, but the switch
26:23
flipped and I have been a Kirk guy for a while now. And all
26:27
he's done this season is prove that he belongs on the team. Give him
26:36
all the money. You know, he's he is playing well enough as a
26:40
quarterback needs to to get where you want to go, and that's a Super
26:44
Bowl. I'm not saying that's what he's gonna do, but he's he's doing
26:48
it. I mean, he leads the league. I think he's second in
26:51
yards passing. He's either second or first or tied for first in touchdown passes.
26:56
He's first in touchdown passes. Yeah, he I don't know where he's
27:00
sits interception wise, but like even the interception he had against the Niners,
27:04
Yeah, he could have thrown a better ball, but it was contested and
27:07
it wasn't one hundred percent his fault. He should he just shouldn't have thrown
27:11
that pass. Yeah, first place. But that was, I mean,
27:14
probably the only terrible play he had. There was one touchdown attempted touchdown pass
27:22
to Addison in the first half. I think is that where we stalled out
27:26
at the goal line and we ended up kicking. It was one of the
27:29
times, yeah, I think it was the first time that they stalled out
27:32
within the five and he had Addison. He had run himself wide open,
27:37
but Kirk basically had to throw three quarters of the length or the width of
27:41
the field across his body and Addison he dove and it wasn't too far off,
27:48
but it was a misthrow. But those are probably the two biggest bad
27:52
plays he had Kirk had all game. And outside of that m v P.
27:57
Kirk like her chains like that shined and I think he proved again and
28:03
He's proven this before, and people forget he can play well in primetime.
28:07
Yeah, it's a it's a narrative, and he could play his next primetime
28:11
games like John Elway and then the eleventh primetime game just throw three interceptions and
28:18
there's that narrative again. He sucks in primetime. He's terrible. Whatever.
28:23
Yeah, he's quoted saying like, you know, if my critics saw me
28:29
walk on water, they'd say that. Well, I don't forget, they'd
28:33
say it was frozen or something. It's a quote from somebody else. It
28:36
was in the Quarterback Show. Yeah, man, dang it, what a
28:40
fail on it. I read this recently too, within the last couple of
28:44
hours, and I can't remember what it is. Oh well, we're gonna
28:47
look it up. It doesn't know what it is, and you're listening,
28:51
let us know, let us know. We're we can't remember all the things.
28:55
I think we should turn the corner. I think we should look at
28:59
kind of where we thought we would be where we are. So we did
29:03
a schedule pick them episode all the way back before the season started, back
29:08
in August, and we thought it would be fun for you and your wife
29:15
and your kids to make picks, and then me and my wife and my
29:19
kids to make picks, and we also decided to do a coin flip and
29:25
let the coin decide, and so just to kind of run across the line.
29:32
Starting with the coin flip, where everybody thought we would be through seven
29:36
games, the coin predicted we would be six and one. That would be
29:41
awesome. Yeah, that would have been crazy, if you remember the coin
29:44
flip. Didn't have our first loss until against the Bears right in week six.
29:51
So yeah, anyways, you're one of the closest. You are the
29:56
well, you're one of the closest four and three. Yep, your one
30:00
game off, I didn't pick the right ones, but now nobody did.
30:06
Your wife was five and two, your kids were also four and three.
30:12
I was four and three, my wife four and three, and my kids
30:15
actually predicted our record to date at three and four. They picked the wrong
30:22
games. Yeah, the only game they picked right was the loss against the
30:27
Chargers. Everything else they picked incorrectly. But they still have the right record,
30:34
so they're onto something. Maybe. Yeah, my kids picked the worst
30:38
record for the Vikings at the end of the season at nine and eight,
30:45
and then you and my wife picked ten and seven. Record overall, your
30:52
wife was a little more optimistic at eleven and six, and then your kids
30:56
and myself picked at twelve and five record, which is still within the realm
31:00
of possibility. It is. I don't I don't think it'll happen, But
31:04
I also didn't think the Vikings would beat the Niners a couple of nights ago,
31:07
so you never know. The reality is they can't be worse than what
31:15
three and fourteen at this point. Yep, so that would be that would
31:22
be a terrible season, but you got to think they're gonna win more than
31:25
So yeah, with that in mind, here's the deal. We have five
31:30
games before the bye week, and let's run down those games really quick.
31:36
So we'll talk about the Packers game coming up. But we play at Lambeau
31:40
against the Packers this next week, then we go to Atlanta, then we
31:45
have the Saints at home at Broncos, Bears at home before the week thirteen
31:52
by So here's what I want to know this schedule. Pick them aside.
31:59
Now that we seen the Vikings through seven games, we kind of know what
32:05
we've got. We've seen the really good and the really bad. In the
32:10
next five games, where do we end up record wise going into the bye
32:16
week. Man, Okay, so obviously, admittedly we would both say we're
32:23
looking at this through rose colored glass, purple colored glasses. Right now.
32:28
You just come off beaten one of the best teams in the league. You
32:30
looked great, No real huge weaknesses, and that's all with what two players
32:37
on injured reserve three you got jj Ezra Cleveland, Oh, Marcus Davenport,
32:43
a few a few injuries to some playing players. All that being said,
32:51
I think you go to Lambeau and you very well can't win. Granted,
32:55
the Packers, I think they narrowly lost. They didn't play this previous week,
33:00
right they're on by but their last game they lost at the end of
33:04
the game, so they've had some time to figure it out and game plan
33:10
and rest up, excuse me, and get ready for the Vikings. But
33:15
I still think you've got this momentum. You're playing Creed in the locker room.
33:22
I think you're going to Lambo and you're winning the Falcons. That's that
33:27
can be tricky. They've been a trickier team, and that's at Atlanta second
33:31
straight week or at second straight away game. My gut says you're gonna beat
33:37
the Saint or the Falcons, but I'm less confident about that as I am
33:43
about the Packers. The Saints have been weird this year. Some weeks they
33:46
look they look great against the Patriots, but maybe that's just the Patriots being
33:51
terrible. I don't know, but that's at home. Preseason, I predicted
33:58
this to be a win. I don't know. That's a toss up for
34:01
me. I don't know. I think you win it. I think they
34:07
win it at this point, Like it's hard to picture them losing right now,
34:09
Like you're not trading away players. Probably you just played great. I
34:17
think that Broncos game can be tricky. That's probably the trickiest of the bunch,
34:22
because playing at altitude, I mean, you're, yeah, you're you're
34:27
going to Denver. I think altitude might be a little bit of a factor,
34:31
but maybe it's mostly like a media factor, like oh, they're the
34:36
balls are being thrown way farther, and it probably is a little bit of
34:40
a factor, but not like if it was that big, then the Broncos
34:44
would win every game at home. I don't know. The Broncos aren't good.
34:49
I mean they are, arguably, I mean at the bottom of the
34:53
league, it's the Broncos, the Bears, and the Panthers. I mean,
34:58
then it's hard to say you using in so Broncos or the Bears,
35:00
especially that Bears game being at home. But did I just predict undefeated all
35:06
the way out through the player through the bye? I think you did.
35:08
I think you said five and h which would put us at eight and four.
35:13
I think if you're gonna lose any of them, it'd be Falcons or
35:19
Saints. Yeah, I think it's the Falcons or Saints. Other than that,
35:22
outside of like a weird fluke or crazy injury, you're not losing because
35:28
I'm just looking at the scores so far this season. They're worst loss.
35:31
They lost by three to the Bucks, by eight to the Eagles. Are
35:37
these all still one score games? They are? Indeed all the losses,
35:43
I think the the only non one score oh even the Panthers win was a
35:46
one score game twenty one to thirteen. Man. But that, I mean,
35:52
that's typical of the NFL. I mean that's well, especially the Vikings.
35:58
Has koc had a game that wasn't a one score Well, okay,
36:04
every single one wins have been a one score game. Yeah. Yeah,
36:07
But even the blowouts still like Dallas and Philly. Well, in the Phillies
36:12
that wasn't necessarily a blowout. I think it was twenty four to seven,
36:15
So yes, a beatdown, but not like it wasn't the Cowboys. You're
36:19
talking about last year's Philly Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, and this year,
36:22
this year we kept it close. Yeah, it's twenty eight to thirty
36:24
four, still a one score game. So I think that trend is going
36:29
to keep going unless because even we've been yucking about, going nuts about this
36:35
game against the Niners and they still didn't win by a full touchdown, Like
36:38
it was still a five point game. So you still look to your best,
36:43
granted against one of the best, and you had a close win.
36:50
I don't know. I'm just gonna say it. They're gonna win every game
36:53
until the buye. There it is. That's my Austin stamp of approval.
36:58
I'm not going to get very specif. I'm just going to say that we
37:00
will be above five hundred going into the bye week. So that's three more
37:07
wins at least. Yeah, so, and I think considering the zero to
37:13
three start, well that would be four more wins to be above five hundred.
37:19
Yep. Yeah, so we lose one, we drop one of those
37:22
games, but still going into the bye week Week thirteen, to be above
37:25
five hundred, oh, that'd be huge. That's a good place to be,
37:30
Yeah, especially depending on what the rest of the division does. I
37:34
mean, the Lions can always lie in. They lioned last week, so
37:37
yep, that's right. Here's another question for you, because that Week thirteen,
37:43
by I think is very very interesting one. It's interesting because of how
37:50
late it is in the season. It's very I think it's going to be
37:52
very beneficial just from a health perspective of the whole roster. But two,
38:00
it comes at a time where the Vikings may opt and Kevin O'Connell and the
38:07
training staff may opt to hold JJ out until after that bye week. What
38:15
are your thoughts on that? Well, they could, so I'm not too
38:17
not too knowledgeable about the rules. I know on injured reserve four weeks,
38:22
right, it's a minimum four weeks. And I know there's at some point
38:30
they have to open up like a practice window, like a twenty one day
38:34
practice window, but I don't know when that has to happen, because like
38:39
Wong Wu, he started the season on ir and he just came back for
38:45
the Niners game, right, that was his first game back. So I'm
38:52
not sure on how all those rules go, but I do know at some
38:54
point if you don't activate him, then it turns into like a season long
39:00
injured reserve, I think. But now I'm thinking about like Aaron Rodgers and
39:06
how he's saying like, oh, I could come back, and if if
39:09
that wasn't even rule wise possible, he wouldn't be saying that, right,
39:14
Like, So, I don't know, You're You're probably onto something there,
39:16
depending on how bad that injury is, which I haven't really heard anything about
39:22
it. I think like a few days later, I saw something on Twitter
39:28
that JJ was quote unquote sprinting. I think that was I think that was
39:32
a lot of garbage. Yeah, I think that Twitter account because I think
39:36
I saw this the same exact tweet, and then I think they just tweet
39:39
garbage stuff, yeah, just to get likes and whatever. Sure, well,
39:45
I'm not accurate at all. Okay, So I don't know if if
39:51
they're playing really well and there's any question, I say, for the sake
39:58
of potential postseason success, you let him get to one hundred percent. Now,
40:06
if they're borderline and it's still kind of questionable, but we kind of
40:09
need him and maybe push them a little bit further. But also, if
40:15
Addison is playing like his breakout game on Monday Night Football, let him cook
40:20
too, Like, let him go. See how far Addison can take us
40:22
and see if he can turn into a Rookie of the Year candidate. The
40:25
earliest I think he can come back, if the four games are enough for
40:30
him to recover, would be Week ten against the Saints. Yeah. I
40:35
believe that's right, because I think he was activated or deactivated, sorry to
40:42
the ir after the Chiefs game. So he is now sat out from the
40:45
Bears game in the Niners and he'll have to set out Packers Falcons. He
40:50
could come back at home against the Saints. He could, And yeah,
40:54
as things sit right now, I'm of the mindset of, if you know
41:00
that Saints game comes around and he's ninety percent, let him sit. Let
41:06
him get back to one hundred, especially if you've won two games, you
41:13
know, the Packers and Falcons game, you got a little bit of a
41:15
momentum, hopefully a little bit of a cushion, depending on how the Lions
41:20
do are doing. Hey, you're only two games away from the Lions.
41:24
I don't know. They've won both games without him, right, and that's
41:29
against the Bears, and you know, a season altering game against the Niners.
41:34
But Addison's doing well. The rest of the receivers are doing well too.
41:37
I mean TJ seemed to figure out how to catch a ball again against
41:42
the Niners. That was getting frustrating. Brandon Powell, all of a sudden,
41:47
is like a guy that we're talking about. Yeah, where did he
41:52
come from? I don't know, Like he was with the Rams before this
41:58
season. I think he was signed before even training camp started. But when
42:01
they signed him, he wore number nineteen, and I remember thinking, like,
42:06
get that number off, that he's not even gonna make the team.
42:08
Get that number off that guy. But and it's really nice that he switched
42:14
his number once the fifty three man rosters were set and the season started.
42:17
But he made the team and he's produced. Granted, his biggest production was
42:23
that fumble after that really good excuse me, pump return? What against I
42:30
think against the Eagles, probably, but he made some plays against the Niners.
42:36
I spoke wrong. That fumble wasn't his biggest production. He played really
42:38
well against the Niners. kJ he's seeming to I don't know, he seems
42:44
like he's playing mad, but like he's been a little bit of up and
42:47
down. On Monday, he was up when he needed to be. Yeah,
42:51
he caught a couple of less than great throws from Kirk. There was
42:55
one in the dirt that he got his hands under. Yeah it was a
43:00
catch. Oh, there was one with Kirk. The pocket was collapsing out
43:06
of nowhere. Defender started chasing him, and Kirk like in a split second,
43:12
had to realize he was being chased, decide not to run and just
43:15
you know, boot the ball out and kJ, to his credit, caught
43:19
it. And it wasn't a great ball. It was fast, it was
43:22
out of nowhere and kJ caught and I think it was for a first down.
43:23
Yeah, I remember that plan. I think you're right. So yeah,
43:28
the great news for the Vikings and for Kirk is there are so many
43:32
weapons that Kirk has, especially when JJ comes back. Oh yeah, right,
43:37
Like Jordan Addison has really developed and has kind of had his little coming
43:44
out party. Just go for it. You got it at school, at
43:46
school, school off school, and uh, kJ is still a really good
43:58
the number three guy. I would say there's something to that too. While
44:02
we're talking about kJ, real quick, I was listening to kfa n's fan
44:07
line. They put out like a you know, they take calls from drunk
44:09
fans after the game. Ron Johnson former Gopher, and I think he played
44:15
for the Ravens, maybe a couple other teams in the NFL. He's on
44:17
kfa N quite a bit, but he made a point about kJ that kJ
44:22
at this point is kind of your number four receiver and not wide receiver.
44:29
But like I mean, if JJ's healthy, he's won. Jordan Adison he
44:32
is proving to be number two, and kJ thought he was going to be
44:36
number two coming in the season. Number three, I think is still TJ.
44:40
And you could, i think, argue prior to the Monday night game
44:45
TJ and JJ, where you're one and two and there's a lot of blank
44:50
j names, So right, so it goes, you know, JJ,
44:54
Jordan Adison, TJ, and then who's that fourth. It's gonna be kJ.
45:00
But now Brandon Powell he's playing well, and that's probably where it ends.
45:05
I mean, you got a couple other guys behind him, but that's
45:07
that's probably the hierarchy of receiving players. I know TJ's a tight end,
45:13
but still you're catching passes, you're a receiver. We haven't talked at all
45:19
about the running game. What de is there to talk about. I mean,
45:23
from a statistical perspective, there wasn't a lot of production, but I
45:28
do feel like the yards they gained were big yards. Yeah, when we
45:32
needed them. Cam Akers and Alexander Madison both had some big gash plays.
45:37
I mean, first play of the game, Alexander Madison rushes for what twelve
45:42
fifteen yard nineteen yards? I think nineteen eighteen it was nineteen and I think
45:45
that's his long for the season because if I can still don't have a twenty
45:49
yard rush or a rushing touchdown, and again, bottom line that needs to
45:54
improve. But when we needed yards autumn from both of those guys, and
46:01
not just those two, but Ty Chandler came in late in the game and
46:07
got us some yards too. I'm pretty sure Ty Chandler he had two big
46:10
plays and one of them was called back on that weird illegal contact or whatever
46:17
they called it. I think it was against against kJ or maybe it was
46:22
offensive past interference. It was a big play. Chandler gained a bunch of
46:25
yards and then it was all called back. But then a few plays later,
46:29
I think, I don't know if it was Chandler. I think it
46:30
might have been Acres that had a big play to kind of get back to
46:35
where they were. But yeah, anyways, I guess the point I'm trying
46:38
to make is, Yep, there's still a lot of room to grow in
46:42
the run game. A lot of I think there's a high ceiling, I
46:45
guess, is what I'm trying to say, Like, I don't think we've
46:50
seen the best of our run game, and I think I think the offensive
46:53
line starting to figure it out and starting to block better for Kirk to develop
47:00
into a better run game. And that's kind of backwards because you want to
47:02
maybe develop the run game first and then you know, use that play action
47:08
and things like that to develop the pass game. But I don't know.
47:14
In today's NFL, it's a pass first league. The Vikings are definitely a
47:20
pass first team, absolutely, which is fine, and I think we've got
47:24
the pieces to do that. But gosh, if we can get that running
47:29
game going as well, this you should be And I think the first thing
47:34
you do is you swap running back one and running back to. I think
47:37
cam Akers just keeps proving that. I mean, sure, maybe being RB
47:44
one is a little bit of an overstatement, but he needs more touches.
47:46
He is earning the football more than he's getting it, so I think you
47:52
need to see him more. And maybe I mean, he's been on the
47:54
team as long as Dalton Reisner has what week two or three they traded for
48:00
him, So like some other guys, Alex Madison's been here for five years,
48:04
you know, so maybe he's still learning and figuring it out. But
48:08
Acres needs to be playing more. He needs to get more touches. He's
48:12
definitely more of an elusive guy, more of a receiving back too, when
48:15
you need it. We've said it before and I'll say it again. I
48:20
think Alex Madison he is that RB two. He is the change of pace
48:25
running back and that is where he excels. And he can do good with
48:30
a spot start here and there. But I don't think his play style and
48:35
his abilities, they they don't equate to being running back number one. I
48:39
saw a funny tweet, and again I don't remember who said it, but
48:44
it was something to the tune of like, I believe Alex Madison is a
48:47
really good dude, and he you know, is very vocal about a lot
48:51
of good causes. And I think he's just overall a really great guy and
48:54
a good teammate. I also believe he shouldn't be playing as much as he
49:00
And I think I liked that tweet. I should find out who tweeted,
49:04
but that there might be some truth to that. And again, you don't
49:07
want to like rag on a guy too much, and that yeah, I
49:13
would probably agree. I think he is a good guy and I think he's
49:15
a good player. Yeah, but yeah, you got to put your better
49:20
players in. And if cam Akers is better, even if ty Chandler is
49:24
better, yeah, I mean you gotta, you gotta roll with him.
49:28
I don't know if ty Chandler is better than Alexander Matt. I don't know
49:31
if I'd go that far. But also it's a conversation. Maybe, Yeah,
49:36
one thing needs to change. They need to figure something out. As
49:40
in the red zone. As far as rushing goes, they still don't have
49:43
a rushing touchdown, which I mean that's not the most important stat winning is,
49:49
but like, if you can't rely on rushing, the ball within the
49:52
five yard line at least to get some yards hopefully a touchdown. Then that
49:59
puts a lot of strain on the passing game. Well, it was.
50:00
It was really telling when they decided to try the tush push twice in a
50:06
row and failed twice in a row with Kirk trying to just sneak it into
50:12
the end zone instead of handing it off to one of the backs, like,
50:15
give it to a guy, let the play develop in front of you
50:21
and see if he can leap over, or see if he can get shifty
50:24
and find a gap and get in. Instead, you just try to push
50:30
your thirty eight year old thirty How old is he thirty six thirty eight Kirk?
50:36
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's thirty five, thirty five, all right,
50:38
I was a little off, But still try to push your a little
50:44
older quarterback into the end zone instead of relying on your younger quicker maybe more
50:52
athletic backs yep, to get into the end zone. And I like the
50:57
tush push play. I think it's an effective play when you have the body
51:01
styles and the skills to be able to run that play. And I love
51:07
the vikings, but they just they don't they're not the team built for that
51:13
play. I mean, the Eagles are obviously the team built for that play,
51:16
and Jalen Hurts has built the way he is and when that offensive line
51:21
just attacks the defense, you have arguably the league's best center in Jason Kelt
51:27
right, who just they have it figured out and good for them, right,
51:30
And I really hope the NFL doesn't ban that play because one team is
51:35
so good at it, because I don't think there's anything wrong with it,
51:37
it's just the Vikings aren't very good at it, and maybe they use that
51:42
to their advantage, make it look like they're gonna push, push, and
51:44
then actually, you know, step back really quick and dump it off to
51:49
a tight end who runs for one yard and turns around, I don't know,
51:52
or give it to the full back. Oh yeah, yeah. Oh
51:54
that's another thing. Ron Johnson was saying on fan line too. He got
52:00
c J. Ham, who maybe this is his last year. They kind
52:04
of really made it, they hyped it up in the offseason. He's been
52:07
really uninvolved. Yeah this year, And Ron Johnson said it too, like,
52:12
yeah, CJ. Ham, he's really good. And if I was
52:14
CJ. Ham, I'd be happy to collect two million dollars or whatever he's
52:19
making this year to play three five seven snaps a game. I don't me,
52:25
Austin. I don't want that because CJ. Ham is a good player.
52:30
I also don't want We've seen games where, for whatever reason, c
52:34
J. Ham seems to be like the number one target for receiver and it's
52:37
not just like a dump dump down play. It's like they designed it that
52:40
way for the fifth time, Like why CJ. Ham so involved? But
52:45
I think there's some in between. Give him a player too, Let him
52:47
be the quote unquote push push, yeah, rusher and go from there.
52:53
Yeah, well in that like that. I formation look that they sometimes put
52:59
him in at the goal line. We've seen it. I mean he'll be
53:02
He'll be that full back with a tailback behind him, and you've got a
53:08
lot of options there. You can tush push, you can hand it off
53:13
to him, you can fake the handoff to him and hand it off to
53:15
the tailback. You can pitch it to the tailback and go outside and try
53:20
to get in, you know, on the side somewhere. There's a lot
53:24
of options. And I would have loved to have seen that in one of
53:30
those tush push plays. That we tried back to back that failed miserably.
53:34
There was something weird about that second one. The second one, like like
53:39
I think Garrett Bradbury technically false started because he well, I think the one
53:46
of the Niners defenders like swatted the ball or went after the ball when it
53:53
was still on the ground before it was snapped, and that caused Bradbury to
53:59
like jerk reaction a little bit, and then no one else on the line
54:04
moved because Kirk hadn't signaled for the ball to come to him, and it
54:08
just kind of turned into this disaster of a play. Yeah, and I
54:13
think get back to them RD a turnover, right, but it backed them
54:16
up five yards and that's I think that drive that fizzled out and we had
54:20
to kick a field goal. Yeah, that was a I think the first
54:24
There were two of those, and I think that was the first one.
54:28
But anyways, yeah, you said it. You know, the Eagles have
54:34
the players to make that play and to convert on that play nine times out
54:38
of ten or nine point five times out of ten, and the Vikings are
54:43
a team that can maybe do that like six times out of ten or seven
54:47
times out of ten. Maybe you know, We're a c average when it
54:52
comes to that scenario. Yeah, we can do it sometimes, but we're
54:57
not going to do it every time. And gosh, when it's a really
55:01
big moment Monday night football, we're probably not gonna do it. Yep.
55:07
Thank the Lord again, Thank the Lord. It didn't end up mattering.
55:12
Yeah for sure. All right, man, we've been talking for a while.
55:16
Yeah, what do we What do we got next week? We got
55:19
the Packers yep, going to Lambeau at Lambeau yep. And the Packers did
55:24
you look it up? Were the Packers on by last week? They were?
55:29
Yeah? If I read what I'm looking at right, yes, they
55:32
were. And they've lost three in a row. Yeah, so they've got
55:37
a little bit of a chip on their shoulder too. Could be a quote
55:40
unquote trap game, and I don't know if you can have a trap game
55:45
as a three and four team, But even if it wasn't. The Vikings
55:51
always play the Packers, well, they always have. It's the border battle,
55:54
yeah, I mean yeah, and the Packers they're gonna come too,
55:58
like they're gonna be ready to play yep. And it's in Lambeau. I
56:01
mean, I don't know, it'll be a tough game. Jordan Love is
56:07
nowhere close to Kirk Cousins in terms of quarterback production, and he shouldn't be.
56:14
I mean, he's still this is his first season. He's not a
56:16
rookie. He's been in the league three years, but it's his first time
56:22
being the guy. So and I again, I think this was another Ron
56:28
Johnson observation. Apparently all my football takes are Ron Johnson takes. But Jordan
56:35
Love, he's been kind of a culprit of underthrowing his receivers a lot this
56:38
year, and he said something. Ron Johnson said something to the tune of
56:44
Love's got a canon for arm. He could throw it a mile, but
56:47
his line hasn't been up to par. He's had to make some quick decisions,
56:52
maybe some uneasy decisions. So he's throwing the ball really quick and not
56:57
always in the best timing in the best area. And if the Vikings defensive
57:02
line can play the way they did against the Niners, hopefully you can do
57:09
what you did to Rock Party to Jordan Love. Brock Purdy is in concussion
57:15
produce. I saw that. I saw tweet. It was one of the
57:21
It's like an overhead video and I think Rock Purdy tried to quarterback sneak it
57:27
or jump in, and I think Jordan Hicks and Purdy collided with their helmets
57:34
in the middle after that quarterback sneak. I didn't see that, and the
57:37
tweet said this could have been when those symptoms started. Sure, that's interesting.
57:44
Yeah, going back to the Packers game though, I was looking at
57:47
the injury report and I think this has changed since I looked at it last.
57:51
But Darnell Savage and Jaya Alexander are both were at least were on the
58:00
injury report. I don't know if they practiced today or not, but those
58:04
are two big names for the Packers. The Vikings offense is starting to click.
58:10
We've got Jordan Addison who had his coming out party. He now has
58:15
six touchdowns and leads all rookie receivers. Yeah by a mile. And I
58:21
think he's only behind Tyreek Hill in touchdown receptions in the league. I mean
58:24
he's up there. So who do the Packers kind of tap on the shoulder
58:31
and say, step up, this is your this is your chance. Yeah.
58:37
I don't know, it'll be it'll be tough for them. I don't
58:40
honestly, I don't even know any other Packer name one other Packer defender,
58:49
and that Stokes right, their first round pick from a couple of years ago.
58:52
I don't even know if he's healthy. I don't know anything about him.
58:54
I should know more, but they're they're the Packers, They're the irrelevant
58:59
this who cares? But I mean, if we see the same vikings offense
59:04
we saw a couple of nights ago, this could get ugly. And yeah,
59:08
you mentioned Addison obviously the Niners Monday Night game. That was his breakout
59:13
game. But he's had some good games. I think two games ago he
59:19
had like thirty eight yards, but they were he started off looking good and
59:22
then just didn't get a ton of attempts after that. But he's had He's
59:27
looked good outside of that Monday Night game, which only tells you it's there.
59:31
I mean, even as the number one guy, he can still find
59:36
the holes and carve it up and figure out how to get his yards.
59:39
So look for him to have a good game. I would expect him to
59:43
have another good looking game. Maybe not one hundred yards and two touchdowns,
59:47
but hopefully something close. That'd be fun. Yeah, I agree, I
59:53
agree. Anything else on the Packers front. Yeah, I mean, like
59:59
I sa, I'm not too well versed on the Packers this year. It's
1:00:05
the first time you're seeing the Packers without Rogers as the quarterback one ever since
1:00:13
you know, the year he was injured. But that'll be that'll be a
1:00:16
change, that'll be nice to see. Maybe they won't get all of the
1:00:21
calls that they usually get from the refs with Aaron Rodgers. There. One
1:00:25
thing you're not gonna get is Rogers is savvy. He he knew when to
1:00:30
snap the ball because he counted twelve defenders out there real quick, and he
1:00:35
knew how to play the hard count game and get him to jump off sides
1:00:37
and yep, and not saying Jordan Love isn't savvy because he's probably been watching
1:00:43
Rogers and probably is a little bit better off than most first starting year quarterbacks
1:00:46
and all those meetings. Yep, Rogers for how many years, But he's
1:00:50
still not Rogers. Like, I hope we don't have a back to back
1:00:54
to back hand off to Hall of Fame quarterbacks for the Packers. Doesn't seem
1:00:59
like so far. But yeah, I think I saw I saw tweet.
1:01:05
This is the first time since ninety one that the Vikings are going to play
1:01:09
against the Packers without Rogers or far being their quarterback one. Now, granted
1:01:17
you didn't have that one injury year, so outside of that, since ninety
1:01:25
nineties were the one to injure. Yeah, that's just in the first place,
1:01:30
So I don't remember too much about that. That may have been.
1:01:32
I think that was the first Packer game that year that that happened. But
1:01:37
yeah, kind of crazy. Basically our entire lifetime, Vikings have gone up
1:01:44
against the Packers when they've had one of two guys yep, and and that
1:01:49
changes. It'll feel good to see a different guy out there. Yeah,
1:01:52
agreed. I also noticed I didn't watch anything in its entirety, but just
1:02:01
in highlights and kind of in some like flipping back and forth seeing some red
1:02:07
zone stuff on NFL Network. Lafleur is kind of hot headed right now,
1:02:15
Like this season's been frustrating for him, and he's he's been at moments been
1:02:22
very vocal and frustrated, visibly frustrated on the sideline, and so I don't
1:02:30
know, I think there's there's a little bit of uneasiness in Green Bay right
1:02:35
now. I think there's a little bit of this isn't how we're used to
1:02:38
things going, and that's uncomfortable for them. So again, that's that's a
1:02:45
benefit for the Vikings in a lot of ways to walk into Lambeau knowing that
1:02:52
they're not uber confident in what's going to happen, and there's there's at least
1:02:58
a shot. I'd say there's more than at least a shot. There's definitely
1:03:01
a shot. Yeah, Vikings almost expect them to win. But that's such
1:03:06
a tough thing to say. Yeah, you mentioning Lafleur being frustrated. I
1:03:12
think back to a few years ago a previous job that I had. There
1:03:15
was one person in the organization that did a lot of things by themselves,
1:03:21
so much so that like a lot of things ran smoothly, and nobody knew
1:03:27
that they ran smoothly because this one person took it upon themselves to just do
1:03:31
a bunch of things and they were good at it, so things got done
1:03:35
well. That one person got a different position in another organization and he knew
1:03:42
that about himself, that there's a lot of things that are the ball is
1:03:45
going to be dropped in a lot of different areas if I don't speak up
1:03:47
so he had like a meeting with like every team leader in that organization and
1:03:52
said, hey, this is relevant to you guys. I do this,
1:03:55
this, and this. You guys are going to have to do those things.
1:04:00
This is relevant to you guys. I do this, this, and
1:04:01
this. You guys will need to pick this up. Just letting everybody know
1:04:05
everything that I do so the balls aren't dropped. Aaron Rodgers probably did a
1:04:10
lot of things obviously, you know, pre snap and everything, but even
1:04:15
during the week, he probably did a ton of things that nobody really knew
1:04:19
or everybody kind of took for granted. Maybe Lafleura is noticing, crap,
1:04:24
this thing didn't get done. We didn't prepare this way, darn it.
1:04:28
Aaron did that all the time. He just or he just knew, like,
1:04:31
we weren't prepared for the defense to give us this look, and we
1:04:35
weren't prepared for an audible at the line. Aaron just did it. Yeah,
1:04:39
and now I've got to teach this young kid how to have those instincts
1:04:44
that Aaron just had. Yeah. So I don't know if that's the case,
1:04:47
but it would make sense to me if that was, like, yeah,
1:04:50
for sure, for sure, it'll be an interesting game. It'll be
1:04:54
interesting to see this kind of resurging Vikings team against kind of a ragtag Packers
1:05:04
team, so to speak. And they're they're injured. They're hurting right now.
1:05:09
Not just the secondary guys that I mentioned, but like even Aaron Jones.
1:05:13
I've got him on my fantasy team and he's been kind of in and
1:05:16
out the last couple of weeks. He played this last week, I started
1:05:19
him and he only got me like seven points. So it wasn't great and
1:05:25
probably not much better than Madison, true, but I mean he's Aaron Jones.
1:05:30
He should be producing a little bit more than that, I think.
1:05:32
So it'll all remain to be seen Sunday at noon at Lambeau. Can't wait.
1:05:40
Hopefully we get it around here. I mean in Iowa, you never
1:05:42
know, we do. I saw the what is it five oh six Sports?
1:05:45
They put out their maps today today being Wednesday, and we are in
1:05:51
the geographical area that gets that game, and I think that's largely because it's
1:05:56
the Packers not the Vikings. Yeah, but maybe that that script could flip
1:06:00
if the Vikings turn it around our area. The number one team that we
1:06:04
get is maybe our our area expands or just moves around a little bit.
1:06:10
We usually get the Bears over anybody else. But then it's like the Bears
1:06:14
the Packers, but the Packers start deep diving and going going the wrong way.
1:06:18
Maybe the Vikings can steal some more of those games locally in our area.
1:06:23
I get the Bears. We're three hours from Chicago. Yeah, we
1:06:26
are in the Bears demographic geographical area. We're only four hours from the Twin
1:06:30
Cities, so four and a half maybe I think we're like closer to six
1:06:34
hours. You have moved in the last couple of years. Yeah, well,
1:06:42
yeah, all right, you're probably right. Yeah, we're about five
1:06:44
and a half to six hours from You're right from the cities. I was
1:06:47
thinking I still lived two hours north are Yeah you don't, which I thankfully
1:06:51
you don't anymore. Yeah. We can do this, Yeah, which is
1:06:54
fun and we're gonna do it again next week. Yeah. So where can
1:06:59
people? We'll reach out to us the school hop, the school Hop.
1:07:02
Just type it into the search bar the school Hop. Yep, you'll find
1:07:06
us. You'll find us. We've got Twitter or x, which is at
1:07:12
the school Hop. We have Instagram, which is the same thing at the
1:07:15
school Hop. Facebook is just the school Hop. We recently started TikTok account.
1:07:21
Evan's been making some cool superficial words on top of iconic vikings plays videos,
1:07:30
and we put out one our most successful video so far as the Addison
1:07:34
end of first half stealing the touchdown away play, which is pretty cool.
1:07:39
But hopefully we'll start to put some more stuff out on there. We are
1:07:44
dabbling in video recording the podcast, so that opens up YouTube or Twitch or
1:07:50
other areas where you can watch us. We'll tell you guys about that,
1:07:55
so keep an eye out, but until then, make sure Facebook, Instagram,
1:07:59
Twitter, wach out to us, the old faithfuls, the one fai
1:08:03
that have been there for sure. We're probably more active on Twitter just because
1:08:06
that's what I'm more active on, but yeah, reach out to us anyway.
1:08:14
I'd really like this TikTok thing to open up a little bit more.
1:08:16
That'd be fun. Yeah. All right, all that being said of this
1:08:20
kinship Amber Lagger, what do you think? Well, I'm at the end
1:08:26
of my second one, and it was it was some like holes in here,
1:08:30
this is just going down too easy. It was good. I enjoyed
1:08:33
it a lot too. I like Ambers, they're not my favorite, but
1:08:36
this one, this one's really good. Thank you, thank you Kinship.
1:08:41
Yeah, yeah for sure. All right, Well, we've got the the
1:08:45
Packers game next week and then we uh we'll break down the Falcons game coming
1:08:51
up as well on the next episode. Yeah. I don't think there's much
1:08:58
else to say. We are. I talked the thing to death, well
1:09:00
until next week of school. School