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The Vikings Tailgate: John Conroy's Childhood Super Bowl, Quarterbacking Infamy | WASH | Week 9 · The Vikings Tailgate

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey guys, you're about to listen to the Tailgate, the
0:02
Speaker 1: show where each week we bring on some of the
0:04
Speaker 1: best comedians in America to talk about the Vikings upcoming opponent.
0:09
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0:23
Speaker 1: love the show, subscribe, we would really appreciate its. Hey, everybody,
0:41
Speaker 1: welcome into the Tailgate, brought to you by Cambria. I'm
0:45
Speaker 1: your host Siam AND's enjoined by producer Jay Nelson, and
0:49
Speaker 1: your Minnesota Vikings are six and one heading to Washington
0:54
Speaker 1: to take on the Commanders and helping us breakdown the
0:58
Speaker 1: Commanders is not only a very funny man, but someone
1:03
Speaker 1: who I had in mind when I came up with
1:05
Speaker 1: this show. This whole show is supposed to be comedians.
1:09
Speaker 1: When you're a comic who finds another comic that loves
1:12
Speaker 1: sports and you can sit in the green room and
1:15
Speaker 1: just not beat you can just talk sports, just have
1:18
Speaker 1: fun and be people. That is what I came up
1:21
Speaker 1: doing at ACME Comedy Club in Minneapolis with mister John Conroy. John,
1:27
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. Oh it's good to be here.
1:30
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk a little Vikings Man six
1:33
Speaker 1: and one. I'm gonna have to start rooms for you.
1:35
Speaker 1: You're setting up for a playoff run against all my
1:38
Speaker 1: division rivals. So so I say that we came up
1:42
Speaker 1: doing that together in Minneapolis. But you you, as a
1:44
Speaker 1: young adult, moved to Minneapolis. You were pursuing comedy there.
1:48
Speaker 1: You're originally from out at the you know, out DC Way, brother,
1:53
Speaker 1: And last week I had Reagan and chat on and
1:57
Speaker 1: we told like stories of our first time ever going
1:59
Speaker 1: to a game. I need you to tell people you
2:02
Speaker 1: have a very unique my first ever game story. And
2:06
Speaker 1: I don't mean to set you up like that, but
2:08
Speaker 1: you have to tell people it's true. So when I
2:12
Speaker 1: was like seven years old, my father had tickets, but
2:16
Speaker 1: it was they were given to, you know, his best
2:18
Speaker 1: clients and stuff. But then that strike season happened and
2:22
Speaker 1: they couldn't get anyone to go to the games, and
2:25
Speaker 1: like people were literally turning in their season tickets. And
2:28
Speaker 1: my dad was like, well, I guess I'll take my
2:30
Speaker 1: young son to the strike game. He'll see the replacement players.
2:36
Speaker 1: And when we were at one of those replacement games,
2:39
Speaker 1: which they went three and oz while they were the
2:41
Speaker 1: placement players, and they actually beat the picket crossing Dallas
2:45
Speaker 1: Cowboys who were it was like all the star Dallas
2:49
Speaker 1: players were back and like they're scrubs beat with Gibbs
2:53
Speaker 1: their scrubs and Gibbs beat Dallas. And I remember telling
2:57
Speaker 1: my dad, like, they're going to the super Bowl, and
2:59
Speaker 1: my dad was like it was the age of like
3:01
Speaker 1: the Montana forty nine ers and the like the you know,
3:04
Speaker 1: it was eighty eight, so the Bears still had a
3:07
Speaker 1: really great defense. They're not going to the super Bowl.
3:12
Speaker 1: If they go to the super Bowl, will you take me?
3:16
Speaker 1: And he was like sure, yeah, no problem, Like just
3:19
Speaker 1: there's no chance. They were terrible. They really were not
3:24
Speaker 1: expected to be very good. They had no quarterback, and
3:28
Speaker 1: I mean even through they made it with their backups
3:31
Speaker 1: a lot of the year. Yeah, it was a wild
3:35
Speaker 1: And I just watched the thirty for thirty on that
3:38
Speaker 1: year of the scab where like Gibbs basically told all
3:42
Speaker 1: the redskin players to stay like with Union solidarity, and
3:47
Speaker 1: then all these other teams broke ranks and it really
3:50
Speaker 1: like affected the unity of a lot of the teams,
3:53
Speaker 1: they said, because they were like playing like the star
3:56
Speaker 1: players against the scrubs and everything else. And somehow the
4:00
Speaker 1: Redskins going through the whole thing like gives credited the
4:04
Speaker 1: whole thing for that run. So you're three, and oh,
4:07
Speaker 1: you make this crazy deal with your dad that he's
4:10
Speaker 1: like you, there's never a chance that this is gonna happen,
4:13
Speaker 1: and then boom boom, domino starts falling. This is a
4:19
Speaker 1: good team, right we You know, we beat the forty
4:23
Speaker 1: nine Ers that year in the playoffs, which was a
4:25
Speaker 1: huge help to you guys. My mom was a forty
4:28
Speaker 1: nine Ers fan and he was all year long. He
4:30
Speaker 1: was like, no, the forty nine ers are bar by
4:33
Speaker 1: far the best team. If it comes down to it,
4:35
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers are gonna kill the red the
4:39
Speaker 1: Redskins at the time, they're gonna save our checkbook. Don't worry, honey,
4:43
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have to pay this. And then you
4:46
Speaker 1: all beat the Vikings. Anthony Carter had I think what
4:50
Speaker 1: might still be a playoff record, incredible game, and my
4:54
Speaker 1: mom was like, well, are the Vikings better than everybody?
4:58
Speaker 1: And he was like, I think we got about a
4:59
Speaker 1: fift fifty shot that we're gonna buy tickets, get this,
5:03
Speaker 1: get to a super Bowl because we were at home
5:05
Speaker 1: that next weekend. It was a defensive struggle, but I
5:08
Speaker 1: mean we had I think Daryl Green covered Anthony Carter
5:12
Speaker 1: for most of that game. I don't know that we
5:14
Speaker 1: are the champion of of NFC championship losses, but it
5:20
Speaker 1: feels like at sometime and this is just another one
5:23
Speaker 1: on the docket. It was. You're right, it was a
5:26
Speaker 1: defensive battle, but there was there was this moment, you know,
5:30
Speaker 1: because I've heard my dad talk about this game where
5:34
Speaker 1: in the first quarter the Vikings decide not to risk
5:37
Speaker 1: a long field goal and they for a moment they
5:41
Speaker 1: look like genius because they pin him on the two
5:44
Speaker 1: yard line, and that the whole game was right there.
5:47
Speaker 1: It was this ninety eight yard drive from that moment
5:52
Speaker 1: on Doug Williams throws a touchdown pass to who cares
5:56
Speaker 1: I don't remember at all, and then and it was
6:00
Speaker 1: just we're down seventeen ten and then Minnesota drives all
6:03
Speaker 1: the way down at the end and it's a goal
6:05
Speaker 1: line stand for your team. We can't, you know, we
6:07
Speaker 1: get down to the six, we can't get in, so
6:10
Speaker 1: you you beat us, and now he actually took you
6:13
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl. The yeah, the In fact, the
6:16
Speaker 1: final first down of the game, one of the strike
6:19
Speaker 1: players caught the final pass and then they yeah. My
6:22
Speaker 1: My mom was like, I guess you're taking him to
6:24
Speaker 1: the super Bowl like we had. It was in San
6:27
Speaker 1: Diego that year, so we had family out there and
6:31
Speaker 1: he had some ticket. It was eighty eight, so it
6:35
Speaker 1: wasn't I mean, it's not like it is not It's
6:37
Speaker 1: not like tickets weren't thousands of dollars. I know that,
6:41
Speaker 1: Like the whole trip probably, but um, and we had
6:45
Speaker 1: we stayed with relatives out there, was I mean, the
6:48
Speaker 1: whole leading up to the Super Bowl is like, nah,
6:51
Speaker 1: Denver is much better than us, I wouldn't you know.
6:54
Speaker 1: And then they had that crazy thirty five point second quarter.
6:57
Speaker 1: Well dude, what was being a kid? Like I can't
7:00
Speaker 1: even imagine being a kid going to a Super Bow
7:03
Speaker 1: when you're in the height of like anything's possible and
7:06
Speaker 1: you're in the stadium for the Super Bowl and you
7:08
Speaker 1: watch your favorite team thirty five points. Can you if
7:12
Speaker 1: I was a twelve year old Viking fan, you know,
7:15
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight. I think I was twelve or thirteen.
7:17
Speaker 1: If I'd have been at the Super Bowl and they'd
7:19
Speaker 1: have put up a thirty five in the second quarter,
7:22
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. I don't think I would. There'd
7:24
Speaker 1: be people like you have to take your son home.
7:27
Speaker 1: He can't behave like this. It's it's wild, Like I
7:31
Speaker 1: was thinking before this podcast started, like even like a
7:34
Speaker 1: couple of years, like a thirty five year old Washington
7:38
Speaker 1: Commanders fan, a guy who's seven years younger than me,
7:42
Speaker 1: could make an reasonable argument that Kirk Cousins is the
7:45
Speaker 1: best quarterback he's ever seen play for our team, right,
7:50
Speaker 1: you know, like he's that out like you know, ninety one,
7:53
Speaker 1: it was over for us for the last thirty one
7:55
Speaker 1: years we've been he's been Kirk Cousins the best quarterback
7:58
Speaker 1: we've had for thirty some years. It also frustrates me
8:02
Speaker 1: because and I'm not going to spend much time on this,
8:04
Speaker 1: but like we're such a I shouldn't say frustrate. I'm
8:07
Speaker 1: jealous because I think of how pathetic it is for
8:10
Speaker 1: me to be jealous of your nearly forty year old championships.
8:15
Speaker 1: John two of them. It happened again in ninety one.
8:18
Speaker 1: We won in the Metrodome. I know, I know. That's
8:21
Speaker 1: what I'm getting. Yeah, that's what I'm getting. And in
8:23
Speaker 1: between there you're a Notre Dame fan, and Notre Dame
8:25
Speaker 1: wins a title. So as a young kid, you get
8:28
Speaker 1: to go to a super Bowl, then you get to
8:30
Speaker 1: watch Notre Dame win a title, and then you get
8:33
Speaker 1: to win another super Bowl. In my building, I'm very
8:36
Speaker 1: jealous of your sports childhood. I remember my favorite part
8:41
Speaker 1: of living in Minnesota was always asking people, you know,
8:44
Speaker 1: the only team to ever win a super Bowl in Minnesota,
8:46
Speaker 1: it's the Washington Redskins. Yeah. Great, Yeah, that's a really
8:50
Speaker 1: great jay. Should we cut the show? Cut the show
8:52
Speaker 1: shows over, have a nice forever, John's It's funny the
8:57
Speaker 1: two teams aren't super acted, you know when you because
9:01
Speaker 1: there is that eighty eight championship game, and then it's
9:06
Speaker 1: the only thing for me as a fan, because I'm
9:08
Speaker 1: a little younger than you, The only thing that comes
9:11
Speaker 1: to mind for me is Robert Griffin the Third and
9:17
Speaker 1: he comes to mind for me. It's a two part
9:19
Speaker 1: situation because in two thousand and eleven and I don't
9:26
Speaker 1: like your field. I don't like your field conditions. There
9:28
Speaker 1: are a couple of fields that if my team never
9:31
Speaker 1: played on them, I would be happy about that. Soldier
9:34
Speaker 1: Field is one of them. In your field is one
9:37
Speaker 1: of them. And AP tears his acl. We have two wins,
9:43
Speaker 1: you have, I believe, two wins. At that point end
9:46
Speaker 1: of the season, it is just ugly, and somehow the
9:51
Speaker 1: Vikings muscle up and beat you. And at the time
9:57
Speaker 1: no one knew that. You know, it was Andrew Luck
9:59
Speaker 1: and RG three. There were these two unbelievable prospects, and
10:03
Speaker 1: I think there were so many fans that were like,
10:05
Speaker 1: why why would you hand them RG three? And I
10:10
Speaker 1: know players and coaches can't have that mentality, but it
10:14
Speaker 1: was infuriating. And then the next year, the next year,
10:18
Speaker 1: the Vikings represented, in my opinion, the height of RG
10:24
Speaker 1: three mania. When his rookie season was taking off. That
10:27
Speaker 1: was the play. He looked like the fastest player in
10:29
Speaker 1: the league. That's what I'm saying. He looked like vic
10:32
Speaker 1: or Lamar Jackson or Tyree Kill the fastest player in
10:36
Speaker 1: the league. No doubt that. When everybody talks about that
10:38
Speaker 1: Michael Vick play in overtime where he ran you know,
10:41
Speaker 1: split the defense, guys running into each other, scores of touchdowns, throws,
10:45
Speaker 1: the ball runs off the field. That's one of the
10:47
Speaker 1: iconic plays in NFL history in Lambeau. Right, Vic torched
10:52
Speaker 1: the Packers in Lambeau, but that was against the Vikings.
10:55
Speaker 1: So everybody remembers that Vikings run. But I'm with you
10:58
Speaker 1: when RG three that sees and when he got the
11:01
Speaker 1: outside and he was coasting up the sideline running away
11:05
Speaker 1: from defensive backs, a quarterback running away. I remember thinking,
11:09
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we won last year, like just furious
11:14
Speaker 1: and that team. Man, he they had the Seahawks, the
11:18
Speaker 1: defending champion Seahawks, on the ropes, and that field finally
11:23
Speaker 1: tore his knee. Yeah that was it for him. Yeah
11:25
Speaker 1: that's uh so what I said, I do not care
11:29
Speaker 1: for the field part of John. What I have to
11:33
Speaker 1: do for this show, I you know, not have to do.
11:35
Speaker 1: But I like to be well researched. I like to
11:39
Speaker 1: spend a little time. There are three moments that and
11:43
Speaker 1: I don't mean to like, this isn't my thing. I'm
11:45
Speaker 1: not one of those fans that celebrates other fans's misery.
11:49
Speaker 1: But there are three moments in commander's history that I
11:53
Speaker 1: have to talk about commanders, Washington whatever, like old history.
11:59
Speaker 1: One of these doesn't matter to you. It's just fascinating.
12:01
Speaker 1: In the nineteen forty NFL Championship game, you guys lost
12:05
Speaker 1: seventy three zero to the Bears. It's the worst loss
12:08
Speaker 1: of all time, worst loss in NFL history. Through eight
12:11
Speaker 1: interceptions committed, eight penalties allowed, five hundred nineteen yards. And
12:15
Speaker 1: it could have been worse. The Bears missed four extra
12:18
Speaker 1: points while beating it. I suppose you missed four extra
12:20
Speaker 1: points when you score almost a century. Well, that Washington
12:25
Speaker 1: team beat them earlier in the year in Chicago, and
12:28
Speaker 1: the owner talked poorly about the Bears and Hallis, so
12:34
Speaker 1: they had reason to run it up. My father used
12:36
Speaker 1: to tell me about that, and he was like, that's
12:38
Speaker 1: why you don't talk after a win, ah, because you
12:40
Speaker 1: end up losing seventy three to nothing the next time.
12:44
Speaker 1: What a good like as a young football fan, that's
12:47
Speaker 1: a good dad story. That's a good lesson right there.
12:49
Speaker 1: My father was a Notre Dame fan who loved to
12:52
Speaker 1: tell me about like the worst comeback losses they'd ever have,
12:56
Speaker 1: So like, no matter how well the Notre Dame. Notre
12:59
Speaker 1: Dame would be by forty and he'd be like, well,
13:02
Speaker 1: they were up forty two nothing against USC in nineteen
13:05
Speaker 1: sixty four and that was O. J. Simpson and he
13:09
Speaker 1: ended up beating them fifty six forty nine. Yeah, your
13:13
Speaker 1: dad could always turn them the moment of potential joy
13:17
Speaker 1: into a disaster. Oh, or we would make fun of
13:21
Speaker 1: him for being e or all the time, especially around sports.
13:25
Speaker 1: Two thousand and nine had two incredible moments. One you
13:29
Speaker 1: snapped Detroit's nineteen game losing streak. I remember knowing for
13:34
Speaker 1: sure we were going to be the team that that
13:37
Speaker 1: snapped that. It was like I had could see visions
13:42
Speaker 1: of Calvin Johnson in the end zone that year, and
13:47
Speaker 1: I don't even remember who was the coach, but this
13:50
Speaker 1: would never leave me as a fan. On a Monday
13:52
Speaker 1: night game, you guys executed the funniest fake field goal
13:58
Speaker 1: of all time. You had this dude, don't remember what
14:00
Speaker 1: the guy's name was, but he could really he was
14:02
Speaker 1: a specialty. He was the holder and he could throw
14:04
Speaker 1: it a bit and he could run it a bit.
14:06
Speaker 1: And that year he'd already thrown for one and ran
14:09
Speaker 1: for one. So you guys were this big trick team
14:11
Speaker 1: and you're lining up, you're getting thrashed by the Giants
14:15
Speaker 1: twenty four to nothing, and you're lining up to kick
14:18
Speaker 1: a field goal with two seconds left, just to get
14:20
Speaker 1: some points on the board at half, and then all
14:22
Speaker 1: of a sudden there's like an audible. The normal fuel
14:26
Speaker 1: goal set up, and then all of a sudden, there's
14:27
Speaker 1: an audible and everybody on the line runs all the
14:31
Speaker 1: way to the left side of the field except one guy,
14:34
Speaker 1: the holder and the kicker, and then they motioned like
14:37
Speaker 1: a guy behind it, so there's like a guy there
14:40
Speaker 1: ready to catch a pass. And the stadium, John, your
14:43
Speaker 1: stadium went bananas. They're like, yeah, here we go. We've
14:47
Speaker 1: been waiting for this. And they snap it and all
14:51
Speaker 1: of the Giants players just pummel the kicker. He hail
14:56
Speaker 1: marries it like five hundred alive into the air, gets
15:01
Speaker 1: picked off and returned the other way. And John Gruden,
15:03
Speaker 1: who notoriously made it a point to not criticize people
15:08
Speaker 1: because I think he wanted he knew he wanted to
15:10
Speaker 1: coach again, lost his mind, like, well, that was the
15:14
Speaker 1: worst thing I've ever seen. It was maybe the worst
15:19
Speaker 1: fake play in the history of professional sports. I can't
15:23
Speaker 1: say that one sticks with me. Thanks for not bringing
15:25
Speaker 1: up Gus Farrot, though, that's the one that sticks with
15:28
Speaker 1: me more than it. Do you remember how that game ended?
15:30
Speaker 1: So he smashes his head into the wall, right, They
15:33
Speaker 1: were losing seven nothing in the fourth quarter, and he
15:37
Speaker 1: ran the ball into the end zone to tie the score,
15:41
Speaker 1: and then he headbutted himself and the game ended in
15:45
Speaker 1: a seven seven tie with him injured on the bench.
15:52
Speaker 1: So there are worse things than losing tracks. This matchup
15:58
Speaker 1: is really really unique because you mentioned Kirk Cousins, and
16:05
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about Kirk Cousins here, but first you
16:09
Speaker 1: have a guy starting for you that used to be
16:11
Speaker 1: on our roster. Heinick was on Minnesota's roster. He was
16:16
Speaker 1: like and John. A lot of people don't know that
16:18
Speaker 1: he was like this lightning bolt for there were so
16:22
Speaker 1: many fans that thought he was this unique. They were
16:26
Speaker 1: furious he couldn't get reps. And I think it's the
16:29
Speaker 1: way he carries himself. He was the guy in preseason
16:32
Speaker 1: we'd show up and you're like, did you see what
16:33
Speaker 1: he did? He's just a gamer, right, So to watch
16:37
Speaker 1: him beat the Packers thank you so much. That was
16:40
Speaker 1: so wonderful. But that play when he beat the Packers
16:44
Speaker 1: on third down where they had to throw it and
16:46
Speaker 1: he's like coasting, back pedaling off one foot throwing it
16:50
Speaker 1: up to McLaren like I got that, Like such a
16:54
Speaker 1: big ball throw. I mean, the dude, it's gotta be
16:57
Speaker 1: fun even though he doesn't put up the huge number,
17:00
Speaker 1: knowing you have a guy that every single human being
17:04
Speaker 1: on the sideline and in the stadium is behind, because
17:07
Speaker 1: that's it's crazy because he's not a top tier guy.
17:10
Speaker 1: But that's what it feels like watching him. Those teammates
17:12
Speaker 1: love him so much. He does have that far everyman
17:16
Speaker 1: kind of People love him in a he's a he's
17:20
Speaker 1: a he's going to throw the ball into coverage and
17:24
Speaker 1: they're either gonna catch it and win the game or
17:26
Speaker 1: you're gonna there's gonna be an interception. He's fun to
17:29
Speaker 1: watch in that way. There's never gonna you know, he's
17:31
Speaker 1: not gonna put the ball four rows into the stands
17:36
Speaker 1: on fourth down. He's not that guy. Yeah, he's gonna
17:39
Speaker 1: he's gonna take the risk even when you don't want
17:41
Speaker 1: him to take the risks. There are guys in the
17:45
Speaker 1: league that fascinate me that way. Uh Weirdly, Jimmy Garoppolo
17:49
Speaker 1: is one of those guys who I think if you
17:51
Speaker 1: asked everyone in the Niners locker room, they're like, Jimmy's
17:53
Speaker 1: the guy. He's the guy, and that always fascinates me.
17:57
Speaker 1: You know, Tebow had that effect in a very different
18:00
Speaker 1: way on locker rooms. I think Gardner Minshew kind of
18:03
Speaker 1: has that effect. Well, there are guys that have that
18:06
Speaker 1: effect and then they come up against Belichick and it's over. Yes, right,
18:11
Speaker 1: he just ends their career in a game by teaching
18:13
Speaker 1: the whole league how to defend him like diva. But
18:20
Speaker 1: then there's those guys that, for whatever reason, like they're
18:23
Speaker 1: always like making the play at the last minute or
18:27
Speaker 1: and guys want to fight with them. It's you know,
18:32
Speaker 1: even when you're not the best athlete on a team,
18:35
Speaker 1: if guys feel that you're in it with them, that's
18:38
Speaker 1: all they care about, right, right. It's an interesting mentality
18:43
Speaker 1: because and by the way, when you said that thing
18:45
Speaker 1: about Belichick, I remember years ago, I mean it's probably
18:48
Speaker 1: ten twelve years ago, the Vikings were like six and
18:51
Speaker 1: oh you know, I might butcher, I might be close
18:53
Speaker 1: to some factual information here. But the Vikings were like
18:56
Speaker 1: six and oh they had some great record. They were
18:58
Speaker 1: rolling into a Monday night game against the Patriots and
19:01
Speaker 1: Belichick was just like, you are not a good team,
19:05
Speaker 1: and then the season just evaporated from us. It was crazy. Yeah,
19:10
Speaker 1: I mean that's I mean, that's what happened. I mean,
19:12
Speaker 1: that's pretty much what's happened to Jared Goff. He got
19:14
Speaker 1: all the way to the super Bowl and Belichick figured
19:18
Speaker 1: it out in a game and they're like now, they're like,
19:20
Speaker 1: we trade you for anybody and hope and the stafford
19:23
Speaker 1: ends up being a little bit better and he's the difference.
19:25
Speaker 1: I mean, it's wild. What does it feel like to
19:29
Speaker 1: be a fan of one of those guys? Because I
19:31
Speaker 1: think as a football fan, you want you want one
19:33
Speaker 1: of these five, you know, the three to five all
19:36
Speaker 1: timers that are in the league. You want your team
19:38
Speaker 1: to get an all time quarterback. I currently have a
19:41
Speaker 1: different theory about quarterbacks that I'm working on that I
19:43
Speaker 1: don't need to have a ted talk about right now.
19:46
Speaker 1: But is it Where are you at on the Heinikey
19:49
Speaker 1: thing with Wentz on the bench and wanting some stability
19:52
Speaker 1: at the quarterback because he's played a lot, like the
19:55
Speaker 1: players might be behind him. What's this? What's the fan
19:57
Speaker 1: base vibe? Both now and kind of with a longer
20:01
Speaker 1: looking approach. I think everybody likes Rivera a lot. I
20:08
Speaker 1: think there's not a lot of faith in Wentz given
20:12
Speaker 1: how last year ended and how this year began. I
20:16
Speaker 1: think I'm optimistic. I feel like we drafted really well
20:21
Speaker 1: in like rounds two through five for the last three
20:24
Speaker 1: four years. So we have a really good defensive line,
20:29
Speaker 1: which is one way you get good in the league,
20:31
Speaker 1: have like a San Francisco type defensive line where they're
20:33
Speaker 1: playing offense when their defenses on the field exactly or
20:37
Speaker 1: and I don't think we're quite there yet, but there's
20:40
Speaker 1: some pieces. I mean, Payne and Alan are really good players.
20:43
Speaker 1: Sweats a really good player. I mean, if if Chase
20:47
Speaker 1: Young would have come in and really pan out the way,
20:51
Speaker 1: you know that, you know he was builed as like
20:53
Speaker 1: the next Lawrence Taylor kind of guy. And they always
20:56
Speaker 1: say that, and I actually watched that guy, so I
20:59
Speaker 1: know what the difference. But but I mean they have
21:03
Speaker 1: parts that's bananas when people say that, like even about
21:07
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons, because when they do you he's Lawrence Taylor.
21:10
Speaker 1: You're like, WHOA. If you're gonna say that, here's the rule.
21:14
Speaker 1: If you're gonna call anyone Lawrence Taylor, you should have
21:17
Speaker 1: to sit in a chair and watch a half hour
21:20
Speaker 1: of Lawrence Taylor highlights. Guess what, Ray Lewis wouldn't even
21:24
Speaker 1: he wouldn't even Lawrence Taylor. I he wouldn't even near
21:28
Speaker 1: Lawrence Taylor is. It's I arguably the greatest. He's in
21:33
Speaker 1: that category for me, with Jerry Rice, maybe Jim Brown,
21:37
Speaker 1: the couple guys who you're like, that is the singular
21:39
Speaker 1: greatest football player to ever step on a field. There
21:42
Speaker 1: are guys who like Swing League titles when they're really great,
21:46
Speaker 1: and he was like one of those guys. And I
21:49
Speaker 1: think even are those Redskin teams, the ones that won titles,
21:53
Speaker 1: the best units on those teams were always the offensive line, right,
21:58
Speaker 1: the hawks, the ones so the years that they were
22:01
Speaker 1: really great, I mean I think in ninety one they
22:03
Speaker 1: gave up six sex for the whole year. Yes, So
22:07
Speaker 1: it was always like it's the guys who laid awake
22:10
Speaker 1: at night trying to figure out a way to block
22:12
Speaker 1: him with a lot of tight end help, I mean
22:14
Speaker 1: like you like you know. Spurrier came in later and
22:19
Speaker 1: tried blocking no one and we saw how that worked out.
22:22
Speaker 1: Gibbs really became famous just for bringing in more offensive
22:27
Speaker 1: linemen and tight ends that weren't going to run patterns
22:30
Speaker 1: because he was just trying to put more guys on
22:32
Speaker 1: the line to move Taylor out two more feet. Steve
22:36
Speaker 1: Spurrier is one of my all time favorite hires a
22:39
Speaker 1: number of reasons. One, I'm a big visor guy. I'm
22:42
Speaker 1: a big visor guy guy. I love watching adult men
22:46
Speaker 1: wear visors. It's very funny to me. Steve Spurrier all
22:50
Speaker 1: time visor guy. He and I will also say Joe Gibbs.
22:56
Speaker 1: Joe Gibbs, I have followed. Joe Gibbs is such an
22:59
Speaker 1: interesting speaker. He's such an interesting personality. Hey, he looks
23:04
Speaker 1: like he just honey, he shrunked his kids like he
23:07
Speaker 1: is such a silly looking man to be one of
23:10
Speaker 1: the greatest football coaches of all time. So I was
23:13
Speaker 1: always fascinated and impressed by him. And then he goes
23:15
Speaker 1: off and he's like, hey, now I'm I run a
23:17
Speaker 1: NASCAR team. Like He's just he's fascinating. Steve Spurrier is
23:21
Speaker 1: the opposite end of that. I remember him saying out
23:26
Speaker 1: loud after watching his first opponent on film that defense
23:31
Speaker 1: looks a little tougher than Vanderbilts. And I don't care
23:34
Speaker 1: if he was joking that. The moment he said that,
23:37
Speaker 1: everybody in DC had to have gone, oh no, I
23:42
Speaker 1: think in college, everybody you play because the guy decides
23:46
Speaker 1: whether you get to go to school the next day.
23:48
Speaker 1: Right in the pros, like pros play with their heart
23:52
Speaker 1: for guys they really respect, you know, right. I remember,
23:57
Speaker 1: always remember that Jimmy Johnson thing where he's talking about
24:01
Speaker 1: in Cowboys training camps where we would hand out five
24:03
Speaker 1: dollars to like players who were already making millions and
24:07
Speaker 1: millions of dollars. It's like appeal to the competitive instinct
24:13
Speaker 1: to the guys, the guys that I mean, what the
24:16
Speaker 1: hardwiring behind people instead, you know, Spurrier was always like,
24:21
Speaker 1: I'll match up my guys against your guys, and you
24:24
Speaker 1: can't win with professionals like that. I'm gonna come in
24:27
Speaker 1: here with my clipboard, I'm gonna draw a play and
24:29
Speaker 1: we go out and do you. I don't think you
24:31
Speaker 1: are Stevie. I don't think you are the the The
24:36
Speaker 1: Vikings kind of have that going on right now. They
24:38
Speaker 1: have a really good culture where guys were seeing exactly
24:42
Speaker 1: what you talked about, people really really buying in, which
24:48
Speaker 1: is I think you're right. I always think of those
24:50
Speaker 1: old those eighties nineties or excuse me, those eighties Niners
24:53
Speaker 1: teams that everybody talks about. They want to talk about
24:55
Speaker 1: all the talent and the coaches Bill Walsh and Joe Montana,
24:58
Speaker 1: Jerry Ris. No one ever talks about Eddie de Bartelow.
25:01
Speaker 1: I know Eddie de Bartelow gotten some some legal trouble
25:04
Speaker 1: in later years, but the big story with de Bartelow
25:07
Speaker 1: was always like this was the guy, the first guy
25:10
Speaker 1: to go. Every player gets their own room, we always
25:13
Speaker 1: have the best food, everybody's treated the best. And these
25:17
Speaker 1: guys responded that there's a story out there that that's
25:20
Speaker 1: when Robert Kraft bought the Patriots, he went to De
25:23
Speaker 1: Bartelow to learn how to run an organization. And so
25:27
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think that culture and I
25:30
Speaker 1: think that's we have such wonderful owners in Minnesota and
25:34
Speaker 1: now you have a coach there now that the players
25:36
Speaker 1: seem to want to fight for so you can kind
25:38
Speaker 1: of see how much of a difference that stuff can make.
25:42
Speaker 1: It makes all the difference in the world. Yeah, from
25:45
Speaker 1: the ground up. When you see people you like every day,
25:48
Speaker 1: it makes. It makes all the difference. Right, if it
25:51
Speaker 1: works at Google, it works in the NFL, Right if
25:54
Speaker 1: they if that model works in there, you're one because
25:58
Speaker 1: it is work, You're one hundred percent right. I'm gonna
26:01
Speaker 1: pitch you something and you might scoff at it. But
26:04
Speaker 1: because you know me, I'm a warrior. I think there
26:07
Speaker 1: is a chance that we are catching you guys at
26:12
Speaker 1: a bad time because Heiniki has everybody fired up. Everybody's
26:17
Speaker 1: behind him. Your rookie running back, Gibson is Brian Robinson
26:22
Speaker 1: is playing, He's looking good. Gibson is no slump, right,
26:25
Speaker 1: McLaurin is a beast, and at some point, I don't
26:28
Speaker 1: know how long until Dotson comes back. But Logan Thomas
26:31
Speaker 1: is now getting healthy. It's kind of like all these
26:34
Speaker 1: pieces are starting to get healthy at the right time.
26:37
Speaker 1: And when you got a guy like Heinick, I think
26:40
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a moment this season where even though
26:44
Speaker 1: you won the last two games, it's not like you
26:45
Speaker 1: put it together there's a chance that you guys, all
26:48
Speaker 1: of a sudden, and maybe it's only for a couple
26:51
Speaker 1: of games, but that you really put it together, and
26:54
Speaker 1: it feels like that's not very far away. Yeah. I
26:57
Speaker 1: think we're a competitive team, and I think grow live wire.
27:02
Speaker 1: I don't love our match up with you because I
27:05
Speaker 1: don't know who we have for Jefferson, right that's my concern.
27:10
Speaker 1: I just think you're gonna throw the ball to him
27:12
Speaker 1: as long. I mean that, he's to me, the toughest
27:17
Speaker 1: matchup in the whole league, and I can't see how
27:20
Speaker 1: we can cover him. Also, Dolphin Cook, I think could
27:25
Speaker 1: have a big day against US. I wouldn't be surprised
27:28
Speaker 1: if you could have Kirk back right now. No, thank you,
27:32
Speaker 1: you don't want him back? No, no, See that's the question.
27:36
Speaker 1: Do you think this is the first time, you know,
27:38
Speaker 1: going back to that culture thing. There was this moment
27:40
Speaker 1: in week one where he handed out game balls to
27:43
Speaker 1: the new GM and the new coach after the game,
27:45
Speaker 1: and any Viking fans should go watch that video. But
27:48
Speaker 1: it's it's the first time you've seen the dude bought in,
27:51
Speaker 1: and I think he feels like he's truly supported in
27:54
Speaker 1: his entire career, and you can say that being franchise
27:57
Speaker 1: tagged over and over and over and over and then
27:59
Speaker 1: the documented you know, different play style desires between him
28:04
Speaker 1: and the coaching staff here. I'm a believer that you know,
28:09
Speaker 1: I see where you're coming from. I think a lot
28:11
Speaker 1: of fans come from there. But like I think the
28:13
Speaker 1: dude deserves at the y. I think it's going to
28:16
Speaker 1: go well, but at the very least a shot to go. Hey, man,
28:19
Speaker 1: you've been doing this a long time and you're a
28:20
Speaker 1: pretty damn good thrower of the football. You deserve to
28:24
Speaker 1: have a situation where you are completely supported from behind
28:29
Speaker 1: because to your point, that's a different mentality. Man. And
28:32
Speaker 1: I'll say this for him, he's a good starting quarterback.
28:38
Speaker 1: But to me, if you're gonna win a title in
28:40
Speaker 1: this league nowadays, you need and you're gonna beat Pat
28:44
Speaker 1: Mahomes or Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts and that whole
28:49
Speaker 1: Philadelphia team you're gonna need, or Lamar Jackson. You're gonna
28:53
Speaker 1: need a quarterback who gives you a little something extra
28:56
Speaker 1: after the play breaks down. And to me, he's in
29:00
Speaker 1: a backwards once the play is broken down. Speaking of
29:04
Speaker 1: legitimate football players. I need to before you leave, I
29:12
Speaker 1: need to talk about you as it because you john
29:16
Speaker 1: played some football grown up, but you played with somebody
29:18
Speaker 1: who is pretty damn good, and I'm gonna let you
29:21
Speaker 1: take it from there. Yeah. I mean when I was
29:24
Speaker 1: a kid, I was like sort of like star adjacent,
29:28
Speaker 1: like I was an athlete enough to be on the
29:30
Speaker 1: field with the good kids. But then like very quickly,
29:34
Speaker 1: once crowds started getting involved, and this was that, Like
29:38
Speaker 1: I remember, I played quarterback this one year and then
29:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna start the next year, and I was going
29:43
Speaker 1: to be the quarterback. And then I got there and
29:46
Speaker 1: this kid who ended up being the starting quarterback at
29:49
Speaker 1: Maryland years later, was just like a week late. So
29:53
Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, he's the backup. But then after a
29:56
Speaker 1: while they're like, no, this kid can actually play. An
29:59
Speaker 1: says in his book, It's like I learned very early
30:02
Speaker 1: on that talent made up for a lot of things.
30:05
Speaker 1: And it's like, yeah, you're the kid that they that
30:08
Speaker 1: all the coaches have nicknamed Superman. So they're gonna I'm
30:14
Speaker 1: gonna be on the bench eventually, but they the trick
30:17
Speaker 1: play was then I was gonna play quarterback, and I
30:19
Speaker 1: would just get so anxious that I literally threw the
30:22
Speaker 1: ball right into the ground. But he would pick it
30:25
Speaker 1: up off the ground and win eighty yards, and he
30:27
Speaker 1: mentions it. He mentions it in his book. John Conroy
30:31
Speaker 1: is mentioned by name in This Man's Book, and literally,
30:39
Speaker 1: you know, he doesn't. He doesn't make you sound pathetic,
30:42
Speaker 1: which I think is very nice of him. But he
30:44
Speaker 1: does tea up. He basically says you he doesn't. He
30:48
Speaker 1: doesn't really, you know, portray it as a great trick
30:51
Speaker 1: play as well as you'd like him too. He portrays
30:54
Speaker 1: it as you thumping a ball off the ground to him.
30:56
Speaker 1: But yeah, you were supposed to pitch it and you
30:59
Speaker 1: one hop it on purpose. He went really easy on
31:02
Speaker 1: me too, because what he doesn't tell you about that year.
31:05
Speaker 1: I think I caught about forty passes from him that year,
31:09
Speaker 1: and but I was terrified of getting hit. So as
31:13
Speaker 1: soon as i'd catch the ball, I'd fall down and
31:16
Speaker 1: then I'd be like, look a diving catch everyone. I mean,
31:21
Speaker 1: he could hit me like literally like standing straight up,
31:24
Speaker 1: and I just backed down like I'm not I wasn't
31:29
Speaker 1: gonna get hit. I'd slide down and so Eventually they
31:32
Speaker 1: found him a receiver that would catch the ball and
31:34
Speaker 1: move forward after his passing. Do you have any rituals?
31:40
Speaker 1: Are you superstitious? Do you have a certain way you eat,
31:43
Speaker 1: you watch the game? Do you eat anything specific? What's
31:46
Speaker 1: your what's your game day situation? Um? No, I'm I'm
31:50
Speaker 1: I mean I love the dog. I'll eat a lot
31:53
Speaker 1: of food. I'm i'm I get into it. Um. I
31:55
Speaker 1: used to drink, like like some of those Redskin games
31:59
Speaker 1: that I know, I took two sports too seriously. That's
32:02
Speaker 1: when you'd find me, like I was loaded and ready
32:06
Speaker 1: to go down in Georgetown for I remember the second
32:10
Speaker 1: Gibbs years where we like it seemed like we were
32:13
Speaker 1: going to break through. A couple of those years we've
32:16
Speaker 1: spent it. Those were my college years in Georgetown. Party
32:18
Speaker 1: and Sean Taylor's scoop and scores, and I missed those guys. Yeah,
32:24
Speaker 1: so you're a ritual was being a maniac, which I
32:27
Speaker 1: could have predicted that. I don't think it surprises you
32:30
Speaker 1: to know that I respond to hooliganism. Yes, I'm right
32:35
Speaker 1: there in the middle, Like if that's the assignment, I'm
32:40
Speaker 1: I'm the one with the acid tongue. I'm not gonna
32:42
Speaker 1: throw the first punch, but the first punch often gets
32:45
Speaker 1: thrown at me. Yeah, you're the guy that you could
32:48
Speaker 1: just be sitting having lunch at a park with your
32:51
Speaker 1: family around like a picnic basket, and somebody jogs by
32:55
Speaker 1: and goes, well, let's get crazy, and before your family
32:59
Speaker 1: turns back to where you used to be sitting, you're
33:02
Speaker 1: jogging behind them with your shirt off. That's my vision
33:05
Speaker 1: of how easily influenceable you are by the crowd mob.
33:09
Speaker 1: I think it's it's guys like that challenge me and
33:13
Speaker 1: then like I tell them something about their soul and
33:16
Speaker 1: they're like, oh no, I wish I had never I
33:19
Speaker 1: thought he was a simple fat boy and he cut
33:22
Speaker 1: right into the center of me. Yeah. I didn't know
33:24
Speaker 1: I had the power to recruit a man like that.
33:27
Speaker 1: I've made a mistake. Let's all calm down. How does
33:32
Speaker 1: he know my issues with my father? Like it so easy? Well?
33:39
Speaker 1: We do this. I'm sorry nobody likes it, but I
33:41
Speaker 1: got to get a prediction from you. It's it's it's
33:44
Speaker 1: at home. Your team is playing really really well. Our
33:48
Speaker 1: team is playing well. What do you got I'm gonna
33:53
Speaker 1: call for my first call, I'm gonna say about sixty
33:56
Speaker 1: three percent Viking fans at the stadium, Okay for the game,
34:01
Speaker 1: um and um. But I think I actually, I think
34:05
Speaker 1: we get a win. I think you do. I think
34:09
Speaker 1: that I think our defense, I think it's I think
34:11
Speaker 1: we're gonna find a way to beat you guys, even
34:14
Speaker 1: though I think you're gonna win your division. Yeah, and
34:16
Speaker 1: maybe even challenge for the home home field. This is
34:21
Speaker 1: such a crucial game for this team because if they
34:23
Speaker 1: can go to seven and one with the Bills coming up,
34:27
Speaker 1: I just that puts you in this you know, not
34:29
Speaker 1: house money, but you go into the Bills at seven
34:32
Speaker 1: one as an underdog, you've done everything you can do
34:35
Speaker 1: except for that Philly game leading up to it. I
34:37
Speaker 1: just think it gives you this, like, hey here, this
34:40
Speaker 1: is such a test for us. This is such a
34:42
Speaker 1: great litmus test. That being said, you can't look past Washington.
34:45
Speaker 1: I think the Washington team that we thought we were
34:48
Speaker 1: going to be seen back when you guys played the Lions,
34:51
Speaker 1: that is not the same football team. It is a
34:54
Speaker 1: very very different football team right now. And so I'm
34:56
Speaker 1: gonna go I'm gonna say Washington ten and Vikings hundred
35:02
Speaker 1: and eighty three, John, John, I really appreciate you doing
35:07
Speaker 1: the show. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, buddy,
35:10
Speaker 1: so good to see you, and thank you Cambria for
35:13
Speaker 1: sponsoring the tailgate. Family owned American maid Cambria proud to
35:18
Speaker 1: be the official countertop of the Minnesota Vikings. Learn more
35:22
Speaker 1: and get inspired at Cambria USA dot com. That's Cambria
35:27
Speaker 1: USA dot com. And hey, guys, if you love this,
35:31
Speaker 1: we'll be back next week. Just search the Vikings Tailgate
35:34
Speaker 1: on any podcast platform. Go Vikes.