Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / The Voice That Launched a Thousand SKOLs - Paul Allen

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The Voice That Launched a Thousand SKOLs - Paul Allen · Rosters to Rings Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: I'm Paul Allen, and Rosters to Rings starts now.
0:11
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings. Alongside Thad Levine, I
0:15
Speaker 2: am Chet West. Today, we are joined by Paul Allen,
0:19
Speaker 2: an absolute titan in sports broadcasting. From calling high-octane horse
0:25
Speaker 2: races at Canterbury Park to anchoring the airwaves on KFAN,
0:30
Speaker 2: Paul has been the iconic play-by-play voice of the Minnesota
0:33
Speaker 2: Vikings since 2002. Famous for his raw passion, unforgettable calls,
0:39
Speaker 2: and unmatched energy behind the mic, he's one of the
0:41
Speaker 2: most electric storytellers in football. Paul embodies the true voice
0:46
Speaker 2: of the fan. LeBron James considers Paul a national treasure,
0:51
Speaker 2: and Vikings fans would definitely agree. Paul, welcome to Rosters
0:56
Speaker 2: to Rings.
0:58
Speaker 1: Chet, that was amazing. That was amazing. Thank you. It
1:00
Speaker 1: was very kind of you. I'm not sure all Minnesotans
1:04
Speaker 1: would look at it that way, but nevertheless, I guess
1:08
Speaker 1: when you do these jobs as long as I have,
1:11
Speaker 1: called races at Canterbury, this is my 32nd year, done
1:15
Speaker 1: a radio show on KFAN coming up on 30, and
1:18
Speaker 1: this is my 25th year calling Minnesota Vikings games on
1:22
Speaker 1: the radio for KFAN, then I guess you get some
1:26
Speaker 1: accolades thrown your way when you're able to sustain.
1:29
Speaker 2: Paul, most Minnesotans I know love you. we have a
1:33
Speaker 2: tradition here on Rosters to Rings. We need your sports
1:37
Speaker 2: origin story. When did you fall in love with sports?
1:41
Speaker 2: How did this come around?
1:43
Speaker 1: Oh, that's cool. Hey, Thad, how you doing, bud?
1:46
Speaker 3: Great to see you, Paul.
1:47
Speaker 1: You too. Wow, that's a good one. Well, let's go
1:51
Speaker 1: back to the mid-70s, and I'm living in Private Hill
1:55
Speaker 1: Apartments just outside of Washington, D.C., Um, and, uh, that's
1:59
Speaker 1: after I moved from Southeast in DC, a little neighborhood
2:02
Speaker 1: called Anacostia. Um, so I'm, I'm in kind of a
2:06
Speaker 1: tough neighborhood growing up and, you know, sports was a
2:09
Speaker 1: common thread. So I played them all with the exception
2:12
Speaker 1: of hockey. Uh, but then, you know, like so many
2:15
Speaker 1: people you get, you get bit either through your ears
2:18
Speaker 1: or your eyes. And, and in the mid to late seventies,
2:22
Speaker 1: before I moved to Southern California, We didn't have many channels,
2:26
Speaker 1: you know, but when we had the MLB game of
2:29
Speaker 1: the week every Saturday with Joe Garagiola. So, I mean,
2:33
Speaker 1: I wouldn't miss it. Now, granted, it was the Big
2:35
Speaker 1: Red Machine with Pete Rose and those guys against Steve
2:39
Speaker 1: Garvey and the Dodgers or Mickey Rivers and Craig Nettles
2:42
Speaker 1: and Thurman Munson and the Yankees almost every week. But
2:45
Speaker 1: I kind of fell in love with Pete Rose at
2:47
Speaker 1: that time and how he played the game and I
2:50
Speaker 1: was playing baseball. And I also got pretty good at tennis.
2:55
Speaker 1: So therefore, I would mimic John McEnroe as a right-hander
2:59
Speaker 1: with the exception of the aggressive side serve like that.
3:03
Speaker 1: But I really liked John McEnroe. And then being a
3:08
Speaker 1: white kid in a predominantly black neighborhood, there were two
3:11
Speaker 1: things that were very key to my maturation in sports
3:16
Speaker 1: and in culture. One was an adoration for singer Daryl
3:21
Speaker 1: Hall of Hall & Oates. All my friends in the neighborhood,
3:27
Speaker 1: all their parents loved Daryl Hall and John Oates. And
3:29
Speaker 1: they were all singing Sarah Smile and Rich Girl and
3:32
Speaker 1: She's Gone. And I'm like, hey, that's my guy right there.
3:36
Speaker 1: So now we're one. The other was I played basketball
3:40
Speaker 1: up to junior college and Larry Bird. I became a
3:43
Speaker 1: big Larry Bird fan. Then I moved to Southern California.
3:46
Speaker 1: And I'm a Larry Bird fan in Magic Johnson country.
3:49
Speaker 1: So I started to really get the energy of rivalry.
3:53
Speaker 1: Like Redskins Cowboys when I lived in D.C., that was
3:56
Speaker 1: a really good rivalry. But, you know, Dallas was just
3:59
Speaker 1: so far from Washington, D.C. Likewise for Boston and L.A.,
4:04
Speaker 1: but it was always for the championship. So that would
4:07
Speaker 1: be my sports origin when it comes to, like, adoration
4:10
Speaker 1: for athletes or wanting to be somebody and mimicking somebody.
4:14
Speaker 1: I think my mom... even cut my hair as a
4:17
Speaker 1: bowl cut to replicate Pete Rose. I'm not kidding you.
4:22
Speaker 1: And I got teased at school so much that we
4:24
Speaker 1: had to stop that. But then I guess from a
4:27
Speaker 1: broadcasting standpoint, it started in Washington, D.C. when I was
4:32
Speaker 1: probably 11, 12, and 13. And I was the kid
4:35
Speaker 1: who would lay in bed and listen to WTOP, Frank Herzog,
4:39
Speaker 1: called Bullets Games. And then moving to Southern California, I
4:44
Speaker 1: got Vin Scully calling Dodgers games and I got Chick
4:47
Speaker 1: Hearn calling Lakers games. So then I wanted to be them.
4:51
Speaker 1: Then I went to the racetrack and I heard a
4:53
Speaker 1: South African racetrack announcer named Trevor Denman at Santa Anita say,
4:57
Speaker 1: and away they go. And now here comes Satchmo. And
5:02
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, that guy's cool. So then I
5:06
Speaker 1: jumped on rooftops of racetracks in Southern California, Santa Anita,
5:10
Speaker 1: Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and called races into a tape recorder.
5:14
Speaker 1: And that was kind of the origin of everything that
5:17
Speaker 1: is happening now.
5:20
Speaker 4: So, Paul, I think it's amazing how humble you were
5:23
Speaker 4: in that presentation, just talking about all the people who
5:25
Speaker 4: influenced you. And now people are looking to Paul Allen
5:29
Speaker 4: and saying that was the influence that inspired me. Because
5:32
Speaker 4: for fans in the Metroplex here and who get to
5:37
Speaker 4: hear Paul in the Twin Cities, his energy and passion
5:40
Speaker 4: is undeniable. For people who don't get a chance to
5:43
Speaker 4: hear that, he represents the way you would want to
5:46
Speaker 4: be represented if you as a fan were sitting in
5:48
Speaker 4: the booth and getting to call your game. He celebrates
5:52
Speaker 4: every high. He is also there crying on your shoulder
5:55
Speaker 4: for every low. We're going to talk about some of
5:57
Speaker 4: those historic calls. So it's not that Paul is just
5:59
Speaker 4: a homer. He is a diehard fan. He is living
6:02
Speaker 4: and dying with every snap, no different than everyone who's
6:05
Speaker 4: watching the game. And he's bringing crescendos to games that
6:08
Speaker 4: don't necessarily have them. and he is elevating every game
6:12
Speaker 4: that has a momentous moment and it's done so spectacularly.
6:15
Speaker 4: And Paul, I'm just curious, you kind of got your,
6:17
Speaker 4: you got your start in, in horse racing. You mentioned
6:20
Speaker 4: Canterbury park, Bay Meadows, and just curious, like what have
6:24
Speaker 4: you brought from the fast track and the racetrack and
6:27
Speaker 4: the fast paced nature of it to commentating football games?
6:31
Speaker 1: Well, it's an excellent question because I didn't go to college,
6:34
Speaker 1: so I'm not professionally trained. And, um, Yeah, I've traveled
6:38
Speaker 1: all around the country, calling races, Nebraska, Northern California, Minnesota,
6:42
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But why it's a good question is
6:47
Speaker 1: because I never would have answered it this way, really
6:50
Speaker 1: even 15, 20 years ago. But A, I auditioned for
6:54
Speaker 1: all of the jobs that I have now. And God chose,
6:58
Speaker 1: I get to win. And that includes a National Football
7:01
Speaker 1: League play-by-play job without going to college. No Missouri, no Syracuse,
7:05
Speaker 1: no Northwestern, none of that. And that's just how it
7:08
Speaker 1: worked out. But same thing with the racetrack. I brought
7:11
Speaker 1: my tape recorder to Northern California in 1993, put it
7:14
Speaker 1: in the president of a track's ear, got denied, tapped
7:17
Speaker 1: on my parents for about 300 more to stay over,
7:20
Speaker 1: put it back in his ear the next day. And
7:22
Speaker 1: he said, go call race aid. And I did. And
7:24
Speaker 1: he liked it. And that started the racetrack announcing career.
7:28
Speaker 1: So where, where it's analogous or where it's comparable is,
7:33
Speaker 1: would be a horse race is a crescendo-building job. In
7:38
Speaker 1: other words, and they're racing. Chet takes the lead out
7:41
Speaker 1: of the gate. Here comes Jason, who they won't let
7:44
Speaker 1: be on camera. And now Thad Levine is circumnavigating the field.
7:48
Speaker 1: Down to the wire, blah, blah, blah. Jason wins. So
7:52
Speaker 1: that's a truncated race call. Carson Wentz takes the snap,
7:57
Speaker 1: takes a handoff to Jordan Mason, shakes the shoulders, fires
8:01
Speaker 1: to the right side, caught at the 20, da-da-da, inside
8:04
Speaker 1: the numbers, touchdown, which is the finish line. So a
8:09
Speaker 1: play and a race are synonymous. They both require a
8:15
Speaker 1: crescendo of some sort. All races aren't dynamite. Sometimes horses
8:20
Speaker 1: and cheap claimers win by 15 lengths, and it's a
8:23
Speaker 1: four-horse field, and it's boring. And nobody bet it because
8:27
Speaker 1: of the lack of horses. Then, like a play, hand
8:30
Speaker 1: off that Levine left side. Oh, he's hit at the
8:33
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. Down goes that. It's second and 10.
8:37
Speaker 1: That's not a super exciting play. So I learned that
8:41
Speaker 1: this is my first play-by-play job at any level. And,
8:46
Speaker 1: you know, I've managed to hold it into my 25th.
8:49
Speaker 1: So where that helped me, where it harmed me is
8:53
Speaker 1: when I came into it in 2002, 2003, and 2004.
8:56
Speaker 1: I mean, I was unbelievably raw. The owner of the team,
8:58
Speaker 1: Red McCombs, didn't like some of the stuff that I did.
9:01
Speaker 1: But he was a very good businessman, and we would
9:04
Speaker 1: talk things out. He was a very, very fair man,
9:06
Speaker 1: God rest his soul. But where it helps me is
9:11
Speaker 1: I didn't travel around the country stealing everybody's style. You know,
9:16
Speaker 1: it's I am who I am. And like Thad said,
9:21
Speaker 1: you know, we had a game against Green Bay last Sunday,
9:23
Speaker 1: first game of the season. All right, we've been waiting
9:25
Speaker 1: the entire offseason to see what Kyler Murray looks like
9:29
Speaker 1: in a real game against a real team. And his
9:33
Speaker 1: first pass... you know, I don't have the highlight handy
9:36
Speaker 1: and I can kind of remember it, but it was like,
9:39
Speaker 1: you know, Kyler threw a punt pass intercepted by Keyshawn Nixon.
9:44
Speaker 1: It's passes like that that he did so many times
9:48
Speaker 1: in Arizona and it's just not going to work here.
9:50
Speaker 1: Packers ball. So I can be branded or painted as
9:54
Speaker 1: Barney the Purple Dinosaur as much as fools want to
9:57
Speaker 1: do that. But if you listen critically unless closely, I
10:01
Speaker 1: get after my squad fairly and not in your face
10:06
Speaker 1: or accusatory as much as anybody. On the other side
10:10
Speaker 1: of it, if there's a Minneapolis miracle, then I'm going
10:14
Speaker 1: to give you the goods on that too. That's just
10:16
Speaker 1: how God wired me. I didn't steal anybody's style because
10:19
Speaker 1: this is my first play-by-play job. I am from the
10:22
Speaker 1: Kevin Harlan slash Chick Hearn tree, I guess. I'm a
10:26
Speaker 1: limb with the energy and the descriptions and everything. But
10:31
Speaker 1: my advice to people who, like you said, might be
10:34
Speaker 1: following in my footsteps is be yourself. And being unique
10:39
Speaker 1: while being yourself will win. You just have to persevere.
10:43
Speaker 2: You know, you mentioned this is your first play-by-play gig.
10:46
Speaker 2: You've had it now 25 years going on. You didn't
10:51
Speaker 2: get hired on your first audition for this gig. A
10:54
Speaker 2: lot of people might be pretty surprised to hear that.
10:56
Speaker 2: I think you got passed up twice from what I understand.
11:00
Speaker 1: Once. Yeah. That's interesting that you remember that. Yeah. So
11:05
Speaker 1: the Vikings were on a local station, which was a
11:09
Speaker 1: juggernaut called WCCO Radio. Carried the Twins for a million years.
11:13
Speaker 1: World Series year, stuff like that. And WCCO, right when
11:18
Speaker 1: all the dot-coms were popping up in 2000, WCCO would
11:22
Speaker 1: not make the Vikings signal available via dot-com. CBS, the
11:26
Speaker 1: parent company, would not do it. So the Vikings came
11:29
Speaker 1: to KFAN and said, this is happening, and we need
11:33
Speaker 1: to get our games on a dot-com, Vikings dot-com. So
11:38
Speaker 1: the bosses, this is my third year in Minnesota. And
11:41
Speaker 1: I'm probably 31, 32 at that stage, maybe 33 years
11:45
Speaker 1: of age. And boss said, who wants to do play-by-play?
11:49
Speaker 1: And I said, I will. Never had done it. So
11:52
Speaker 1: jumped into it, worked through it in a cybercast, calling
11:56
Speaker 1: some games off TV, some games from suites on the
11:59
Speaker 1: road at Silverdome, stuff like that. And then I went
12:02
Speaker 1: for the job and I got beat by, Chet's right,
12:07
Speaker 1: by a play-by-play guy named Lee Hacksaw Hamilton. He's a
12:11
Speaker 1: nationally familiar name, did San Diego Chargers football and the
12:15
Speaker 1: USC Trojans football team at that time, and he was
12:18
Speaker 1: going to leave them, or one of them. But then
12:21
Speaker 1: he said some things on his radio show in Southern
12:23
Speaker 1: California that people jumped all over. Now, this is all
12:27
Speaker 1: the way back in 2002, before social media, and he
12:30
Speaker 1: got fired. So they had me call a preseason game
12:33
Speaker 1: on one day's notice, thought I did a pretty good job.
12:36
Speaker 1: They were going to hire me. But Red McComb said
12:38
Speaker 1: to some of the vice presidents, why should I trust
12:41
Speaker 1: you guys to hire somebody? You just hired this racist
12:45
Speaker 1: and we had to fire him. So I'm making the call.
12:50
Speaker 1: And so therefore he hired his best friend's son who
12:55
Speaker 1: was doing Austin Peay baseball. And the guy was kind
12:58
Speaker 1: of boring. Didn't really get to know him that well.
13:02
Speaker 1: But I got it the next year, 02. And they
13:05
Speaker 1: gave it to me in 02. And I was told
13:08
Speaker 1: the biggest reason that I got it, because again, I
13:10
Speaker 1: was raw and I had never called games professionally only
13:14
Speaker 1: for that cybercast, is they said the way you handled losing,
13:20
Speaker 1: like on Vikings fan line or your K-fan show, you
13:23
Speaker 1: never ripped Terry. You didn't rip him behind his back.
13:27
Speaker 1: You weren't telling everybody you think you're better. And handling
13:32
Speaker 1: the situation with aplomb, would be the lesson here really
13:36
Speaker 1: for anybody at any time.
13:39
Speaker 4: I think also, Paul, is how much failure we all
13:42
Speaker 4: experience before we have success. And it's what you make
13:45
Speaker 4: of that failure. It's not the failure that defines you.
13:48
Speaker 4: It's how you handle it. And you just kept your
13:50
Speaker 4: head down. You kept plowing forward and you got another
13:52
Speaker 4: opportunity and you handled it professionally. And then you're creating
13:55
Speaker 4: your own luck at that point, right? And then once
13:57
Speaker 4: you get that foot in the door, it's making the
13:59
Speaker 4: most of those situations. And that's exceptional.
14:02
Speaker 3: Please stay with us through the break.
14:04
Speaker 4: On the other side, we're going to dive into 2026
14:06
Speaker 4: NFL season with Paul Allen.
14:18
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings. We are here with
14:21
Speaker 2: Paul Allen. Paul, you've been the voice of the Vikings
14:25
Speaker 2: for about 25 seasons. When you think about the NFL
14:29
Speaker 2: you walked into in 2002, versus the nfl today what's
14:33
Speaker 2: changed the most not just stuff on the field uh
14:36
Speaker 2: the way you know let's talk about the way players
14:38
Speaker 2: coaches and media interact now because i feel like there's
14:41
Speaker 2: a difference there.
14:43
Speaker 1: Uh well i i started right after an era where
14:48
Speaker 1: players at the ends of games would feel comfortable going
14:51
Speaker 1: into a tailgating lot and happily safely and um and
14:58
Speaker 1: and in trustworthy fashion, having a beer with fans. Really?
15:02
Speaker 2: They would do that?
15:03
Speaker 1: Zero chance that happens now. Yeah. Used to happen at
15:05
Speaker 1: Metropolitan Stadium with the Vikings all the time. I've heard
15:08
Speaker 1: a million stories. And I've heard some stories from RFK
15:12
Speaker 1: Stadium in DC where it was just like, Hey, you're
15:15
Speaker 1: Billy Kilmer and hang out for like 15 minutes and
15:18
Speaker 1: then that's it. Well, that's never going to happen now.
15:21
Speaker 1: So that's big. You know, I think it involves practices and,
15:26
Speaker 1: And just, you know, the way how cautious the NFL
15:30
Speaker 1: is with a lot of things now where obviously concussions and,
15:35
Speaker 1: you know, things mattered in 2002. But it's really an
15:39
Speaker 1: emphasis now on mental and physical well-being. And God bless
15:43
Speaker 1: everybody involved with that. That's cool. But like they used
15:46
Speaker 1: to have two practices a day, two a days, and
15:49
Speaker 1: they were both physical. There used to be five preseason games.
15:53
Speaker 1: So the walk-up to the season has dramatically changed. Now
15:57
Speaker 1: we have 17 regular season games. We're down to three
16:00
Speaker 1: preseason games. That probably will go to two. And 18
16:04
Speaker 1: regular season games.
16:05
Speaker 2: You think we'll get down to two, huh?
16:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do. Maybe even– well, my idea, and I've
16:11
Speaker 1: never heard anybody say it, which means it's probably wrong, but,
16:14
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're going to go to 18 games
16:16
Speaker 1: and you're going to cut the preseason to one game,
16:19
Speaker 1: I mean, just– I mean, preseason games are profitable for
16:24
Speaker 1: owners of teams because of the ticket sales and just
16:28
Speaker 1: you get things there that are shared during the regular
16:32
Speaker 1: season and I think the postseason. So, yeah, I mean,
16:36
Speaker 1: we need at least one in fairness to the people
16:39
Speaker 1: who bought the team. But, you know, maybe make joint
16:42
Speaker 1: practices mandatory. We had a joint practice this year for
16:46
Speaker 1: two days with the Baltimore Ravens. We've had a bunch,
16:49
Speaker 1: you know, since Kevin O'Connell's gotten here. The Chicago Bears,
16:52
Speaker 1: I think, had two joint practices and really physical practices.
16:57
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson went old school on it. Now they got
17:00
Speaker 1: some players hurt, and that's going to be part of
17:02
Speaker 1: that approach. But they came out of the gate looking
17:05
Speaker 1: as squared away as any team in the NFL and
17:07
Speaker 1: hung 59 on somebody. So, I mean, they're going great
17:10
Speaker 1: guns there. So I just think the way the off
17:13
Speaker 1: seasons are handled now probably would be the biggest.
17:16
Speaker 2: Interesting. I see minimal value in the preseason these days
17:21
Speaker 2: as far as the starting lineups go. You're filling out
17:24
Speaker 2: rosters with what you learned there. But those joint practices
17:28
Speaker 2: do seem to be catching some steam. We see some
17:30
Speaker 2: of that in the media and whatnot. Well, those are
17:33
Speaker 2: more important than preseason games. The day and age of
17:36
Speaker 2: the play your best players one quarter in the first game,
17:41
Speaker 2: play them to half in the second game, in the
17:43
Speaker 2: third game, play them to the end of the third
17:45
Speaker 2: quarter so they can shut it down at the end
17:48
Speaker 2: of the first half, dust themselves off and get going
17:51
Speaker 2: in the second half, and then sit them all in
17:53
Speaker 2: the fourth. Those are days gone by.
17:58
Speaker 4: Paul, one of the things that is so unique about
18:00
Speaker 4: you is as a result of your passion, but also
18:03
Speaker 4: your fairness and intelligence about football, you have incredible relationships
18:07
Speaker 4: and equity with players. that I think transcends most play-by-play
18:11
Speaker 4: broadcasters in the NFL. And I'd just be curious, your thoughts,
18:15
Speaker 4: so much has been made of Sam Darnold's trials and
18:19
Speaker 4: tribulations he had throughout his career, but then ultimately winning
18:21
Speaker 4: a championship last year. When you got around to him
18:24
Speaker 4: for that season in Minnesota, what would you say were
18:27
Speaker 4: some of the championship qualities that he did bring to
18:29
Speaker 4: Seattle and helped them win to contribute to that Super
18:33
Speaker 4: Bowl win that they had last season?
18:36
Speaker 1: Well, see, like, Kevin O'Connell and this coaching staff and
18:39
Speaker 1: this group, the word culture is so overused and misused
18:44
Speaker 1: and so trite these days. But it's true with Twin
18:48
Speaker 1: Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, their facility. I mean, I've seen
18:51
Speaker 1: it since 2022. I did not enjoy doing this job
18:55
Speaker 1: in 2021. I'm not paid by the Vikings to call games.
18:59
Speaker 1: The stuff I do do for them is kind of
19:01
Speaker 1: a 1099 hired gun. So I'm not paid to call
19:05
Speaker 1: games by them. I'm paid by KFAN and iHeartMedia. So
19:09
Speaker 1: with that said, I'm still around there a lot, and
19:13
Speaker 1: trust is very important to me, as I said a
19:15
Speaker 1: little while ago. But I just didn't really enjoy it
19:19
Speaker 1: at the end of 2021, how some people were being treated.
19:22
Speaker 1: Eventually they were going to blow the whole thing up
19:24
Speaker 1: and bring in O'Connell and that group. Well, I mean,
19:26
Speaker 1: I've seen it since 2022, whether they're going to the
19:29
Speaker 1: playoffs or not. They just handle things differently. There's less
19:33
Speaker 1: ripping of people in the building, which I can't stand. And,
19:37
Speaker 1: you know, I've teased and or ripped or backtalked people
19:40
Speaker 1: before in my life, like everybody has. The older I've
19:43
Speaker 1: gotten and the more people have done it, just the
19:46
Speaker 1: more small minded I really recognize and see it is.
19:49
Speaker 1: So I try to distance myself 10 of 10 from it.
19:53
Speaker 1: And that includes social media, radio show, and doing something
19:56
Speaker 1: like this. Because like you said, there's a way to
19:59
Speaker 1: analyze things fairly without like, you know, trying to get
20:02
Speaker 1: people going or situations going. So put all that in
20:06
Speaker 1: a nutshell. And I'm comfortable with I'm comfortable getting close
20:12
Speaker 1: to the people that make the story. I describe the story.
20:16
Speaker 1: They make the story. Now, Darnold, Daniel Jones, hopefully Kyler Murray.
20:22
Speaker 1: You know, Darnold was the third overall pick in the draft.
20:25
Speaker 1: His arm talent is supreme. It's this side of Brett Favre.
20:30
Speaker 1: Cousins was really good. I think Darnold's is better. So
20:33
Speaker 1: he's gifted with what, and he's very smart, but he's quiet,
20:38
Speaker 1: at least around people like me. So he's gifted with
20:41
Speaker 1: the things that you need to be gifted with. He
20:43
Speaker 1: lost his confidence, and he needed a year off in
20:46
Speaker 1: San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan and that group. And then
20:50
Speaker 1: we got him, and this group's culture does things like this.
20:56
Speaker 1: It happened really with Nick Mullins, who's kind of a
21:00
Speaker 1: career backup, but Nick had some really, really good times here.
21:05
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones. You know, he was all done with the Giants,
21:08
Speaker 1: and Daniel's super talented as a quarterback. Very fast, too.
21:12
Speaker 1: They were like, you know, paraphrasing, all right, let's come
21:15
Speaker 1: on over here, stay on the practice squad for the
21:17
Speaker 1: end of the year. You're not going to play. Breathe, okay? Just,
21:21
Speaker 1: and yeah, we know what you're getting paid, and we'll
21:23
Speaker 1: deal with the owners and that. Just breathe, okay? Now,
21:26
Speaker 1: they were laying the groundwork for a future investment, but
21:30
Speaker 1: he ended up wanting to go to Indianapolis, so best
21:32
Speaker 1: laid plans didn't work. But he still turned everything around here.
21:37
Speaker 1: That has a lot to do with it. Darnold's talent
21:39
Speaker 1: and the way they run things in Seattle, led by
21:42
Speaker 1: John Schneider, the GM, as good as anybody in the NFL.
21:45
Speaker 1: They permit people to be themselves. And if it looks
21:49
Speaker 1: like it's going to go sideways or get a little
21:51
Speaker 1: off the rails, they're quick to fix it. And they
21:54
Speaker 1: fix it respectfully. So that has that with Darnold. You know,
21:58
Speaker 1: that really was the story there. I guess they could
22:01
Speaker 1: have franchised him. And I'm not going to talk out
22:03
Speaker 1: of both sides of my mouth here. He, you know,
22:07
Speaker 1: week 18, a couple of seasons ago, at Chet's team,
22:11
Speaker 1: the Lions and Ford Field, that's the most ballyhooed, hyped-up,
22:17
Speaker 1: popular regular season game in the history of the NFL.
22:21
Speaker 1: Stand-alone Sunday night, winner gets the one seed in the NFC. Okay?
22:26
Speaker 1: With respect... Darnold single-handedly lost the game for the Minnesota Vikings.
22:32
Speaker 1: And I never talk like that unless I know what
22:35
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. But I either know who to talk
22:39
Speaker 1: to or what to watch. And when you miss five touchdowns,
22:43
Speaker 1: wide open, receivers running the right routes, offensive linemen blocking
22:47
Speaker 1: the right way. And you're inside the 20 or the 10.
22:49
Speaker 1: So he single-handedly lost that game. It gave me PTSD, man.
22:53
Speaker 1: I mean, I couldn't believe it. I just could not
22:55
Speaker 1: believe it repeatedly kept happening. So if somebody formulated an opinion,
23:00
Speaker 1: the way I put it on or off the radio was, like,
23:03
Speaker 1: say I own the team. And say Thad's the general manager.
23:07
Speaker 1: And he's banging his fist to, no, no, no. Look,
23:11
Speaker 1: we got to look past that and the nine sacks
23:13
Speaker 1: in the playoff game against the Rams, which weren't all
23:16
Speaker 1: Sam's fault. Um, and here's why we need to retain him.
23:20
Speaker 1: I couldn't, I, if I were the owner, I would say,
23:22
Speaker 1: here's the deal that I'm going to roll with what
23:24
Speaker 1: you're saying, because it's a hundred million dollar ticket minimum. Okay.
23:28
Speaker 1: And I just watched all 14 of those wins right
23:30
Speaker 1: next to you at that. And I really respect you
23:33
Speaker 1: for what you do. Here's the deal. We all watch
23:36
Speaker 1: that thing together. Everybody says that the biggest moment he
23:39
Speaker 1: cracks and we just watched it. Okay. So if that
23:43
Speaker 1: happens again, Thad, you're out. That's it. You're out. But
23:48
Speaker 1: if it doesn't, I'll probably give you a raise.
23:50
Speaker 2: I remember watching that game with Darnold. I couldn't believe it.
23:54
Speaker 2: I was maybe naive enough to think that the Lions
23:57
Speaker 2: had figured out a way to beat him that season.
23:59
Speaker 2: We found his weakness.
24:00
Speaker 1: Missed receivers, behind. I mean, it gave me football PTSD, man.
24:06
Speaker 1: I couldn't stop thinking about it because I was so
24:08
Speaker 1: hyped and excited for the biggest regular season game ever,
24:11
Speaker 1: Sunday night. one seed at stake. And then that happens. And, and,
24:16
Speaker 1: and interestingly, Chet, you've been to Ford field. Oh yeah. Yeah.
24:19
Speaker 1: You know where the press box is.
24:21
Speaker 2: I do.
24:22
Speaker 1: All right. Yeah.
24:22
Speaker 2: I got an idea.
24:23
Speaker 1: Box boxes down to the left at about the 20. Well,
24:27
Speaker 1: of course, every missed touchdown happened right below me.
24:31
Speaker 2: Right in front of you. So then I was like,
24:33
Speaker 2: kind of, ah, it's got a bird's eye view of the, the, yeah.
24:37
Speaker 1: I mean, football life's happening right before my very eyes,
24:40
Speaker 1: like right in front of me. It was, It was tough.
24:43
Speaker 1: But then he went through with Seattle and pushed through
24:46
Speaker 1: all of it and ascended to the highest level. I
24:49
Speaker 1: love that. That's what sports are all about. You're supposed
24:53
Speaker 1: to rock. Everybody thinks you're terrible and you can't handle pressure. Oh, look,
24:58
Speaker 1: a glimmer of hope, but you're not going to stick
25:00
Speaker 1: around there. And then you hoist the Lombardi.
25:02
Speaker 2: We all love to see the Phoenix rise from the ashes, right?
25:06
Speaker 3: The redemption story.
25:07
Speaker 2: That's what we look for.
25:09
Speaker 4: And Paul, you know, inadvertently, you just hit on something there.
25:13
Speaker 4: We role played there for a second where you were
25:15
Speaker 4: the owner and you put me to it saying you
25:17
Speaker 4: can sign this player, but it's your caboose if it
25:20
Speaker 4: doesn't work out. I think what listeners should understand is
25:22
Speaker 4: that's very real. Those scenarios actually do happen. And for
25:26
Speaker 4: you as a fan, when you wonder why the GM
25:29
Speaker 4: doesn't always do the right thing, it's when you're given
25:32
Speaker 4: that level of jeopardy associated with the decision you make,
25:35
Speaker 4: the safest play is to see the owner's eyes, read
25:39
Speaker 4: his mind and say, hey, listen, I'm not going to
25:41
Speaker 4: risk signing this player. And I'd rather have him go
25:44
Speaker 4: perform elsewhere because I'll get a hall pass for that.
25:46
Speaker 4: He's not saying, hey, if this guy goes somewhere else,
25:48
Speaker 4: you're going to get fired if he does well. He's
25:50
Speaker 4: saying if he stays here and he doesn't do well.
25:52
Speaker 4: And it's tough because in these jobs, you want to
25:55
Speaker 4: know that your GM is doing everything for the franchise.
25:58
Speaker 4: At times, though, there's a lot of pressure just to
26:00
Speaker 4: survive to tomorrow.
26:01
Speaker 1: Absolutely. You know, it's not necessarily GM to owner. But
26:06
Speaker 1: I'll never forget something. You know, my best friend that
26:09
Speaker 1: I've ever had in my quarter century calling games is
26:12
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Kevin Stefanski. And
26:15
Speaker 1: formerly with the Browns, two-time coach of the year. He
26:18
Speaker 1: was offensive coordinator here. But in 06, when he was 25,
26:22
Speaker 1: and I was just starting out, you know, I did
26:24
Speaker 1: a weekly interview with Vikings head coach Brad Childress. And
26:27
Speaker 1: I would go to Winter Park in Eden Prairie, and
26:30
Speaker 1: I'd have to sit in a little office with right
26:33
Speaker 1: by Childress's door and wait for him to get done
26:36
Speaker 1: with whatever he was doing to record or do the
26:38
Speaker 1: show live. Well, Stefanski was in the office right next
26:42
Speaker 1: to me and he was like multitasking doing stuff. So
26:45
Speaker 1: I didn't really talk to him that much because I
26:47
Speaker 1: didn't want to bug him, you know, when he was
26:49
Speaker 1: doing so much on a, I think a Wednesday, they
26:51
Speaker 1: were Wednesday every week. But eventually we started talking and
26:56
Speaker 1: he learned I love the NBA. His father, Ed Stefanski,
27:00
Speaker 1: former general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Toronto Raptors,
27:04
Speaker 1: the New Jersey Nets, maybe the Sixers. So we really,
27:08
Speaker 1: really hit it off right there. He's salt of the earth,
27:11
Speaker 1: an awesome human being. I'll never forget something Kevin said
27:15
Speaker 1: to me in 2018, where the Vikings hired an offensive
27:19
Speaker 1: coordinator who just won a championship with the Eagles. It
27:23
Speaker 1: didn't work for whatever the reason, not even to the
27:25
Speaker 1: end of the season. So they had to let him go.
27:27
Speaker 1: And they elevated Kevin Stefanski, to the offensive coordinator job.
27:33
Speaker 1: Kevin told me they beat the Dolphins at U.S. Bank
27:37
Speaker 1: Stadium and they ran for like 230 yards. And Mike Zimmer,
27:41
Speaker 1: the head coach, really wanted to run and it wasn't happening.
27:44
Speaker 1: And that's why the other guy in part was gone.
27:48
Speaker 1: As Stefanski told me, this role is defined by fulfilling
27:54
Speaker 1: the needs and desires of what the head coach wants
27:57
Speaker 1: to do. If I disagree with it, I present something
28:01
Speaker 1: and maybe we can get tentacles to it. Otherwise, if
28:05
Speaker 1: he wants to run, I'm going to run. And I
28:09
Speaker 1: just never forgot that, you know, because it's whether it's
28:12
Speaker 1: biblically pride goes before the fall or just being a
28:16
Speaker 1: vulnerable human being recognizing my way is not always the highway.
28:22
Speaker 1: That was a lesson in 18 I learned from Stefanski
28:25
Speaker 1: and that's the highest level there. OC and head coach
28:28
Speaker 1: pro sports. And, and it's like, he's.
28:30
Speaker 2: There to make suggestions, but maybe he doesn't get the
28:33
Speaker 2: final say in.
28:34
Speaker 1: That role, but that that's coordinator coach. I mean, GM owner,
28:38
Speaker 1: it just has to be yes. Owner. Yes. Owner. Three
28:41
Speaker 1: bags full. Yes. Owner. Yes.
28:43
Speaker 3: Owner.
28:43
Speaker 1: Have you any wall?
28:45
Speaker 2: No.
28:45
Speaker 4: Well, Dan O'Dowd was on our show last week, Paul.
28:47
Speaker 4: And he told me when I was a very young
28:49
Speaker 4: up and coming guy in baseball, feel free to share
28:52
Speaker 4: your dissent. If I'm going in a different direction, share
28:55
Speaker 4: your argument again, but make it differently. I heard you
28:57
Speaker 4: the first time. And then once we make a decision,
28:59
Speaker 4: get on board. Because we're in solidarity once we've made
29:03
Speaker 4: a decision. And I'll never forget that either.
29:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're still young. You don't age. I mean, I
29:08
Speaker 1: remember when you got hired here as general manager of
29:10
Speaker 1: the Twins. I'm like, who's Thad Levine? So, you know,
29:13
Speaker 1: I started looking at pictures and stuff. I think it
29:15
Speaker 1: was the Cleveland or the Rangers, right? Which one? Rangers. Rangers. Okay, Rangers. Yeah,
29:21
Speaker 1: Falvey was Cleveland. And then I'm like, wow, look at
29:24
Speaker 1: this dapper young man. You still look the same. You
29:27
Speaker 1: don't age. Not at all. Not at all.
29:30
Speaker 3: A lot of facelifts.
29:31
Speaker 1: Ken just wanted to know where I was going when
29:33
Speaker 1: I said I looked at some pictures.
29:36
Speaker 2: I'm not even going to dive into that.
29:38
Speaker 1: I'm not feeding.
29:40
Speaker 2: That one.
29:43
Speaker 1: Jason's in the background right now off camera.
29:45
Speaker 2: He's going, how much of this do I have to edit? Oh, yeah,
29:47
Speaker 2: he'd love this. This is great. This is good stuff
29:51
Speaker 2: as far as he's concerned. Let's get it back on
29:54
Speaker 2: track here a little bit. I'm curious about something. So, Vikings...
29:59
Speaker 2: We've heard a lot about quarterbacks over the last year
30:02
Speaker 2: or so with the Vikings. With Darnold leaving, you've got J.J. McCarthy,
30:07
Speaker 2: 10th overall pick. You've got Kyler Murray coming in. We
30:12
Speaker 2: saw this past weekend. Raiders Browns decide to start Cousins
30:15
Speaker 2: and Watson over their young guys, Mendoza and Sanders. And,
30:19
Speaker 2: you know, you've got guys like CJ Stroud and Bryce
30:22
Speaker 2: Young who are still being given a very long leash
30:25
Speaker 2: by their organizations. And of course you have JJ McCarthy,
30:29
Speaker 2: who's now mired in this third string slot. What, what
30:33
Speaker 2: are the ingredients for success for these young guys? And
30:35
Speaker 2: when did these guys start to, when do you feel
30:39
Speaker 2: like these coaches in front office start to pull the
30:41
Speaker 2: plug on them?
30:42
Speaker 1: That's an awesome question because, you know, in, in all
30:45
Speaker 1: my years of calling Vikings football, McCarthy's the highest drafted
30:49
Speaker 1: quarterback since I started the job. Christian Ponder in 2012
30:53
Speaker 1: was taken right around 10. And Christian, you know, he
30:57
Speaker 1: jumped into the fray middle season. McCarthy was never playing
31:01
Speaker 1: over Darnold. So they were going to give him that year,
31:05
Speaker 1: but then he got hurt in a preseason game anyway. Okay.
31:08
Speaker 1: So now as, as, as that, that would, you know,
31:11
Speaker 1: Thad would say by looking at everything with a player
31:15
Speaker 1: that you're about to heap a lot of responsibility on,
31:19
Speaker 1: you're going to have opinions and know a lot of things.
31:21
Speaker 1: So with McCarthy, they started to see injury here, injury here,
31:25
Speaker 1: injury here. Hey, he looks really good. Oh, he's out
31:28
Speaker 1: for a game. Well, that matters. Okay, so that played
31:32
Speaker 1: into the past performances. You know, when they brought Kyler
31:35
Speaker 1: Murray in, I think one of the bigger reasons they
31:38
Speaker 1: did so was it cost a million and change. But really,
31:42
Speaker 1: with respect, my take was after it happened, because I
31:47
Speaker 1: didn't know enough about Kyler. Some of the things that
31:50
Speaker 1: I had seen looked like he had some big box
31:52
Speaker 1: score to him. Teams are never winning the right games.
31:55
Speaker 1: He's never going to the playoffs. But it's a team game.
31:59
Speaker 1: It's not baseball, where if you have the right three pitchers,
32:01
Speaker 1: you get a great shot to win a series, go
32:03
Speaker 1: to the World Series. It's the ultimate team game. So...
32:07
Speaker 1: Now I know a lot was heaped on Kyler that
32:11
Speaker 1: probably should not have been heaped on him. So, you know,
32:15
Speaker 1: I fairly said, I thought it was fairly, when somebody
32:19
Speaker 1: says or a new staff comes in and they formulate
32:22
Speaker 1: the opinion, we're going to give you $ 33 million to leave. Okay, well,
32:27
Speaker 1: that's part of the equation, whether you want to hear
32:31
Speaker 1: it or not. And, you know, is it a look
32:33
Speaker 1: in the mirror moment for Kyler or not? Was it just,
32:37
Speaker 1: I mean, let's look at it this way. Their head coach,
32:39
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury, in his first two years, Kyler won Rookie
32:42
Speaker 1: of the Year, but he was so insecure with letting
32:46
Speaker 1: Murray at 5'10 go under center and execute play action.
32:51
Speaker 1: The only time he went under center was to spike
32:53
Speaker 1: the ball or at the ends of games. So then
32:56
Speaker 1: when I first heard that and started watching back that,
32:58
Speaker 1: I'm like, at the highest level, How do you not
33:03
Speaker 1: let somebody do what is supremely important to a quarterback
33:07
Speaker 1: to learn? Well, that's the pressure of having to win
33:10
Speaker 1: with everything that's right in front of you. So with
33:13
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks alleviating as much pressure as you can and
33:17
Speaker 1: recognizing the era we're in where got to be a
33:21
Speaker 1: lot of backslaps there. You know, if you think it's 75% good,
33:25
Speaker 1: probably needs to sound like a hundred. Let's try to
33:28
Speaker 1: keep them off social media the best we can. and
33:32
Speaker 1: let's be patient with them. Caleb Williams, the quarterback for
33:36
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, is a fascinating study. Before Ben Johnson,
33:41
Speaker 1: and I got a lot of respect for Ben Johnson,
33:43
Speaker 1: coach of the Bears, man, he's ruthless. He's really good
33:46
Speaker 1: at what he does. Holy cow. But Caleb never went
33:51
Speaker 1: under center at USC, and this is a big, tall,
33:53
Speaker 1: strapping guy. Well, there was going to be a time
33:57
Speaker 1: when Ben Johnson got hired from Chet's team And he
34:00
Speaker 1: was Ballyhooed, so it was a big ticket, too. You know,
34:03
Speaker 1: and a lot of expectations.
34:05
Speaker 2: Offense hasn't been the same since, by the way.
34:07
Speaker 1: It's going to be Caleb's will and Ben's will. I mean,
34:11
Speaker 1: eventually at that level with two people who believe in
34:15
Speaker 1: themselves that much, it's going to happen. But it doesn't
34:18
Speaker 1: mean it has to be confrontational or stupid or ugly
34:21
Speaker 1: or you're not friends. So the way Ben navigated himself
34:25
Speaker 1: through Caleb Williams, who played immediately, he was okay, overly cautious,
34:30
Speaker 1: super afraid to throw interceptions, ran at the wrong time,
34:34
Speaker 1: got sacked like 60-some-odd times one year because his O-line
34:38
Speaker 1: was shabby. So Ben had to deal with all that.
34:41
Speaker 1: It's how he dealt with it. And O'Connell's really good
34:44
Speaker 1: at this too. So is Sean McVay. The raising of
34:50
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks is different now than the you know, spit
34:55
Speaker 1: on your finger and rub on your knee and get
34:57
Speaker 1: back out there. It's just dramatically different now. And that's
35:01
Speaker 1: a big key to raising these kid quarterbacks.
35:03
Speaker 2: You think some of these coaches trend more to the
35:06
Speaker 2: veteran over the kid because they deal with it better?
35:09
Speaker 2: Say it again. You think some of these coaches do
35:12
Speaker 2: a little better with the veteran quarterback versus maybe the
35:14
Speaker 2: young quarterback? You think it takes a certain type of
35:16
Speaker 2: coach to deal with a young quarterback?
35:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, too much for right now. I mean, well, like,
35:21
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, Jared Goff has been to the
35:23
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Jared has been one of the underrated quarterbacks
35:26
Speaker 1: in the NFL since the minute he got into the
35:28
Speaker 1: league from Cal. Kirk Cousins just won a game for
35:32
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Raiders. All right, Kirk's right at the end.
35:35
Speaker 1: But veterans who have seen a lot, you got to
35:39
Speaker 1: parse between Who has an opinion and wants to go
35:44
Speaker 1: at it because they lack stimulation in their lives and
35:47
Speaker 1: they just like to argue? Or most veterans have seen
35:52
Speaker 1: so much, they have so much recall for things that
35:57
Speaker 1: it generally leads to elite back and forth conversations that
36:01
Speaker 1: make the whole covenant better. So I guess there are
36:06
Speaker 1: multiple ways to skin cats. But I mean, look at
36:09
Speaker 1: New England right now, okay? Drake May, you know, having
36:13
Speaker 1: Drake May on the Minnesota Vikings would be the bomb.
36:16
Speaker 1: I would still do it right now, having seen the
36:18
Speaker 1: last two games. But I've seen the last two games.
36:21
Speaker 1: And he threw eight interceptions in the regular season for
36:24
Speaker 1: New England last year against a fourth-place schedule. Bad schedule, too.
36:29
Speaker 1: Then he ran into Mike McDonald, elite defensive mind in
36:33
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, threw interceptions. Starts the season against McDonald,
36:37
Speaker 1: throws interceptions. I think it's too convenient to just say
36:42
Speaker 1: and shush it off. And I've heard this from people
36:45
Speaker 1: in the game. Well, not everybody has the talent the
36:48
Speaker 1: Seahawks have. I agree. However, what if there's a tell
36:53
Speaker 1: McDonald's putting on film that May has to work through? Well,
36:58
Speaker 1: that all of a sudden, if that takes four, five, six, seven,
37:00
Speaker 1: eight games, what's that do to a season? That happens
37:03
Speaker 1: to young quarterbacks. You know, where getting out of the
37:07
Speaker 1: tells and the tendencies, because they haven't matured enough professionally,
37:12
Speaker 1: those are moguls over which they have to stride the
37:16
Speaker 1: right way.
37:18
Speaker 2: Folks, stick with us. We're going to be right back
37:21
Speaker 2: with Paul Allen, and we're going to make him possibly
37:23
Speaker 2: give us some picks maybe for the Super Bowl in
37:26
Speaker 2: 2026 and dive in a little more to this season
37:30
Speaker 2: that's just underway when we return on Rosters to Rings.
37:42
Speaker 4: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings. I know for one,
37:44
Speaker 4: I am fired up to have one more segment with
37:46
Speaker 4: Paul's wisdom, passion, and energy. Paul, you have a very
37:49
Speaker 4: unique relationship. You're really close with Kevin O'Connell. He has
37:53
Speaker 4: gotten credit as one of the quarterback whisperers in the game.
37:57
Speaker 4: It seems as if anyone who's under center has had
38:00
Speaker 4: some success. You've named a lot of the names already.
38:02
Speaker 4: Some were household names. Quite frankly, quite a few were not.
38:06
Speaker 4: From your relationship with him, How does he see quarterbacks
38:09
Speaker 4: differently than everyone else? How is he enhancing these guys'
38:12
Speaker 4: careers so effectively?
38:14
Speaker 1: You know, I do know Kevin, and I've gotten to
38:16
Speaker 1: know his family quite well. In fact, my daughter, my
38:21
Speaker 1: beloved Cole, who's 23, she's in graduate school in Southern
38:25
Speaker 1: California to get into the FBI and forensic studies. She
38:31
Speaker 1: wants to study the minds of criminals. And when I
38:34
Speaker 1: met Kevin and we're getting to know each other, his
38:36
Speaker 1: wife Leah is Christian. She's very smart with the Bible.
38:40
Speaker 1: I'm Christian. I run a chapel here at the racetrack
38:43
Speaker 1: at Canterbury Park, speak at a lot of Christian school
38:46
Speaker 1: fundraisers and churches and things like that. And I mean,
38:50
Speaker 1: if we got into the core of who Paul Allen's
38:52
Speaker 1: heart is, it's in my ministry in learning the Bible
38:56
Speaker 1: and sharing it with others. Well, that's who his wife
38:59
Speaker 1: Leah is. So like Leah and I would go back
39:02
Speaker 1: and forth on the book of Revelation or what the
39:05
Speaker 1: apostle Paul meant when he was talking about cosmic superpowers.
39:09
Speaker 1: So we sharpened each other that way. Then a couple
39:13
Speaker 1: of years ago on the sideline at Chet's Place, Detroit,
39:17
Speaker 1: I met Kevin's parents. And, you know, they're asking me
39:21
Speaker 1: cursory questions about kids and stuff. And I told them
39:24
Speaker 1: what my daughter said. what my daughter wants to get into,
39:27
Speaker 1: and they started snickering, and I didn't know what was
39:29
Speaker 1: going on. Well, it, um, Suzanne, his mom said, why
39:33
Speaker 1: don't you, uh, why don't you Google Bill O'Connell FBI?
39:37
Speaker 1: So I did. Um, and Bill was part of the team,
39:42
Speaker 1: FBI team that took down John Gotti and his knowledge
39:46
Speaker 1: and wisdom with like Paul Castellano and and Sammy the Bull,
39:51
Speaker 1: whatever that was going on then. I mean, he was
39:53
Speaker 1: chasing after all them. So what was funny was you
39:57
Speaker 1: just talked about your daughter's dream to get into the FBI,
39:59
Speaker 1: and you got no idea who you're talking to when
40:01
Speaker 1: it comes to the FBI. So he's taken a liking
40:05
Speaker 1: to my daughter, as has Kevin's mom. And they're in
40:09
Speaker 1: touch quite a bit about classes and internships at police
40:13
Speaker 1: departments and behavioral schools and things like that. So Bill
40:17
Speaker 1: and Suzanne have been invaluable to my child. So that's
40:21
Speaker 1: going to bring people together right there. When it comes
40:23
Speaker 1: to his innate ability to pull the best out of quarterbacks, honestly,
40:30
Speaker 1: I can't answer that. Outside of Kevin's authentic, Kevin shoots straight.
40:35
Speaker 1: I'm sure Kevin gets mad, but he doesn't have to
40:39
Speaker 1: yell and throw tantrums. One of the first words that
40:43
Speaker 1: Kevin used when he got the job here was collaboration.
40:46
Speaker 1: And I know for a fact when it comes to
40:48
Speaker 1: drafting free agency or decisions, it's Kevin may end up,
40:53
Speaker 1: his idea may end up being the idea, but it's
40:56
Speaker 1: going to take two hours to go through quarterbacks coach
40:58
Speaker 1: Josh McCown, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, the general manager Nolan Teasley.
41:05
Speaker 1: I mean, they bounce things off, man. And like, I
41:07
Speaker 1: don't go to a lot of meetings with my jobs.
41:09
Speaker 1: These meetings would probably be fun because they'd be interesting,
41:12
Speaker 1: but I'm like two and three hour meetings. So, but
41:17
Speaker 1: they have, they have those all the time and Kevin
41:19
Speaker 1: leads them, you know, and he's just very good collaborating
41:22
Speaker 1: and being vulnerable. That just has to play into the,
41:27
Speaker 1: you know, Hey, look that, uh, they say it didn't
41:29
Speaker 1: work here. And you know what? You, you were responsible
41:32
Speaker 1: for this guy and it didn't work, bro. You know,
41:34
Speaker 1: maybe you missed something from 10 years ago in his.
41:37
Speaker 3: Past, whatever.
41:38
Speaker 1: But I believe in you and I believe in these
41:41
Speaker 1: eight things that are good. We've got this one thing
41:43
Speaker 1: over here. It's an outlier that nobody likes. But I
41:46
Speaker 1: like these eight things. And I'm going to work around that.
41:48
Speaker 1: And I'm going to empower and amplify that. Kevin's really
41:51
Speaker 1: good with stuff like that. So he's just, he's a
41:53
Speaker 1: salt of the earth human being. I love his family.
41:56
Speaker 1: And honestly, as a guy who calls their games and
41:59
Speaker 1: does a radio show talking about them, I unabashedly have
42:03
Speaker 1: no problem sharing. That's how close I am with the O'Connells.
42:06
Speaker 1: because I like it that way when working with the team.
42:10
Speaker 1: You know, if I have or have not, and it's
42:13
Speaker 1: nobody's business, had opportunities to do TV work in the
42:16
Speaker 1: NFL or radio work in the NFL, if those presented
42:21
Speaker 1: themselves at any time during my career, I think the
42:25
Speaker 1: first thing that will come to my mind is, all right,
42:27
Speaker 1: let me get this straight. I can increase my pay
42:29
Speaker 1: $ 125, 000 before taxes and But I got to leave on
42:33
Speaker 1: Thursday and go to Jacksonville for Jacksonville-Houston and then come
42:37
Speaker 1: back Sunday night on a red-eye and then do it
42:39
Speaker 1: all again and have no tie to a team. You know,
42:43
Speaker 1: there's a lot of, as Thad would know for sure,
42:45
Speaker 1: there's a lot of bus sitting and tarmac sitting and
42:49
Speaker 1: all that's glittering is not gold with road travel with
42:53
Speaker 1: a pro sports team. However... You're part of it, man,
42:59
Speaker 1: even if you're a tentacle to it like me. You're
43:01
Speaker 1: part of the wins and the losses. The thing that
43:06
Speaker 1: I like most about when the Minnesota Vikings win and
43:09
Speaker 1: are good and go on streaks is because how happy
43:14
Speaker 1: everybody is around the building. Does it make things easier
43:17
Speaker 1: to do? Yes. But I also do, along with Tanner Morgan,
43:23
Speaker 1: former Gophers quarterback, For four years now, I've been part
43:27
Speaker 1: of doing road chapel for the Minnesota Vikings the nights
43:30
Speaker 1: before games. Dave McGyver is a name that I think
43:34
Speaker 1: you would know that who did it with the twins.
43:36
Speaker 1: So kind of that role, like I do some preaches,
43:39
Speaker 1: I do some teaches, I'd set up the chairs, I'd
43:43
Speaker 1: in essence be the greeter or I'd speak. And I've
43:47
Speaker 1: really gotten to know the players and the coaches on
43:49
Speaker 1: a different level because of that. And I'm not giving
43:53
Speaker 1: that up. I mean, that's so valuable to my soul
43:58
Speaker 1: and my heart and them too, bringing them to peace
44:01
Speaker 1: with a prayer before a violent game. All of that
44:05
Speaker 1: matters a ton to me, but their happiness and the
44:08
Speaker 1: happiness of the fan base greatly matters to me. And
44:12
Speaker 1: so therefore, that's why I get so wrapped up in it.
44:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, Paul, MacGyver was extremely handy with some bubble gum
44:19
Speaker 4: and some electric tape. It's incredible what he was able
44:21
Speaker 4: to do on television.
44:22
Speaker 1: Wow. You guys must be good friends for you to
44:26
Speaker 1: say that. That's why I think his name is Dave MacGyver.
44:28
Speaker 1: He wrote a book. Yes, yes.
44:30
Speaker 4: So one observation I would share about Kevin O'Connell, I
44:35
Speaker 4: had limited time to spend with him, but he watched
44:37
Speaker 4: a few baseball games in our suite with us when
44:40
Speaker 4: I was working with the Twins. He is one of
44:43
Speaker 4: those types of guys who is a head and heart connector.
44:46
Speaker 4: He's clearly intelligent. There's no doubt about it. But there's
44:49
Speaker 4: just something about him where he genuinely seems to connect
44:52
Speaker 4: with people and care about them. And you feel that
44:54
Speaker 4: almost right away. I could see how he would be
44:57
Speaker 4: a massive motivator. It's a glass half full guy, but
45:01
Speaker 4: it's a guy who made a personal connection with you
45:03
Speaker 4: such that the next time he talked to you, you
45:05
Speaker 4: felt a little bit closer to him than you did
45:07
Speaker 4: the previous time. And I think Some people have that
45:09
Speaker 4: innate ability. Kevin certainly has it, and I'm sure that's
45:12
Speaker 4: very infectious in the clubhouse and locker room. One follow-up
45:15
Speaker 4: I have for that, though, Paul, is on the other
45:17
Speaker 4: side of the ledger, when he joined the franchise, it
45:20
Speaker 4: was with Kwesi Adolfo Mensah. And that tandem, they go
45:25
Speaker 4: 34-17 in their first four seasons with the Vikings. How
45:29
Speaker 4: surprised were you that they made a change with the
45:31
Speaker 4: leadership of the Vikings heading into 2026?
45:35
Speaker 1: You know, it caught me off guard when it happened because,
45:39
Speaker 1: you know, it was so early in the year, and
45:41
Speaker 1: I guess that's the time that it should happen. And
45:44
Speaker 1: I don't really know exactly what happened to lead to
45:46
Speaker 1: it because Kwesi had gotten an extension relatively soon before that. But,
45:53
Speaker 1: you know, really, I like Kwesi, okay? You know, Kwesi
45:56
Speaker 1: and I had a bit where I do every Tuesday show,
45:58
Speaker 1: including this time of the year, at their facility. have
46:02
Speaker 1: O'Connell on the radio at 11 o'clock for about a
46:04
Speaker 1: half hour. He's very gracious and very open. That's on K-Fan.
46:09
Speaker 1: But as I got to know Kwesi, I got to
46:11
Speaker 1: know him through music. So growing up in Washington, D.C.,
46:15
Speaker 1: I have an affinity for old school R & B,
46:18
Speaker 1: Daryl Hall and John Oates, Tower of Power, Sly and
46:21
Speaker 1: the Family Stone, The Spinners, just bands like that. So
46:25
Speaker 1: I sensed early that Kwesi was inquisitive with my music taste.
46:30
Speaker 1: And he would ask me questions on bus rides. So
46:33
Speaker 1: I started sending him a song every Tuesday before I
46:35
Speaker 1: would take off on my drive there. Kind of a
46:37
Speaker 1: thematic song for the week that was coming up. And
46:40
Speaker 1: he liked it. And that's how Kwesi and I kind
46:44
Speaker 1: of came close. So I was fond of Kwesi. With respect,
46:49
Speaker 1: the drafting here was substandard. His first draft in 2022
46:53
Speaker 1: is one of the worst drafts in the history of
46:55
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings football. Now, again, I'm not going to talk
46:58
Speaker 1: out of both sides of my mouth and say, hey,
47:01
Speaker 1: you know what makes O'Connell great? Is that he collaborates
47:04
Speaker 1: and everybody has an opinion and it matters. So I
47:07
Speaker 1: don't know how much or how little Kevin O'Connell was
47:10
Speaker 1: involved in making those picks. But a lot of them
47:14
Speaker 1: weren't working. And, you know, it's the higher powers with
47:19
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings, they rolled the dice with that hire.
47:25
Speaker 1: Because the analytics and a lot of the approach taken
47:29
Speaker 1: by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah They're strong in Major League Baseball, and
47:34
Speaker 1: Thad knows better than anybody. MLB is OG with analytics, okay?
47:39
Speaker 1: It's like, it's OG. Now, that doesn't mean that everybody
47:43
Speaker 1: that plays the team game is going to be able
47:46
Speaker 1: to get things to work the way they do in MLB.
47:50
Speaker 1: I still don't get analytics in hockey a lick when
47:54
Speaker 1: you're out there 30 to 45 to 50 seconds playing.
47:57
Speaker 1: And it's such a physical, violent game. Same thing with football.
48:00
Speaker 1: I'm sure... See, analytics can be mistaken for trends, you know,
48:06
Speaker 1: where it's over the last three and a half games
48:09
Speaker 1: or 270 plays you've watched on film, the tendency on
48:13
Speaker 1: third and six from the left hash with a questionable
48:18
Speaker 1: safety is to run that way. Well, is that an
48:20
Speaker 1: analytic or is that a tendency? So, whatever. But with the... uh,
48:26
Speaker 1: with Kwesi, I mean, he's one of the smartest people
48:28
Speaker 1: I've ever met in football. Holy cow. It just didn't work. However,
48:33
Speaker 1: whatever the margin rules, whatever, whatever the bit was, it
48:36
Speaker 1: just didn't work. So they had to move on. Um,
48:39
Speaker 1: and then amazingly, you know, we, we, we have a
48:41
Speaker 1: guy I've been with the team. This will be my
48:44
Speaker 1: 25th year calling games. Somebody who got here before me, the,
48:47
Speaker 1: the money man, Rob Brzezinski, uh, I mean, one of
48:50
Speaker 1: the kindest, smartest human beings you'll ever meet. Gregarious, just
48:53
Speaker 1: he's lasted through all those regimes as the capologist, and
48:57
Speaker 1: that ain't easy, as a lot of people would know.
49:01
Speaker 1: While they were looking for a new GM, they had
49:03
Speaker 1: Brzezinski do this most recent draft with O'Connell, with the
49:07
Speaker 1: new personnel people that they were bringing in or elevating
49:10
Speaker 1: from within. And, you know, the first-round pick, they take
49:15
Speaker 1: a guy who broke his foot at the combine, I mean,
49:17
Speaker 1: you talk about going outside of the box. Holy cow.
49:21
Speaker 1: But Brian Flores loves him, and basically behind the scenes,
49:25
Speaker 1: I think, is like, shh, let's everybody wait. He's 6'6.
49:29
Speaker 1: He's going to learn pad level. His foot's going to
49:31
Speaker 1: be fine, and watch what happens. So I'm willing to
49:34
Speaker 1: wait and give Flores the benefit of the doubt. But
49:37
Speaker 1: some of the other players they drafted, holy cow. They
49:39
Speaker 1: hit on some nice players, but Rob's a capologist. So
49:43
Speaker 1: then they bring in a GM from the Seahawks named
49:45
Speaker 1: Nolan Teasley, who worked under John Schneider, who's just super smart,
49:50
Speaker 1: gets along with everybody, he's quirky, he's different, but he wins.
49:53
Speaker 1: And Teasley's super cool, man, and he's going to bring
49:57
Speaker 1: a different approach here. So I think, you know, I
50:00
Speaker 1: wasn't mad at all, or I didn't disagree. I never
50:05
Speaker 1: am going to disagree with somebody who rolls the dice
50:09
Speaker 1: and has an opinion that is antithetical to the recency
50:14
Speaker 1: of the game, honestly, or the history of the game.
50:17
Speaker 1: Kweisi Adofumensa was one of the most outside-of-the-box hires in
50:20
Speaker 1: the history of the NFL. I like that because somebody's
50:24
Speaker 1: willing to take a chance. And I like chance-takers and
50:27
Speaker 1: envelope pushers. But this one just didn't work. So they
50:32
Speaker 1: kind of went back to somebody who's super smart, great
50:35
Speaker 1: with personnel. and comes from a really winning culture.
50:39
Speaker 2: You know, Paul, as a Lions fan, we've talked a
50:43
Speaker 2: lot about Kevin O'Connell. We've talked a little about the
50:46
Speaker 2: Viking front office here. We haven't touched on the guy
50:49
Speaker 2: that frustrates me the most, and that's Brian Flores. His
50:52
Speaker 2: defenses are absolutely diabolical to go up against. I mean,
50:57
Speaker 2: I have seen my Lions play the Vikings over his
51:01
Speaker 2: tenure as a defensive coordinator there. And sometimes it seems
51:05
Speaker 2: like he's just short-staffed or he doesn't have the personnel,
51:07
Speaker 2: but he gets so much out of them. What is
51:10
Speaker 2: the secret to Brian Flores? Have you gotten to kind
51:14
Speaker 2: of figure that one out for us?
51:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, see, you as a Lions fan, I think you're
51:19
Speaker 1: being Minnesota passive-aggressive here.
51:22
Speaker 2: Maybe.
51:22
Speaker 1: Because what Ben Johnson's offense at times did to our defense,
51:27
Speaker 1: it was a lot of yards and it was a
51:28
Speaker 1: lot of points. And Flores was the coordinator. But Brian
51:32
Speaker 1: gets a chance to improve, too. So with Flores, you're
51:37
Speaker 1: right about the obscure talent. Last year we were in Seattle.
51:41
Speaker 1: We're getting shut out to the eventual Super Bowl champions.
51:45
Speaker 1: But Seattle didn't score its first touchdown until like three
51:48
Speaker 1: minutes before halftime and didn't score its next offensive touchdown
51:55
Speaker 1: until the fourth quarter. Those guys are going to win
51:58
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. There was a point in the game
52:00
Speaker 1: where one of our better corners, Isaiah Rogers, had to
52:03
Speaker 1: leave the game for a little bit. Well, here comes
52:06
Speaker 1: safety Jay Ward, and he's going to play corner opposite
52:11
Speaker 1: Jackson Smith and Jigba, who's on fire.
52:13
Speaker 2: As a Lions fan, I'm saying, who? Jay Ward? Who
52:16
Speaker 2: is this guy?
52:17
Speaker 1: Jay has then got nothing. I mean, absolutely nothing, because
52:20
Speaker 1: Flores quickly solved a problem and crafted it in a
52:23
Speaker 1: way where, I'm going to hold this thing together until
52:25
Speaker 1: Isaiah comes back, or you beat it. So, Brian's really good.
52:30
Speaker 1: The deception is the key. Where, you know, into the
52:34
Speaker 1: first game, you'll notice Christian Watson, Green Bay. Vikings beat
52:39
Speaker 1: Green Bay week one at U.S. Bank Stadium. Well, in
52:42
Speaker 1: that game, big third down, Tucker Kraft tied in. Wide open.
52:47
Speaker 1: Another play, Christian Watson on some kind of a middle route.
52:51
Speaker 1: Wide open. There he goes for 81 to the end zone. Well,
52:54
Speaker 1: that's Flores coordinating that defense, too. Yep. but he solved
52:59
Speaker 1: the problem. They got nothing close to that in the
53:02
Speaker 1: second half. They only got three points.
53:05
Speaker 2: He made the adjustments, right? I mean, that's what a
53:07
Speaker 2: good D coordinator does. They make the adjustments.
53:09
Speaker 1: But see, unscouted looks into week one drive every single
53:12
Speaker 1: coach in the NFL scary, and it drives them crazy
53:15
Speaker 1: and costs them sleep because they've all worked in the
53:18
Speaker 1: offseason and putting a plan together. Everybody's going to have
53:21
Speaker 1: things nobody has seen. And you've got to solve that
53:24
Speaker 1: problem quickly. O'Connell's really good at problem solving on the fly,
53:27
Speaker 1: likewise for Flores. But once you get 200 to 300
53:30
Speaker 1: plays on film, that's where Brian cooks. Because now you've
53:35
Speaker 1: seen seven across the line of scrimmage and Blake Cashman,
53:39
Speaker 1: the inside linebacker, mugging the A-gap. Then he loops and
53:42
Speaker 1: he goes untouched. Well, you see it again five more times.
53:45
Speaker 1: but he ain't looping this time. What's he going to do?
53:48
Speaker 1: He's going to drop in coverage. Holy cow, Tampa too.
53:51
Speaker 1: That extra beat for a quarterback messes everything up. That's
53:56
Speaker 1: where Brian is. He's Hall of Fame elite. Once you
54:01
Speaker 1: get play equity on film for the adversary, that's when
54:05
Speaker 1: Brian really, really does his thing.
54:08
Speaker 2: How do you see this NFC North division stacking up, Paul?
54:11
Speaker 1: Into the season?
54:12
Speaker 2: What's this going to look like this year?
54:14
Speaker 1: Into the season, you know, and I don't really, Chet,
54:17
Speaker 1: have any reason to change the opinion after a week.
54:19
Speaker 1: I'm not a prisoner of the moment guy. I thought
54:22
Speaker 1: any team in the division could win it, and I
54:23
Speaker 1: thought any team could run last. I didn't like your
54:27
Speaker 1: Lions as much as some other people were telling me
54:29
Speaker 1: I was supposed to, but because I thought it was
54:33
Speaker 1: lazy that they were, like, Well, they have a fourth-place schedule.
54:36
Speaker 1: Didn't you see the New England Patriots with a fourth-place schedule? Yeah,
54:39
Speaker 1: they played a bunch of different teams who were awful.
54:43
Speaker 1: And like Detroit starts with New Orleans, well, Tyler Shuck
54:46
Speaker 1: has gotten good, and the Saints have some weapons who
54:50
Speaker 1: know how to play. Well, the Lions won that game.
54:52
Speaker 1: The Bears put up 59 on Carolina. Vikings blew out
54:56
Speaker 1: Green Bay. When Green Bay gets Micah Parsons back, look out. Yeah.
55:03
Speaker 1: You know, I said that into the game, man. I've
55:05
Speaker 1: called Michael Parsons games before when he played for the Cowboys,
55:08
Speaker 1: and yeah, I knew he was good. But when I
55:10
Speaker 1: called his games, Vikings-Packers, or watched him, I haven't seen
55:14
Speaker 1: much like that in my 25 years with how perfectly
55:18
Speaker 1: he was used. So, well, now we get to the
55:21
Speaker 1: analytics or the tendencies, takes, talkers, or tediums. Ever since
55:25
Speaker 1: Parsons went down week 14 last year, they're 0-5, maybe 0-6.
55:30
Speaker 1: But they've lost five in a row. Their points per
55:32
Speaker 1: game went from 19 to 20. Now it's at 30
55:34
Speaker 1: after we put 39 on them. And they're blowing double-digit
55:40
Speaker 1: leads in the second half and fourth quarter. That's becoming
55:44
Speaker 1: culture because it's happening game after game. They really have
55:48
Speaker 1: to get around that. And I think it's too flimsy
55:52
Speaker 1: to just say it's not having Micah Parsons. They got
55:55
Speaker 1: to get around that. The Vikings are solid defensively and
56:01
Speaker 1: have high-end offensive talent. They're going to run the ball
56:04
Speaker 1: very good all year. Jameer Gibbs is one of the
56:07
Speaker 1: best players in the NFL. Is Panay Sewell playing left
56:10
Speaker 1: or right tackle?
56:11
Speaker 2: He's playing left now. They flipped him over to left tackle.
56:13
Speaker 1: I'm just, I mean, whatever.
56:15
Speaker 2: He had a decent game. He did great.
56:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's one of the best right tackles in the
56:18
Speaker 1: history of the NFL. When you make a flip like that,
56:22
Speaker 1: It's risky.
56:22
Speaker 2: They actually bounced him back and forth yesterday. So when
56:25
Speaker 2: they wanted to run over the right side, he'd play
56:27
Speaker 2: right tackle, and they'd run right over him.
56:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just love his game. And, you know, when
56:33
Speaker 1: you change positions, there's going to be an adapting period.
56:37
Speaker 1: But the Lions still, with Amon Ross, St. Brown, and
56:40
Speaker 1: Jamison Williams, Laporta when he's healthy, Gibbs, Aiden Hutchinson, if
56:45
Speaker 1: they get those safeties back, Branch and Kirby Joseph, they're
56:47
Speaker 1: going to be tough. Then you get to finally on
56:51
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, the coach means businessman. He's brash. He's frontal.
56:58
Speaker 1: He's confrontational. He will say, I came here to beat
57:02
Speaker 1: the Green Bay Packers two times, and I'm going to
57:04
Speaker 1: beat the Green Bay Packers two times. And he says
57:10
Speaker 1: things that nobody ever says, means them, and then does them.
57:17
Speaker 1: But with them... Their defense also gave up 37, and
57:21
Speaker 1: they're still working on that. It's wide open. What a
57:24
Speaker 1: great division this is. We go to Chicago this week. Man,
57:27
Speaker 1: they just ran for 261 yards and six touchdowns. Who
57:31
Speaker 1: runs for six touchdowns in a regular season NFL game?
57:35
Speaker 1: This isn't the day and age of student body left.
57:38
Speaker 1: So what are we going to get there? Caleb Williams
57:40
Speaker 1: ran for two. So I can't wait for this game
57:44
Speaker 1: this week, and I'm already super excited.
57:47
Speaker 4: Paul, before we let you go, can we get a
57:49
Speaker 4: Super Bowl prediction from you?
57:53
Speaker 1: Okay, I picked the Denver Broncos to go to the
57:55
Speaker 1: Super Bowl about a month and a half ago. And
57:58
Speaker 1: the reason I did is I'm a big self-awareness guy,
58:01
Speaker 1: big willing to submit and be vulnerable guy. And Sean Payton,
58:06
Speaker 1: I'm not the biggest fan. He was the head coach
58:09
Speaker 1: of the Saints in 2009, the Bounty Gate game, got
58:12
Speaker 1: suspended for a season. I don't know whether he knew
58:15
Speaker 1: it or not. He's the head coach of the team
58:16
Speaker 1: and they're trying to maim Brett Favre and he paid
58:19
Speaker 1: for it. So I've called him the anti-vike before. We
58:24
Speaker 1: beat him with the Minneapolis miracle. He was a 99%
58:27
Speaker 1: winner at one point of that game before that miracle play.
58:30
Speaker 1: He turned around and looked at Vikings fans and started
58:33
Speaker 1: mocking the skull chant. Okay. That drove me nuts because
58:37
Speaker 1: after that he had a miracle put up his butt
58:40
Speaker 1: and he was out of the playoffs. So maybe he learned, but,
58:44
Speaker 1: When I learned that their offensive coordinator, Davis Webb, when
58:48
Speaker 1: Sean Payton made the decision, I'm going to let Davis
58:51
Speaker 1: call the plays, and I'm going to be the CEO
58:54
Speaker 1: of this team working on everything. Now, in fairness to
58:59
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, he's an elite football mind and a wonderful leader.
59:04
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of people who have coached
59:06
Speaker 1: with him or played for.
59:07
Speaker 3: Him, and they love him.
59:09
Speaker 1: I'm just... hyper-analyzing a couple of Vikings-related moments. So Sean
59:14
Speaker 1: is HOF-like, no doubt. When he had the awareness to say,
59:20
Speaker 1: for us to win the Super Bowl, I need to
59:21
Speaker 1: back off the play calls, which he loves doing and
59:24
Speaker 1: he's good at, and I need to run the organization
59:27
Speaker 1: from a different prism. I'm like, wow, Sean did that?
59:32
Speaker 1: I mean, that's brilliant. So I picked him to go
59:34
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. My NFC team to go to
59:37
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, I will reveal what that team is
59:41
Speaker 1: when Thad Levine tells us if the Milwaukee Brewers can
59:45
Speaker 1: go to the World Series or if they will. Are
59:49
Speaker 1: they going to go to.
59:49
Speaker 3: The World Series?
59:51
Speaker 4: So, Paul, I think this is the year. You know,
59:53
Speaker 4: sometimes when you're watching a team, it transcends statistics. There's
59:57
Speaker 4: a feeling of magic. around a team where just things
1:00:00
Speaker 4: are going right. And I think as I've watched over
1:00:03
Speaker 4: the course of the season, you got to admire all
1:00:06
Speaker 4: the performance on the field, all the numbers support them.
1:00:08
Speaker 4: It's a feel around this club right now. They're just
1:00:11
Speaker 4: doing things at a level that you wouldn't expect. If, if,
1:00:14
Speaker 4: if why not now, I guess is what I'd say
1:00:17
Speaker 4: about the Milwaukee Brewers. And I feel a little similarly
1:00:20
Speaker 4: about the Tampa Bay Rays for similar reasons. Like This
1:00:24
Speaker 4: may be the season where we see two of those
1:00:26
Speaker 4: smaller market teams show up big and show up big
1:00:29
Speaker 4: on the big stage.
1:00:31
Speaker 1: Better get Aranda hitting, right? But nevertheless, I didn't think
1:00:36
Speaker 1: you were going to answer.
1:00:36
Speaker 3: Well, I wanted to hear your NFC team.
1:00:39
Speaker 2: He dances around a question.
1:00:40
Speaker 3: I was desperate to hear your NFC team.
1:00:42
Speaker 1: I can't answer because we're so early in the season.
1:00:47
Speaker 1: I haven't seen enough. Boy, I'm being flimsy here. But
1:00:50
Speaker 1: I didn't want to pick the Rams because when they
1:00:53
Speaker 1: got Miles Garrett and Trent McDuffie and Stafford was the MVP,
1:00:57
Speaker 1: that was too convenient and easy. So I've worked in
1:01:01
Speaker 1: horse racing long enough for more than half my life
1:01:04
Speaker 1: to recognize if a super heavy favorite looks good enough
1:01:08
Speaker 1: to eat, we're all probably about ready to choke. Okay,
1:01:12
Speaker 1: so I'm out on that. I just don't know who
1:01:14
Speaker 1: I'm in on. It's a team from the NFC North,
1:01:18
Speaker 1: you know, I think definitely has a good shot. But
1:01:22
Speaker 1: the Vikings haven't played enough games. Well, I can tell
1:01:24
Speaker 1: you the locker room yesterday after the victory had that
1:01:27
Speaker 1: magic you were talking about, people saying the right things.
1:01:30
Speaker 1: But I don't know. I mean, it'd be great if
1:01:33
Speaker 1: the Vikings went. I think any team from the NFC
1:01:36
Speaker 1: North can go. Man, what I saw with John Harbaugh's
1:01:41
Speaker 1: team last night with the Giants, I ain't going to
1:01:43
Speaker 1: say that Sunday night that they're going to the Super Bowl. Culture,
1:01:47
Speaker 1: that's where it's not trite. That's where it's not overused
1:01:52
Speaker 1: and misused. Okay, are you kidding me? They bring in
1:01:54
Speaker 1: Patrick Ricard and Isaiah Likely and Jackson Dart looks like that? Woo!
1:02:00
Speaker 1: So believe in people. Pat them on the back, man.
1:02:03
Speaker 1: Remind them that they matter. But the Giants are better
1:02:07
Speaker 1: than people think for sure. I think the Niners, you know,
1:02:11
Speaker 1: what they saw in Australia, the Rams, in my opinion,
1:02:14
Speaker 1: made a tactical mistake. going to Australia a day and
1:02:18
Speaker 1: a half before the game when San Francisco had been
1:02:20
Speaker 1: there five and a half, six days. I think they
1:02:22
Speaker 1: paid for it. It's tough. I'm going to say I
1:02:26
Speaker 1: hope the Minnesota Vikings go to the Super Bowl because
1:02:28
Speaker 1: I'd love to call a Super Bowl game.
1:02:31
Speaker 3: That's awesome, Paul.
1:02:32
Speaker 4: Well, hey, listen, I think the biggest compliment for you
1:02:35
Speaker 4: is that you are a national treasure, as LeBron said,
1:02:39
Speaker 4: but you're nationally recruited. You're viewed as a nationally elite
1:02:41
Speaker 4: broadcaster and you've kept your talents local.
1:02:44
Speaker 3: Which is exceptional.
1:02:45
Speaker 4: Your intelligence is enlightening. Your passion is intoxicating. And the
1:02:51
Speaker 4: fans should be forever blessed to have you call their
1:02:56
Speaker 4: games every Sunday and Monday night. So thank you for
1:02:58
Speaker 4: coming on the show today.
1:03:00
Speaker 3: We've loved it.
1:03:01
Speaker 4: Thank you so much to the listeners. Come join us
1:03:04
Speaker 4: this Thursday and every Thursday on Rosters to Rings. Please
1:03:10
Speaker 4: join me, host Thad Levine, and other general managers every
1:03:14
Speaker 4: week for Rosters for Rings on Apple, Spotify, or wherever
1:03:18
Speaker 4: you get your podcasts.