Latest / The Skol Hop / Can you stop talking about the Vikings QBs?!?! We talked about the Punters too | TSH Ep. 153

Transcript

Can you stop talking about the Vikings QBs?!?! We talked about the Punters too | TSH Ep. 153 · The Skol Hop

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right hey vikings fans welcome in to another episode
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of the skull hop i'm evan and i'm austin we're
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: just a couple of dudes from iowa we like drinking
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: beer and talking about the vikings.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah we do and we had so much fun talking
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: about that fantastic third pre-season game against the broncos i
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: wish we could do it again high life And then
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: we got to have a really good, non-sarcastic, great new
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: beer from one of our favorite breweries. And it kind
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: of reminded us of the Champagne of Beers.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Champagne of Beers.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: It was really good, though. So then we had a
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: long and hopefully final argument about J.J. McCarthy. And I
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: think you should stick around for that one, too. Back bacon.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: We closed out. by talking about the Vikings' initial 53-man
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: roster because even after this episode, it's going to change
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: up a little bit more. Woo! And if you're wondering
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: what Evan's doing, then you should go ahead and check
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: out the 2009 Super Bowl commercials from, I believe it
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: was Miller High Life. That was a lot of fun
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: to laugh at, too. So whenever you're ready, go ahead
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: and grab a cold one and join us for episode
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: 153 of the Skol Ha. Skol. Skol.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: All right, Evan, let's drink some beer.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. Let's do it. Football's right around the corner,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: but beer is always here. And tonight we're I picked
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: up the beer. I actually got it yesterday, so it's
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: just been sitting staring at me in the fridge. This
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: one is from Big Grove Brewery, one of our favorites.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: And this is a beer at least I had never
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: seen before. It must be a relatively new one. Have
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: you seen it before?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I have not seen it. Nice.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: And that means it's got to be new because it's
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: an amber ale, so you would definitely have seen it before.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: It's Big Grove's Silo Amber Ale.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And....
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I'm just really excited to try it. Usually anytime I
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: see a new beer from Big Grove, I'm like, yeah,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: all right, I'm going to try that one.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: And I just like the description on this. I'm going
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to read it quick. It says, a testament to the
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: timeless amber style, an enduring symbol of the Midwestern spirit.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: That just sounds like a beer I want to drink.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: That kind of sounds like a Dodge Ram commercial. Like
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: a rock.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Oh, like a rock.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: We might have to, like, you know, bleep that out.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know. That could cost us a lot of money.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: But you mentioned, too, that the design of the can
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: is pretty cool. Yeah, I'm just excited to crack these
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: open and get them drank.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Let's do it. The gold top, the gold can top
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: is hard to open, but it looks cool.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Careful. I shook one of them up really hard, so
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: let's see if that's.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: What it is.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I can't open it.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to swap it out.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: I would offer to help, but That one's easier.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: That was a workout. Yeah, it's a good golden color. Oh,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: I like the hard pour thereof. All right, yeah. We
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: got a nice, it's an amber beer. I didn't know.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: The can kind of made me think it would be
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: more of a lighter color, you know, that classic style beer. But, yeah,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: this looks good. It's a nice amber color.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: It's kind of hazy.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a little bit. 5.6%. And, uh, we'll see, uh,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: we'll see where it lands on the lawnmower scale.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: It's cool. Yeah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: I feel like every once in a while we, um, we,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: we get a beer from Big Grove or one of
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: the other like Iowa breweries and it's very obviously like
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: it's a beer that's just a beer's beer and it's
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: not trying to do anything. It's not supposed to, it's
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: not trying to be, you know, like the pizza beer
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that we had a few weeks ago, which I have
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: an update on that by the way. Um, this beer
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: is one of those that in the best way possible
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: is just a good high quality local brewery making a
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: beer's beer and doing it very well, probably with a
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: really high quality ingredients and, A lot of time and
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: attention put into the recipe, but this is like an
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: everyman's beer, and it's really good. I like it. It's
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: just a solid amber beer for me.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Solid. It's malty, which is good, and that's kind of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: what makes it ambery. It's got the good grain texture
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to it, and I like how it's a little hazy.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: It means that there's some character to it. It's not see-through.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: It's not just water with a little bit of stuff
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: in it.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: It's good. Like, I feel like this is in the
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: category of beers that, like, you know, you get a
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: group of guys together to go to the brewery, go
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: to Big Grove, and, you know, most of the guys
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: are like, yeah, I'll take the IPA, I'll take the porter,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: you know, whatever, and there's always one guy in the
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: group that's like, just give me something that's like a
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: regular beer. And this is instantly what they would hand them,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: and that guy would be very happy. This is just
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: a good regular beer, and I'm glad we're trying it.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I would have a lot of these, and as far
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: as lawnmower scale goes... Evan, I think we have another
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: one in the eights here. I think, uh, I'm going
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: to go 8.2 as far as lawnmower scale. And that's
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: pretty high. That's probably one of the highest I've given.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Well, you can see I doubled up already. I'm ready
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to enjoy this. Um, this is a beer that if
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I were coming in after doing some yard work in
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the fall, like when you're cleaning up the leaves, you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: it's late October and it's, there's a little bit of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: a chill in the air. And, uh, You know, you're
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: finished watching the football games. It's 3 o'clock, 3.30. The
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: sun's going to go down in a little bit because
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: it sets earlier.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: You got to hustle out there and, you know, you
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: got to get some of that yard work done. This
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: is that beer that you crush when you come inside
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: after that. And it's not going to, like, put you down.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: It's not going to keep you home from work the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: next day. It's just, this is a good one.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Good job, Big Grove. I like this one
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: a lot.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: All right, Ev. The end is here. Of the preseason.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Of the preseason.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Thank goodness. I, you know, usually around July time, I'm
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: sitting there thinking like, man, I can't wait for preseason
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: to start. I know it's not regular season football. I
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: know it's not the same, but I'll take anything right now.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: There's always the joke of like, you know, somebody will
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: tweet and be like, man, I could really go for
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: a terrible Thursday night football game right now. And that's
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: kind of what I think of preseason too. Like I
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: was ready, but then about two minutes into the first
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: preseason game, I was like, all right, I'm over this.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Let's have some real football now.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Let's play some meaningful games.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And they've played all the preseason games. Vikings, they just
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: finished up against the Broncos, and they got walloped. It's
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: like the Vikings didn't even care to look good on
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: the field, which do you fault them so much? Are
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: we concerned that the Vikings only scored six points? Are
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: we concerned that Max Brosmer probably still doesn't have an
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: NFL touchdown, preseason or not, under his belt? Um, or
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: is it just, Hey, it was the third preseason game.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: We don't care anymore. Let's just play.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it's, there's more to it than that. Right.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Because it's not just, um, it's not just the third
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: preseason game. It's not just Max Brosmer. I know Carson
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Wentz played what, what one series at the beginning.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. He finished with like four pass attempts. So yeah,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: not very much at all.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Um, and I, the, the preseason is becoming less and
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: less meaningful because Just this week, they vetoed or got
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: rid of the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl's done. We
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: can talk about that later. But it just seems like
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the NFL is honing in on the regular season and
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. That's it. There's nothing else that's important. The
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: preseason is kind of a little bit of a money grab.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, let's just see what we can get for...
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: advertisers and stuff and let's just rehearse the on-field product
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: knowing that people are out there watching but it's not
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: that important it doesn't matter we know that coaches aren't
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: going to play the starters shoot uh matt lafleur had
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: jordan love calling plays on the sideline in the third
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and fourth quarter of the packers final preseason game like
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that's how much the coaches care they're like i'm not
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: calling the plays here Starting quarterback, you do it. It's
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: a good training exercise for you. It's like your intern,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: you do this for me kind of thing.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: To that point, KOC, I'm pretty sure for the whole
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: third quarter, was on the radio with Paul Allen on
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: the sidelines as the game was happening. And I know
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: that that's an entertainment thing, and I actually really like
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: that they do that. But they would never even joke
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: about doing that during the regular season.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: No, not at all. And you see other sports like
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball, you've got guys wearing microphones on the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: field during actual regular season games. And that's such a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: different thing because their product is so different. The season
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: is so long. They're trying to spike engagement and, you know, they're,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: they're trying to maintain their audience. All, all of that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to say, um, preseason, man, it's, we don't even really
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: care that it's not televised. The Vikings aren't really, I mean, I.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Kind of care, but let's be real here. If, If
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: it was televised and I could watch easily every minute
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: of it, I probably wouldn't. I'd watch parts of some games,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: but like i wouldn't sit there for three hours every
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: game and consume every second of it i could now
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: all that said i do think there's value in the
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: nfl preseason um i i think it is valuable for
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: the guys that are fighting for a roster spot um
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: we'll probably talk about him here later but jacob thomas
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: the the undrafted rookie like if not for preseason games, yes,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: he still practiced and he's still impressed in practice and
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: training camp, but like it was fun for fans to
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: follow along. And the only way they could do that
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: was through the games. And that guy probably has a
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: roster spot with this team right now because of his
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: play in preseason games. So for that, that's, that's good.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: And I think Kyler Murray would probably tell you like, Hey,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it's nice to go through the process of traveling with
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the team. And he got a few snaps in the
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: first game, but like, He's new to the Vikings. So
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: like just to kind of get the feel for it
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: and to have that experience before they're actually traveling for
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: real in week two to go to Chicago, it's not
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: all brand new. It's like, okay, now I know where
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: the snacks are. Now I know what time to be where,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. So there is value in it. And
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: it's also preseason for refs and for security at the
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: stadiums and.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: For the Your game day entertainment.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: All that stuff.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: So, and it's, you'd rather mess up when it literally
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter than to mess up. And that's from the
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: top down, from the security, from the concession stands, from
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Paul Allen. You'd rather like, if anything's going to go wrong,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: have it happen in a preseason game when it's not,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. So there's value in it. It's just,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I'm so ready for regular season football.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I think we would be remiss if we didn't
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: talk about J.J. McCarthy essentially opting out of this third
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: preseason game. So the context is, and we know this,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: after the Vikings' only home preseason game, J.J. basically said
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: in his postgame interviews that he was dealing with a
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: minor ankle injury. Sounded kind of reminiscent of what he
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: dealt with kind of in the middle of the season
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: last year. And then there's been all this speculation in
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the week leading up to this final preseason game, you know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: is he okay? Is this a ruse? Is he trying to, like,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: just get out of town? Is the team trying to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: get rid of him? All of these different angles coming
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: in from all of this stuff. And he essentially, it
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: sounds like, told KOC he couldn't play, wouldn't play, didn't
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: want to play.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing. Like, we don't really, really know.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of Twitter speculation and a lot of
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: people that sound like they've think they know what they're
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: talking about, but their username is like, like hater one, two, three, four,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you know, like, so we just, we really don't know.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: But I mean, from actual news sources, it does kind
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: of sound like the plan, the team's plan was for
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: JJ to play a lot of the game or at least,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: you know, a full quarter or something, if not a
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: full half. And he, and it wasn't just a full
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: team decision that, for him not to play. It sounded
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: like JJ at least had some say in that, which I,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: I wanted to see JJ play. I wanted to see
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: him out there and see how he did. I'm a
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: JJ guy, but like, obviously I'm not, you know, going
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: to fight anybody over my JJ opinions. So it was
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: kind of weird and disappointing. And I don't think we
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: will ever truly know the backstory behind why this you know, oh,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: it went from, oh, he's going to be out a
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: couple of, a little bit of practice, or maybe even
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: just practice one day, and then the plan is for
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: him to play, and then it turned into, now today,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Adam Schefter is on, I think, Pat McAfee, and he
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: alluded to the idea that, hey, this ankle thing is
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: a week-by-week thing. Like, how did it go from, he's
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: going to be held up in practice today, to now
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: it could be week-by-week? I don't, I don't really know. So,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: The whole thing is kind of weird, and I don't
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: know if it's fishy, but like I said last week,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: as long as Kyler Murray comes out and plays well,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: nobody's even going to care about QB2 or 3 or
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: whatever you think J.J.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Is.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: So let's just get to the regular season.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Well, and I don't know. I do think there is
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: something fishy with that because if you're J.J., and you
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: are all of a sudden in the media for not
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: living up to expectations and, um, being the, you know,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the 10th overall pick a couple of years ago and
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: this and that, and they brought Kyler in cause you
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: couldn't hang last year. And Carson Wentz has kind of
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: usurped you as QB too. Like, wouldn't you want to
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: fight through a minor ankle injury to get reps at
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: quarterback to prove your worth and to maybe sway the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: coaches one way or the other? Like, I'm the guy.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: At least keep me on as QB2. And I think
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: this is even more interesting because Max Brosmer was kept on.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: The Vikings kept four quarterbacks on the initial 53-man roster,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and then he was released shortly after. I mean, he
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: hadn't been on that for, what, more than a couple hours.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, so the initial roster was announced yesterday. As
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: we record now, it's Monday night, so this will be
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: out Tuesday probably. Um, the initial roster was released on Sunday,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: four quarterbacks were on it. And then today, Monday by
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: like noon, um, it was announced like, oh yeah, we've
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: claimed a couple of guys and to, to free up
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: that roster spot, Max Brosmer is out of there.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: So it's just interesting, you know, and you've said, even
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: since you walked into my house, oh, Max Brosmer will
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: be back. He'll be back.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: I expect him to be on the practice squad. They've
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: announced the practice squad today. There's 16 slots, and they
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: signed 15 guys. There's one slot open, and I think
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: the plan is either Brosmer or Dylan Bell, who's the
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: other guy they released today.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I wonder if.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: If there's still that possibility that there's only three total quarterbacks,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: two on the 53-man and one on the practice squad.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know that the Vikings will keep three because
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: that emergency QB3 last year was a practice squad quarterback.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: No, that person would still have to be on the
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: 53-man roster.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: They still have to be on the 53-man roster. Okay,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: so then I am wrong.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: It could be a scenario where teams are able to
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: call up a practice squad player to suit up for
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: the game, but they're still on the practice squad. They're
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: not on the 53-man roster. So that could happen. The
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: situation you're alluding to, if the Vikings kept If they
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: somehow got rid of J.J., traded or whatever, they're not
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: going to cut him because there's no reason to cut him.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: But if it suddenly became that the Vikings 53-man roster
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: only had Kyler and Carson Wentz, but then they had
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Max Brosmer on the practice squad, on a week they
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: could designate, hey, Brosmer, we're going to elevate you. as
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: a practice squad player to be the third emergency quarterback. Um,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: but they can only do that per practice squad game player,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: like three or four times, maybe even just two. I
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: don't know, but there's some gamesmanship to it. There's ways
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: they can play that system.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: So let me, let me be clear on where I
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: stand with JJ. Cause I've thought about this a little bit. I,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: and I agree with you. I don't think he'll be
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: cut because I don't think the Vikings are going to
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: be that bold to just cut and move on. I
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: also don't know that he's necessarily super trade worthy. Um,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: but I think JJ might opt out.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I'll let you finish.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hear me out. Cause I think JJ is in
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: this new generation of NFL player that we haven't seen before. Um,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: older generations, our generation, typically, you know, you go where
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: your first opportunity is. You play out your contract. if
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: it works out great, your agent might be able to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: pull a few strings or whatever, but you're going to
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: go where the opportunities are.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And you're not really going to complain. You're not going
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: to make too much of a stink about like, Oh,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: well I could be making way more money over there. Some,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: some guys do. There's always the outliers. And you know,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: if we look at the bell curve, but I think
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: JJ might epitomize this new type of NFL player that,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: kind of encapsulates where kids are today. I just had
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: a really interesting conversation at lunch with some of my coworkers.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: We're all high school teachers. And it was our publications
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: journalism guy in my department. He was saying, yeah, did
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: you know that a lot of these football players hire
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: their friends to take pictures of them at the games?
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, really? He's like, yeah, at least like
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: 10 of our players at our high school, the one
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: that I work at, they've got, people that just come
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: out to the games and photograph them and only them.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: So that way they can promote themselves on social media.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And I only say that because I think we're in
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: this new era of athlete where the athlete is so self-focused,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: so about me, my brand. And I don't know that
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the Vikings have been good for JJ's brand. I think
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the Vikings have really only drug him down, so to speak.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I think it's been kind of detrimental. He won a
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: national championship with Michigan the year before like this weeks
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: months before he was drafted by the Vikings and it's
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: been this roller coaster since he was drafted we were
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: all excited you know we were pumped we were like
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: all right franchise QB here we go and then first
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: season injured basically a redshirt rookie year and then second
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: season played what six games seven games Well, it was
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: this past season.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: He started 10.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: He started 10?
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: And he was 6-4 in those 10.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: That's right. Okay. But still, like, just not ideal. And
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: in those 10 games, it was up and down.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: It was, yeah.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: You had good games. You had bad games. You had
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: good quarters, and you had bad quarters. And you had
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: great throws where your form looked impeccable, and then you
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: had bad throws where it was like every quarterback coach
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: everywhere was– you know, shielding their eyes at what they
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: were looking at. So all of this to say, I
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: think we're entering maybe into a new era of football player.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm reading too much into a
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: very niche angle of all of this that doesn't even
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: actually amount to anything. But I thought about it and
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: I think it could be. And I wonder if JJ
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and his agent are quietly having some conversations like, okay,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: let's see how this roster shapes up let's see if
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: they keep me on or not and if they don't
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: then I might you know I might opt to take
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: my talents elsewhere.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I mean I could see your thought process there but
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: we haven't he hasn't ever said anything that makes it
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: sound like he's.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: But that's I think that's part of the strategy too
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: though right.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: I mean he's been asked point blank too like do
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: you want out of here and he has said multiple
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: times like this is where I want to be He's
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: never even joked like, I got a different NFL coach
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: that was my college coach and we won a national championship.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: It'd be fun to have that support. Like he's never
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: said anything like that. Yeah.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: But talk is cheap, I think.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: But also you're putting words into his mouth.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: You're, So is everybody else.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Everybody else on Twitter and ESPN. ESPN wants him gone.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: They think he's the worst. There's people on Twitter that
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: think J.J. McCarthy is evil and the worst. Somebody is like,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: is he the biggest bust in Vikings history?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: No.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Demetrius Underwood is.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: They're comparing him to Christian Ponder and Spurgeon Wynn and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of other guys.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I'm saying the kid is 23. he, this is why
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: the Vikings have no incentive to get rid of him
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: at all. He's 23. He's, he makes a couple million
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: bucks a year, but he's not, he's cheap as far
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: as a backup quarterback, even a backup quarterback. Um, the
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: whole Vikings quarterback room is cheap right now with what
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: they're paying, you know, Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz. Like it's,
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: it's not an expensive room for them right now. It
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: will be probably next year, but, um, JJ is cheap.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: He's young. There's rookies that rookies next year that will
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: be older than him next year. And he's under team
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: control for this season and all of next season. And
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: they won't take it, but they have a fifth year
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: option that they could execute. It'd be dumb because that
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: option would be tens of millions of dollars. And at
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: this rate, he's not worth that. He's also not a distraction.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Somebody replied to one of my tweets earlier this week.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I would disagree with that.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: He's not a distraction. People want him to be a distraction.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Just him existing on the roster, he's getting accused of
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: being a selfish, new-age, take-pictures-of-me football player when he doesn't
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: talk in the media. He talks when the team has
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: him do a press conference, and they ask him tough questions,
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: and he's maybe a 23-year-old kid, but he answers... fine
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: and it's never i hate this team or he wasn't
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: the one saying man i wish i got more reps
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: in practice that was kyler murray he was not the
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: one saying man you know i i'd love to be
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: out there but they're telling me i'm injured like i
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: think people have a problem with jj jj is not
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: a problem he doesn't tweet weird things like stefan diggs
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: when he was with the vikings like that's a whole
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: different ball of wax it's just a hot topic situation
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: because he's a 10th overall pick first round pick that
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: has had Absolutely, up and downs, a lot more downs probably.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: But I've never heard KOC say anything like, yeah, we
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: just need to see more from this kid. I wish
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: he was playing better. It's always been like, yeah, he's
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: here and he's working and he's dedicated. I think people
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: are painting a picture that is unfair of him right now.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: And if you're just looking at facts, there's no reason
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: for the Vikings to want to get rid of him.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I still think there's something there, and I'm going to
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: be on the other side of this tug-of-war.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And that's fine, because there is fishy. It is weird.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: Like I said, why did this suddenly turn from an
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: ankle bang-up where he was going to be held out
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: of practice one day to now, like I said, Adam
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Schefter is saying this could be a week-to-week. Is that
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: just a one-off thing Adam Schefter said, or is it like,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: do we really need to worry about the depth of
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: the quarterback position? Not even just quality, just depth. I
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: don't know. There's something fishy. But... he's not even QB one.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: We don't even have to worry right now. Like, Oh,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: they named him QB one a few weeks ago. And
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: now is he even going to be there? Like Kyler
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Murray is QB one. We don't have any concerns right
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: now about the starters on this team and if they're going.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: To be healthy.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: Um, I, uh, just did a little guest spot with
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: the purple dopes with hopes podcast a few days ago. And, um, Darren,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: one of the guys over there, he made a point
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: that I kind of dawned on me a little bit. Like,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: The Vikings team, when you look at the whole NFC
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: North division, the Vikings are the healthiest team right now.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, we had Jamal Adams. He's out for
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: the year. And then Tyler Batty, he's on injured reserve too.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: But like, we haven't had any devastating starters go down
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: and significantly alter the season already before we've even played. Like,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: we're good. So to be concerned and worried and adamant
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: that J.J. McCarthy either needs to be traded or cut
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: or F that guy, like, We're talking about, at best, QB2.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Let's just play some football.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Well, and I guess I push back on some of
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: that with, like, I said talk is cheap, and I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: wonder if there's some sort of controlling presence there that's
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: telling him, here's what you say, here's how you handle yourself,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: don't reveal anything, you know, and... If we play our
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: cards right, we can get you out of here and
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: we can get you into a better situation. That's conspiracy.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: That's all speculation. It's not factual. Who knows? Perhaps JJ
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: is the consummate professional and he shows up early every day.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: He's working hard. He's staying late. He's studying film. He's
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: doing all the right things. And who knows? Maybe him
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: and KOC are just like the best of buds. I
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: don't know that. We don't know that. There's, there's no
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: way any of us that are out there in this
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: realm doing podcasts and stuff, speculating on all of that
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: can know that. But I'm just looking at what I
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: know and what I see and what I read. And
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: it's like, well, it kind of would add up that
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: he could be that like prima Donna and he's not
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: going to be the, the Chad Ocho Cinco, who's just
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: going to be a total idiot, like all over the
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: media and, Like, I think today's younger players are a
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: little bit smarter. They know how to control their brand.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: And it's not even them. It's the people behind them
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: that are telling them what to do, how to act,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: what to say. They know how to control these kids
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: in a way that looks great to us, looks good
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: on the surface. And we're like, yeah, he's a great guy. Yeah, whatever.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: But behind the scenes, they're scheming every possible angle to
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: optimize their the experience for the kid and optimize the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: contract and optimize the career. Absolutely.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: That's why they hire agents and every single one of
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: these players that have opportunities to speak to the media,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: they have had, whether it's their agent or, you know,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: somebody that's been hired, they've been coached up on how
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: to talk to the media. Like that's everybody that's from,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: you know, the backup punter to, you know, the MV
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Pat Mahomes, like they've all had, some form of like, Hey,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: this is how you answer questions. And like, maybe don't
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: say that. Maybe say this, like, absolutely. That's that. But
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's a conspiracy thing. I go back
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: to it. Like we don't have a Vikings locker room
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: video interviewing players saying, who would you not let your
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: sister date? And all of them saying JJ McCarthy, like
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: we had with Stefan Diggs. What we do have is
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: teammates of his, whenever they're talking about him, I love
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: this kid. I love this guy. I think Brian O'Neill,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: he said publicly many times, I love J.J.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: McCarthy.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: That's my guy. He is a leader. He is great.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: We've never heard anything actually true bad about J.J.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: McCarthy.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: It's just the talking heads on ESPN saying, I don't
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: like that his ankle injury took six weeks. And this
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: kid's obviously terrible. Like, that's the kind of stuff. That's
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: where people form their opinions on him.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: It's his play on the field, too, though.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: That's forming a lot of the narrative, I think. And that's,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, you look at a guy like Christian Ponder.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Christian Ponder was an angel. Like, he was a saint. Like,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: did nothing wrong. He never said, as far as I know,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: never said anything wrong. in the media. Said all the
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: right things. He just, he wasn't cut out to play
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. And that was pretty obvious after a
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: few years. And that's why his career didn't last. And
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: his wife had a longer career in the NFL than
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: he did.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: You know? But, yeah, I just think he's not getting
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: a fair shake. especially on things that really don't matter.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Like it, he's never been flashy. He's never tweeted anything
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: weird or wrong. He might tweet like, what are the
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Amar Fadi or whatever? Something like weird, but not like, uh,
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: that kid, like he's not sure there's Sanders out there
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: saying like, come on, man, it's everybody's out against me.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Like he's never said anything like that. If we just
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: look at what everybody actually says and does, uh, J.J.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: McCarthy's not a villain. And if he is, they've done
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: a really good job hiding it. And if he is,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: nobody in the world can actually know that.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: I guess to be clear, I'm not trying to villainize him.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I think people in my camp are just ready to
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: move on because we've been hurt. We've been burned.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: By this team.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: And by players like that in the past. Like Christian Ponder,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: for example, drafted pretty high. Mm-hmm. had all these high
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: hopes coming in and we're like, all right, this is
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: the answer. This is the answer. And then it just
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: falls flat, you know? And I think Vikings fans are
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: more hopeful at this point for the like sixth or
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: seventh round Tom Brady needle in a haystack kind of
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: thing where it's just like, all right, he might not
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: turn out to be anything, but at least we didn't
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: give up a whole bunch for him. You know, like
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I think we easily rally around a guy like that.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Well and that could be a kyler murray vikings gave
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: up nothing for him they gave kyler murray a shot
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: i hope he plays well like i've said a handful
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: of times like yes i'm a jj guy but like
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: i hope we're talking about how man the vikings are
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: not gonna have any cap space next year because now
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: they gotta pay kyler murray because oh my goodness he
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: played so well like that's a good problem to have
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: i hope we're saying stuff like that because it would
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: be terrible to be like oh crap it's been a And, okay,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: JJ's in, if he even gets in, and hope he
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: plays well. And God forbid he doesn't play, you know, 158.3,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: five touchdowns a game, 400 passing yards a game with
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: another 100 rushing yards. Like, if he doesn't do that,
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: then people are still going to hate him and say,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: get him off the field. We want Carson Wentz. How
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: many times did you and I, less than a year ago,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: on episodes of this show, Say, like, get Carson Wentz
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: off the field. I like Carson Wentz. But there were
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: many times during that five-game starting stretch that he had
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: that we were like, what are we doing here? He's terrible. Like, yeah,
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: he threw for 200 yards, but, like, it didn't work
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: at all. He's done. He's washed up. We forget that
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: so easily.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: We do, but I think the forest is always a lot.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: bigger than the.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Trees that are in front of you in the show forest.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah um like you you look at one player you
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: look at a handful of games you know we're so
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: nearsighted right as nfl fans and i'm casting.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: A very wide umbrella now like all of.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Us are so nearsighted your team is playing great everything's
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: fantastic you win a game by one point it doesn't
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: matter If your team fumbled the ball eight times and
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: your quarterback played terribly, everything's good if you're in the
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: win column. And then you start losing games and you're like,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the world is falling, everything's terrible, fire everybody, get rid
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: of everything.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Usually that's right, but then when J.J. McCarthy wins four
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: games to finish out last year, he's still burned at
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: the stake because he didn't throw for 50 touchdowns last year.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: But at that point, there was no hope of making
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, and it was just kind of like, all right,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: put the kid out there, see what he can do.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: And he didn't impress a ton. The wins don't necessarily
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: completely fall on his shoulders. Yes, he's credited with the wins,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: and yes, he's maybe somewhat responsible for those. But if
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: we dig into the minutia of those games, there are
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: things where we would all just sit back and go, ugh.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: in like he's got a lot of growing up to
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: do still.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely and i'm not saying the vikings benched an mvp
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: i'm not saying this hall of famer is getting a
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: bad rap and jj mccarthy is you know getting you
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: know ripped apart for no reason the vikings made a
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: really good decision in signing kyler murray hopefully that works
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: out i'm just saying they don't need to cut him
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: because people are mad that he didn't throw for 5
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: 000 yards last year like it'd be stupid to cut him.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: He's a good asset on the team.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: I'm smiling because I'm just going all the way back
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: to when we started this podcast and we would have
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: conversations like this over a beer. And like, this is,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: this is the heart and soul of why we did this. Like,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: this is, I'm getting goosebumps right now. Like, this is good.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: We get to disagree.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: I still love you, man. And we're still going to
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: be friends.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: And we're still going to be Vikings fans at the
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: end of it.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: And I... One of us is going to be able
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: to say, in your face, to the other one.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Maybe. I don't know.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: But honestly, who cares if it ends up being Vikings wins? Like,
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: that's all that really matters. I do not care. Can
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: you imagine how much we would have argued if we
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: did the skull hop back in 2009 when the Vikings
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: signed the ultimate Packer quarterback to hopefully be, you know,
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: our savior? I... came around to brett farve after a
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: few weeks but the day it happened when we were
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: seeing oh you were disgusted i was i literally said
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: like what are we doing like this is you are
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: all you're not even vikings fans like we probably and
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: i don't remember what your initial thoughts were on him
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: right there brett farve right when he signed but like
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: i would have been throwing a massive hissy fit on
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: this show And then, turns out, I would have been wrong,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: because 2009 was one of the best years Vikings fans
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: have ever had. I love that we get to talk
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: about this, and honestly, barring injury or a trade or
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: something big in the news happening, we're not really going
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: to get to talk about J.J. McCarthy for a while.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: And that's okay. Maybe the team's fan base needs a timeout,
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: because some of these Vikings fans on Twitter are reminding
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: me of Lions fans, and it's not a good look.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: I want to bring up another point. I feel like
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: this whole episode is just going towards this, so we
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: might as well just keep going. We talked about this pre-show,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and I want to know what you think. It seems like,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: at least in recent years, mostly since we've been doing
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: the podcast, it seems like when the fan base bangs
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: the table for something, it seems like the Vikings organization
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: somewhat bends the knee to what the fans want. You
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: brought up the example of Dalton Reisner. Everybody was like,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: come on, bring him in. We need him. And then, boom,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Dalton Reisner was a Viking. And we loved Dalton Reisner
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: as a Viking.
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: And he did okay in the past game.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: He was a pretty good defensive lineman. We liked him.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: Offensive lineman.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Offensive lineman. That's what I said. You always contradict me.
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: Evan, I love you, man. That was just a straight-up fact.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: You're right.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: I got it wrong.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: I had a 50-50 shot.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: Eat your face!
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Too many things to keep track of.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: I think your point, though, is, like, it may have
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: mostly been, I think Kweisi was on Twitter, and he
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: took a lot of advice when maybe he shouldn't have.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: I think Dalton Reiser, that was a good move. Like,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: it's not like he was Dakota Dozier. He wasn't losing
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: games for the Vikings. He was probably a net positive
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: on the line. But, like, I don't know. I'm struggling
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: to think of other, like, maybe just the idea of
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: drafting a quarterback that high or getting rid of Kirk
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: because he's too old. And that honestly, who knows if
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: they kept Kirk, he probably wouldn't have been great.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know. There's like the whole cam acres thing, like, um,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: bring him back, bring him back, you know? And it
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: was like this annual tradition where we would like gather
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: around our cell phones and cam acres would magically become
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: a Viking. Um, and I feel like there's a few
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: other examples out there too, but, um, I don't know.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I feel like the J.J. McCarthy thing is kind of
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: similar to that too, where it's like, well, everybody in
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the media is talking about J.J. McCarthy and how awful
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: he is and how he just needs to go and
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the Vikings need to get rid of him. And again,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that the Vikings need to do that necessarily,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: although it seems like I am and I'm on that
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: side and I'm definitely leaning more that way. But if
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: we're going off of historical examples here and recent history,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: It would show us that when the fans speak, the
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: Vikings seem to listen, at least to kind of big
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: stuff like this.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Kweisi. Kweisi seemed to listen. I really think it was
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: mostly a Kweisi thing.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: But was it Kweisi or was it KOC or was
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: it a combination of them?
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, Kweisi was the GM. And it was probably
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: a combination, to be honest. But, like, when you're a
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: GM of a football team, you're the guy. Like, unless
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: the owners have a short leash on you, which maybe
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: they did because they ultimately fired him, but. You're the guy.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: You say, I want to sign that guy, and unless
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: that guy doesn't want to sign with you, you guys
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: sign that guy. Like, you want to trade somebody, you
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: want to draft Louis Scene, you're going to draft Louis Scene.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: You know, like, not that Vikings fans were saying, get
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Louis Scene! I specifically remember all of Vikings Twitter collectively
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: being like, wait, who? When they announced that Louis Scene
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: was the draft pick. But like, I don't know. It
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: was just a lot of like, I know exactly what
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: you're talking about. You'd see the rumbles on Twitter like, oh,
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: this could happen. And then, oh, hey, that's happening. Like, okay, nice.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I know you've never watched Moneyball.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: I've watched it. Barely. I've watched it a solid one
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: time at least. I know for sure one time.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: I have a hard time believing that the relationship between
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: the GM and head coach is what it's portrayed in Moneyball.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: When you have oh billy bean and the manager of
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: the oakland a's i don't even remember his name um
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: but they had such an awful relationship in the movie
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and i think a lot of that is hyperbole i
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: think a lot of that is exaggerated um but there's
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: that notorious scene in that movie where billy bean goes
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: to his office like on game day like the players
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: are getting dressed everything's in motion they're gonna play a
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: game in like an hour and he goes to the
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: office and he's like hey i want to see haddaberg
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: at first And he goes, no, I'm starting Pena. And
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: he goes, well, you can't. And he's like, but I am.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: And he's like, yeah, I just traded him. And I
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: don't think that's how KOC has interacted with Kweisi or
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: any manager for that matter. And I don't think that
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: that's how stuff works in pro sports in general. It's
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: a Hollywoodized version of that for sure.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, if we're to believe reports, it sounds like
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer went like a whole year
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: without really even talking.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but in the Moneyball movie, they talked to each other.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: They just hated each other's guts. But anyways, all of
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: that to say, I don't know that KOC is bowing
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: down to the requests of whoever's the GM over him.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: And I think my opinion is KOC has a lot
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: of play in that. I think he's got a lot
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: of influence in that. And I think when he's in
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: the draft room, he is a trusted voice as well
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: as Brian Flores on the defensive side of the ball.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: Especially this year, this most recent draft with Kweisi being
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: gone and then not having, you know, Rob Brzezinski playing,
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: was the interim GM, but it was very clear. I
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: think even the Vikings were saying, like, hey, this is
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: like a three-headed monster. It's Brzezinski, KOC, and they would
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: even say, like, Brian Flores is in there. Like, it
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: seemed like this year of any year, KOC had more
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: influence than he's ever had and maybe ever will have. But, yeah,
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: I would assume KOC seems like the guy that at
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: least has some authority and at least– I don't know
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: how it's going now with Nolan Teasley. If it's Teasley
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: being like, hey, I respect you, KOC, but I'm the GM.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: Or if it's like, hey, let's be a team together
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: and let's do this together. I don't know how it's working.
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: I would venture to guess it's a lot more collaborative
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: than I'm the boss, you do what I say kind
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: of thing. But I would also venture to guess that
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Teasley's a little bit more like, koc you've been here
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: for four years now you've built this roster you've helped
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: build this roster we should say you know and and
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: i think too koc's got he's gonna have to answer
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: to he's gonna have to be held accountable for i
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: should say the jj mccarthy pick at some point i
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: think that's gonna come down the line he's the he's
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: the only remaining uh high ranking staff person that was
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: around when jj mccarthy was drafted and Brian Flores.
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: Was there too, but he's on the other side.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: That's not his responsibility.
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: I will say like, yeah, that's true. And I see
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: the sentiment a lot like, oh, Kweisi was the only
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: one that's lost his job over this terrible pick. And currently, yeah,
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: that's true. But I would say KOC would be a
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: lot more in trouble if he like kept doubling down
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: on JJ and it kept not working. I think KOC,
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: if he ever gets fired or let go from this team,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: At this point, it won't be because of J.J.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: McCarthy.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: Because he's already proven he's not just going to blindly say, nope,
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: we drafted J.J., Kyler's here, Carson's here, but J.J. 's
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: my guy and I'm throwing him out there no matter what.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: He's proving that he's not doing that. If he was
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: doing that, that's when he would then be responsible for
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: being fired if things go wrong or responsible for getting
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: all the credit if it does go right. So I
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: don't think.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: Koc and jj are tied together i think if they
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: were to cut jj yesterday or whenever they did the
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: the final or the initial 53 man roster it wouldn't
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: have been a full indictment on koc espn may have
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: you know spun that that plate to make it seem
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: like it but ultimately koc is just the coach and
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: he's responsible for what happens on the field and at
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: this point he's already said keller's our guy And JJ
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: is on the team. So I know what you're saying
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: by saying, well, he might pay for the JJ McCarthy
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: of it all. But I think in my opinion, only
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: one person had to pay for that and he already did.
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: And nobody else is doubling down on it to need
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: to keep paying for that.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: We spent a lot of time talking about this.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: And you know, it's fun. I was just a minute
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: ago in my head, like, man, everybody's already stopped listening
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: and it's just you and me arguing about JJ McCarthy
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: and it's okay. But like, truthfully, like I said a
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: few minutes ago, this is probably one of the last
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: times we'll get to argue about J.J. McCarthy without it
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: being just two guys yelling at a wall for no reason.
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: Because unless he's traded, then we'll talk about that and
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: it'll be done. All right, that was an interesting time.
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: A year from now, it'd be like, hey, remember, I
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: brought out my J.J. jersey. It's a funny thing that
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: we talk about, but it's not an active talker. Or J.J.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: just never sees the field again because Kyler plays and
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: at least plays good enough to not be benched or
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: plays great and we don't even worry about it. Or,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: you know, the contract runs out. There's only a couple
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: of things now that can happen for us to light
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: up this J.J. McCarthy conversation again. And this is probably
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: one of the last times we'll ever feel the need
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: to argue about it. So there's some solace in that.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: I think that's... Do you think there's... A future where
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: JJ is the answer at quarterback for the Vikings at
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: this point.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: If I had to say a million percent yes or
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: a thousand percent no, like, no, not right now. But
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: I just keep coming back to, we're not at the
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: point of needing to make that decision right now. This
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: isn't a guy where it's like, hey, it's do or die.
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: If they keep him, he costs a hundred million dollars
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: and you have to make that decision right now. Or, Hey,
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: like he, he wants out right now that we're demanding
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: and there's a trade offer. Like there's no point that
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: right now is not the time that they have to
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: say deadlines here. He's under contract for the next two years.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: I think I remember one thing when Adrian Peterson was
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: kind of away from the team. It was when he
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: was suspended for that year. And then it was, like,
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: kind of AP saying, like, I don't know if I
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: want to go back. And then there was one, like,
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: training camp press conference Mike Zimmer did. I think it
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: was Mike Zimmer. Somebody asked him about Adrian, like, is
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: he going to get traded or what? And Zimmer was basically, like,
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: he's on the roster. And if he wants to play football,
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: he's going to show up and play here. That's it. Like,
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: that's all I need to say.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: J.J.
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: McCarthy's on the roster.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: Like, really?
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: Whether he's privately pouting or not, like the Vikings control
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: his contract. And if he wants to walk away and
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: not play football, that's one thing anybody could do. But like,
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: if he wants to play football right now, the Vikings
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: own his contract for at least the next two full seasons.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: He's not expensive and he's not out there getting arrested
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: or murdering people or like wearing a Packer Jersey out
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: in public. Like he's not doing anything that, the Vikings
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: need to answer to right now. At this point, it's
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: their QB two or QB three on the roster right now.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: And maybe nobody else in the building cares if he
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: needs to be the franchise right now, because he's 23
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: years old. He's on the roster.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: We'll see. The metaphor popped into my head and I'm
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: just going to roll with it for a minute. JJ
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: is kind of like the house that, you know, has problems,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: but they're not big enough problems that you're like, I
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: can't buy that house. You're like, yeah it's all right
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: it's a roof over.
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: My head kitchen needs some work i could do that
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: i can.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Deal with it but i'm gonna have to deal with
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: these things eventually and i think that's maybe where the
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: vikings are right now like we're gonna have to deal
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: with this eventually it could be right now it could
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: be pre the 26 27 season and we just move
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: on from it right like sometimes people do that with
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: their homes. They're like, no, I don't want to pay $ 15, 000
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: to repair this one thing. So I'm just going to
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: sell the house and move on. Or I can live
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: here and deal with the problem because it's not that
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: big of a deal and I don't need to pay $ 15, 000
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: to fix it right now. And then I can just
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: see what happens. Like I can deal with the problem
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: down the road. I can just ignore it for the
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: rest of the time I own this house. Who knows? Whatever.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: I think we can, I have a twist, but I
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: think it'll be a good twist on your house analogy.
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: Think of JJ as a house that you own, but
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: it's an Airbnb that you rent out. You've already got
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: your main house. And it's probably good, but like you've
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: chosen your main house, Kyler Murray, you're living there. You
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: own this Airbnb. Let's just say you're renting it and
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: you've already paid for the next two years and it's just,
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: it's already done. You're not, there's no, you know.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: But you can stay there whenever you want.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: You can stay there whenever you want. You could move
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: in there, but like, yeah, maybe the kitchen's not great.
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: If you wanted to move in there, you got to
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: do some work on the kitchen. It could be good,
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: maybe even better than your current house right now, but
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: who cares? You still have your current house right now.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: and it's already paid up. Maybe even somebody gifted you
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: like two years rent on this Airbnb to own this Airbnb.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: But then at the end of the two years, then
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: you'd have to make the decision like, all right, am
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: I going to keep renting this thing? Or am I
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: going to make this my house and then really put
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: some work in the kitchen? Like right now it's just,
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: it's there. It's not hurting you. Everything's already taken care
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: of and it can either burn down and get so
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: much worse or And then you don't have to deal
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: with it anymore. Or it could get better. Maybe you
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: do fix the kitchen, and it is, all right, this
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: thing is pretty sweet. And then you get to decide
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: if you want to make that your main house. Right now,
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: it's just easy.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: Or you try to spruce it up and make it
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: look really attractive to somebody else, and then you fool
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: them into buying it, and then you're good.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think people see JJ right now as,
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: this is our house. It's our only option. He's got
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: to be the franchise quarterback. Pro Bowl, Hall of Fame
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: guy right now, or kill him. I hate him. Get
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: rid of him. He's not even worth the air he breathes.
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: I think people are saying they're in the mindset that
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: it has to be A or B.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: There's certainly that dichotomy, but when you're drafted 10th overall,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't that kind of come with the territory? Doesn't that
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: come with the territory?
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: But now you've got another house.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: And Sean Payton has come out and said, oh, I
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: baited the Vikings into picking him.
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: Well, that was immediately after the draft. Like, that day
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: he said that, but I no longer care about the
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: quarterback talker. I'm so done with it. I think, I
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: think we've gotten to the point that you have heard
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: me and I've definitely heard you. And I think we
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: can see our viewpoints and I can see the mindset
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: of people that don't think the same way I do
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: about JJ, but like, it's not going to ruin my
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: day that I haven't turned you to my side. And
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to ruin your day that
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: you haven't turned me to your side. Like we're good.
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: Ultimately we have a house. We've got Kyler. Hopefully that works.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: And if it doesn't, I get to say in your face. Um,
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: but can, can we, uh, agree to move on to
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: just the second segment of this episode?
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: Yes. Okay. Well, an hour in.
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: We can clip this. This can be the only thing
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: people hear of this episode, depending on where you are
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: on Facebook. But the Vikings and every team in the
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: NFL recently announced their initial 53-man rosters. They had to
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: cut down. I'm pretty sure there's no longer any, like,
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: tiered cut-down days. Because when we were kids, there was, like,
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: the first cut day where you had to go from
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: 90 to 75 or whatever. And then there might have
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: even been a second and a third, but there was
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: definitely more than one cut-down day. And in the last
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: handful of years, they switched it. It's just 91 day,
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: and then noon the next day, you've got to be
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: down to 53. And every team got there. And there
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: was a couple surprises. Evan, was there anything about the roster,
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: the initial roster, that you were surprised by?
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: I was surprised that both Macs, brosmer and jj mccarthy
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: made the initial 50 i think we said we weren't
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: going to talk i know but i'm just saying you
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: asked me the question so i had to answer that
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: um uh dylan bell also was he made the initial
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: 53 man but then was waived.
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: I think as was max brosmer.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: As was max brosmer i think both of those guys
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: make their way back maybe practice squad maybe i think
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: for dylan bell there's a um like injury pending and
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: some other things pending but yeah definitely interesting also the
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: punter position was kind of a surprise to me i
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: was johnny hecker all the way um through the entire
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: off season after the vikings picked him.
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: Up careful we are dangerously close to talking for an
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: hour about Hecker versus Thorson. I'm just kidding.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: But Brett Thorson made the team, and apparently he won
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: the battle. I didn't really see it on the stat
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: sheet in preseason. Not that I could have really followed
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: that too much. If you were at every camp practice
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: and at every preseason game, maybe you saw it more
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: than I did. But I thought, sure as shooting, Hecker
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: was the guy. Just off of experience equity. But hey,
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: if they saw what they wanted to see in Brett Thorson, great.
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: I'm going to take a screenshot of this, send it
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: to you, and maybe we can put this up here.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: I'm going to send you the punter statistics of the
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: Vikings from this Broncos third preseason game. It's identical. They
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: each punted... three times. They each punted for 156 yards,
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: an average of 52.0 yards each. They each had two
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: touchbacks and Johnny Hecker's long punt was 57 and Brett
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: Thorson's long punt was 58. Maybe that was the thing
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: that they're like, this was a yard longer. I don't know.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: Maybe it was just Thorson's younger, Hecker's older. I don't know.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: And I think it probably wasn't a situation where I'm
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: pretty sure they probably both cost a similar amount in contract.
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: I'm not really interested enough to pull that up, but
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: it's punter. So they can't be, it's not like it
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: was a difference of like, well, this guy's going to
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: cost $ 10 million and the other guy's eight or five
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: and they're about the same. So let's go with the
• 56:25
  Speaker 2: 5 million. It wasn't that. They've got to be very similar.
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: I think we said, and we're getting too long in
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: the tooth about punter, But I think we were saying
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: the difference would probably be if the kicking was the
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: same or similar, how was the holding? As far as
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: field goal holding for Will Reichardt. And I didn't pay
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: any attention to that, but apparently it must have been okay.
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: As far as Thorson, because I guess he never held
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: for place kicks in college. So, yeah, I don't know.
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not.
• 57:00
  Speaker 2: I guess I... would have rathered the younger guy who's cheaper,
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: who won the Ray Guy Award last year in college
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: for the best punter, as opposed to Johnny Hecker, who's
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: had a long, successful NFL career, but seems like his
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: peak was a handful of years ago. So I wasn't
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: going to lose any sleep over who won the punting job,
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: and I don't think you were either.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: No. One question that didn't really pop up on our outline,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: didn't really... make even a blip on the radar of
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: the Vikings 53 man. Where's Harrison Smith? Is he out
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: there still? Is he going to come back? We need
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: to put up the Harry signal. Yeah, we're going to
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: throw up the bat signal and get Harry back. I
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: think that's an important question that fans need to know
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: right now. I think we want to know that. Is
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: he going to make an appearance? Is he one of those, like,
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: we'll get him back in October or November kind of thing?
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Or is it just he's done, he's going to retire,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: he's going to announce it soon. We're just waiting for
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: that video to come out or whatever.
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: But he's been the one that said, hey, if I retire,
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell anybody, which is scary because
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: maybe he retired and didn't tell anybody. But yeah, I
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: want him back. I would love Harrison Smith back. Judging
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: by the Vikings' historical stats here.
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: In 2023, they kept six safeties and then five safeties
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: in 24 and 25. And then now in 26, they
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: kept five. So, I mean, they're probably hedging their bets
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: on that position. And then if he does come back,
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: does that mean someone like Jacob Thomas gets released because
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: he was that fifth safety that was kept? I think
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: everybody would rather... Harrison Smith than Jacob Thomas, even with
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: Jacob Thomas having a good camp in preseason. I want
• 59:04
  Speaker 2: him back. I want Harrison Smith back. I'm not ready
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: to uh to retire the number 22 yet it will
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: be retired hopefully eventually and if not on air production
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: meeting i say the skull hop we purchase a harrison
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: smith jersey and we we put it up in the
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: rafters here we can retire any number we want from
• 59:28
  Speaker 2: the skull.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: Hop That's true. Should we retire the number 15, Josh Dobbs?
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: I am wearing, this is not a Dallas Turner jersey.
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: This is a Josh Dobbs, Josh Dobbs jersey. I got
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: it on eBay for really cheap. And this is like,
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: this isn't the fake Chinese one, which I'm not above. Yeah,
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: I have a few of those fake Chinese jerseys.
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: It's not a stitched on number.
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: No, but they don't, they don't. I think they just recently,
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: like this summer released, they're starting to release a version
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: of jerseys that do have a stitched on number. But
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: since they've been Nike, it's been, like, these. They're high quality, but, like,
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: the iron-on. But, yeah, this one is a legit Josh Dobbs,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: and I bought it for, like, $ 30 on eBay thinking
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: I'd have my wife, like, cricket the name Turner on
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: the name tag there and just, like, rip it off
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: and flip it over and sew it back on. But,
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: like I told you before we started recording, I like
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: having a Josh Dobbs Vikings jersey. Those are, like, the
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: best three games.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: Two and a half.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: It was like three quarters, dude.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: Two-ish.
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: Maybe four quarters between two games, I think is what
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: it was. It's funny because I talked about this jersey.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: I wore it when I was on with the Purple
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: Dopes with Hopes a few days ago, and we basically
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: had that same exact conversation.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: Can you take me higher to a place?
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes. Man, all right. You know what? Josh Dobbs,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: for Vikings fans, is kind of like, similar way we
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: can enjoy talking about that in a way that people
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: enjoy talking about um napoleon dynamite the movie you have
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: a couple phrases that your mom goes to college and
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: everybody laughs and then but ultimately everybody knows like that
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: was one of the worst movies of all time josh
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: dobbs we can we can enjoy what we could enjoy
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: but ultimately like.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: It brings you smiles that's that's all you can do
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: That's all you can do.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think you're right. We want Harrison Smith back. Um,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: 53 man roster. Uh, I was surprised that they kept
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: six defensive linemen. Um, when they had like 20 of
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: them on the off season roster, they cut a lot
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: of defensive linemen, but still six is a high number
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: to keep. Um, I don't know how close we were.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 2: I think we were pretty close on our roster that
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: we selected last week. Um, But yeah, outside of keeping
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: four quarterbacks on the initial 53, and then Dylan Bell,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: who surprised and had a good camp, there wasn't a
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: ton of surprises. And then we haven't mentioned the Vikings
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: made two waiver claims. They added a guard and a center,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: Trevor Keegan, a guard from the Cowboys, and then a center, Nick,
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go Samick. Samach?
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: Samach? Sandwich. Sandwich.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: From the Panthers. And then to make room for those
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: two guys on the roster, that's where Brosmer and Dillon
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: Bell were released. So we'll see. There's another spot on
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: the practice squad, and every team is able to utilize
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: that foreign player pathway or whatever. So there's another practice
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: squad spot. It's still going to be fluid for a
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: couple of days, and that's fine. Yeah.
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see over the next few weeks
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: how this shapes up to the week one roster. The
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Vikings will put on the field against the Packers. Um,
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: I'm optimistic still. Um, I've been optimistic for a while.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: You mentioned it a little bit ago. The Vikings are
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: really healthy compared to the NFC North. I like that.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: And I think that bodes well for the Vikings going
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: into the regular season. Um, obviously the Vikings aren't dealing
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: with a, like Josh Jacobs situation where they're on the
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: commissioner exempt list and for who knows how long.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So far, uh, Jordan Addison hasn't gotten in trouble
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: that we know of. So that's the first time I
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 2: think he's had a trouble free off season.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: It's cause Justin Jefferson was like, here, you're coming with me.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: And maybe he was coached up by his agent to
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: say the right things in press conferences and make sure he,
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: he gets put in the right spots.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Could be, could be. Um, I'm excited, though.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: Week one. We're coming up, man. It's going to be great.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're not too far. Less than two weeks, we
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: will be discussing the Vikings week one game against the Packers,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: which is also the most recent Vikings regular season game
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: we discussed on the show. It's just that that was
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: back in January. So hopefully it's a similar result. The
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: Vikings kicked the crap out of the Packers in January.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: There's also a Packer team that didn't start any of
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: their normal starters and they didn't care about the game
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: because it didn't matter for playoffs or anything, but now
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: these matter again. And, uh, we'll, we'll talk about it
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: next week, but I think the Vikings have a good
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: shot to be really good this year.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: We'll preview the, uh, the Packers game for sure. Should
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: be exciting. How'd you feel about this beer?
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: This was just such a good beer. Um, I, I,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: I'm hesitant to say what I'm about to say because
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 2: I don't want it to sound like a knock, but
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: This beer isn't one that, like, you're going to dream about.
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: You're not going to say, like, my favorite beer of
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: all time is the Silo from Big Grove. But I
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: don't think that's what they were going for. They weren't
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 2: going for a beer that, you know, stands out above
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: every other beer that's ever been made. They were going
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: for a really high-quality beer. And they hit the nail
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: on the head. So I like it a lot. I
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: wish we had a few more. But, Evan, what were
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: your thoughts?
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I say all the time, I
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: want a beer that doesn't mess around. It's just straightforward.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: It's not super fancy or flourishy. It's just, it is
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: what it is. And I think they catered to that.
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: And I think they probably wanted a beer on tap
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: in their breweries where, you know, the guy bellies up
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: to the bar and he's like, just give me a
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: beer that tastes like a beer. This is it right here.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: This is what they want. And I bet they sell
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of these. I think it's relatively new. but
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: I would venture to guess they've already sold a lot
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: and I can tell you I'm an hour away, but
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: I'll buy a few more for sure. Yeah.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think, I mean, every good brewery needs
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: a beer that's, Hey, just give me a beer.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: I gave the example earlier of, you know, the hypothetical
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: guy that just goes to a brewery with his buddies
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: and he always just drinks Bud Light or something like that.
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: And he just wants a beer and this is who
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: that's for. And, it's a home run. I like it
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: a lot. I was trying really quick to pull up
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: their website and see if it like says that it's
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: a new one. Um, I can't really tell, uh, from
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: their website, but it does say year round now. So
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: if it's new, at least maybe it's one that they'll
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: keep making. So, and maybe it's just new to our
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: favorite devil's Glen Hy-Vee. Um, I don't know, but yeah, I,
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: I would absolutely grab this beer again. This is such a,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: a good, solid, easy beer to grab and drink and
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: go for time and time again.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, checks all the boxes for me, for sure.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: All right, Evan, where can the people find us?
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: You can find us anywhere. But for real, though, just
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Google us. The Skol Hop, you're going to find us.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee it. We're on all the socials, Facebook, Twitter.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: It will always be Twitter, not X. um instagram tiktok
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: we're on all the big ones go find us there
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: we're on uh youtube as well um and pretty much
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: anywhere you can find podcasts at least we.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: Hope i don't think that's the case anymore definitely spotify
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: definitely apple podcast but we're there yeah for sure you'll
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: easily be able to find us um and interact with
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: us we will interact back with you uh Don't be
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: afraid to comment and tell us we're idiots or I'm
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: an idiot or Evans is an idiot. We got some
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: thick skin. We can handle it. I do want to
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: mention again, I've brought it up a couple of times.
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: I was on the purple dopes with hopes podcast a
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: few days ago on their most recent episode. And we
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: just talked about, you know, Vikings fan hood. They asked
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: me a couple since I was the first time I've
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: been on there about our show and where their, their
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: people can find us. But, Go ahead and search them up.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: I think I shared most of the stuff on our
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: socials of them. They're good dudes, and I'd like to
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: have them on our show at least once throughout the season.
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: It's always fun to switch it up and have some
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: guests on and get some differing opinions there, too. So
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 2: check them out and check us out for sure. Yeah.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: I think I can speak for both of us here.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: This was a really good beer. I had a lot
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: of fun talking about the quarterback situation. You might say
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: it was the best episode yet.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: Skol.
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: Skol. Thank you.