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Vikings Tailgate Preview, Brian Flores Defense, and Saints Matchup · Scene Projects Sports Network

0:53
Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
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I am your host, Bubba Starts, and you are here today for a tailgate preview show.
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I'm joined today by Vikings insider, Will Stein.
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Will, welcome in, brother.
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Hello.
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It's good to be on.
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Thank you for having me.
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I look forward to see what we can do this week against New Orleans.
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Yeah.
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It's gonna be an exciting game.
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If they can avoid moving it with a cat two storm moving in down there, first hurricane of
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the season, couldn't come at a better time because it's about to be a storm inside of the
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Superdome with this Brian Flores defense against the young quarterback, which is always
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interesting.
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Will, before we get too far into the preview of the show, just kinda want you to establish a
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little bit of, you know, your your Vikings fandom and your attachment to the team.
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You follow them all over the place.
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We'd love to get a little bit of you in there, then we'll jump into our preview.
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So my grandfather on my dad's side of the family got me into the Minnesota Vikings at a
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young age.
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They lived in Alexandria.
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And growing up, I always looked forward to going to Alexandria to see grandma and grandpa,
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and I would see Dante Culpepper throwing deep bombs to Randy Moss, and I was instantly
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hooked.
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So that's basically the gist.
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I saw other stuff too, but it was the young Dante times, and I really got into it more.
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Yeah.
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Well, and shout out to Dante.
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He was on the lot at 903 Washington Ave where we do our live pregame with the Viking World
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Order Army division.
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I know you're a free...
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Frequenter of that tailgate as well.
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Really awesome community that we've built and that we've fallen into.
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And now that we get to share these experiences with.
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I know you're a big tailgate guy.
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You go to a lot of other stadiums.
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I know you're not going to New Orleans this week, but this will be the first game of the
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season that you haven't been at.
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What have the vibes been like around this Vikings team inside of the stadiums both home
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and away?
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I think the the fans are really excited about the possibility of what the Minnesota Vikings
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are this year.
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I mean, we're four and o to start.
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I didn't expect four and o.
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I was maybe expecting three and one because Chicago has a really well coached team by Ben
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Johnson over there, and they seem like they have something pretty special, especially on
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offense for the most part.
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But we somehow contain Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson's offense.
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So there's a lot to look forward to on the defensive side of the ball.
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And as long as the offense can do enough, we'll be just fine.
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Well...
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And speaking of just enough, I think we started to see signs of life from them in the fourth
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quarter, against Miami.
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They held the ball almost the entire quarter and burned up over fourteen minutes of clock in
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that stretch, finally giving this defense a break, which has been absolutely stellar to
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start the season, only allowing 12.8 points per game and only two touchdowns in the last three
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games.
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Historic marks, I think, as far as the modern era of football, you don't see this level of
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defensive play very often, and you definitely don't see a defensive coordinator calling a
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blitz 70 plus percent of the time in every single one of those games as well.
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You live by the blitz and you die by the blitz.
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If the blitz works, you will be really, really good.
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If the blitz is bad, then you'll have a lot of one on ones and you can get burned from buying
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the lead wide receiver, whether it's like a JSN, Puka Nakura, Jamar Chase, and all all
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those people have a lot of great talent, but we'll see what happens.
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There's a lot of potential with this defense because of Brian Flores' system.
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Does the opportunity for average guys to flourish.
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For example, Andrew Van Ginkle, Dallas Turner, Jaylen Redman, to name a few.
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Well...
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And it's making superstars of especially one young man, Dallas Turner, becoming a household
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name in the NFL this year.
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That's something at the end of the season that I kinda saw brewing, was hoping he was going to
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take that next step in his development, and, he's shown up big time.
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And I think a big difference this year is that you're getting push from the front three or
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four on that defensive line, And that's something that we just didn't get last year.
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Whether it's the starters with Levi Drake Rodriguez and Jalen Redman in the middle of
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that or it's the young guns, Kayla Banks and Big Citrus, doing their jobs and learning on
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the fly, You've got some big contributions, and they're soaking up those blockers to allow
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Blake Cashman, Dallas Turner, Van Ginkle, and others to really get home when they do blitz.
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And the back end this year, I think, is performing more than admirably with guys like
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Zay Rogers really establishing themselves as a true Sure.
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Know, NFL cornerback.
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I agree.
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There's a lot of good things to look forward to in this defense, especially with some of the
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big names that you mentioned.
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And I think the biggest part of Dallas Turner's growth is the departure of Jonathan Grenard.
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I mean, I love Jonathan while he was here, but Dallas Turner's filling that Jonathan Grenard
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role beyond my expectations.
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Yeah.
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And at, you know, less than half of the price tag and, you know, you look at the injuries
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that have amassed, and you can never forecast those.
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But he had the pec injury last year and now a couple of injuries stacking up in him as he's
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gone over to Philadelphia.
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So, you know, always wish players the best.
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I...
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I'm glad that he was able, to to get paid like he wanted to, and I would say deserve to be
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paid for his past performance, in that regard.
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But this team was ready to move on knowing that they had a player waiting in the wings to do
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that.
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Let's take a chance here to move in.
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We're gonna get into...
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And I don't mean to bury the lead, but we're obviously gonna talk about Will Reichard and
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the special teams units when we get into the preview here.
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There's no avoiding it.
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So looking at some of the the the kind of stats here, just covering from the top, Dallas Turner
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pacing the team five and a half sacks in four games.
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Will Ryker has made 31 straight and scored all 15 points against Miami.
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You know, we obviously know that Hawk probably could have banged one in there at the end, but
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he made the smart play, the vet play, and going down and just sealing the game, going into
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victory formation.
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But this offense continues to rank at the very bottom of the league in both yards and last in
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passing yards a game.
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Only two touchdowns are last two games without a touchdown.
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So you you really hope to see, this this offense get going.
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We saw they have a pulse at least, your quarterback going 27 of 37, in in the game
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against Miami.
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We were moving the ball, still not punching it in, but it feels like those are coming.
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So with the offense, especially with Kyra Murray, for Kyra Murray to do well, he needs
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rhythm.
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Like, in the fourth quarter, you saw him go 12 or 13 or 13 or 14, just one in completion.
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And when he has that rhythm and those high confidence throws, you'll see better than
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average play from Kyler Murray.
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Right now, I'm simply giving Kyler Murray the benefit of the doubt because he's never had a
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game with a full offense.
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For example, their opening drive against Tampa Bay, Justin Jefferson went down who's a top
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three receiver in the National Football League.
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And without his presence, you put double teams on Addison, Hawkinson, and you don't get the
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full offensive potential that the Vikings have.
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Hence, why the production is towards the bottom of the league right now.
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But once you get a full healthy Justin Jefferson, Jordan Mason coming back, most
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likely after the buy.
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It's gonna get better, but you have to be patient.
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But that's something that Viking fans don't have a lot of patience considering how long
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we've waited for a quarterback.
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Hence, we tried it with JJ McCarthy.
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That didn't work.
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We had the potential with Sam, but we decided to let him go to Seattle to win a Super Bowl.
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But there's opportunity, but Viking fans just need to be patient.
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I think so.
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And that bi week, I think when the schedule came out, I think a third year in a row in week
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six, a lot of guys don't like to have that early buy, but, really, it couldn't come at a
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better time for this team because of some of the early injuries.
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It doesn't seem like Darisaw is gonna clear concussion protocol at least at this point.
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Jordan Addison now turning up with a hamstring issue probably won't be available.
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I would think moving into that.
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It does look like Justin Jefferson who we know this is a big game to him going back to his
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home in Louisiana and being able to perform in the Superdome.
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And he just got his buddy and mentor, OBJ, signed to the practice squad.
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Will, do you put a better than 50% chance of OBJ stepping on the field on Sunday, especially
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if Jordan Addison isn't available?
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So the advantage with Odell Beckham junior is that he spent time with the Rams when Kevin
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O'Connell was the offensive coordinator.
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So he knows a little bit of what Kevin O'Connell wants from Odell.
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So I think there's opportunity for him to show up, but I would say it's it's about 40, 60
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right now.
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I wouldn't be surprised either way because of the type of competitor that Odell Beckham
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junior is.
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But at the same time, I wanna make sure that he's in full football shape.
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Because if, correct me if I'm wrong, but he hasn't had many snaps with the Giants in his
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first four games.
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So I think it might...
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He might be on a pitch count, but you could see him in for a player too.
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Well...
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And and I don't know how productive the man is going to be.
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Tenth year in the league.
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You know, he hasn't taken many snaps in the last three seasons, but he still has a dog
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inside of him.
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He's always been a fierce competitor, and he knows how to get open, especially against zone
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defenses, which is how most teams play just in general, but definitely against this team when
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you have guys like Justin Jefferson that really no cornerback in the league can man up on one
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on one and cover all game.
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It just doesn't happen at this day and age in the league.
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Most guys are playing zone, and what I really think will be an advantage for the Vikings and
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having him out there is I think he can play that outside receiver spot.
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Right?
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He can play that y and move Jordan Addison to that z wide receiver, which is more in the slot
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and in motion a lot more and really help Addison to get open and to be an adjuster
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against defenses that probably we're not gonna see until after the bye week and and things
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going in, but I think we have a lot to be, like, excited about.
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Does does, you know, a 33 year old OBJ still have the ability to take the top off a defense
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like he did eight years ago?
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No.
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But you still have to respect the man, and I think that defensive coordinators and
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quarterbacks out there that grew up watching this man play and and just destroy DBs for most
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of his career, that that's gonna be in the back of their mind that entire time, and he can
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still make contested catches.
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Seems like he's in football shape.
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It's not like he was on his couch for long, released earlier this week, and it sounds like
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KOC, as soon as he heard the news, had the number on speed dial and got the job done to
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get the man in here.
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Absolutely.
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I mean, Odell back on the name always gives you that...
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Holy cow.
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It's a top 10 wide receiver, kinda like when we traded for Adam Thielen last year.
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Many Vikings fans were excited to get the name Adam Thielen back even though the production
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wasn't quite quite there with the with the team.
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But everybody is excited for a name before the production sometimes.
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So we might be jumping the gun a little bit with how well he's going to do, but I believe
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in Nolan and Kevin and their talent evaluation in the scout team, and I just have to trust the
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process on how that goes.
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Yeah.
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Well...
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And moving on to Orleans saints, I think a lot of Vikings fans were watching Monday night
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football this week as they fell to the Atlanta falcons, and the falcons really had their way
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with them in the run game.
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Now part of that is because they have Bijan Robinson on that Atlanta team, and the man is
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an absolute beast.
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We saw it in week two last year when he ran all over this Vikings defense, which, you know, was
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the first bad loss, of the year, which kind of snowballed a little bit and exposed that, you
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know, defense and their lack of team speed in last season.
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This is a different Vikings team this year, and I think that, you know, these saints are gonna
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have a really tough time getting anything going.
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They don't have much of a running game at all.
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They're relying on your young quarterback, Tyler Shug, to go out there and and to, you
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know, throw 40 plus times a game for Kellen Moore.
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I don't know that that's sustainable against the pressure, but they do have who I think is a
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really emerging talent at wide receiver in Chris Olave, a guy I really liked coming out in
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the draft as well.
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And he's really starting to make a name for himself already 491 receiving yards out there.
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And, yeah, that's crazy.
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I think I think Tyler Shook has more passing yards than we do total offense right now.
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So, I mean, Chris Olave is part of Ohio State, which is almost wide receiver year just like
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LSU with Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Malik Neighbors.
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Ohio State has JSN, Olave, Garrett Wilson, and I wanna say...
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And I think that Migma Migma from Tampa Bay went to Ohio State too.
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So...
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And then you have Jeremiah Smith coming out next year.
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So Ohio State is...
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Has always been wide receiver university.
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As far as the saints, you saw how their offensive line was pretty much decimated
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against the falcons, hence why they only had less than 50 yards rushing against the falcons,
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I believe.
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And it...
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With our defense, the way that we can blitz and make those offensive line nervous, if we can
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have any type of repeat performance in the last four weeks, Tyler Show is gonna have
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difficulties staying in the pocket on Sunday.
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That's where he's most effective is out of the pocket.
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You saw that against the Baltimore game.
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When when he had a deep clean pocket, he can just make those throws to and everyone else on
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that Saints offense.
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Alvin Kamar is a big x factor too.
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The...
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Like, six years ago, he had six touchdowns in one game against us.
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So if we can contain Alvin Kamar, we'll be just fine.
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Yeah.
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Well...
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And the problem for the Saints is that their defense is allowing 32 points a game and just
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let Atlanta run for 200 plus yards on Monday.
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Five of their touchdowns coming in the running game as well.
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A couple of those, some rather long runs.
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So a chance for...
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Hopefully, you know, I wanna see a Damon Claiborne sighting.
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I wanna see him finally stretch that field a little bit and maybe get some more
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opportunities there.
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We cannot continue to just ride Aaron Jones, and especially this close to getting Jordan
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Mason back.
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You hate to see something to the guy that has just been an absolute warrior and a big reason
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why this team is four and o right now.
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Right?
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I mean, look at Aaron Jones pretty much carried Chicago.
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You saw how bad that weather was week two.
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Being in that rain was absolutely miserable on a side note, but you got a 100 plus on the
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ground from Aaron Jones keeping Caleb Williams off the field.
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As long as he can gain chunks of yards, we'll be just fine in the running game.
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Yes.
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I'd like to see more Damon Claiborne as well, but I'll trust KOC and see what he wants to do
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with the offense, and I think this is a growing opportunity for everyone involved.
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Hopefully, the offensive line can be better this week too because the grades for O'Neil and
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among others were lower than average.
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And the fact that we lost Donovan Jackson for the year with a torn meniscus isn't easy
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either.
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No.
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And Darisov probably not playing this week means that, you're gonna see, is it Joe Huber,
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playing left guard?
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I mean, he's probably gonna be starting the rest of the year over there and then Van Damarc
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at at tackle this week at least while we get Derosa back out of the concussion protocol.
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So it it really is...
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You know, can this Vikings team establish the run early and slow down whatever pass rush that
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the Saints can muster?
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Because Kyler Murray has been sacked already seven times in the last two starts now, and and
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is susceptible to that pressure a little bit, not as elusive as he used to be.
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And and because of what KOC is asking him to do to be a little bit more of a pocket passer,
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which not necessarily his forte, but the man can sling the ball, especially when you're
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talking about in that intermediate range, the eight to 20 yard range, and and I think that's
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great.
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Is he gonna have the arm to do what a Sam Darnold can and hook the ball 40 to 50 yards
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down the field in the air?
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I think we've seen that, that's not going to work, and there's been some adjustments.
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So excited to see with the success they finally had in the fourth quarter, Hawkinson having a
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massive game, you know, having the...
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Your number one wide receiver hopefully back on the field, and Justin Jefferson who is gonna be
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ready to put on a show in the Superdome that you you get the ball moving and you're getting
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those, you know, those long 20 yard dig routes and hitting some of these and chunking the ball
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down the field, not necessarily in in 40, 50, 60 yard plays, but in multiple, you know, 15 to
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20 yard plays and putting up some touchdowns.
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I think as Vikings fans, we just wanna see points on the board at this point to go out and
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to put 30 on a team that's giving up 32 a game.
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Let's get to that level so we can feel good going into this biweek because coming out of
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it, we got a little bit of a gauntlet coming up with Colts, Lions, and then the, Buffalo Bills
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on a Monday night game back in Minnesota.
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So let's build some momentum.
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We're four and o and haven't played our best ball yet.
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Not saying that it needs to be the best yet, but let's keep moving in the right direction
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and really putting it on this Saints team who, you know, playing on a short week, hopefully
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reeling a little bit from it.
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Well, in...
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With time in the NFL, you have to adjust accordingly to...
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Because good teams come back on short weeks and find ways to win.
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New Orleans has that opportunity, but they're still a young team too.
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So with them being a young team, Kellam Moore being a second year head coach, correct me if
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I'm wrong there, I think there's a lot of growth, but there's also a lot of opportunities
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for us to take advantage of their slow healing week, that makes sense.
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Yeah.
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And we hope that this Vikings team can just build on what they did in the fourth quarter,
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go out and score early, get the get the ball moving in the right direction, let the defense,
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rest a little bit, and, you know, we've been very fortunate that the...
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They haven't been a a lot of injuries on that side of the ball.
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Let's keep it that way by keeping them off the field.
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And I think that was a big part of, you know, why, Hawkinson, you have him take the knee
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there at the end is you entire players.
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And KOC alluded to that, that, look, our defense has been carrying us for much of this
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season already and have put a lot of plays out there.
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We wanted to give those guys a rest.
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And, yes, we could have scored, and your chances is still in the 99% of winning that
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football game, but why risk it?
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Why let those guys even step back on the field when you can ice it?
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So there's been some, humility shown by the coach, and and he's shown that he's willing to
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change this year.
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And I I, for one, have been impressed, by that, you know, the mea culpa, if you will, and maybe
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the failures of early last season, especially, taking the the time to look in the mirror and
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to say, there's things that I can do differently.
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You've heard it a lot in his press conferences already this year.
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And looking forward to him now, seeing on tape what the team has done well, and giving us more
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of that on Sunday and then for the rest of the season as we try to stay undefeated for as long
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as we can and bank those wins.
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Absolutely.
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And, if San Francisco loses to Seattle on on Sunday, then we'll be the last undefeated team
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in the NFC.
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Wouldn't that be nice?
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I didn't expect this coming out at the beginning as that we talked about earlier, but
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this is kind of like the 2016 team that started '5 and o because it...
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Sam Bradford was better than average quarterback, but he wasn't, like, the best
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quarterback in the league.
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But he did enough to get it done, and then that week six game against the bears, it just went
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downhill.
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So, hopefully, this isn't a repeat of that.
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Hopefully, it's like the 2024 team where it took a little bit of time to get gelling, and
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then we just kept stacking up wins after wins.
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And if you remember that season, we got Cam Robinson in the middle of the year after
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Darisol tore his ACL, and he did better than average for us that year.
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And I think that if we can go off of that two thousand twenty fourteen, there's a lot of
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excitement and a lot of potential with this team.
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No doubt.
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Will, I appreciate you jumping on with us today.
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It's always a pleasure to see you when we're up in Minnesota for the tailgates.
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Where are you gonna be watching the game from this week?
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You got a a watch party you're going to, or you're just watching from home?
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I don't know yet.
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I have about three or four days to make that decision.
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It's nice enough that I might just put it on recording and go play 18 whole summer.
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Who knows?
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But if I do watch it, I'll see what other people in the local area are doing and come up
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with a game plan from there.
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Well, if you happen to head south at all, we'll be, Cody will be at Brewster's in Cannon Falls
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for our pregame show from there.
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And our guy Kevin Cherry will be over at the Park Tavern with sir Scolt and Grace, as they
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throw their party there, as well.
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And there's also the Skolbar, the Maple Tavern.
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So plenty of great places to watch the game from whatever neighborhood you happen to be in
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that day.
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Or if you're out on the course, you can always throw a k fan on on your phone and listen to PA
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call the game from there.
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That's what I did on my way home after the tailgate last week and made it home in good
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times.
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So, Will, appreciate you joining me today.
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Thanks for your insights as always.
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We're gonna have to connect with you someday and get you on the tailgate Tuesday show, and,
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looking forward to seeing you for the next home game over at 903 Washington Ave in the Fathead
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Bills parking lot with the Viking World Order army division.
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Absolutely.
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It should be a fun time.
25:43
Tailgating never loses.
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It's always a winner, especially when you spend it to...
25:48
With people that you care about.
25:49
So it's a win win all across the board.
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Everybody, make sure you go and download the SPSN app on your Roku devices.
25:58
Subscribe to the channel.
25:59
Always hit the like button and share this with your other Vikings fan friends.
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We love you guys.
26:05
Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you on Sunday.
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Skull Vikings.
26:09
Skull, thanks for watching, everybody.
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Have a great day.
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Skull Vikings.
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Let's go five and o.