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The Vikings Tailgate: No One Likes Philly & Blake Wexler Doesn't Care | PHI | Episode 20 · The Vikings Tailgate

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey guys, thank you for tuning in for another episode.
0:02
Speaker 1: We have show favorite Blake Wexler on today to talk
0:05
Speaker 1: about the dreaded Philadelphia Eagles. If you like this episode, subscribe,
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Speaker 1: listen to the whole season, leave a review, rate us,
0:13
Speaker 1: do all the internet things that help podcasts. Thank you,
0:16
Speaker 1: enjoy the program. An award winning family owned business with
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Speaker 1: exceptional diamonds, engagement rings, jewelry and time pieces. Continental Diamond
0:27
Speaker 1: is the jeweler Minnesota Adores in Saint Louis Park or
0:30
Speaker 1: online at Continentaldiamond dot com. I don't know what's Tom
0:37
Speaker 1: d Hey, we gotta go here, we gotta go he
0:41
Speaker 1: go so Tim, Hello, Viking fans, Welcome to a I
0:51
Speaker 1: don't know, I'd say despondent episode of the Tailgate, The
0:55
Speaker 1: Vikings Tailgate. I'll be fine, it's gonna be fine. We
0:59
Speaker 1: got a quick turnaround. I'm fine. Welcome to the Vikings Tailgate,
1:03
Speaker 1: presented by Continental Diamond. I'm your host, PSI Aminson. We
1:08
Speaker 1: are hot off the heels of a disappointment in week
1:11
Speaker 1: one and I'm not taking it well. But we have
1:13
Speaker 1: a quick turnaround. We're playing the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday,
1:17
Speaker 1: and that means this week we get to once again
1:21
Speaker 1: talk to the most appeared guest, most appeared on Get.
1:27
Speaker 1: I don't know how to say this sentence. We get
1:29
Speaker 1: to talk to the fella who's been on the show
1:31
Speaker 1: the most ladies and gentlemen, one of my best friends
1:33
Speaker 1: in the world, Blake Wexler, Blake Wexler, Hi Blake, Hi Sich.
1:39
Speaker 2: You can just say favorite. You can just say your
1:41
Speaker 2: favorite guest, your little bestie. You can just say that.
1:44
Speaker 2: You don't have to say most appeared on complicate everything.
1:47
Speaker 1: It's not. I am so sick of playing your football team.
1:51
Speaker 1: I am so it's becoming we For a while, it
1:54
Speaker 1: was like every year when the schedule came out, we
1:56
Speaker 1: would just scan it for when do we play this
2:00
Speaker 1: Hawks in Seattle? And I don't know what's happening with
2:03
Speaker 1: your team, but I'm tired of it. I don't want
2:05
Speaker 1: to play them. I don't want to talk to you
2:07
Speaker 1: about I will it's my job, and I love my team,
2:11
Speaker 1: but I've had it. I have had enough of you.
2:14
Speaker 2: Well, sy I, first of all, thanks for having me.
2:16
Speaker 2: I wish you could have welcomed me in a nicer way,
2:18
Speaker 2: as I alluded to earlier. But yeah, I don't know
2:20
Speaker 2: why we are playing each other so much. Also on
2:23
Speaker 2: Thursday nights for some reason, I don't know why we
2:26
Speaker 2: couldn't just schedule in.
2:28
Speaker 1: A classic trime time games.
2:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, just a classic little Sunday in there, maybe
2:33
Speaker 2: one o'clock or something. But no, we seem to be
2:36
Speaker 2: playing you constantly. I'm sure it's annoying for you guys.
2:39
Speaker 2: In particular what you do is there is always you
2:41
Speaker 2: dare Oh you know, you know, I'm not gonna do it.
2:43
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say it is because of there's always the
2:47
Speaker 2: Philadelphia fan what should I say, chemical spill that has
2:52
Speaker 2: to do with it, radioactiveness that bleeds into the narrative.
2:56
Speaker 2: But for us, it's not the same thing because nice,
2:59
Speaker 2: which is what Minniester soda fans tend to be, is
3:01
Speaker 2: not interesting. You know, it's just like, oh, here's our
3:04
Speaker 2: neighbor from around the way. Hey guys, yes, Thursday.
3:07
Speaker 1: It is the metaphorical semi truck like tank or tipped
3:14
Speaker 1: over on the highway that's leaking out. Philadelphia fan behavior
3:17
Speaker 1: has grown. I don't want to say tiresome, but tiresome,
3:24
Speaker 1: I will say, here's something that's fascinating to me. The
3:28
Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox forever we're a hapless underdog story something
3:38
Speaker 1: like one hundred years, not a big baseball guy, but
3:40
Speaker 1: something like one hundred years. And then and we're all
3:44
Speaker 1: rooting for him, like they're our favorite indie band, Like
3:47
Speaker 1: we can't wait for them to make it so we
3:49
Speaker 1: can say I listen to them back then. And then
3:54
Speaker 1: they win the World Series in that dramatic comeback against
3:58
Speaker 1: the Yankees fashion, and it's amazing. And then they win
4:03
Speaker 1: a bunch more and then all their fans, who were
4:06
Speaker 1: lovable losers, become the least enjoyable people to ever walk
4:12
Speaker 1: the planet. And what I'm worried about with your group, Blake,
4:17
Speaker 1: is that I don't want to say that your people
4:21
Speaker 1: have a charm to them.
4:22
Speaker 2: No you don't, because I don't know.
4:23
Speaker 1: If there's I don't know if there's a charm in
4:26
Speaker 1: throwing a battery at a person.
4:28
Speaker 2: It's a character at a at a felt a red
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Speaker 2: felt wearing character who wasn't trying very hard that day.
4:37
Speaker 2: People pay hard earned money for their tickets, they get babysitters,
4:41
Speaker 2: and they trot out some slob whose beard is just
4:45
Speaker 2: crooked on his face, it's it's really batteries, snowballs, whatever
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Speaker 2: it is. If you're gonna give them to us, we're
4:51
Speaker 2: gonna throw them. You know, we do not advocate violence
4:54
Speaker 2: on this program. And although you have no charm.
4:59
Speaker 1: Like, it's not but there's something, there's an intrigue your
5:03
Speaker 1: team being a frustrated, angry, disappointed. We're never gonna get there,
5:09
Speaker 1: Vince Papauli Loven group of going to prison under the
5:14
Speaker 1: stadium maniacs had a watchability to it. But now you've
5:19
Speaker 1: won a super Bowl, and then you've gone to and
5:21
Speaker 1: almost won another super Bowl, and you have one of
5:23
Speaker 1: the best rosters in the league, and I think your
5:27
Speaker 1: fans are wearing it in a way that is very
5:32
Speaker 1: reminiscent of those Red Sox fans.
5:35
Speaker 2: I hear. First of all, it was a jail, not
5:37
Speaker 2: a prison. It was a jail. There's a distinction there. Second,
5:41
Speaker 2: I do hear that analogy where I believe what happened
5:44
Speaker 2: with the Boston fans is they went from being a
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Speaker 2: character in the neighborhood, you know, just some goofy guy
5:50
Speaker 2: walking around and I was like, Oh, there's the guy
5:51
Speaker 2: who wears a weird thing on his head too. Now
5:54
Speaker 2: they are living in your home and you're supposed to
5:57
Speaker 2: get rent from them, and they're not paying rent. Their squad,
6:00
Speaker 2: their bad roommates. Now you actually have to deal with
6:03
Speaker 2: Boston fans because they've won so many championships that they
6:06
Speaker 2: just dominate national media coverage all the time. The Cubs
6:11
Speaker 2: is also an interesting analogy where the Cubs were just
6:14
Speaker 2: like there's Bill Murray waddling around, you know, like everyone
6:18
Speaker 2: loved the Cubs. They didn't win either, but they won one,
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Speaker 2: but they're still lovable. I feel like you still love
6:24
Speaker 2: the Cubs. Yes, they won just one.
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Speaker 1: You still love the Cubs absolutely. That's what I'm pitching
6:31
Speaker 1: to you. Here's the thing, Blake. Nobody likes the lovable
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Speaker 1: blue collar roofer who cracks wise and has a good
6:39
Speaker 1: attitude and then all of a sudden wins the lottery
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Speaker 1: and just shit talks everybody he ever comes across. Nobody
6:49
Speaker 1: wants that guy. So maybe you got your super Bowl
6:52
Speaker 1: and it was an awesome one.
6:53
Speaker 2: It was amazing.
6:54
Speaker 1: It was a Nick Foles led Super Bowl. Why can't
6:57
Speaker 1: you return to Papali Land and you know, quit making
7:02
Speaker 1: me dread playing your team.
7:04
Speaker 2: I think it's because there's a sort of North Korea
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Speaker 2: situation going on in Philadelphia where we don't get news
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Speaker 2: from outside of the city. You know, it's just living
7:17
Speaker 2: in an echo chamber where we just hear what each
7:20
Speaker 2: other is saying to one another in Philadelphia, so there's
7:23
Speaker 2: no perspective. So I think also with the charm, the
7:28
Speaker 2: few pieces of news that have trickled in through the
7:31
Speaker 2: state run Philadelphia media have been oh no one likes
7:36
Speaker 2: us and we don't care. Has become a big Philadelphia slogan,
7:42
Speaker 2: and it was something that was felt before, but now
7:44
Speaker 2: that it's on T shirts, I think it shows a
7:48
Speaker 2: type of self awareness.
7:50
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, wait, there is because I'm not big
7:53
Speaker 1: on my local Philadelphia culture right now.
7:56
Speaker 2: Oh you're missing out. Yeah, yeah, there is.
7:59
Speaker 1: Act Actually, that slogan became popularized to the point that
8:04
Speaker 1: it's a it's a well worn T shirt in the city.
8:07
Speaker 1: Nobody likes us and we don't care.
8:10
Speaker 2: It's a popular slogan on shirts. It's a song. It
8:14
Speaker 2: has become a song that Jason Kelcey sung after we
8:19
Speaker 2: won the Super Bowl in the twenty seventeen twenty eighteen
8:22
Speaker 2: season in front of millions of people who went to
8:24
Speaker 2: the parade and they've adopted it were rather than there's
8:29
Speaker 2: Some people can take a criticism sure and be like,
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Speaker 2: oh I should, I should better myself and maybe improve
8:35
Speaker 2: my behavior. But Philadelphia received a criticism which was nobody
8:40
Speaker 2: likes you, and then they said, well, we don't care,
8:44
Speaker 2: and then quantupple down on it. So I think now
8:48
Speaker 2: they're leaning into the Philadelphia Eagles fans. The Philadelphia fans
8:51
Speaker 2: are leaning into the narrative that were pigs. Just to
8:54
Speaker 2: shorten it, but a weird thing happened recently where Trey
8:59
Speaker 2: Turner Philadelphia, phil We've talked way more about baseball than
9:02
Speaker 2: you and I have in the history of our decade
9:04
Speaker 2: plus long friendship. But baseball player Trey turner massive free
9:09
Speaker 2: agent signing in the off season was horrific for the Phillies.
9:13
Speaker 2: All year, was getting booed, just like any player would
9:16
Speaker 2: be by Philadelphia fans boot all year. And then Philadelphia
9:19
Speaker 2: fans were like, you know what, how about we treat
9:24
Speaker 2: this guy, this human being, this living thing, with just
9:28
Speaker 2: an ounce of respect and instead of being horrifically mean
9:32
Speaker 2: to him and his family every time he goes up
9:34
Speaker 2: to bat. His life is terrible. He wants to play, well,
9:37
Speaker 2: he's just not doing it. What if we give him
9:39
Speaker 2: a standing ovation? What if we don't boo him? What
9:43
Speaker 2: if we don't scream horrible things at him for just
9:45
Speaker 2: one at bat and give him a standing ovation? And
9:48
Speaker 2: we did, And since then, the guy's hitting like five hundred.
9:51
Speaker 2: He's had a kid. I don't know if the standing
9:53
Speaker 2: ovation had anything to do with a full term pregnancy
9:56
Speaker 2: or not, but he did have a kid. And now
10:00
Speaker 2: we were like, well, not only are we the lovable
10:02
Speaker 2: gruff guys, but we're also I don't know, magical with
10:07
Speaker 2: our generations that you're.
10:08
Speaker 1: The secret, We're the secret, all of a sudden, all
10:10
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you are the scene.
10:12
Speaker 2: I was gonna Yeah, that was gonna be what I
10:14
Speaker 2: was going to promote at the end. If you can
10:15
Speaker 2: read the secret, get a chance.
10:19
Speaker 1: I don't want anything to do with any of that.
10:22
Speaker 1: I let me tell you what is the most impressive
10:26
Speaker 1: thing about our long reaching friendships is you and I
10:29
Speaker 1: are both sports psychopaths, and somehow, despite our deep love
10:36
Speaker 1: for our own teams, we have never trash talked one
10:42
Speaker 1: another when we come up head to head.
10:45
Speaker 2: Never, never, once.
10:47
Speaker 1: And I don't know if I think it's because we're
10:51
Speaker 1: both just good guys who have a level of respect
10:55
Speaker 1: for each other, or if it's that we know that
10:58
Speaker 1: our relationship balances on this delicate spindle. Yes, like this
11:03
Speaker 1: delicate emotional spindle, and even a gust of wind pushing
11:08
Speaker 1: it one direction or the other could monumentally derail everything
11:14
Speaker 1: we've built over the years.
11:16
Speaker 2: It's a really interesting thing to dive into psychologically, where
11:20
Speaker 2: I do think, for as much as mean as we
11:23
Speaker 2: can be, in theory, we are both we wouldn't be
11:27
Speaker 2: friends if we were bad, evil people. And I think
11:30
Speaker 2: we are two very caring people. But that can only
11:34
Speaker 2: be so strong in the face of sports fan psychotrig
11:38
Speaker 2: just psychotics, and when you see something you want to
11:42
Speaker 2: attack it, you know, when you see an enemy, when
11:45
Speaker 2: you see a weakness as a sportsman, you want to
11:47
Speaker 2: attack it. But I think part of as we care
11:50
Speaker 2: for one another, and the other part though, is I
11:53
Speaker 2: think it's kind of a mutually assured destruction sort of
11:56
Speaker 2: thing where.
11:57
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, if the moment you launch the new Dukes,
12:00
Speaker 1: I'm launching the new You're launching a nuke. Where if
12:03
Speaker 1: we beat you on a Thursday night and I start
12:06
Speaker 1: talking trash. You're not gonna forget that. I'm not gonna
12:09
Speaker 1: forget that I talked trash to you. So every single
12:12
Speaker 1: time we play each other or a seed and the
12:14
Speaker 1: playoff is up for grabs, I'm just gonna be shaking
12:17
Speaker 1: waiting for you to hit me back.
12:19
Speaker 2: And that's not a good way to live. So I think, Lave,
12:22
Speaker 2: it's a maturity.
12:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it just ends. It just ends with one
12:26
Speaker 1: of us kidnapping the other one's dog and holding it
12:30
Speaker 1: for you know, some sort of like we just can't.
12:32
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a dog run. I just can't. Yeah,
12:34
Speaker 1: And we both love our dogs, can't fall into that situation.
12:38
Speaker 1: I remember the first time, the first time we ever
12:40
Speaker 1: watched a game together was after the ten thousand laughs
12:43
Speaker 1: Minnesota Comedy Festival. Oh yeah, years years ago, and uh,
12:49
Speaker 1: this is pre your Super Bowl, and you came over
12:52
Speaker 1: to my house on Sunday before you flew out to
12:55
Speaker 1: watch the game. And I remember it was a close game.
12:58
Speaker 1: It felt like a game your team kind it gave away.
13:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds right.
13:02
Speaker 1: And I just remember the game ending and the way
13:06
Speaker 1: you and I both moved on from the result, like
13:10
Speaker 1: it was like two children who went to manners camp
13:14
Speaker 1: and just finished a chess match, like it was like,
13:17
Speaker 1: thank you, have a nice day, and then you went
13:20
Speaker 1: to the airport and we never talked about it ever.
13:22
Speaker 2: Again, that's such a good analogy. We weren't speaking in
13:27
Speaker 2: like normal sentences. We're like, yo, actually, dude, would you mind?
13:32
Speaker 2: Actually ya? It was hello, thank you for having me
13:36
Speaker 2: at your home. This was a pleasant experience. I will
13:39
Speaker 2: talk to you when it is convenient for both of us.
13:41
Speaker 2: It was very A script was given to two leaders
13:45
Speaker 2: of states whose countries were about to go to what
13:47
Speaker 2: we're seconds away from war. We avoided bloodshed that day,
13:52
Speaker 2: and I think that's admirable. Well, some fans really like
13:55
Speaker 2: trash talk. I'll be honest. I never have liked it,
13:57
Speaker 2: and I think the issue with it is we've never won,
14:01
Speaker 2: and so when you've never won, the losses carry a
14:04
Speaker 2: different weight. And so if you get to an NFC
14:09
Speaker 2: championship and you lose, and you won a super Bowl
14:12
Speaker 2: four years ago, like that's I would assume last year
14:14
Speaker 2: when you guys lost in the Super Bowl, that was
14:16
Speaker 2: really upsetting and it bummed you out, but you could go.
14:20
Speaker 2: But you know, we we do we have won a
14:23
Speaker 2: Super Bowl re like I lived through a I'm not
14:25
Speaker 2: saying it provides a solace, yeah, but I'm saying if
14:30
Speaker 2: if the opposite were true, where you lost the Super
14:32
Speaker 2: Bowl back with McNab, and then you lost it a
14:35
Speaker 2: few years against the few years ago against the Patriots,
14:37
Speaker 2: and then you lost it again and then somebody came
14:41
Speaker 2: and trash talked you and all you had to lean
14:44
Speaker 2: on was your years of disappointment. That makes me feel
14:49
Speaker 2: so I just hate it. I don't enjoy it, and
14:52
Speaker 2: so I never put that on anybody else.
14:54
Speaker 1: I don't want to ruin the day. But here's the thing.
14:56
Speaker 1: If you are a dick at a stadium, especially if
15:00
Speaker 1: there's kids around, I am going to use my let's say,
15:06
Speaker 1: at best medium abilities to cut a person down. Given
15:10
Speaker 1: that I've spent my whole life writing jokes, Yeah, I'm
15:13
Speaker 1: going that's the one situation where like your behavior as
15:17
Speaker 1: a human person can elicit a response out of me,
15:21
Speaker 1: but your team losing and then me just like pouring
15:26
Speaker 1: mean words on top of a loss. I've never enjoyed that.
15:29
Speaker 2: No, And I think you underestimate your your I think
15:32
Speaker 2: medium is not strong enough to represent your saw. The
15:37
Speaker 2: saw that you can use to cut a person in
15:39
Speaker 2: an because I've seen it not directed at me, thank god,
15:42
Speaker 2: and I've done the same thing. I think it's a
15:44
Speaker 2: comedian thing where even the nicest comedian it is just
15:47
Speaker 2: something in you where you have to have that you know,
15:50
Speaker 2: hopefully you never have to use it, but you do
15:52
Speaker 2: have it. I think having one one to go back
15:55
Speaker 2: to what you were saying, having won a Super Bowl, it's.
15:57
Speaker 1: Like having a machete in your house. Yes, you're like,
16:00
Speaker 1: if I ever have to use this, things have gone
16:04
Speaker 1: so wrong outside that I need a machete, all right,
16:09
Speaker 1: But in my closet there's a machete. I got it
16:12
Speaker 1: on eBay.
16:13
Speaker 2: You got it on eBay. Ed It is such a
16:15
Speaker 2: prehistoric weapon that if someone saw you coming to them
16:19
Speaker 2: with a machete, they'd be like, First of all, I
16:22
Speaker 2: know to be scared, but what is that sword? What
16:25
Speaker 2: type of flat weird sword is that? Is that a
16:27
Speaker 2: frat thing? But uh yeah, No. Having had a Super
16:31
Speaker 2: Bowl does give you an emotional safety net from the
16:36
Speaker 2: free fall of losses like what we had in uh
16:40
Speaker 2: last year. And part of this is age too. But
16:42
Speaker 2: when we lost to the Buccaneers in oh four. I mean,
16:45
Speaker 2: we lost three NFC championship games in a row in
16:48
Speaker 2: the Andy Reid era, and that builds some scar tissue
16:52
Speaker 2: on you. And then when we finally went to play
16:54
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl, play the Patriots in the Super Bowl
16:57
Speaker 2: and four, that loss was very bru when McNab vomited
17:01
Speaker 2: on the sidelines. So that was maybe a month and
17:04
Speaker 2: a half two months of me just being in an
17:06
Speaker 2: emotional hole where I could barely go to school. And
17:09
Speaker 2: then now having had a and I was I was
17:15
Speaker 2: never tardy, I was always president school, could barely go
17:18
Speaker 2: to school, and then in last year, I think the
17:21
Speaker 2: emotional turnaround was about a week a week where I
17:25
Speaker 2: was not fully functional. I could eat, sure, but having
17:29
Speaker 2: had that Super Bowl, I could take in food and water.
17:32
Speaker 2: But yeah, having had that Super Bowl, it's like, oh
17:34
Speaker 2: this there is a nice thing, Like there was something
17:36
Speaker 2: nice that we experience. And that doesn't mean this journey
17:39
Speaker 2: wasn't worth every quarter, every minute, and yeah, no, but
17:44
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl does help.
17:46
Speaker 1: The Week one was a very different experience for each
17:50
Speaker 1: of our teams. Ours was utter disappointment, Yours was well,
17:55
Speaker 1: I don't it wasn't bliss because it got a little
17:58
Speaker 1: close there at the end. But I assume for you,
18:01
Speaker 1: anytime you beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots, that's a
18:04
Speaker 1: good feeling. I am a season opener psycho. It is
18:13
Speaker 1: when the world, when everything is still possible. I just
18:17
Speaker 1: don't know how to handle myself. I remember back years
18:22
Speaker 1: ago in Blair Walsh's rookie year, I was at the
18:26
Speaker 1: opening game of the season and he kicked like a
18:28
Speaker 1: fifty five yarder at the gun and it sent us
18:33
Speaker 1: to overtime, and then he kicked another one in overtime
18:35
Speaker 1: to win, and I left the stadium, left the stadium
18:39
Speaker 1: shouting future Hall of Famer Blair Walsh, just high fiving
18:46
Speaker 1: people and shouting that as I left a Vikings win.
18:50
Speaker 1: And so I never we all know how that ended.
18:54
Speaker 1: I never play at chill with season openers. So right
18:58
Speaker 1: now I'm spiraling in an zero to seventeen possibility. I'm
19:05
Speaker 1: very thankful that we are turning it around Thursday. But
19:09
Speaker 1: I told you before the season I would have loved
19:12
Speaker 1: for us to when I wanted you to win the opener.
19:14
Speaker 1: I didn't need the best roster in the league to
19:17
Speaker 1: be angry walking into a Thursday night game. How are
19:22
Speaker 1: you feeling after the.
19:23
Speaker 2: Opener angry and I'm summrsaulting into that game doing cartwheels. No,
19:30
Speaker 2: I am angry though, So yeah, it was you have
19:34
Speaker 2: offseason for the Eagles. Jalen Hurts gets his massive contract.
19:39
Speaker 2: Any restriction that that would put on free agency is
19:42
Speaker 2: not that extreme. Yet we lost a couple players, but
19:46
Speaker 2: also got uh Jalen Carter, who was perhaps the most
19:51
Speaker 2: talented player in the draft and looks unreal and is
19:56
Speaker 2: being added to a defensive line that's already you know,
19:58
Speaker 2: they had seventy sacks last year, which is third most
20:01
Speaker 2: all time in the history of the NFL. But we
20:05
Speaker 2: were really excited for DeVante Smith has another year under
20:10
Speaker 2: his belt. Aj Brown has his second year with Jalen Hurts.
20:15
Speaker 2: Dallas Goddard, who's supposed to be one of the best
20:17
Speaker 2: tight ends, is healthy and ready to join this offense
20:20
Speaker 2: with DeAndre Swift joined the backfield, and you have this
20:23
Speaker 2: amazing offensive line, and the offense looked great on the
20:26
Speaker 2: first drive, then stalled out and then did pretty much
20:29
Speaker 2: nothing for the rest of the game. They looked really,
20:32
Speaker 2: really rusty, which makes you think, oh, we probably should
20:37
Speaker 2: have started our starters at some point or even played
20:41
Speaker 2: them at some point in the preseason. But we didn't
20:45
Speaker 2: do that last year either. We went to the Super Bowl. However,
20:47
Speaker 2: even coach Sirianni was saying after the game, he was
20:50
Speaker 2: asked if there was rust there, and he said that,
20:54
Speaker 2: looking back on it, he probably would have played the
20:59
Speaker 2: starters a little bit in the preseason, and then he
21:01
Speaker 2: doubled down on it and said, yeah, actually, I absolutely
21:04
Speaker 2: would have. So feeling wise, was big disappointment in the offense,
21:08
Speaker 2: But it was just one of those disgusting, rainy days
21:11
Speaker 2: in New England. You know that they love talking like
21:13
Speaker 2: Paul Revere, great white shocks.
21:15
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I clam chowder in the Yeah yeah.
21:18
Speaker 2: The skies with a color of the back of a
21:20
Speaker 2: great white shot whatever they're in doo up there. So
21:25
Speaker 2: all fish really caught fish.
21:28
Speaker 1: Everything has a jaws tint to them. It does every yeah. Yeah,
21:33
Speaker 1: So the whites in her eyes were like the teeth
21:36
Speaker 1: of jaws. I don't I don't do Boston. Yeah, I
21:40
Speaker 1: noticed a little bit of that. I noticed a little
21:43
Speaker 1: bit of that rust, and I you know, noticed it
21:45
Speaker 1: with our guys. I wouldn't purport to know what's the
21:50
Speaker 1: correct approach to the preseason. But you know, I watched
21:54
Speaker 1: a lot of NFL yesterday and there were a lot
21:57
Speaker 1: of offenses that weren't rareing and ready to go. Oh,
22:01
Speaker 1: and that makes this game being on Thursday. It's not
22:03
Speaker 1: like there's not really a turner, Like you can't go
22:07
Speaker 1: into the lab and cook up a bunch of new stuff.
22:10
Speaker 1: It's get healthy, get turned around, get into the game tape,
22:15
Speaker 1: and then let's go again. And so for a couple
22:18
Speaker 1: of teams whose offenses are incredibly powerful but both underperformed
22:25
Speaker 1: in the opening week, I'm just hoping that we get
22:28
Speaker 1: the opposite of last year. Last year we walked out
22:30
Speaker 1: a Week one and I was like, no, you can't
22:34
Speaker 1: justin Jet, you can't stop us. Look what we did
22:36
Speaker 1: to the Packers. Come on Philly and then uh oh,
22:41
Speaker 1: So now I'm down real low, I am. You know
22:45
Speaker 1: how you can learn in your group text messages in
22:48
Speaker 1: the season opener, who does a good job with hope
22:53
Speaker 1: and who doesn't? Who Which of your friends are built
22:57
Speaker 1: to persevere ups and down When it comes to the
23:01
Speaker 1: competitive journey that is following a sports team and which
23:05
Speaker 1: are not. There gets to be a point where the
23:08
Speaker 1: paths diverge between the adults and the children who shouldn't
23:13
Speaker 1: be allowed in the room, right, And I yeah, so
23:16
Speaker 1: I am right now. I have fallen. I have fallen
23:21
Speaker 1: apart in several text threads. And so I'm hoping that
23:26
Speaker 1: that attitude creates you know, obviously I'm superstitious. I control everything,
23:31
Speaker 1: you know, my behavior dictates the way my favorite team performs.
23:35
Speaker 1: So I'm hoping that the flip flop creates the flip
23:38
Speaker 1: flop and this year we just thump it to you.
23:42
Speaker 2: Who knows if that will happen or not. I also
23:45
Speaker 2: am in control where if I wear my hat facing
23:47
Speaker 2: forwards on offense, that means the ball goes forwards and
23:50
Speaker 2: you know, we score. And if I wear my hat
23:53
Speaker 2: backwards on defense, that means the other team's offense stops.
23:57
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, Like, if the hat goes backwards,
23:59
Speaker 2: help stops.
24:00
Speaker 1: That's a really healthy.
24:01
Speaker 2: It doesn't add any stress to your life, and yeah, no,
24:04
Speaker 2: it's really really good for you.
24:05
Speaker 1: But it's just Week seventeen and Jalen Hurts throws a
24:12
Speaker 1: past that gets intercepted and it costs you a playoff spot,
24:16
Speaker 1: and you're furious, and your wife is sitting there on
24:18
Speaker 1: the couch just waiting for you to realize that you
24:21
Speaker 1: forgot to turn your hat forward.
24:24
Speaker 2: Of wearing a bucket hat. So there's no real brim
24:28
Speaker 2: location that would constitute forward or backward. It's just a
24:32
Speaker 2: three to sixty man. Yeah, I had a Fred who
24:35
Speaker 2: revids me of you. Where he went even more extreme.
24:38
Speaker 2: Where's speaking about having the stamina of an entire You
24:41
Speaker 2: need to have stamina for the whole season. There's going
24:43
Speaker 2: to be ups, there's going to be downs. Obviously, the
24:45
Speaker 2: first game of the season can carry more weight in
24:48
Speaker 2: your head. Where my friend, we started blowing the lead
24:51
Speaker 2: to the Patriots in the for at the end of
24:53
Speaker 2: the first half, he starts sending almost an itemized receipt
24:58
Speaker 2: of everything he's spent money on, Eagles wise, and how
25:01
Speaker 2: he's entitled to so much more because he spends so
25:05
Speaker 2: many He goes like Jalen Hurts, Kelly Green jersey one
25:10
Speaker 2: nine ninety nine drinks at the game, forty two ninety
25:14
Speaker 2: nine nachos, Like he just kept going down this list
25:18
Speaker 2: of all these spends. It's just, buddy, come on, this
25:22
Speaker 2: is the first half. There's a seventeen games. Get it together.
25:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't. If you carry that energy through an
25:29
Speaker 1: entire season, it's gonna be a really rough go bro.
25:31
Speaker 1: As someone who has obsessive compulsive disorder, I can tell
25:36
Speaker 1: you that if you are also if you have OCD
25:39
Speaker 1: and you're also sports superstitious, which is probably an offshoot
25:44
Speaker 1: of that problem. But it's a really chill mixture. It
25:48
Speaker 1: is a really it's a really chill mixture. To pile
25:51
Speaker 1: those two on top.
25:53
Speaker 2: Of one, it's a lot. But I really think you're
25:54
Speaker 2: handling it the best way possible.
25:56
Speaker 1: I'm definitely not, and I don't want it. This is
25:58
Speaker 1: an Eagles an Eagles Viking podcast, but I and I
26:02
Speaker 1: need to ask you just a couple of game related questions,
26:05
Speaker 1: but I need What I'm not handling well is the
26:10
Speaker 1: Packers destruction of the Bears. I I don't know that
26:17
Speaker 1: I can hand I know I'm not sure he is.
26:19
Speaker 1: Because here's the thing.
26:19
Speaker 2: Every every well, Leta's say you can't, you can't handle it.
26:23
Speaker 2: Whatever you're about to say, you can't everyone.
26:27
Speaker 1: Every single Packers don macous. However, you say that like
26:34
Speaker 1: the magic Man maddingly, Yeah, definitely not maddingly. It's Makowsky
26:38
Speaker 1: Madjakowski who cares is this nickname is a magic man,
26:41
Speaker 1: which is a dope ass quarterback nickname. But he beat
26:46
Speaker 1: the Bears. Farv beat the Bears, Aaron Rodgers beat the Bears,
26:50
Speaker 1: like Brett Hunley beat the Bears. Okay, everybody, everybody beats
26:57
Speaker 1: the Bears. It's not a huge shock to me that
26:59
Speaker 1: Jordan Love eat the Bears. But I don't know. It's
27:03
Speaker 1: not just me. I don't know that the state of
27:05
Speaker 1: Wisconsin can handle if he's can you And I wouldn't
27:10
Speaker 1: even blame him for the personality traits that they would develop.
27:14
Speaker 1: If Jordan Love is an eventual Hall of Fame Love,
27:17
Speaker 1: They're just well, we were chosen. We were chosen as
27:21
Speaker 1: the chosen football people. The trophy is named after us.
27:26
Speaker 1: We do nothing but produce Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Like
27:30
Speaker 1: I can't. I know we have to talk about this game,
27:35
Speaker 1: but I don't love what's happening over there. Not a fan,
27:39
Speaker 1: especially with all the hype in the offseason being around
27:43
Speaker 1: justin field from the Bears, and then you have Jordan
27:46
Speaker 1: Love march in there and take every single headline from
27:51
Speaker 1: that game. Yet that rivalry, that's a weird one. Where
27:54
Speaker 1: we talked about the fan bases, the Boston fan base,
27:56
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia fan base, the Green Bay fan base is
28:00
Speaker 1: more of like, OK.
28:02
Speaker 2: I can't.
28:03
Speaker 1: They're like I've said it before.
28:04
Speaker 2: Like a retirement community. It's hard to hate them. It's no,
28:08
Speaker 2: that's wrong.
28:09
Speaker 1: It is not that hard. From my they are like,
28:12
Speaker 1: I don't care. From your perspective, you're wrong. They it's
28:16
Speaker 1: like if a retirement community was made up of trust
28:18
Speaker 1: fund kids. Like if a bunch of trust fund kids
28:22
Speaker 1: in their twenties were like, let's retire and start a
28:25
Speaker 1: retirement community. That's because they have been so entitled with quarterbacks.
28:33
Speaker 1: So yeah, I can't do it.
28:36
Speaker 2: I take it back.
28:36
Speaker 1: I can't discuss it. I want to talk about I
28:40
Speaker 1: do think despite your roster and our start to the season,
28:45
Speaker 1: there are there are a couple of opportunities here for
28:49
Speaker 1: the Vikings to get right. Specifically, you have two new
28:53
Speaker 1: linebackers who've never played significant minutes for your team. You
28:59
Speaker 1: have new starting safeties. Tight End is a big liability
29:04
Speaker 1: for you guys, and tight end is where we have
29:08
Speaker 1: heaped a lot of resources. TJ. Hockinson just got a
29:10
Speaker 1: big deal. Josh Oliver got signed in the off season.
29:14
Speaker 1: Clearly targets are going that direction. We saw it in
29:16
Speaker 1: Week one and honestly, Devin White destroyed us yesterday out
29:22
Speaker 1: of the so coming up against non elite line So
29:29
Speaker 1: am I silly to think that there might be hay
29:33
Speaker 1: to make against your linebackers with our tight ends to
29:36
Speaker 1: use a to use a metaphor that only belongs in Wisconsin.
29:41
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, let me just put a pitchfork in that argument.
29:44
Speaker 2: Actually is that I do think that there is hay
29:48
Speaker 2: to be made. I think there's a hello to be made.
29:51
Speaker 2: And I do take that back, and that will have
29:52
Speaker 2: to be edited out, but I jay take it out, Jade,
29:55
Speaker 2: We got to take it out. Yeah, there's hi to
29:57
Speaker 2: be made. I So here's the thing. We have two linebackers.
30:02
Speaker 2: One guy is a Zach Cunningham who was a free
30:05
Speaker 2: agent for has a good resume, but was just out
30:10
Speaker 2: there on the street for a very long time until
30:12
Speaker 2: we signed him. Later in training camp. He won one
30:15
Speaker 2: of the starting linebacker spots. The other went to Nakobe Dean,
30:18
Speaker 2: who was a rookie last year, did not play linebacker,
30:21
Speaker 2: was a highly touted leader of one of those Georgia
30:25
Speaker 2: Bulldog defenses. Fell to the third round because of injury concerns,
30:29
Speaker 2: but turns out the injury concerns weren't there. He actually
30:33
Speaker 2: unrelated to previous injury issues, hurt his ankle yesterday and
30:37
Speaker 2: is going to be out for multiple weeks. And he's
30:40
Speaker 2: the signal caller on the defense. So an already finish
30:44
Speaker 2: linebacker group just got more thin. They'll probably replace him with.
30:49
Speaker 2: I think it's named Christian Ellis, who is a thumper
30:52
Speaker 2: of a linebacker, but not as good in coverage, so
30:55
Speaker 2: coverage is going to be an issue against tight ends.
30:59
Speaker 2: Our safety's one guy's great undrafted guy has been playing
31:03
Speaker 2: great names Reid, Blank and Ship was amazing in the preseason.
31:07
Speaker 2: This is his first full year as a starter other position.
31:10
Speaker 2: We had five players trying out for the other safety
31:13
Speaker 2: position and then one guy kind of just made the
31:17
Speaker 2: life just by default was one of the safeties. So
31:20
Speaker 2: the titand thing really worries me against you guys. Our
31:24
Speaker 2: cornerbacks are great, the defensive line is great.
31:27
Speaker 1: Dude Davis, to this day, I'm very happy with the
31:31
Speaker 1: pick we made. But Jordan Davis, I he's the number
31:35
Speaker 1: one guy I wanted in that draft. He is a
31:38
Speaker 1: freaking like he I think We're a few years away
31:40
Speaker 1: from everybody going is this guy should this guy make
31:43
Speaker 1: the most money in the end of Like he is
31:45
Speaker 1: such a physical freak. I just think he's a He's
31:50
Speaker 1: a league changer. That dude is insane.
31:53
Speaker 2: I was just said, thank you for saying that, as
31:55
Speaker 2: if I had anything to do, Like you were his dad,
31:57
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Yeah. No, I put a lot
31:59
Speaker 2: into when we were when I was raising him. Yeah,
32:03
Speaker 2: he had started coming along last year, got injured. This
32:06
Speaker 2: was his first start yesterday, and he looked like what
32:10
Speaker 2: you wanted to have drafted the previous year. Had to
32:13
Speaker 2: punch out moves in a way that a six six,
32:17
Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty pound man shouldn't. Yes, and then
32:20
Speaker 2: you have Jalen Carter right next to him. You have
32:22
Speaker 2: Hasan Reddick who had, you know, like sixteen seventeen sacks
32:26
Speaker 2: last year. Josh Sweat who has is probably gonna have
32:29
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen sacks this year. So the defensive line is incredible.
32:33
Speaker 2: It's just whether or not we can get to Cousins
32:35
Speaker 2: quick enough so the back end doesn't become a liability,
32:39
Speaker 2: which it could be.
32:40
Speaker 1: So what you're saying is quick passes, two tight ends
32:44
Speaker 1: up and down the field. I care about you a lot.
32:47
Speaker 1: I look forward to not discussing this game with you
32:52
Speaker 1: during and likely after. Thank you, as always, Blake for
32:57
Speaker 1: doing the show before we leave. Let me get a
32:59
Speaker 1: let me get a prediction. Let me get a little
33:00
Speaker 1: predicty from you. How about you get a little predicty.
33:05
Speaker 1: I tried to shorten prediction and it didn't land predict me, baby,
33:11
Speaker 1: give it to me.
33:12
Speaker 2: To predict us. I'll go twenty six twenty four Eagles
33:20
Speaker 2: at home.
33:21
Speaker 1: Okay, that's close. That's close. I can see it being close.
33:27
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I think the Vikings defense shows up
33:32
Speaker 1: in this one. But I think the Eagles fourteen Vikings
33:38
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty eight.
33:39
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with I think that math works. That
33:41
Speaker 2: was my second guess. If I'm holding up a piece
33:44
Speaker 2: of paper right now, that was what I was going
33:45
Speaker 2: to say. Yeah, if we match game after, if we
33:47
Speaker 2: match game to this, that would be That would have
33:49
Speaker 2: been your second guest, Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only,
33:53
Speaker 2: Blake Wexler. Thank you so much for listening to the
33:56
Speaker 2: tailgate brought to you by our friends at Continental Diamond.
34:00
Speaker 2: If you liked the episode, like, subscribe. I don't even
34:03
Speaker 2: know if you can like what was that crack in
34:05
Speaker 2: my voice? Subscribe, leave a comment, rate us, and review us.
34:10
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34:13
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