Latest / The Skol Hop / TSH Ep. 6 - Optimism, Oktoberfest & Some Interesting Acquisitions

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TSH Ep. 6 - Optimism, Oktoberfest & Some Interesting Acquisitions · The Skol Hop

0:30
All right, Hey, Vikings fans, welcome in. We are the school
0:34
hop got Austin here with me? Hello, Hello, and we're just a
0:37
couple of dudes from Iowa. We love the Vikings and we love beer,
0:41
and we're drinking a very festive seasonal beer today. What do we got?
0:46
This week seems to be the week that all of the Octoberfest bruce start to
0:50
come out, so my favorite. We enjoyed some october Fests over the weekend,
0:55
yes we did, and tonight we are enjoying an october Fest from Exiled
1:00
Brewing Company. They are another des Moin area brewing company. Last week it
1:03
was the same des Moin area it was Confluence I think we had last week.
1:07
But yeah, this week it's a Exile. They're Octoberfest and so far
1:14
I'm liking it. It's hitting a spot. I love Octoberfest. Possibly my
1:19
favorite type of beer of all time. Yeah, I really like it.
1:23
I don't know if i'd say favorite for me, but you're not. You're
1:27
not wrong that it's a really good type of beer. It's wonderful. And
1:30
if you're new to the show, just in case you didn't know this,
1:34
we have a tradition we only drink beer from Iowa. Yeah, we haven't
1:38
said that in a while. We haven't, but I just wanted to reiterate
1:41
that because I think it's important it is that we support the local beer economy
1:46
here in our great state. Yeah, and our local grocery stores. The
1:49
one hy Vean near us in particular, I would say they've got a pretty
1:53
darn good section of Iowa beers. You know, any beers outside, there's
1:57
a whole section of the craft you're cooler, just reserved for beer from Iowa.
2:02
Yep. So thank you. Heve not a sponsor, and thank you
2:06
Exile also not a sponsor yet. Wink wink. We should just keep talking
2:13
about beer because I don't really want to talk about the bike. Yeah.
2:15
You know what, this season has not been as exciting as the off season
2:20
would have led us to believe. Yeah, however, that's right. I
2:25
would still say that there was some optimism coming out of the Eagles game,
2:30
specifically on the offensive side of the ball. Agreed. I think the two
2:36
biggest things, and we can talk about this more later, are turnovers,
2:40
which in theory you can correct, and the defensive rush game, which you
2:47
can kind of talk around that too. But we'll get to it. When
2:50
I was to it, I was trying to get DeAndre Swift on my fantasy
2:53
team. He was on waivers in our league and I had an in for
2:57
him. He was supposed to be mine, and somebody I'll snatched him up.
3:00
I mean, he looked really good. The entire Eagles running game looked
3:04
really good. Yeah, but Swift specifically, I'm not still still not sold
3:09
on him. I think that was more of an anomaly than anything else.
3:14
Hopefully you're right, because otherwise I'll be sad that I didn't pick him up.
3:17
Yeah, but I mean either way, he still had a great game.
3:20
It still looked amazing, but much to our chagrin. So let's continue
3:27
the breakdown of this thirty four to twenty eight loss to the Eagles. It
3:36
was, it was rough to watch it. There's not a lot of great
3:38
takeaways. I really do think the offense outside of the couple of turnovers,
3:44
what four turnovers overall in the whole game. Outside of those, I mean,
3:47
the offense looked good. And Kirk, I mean, I don't know
3:51
how you can be a Kirk Denier at this Kirk was by far and away
3:53
the better quarterback on the field that night. Yeah, well ingrained. I
3:57
mean, just the way the game was going. Jalen Hurts didn't have to
4:01
put the game on his back and Kirk on his own side, he kind
4:05
of had to, you know, put the game on his back. But
4:09
yeah, I agree, in that game, Kirk looked better, had better
4:13
stat line. He just didn't have two rushing touchdowns like Jalen Hurts did.
4:15
Right, well, but that's just not Kirk's strength either. Yeah, yeah,
4:20
I think you and I saw Kirk rush for his last rushing touchdown,
4:24
and that was against Arizona last season. Man, that was like what the
4:28
seventeen yard eighteen yard rushing play? That thing was awesome, unexpected, oh
4:31
my, and the whole stadium obviously for any touchdown, but especially that one.
4:35
And that was fun to watch. Yeah, it's fun to watch.
4:39
That was great. We were in that end zone too, Yeah, he
4:42
was running right at us. It was awesome. Well we were like three
4:45
stories up sure, yeah, yeah, we had our noses were about to
4:48
start bleeding. But I still I would sit in those seats every game.
4:53
Again, those are awesome, those great seats. I don't even remember what
4:56
section three Somewhere in the three hundred three teams. I think three teens.
5:00
Three teams. Yep. We were in the front row though we had just
5:03
plexiglass, and we were right above the big video board on not the open
5:09
ended side of the stadium. Yeah, so not the open air side of
5:12
the stadium, but the other side, the side that the person dangled from
5:15
the the rafters. That one time, Oh that happened. I didn't,
5:19
I mean not during the game we were at. But yeah, there was
5:23
a guy that like climbed up. He was protesting something and he just sat
5:27
there for a good portion of whatever game. That was interesting. I had
5:30
no idea. Yeah, nothing bad happened then, I mean they got him
5:32
down, but yeah, that was pretty crazy. Well, anyways, Kirk
5:36
Cousins looked great, especially I thought in the second half. I mean,
5:42
you know, a lot of times we were down by twenty. At one
5:46
point it was twenty seven to seven, and I think at that point,
5:50
you know, sometimes head coaches and offensive coordinators just kind of fold up the
5:55
playbook and they're like, well, we'll just try to get through this one
5:58
and move on. And I mean you say that, but talk about last
6:03
year. We witnessed the greatest comeback in NFL history, and they were down
6:08
by more than twenty. But yeah, you're you're right though, I mean,
6:12
yeah, usually it's like a let's see if we can preserve some dignity
6:15
here and try to do you know, the unthinkable and maybe comeback. But
6:19
yeah, down by twenty is tough to come back from in the NFL.
6:23
And he's still I mean, Kirk just played lights out despite that, I
6:28
think, yeah, and despite the mistakes that happened earlier in the game,
6:30
Like he just he pushed through, and I mean that's what you'd expect of
6:34
him, right, Like that's how he played all year last year. And
6:39
you get more of that, like insight into who he is as a person
6:45
through the Netflix documentary that comes out of which was fantastic. We can say
6:49
again, yeah, that series was awesome. We talked about it for yep
6:54
a long time in one of the episodes over the summer. But anyways,
6:57
I just think like that, that's the type of quarterback we want. And
7:00
I understand all the the talk about, well, maybe he gets traded or
7:04
maybe he's done after this season and whatever, but I don't know. For
7:09
right now, I'm still very content with Kirk under center. If we can
7:13
fix some of the other things going on around him. I think we have
7:17
a legitimate shot to still be a playoff contender for sure. Oh yeah,
7:21
I mean, especially after after the way they played to finish the game out
7:26
against Philadelphia. I'm not lost on this season. Like this season is still
7:30
very much in play. I mean, oh and two is never good.
7:33
And yeah, you're talking about moral victories if you're still happy at this point,
7:38
but I mean they're not. They're not the Bears. They're not falling
7:42
apart from the inside out. It's just, honestly, the darn turnovers,
7:46
Like, yeah, you can't you can't win if you just hand the ball
7:50
over all the time. I think if we zero in on help me remember
7:57
the timeline really quick because it was almost a week ago now. Yeah,
8:01
but JJ fumbles right over the pylon and that sets up did they score right
8:09
after that? Well, that was right before halftime, right, remember that?
8:13
And they marched down the field and they got the sixty one yard field
8:16
goal yep, yep, they literally ran franchise. I don't think they passed
8:18
anything on that drive, yep. And yeah, sixty one yard field goal
8:24
to end the half. And then they come back out after halftime and they
8:28
scored twice again. Kirk gets stripsacked like three plays into the second half.
8:35
Yeah, and then they get the ball back again and they score again,
8:37
and they were up. That was when they were up by twenty. It
8:39
was twenty seven to twenty with like ten minutes to go in the third quarter.
8:43
Yeah, And like we said earlier, you talk about Kirk looking like
8:48
the better quarterback the Eagles. When you're up by that that much, you
8:54
know that early in the third quarter you start to go into preservation mode.
8:58
You're not in desperation mode, and you're not trying to score every point.
9:03
You're trying to burn the clock. Which when you have long drives where all
9:07
you do is rush the football and it's succeeding every play, you're able to
9:13
burn the clock. Which that's a reason Number two why the Eagles won is
9:18
the Vikings couldn't stop the run. So you turn the ball over and you
9:22
can't stop the run, you're not going to win many games. But so
9:24
I pulled this up here. We're looking at it right now. The scoring
9:28
summary. We were playing pretty well. We played pretty well through the first
9:33
quarter. We held them to three points, and then early on in the
9:35
second quarter t J Hawkinson five yard path. Yeah, I really think it
9:39
swings on. I'm at fumble that Justin Jefferson. Yeah, and I'm not
9:46
blaming JJ. No, what I'm just saying like that was that was a
9:48
key moment in the game. Oh yeah, the momentum shifted and we never
9:52
really got it back. You're talking like if he doesn't fumble that ball,
9:56
even if he gets tackled at what the two yard line or whatever, like
10:00
they're gonna punch it in there. Yep. And at that point you're up
10:03
fourteen to three, fourteen to no. I think they had ten at that
10:07
point, right, No, yeah, they would have been up fourteen to
10:11
thirteen, No, fourteen to ten, fourteen they had scored rather than Justin
10:18
Jefferson fumbling out of the zone because Jalen Hurds had his one yard touchdown one
10:22
of his one yard touchdown runs with two forty four left in the second quarter.
10:28
So yeah, that's right. But I mean still we go to the
10:33
locker room with up by one point in a game that everybody thought we were
10:35
really get blown out. Yeah, and then we get the ball back,
10:39
you know, and if Kirk doesn't get sacked if our line can hold and
10:45
yeah, if you have a running back that can pick up the blitz in
10:46
a line that can stop the rush, like, yeah, you're you're probably
10:50
not getting strip sacked for the second week in a row, right, I
10:56
mean, Antoine would Bille Junior did it, you know in the first week,
11:00
and then I forget who did it against him in the second week.
11:01
But my goodness, and it's not Kirk's fault. I don't think he was
11:07
holding onto the ball too long. No, I don't think no, you
11:09
know, he didn't purposely fumble it right there, like he just got blindside
11:13
hit in the back like everybody in the world would fumble. So this would
11:16
be a good opportunity to probably talk about our newest acquisition on the offensive line,
11:22
which, oh the offensive line one. Okay, I was gonna ask
11:24
which newest acquisition. You can talk about both, but we can start with
11:28
the offensive line because we were talking about the protection behind Kirk, sure or
11:33
in front of Kirk? I should say, yeah, so we it happened,
11:37
Evan, I've seen on Twitter that everybody's super excited that Twitter bullied,
11:41
you know, Quasi into signing Dalton Reisner. Yes, and we now know
11:46
how to pronounce it. The Vikings tweeted out, it's it is Riisner,
11:50
not Risener, but I don't know it. The way it's spelled, it
11:54
looks like Risener, so I could see why people would think that. But
11:58
yeah, Dalton Rise the Savior has come super Bowl bound. All of the
12:03
problems are are resolved, and I'm of course kidding, but still, where
12:09
does he fit in on the offensive line? And does he take somebody's starting
12:13
job or is he just depth on the bench. I mean, I don't
12:18
know how to answer the first question, but you don't sign someone to a
12:24
four million dollar deal in the season as depth. I mean, yeah,
12:30
they've had a couple of injuries, and I still I'm not I'm not feeling
12:33
good about the Bradbury injury. He's already not practicing. I mean, I'd
12:39
be shocked if he plays anytime in the next few weeks. Is he on
12:41
the injury report again this, Yeah, he showed up as I think today
12:46
was the today being Wednesday, was the first day they had to report that,
12:48
you know, the injuries, and I think he was listed as a
12:52
did not participate if we can double check. But yeah, I still again
12:58
I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't play in the next few weeks. And
13:03
if you told me he wasn't gonna play again this year, I mean,
13:05
it wouldn't completely surprise me, just because being an offensive lineman in that lower
13:11
back it's got a man. Yeah, that injury can be a killer.
13:15
Yeah, And being a center specifically is oh yeah tough. But I mean
13:20
on the flip side of that, specifically, I don't think what Austin Schlatman.
13:26
I don't think he has played poorly. I mean just the one game
13:28
we've seen, and then last year he played quite a bit. I don't
13:31
think he's an immediate, like huge downgrade, which that may be saying something
13:37
about Garrett Bradberry. But I think we can run with Schlapman if we have
13:43
to, And is correct me if I'm wrong, But is Slotman bigger?
13:46
Oh I don't. I don't know. The thing Bradbury, because I know
13:50
that's always been a concern around him, is that he's just undersized. Yeah,
13:52
he gets thrown around a little bit. Yeah, I'm not sure there's
13:56
size comparisons, but I know it's not like an immediate you know, start
14:00
trading away all the good players. Because Bradberry's not in there anymore. I
14:05
think Bradberry is probably the overall better player, but Schlapman is no chump.
14:09
He's a good, serviceable backup if you need him. They're both listed at
14:13
three hundred pounds yep and Schlotman sixty six compared to Bradbury's six three. Yeah,
14:18
Slotman's a little taller and thinner maybe, yeah, I don't. I
14:22
don't know if that makes a much difference, but yeah, three inches,
14:26
I don't know. But to go back to Reisner, I think ultimately,
14:30
if he's going to take anybody's job, you look at the poorest performer,
14:33
and at this moment, it's at Ingram. Yeah, and I I agree.
14:39
But also Riisner is more traditionally a left guard, whereas Ingram is on
14:46
the right side. And I know that's like writing with your other hand.
14:48
It can be difficult to switch sides. But maybe maybe he can do it.
14:52
But I feel solid about Ezra Cleveland on the left side. Yeah.
14:58
I tend to as well, But I don't know. If Riiser is the
15:01
best right guard on the team, then let him play right guard, you
15:07
know, I don't know. It's tough. The best part is Riisiner seems
15:11
to be an upgrade and a good addition, and I hope it pays off.
15:16
Does he play this week? Play sure? I don't think he's gonna
15:18
start. He's been here a few days, Like, yeah, I learn
15:22
in a few days. Yeah, I've never seen the Vikings playbook, but
15:26
I can't imagine it's something that you can just learn out of nowhere. Yeah.
15:30
I mean one thing, he's a you know, offensive lineman and not
15:33
a quarterback trying to come in and execute the playbook. But I think he
15:39
will be a starter. I don't know where. I don't I don't think
15:43
he's played center, you know, I don't think he'd play there. But
15:46
yeah, I think the big thing is Cleveland. His whole career, he's
15:52
been more a better tackle than a guard. So I don't know if they're
15:56
trying to make Cleveland bump over if Darrisaw's not doing so hot like injury wise,
16:02
and then Riisener can just jump into the right guard spot. I don't
16:04
know. There's a lot of possibilities there. But at least Riisner's here as
16:10
in Minnesota, not Iowa where we are, Yeah, and he can only
16:15
help. I don't think it's not like we're questioning why he was signed.
16:18
Kind of like another addition that just happened today. Yeah, running back,
16:22
Yeah, Cam Akers from the Rams second round pick in twenty twenty I think
16:30
recently. I'm pretty sure this year is the last year of his rookie deal.
16:33
Okay, So I don't know you swapped because what they give up?
16:40
They sent a sixth round pick in twenty twenty sixth and they received Cam Akers.
16:45
I don't know this. Yeah, they received Cam Akers and the Rams
16:48
twenty twenty six seventh round pick, So essentially they turned their sixth into a
16:52
seventh two drafts from now in order to get Cam Akers. I don't know.
16:59
Maybe his familiarity with head coach and offensive coordinator is something they really desired.
17:06
Maybe that says a lot more about ty Chandler than really anybody else.
17:11
I mean, if I was Alex Madison, I'd be wondering if that fumble
17:17
or the second fumble that got taken away on a penalty gracefully, I'd be
17:22
questioning if that were a reason why the Vikings were interested in adding another running
17:26
back. But yeah, who knows, I don't know. I don't think
17:30
he can hurt the team, but he doesn't seem like a crazy major upgrade
17:34
over Madison. Well, he's only got twenty nine yards so far this season,
17:41
but that's just in one game because he didn't play the second game.
17:44
He's got a touchdown, which is we don't have a rushing touchdown right now,
17:48
do we? No, because Alex has a touchdown as well, but
17:52
I'm pretty sure that was a receiving touchdown. Yeah, and yeah, I
17:55
don't know rushing touchdowns. Yeah. And the Vikings as a team haven't reached
18:00
one hundred yards rushing through two games. I know it's a small sample size,
18:03
but still they're one of two teams that haven't rushed for one hundred yards
18:08
yet. But he's cam Aker comes in with some decent numbers. Yeah,
18:14
two years ago or last season twenty twenty two, seven hundred and eighty six
18:18
yards averaged four point two a carry, had seven touchdowns, thirteen catches out
18:23
of the backfield, and then he must have been injured in twenty one,
18:27
yeah, because it what five attempts, five attempts for three yards, But
18:32
then in twenty twenty he was one hundred and forty five for six hundred and
18:37
twenty five yards. Four point three yards to carry, only two touchdowns and
18:41
eleven catches out of the backfield, so I mean some production. Yeah,
18:45
my guess is maybe they you know, Koc thinks Acers can more effectively run
18:52
the offense. And I mean to get him for basically nothing. I mean
19:02
to trade your your sixth round pick for a seventh round pick and a player
19:07
that's about as as free as you can get a player without them being a
19:11
free agent off the street. Right. And I don't know cap numbers,
19:15
but I mean he's a second round pick. It his last year the deal.
19:18
I can't imagine it's a hugely expensive deal against the cap. It's probably
19:22
one of those like why not type things, Although you gotta look at who
19:26
they have before. Not only is it Alex Madison in the backfield, you're
19:30
looking ty Chandler. I know Wangwu is still injured, he's on the injured
19:34
reserve. I'm pretty sure, but maybe that they've lost faith in him.
19:38
And then Miles Gaskin, I mean, I don't know, maybe he just
19:44
hasn't shown what they've wanted to see so far. So again, not a
19:48
move. I think that will hurt the team, probably, but it's just
19:53
doesn't seem like a huge upgrade. Remind me, Gaskin's on the practice squad
19:59
right now, so they or did they move on from him? I can't
20:03
remember. They signed him during after like initial cuts, because he got cut
20:07
by the Dolphins, and he spent a few days on the fifty three man
20:11
roster before the first game, and then they did this whole trickery move where
20:15
they they released him on like a Friday, signed him to the practice squad
20:22
on the Saturday, and then for the first game, pretty sure they elevated
20:27
him as a practice squad player to the active game roster, which you can
20:32
do a couple of times per player, and then you know, after the
20:38
game, he was, you know, back on the practice squad, and
20:41
then the next day they signed him to the fifty three man roster. So
20:45
I think as of right now he is on the fifty three. Yeah.
20:48
On the depth chart here that we're looking at, he's third string right now,
20:52
behind Alex and ty Chandler. Yeah. Yeah, so that'll obviously switch
20:56
up. And I think that the depth chart on the Vikings website is officially
21:00
unofficial, Oh yeah, for sure, but yeah, Gaskin's there and technically
21:06
ahead of cam Akers who's probably not even left LA at this point. Like
21:10
he just we're talking, this happened hours three ish hours ago, you know,
21:14
yep, so you heard it here probably twentieth or twenty fifth, but
21:18
you heard it here. Yeah, we're not going to claim any breaking news
21:22
here. No, no, no, exactly, not especially not on a
21:26
podcast. How can you break news on a podcast, that's right? But
21:30
I mean without going back and watching tape, darrisaw didn't start and only Hudo
21:36
that sent he's done for yeah, years out what I heard Taurus quad like
21:41
that has to be just a painful injury. I can't imagine, like any
21:45
injury sucks, but like tearing your quad. I pulled my quad once and
21:51
it I was a baby for like a month and a half. Like tearing
21:55
it, My goodness, that's got to be surgery. I don't know.
21:56
That's got to be horrible. Hopefully he ends up being okay, But yeah,
22:00
I think this year is completely done for him. But Questenberry, I
22:04
mean, at least in the Eagles game, we weren't saying, oh,
22:07
another sack caused by David Questionenberry, Like right, I feel like he probably
22:14
was serviceable, you know, coming in out of nowhere. So hopefully he's
22:18
another Schlotman type guy who is okay coming in if we need him. But
22:22
I don't know. We need we need some guys to hold down the fort
22:26
up front. We need to give Kirk time, and we need to open
22:30
up some lanes for these backs to get through and exact in the yards.
22:33
That's another question mark that I have about the addition of cam Akers. I
22:37
mean, yeah, Alex Madison had a couple of rough fumbles, well one
22:42
official fumble and then the other the second one that he did fumble, but
22:45
it was a call back on a penalty. I mean outside of that,
22:49
he hasn't really had any room to run, Like. He's not a shifty
22:55
you know, gonna turn a negative two yard loss into an actual fifty our
23:00
gain because he just like fluid moves through the line out of nowhere. But
23:03
you can't go anywhere if there's nowhere to go, Like, there's got to
23:07
be some type of lane for you to run through. And I just don't
23:11
think he's had and he's any room. Like I've said this before, I
23:15
think he's more of the traditional downhill, rough and tumble type of back,
23:19
whereas Dalvin Cook was a little bit more of the shifty side to side,
23:25
try to make something out of nothing. Yeah, type of back and you
23:29
know which may How about Dalvin He hasn't done anything yet. I almost wonder
23:34
if he's still like recovering from that surgery. I don't know. Well,
23:38
and you wonder too, if you know, Aaron Rodgers' injury has kind of
23:44
played an effect on the rest of that team, and they're like, well,
23:48
maybe we don't have a shot at what we thought we had because Jets
23:52
team is still a good roster. That's why. Yeah, the laughable media
23:56
has talked about the Vikings trading Kirk Cousins, which, to be clear,
24:03
Cousins has a no trade clause. He would have to okay anything, and
24:07
I don't think he'd want to go any I don't think he wants to leave
24:11
Minnesota. I don't think Minnesota is trying to get rid of him. I
24:14
think you'd have to lose five more games for the Vikings to even contemplate,
24:19
you know, getting you know, selling and getting rid of any good players.
24:25
And then even if we did want to move on or not, we
24:27
but if Quacy and the organization wanted to move on, it would still be
24:33
up to Kirk because of the not yeah, he would have to be like,
24:36
yeah, okay, I'll go, And I don't think he would want
24:40
to. Yeah, I mean unless he saw the riding on the wall,
24:41
I think yeah. I think the only way is if the Vikings are suddenly
24:45
zero and seven and let's say the Jets have surprised and they're you know,
24:51
six and one or something, and the trade package is perfect, and Kirk
24:57
realizes, hey, it would be better for me to leave. I don't
25:00
see it happening. One thing we do know about Kirk is he's a good
25:03
businessman, good businessman, and just a good dude overall. He's a great
25:07
dude overall. Yeah, great, you are right. He he's sad wind
25:11
and dying himself into some good guaranteed money, and good for him, he
25:17
sure has. I watched a little bit with I think it was Dan Patrick.
25:22
It was either Dan Patrick or Rich Eyesen. I can't remember which one,
25:26
but both both guys I respect a lot, and yeah, listen to
25:33
a lot of what they say. But one of them was saying something about
25:36
how and I guess I didn't realize this when it happened. But when Kirk
25:41
signed his Megadeal to come to Minnesota in what twenty eighteen whenever that was?
25:48
Yeah, that was the first fully guaranteed contract ever. Yeah, that's why
25:52
a lot of people are still butt hurt that Kirk makes so much money.
25:57
But even now, like his contract pales in comparison to Pat Holmes, which
26:03
I mean two different players, but still, and I believe he said a
26:06
precedent and now like Patrick Mahomes, wasn't his new contract fully guaranteed when he
26:14
signed it, what twenty twenty or whenever it was, you know, the
26:17
one that he was just signed like last week? Oh yeah, that they
26:19
did something to make it right by him, because you know, Joe Burrow
26:22
was signing a new contract. Jalen Hurts, right, Lamar Jackson. They
26:26
all got that generation of quarterback is all signing their deals now. But I
26:32
think like several of them have followed in Kirk's footsteps and they're like, well,
26:37
shoot, if Kirk did it back in twenty eighteen, then yeah,
26:41
I want mine fully guaranteed too. Yeah, the differences, and I don't
26:45
know if anybody else has been fully like one hundred percent guaranteed. I'm pretty
26:48
sure Kirk's initial vikings contract. It was for like three years, eighty something
26:55
million dollars, and that was fully guaranteed. He has since signed a few
26:59
different contract right right, you know, extensions, and but that initial contract
27:04
with the Vikings was precedent setting. Oh yeah, absolutely. It was a
27:08
huge amount and it was fully guaranteed, which hadn't happened before. Yeah,
27:14
so that's I don't know, Like I said, Kirk's a good businessman,
27:18
and if the right opportunity comes up for him, who knows, maybe he
27:22
does take it. Yeah. Well, and the other thing, I don't
27:26
know if we should even waste more time talking about a hypothetical Kirk trade because
27:32
it's not going to happen. But if the Jets were let's say it was
27:37
that, you know, Vikings zero and seven, Jets are six and one,
27:40
and they really wanted Kirk Cousins and Kirk did decide, Yeah, I
27:45
guess I'll go. The Jets. I'm pretty sure don't even have access to
27:48
either their first or second round picks in next draft because they're both kind of
27:52
implicated with the Aaron Rodgers trade. Oh yeah, like it's not done yet.
27:57
I think it's a conditional second that can become a first but it's obviously
28:02
not going to become a first because it's based on playtime. But it's still
28:06
not like done. And I think in order for any of that to change,
28:11
like the Packers and Jets would have to renegotiate whatever contract or whatever trade
28:18
deal they had, And you can bet the Packers are not going to renegotiate
28:22
anything if it helps the Vikings, right, because in that scenario, it
28:26
would help the Vikings get a better draft pick in a potential Kirk trade,
28:30
which is not gonna happen because I don't I don't see Kirk getting traded.
28:34
Ever. We're going down the wormhole a little bit, but that's okay.
28:38
We already talked about the Eagles loss too much. Yeah, we should keep
28:45
with our tradition and talk about our favorite parts of the game. You try
28:49
to stay positive a little bit. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, well,
28:53
I mean we already talked about our least favorite obviously one they lost.
28:57
Yeah, and then I said, I'll hold true. I think the two
29:00
biggest reasons they lost is the turnovers and then they couldn't get the defense off
29:06
the field. So as far as my favorite, I mean, we kind
29:08
of talked about it too. I think the offense looked really good. TJ
29:12
Hockinson had two touchdowns kJ Osborne. He's that was the most blatant exposure to
29:21
having JJ on the other side. Ever, when kJ caught his touchdown and
29:25
he was the only person in the area for like fifteen yards, I think
29:29
I saw some stat it was the most most separation that any touchdown catch has
29:37
had since like twenty twenty or something like that. He was just the definition
29:41
of wide open. It's just you're not getting the run game. And I
29:45
don't know, I don't know what they're gonna do to make the run game
29:48
better if they can't block better. And Riisner is a good solution to that.
29:55
But yeah, that's probably my favorite. It is just how explosive that
29:57
offense looked. Yeah, I agree. I think even just looking back at
30:06
the scoring breakdown, I mean we scored three touchdowns in the last third of
30:15
the game. I mean you've got the Jordan Addison sixty two yard pass with
30:19
nine nine in the third, and then kJ catches a ten yard pass,
30:25
and the fourth TJ catches a five yard pass with a minute to go to
30:30
pull within a touchdown, and I know we attempted the on side kick and
30:37
it went right to an Eagles player and that was kind of the end.
30:40
But I mean, gosh, we were still kind of in it, kind
30:45
of. I mean, you're a you know, almost impossible on side kick
30:48
away from Yeah, having an exciting last minute of the game. And shoot,
30:53
I mean, how many one score games did we win last season?
30:57
Eleven a lot. Yeah, literally, they broke the record. Most of
31:03
the wins we had were by a very thin margin. So yeah, it
31:08
was encouraging to see the offense look so good. And I think just not
31:15
just the offense looking so good, but I would also add another thing that
31:21
I appreciated from the game was just the toughness and the grit to push through.
31:29
You know, you're sitting at with ten fifty four in the third quarter,
31:34
I mean not even halfway through the third quarter and you're down twenty seven
31:38
to seven. To come back and score three touchdowns after that to make it
31:44
a game after that, Ye, that says something about the guys, and
31:48
I think it it's a continuation of the way that they've played, in the
31:53
way that they were coached last season. We saw a lot of that last
31:57
season. They just didn't give up. Colts game biggest comeback in NFL history
32:02
age it never gave up. The Bills game, you know, looked like
32:07
it was all but done and all Jared Allen had to do Josh Allen,
32:12
not Jared Wow, Jared out that was a Freudian slip. All Josh Allen
32:17
had to do is kneel it and he fumbles it. And you know,
32:21
like I don't know, the grit and the toughness they just never quit was
32:25
was good to see. I don't know if there's a third thing, but
32:30
well, definitely, even even at OZ and two, the best thing you
32:34
can do is start winning. Yeah, And I think Chargers on Sunday,
32:39
I think you can go there and you can win. Or no, that's
32:42
a home game and we're at home. I think you can you can beat
32:46
the Chargers. I think they're overrated. I mean that's not me talking smack.
32:52
I think the Chargers are overrated. And I'm not sold wholly on Justin
32:58
Herbert yet. And I think this team, the Vikings, is they're a
33:02
better team than the Chargers right now, so I'm expecting them to win.
33:07
I don't remember what I predicted in our preseason, you know, win loss
33:13
predictions, but I'm pretty sure they're gonna They're gonna come away one and two
33:16
after Sunday, I agree, Yeah, I definitely think they win. I
33:22
do think. I only know this because Keenan Allen was on my fantasy team
33:28
and he's one of the reasons I won my fantasy game this last week.
33:31
But you definitely got to watch out for Justin Herbert to his receivers. I
33:38
think he's got a handful of good ones, and I think if they get
33:43
into a rhythm, that could be problematic for a younger secondary like the Vikings
33:49
have. But that same secondary looked really good against the Eagles pass rush defense.
33:54
They sure did pass offense last week. Now, granted the Eagles didn't
34:00
have to pass very much, and they did have a couple of explosive plays
34:02
in the passing game, but I mean, they were letting them run all
34:07
over, so they didn't have to pass very much. But when they did,
34:09
other than a couple of plays, they looked really good. Yep,
34:14
yep, we're uh. We're always kind of attuned to the odds and the
34:21
line. Yeah, the betting odds. I think with that, I think
34:24
when they opened up the lines, the Vikings were like a two and a
34:29
half point underdog at home, which is pretty bad. But as of right
34:35
now, that line has moved a little bit and the Vikings are only a
34:37
one point underdog, So I don't know, by the time kickoff happens,
34:45
it'll probably be an even pick them game, you know, minus one ten
34:49
to minus one ten. There probably won't be a betting favorite once they kicked
34:52
the ball off. But I don't know. I think that that says a
34:55
lot about an zero to two team to be almost even pick them against.
35:02
I guess what's the Charges record. I don't even know. I haven't paid
35:07
that much. Let's find out. You should probably know that. I'd imagine
35:12
the Chargers won a game. Yeah, gotta love dead air. That's okay.
35:20
I still think it speaks well to the Vikings to make that line move
35:23
towards them. Oh, the Chargers are also also too. You know,
35:30
one of these teams is gonna get their first win, and I think it's
35:31
gonna be the home team, and I think the Vikings are good. There's
35:35
gonna be the first win in a run of wins. I would like to
35:39
agree with you. You need to keep talking for a minute and I'll grab
35:44
our papers. Here and we can oh yeah, yeah, we'll look and
35:46
see. Well, let's look at the next few few games for the Vikings.
35:52
They've got the Chargers on Sunday, and then they travel to Carolina,
35:57
which that'll be an emotional game against you know, a fan favorite former Vikings
36:02
wide receiver in Adam Thielen. Another game I think the Vikings will win just
36:08
based off experience. And then after the Carolina game, you got what I
36:15
would have thought before the season started would have been the second big hiccup in
36:19
the season is you're hosting the Chiefs, which I mean, you can't you
36:23
can't talk about about the Chiefs right now. They are who they are.
36:27
They're a really good team. But I think this Vikings team could be built,
36:30
barring any major injuries, could be built to make that a game as
36:35
well. They'll probably lose against the Chiefs, but I think it could be
36:39
a game. So yeah, I did predict in the preseason. I predicted
36:45
the Vikings are actually gonna lose to the Chargers, which you did. Huh.
36:51
Yeah, my current predictions they're gonna win. You can't really take back
36:54
you know, I'm not gonna take walk back on my preseason prediction. But
37:00
as things sit right now, I think they're gonna beat the Chargers. Yep,
37:04
I've got a win. My wife has a win. My kids predicted
37:09
we'd be two and oh right now, and man, they said we would
37:14
lose to the Chargers. So hopefully they just continue being wrong. Yep.
37:19
Well, the only one I think of anybody that has been right so far
37:24
through two weeks has been my oldest daughter, who has said they would lose
37:28
the first two weeks. What does she have for the Chargers? Are you?
37:30
Are you ready for this? She thinks the Vikings are gonna wake up,
37:36
they're gonna head the US Bank, They're gonna practice, they're gonna get
37:39
ready, they're gonna warm up, they're gonna play a tough game. And
37:43
ultimately, at the end of the game, she said they were gonna beat
37:45
the Chargers. So let's hope she's right. And she said, for what
37:51
it's worth that they would beat the Panthers the next week. But also remember
37:58
she predicted a twelve and five season. Hey, I mean, if she's
38:01
right, I will take that, yeah, even if it means starting zero
38:06
and two. And I don't think I've talked about it in quite a few
38:08
episodes, but my household has the every time the Vikings win, we get
38:15
ice cream rule. My kids have not had ice cream, and let's hope
38:20
the Vikings change that up against the Chargers. Natalie thinks they're going to change
38:23
it up and win and we're going to get ice cream on either Sunday or
38:28
Monday. Let's make that happen. Vikes, let's make that happen. Hopefully,
38:35
You're really not gonna let kids get ice cream. Come on, Vikings,
38:39
you can do it. Oh. I reached out. I reached out
38:46
to our grass friend Ryan Nor and as of yet, I haven't heard anything
38:52
back, but I'm holding out hope Ryan. He's a busy guy. Ryan.
38:54
We need your expertise on how NFL stadiums can all convert to natural grass.
39:00
I want to see it. I want to hear your thoughts. This
39:04
is a good plug right there. Yep. Speaking of reaching out, we
39:07
should probably talk about our socials. We should. Yeah. So we are
39:14
on Twitter or x whatever you want to call it. This it's nothing else.
39:20
We are on Facebook, we're on Instagram, and I think that's it
39:24
so far. And it's all at the skull hop th h E s K
39:30
O L H O P. You can spell one word, I teach English.
39:35
Oh there you got that at symbol in front of it though sometimes oh
39:39
yeah, there you go. We also have an email address, which is
39:43
the skull Hop at gmail dot com. That's right. The offer still stands.
39:49
Send us an email, maybe we'll read it on on the podcast.
39:52
But if you send us an email and one one, we've got a sticker
39:55
for you. Even if you don't want one, we'll just send you on
39:59
anyways. We're just we're gonna find your address. But yeah, reach out,
40:06
talk to us on the socials and email. We'll talk about it on
40:08
the podcast unless you don't want us to. And hopefully we'll get a reply
40:15
from Brian nor our favorite grass guy. But if not, that's okay.
40:20
And who knows, maybe we'll get a reply from you know, Exile Brewing
40:23
or your Confluence or any of the other featured breweries on our little homegrown podcast
40:32
here absolutely. By the way, what did you think of this Octoberfest from
40:36
Exile? I liked it a lot. It's hitting the spot, it's so
40:39
good. Yeah, we had the we won't name the the brand of Octoberfest.
40:45
We are drinking over the weekend because they're not in Iwa brewery. They
40:49
may they maybe Patriots fans where they brewed that october Fest and it was good,
40:53
it was it was good. I'd say the one we had over the
40:55
weekend is the like a good bar. You know, it's a good bar
41:00
to set as what an Octoberfest should be. And I'm not I'm not lying.
41:05
This one I think exceeds that. Bob. Yeah, it's not hyperbole
41:08
to say that this is just better. Yes, Exiles Octoberfest is better than
41:14
the Patriots Fans Octoberfest. I agree, one hundred percent. Yeah, one
41:21
hundred Well, if you're listening out there, connect with us, find us
41:27
on those socials. You could also recommend an Iowa beer for us to try.
41:31
Yeah, we would not be opposed. We're gonna run out of what
41:36
Hive has, so even if it's a brewery we've tried before. Uh,
41:40
we're trying to work our way through individual types of beers. So that's right.
41:45
So yeah, we're putting these in the descriptions too on the podcast.
41:49
So if you're listening on Apple or Spotify or whatever your podcast avenue is,
41:55
when you read our description, it should tell you what what we're enjoying during
42:00
that specific episode. So you can work your way backwards and figure out what
42:05
we've had before and recommend something new. We'd love to try it, and
42:08
we'll take any suggestions that are out there for sure. The only thing is
42:13
it's got to be brood right here between the Missouri and the Mississippi. It
42:16
has to be brewed in Iowa. That's right. We won't make any exceptions.
42:21
That's right. We've got a friend that Bruce has own beer and we
42:24
live in Illinois. Well, we cannot have Illinois Brood. I thought I
42:30
thought you guys brewed that here in Iowa. I forgot he was from Illinois.
42:34
Yeah, he lives in Illinois. Sorry, that't That won't fly here.
42:37
So Forrest, if you want us to have one of your beers,
42:39
you'll have to come over and brew it in Iowa and then you can then
42:43
we can drink it on the pod. Maybe maybe we should do that.
42:46
Forrest is a Bears fan. Maybe we should do that and have Forest on
42:51
during a Bears week to talk about his Iowa brewed beer and how his team
42:55
is falling apart. Only if we can put his newly Iowa brewed beer in
43:05
a can or a model that's purple and gold. I think we can probably
43:08
make that happen. I'll happily provide the material. All right, man,
43:15
it's been a good episode. Beer. Hopefully next week we're talking about a
43:19
Chargers win, a Vikings win over the Chargers, that's the goal. Yeah,
43:23
I said that wrong. All right, Well, thanks for listening,
43:27
and until next time, school school at at at a