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Purple People Eaters: Vikings Disappointing Loss & Season Review! Flores? Sam? · The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings fans, Welcome back to the Purple People Leaders Podcast.
0:09
Speaker 1: He's Aaron, I'm Chris, and we're here to unfortunately discuss,
0:14
Speaker 1: well discuss disgusting not a great way. Obviously, it wasn't
0:20
Speaker 1: a heartbreaker. At least we got that an ugly loss
0:26
Speaker 1: on the road which could have been more competitive, but
0:31
Speaker 1: ultimately they got beat. The season is over, obviously, a
0:36
Speaker 1: whole lot of questions at quarterback, defensive coordinator, a host
0:44
Speaker 1: of free agents, you know, some you'd want to bring back,
0:48
Speaker 1: some asta la vista. So yeah, we're gonna we're gonna
0:52
Speaker 1: talk talk it through a little bit the game and
0:56
Speaker 1: just some stuff we're not gonna get into the draft
0:59
Speaker 1: or or you know, we're not going to get deep
1:00
Speaker 1: into free agency. Yeah, we'll talk about some stuff, you know,
1:05
Speaker 1: kind of with a broad brush. So yeah, so what
1:10
Speaker 1: we'll get into it, and then we will do a
1:13
Speaker 1: little update per usual with the Gopher football program. If
1:20
Speaker 1: this is your first time listening to the Purple People
1:22
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1:25
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1:31
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1:40
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1:44
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1:49
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1:52
Speaker 1: to the gruelinghew dot Comic Sports News twenty four One
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2:49
Speaker 1: All right, go ahead and bring in my co host
2:54
Speaker 1: Aaron Man. You know, at least we didn't have a
2:57
Speaker 1: lot of suspense and heartbreak and a miss field goal
3:01
Speaker 1: or some kind of random shit happen at the end
3:03
Speaker 1: of the game. But uh, yeah, that that dropped out
3:07
Speaker 1: pretty quick and on us. The season is over, my friend,
3:11
Speaker 1: just like that.
3:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had the you know, city of La burning
3:16
Speaker 2: to a crisp which caused the neutral site game. So
3:19
Speaker 2: that's always fun in the annals of Viking history. But yeah, man,
3:24
Speaker 2: it's another you know, we've been here so many times,
3:27
Speaker 2: maybe not exactly like this, but you know, we've been
3:30
Speaker 2: comparing it to twenty twenty two all year and you know,
3:34
Speaker 2: setting up some of the differences and some of the
3:37
Speaker 2: similarities and wild card bounces, you know, pretty similar, although
3:44
Speaker 2: I think there's you know, differences in those two games,
3:46
Speaker 2: but it's you know, the result is the same, and
3:48
Speaker 2: it's getting a little tiring. Look, man, you know, now
3:54
Speaker 2: the media is catching on you and I've been talking
3:56
Speaker 2: for years about some of the issues with this team,
4:01
Speaker 2: and they're there. They've been there since we were lamenting
4:04
Speaker 2: about a Keem Hicks and the Forrest Buckner and these
4:08
Speaker 2: guys that were tearing up the interior of the offensive line,
4:10
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, everybody in the media is
4:13
Speaker 2: saying the same thing when they just praised this line
4:15
Speaker 2: and we're finally off the schneide within you and I
4:17
Speaker 2: are like, well, you know, wait a minute, number one
4:19
Speaker 2: run blocket. I don't know about that. It's still the
4:23
Speaker 2: same guys. You know, it's still brad Berry. You switched
4:26
Speaker 2: out Ingram for Reisner, and you know, moved a tackle
4:30
Speaker 2: into guard with Brandle still just putting band aids on it.
4:35
Speaker 2: And you can't You can go fourteen to three in
4:39
Speaker 2: a regular season that way, obviously we've seen it done.
4:42
Speaker 2: But when it comes time to play the best teams
4:43
Speaker 2: in the league week after a week, who are stout defensively,
4:49
Speaker 2: who have offensive lines that they've cultivated over years. I
4:55
Speaker 2: think we started our theme last year at this exact
4:58
Speaker 2: show or tiding of the show. Chris was like, look,
5:01
Speaker 2: you can have all the best skill position players in
5:03
Speaker 2: the world, and obviously you have very good wide receivers,
5:06
Speaker 2: and it's doubting that Jones, pretty good back, probably need
5:09
Speaker 2: a different one. He's getting old and a good tight end.
5:13
Speaker 2: But it doesn't mean a hell of a lot if
5:15
Speaker 2: you can't protect the quarterback. Now, it helps a lot
5:18
Speaker 2: if your quarterback doesn't need twelve seconds to get rid
5:20
Speaker 2: of the ball.
5:21
Speaker 3: That's a huge issue.
5:23
Speaker 2: But yeah, we're nowhere near the offensive line, and again
5:26
Speaker 2: we're gonna beg them this offseason to do something about it.
5:29
Speaker 2: And I really think cross fingers, knock on wood and
5:32
Speaker 2: all other cliches we like to use. I think it's
5:35
Speaker 2: gonna happen this year. But at this point, you need
5:38
Speaker 2: three guys. I'm stuck on three guys. I don't think
5:41
Speaker 2: two's gonna do it. I certainly don't think one guy
5:43
Speaker 2: in that middle is going to do it. I think
5:46
Speaker 2: you need three, and that you don't have the draft picks.
5:49
Speaker 2: You got a lot of money in the offseason. But
5:51
Speaker 2: that's got to happen. And you know, obviously the Donald
5:55
Speaker 2: question has been somewhat answered. You and I we held
5:58
Speaker 2: back and well, here we are at this point where
6:00
Speaker 2: we don't really have to say one.
6:02
Speaker 1: Let it play out. We'll let it play out. We
6:04
Speaker 1: said it just it is what it is.
6:06
Speaker 2: It played out, and we saved ourselves a lot of breath,
6:11
Speaker 2: you know, which was a good call on your part
6:13
Speaker 2: because I kind of wanted to talk about it as
6:14
Speaker 2: we're going along. So yeah, you know, it's a familiar places,
6:19
Speaker 2: Viking fans. You and I off, Eric said, you know.
6:22
Speaker 4: We've been cognizant of about what probably seventy five percent
6:27
Speaker 4: of like, of this franchise's history, and man, it's just
6:31
Speaker 4: a broken record, and it's it's frustrating.
6:35
Speaker 2: And then you wonder, you know, God, would you be
6:37
Speaker 2: a fan of this team if you didn't, if you
6:39
Speaker 2: weren't from here and all this other stuff. But man,
6:42
Speaker 2: you know, that's that's our lot. That's what we picked,
6:44
Speaker 2: that's what we're with. Uh So you know there's always
6:48
Speaker 2: next year. Is the is the battle cry here?
6:51
Speaker 1: I like that, that's our lot. We picked it out. Man,
6:53
Speaker 1: we didn't know the backyard was full of mud and
6:56
Speaker 1: they would once it rains, it turns into a lake
6:59
Speaker 1: or something like that. Damn man, Like I said, it
7:06
Speaker 1: was a lot less heartbreaking than some of the other
7:08
Speaker 1: stuff we try to do. Pretty much sometime in the
7:11
Speaker 1: third quarter that this thing was a wrap. And that's
7:16
Speaker 1: also why we stressed to enjoy the season. Those are
7:21
Speaker 1: two different seasons, the regular seasons the playoffs, and don't
7:25
Speaker 1: allow yourself to get caught up in a Super Bowl
7:29
Speaker 1: contender thing, but also enjoy the fuck out to win it.
7:33
Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong with enjoying it, but you have to
7:37
Speaker 1: enjoy it thoroughly and really enjoy it, so you get
7:41
Speaker 1: that out of the season. But yeah, a lot of
7:44
Speaker 1: things are said, and you're right, we held back. I mean,
7:48
Speaker 1: I had like written down rants that I scribbled out
7:51
Speaker 1: during the show and stuff like that. I've tried to
7:54
Speaker 1: stay away from this cousin Sam stuff. I've tried my
7:57
Speaker 1: best man and for the most part, we did a
7:59
Speaker 1: lot of things said about Sam. It was really just
8:05
Speaker 1: a way to put cousins down, you know, obviously, because
8:09
Speaker 1: you couldn't just keep looking at how he played and said, oh,
8:13
Speaker 1: you know, this is way better, let's sign him for
8:15
Speaker 1: years to come. And neither of us, pretty much, there's
8:19
Speaker 1: not many people in the state, but neither of us
8:23
Speaker 1: would have you know, been down for signing that old
8:28
Speaker 1: of a quarterback for four years. Now. Sure, you know
8:31
Speaker 1: he didn't ask for four years from Uths, but that's
8:33
Speaker 1: what Atlanta gave him. But it's just so funny the
8:38
Speaker 1: very next year people are wanting to give a bigger
8:42
Speaker 1: deal to a lesser quarterback. It just it blew my mind.
8:46
Speaker 1: And there were times where I get these messages and
8:49
Speaker 1: they'd say, oh, Cousins is washed and this and that,
8:53
Speaker 1: and it's just so funny because it's like, dude, that
8:57
Speaker 1: season played out like the regular seas played out, perfect
9:01
Speaker 1: for a Vikings fan and perfect for someone that just
9:04
Speaker 1: hates Cousins because that like, how much better could have
9:07
Speaker 1: been gotten? Besides of course further in the playoffs, but
9:11
Speaker 1: overall and the whole wash thing. It's like, dud, he
9:16
Speaker 1: had a string of bad games. Cool, but you know,
9:21
Speaker 1: how do you even have good games if you're completely washed? Actually?
9:26
Speaker 1: How do you throw for five hundred yards in a
9:28
Speaker 1: game if you're completely washed? But yeah, we held off
9:33
Speaker 1: on that because a lot of things are said about
9:35
Speaker 1: Sam that just weren't true, and he has a track
9:39
Speaker 1: record of it before he got here. So that's why
9:42
Speaker 1: I could. I could understand it from the fans, and
9:45
Speaker 1: I always I always understand it from the fans because
9:48
Speaker 1: it's emotion. I get that passion emotion. But when it
9:52
Speaker 1: comes to the media, that's where I got a problem
9:54
Speaker 1: with it. And it's just not professional to act like
9:57
Speaker 1: a fan when you're media.
9:59
Speaker 3: Ar. Yeah, and that's your angle.
10:01
Speaker 2: My angle was, you know, with the Sam discussion, was
10:05
Speaker 2: McCarthy versus Sam and obviously McCarthy. You know Trus Meniscus
10:09
Speaker 2: went through a couple of surgeries out for the season.
10:11
Speaker 3: Okay, big deal. But you know my idea was, or
10:15
Speaker 3: my side of it is.
10:16
Speaker 2: You know, you take a rookie stale scale quarterback here
10:19
Speaker 2: on a contract where you're paying four point nine I
10:22
Speaker 2: think is the number.
10:23
Speaker 3: You pay four point nine million.
10:25
Speaker 2: It's even cheaper than Sam with a lot more upside.
10:28
Speaker 2: Kids twenty one now going to be twenty two coming
10:31
Speaker 2: into next year's training camp. And you know we were
10:36
Speaker 2: skeptical at Donald beginning, at the beginning of the year.
10:40
Speaker 2: There was no other choice. Once McCarthy went down, we
10:44
Speaker 2: both were on the sim McCarthy no matter what. All year,
10:50
Speaker 2: you know, that's what was our stance. Now would that
10:52
Speaker 2: have happened, I don't know. Some say yes, some saying no.
10:58
Speaker 2: But you know you can bring Darnold. He does his
11:01
Speaker 2: what he does, and you know all year we're going, hey,
11:03
Speaker 2: he's holding on the ball. You know, there's some stuff
11:06
Speaker 2: going on here. And as the layers of the onion
11:09
Speaker 2: were pealed back, you start to go, oh, well, you
11:12
Speaker 2: know we're not getting to play in because O'Connell's in
11:16
Speaker 2: his head set, you know, going through the defense and
11:18
Speaker 2: what Sam should do basically be in Sam's brain and
11:21
Speaker 2: we figure that out. And then you get to the
11:23
Speaker 2: playoffs or a mini playoff game against Detroit, and who
11:28
Speaker 2: is this guy? You know, coming off a pretty decent
11:30
Speaker 2: performance with the Packers. Against the Packers, you thought, okay, well,
11:34
Speaker 2: you know, go pretty good chance going into Detroit and
11:36
Speaker 2: they just melted down, and we're gonna give them the
11:38
Speaker 2: benefit of the that one back game whatever, let's go playoffs,
11:41
Speaker 2: strap them up and see what happens. And you're like,
11:45
Speaker 2: he had a little flash in the second quarter where
11:47
Speaker 2: he thought, okay, maybe he's getting it together. But then
11:49
Speaker 2: you know, I could have been the next drive, you know,
11:52
Speaker 2: try Doun one of his magic spins out of the
11:54
Speaker 2: pocket for fourteen yards behind the line of scrimmage and
11:58
Speaker 2: gets the ball swiped out and it's pick six and
12:00
Speaker 2: virtually pretty much ended the game at that point, and
12:03
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, you know, what are you gonna do?
12:05
Speaker 2: Then you look over at Koc and he's exasperated. So yeah,
12:08
Speaker 2: my point was just, you know, if it was gonna
12:11
Speaker 2: be McCarthy in twenty twenty five. I'm fairly confident saying
12:15
Speaker 2: that regardless of injury or no injury, And here we
12:18
Speaker 2: are kind of where we started, except for we went
12:21
Speaker 2: fourteen and three in a regular season and had a
12:23
Speaker 2: lot of fun.
12:24
Speaker 3: Like I said, it's fun to win games.
12:25
Speaker 2: But man, you know, I think if you're with us
12:28
Speaker 2: and you're a listener of this show, you know, fourteen
12:31
Speaker 2: and three with a quick playoff exit is not gonna
12:35
Speaker 2: do it.
12:35
Speaker 1: For you anymore. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I'm not saying
12:40
Speaker 1: like even if we had signed Cousins the two years
12:44
Speaker 1: or whatever, I was always in favor of a young
12:48
Speaker 1: quarterback for that exact reason. I'm just saying that we
12:52
Speaker 1: both thought the Sam Donald was a good bridge quarterback,
12:56
Speaker 1: and he outperformed any you could have imagined. So you
13:02
Speaker 1: gotta give him credit there. Just off of that. In
13:05
Speaker 1: the team itself, I mean, I think a lot of
13:07
Speaker 1: people gave us shit because, like many people, we didn't
13:11
Speaker 1: pick him to have a winning season. You know, we
13:15
Speaker 1: didn't even pick him nine to eight per se, So
13:18
Speaker 1: I think that's part of it. But they did overachieved
13:22
Speaker 1: for quite a while. Then you're right, like mid season,
13:28
Speaker 1: if JJ was healthy, maybe when he was struggling, maybe
13:32
Speaker 1: you would have gotten in there. And a lot of
13:35
Speaker 1: times when the backup does have a spark, sometimes you
13:38
Speaker 1: just go with it. And it did seem like they
13:42
Speaker 1: had a lot of the offseason to scheme up a
13:44
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff. Our red zone was hot at really
13:46
Speaker 1: in a year. Then it fell off, but it got going,
13:49
Speaker 1: like you said, shit before these last two games, like
13:52
Speaker 1: four or five games, he played really well and it
13:55
Speaker 1: did give me a little more confidence, like, man, if
13:57
Speaker 1: this kid couldn't continue. You know, there are certain things
14:02
Speaker 1: about this team defense, especially that you're like, okay, you
14:06
Speaker 1: know we could do something here, but yeah, the interior,
14:13
Speaker 1: you know that it does go off that analytics stuff,
14:17
Speaker 1: because it is funny, like we never said they weren't better,
14:23
Speaker 1: it's just it didn't mean a whole lot compared to
14:26
Speaker 1: where it was. You know, when you're like the worst,
14:29
Speaker 1: like using your same analytics that they're telling you that
14:35
Speaker 1: same analytics group for like three or four straight years,
14:40
Speaker 1: the interior of the offensive line was the worst position
14:44
Speaker 1: group graded for three four straight years. So in their
14:49
Speaker 1: little history, now it's a short history, right, it's not
14:51
Speaker 1: like they've been doing that since the eighties, but it
14:53
Speaker 1: just tells you how bad it was. So yeah, it
14:56
Speaker 1: was better, but not on that championship level. And honestly,
15:00
Speaker 1: look at what we would have ran into defensive line
15:04
Speaker 1: this very week Philadelphia, right, I mean that would have
15:07
Speaker 1: been an issue.
15:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, PFF for whatever good they are,
15:14
Speaker 2: it doesn't change the eye test.
15:17
Speaker 3: You still can't run short yardage.
15:18
Speaker 2: You can't get a fucking third and one, you can't
15:21
Speaker 2: make a fourth and two, you can't run the ball
15:24
Speaker 2: and from the goal line, that's what I want from
15:26
Speaker 2: an offensive line.
15:27
Speaker 3: That's like, you know, criteria number one, and we don't
15:30
Speaker 3: have it.
15:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, going into Philly, man, what a what a nightmare
15:34
Speaker 2: that would have been. I think none of us would
15:36
Speaker 2: have picked that. And yeah, you're right, we didn't pick
15:39
Speaker 2: the squad to be fourteen and three. Far from it.
15:42
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody did. So, Yeah, they vastly overachieved
15:45
Speaker 2: for whatever reasons. I think the defense had a lot
15:48
Speaker 2: to do with that as well.
15:49
Speaker 3: They played their.
15:49
Speaker 2: Ass off all year. Kind of feel bad for those guys. Man,
15:54
Speaker 2: the offense just didn't pull their weight in the last
15:56
Speaker 2: two games. But man, it's you know, whether it's you know,
16:01
Speaker 2: at no point in time, Chris, did you nor I say,
16:06
Speaker 2: you know, three years, one hundred and fifty million was
16:08
Speaker 2: it was a smart thing to do for Sam Donald.
16:11
Speaker 3: You know, we both were like, whoa, there's some shit here.
16:14
Speaker 3: Let's slow down, take a look.
16:17
Speaker 2: Obviously, we're not all twenty two you know type watching
16:22
Speaker 2: dudes that are. They're you know, twenty four hours a
16:24
Speaker 2: day watching. But man, it doesn't take a lot to see,
16:26
Speaker 2: you know, some of the things that were going on
16:28
Speaker 2: in the Donald array of holding onto the ball and
16:32
Speaker 2: missing wide receivers, and you know, there were some good
16:35
Speaker 2: stuff in there as well. There's some great passes throughout
16:37
Speaker 2: the season. But in no way, shape or form was
16:42
Speaker 2: it a three year, one hundred and fifty million dollar
16:45
Speaker 2: contract to this guy that the national media started trumpeting
16:50
Speaker 2: right away. And then you know, and that wasn't necessarily
16:53
Speaker 2: turning heads. Then they turned down to Tradon McCarthy, which
16:57
Speaker 2: was never a thing that Viking fans have talked about,
17:00
Speaker 2: nor the Viking brass.
17:02
Speaker 3: Has ever talked about.
17:04
Speaker 2: It's just you know, talking heads needing fodder to talk about,
17:07
Speaker 2: and it just getting old. Because if let's say that
17:11
Speaker 2: was the case and you offer Donalds a three year,
17:15
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty million dollar contract. I mean, I
17:17
Speaker 2: would have been livid, livid, because if you didn't get
17:21
Speaker 2: the performance of the last two games this year, you
17:25
Speaker 2: can goddamn guarantee that you would see those warts next
17:28
Speaker 2: year and the year after that.
17:31
Speaker 3: You can't.
17:31
Speaker 2: You know, O'Connell's a great quarterback coach to date, but
17:37
Speaker 2: you can't only put lipstick on a pig for so long.
17:40
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying Donald's not gonna go somewhere else
17:42
Speaker 2: to make some money or be high end backup or
17:44
Speaker 2: maybe a mid range starter somewhere and make that money.
17:48
Speaker 3: It just can't be here.
17:49
Speaker 2: When you draft McCarthy at ten and you got the
17:52
Speaker 2: road map and the plan already laid out, and all
17:55
Speaker 2: of a sudden, this thing falls in your lap, Donald,
17:57
Speaker 2: and you're gonna switch the whole game plan up for
18:00
Speaker 2: or what could be a flash in the pan. It
18:02
Speaker 2: just didn't make any sense to me, still doesn't. I'm
18:05
Speaker 2: happy for Darnold for whatever money he made this year.
18:08
Speaker 2: They had a mutual agreement going into the season, so
18:12
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a one year thing. Let's make it
18:15
Speaker 2: work out for both of us to some extent, it
18:18
Speaker 2: did for both parties. Whatever damaged Sam mc crude, that
18:22
Speaker 2: was self imposed. So let's wash our hands get ready
18:25
Speaker 2: for McCarthy in twenty twenty five. You know this game. Yeah,
18:30
Speaker 2: we kind of thought this whole season and those last
18:32
Speaker 2: two games are gravy anyway, just being above what I
18:36
Speaker 2: picked six wins for the year, and I think you
18:38
Speaker 2: picked eight or around there.
18:40
Speaker 3: I mean, it is what it is.
18:44
Speaker 2: Obviously, if you get to a point in the season
18:47
Speaker 2: where you're fighting for the number one seed, maybe that
18:49
Speaker 2: changes your expectations a little bit.
18:50
Speaker 3: Obviously you have to reevaluate.
18:52
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, you would have
18:55
Speaker 2: told us in September that we'd be fourteen and three
18:57
Speaker 2: and losing the wildcard, I'd be shocked.
19:00
Speaker 3: I would have been shocked.
19:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, and remember, for years people made fun of the
19:11
Speaker 1: competitive rebuild. And don't get me wrong, the slogan is
19:18
Speaker 1: can come across as like, Okay, yeah, of course you
19:22
Speaker 1: want to be competitive, but you want to rebuild. But
19:24
Speaker 1: that's exactly what's taking place. I mean, damn near to
19:27
Speaker 1: a t and to only you know, to hold Quac
19:34
Speaker 1: to his first draft and that's it. It's just ridiculous.
19:40
Speaker 1: And also you know this is this is a perfect
19:44
Speaker 1: example of the flaw of QB wins. And I've been
19:50
Speaker 1: talking about this for a long time. Okay, this is
19:52
Speaker 1: not something new, and I've gotten a lot of shit
19:55
Speaker 1: for it, a lot of messages over the years. But
19:57
Speaker 1: tell me that this does not play into what the
20:00
Speaker 1: fuck I've been saying now is their quarterbacks that really
20:05
Speaker 1: really count in the fourth quarter, and QB wins can
20:08
Speaker 1: be looked at and how many game winning drives or
20:13
Speaker 1: go ahead drives or fourth quarter comebacks all that stuff.
20:18
Speaker 1: There are some quarterbacks that even if it's a mediocre
20:22
Speaker 1: line or even if it's that or you know, they
20:24
Speaker 1: can overcome it. But they're few and far between, okay,
20:28
Speaker 1: And just blanketing the rest of the league with QB
20:34
Speaker 1: wins is completely fucking ridiculous. And I mean, look at
20:40
Speaker 1: what the fuck just happened, you know what I mean? So,
20:46
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's something to the stat. I
20:48
Speaker 1: just don't live and die by a stat like a
20:52
Speaker 1: lot of people do. And it's become a narrative that
20:55
Speaker 1: is a false narrative. It just is. And if this
20:58
Speaker 1: doesn't describe exactly why the fuck the stat doesn't mean
21:02
Speaker 1: nearly as much. Now if you're if you're looking at
21:05
Speaker 1: Marino and you're looking at l Away and you're trying
21:09
Speaker 1: to split hairs or you know, sure, okay, we can
21:12
Speaker 1: say that. Then you say, well, hey, that he didn't
21:14
Speaker 1: have a run game. He didn't. You know, there's layers.
21:18
Speaker 1: You know, it needs context. That's what I'm saying. Fourth
21:21
Speaker 1: quarter comebacks for the most part, do need some context.
21:25
Speaker 1: You know, there's not many mahomes, dude, there's not many
21:29
Speaker 1: burrows whatever. But but yeah, that that that's something that
21:33
Speaker 1: I had been stressing for so long and it's just
21:36
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. It will be interesting to see, though,
21:39
Speaker 1: if the Vikings can get off this every other Schneid thing,
21:43
Speaker 1: can we get back in the playoffs? It feels like
21:46
Speaker 1: we can. Just looking at the game though, getting down
21:50
Speaker 1: ten zip early the scripted play, I did think that
21:54
Speaker 1: they'd kind of start how they did last time with
21:57
Speaker 1: the short passing, and you kind of slowly they're gonna
22:01
Speaker 1: do some of that, and then you then you start
22:03
Speaker 1: to cut into it. Then you start to get lost
22:05
Speaker 1: yard did you start to get incompletions and slowly but
22:09
Speaker 1: surely that's exactly what was starting to take place. You know,
22:13
Speaker 1: we ten zip, you know, had a pretty nice drive. Unfortunately,
22:18
Speaker 1: couldn't punch it in, you know, to get an actual
22:22
Speaker 1: touchdown in there. But but ten to three, force the
22:25
Speaker 1: three and out. They literally got no yards in a pick.
22:29
Speaker 1: Then they forced another three and out, then the fumble touchdown,
22:34
Speaker 1: then they get the ball back, turnover, run down like
22:37
Speaker 1: it's it's just a lot was going on, and it
22:41
Speaker 1: was twenty four to three, and you're just like, dude,
22:43
Speaker 1: we get the ball, but does it really fucking matter?
22:46
Speaker 1: You know, we had that moment where the rest completely
22:51
Speaker 1: missed the call on Stafford. It was a penalty. No,
22:54
Speaker 1: it wasn't a fumble, but it was definitely a penalty.
22:57
Speaker 1: I mean, he was staring right into the ground, he
23:00
Speaker 1: didn't know who he was going to. He just dumped
23:02
Speaker 1: it off. And literally, at all levels, you could do
23:06
Speaker 1: that playing quarterback. If that's all you have to do
23:08
Speaker 1: is just dump it about a few feet away from you.
23:11
Speaker 1: That was That was ridiculous. But I would never say
23:15
Speaker 1: that's why this happened or that happened or whatever. They
23:19
Speaker 1: did stay away from running for quite some time, Like
23:22
Speaker 1: I said, the short passing, short passing, but it did
23:26
Speaker 1: start to lighten up in late in the third quarter.
23:30
Speaker 1: They're sitting there with twenty offensive points and I wrote
23:34
Speaker 1: it down. It was two hundred and forty two yards
23:37
Speaker 1: late third quarter. So that's pretty fucking good, you know,
23:42
Speaker 1: considering Stafford played very well majority of the game. There
23:49
Speaker 1: was a couple of throws where we hit him hard
23:52
Speaker 1: and he was able to complete that pass that happened
23:54
Speaker 1: on fourth down one of those couple of third downs,
23:57
Speaker 1: So there was some things we couldn't do much there.
24:00
Speaker 1: We started to finally get to him with five hits,
24:03
Speaker 1: but not enough. The two PBUs really stand out, but
24:07
Speaker 1: that quick passing was effective. And then the one thing
24:10
Speaker 1: I'll say about the defenses, there were several mistackles. That's
24:17
Speaker 1: the one thing I'll say about the defense in this
24:20
Speaker 1: game is I would have liked to see better tackling
24:24
Speaker 1: on a hole, not necessarily just one or two players.
24:27
Speaker 1: That would be my biggest finger point. But once again
24:32
Speaker 1: Sam struggling with either inaccurate throws or just holding the
24:36
Speaker 1: fucking ball. The old line had issues, you know, no
24:40
Speaker 1: doubt about it, but we can't sit there and put
24:42
Speaker 1: all the sacks on them. I would have liked to
24:46
Speaker 1: see him run a little bit more four point h
24:49
Speaker 1: eight in average on twenty two carries. We did have
24:53
Speaker 1: three turnovers on downs, and I mean he got hit
24:57
Speaker 1: the most he's ever gotten we've ever giving up this
25:00
Speaker 1: year as twelve hits. And like I said, there are
25:04
Speaker 1: some times where you get the ball, there's nothing you
25:07
Speaker 1: can do and you're gonna take a stack like that
25:10
Speaker 1: one where it was a play action. Technically the guy's
25:13
Speaker 1: coming from his right side, so it's not his blind side,
25:16
Speaker 1: but he is turning and boom, he's looking downfield and
25:20
Speaker 1: he doesn't see a guy that's coming free at him. Now,
25:22
Speaker 1: you could make an argument he probably just should have
25:26
Speaker 1: saw that because it's not your blind side, But I
25:29
Speaker 1: would give him the benefit of doubt because he's coming
25:31
Speaker 1: up the play action, so you're turning around. He did.
25:33
Speaker 1: He was looking down the field though, instead of his
25:36
Speaker 1: peripheral picking that up. But a couple of sacks you're like, Okay,
25:40
Speaker 1: there's not much you're gonna do there. You know you
25:42
Speaker 1: you will get sacked right or hit or whatever. But
25:46
Speaker 1: I would say just as many, if not more, were
25:50
Speaker 1: on him. And it's these times where he tries to
25:54
Speaker 1: make I've been saying it all fucking year, this little
25:57
Speaker 1: spin or this extra little more that he loses eight
26:01
Speaker 1: more yards, and time and time again, that either happened
26:05
Speaker 1: on first or second down. And when you get into
26:09
Speaker 1: third and eighteen and third and twenty three and second
26:12
Speaker 1: and twenty three, that's it's not gonna go well, dude,
26:15
Speaker 1: even if you're playing bummy teams, it's not gonna go well.
26:18
Speaker 1: But Sam just held the ball. And for the people
26:22
Speaker 1: that said, oh, it's not all Sam's fault, yeah, it's
26:24
Speaker 1: not all Sam's fault this game. It's not like going
26:27
Speaker 1: two of eleven for seven yards in the red zone
26:30
Speaker 1: last week. That was pretty much all his fault. But
26:34
Speaker 1: this game, yeah, the old line is getting a lot
26:37
Speaker 1: of pressure, and it is what it is, right the center,
26:42
Speaker 1: the left guard, in the left tackle. The last couple
26:45
Speaker 1: of weeks have been starting to get abused, no doubt
26:50
Speaker 1: about it. But you know, what are you gonna do?
26:52
Speaker 1: You're missing your left tackle or whatever. But yeah, I mean,
26:56
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna blame Sam as much as I did
26:59
Speaker 1: last week, but there's time and time again. We were
27:02
Speaker 1: on third and long and a lot of it had
27:04
Speaker 1: to do with just get rid of the fucking ball,
27:06
Speaker 1: and then he'd get life sometimes Aaron and he'd go, oh,
27:10
Speaker 1: I can move over here. No you can't, dude, you cannot.
27:13
Speaker 1: I literally I said this before we hit record. I
27:16
Speaker 1: counted to nine Mississippi, and I was trying to mississippy.
27:21
Speaker 1: You know, I was trying to say the whole fucking
27:23
Speaker 1: word to give him the benefit. It's just like, dude,
27:26
Speaker 1: you've already gotten lucky. On two different times, someone picked
27:28
Speaker 1: up a block you move to the left, and I
27:31
Speaker 1: thought Akman was doing a good job of he moves
27:33
Speaker 1: once you start hitting him, he moves. He moves when
27:37
Speaker 1: he doesn't need to move. He gets happy feed and
27:40
Speaker 1: he just can't consistently deliver the ball where it needs
27:45
Speaker 1: to go in general, if it's not schemed open or
27:50
Speaker 1: like you know, like you said, multiple times throughout a
27:53
Speaker 1: game this year, he'd have great throws. We tried to
27:56
Speaker 1: really highlight damn near everyone in every game really just
28:02
Speaker 1: to show that we're saying, hey, dude's having a great season,
28:05
Speaker 1: but cal hm, the f down on it is a
28:09
Speaker 1: product of his environment. And clearly he was a product
28:12
Speaker 1: of his environment. And once you hit him, you don't
28:15
Speaker 1: want to stand there much and deliver the ball and
28:18
Speaker 1: get hit.
28:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said I don't need to dovetail anymore on
28:23
Speaker 2: the Donald situation. I thought you wrapped it up pretty well.
28:26
Speaker 2: Get rid of the ball. I mean that's the that's
28:28
Speaker 2: the crux of it all. And yeah, you're getting pressure
28:31
Speaker 2: from the inside. But also if you get rid of
28:33
Speaker 2: the ball a little bit sooner. And you're right about
28:36
Speaker 2: the sacks, I'd say of those nine, five to six
28:40
Speaker 2: were Darnald, you know, and you know so that changes
28:43
Speaker 2: the total of that game nine sacks of three sacks,
28:46
Speaker 2: which is somewhat manageable. But but defensively, Chris uh, you
28:50
Speaker 2: know that also give its warts for the sact same
28:53
Speaker 2: reason offensively it did.
28:55
Speaker 3: And that's the front.
28:57
Speaker 2: If you can't get pressure up the middle with your
28:59
Speaker 2: defensive front, you have to get pressure with your linebackers,
29:03
Speaker 2: which leaves gaps in the zone which Stafford can attack.
29:07
Speaker 2: Any good quarterback could replace the blitzer for eight, nine, fourteen,
29:12
Speaker 2: thirteen yards of pop. So you have to get into
29:15
Speaker 2: your pressure this offseason. You have to do something. I
29:19
Speaker 2: thought there. You know, whatever pressure you got from the edge,
29:22
Speaker 2: Ben Ginkle, Grenard Turner, you know it was enough, but
29:26
Speaker 2: you didn't get home because you didn't have anything coming
29:28
Speaker 2: from the inside. And as much as we love Harrison
29:31
Speaker 2: Phillips can't do it by himself. You need somebody else
29:34
Speaker 2: in there. So sooner or later that was gonna get exposed.
29:38
Speaker 2: I didn't think Goff got it as bad as Stafford did.
29:40
Speaker 2: But Stafford just quickly replacing blitzers, quickly doing the things
29:44
Speaker 2: that he had to do, and it's like, okay, well
29:47
Speaker 2: that's definitely not gonna work.
29:48
Speaker 3: And therefore they get twenty seven points.
29:50
Speaker 2: And that's immediately what they did when they started the game,
29:53
Speaker 2: and I was like, Okay, it's gonna be one of
29:54
Speaker 2: those games because you're not gonna get pressure with your
29:57
Speaker 2: front four, so you're gonna have to blitz. And when
29:59
Speaker 2: you blitz, it's you know, guys like that are going
30:02
Speaker 2: to pick you off. He's a ten to twelve year bet.
30:05
Speaker 2: You know, he's used to getting blitzed back in his
30:06
Speaker 2: Detroit days. You know, he made a living just getting
30:10
Speaker 2: away from that stuff. So yeah, I mean, the game
30:12
Speaker 2: went the way we thought it was going to go
30:15
Speaker 2: for the most part after it started.
30:18
Speaker 3: Now I picked him last.
30:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got to say I don't know about that.
30:21
Speaker 1: I picked him too.
30:22
Speaker 2: I picked yeah, yeah, right, once the game start. But
30:25
Speaker 2: once the game starteds like, oh, it's going to be
30:27
Speaker 2: this kind of show. And if you could have kept
30:29
Speaker 2: up with them offensively or you know that scoop and
30:32
Speaker 2: score would have counted, maybe it changes the trajectory of
30:34
Speaker 2: the game a little bit, but you know what it
30:38
Speaker 2: could have should have in that point. So yeah, you know,
30:42
Speaker 2: the glaring needs for the squad have been the same,
30:46
Speaker 2: oddly enough, for what seven of the eight years probably
30:51
Speaker 2: that we've done this podcast or six of the seven.
30:54
Speaker 1: Every one of them, every one of them. Because in
30:57
Speaker 1: the year after the Super Bowl, I just set the
31:01
Speaker 1: conference final. Remember that's when we lost both of our
31:05
Speaker 1: guards in the Ohio State Center came back off injury
31:10
Speaker 1: not as strong because remember he couldn't work out in
31:12
Speaker 1: the off seasoned up.
31:16
Speaker 2: Ye, and we you know, we've been wondering, you know,
31:20
Speaker 2: when are they going to address this thing?
31:22
Speaker 3: And then they just have it.
31:24
Speaker 2: And that's the odd part to me, is that you
31:26
Speaker 2: kick the can down the road to the next year
31:28
Speaker 2: and bring in some low end free agent and hope
31:32
Speaker 2: you can coach them up. And meanwhile you're worried about
31:34
Speaker 2: paying other guys and blah blah blah. Well, now you
31:36
Speaker 2: have cap space, a lot of it. I think you
31:39
Speaker 2: have the fifth most cap space. You gotta do some
31:42
Speaker 2: of both both sides of that, whether you use the draft.
31:45
Speaker 2: You know, I don't really care to see besides a cornerback.
31:48
Speaker 2: I don't really care to see another scale position player.
31:51
Speaker 3: We have those.
31:52
Speaker 2: I want to see the fronts, you know, and that
31:56
Speaker 2: will make the biggest difference with this squad. But as
31:58
Speaker 2: far as the game went, Chris, you know, as disappointing
32:02
Speaker 2: as it is, it did answer some questions that needed
32:04
Speaker 2: to be answered. Darnold, offensive line, defensive line, cornerback, Where
32:11
Speaker 2: are problems we come to playoffs next year? What holes
32:16
Speaker 2: are there going to be? The need to be you know, fixed.
32:19
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, in the I guess the
32:23
Speaker 2: large view, I was gonna say the grand scheme, but
32:26
Speaker 2: the large view of things, the ten thousand foot view,
32:32
Speaker 2: it's better to know, you know what you need to fix.
32:35
Speaker 3: And I think the Lions showed that, and I think.
32:38
Speaker 2: The the the Rams showed that. And obviously you need
32:42
Speaker 2: to get running back and maybe a stable of them,
32:44
Speaker 2: and you know, kind of thin at that position.
32:47
Speaker 1: Good running draft this year yeah.
32:50
Speaker 2: So, I mean we'll get into that a little bit
32:53
Speaker 2: later in the offseason, but as far as this one goes,
32:55
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, every year we come to this point
32:59
Speaker 2: in every year here, it's like a broken record. Like
33:01
Speaker 2: I said at the top of the show, we address
33:04
Speaker 2: the things, or we point out the things that need
33:06
Speaker 2: to be addressed. Uh, get a little propagandaized through the
33:10
Speaker 2: off season.
33:11
Speaker 3: You know this guy might step in and do this.
33:13
Speaker 2: But literally you're throwing Bullard uh Redmond who played in
33:18
Speaker 2: the USFL, I mean, Hiller Tillery, a failed first round
33:23
Speaker 2: pick somewhere else, and you're trying to get the best
33:26
Speaker 2: out of those and I think you did.
33:27
Speaker 1: I think the best Flora is for using damn near
33:31
Speaker 1: every defensive player poss.
33:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, and put him in positions to make plays.
33:36
Speaker 2: I mean, pace is a very specialized type of linebacker
33:39
Speaker 2: and you got to be able to use him the
33:41
Speaker 2: way he needs to be used. Blake Cashman, I think
33:45
Speaker 2: is the best standardbacker. And I think you know, he
33:49
Speaker 2: played as well as he wanted him to play. But
33:52
Speaker 2: you know, again, and I'm not gonna beat a dead
33:55
Speaker 2: horse here, I'm just gonna say it hasn't Football hasn't
33:59
Speaker 2: changed since a team ninety six, it's offensive line, defensive line,
34:04
Speaker 2: and you build outside of that.
34:07
Speaker 3: You know, you get that the trench, all the trenches.
34:12
Speaker 2: Everything else without those things is smoking mirrors and is unsustainable.
34:16
Speaker 3: It's not gonna last.
34:17
Speaker 2: And here we are again in this spot saying it
34:20
Speaker 2: again for the sixth straight year.
34:23
Speaker 1: And you know, go back to the Mahomes Uh versus
34:27
Speaker 1: Brady super Bowl. It's a good because that year they
34:32
Speaker 1: did have offensive line issues. Remember he was getting hit
34:35
Speaker 1: a lot. I mean, they still made the Super Bowl
34:37
Speaker 1: because he's the Homes, right, but you could just see
34:40
Speaker 1: that the team in the defense wasn't you know, doing
34:43
Speaker 1: as good as it is now, that's for sure. It
34:46
Speaker 1: just it did have holes and you're thinking, ah, maybe
34:49
Speaker 1: you can and then they just got their ass what
34:50
Speaker 1: you know, And obviously that has nothing to do with Mahomes.
34:53
Speaker 1: But my point is like even when you got that,
34:56
Speaker 1: you still have to be pretty fucking good, and especially
35:01
Speaker 1: like when you look at guards, like guards on average
35:04
Speaker 1: are not that expensive. I will say this instead of
35:08
Speaker 1: only the draft, I think now once again the bar
35:13
Speaker 1: is set low from the Spielman regime, but they did
35:17
Speaker 1: actually improve it minorly. You know, you wish you could
35:21
Speaker 1: have already had this five years ago and then we
35:24
Speaker 1: could add another player and then it would get you know,
35:26
Speaker 1: because it is hard to do it all in one
35:28
Speaker 1: off season. But either way, there is no excuse. Now,
35:35
Speaker 1: sometimes there wasn't an excuse actually that you've had six
35:39
Speaker 1: off seasons right right right, and a lot of it
35:43
Speaker 1: was just well, Cousins can't move. You know, you can't move, Okay,
35:48
Speaker 1: But dude, it was never just that though, like like
35:51
Speaker 1: you said, you said it perfect like when you can
35:54
Speaker 1: get pressure up the gut, dude. That imagine our edge
35:58
Speaker 1: rushers with pressure up the gut, dude, I talk about ridiculous.
36:03
Speaker 1: They would be. I mean they already had great seasons,
36:07
Speaker 1: but you add that extra you have to go, you
36:10
Speaker 1: have to move. Good luck and in a lot of
36:13
Speaker 1: times it goes on the pocket you can step up
36:15
Speaker 1: into you know that it wants. You know, maybe one
36:20
Speaker 1: side of improved for a little bit. Well then the
36:22
Speaker 1: quarterback Cousins or Sam was able to step up a
36:26
Speaker 1: little bit. But if it's just collapsing and we're seeing
36:30
Speaker 1: like it almost appears at times in the last couple
36:33
Speaker 1: of years where it's like it's almost like a ricochet,
36:37
Speaker 1: like hey man, here, I'll help you. I'll throw you
36:39
Speaker 1: right next door. Like you're even facing the wrong direction, dude,
36:43
Speaker 1: where are you at? How would you make it in
36:45
Speaker 1: the league? You know, it's like, but yeah, overall, you know,
36:53
Speaker 1: obviously Flores now, I think it's up to three interviews
36:56
Speaker 1: he has, I think two of them. I don't. I
36:59
Speaker 1: don't believe he'll take a job there. But the Patriots
37:04
Speaker 1: one got filled. That was a big one. So we'll
37:06
Speaker 1: see if he can come back for a third year.
37:09
Speaker 1: That's obviously a big thing. That's the biggest thing when
37:14
Speaker 1: it comes to coaching, that's for sure. So that's that's
37:18
Speaker 1: kind of up in their obviously, and like you said,
37:22
Speaker 1: interior both sides, you know, getting young at corner. If
37:28
Speaker 1: you're looking at the first round, if there's a big
37:31
Speaker 1: nasty in the first round, that you can damn near
37:33
Speaker 1: plug and play plug and play him. But you're right,
37:37
Speaker 1: I don't I don't really want to see skilled positions
37:40
Speaker 1: unless you're gonna draft him and move down or some
37:42
Speaker 1: shit like three spots and get some extra stuff, and
37:45
Speaker 1: then you can still get a guy or something that's different.
37:47
Speaker 1: But overall, that is a you know that is a
37:51
Speaker 1: big thing because we are gonna have to get some
37:54
Speaker 1: young corners. Harrison Smith, is he done for his last one?
38:00
Speaker 1: Cam didn't look as good recently. I have noticed him
38:06
Speaker 1: missing tackles or taking the wrong angle. So there is
38:12
Speaker 1: some safety stuff there that will be It'd be interesting
38:16
Speaker 1: to see how that plays out. Will Harrison come back
38:19
Speaker 1: for one more year? Maybe it would be Flora's coming
38:21
Speaker 1: back and he'd be like, Okay, we'll come back for that.
38:24
Speaker 1: But yeah, there is offseason questions. And you know, I
38:29
Speaker 1: just he built the defense to be fifth in the
38:33
Speaker 1: league in points allowed. Now we still led the league
38:38
Speaker 1: in blitzes, but it was it came down like like
38:41
Speaker 1: fifteen percent from last year. Like you said, Grenard and
38:44
Speaker 1: Van Aynkel are studs. There's other players that are in
38:48
Speaker 1: there are studs. Ultimately, they flashed it right for the
38:52
Speaker 1: game starter or when the game is starting ninth in
38:54
Speaker 1: the league scoring for the offense, and that reds known
39:00
Speaker 1: as something we documented week in and week out, positive
39:02
Speaker 1: or negative. We started out so positive that it went negative.
39:05
Speaker 1: It's kind of been up and down lately, but we
39:07
Speaker 1: ended up nineteenth after that, zing to four last week,
39:11
Speaker 1: and I don't think it got any better. But you know, overall,
39:16
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot to look at. There's a yeah,
39:19
Speaker 1: we're old, but we have a lot of one year contracts,
39:22
Speaker 1: so we're not as old as you think. And and
39:24
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys that came later, whether we're
39:27
Speaker 1: talking about in August or right before camp started or during,
39:32
Speaker 1: a lot of those dudes are old. So that messes
39:34
Speaker 1: up your average right away. So you can't look too
39:37
Speaker 1: deep into that now to expect JJ McCarthy to go
39:43
Speaker 1: out there and be, you know, a thirty ten guy
39:47
Speaker 1: his first year. For sure, we'll have to see, you know,
39:49
Speaker 1: we'll have to see. The only thing about him is
39:54
Speaker 1: he developed a lot in college, but as far as
39:58
Speaker 1: doing in a game consistently, because of the offense he
40:04
Speaker 1: played in that he may need an extra year or
40:09
Speaker 1: whatever to really show what he's got. But his biggest
40:13
Speaker 1: thing was timely running when you're like, oh shit, that
40:18
Speaker 1: was a perfect play to run, and he just he
40:20
Speaker 1: had that. He had that perfect instinct of knowing when
40:24
Speaker 1: to run and when to hold it or when to
40:26
Speaker 1: whatever scramble and complete a pass. And also on third
40:30
Speaker 1: and long, his third and long, which Michigan didn't get
40:34
Speaker 1: in a whole lot, but when they did, he was
40:37
Speaker 1: one of the best. So you know, Byron Murphy got
40:42
Speaker 1: to bring him back, that's a must, I would say,
40:49
Speaker 1: Nick Mullens. But if we got Daniel Jones in our backup,
40:53
Speaker 1: that's another thing about bringing Sam back. You know, I
40:57
Speaker 1: wasn't even like as far as Sam just getting a
40:59
Speaker 1: one year deal for decent money, that's a whole different thing.
41:03
Speaker 1: But I do think we can emulate a lot of
41:05
Speaker 1: it with Daniel Jones. And he's actually a much better
41:10
Speaker 1: runner too, So I think I think we can be Okay,
41:14
Speaker 1: there a guy like Johnny mund maybe he'll get some attention,
41:18
Speaker 1: but it is a guy you could probably bring in late.
41:22
Speaker 1: So there are you know, if Gilmour want to go
41:24
Speaker 1: another year. You mentioned Jones, If we bring back Jones
41:29
Speaker 1: on a decent deal, we'd better go young in the
41:31
Speaker 1: draft because, like you said, we can't depend on him
41:35
Speaker 1: for the next couple of years, that's for sure. But yeah,
41:39
Speaker 1: I mean, overall, we enjoyed the season during the season,
41:43
Speaker 1: but we always we're trying to tell people that, hey,
41:48
Speaker 1: just calm the fuck down, and then we admit it. Hey,
41:50
Speaker 1: in this stretch here, it's looking pretty fucking good. And
41:54
Speaker 1: so we weren't just stubborn to be stubborn, you know,
41:58
Speaker 1: we there were moments where I I uttered, hey, I
42:01
Speaker 1: believe in this team more than the twenty seventeen team
42:05
Speaker 1: at times, you know, And but you know, like both
42:09
Speaker 1: quarterbacks were kind of the you know that year, that
42:16
Speaker 1: quarterback was kind of in the moment, and because he
42:20
Speaker 1: couldn't stay on a team beyond that year, you know,
42:23
Speaker 1: everybody said they wanted the guy. But then you're like, okay,
42:26
Speaker 1: well why doesn't he ever stick with the fucking team though,
42:28
Speaker 1: you know, there's reasons. It's tough to be a top
42:33
Speaker 1: ten or even top twelve, top fifteen quarterback for you know,
42:37
Speaker 1: eight to ten years. It's fucking difficult. So a lot
42:42
Speaker 1: of questions in the offseason. But we are not going
42:46
Speaker 1: to lose our play caller on offense, which you always
42:49
Speaker 1: got to remember that's a huge plus. And we got money.
42:56
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, it's not gloom and doom, that's
42:59
Speaker 1: for sure. I think people just got over zealous and
43:03
Speaker 1: so they got their their feelings up and they just
43:06
Speaker 1: got their feelings hurt. But you know, my co hosts
43:11
Speaker 1: and I we have this part in our brain where
43:13
Speaker 1: we won't allow that stuff to come in just yet,
43:17
Speaker 1: like we have to be at least in the Conference
43:21
Speaker 1: final or like you know, I'll be real confident in
43:25
Speaker 1: those two weeks between the Conference Final and the super Bowl.
43:28
Speaker 1: I always talk about how I just want those two weeks,
43:30
Speaker 1: no matter what the fuck happens, just give me those
43:32
Speaker 1: two weeks so I can walk on clouds and stuff
43:34
Speaker 1: like that. But overall, I just think people got their
43:37
Speaker 1: hopes up too high. And I get it. Winning does that,
43:41
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. But you know it just it
43:45
Speaker 1: is what it is. It's very tough to do it.
43:48
Speaker 1: We've had much better teams, you know, two teams that
43:52
Speaker 1: you could really point out twenty ninety ninety eight that
43:56
Speaker 1: you couldn't tell me anything about those teams not being
43:59
Speaker 1: able to in the super Bowl. And somehow those teams
44:02
Speaker 1: didn't do it either.
44:04
Speaker 3: Yeah.
44:04
Speaker 2: So, like you said, I'm with you on it was
44:07
Speaker 2: a fun year, kind of always waiting for that other shoe.
44:10
Speaker 3: To drop, and it did eventually drop. But it, you know,
44:14
Speaker 3: for fourteen to three, it's not bad. Now.
44:17
Speaker 2: My concerns major concerns going in the offseason. One losing Flores.
44:22
Speaker 2: I'm concerned about that for the number one reason, this
44:24
Speaker 2: is a tailor made personnel to Brian Flores on our defense.
44:29
Speaker 2: If you bring in another coordinator or get someone else
44:31
Speaker 2: to attempt to run his scheme one, if you get
44:34
Speaker 2: someone else to attempt to run, it's not going to
44:35
Speaker 2: be the same calls on the sideline. Timing's going to
44:38
Speaker 2: be different. You know, when doy you blitz this, when
44:41
Speaker 2: do you blitz that, that's all gonna be different. You
44:43
Speaker 2: can't replace that if you lose Flores. But then if
44:46
Speaker 2: you bring in another defense coordinat you're gonna cut the
44:48
Speaker 2: defense and you got to bring in his guys now
44:51
Speaker 2: to run whatever he wants to run.
44:53
Speaker 3: And I'd really really.
44:55
Speaker 2: Loved it if Brian Flour has just turned down whatever
44:59
Speaker 2: crappy that are coming his way and stays here for
45:02
Speaker 2: a third year, get more of his guys in be
45:05
Speaker 2: a top five defense and a lot of categories really help.
45:09
Speaker 2: Second concern is I'm not putting JJ McCarthy behind Garrett Bradbury.
45:14
Speaker 3: Don't Riisner and Blake Brandle.
45:18
Speaker 2: I'm just not gonna do that to McCarthy for one
45:23
Speaker 2: and to the fans for another. If you're gonna put
45:25
Speaker 2: your chips behind McCarthy, you better put a line in
45:28
Speaker 2: front of them. And yeah, you got darrisof beautiful helps
45:32
Speaker 2: a lot O'Neill, all pro right tackle.
45:35
Speaker 3: You need to fill in that space in between. Now.
45:38
Speaker 2: Some people say you need two guards in a center.
45:41
Speaker 2: Some people say you need all three. Some people say
45:43
Speaker 2: you replace one guy. I don't think one's it. Two
45:46
Speaker 2: you might have to do.
45:50
Speaker 3: Difficult, very hard to do correct right. And then I
45:57
Speaker 3: mentioned no scale position players.
46:00
Speaker 2: I'll goal caveat that and say we need a corner,
46:02
Speaker 2: whether that's free agents or draft, and we need a
46:05
Speaker 2: running back, maybe two, one free agent and one in
46:09
Speaker 2: the draft if you get younger and I want productive guys.
46:12
Speaker 2: Ty Chandler for all he's worth, proven, he's not probably
46:17
Speaker 2: a number one back. And then Ham, you know, he's
46:21
Speaker 2: very specialized too in what he does. So those are
46:24
Speaker 2: my biggest concerns going the off season. I'm sure there's
46:27
Speaker 2: some more that will pop up as things progress, especially
46:32
Speaker 2: if if Flores takes a different job, because then you
46:36
Speaker 2: probably lose Van Ginkel. He's on a one year deal.
46:38
Speaker 2: I'm not sure who's on one year deals up front.
46:40
Speaker 2: Grenard if he is too. They might be three year guys.
46:43
Speaker 2: But gil Moore, I don't care if he comes or
46:46
Speaker 2: goes buying him, you know, if you can get a.
46:49
Speaker 3: Good deal done, sign him.
46:51
Speaker 2: If not, I'm not gonna You know, you got THEO Jackson,
46:53
Speaker 2: You've got Mattella's. And then you know, poor Harrison smith Man,
46:58
Speaker 2: he's been a Viking think of that whole career and
47:01
Speaker 2: we're sitting here complaining as fans about how we flame
47:03
Speaker 2: out in the playoffs or we have these great seasons.
47:06
Speaker 3: I mean, this guy's been on the field for it.
47:08
Speaker 2: So yeah, I wish that, uh, you know, obviously I'd
47:12
Speaker 2: like to see him do another year, but then you
47:15
Speaker 2: know that's a decision he'll make pen on his body
47:18
Speaker 2: and I trust his judgment. So yeah, those are my concerns.
47:21
Speaker 2: Been a fun year, really looking forward to McCarthy being
47:25
Speaker 2: healthy and you know, getting the reins from OTAs on,
47:31
Speaker 2: you know, and saying, hey, this is your team, but
47:34
Speaker 2: I'll I think it'll help Jefferson and Addison all those
47:36
Speaker 2: guys rally around him.
47:38
Speaker 3: I think that was starting to happen.
47:40
Speaker 2: Around the end of camp, and then you know, he
47:43
Speaker 2: got a little tweaking his knee, and the rest is history.
47:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get so to speak, but yeah, it is
47:54
Speaker 1: actually right now. But that's a different topic.
47:57
Speaker 2: I don't want use he had a draft. I think
48:01
Speaker 2: you and I brushed on this quickly. Oh and then
48:04
Speaker 2: let's not Another quick point I wanted to bring up
48:07
Speaker 2: is in six years, you have addressed the offensive line
48:11
Speaker 2: in bits and pieces at Ingram, for example, it might
48:16
Speaker 2: be time to take a look at the offensive line coach,
48:21
Speaker 2: you know, coach them.
48:22
Speaker 3: Up or whatever it is. I'm still seeing a.
48:24
Speaker 2: Lot of confused faces during the course of a game
48:28
Speaker 2: as far as where the pressure is coming from and
48:30
Speaker 2: their assignments.
48:32
Speaker 3: It might be time to take a look at that
48:34
Speaker 3: a little bit. I don't know the guy's name. I
48:37
Speaker 3: do know his face.
48:37
Speaker 2: Because I've seen him in videos and stuff, but I
48:39
Speaker 2: don't remember his name. But yeah, I might want to
48:41
Speaker 2: take a look at that, if you could. And then
48:44
Speaker 2: the Quasi stuff because you were coming up on another
48:47
Speaker 2: draft and then the twenty twenty two draft, and you
48:49
Speaker 2: know Quise he doesn't do the scouting, so if you're
48:52
Speaker 2: talking about players that are suggested to him to draft,
48:56
Speaker 2: you might want to look at the people suggesting those players.
48:58
Speaker 3: Scouting department, guys in charge of evaluating.
49:01
Speaker 2: Talent, maybe take a look at that if you're you know,
49:06
Speaker 2: missing on draft picks. You know, I think what Quasi
49:09
Speaker 2: does aside a lot are free agents, and he's done
49:12
Speaker 2: a hell of a job with free agents.
49:14
Speaker 1: Just judging from the last year, trades.
49:17
Speaker 2: And trades and whatever. I mean, maybe not another cam
49:19
Speaker 2: Akers deal. Maybe keep him around if you can.
49:22
Speaker 1: But yeah, to be fair, though he did tear his
49:25
Speaker 1: shit up. That's why he left. I think he would
49:27
Speaker 1: have been on the team if he had the tourist.
49:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, we paid two draft picks for him. Now over
49:31
Speaker 3: the course of time, that's pretty but yeah, I mean, hey,
49:34
Speaker 3: he had the best run yesterday of all the players out.
49:37
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's that's the thing here going forward. I
49:41
Speaker 2: really don't, you know, I'm confident for next year. I
49:44
Speaker 2: don't think I'm fourteen and three confident. But I want
49:48
Speaker 2: to see, you know, the fronts man meat and potatoes.
49:52
Speaker 2: That's what's gonna make me happy.
49:53
Speaker 1: Nat.
49:53
Speaker 2: He's not a bunch of propaganda about how great the
49:57
Speaker 2: culture is. And you know, JJ, he's happy and Addison's
50:01
Speaker 2: you know, I just want to see offensive alignment, defensive
50:05
Speaker 2: alignment and I really think you got to take a
50:07
Speaker 2: defense alignment number one, because you're not going to get
50:10
Speaker 2: those guys in free agency. They don't grow on trees.
50:13
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to get one out of the draft,
50:14
Speaker 2: and hopefully he's a plug and play guy, like you said.
50:17
Speaker 2: And you know, if you can do some maneuvering get
50:20
Speaker 2: some more picks, that would be great.
50:21
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, look, the season is what it is.
50:24
Speaker 2: It is all gravy to begin with house money. It
50:27
Speaker 2: ended the way it ended. Let's move on the roadmap.
50:31
Speaker 2: Is there the money there is finally cleared that cap.
50:35
Speaker 2: Hopefully use it wisely and fill out this roster.
50:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the one thing I'll say is that at
50:42
Speaker 1: some point Clacy does hire those guys. I guess you
50:45
Speaker 1: could say that. But other than that that is true.
50:49
Speaker 1: And then about the defense, when Flores leaves, they have
50:56
Speaker 1: added to it, I will say that. And if they
50:59
Speaker 1: add to it this next offseason, like it can be
51:05
Speaker 1: a damn I think it can be damn good. Obviously
51:09
Speaker 1: it'd be the best with Flores. But I think if
51:11
Speaker 1: you already are playing, we're a lot more closer to
51:16
Speaker 1: a three four now than we've been because you know,
51:18
Speaker 1: We didn't fucking ever play three four ever.
51:23
Speaker 2: Or maybe.
51:25
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe one coach did it, but normally we had
51:30
Speaker 1: And I remember when we changed there was that long run.
51:33
Speaker 1: Maybe it was less that one year of the military band. No,
51:37
Speaker 1: I don't I don't remember. I'm pretty sure we didn't
51:39
Speaker 1: really play it much ever before that. But so we
51:43
Speaker 1: are more set up with it, I'd say that. And
51:45
Speaker 1: if you added a big, nasty in the middle, that
51:48
Speaker 1: opens it up for a quality coach. Now, is it
51:52
Speaker 1: gonna be Brian Flores?
51:53
Speaker 3: No?
51:54
Speaker 1: But if what we added last year and then another
51:57
Speaker 1: layer of talent, I think it still can be a
51:59
Speaker 1: pretty good defense. But you're right, it's still not the
52:03
Speaker 1: same without Floridas, that's for sure. And you know, like
52:10
Speaker 1: we we can't forget to mention your plans before we
52:14
Speaker 1: get out of here. Your plans for the Viking show,
52:17
Speaker 1: the Purple People leaders during the during the time between
52:21
Speaker 1: now and free agency and the draft, I should say,
52:25
Speaker 1: And maybe you're gonna extend it to the summer. We'll
52:27
Speaker 1: talk about that as well. We'll actually want you to
52:30
Speaker 1: talk about that before we get into some quick go
52:34
Speaker 1: for stuff.
52:35
Speaker 2: I just got some messages from a couple of people
52:38
Speaker 2: here are saying, you know, when the season's over, you
52:40
Speaker 2: guys are done, you don't do off season stuff, And yes,
52:43
Speaker 2: well we do free agency usually pre and post, and
52:46
Speaker 2: we'll do a draft.
52:48
Speaker 3: Depends, you know, if there's a big news, we'll.
52:51
Speaker 2: Do a post draft show or you know, pre draft.
52:55
Speaker 2: We tend to you know, kind of go by ear
52:57
Speaker 2: on that.
52:58
Speaker 3: But this year, I'm.
52:59
Speaker 2: Going to do shows throughout the off season, probably bi
53:05
Speaker 2: weekly every other week, unless some big news happens.
53:10
Speaker 3: That makes me do it a little bit before then.
53:12
Speaker 2: So I'll be probably going solo Purple People Leader podcasts
53:15
Speaker 2: throughout the off season. Obviously, Chris is going to join
53:18
Speaker 2: for maybe a couple of free agency shows and maybe
53:21
Speaker 2: a draft show like we do every year, but maybe
53:25
Speaker 2: I'll get more in depth some pre combine stuff, looking
53:28
Speaker 2: at draft, some player profiles, things like that to look
53:32
Speaker 2: forward to usual.
53:32
Speaker 3: Stuff in the off season.
53:33
Speaker 2: Well, we'll keep the show going this year, Purple People
53:37
Speaker 2: Leaders Podcast.
53:40
Speaker 1: Now, as far as the Gophers, good and bad, right,
53:43
Speaker 1: the good is they did get that Oklahoma State transfer linebacker.
53:48
Speaker 1: They wanted a vet linebacker, knowing that Cody Lindberg was
53:51
Speaker 1: going pro, and they got him. They did get them.
53:56
Speaker 1: They got a good just a one year, one and
53:58
Speaker 1: done type guy. I know, like Oklahoma, Arizona, and I
54:03
Speaker 1: think West Virginia, I don't know, but they there. He
54:08
Speaker 1: visited more than one place, so I think that's the
54:11
Speaker 1: key thing. Obviously, we got the news of Corey Heatherman,
54:16
Speaker 1: who we just we knew that it wasn't gonna be
54:20
Speaker 1: long that he was gonna be here, but we thought
54:23
Speaker 1: we had done our due diligence to keep him here
54:26
Speaker 1: at least one more year, maybe two if we're lucky,
54:31
Speaker 1: but we're not lucky. Miami took his ass and in
54:37
Speaker 1: his deal, so he got that kind of it's not
54:41
Speaker 1: really an extension, he's gotta pay raise, and so he
54:45
Speaker 1: bumped it up sizeably. It was still pretty good, you know,
54:50
Speaker 1: relative to the Big ten anyway. Obviously, if I say
54:54
Speaker 1: the number, you know, most people like, oh my god,
54:56
Speaker 1: that's a ton of money. But you know it's all relative, right,
54:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, have you have that where if he would
55:05
Speaker 1: have so they would have they would have had to
55:07
Speaker 1: pay the whole buyout if he went someplace in the
55:10
Speaker 1: Big ten. I thought that was pretty smart to put
55:12
Speaker 1: in there, because ship if we lose there to another
55:16
Speaker 1: coordinator inside the conference f that, So I do like that,
55:21
Speaker 1: but this is about half of it. Now Miami has
55:24
Speaker 1: to pay half of it, so that that helps a
55:26
Speaker 1: little bit. But so my guess is in a lot
55:31
Speaker 1: of people saying that they went outside, they'll probably go
55:35
Speaker 1: inside for this one. And Danny Collins, who's been here
55:38
Speaker 1: for a long time with Fleck, even dating back to
55:42
Speaker 1: Western Michigan, it sounds like he's probably gonna be the
55:46
Speaker 1: guy when it comes to the Board of Regents, right
55:53
Speaker 1: and the assistant coaches salary pool in the Big ten,
55:57
Speaker 1: that is an issue. And Fleck his last tweet to
56:01
Speaker 1: his contract, let up the money of that. I have
56:05
Speaker 1: it on good sourcing that he's actually in, you know,
56:11
Speaker 1: because a coach can Technically, a coach can't give a
56:15
Speaker 1: one player money and just hand it to him like
56:17
Speaker 1: hey man, here's an other geez. But they can. They
56:21
Speaker 1: can pitch in to these pack you know, these nli
56:25
Speaker 1: So I've heard he's doing that. So but it is
56:31
Speaker 1: ultimately up to the Board of Regents and earmarking money.
56:37
Speaker 1: And so before you want to blame Fleck on some
56:40
Speaker 1: of this stuff, you gotta look at that too. If
56:44
Speaker 1: you're being fair because he has nothing to do with
56:48
Speaker 1: that ship. That's all up to the the ethletic director
56:52
Speaker 1: and ultimately the school, the powers that be. Now there
56:58
Speaker 1: is money coming in that'll be right around give or
57:05
Speaker 1: take twenty million dollars. And this is what's really nice
57:07
Speaker 1: about being in the Big Ten. But so everybody, just
57:11
Speaker 1: so we're clear, everybody in the Big Ten is going
57:13
Speaker 1: to get this money, and it's up to the athletic director,
57:18
Speaker 1: probably the prture regions, but where they want to put it.
57:22
Speaker 1: So this might help the basketball team keep some players more, right,
57:28
Speaker 1: this might help being able to develop guys for your
57:31
Speaker 1: death because it's a solid chunk of money, right, But
57:35
Speaker 1: I don't know if it can only be I don't
57:38
Speaker 1: believe it can not. You know, it's just on student athletes,
57:41
Speaker 1: and like I said, they can divvy it up to
57:43
Speaker 1: through sports whichever sports they want to do. Whatever the
57:46
Speaker 1: athletic director wants to do, they can do technically. So
57:50
Speaker 1: hopefully that means that we start to up the pay
57:55
Speaker 1: of the assistance. Because Fleck is what is like ninth
58:00
Speaker 1: in the Big Ten, and obviously he's happy where he's at,
58:05
Speaker 1: but he isn't an offensive mind that call calls plays,
58:10
Speaker 1: so he is limited that way. He's a great recruiter,
58:14
Speaker 1: great motivator. I'm not saying he doesn't know football, but
58:17
Speaker 1: obviously he's not calling the place first se So now
58:21
Speaker 1: of course he has influence on the plays. But he's
58:24
Speaker 1: not a guy. You know, we kept having this happen
58:27
Speaker 1: with the Vikings, where like every other year be like, oh,
58:29
Speaker 1: this is a good offense. Man, if we get built,
58:32
Speaker 1: oh he's gone, he's gone. You know that type of thing.
58:34
Speaker 1: So my point is here, someone actually there's an email
58:40
Speaker 1: right that you can just look it up the Board
58:45
Speaker 1: of Regions. You can email him. You can call him
58:48
Speaker 1: six one two six two four six six eight and
58:51
Speaker 1: leave a message and say, hey, let your voice be
58:54
Speaker 1: heard basically, but yeah, you can the emails right there,
58:58
Speaker 1: like you can. You can do something about this so
59:01
Speaker 1: they can hear this. Now, remember we're not the only
59:04
Speaker 1: one getting our shit taken from us, Okay, so just
59:08
Speaker 1: kind of keep that in your head. In fact, Clemson
59:11
Speaker 1: just hired Tom Allen, who was a former coach for
59:15
Speaker 1: Indiana chunk of years back and was the defensive coordinator
59:20
Speaker 1: for Penn State, and Penn State was one of the
59:22
Speaker 1: best defenses in the country. They couldn't even keep their guy,
59:26
Speaker 1: so let's just keep it in perspective. But Danny Collins
59:30
Speaker 1: does seem like he's a young dude. He's been around
59:33
Speaker 1: for quite a while. With Fleck, that seems like it's next.
59:38
Speaker 1: I've also heard about Sorry Marion, the linebacker from your
59:43
Speaker 1: chunk of years ago. Sounds like he's gonna he joined
59:46
Speaker 1: the staff already as like a defensive analyst, but they're
59:50
Speaker 1: saying that there's a good chance he's going to be
59:53
Speaker 1: the nickel coach assistant linebacker coach, you know, so he's
59:57
Speaker 1: gonna be in the system. A long story short, but
1:00:01
Speaker 1: that you know, they did lose that, but so far,
1:00:06
Speaker 1: so good. And like I said, they got a linebacker
1:00:08
Speaker 1: that they really needed another linebacker. So they got two
1:00:11
Speaker 1: young guys that play a lot, but to have that
1:00:14
Speaker 1: third one and just you know, just for depth, if anything, whatever,
1:00:19
Speaker 1: just that type of thing, because otherwise we have a
1:00:21
Speaker 1: lot of young linebackers that haven't got a ton of time.
1:00:25
Speaker 1: So that that was key. But yeah, the coordinator, it
1:00:28
Speaker 1: did suck. You know, it is what it is. But
1:00:32
Speaker 1: let's see we should know here somewhat soon.
1:00:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's, I guess, a good problem and a
1:00:39
Speaker 2: bad problem. Good the defense is good enough. They want
1:00:41
Speaker 2: to take your guys, and you know the problem is
1:00:44
Speaker 2: you can't get a lot of continuity. But hopefully, you know,
1:00:46
Speaker 2: they bring in the guy that that works out the
1:00:48
Speaker 2: best for them. Obviously disappointing Viking loss again another season.
1:00:55
Speaker 3: Look forward to shows coming up this off season.
1:01:00
Speaker 1: And yeah, and the Timberwolves podcast is still going to happen,
1:01:05
Speaker 1: Timberwl slash Gophers.
1:01:06
Speaker 3: Ye listen to that.
1:01:10
Speaker 1: We will be or I will be doing that show.
1:01:13
Speaker 2: That's the Living and Loserville podcast, Timberwolves Central on that.
1:01:17
Speaker 2: And you know, let's look forward to twenty twenty five
1:01:21
Speaker 2: and healthy JJ McCarthy