December 6, 2024 • 27 mins
Welcome to Skol Stories presented by 3M - The official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, Mark Rosen and Pete Bercich catch up with former Vikings Safety, Andrew Sendejo. Andrew looks back on playing high school football down in Texas, how Dennis Green helped him understand what it meant to be a pro in the UFL, getting his chance with the Minnesota Vikings, playing with a tight knit group in the Vikings secondary, why he turned his interest in nutrition into a full time business, and how his inspirational spirit still lives on each holiday season at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. All of this and more is in this edition of Skol Stories presented by 3M - The official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Vikings fans, been over here. I'm so excited to
(00:02):
be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.
They love the tennis, the pickaball the basketball, and of
course the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot
life to find a club nearest you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to Schools Stories, presented by three M, the official
science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we're joined by
Vikings legendary safety Andrew Sendejo. Thanks again for tuning into
another episode of school Stories. Tonight's guest was a hard
hitting safety with a nose for the big play. Nowadays,
he's back home in state of Texas, but took a
(00:35):
few minutes to catch up with all of us here
on school Stories. Please enjoy tonight's conversation with former Vikings
safety Andrew Sendejo.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, Andrew, thank you so much. Welcome to the show.
It's great to hear from you again. Of course, the
fans always want to know and get a quick update
on how you're doing these days.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
I am down in Austin, Texas. I've been working full
time on my brain health supplement company, brain Tree Nutrition,
and just going through the phases of life, getting married
here soon in February, and just enjoying all the things
that I couldn't do while I was playing football, So
catching up on a lot of family time, traveling and
(01:18):
things like that.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So he made that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
You've made that obviously made the transition. We'll begin at
the beginnings, as they say. But growing up, you grew
up in the greater San Antonio area. What was it
like growing up and being an athlete down in Texas?
I mean, Texas is it's the spot. There are a
lot of options, a lot of a lot of competition.
What was it like for you growing up as a
(01:41):
high school athlete?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
So I grew up a soccer player, but if you
grow up in South Texas, you kind of have no
choice but to play football at some point. And so
around middle school, I was finally able to play football
for the school while I could still play club soccer
after practice. So got into football, and I soon realized
(02:04):
it was the sport for me. It was the only
sport where you were actually allowed to hit other people.
All my previous experiences in soccer and AAU basketball, I
either fouled out or I got red carded. So I
played football and you were actually allowed to hit people,
and they praised you, and I was like, you know
what this is. I think this is the sport for me.
(02:26):
And I grew up at a school where football was
a really big deal, like your kind of typical Friday
night lights type high school, big time five A football,
went to State a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You were you had a lot of options for college.
You end up going to a Rice University of the
famous home of Tommy Kramer, a longtime Minnesota Viking quarterback.
So what went into your decision to choose Rice. I
know you had up other options, I mean Army among them, Northwestern,
some real academic schools.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
You got there. Yeah, I wasn't a highly tired guy
coming out. I was like a two star recruit.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Obviously, NFL was not even on my radar at all.
So my thought process was going to a university where
I could get the best degree. I originally chose Rice
because I thought I was gonna get an engineering degree there,
and my ap Cactulus teacher told me, hey, if you
get an engineering degree from Rice, like you are set,
(03:25):
and that was kind of all I needed to hear.
It was close to home, It's like three hours away.
Was still far enough away. It was in Texas, so
just a lot of things that made sense. And I
actually committed to Rice when they were one in ten,
so the program was not where it needed to be,
and it was really kind of special to go there
(03:46):
my first year, true freshman, starting playing, go to a
bowl game for the first time in like fifty years,
and then two years later won a bowl game for
the first time, and however long so in my first
in my four years there was able to kind of
help put Rice back on the map a little bit,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now, once you got done with Rice and with college,
your transition to the NFL wasn't the normal experience, if
I'm not mistaken. You spent some time, or at least
initially you joined the Sacramento Mountain Lions under the UFL,
and that was that was my guy, Denny Green. I
played here for Denny Green. What was that like? And
what did you think a coach Green? Because he was
(04:29):
one of them he recruited me coming when he was
at Stanford. I was in high school. I just I'm
one of the biggest Denny Green fans you're going to meet,
and hopefully you feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yes, It was definitely a great introduction into what it
means to be a pro. So at that time, my
kind of only options.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Were to go play in the CFL or this.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
New league called the UFL, and it had been around
for a year, so they're still figuring some things out.
But the pay was just as good as the CFL.
It was in America. I got to go to California,
and so my agent at the time was like, Hey,
this is kind of the best fit. It's NFL coaches,
NFL systems, these guys are all connected to the NFL.
(05:08):
This is going to be kind of your best path
to get picked up out of that league. And so
I had the privilege of playing with Culpepper as well.
So coach Green was you know, he really early on
in my career, kind of showed me what it was
like to be a pro because guys that were lates
and meetings or you know, we're doing what they were
supposed to were either cut fine and you never saw
(05:29):
them again. So I realized kind of the business side
early on of professional sports, and so that was good
to kind of experience like right out of the gate,
and was very fortunate got to play there, played well
it was only eight game season, so we finished that
season early November and allowed me to have time to
(05:50):
get picked up out of there to the NFL for
the remainder of the twenty ten season. And interestingly enough,
I was going back and forth between Minnesota and Dallas
to sign with out of the UFL, and at the time,
the depth was a better opportunity for me in Dallas
to stick on the team, which ironically I got cut
(06:12):
from there and then I ended up in Minnesota anyway,
so I should have just freaking done out of.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
The gate, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And then once and then once you got here to Minnesota,
you were part of a you know, a coaching staff
with Zimmer and and just the guys that were around
you and listening to Xavier Rhoads and talking to Harrison Smith.
You guys had a very unique group. It was a
special group. What about that defensive backfield that you played
(06:40):
with here in Minnesota was so special?
Speaker 5 (06:42):
I think a lot of times it's just getting a
lot of reps together and being around each other for
a long time, and your personalities have to click. There's
kind of a lot of things that go into really
gelling as a secondary We you know, the more you
see offenses together and how they ac you in certain plays,
you start to all think the same way, and so
(07:04):
I think that was a big part of it. I
think also, you know, in the meetings. In the dB meetings,
we all sat next to each other, so it was
like me Harrison and Xavier was right on the other side,
So we were kind of always there, always talking to
each other. Even within the meeting where you're kind of
taking in information, you're also like on having a side
discussion on how you're gonna uh like approach certain how
(07:27):
you're going to play certain plays, certain problem areas and
things like that. Also, I just think that we, you know,
as the safety is you're kind of quarterbacking and controlling things,
and I think we just had a really good way
of like getting to guys and communicating with guys and
you know, everybody kind of keeping each other accountable. You know,
(07:47):
some guys like Xavier can kind of get hot headed
at times. I think having guys like Harry and I
we could like kind of calm them down and keep
them in check, was always good and can kind of
like get the best out of him. But I think
as far as like a secondary when you really like
gel together. It's just is like I said, just you
have a lot of reps together, and you've seen so
(08:09):
many plays together that you can almost kind of just
communicate on the field just by looking at each other
and by kind of giving a little head nod of like, hey,
do you see what I'm saying, And then they look
at you back and you both can kind of agree
that you've kind of seen the same thing, and so
it kind of becomes this like Jedi level communication at
a certain point. That's when you know you're really clicking again.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We're talking with Andrews in Dayjo longtime Minnesota Viking, And
in twenty sixteen, speaking of the Vikings, they gave you
a four year contract and the full time starting role.
Was that kind of a validation moment for you? We
recall that to say, man, I mean my long road
to get to this point has honestly just been validated,
all the grinds and the hard work you put through.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, I mean it did valsee a little bit. But
then they also that off season brought in like first
rounds veteran Mike griff who's a ut guy, Austin guys
every now and then down.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
In Texas, but it was kind of like it was
an interesting kind.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Of uh dynamic, I don't know, like move where.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Yeah, it was like okay, well we're bringing in this
like certified first round Pro Bowl like type player. So
it was like, okay, maybe, so there was still competition
even with the contract, So you know, I was I
was fortunate to stay healthy, play well, and kind of
like earn that spot. And you know, I think the
other part was just each season, uh, played better, had
(09:27):
better numbers to where, you know, kind of later in
that contract, even though there's always competition in the NFL,
you're kind of more of like slotted in that spot
after that and not really like it's not coming down
to the last preseason game before they decide who's going
to be the other starting safety besides Harrison.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
So it did feel good.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Obviously, like you know, being an undrafted guy and like
playing on a minimal one year deal every single year
to get in like a four year deal, it's kind
of the objective financially as a NFL player or any
pro athlete to get kind of that big contract. And
so you know, for me, I just as.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
An undrafted free agent guy that bounced around I was just.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Always happy to be there. I'd play whatever position they
needed me to, special teams, you know, defense, offense, kicker.
I don't care like I just I love the game.
And so I just always played as hard as I could,
regardless of the money. And I would just always think
back to when I played in the UFL, and I
was like, shoot, I used to play for way less
than this, and I would play just as hard. So
(10:24):
like you kind of start to forget about the money
at that point, You're just really just playing because you
love to play.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Well, speaking of an aspect of the game that you loved,
was was the physicality of it? In the hitting?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Known for your make football violent again hats and uh,
you know, other other equips and and things. What h
What do you think of the game, let's say just
today in as a safety? Why is it? Why is
the physicality so important for that position?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You know?
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I always looked at it like each player has to
kind of have their niche that they're they're good at, right,
And I think for me, I kind of realized like, Okay,
I'm not necessarily going to be this manna man cover
guy that's going to be you know, covering tight ends
and receivers all the time. You know, I had my
fair share of interceptions, but not I. You know, I
(11:13):
wasn't getting like five or six interceptions a season, And
so I knew what I was good at, and I
just played to those strengths. So I knew, Okay, I'm smart.
I can study film like like hell and know what
they're going to do, and I can play hard and
play physical, and so I kind of just made myself
as that kind of enforcer physical role to where you
kind of had this do of like Harrison that you know,
(11:36):
ballhawk and Blitz like physical. Then you have this other
guy that's like he literally doesn't care about his own
like well being and well it will knock himself out
if he has to in order to knock you out,
and that he's gonna if you get the ball, like
you're gonna get hit. And so that's kind of the
way I played the game. But I think I just
the way I grew up where you know, how we
grew up playing ball, that was the way that.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was taught.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
And back when I was playing, you know, there was
still a lot more like heavy run game and two
that kind of base their entire offense on the run.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Now it's you know, everything's kind of evolving into this
past heavy game, you know, and so now just you
have to be able to combat that with players that
can cover, and so you know, now the secondaries are
basically all corners in a way. So the game's evolving.
It will continue to do that. It'll eventually, after time,
(12:27):
evolve the other way around to where everyone on the
defense is going to be these kind of small cover
guys and someone's going to come in with a big,
heavy package and run the ball down the throat, and
then they're going to have to start kind of catering
back to that and bringing in bigger like downhill players.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Stick around for more Skulls stories presented by three M
from the field to the roof and everywhere in between.
Three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings,
is here because at Vikings dot com slash skull Science
to learn more. We'll be right back with more from
Andrews and Dajo, but first Unreal is back with their
limited edition Vikings. Drop head to Narl dot com for
(13:03):
more details. Ready to have your spirits lifted than the
laugh out Loud comedy Ghosts is for You. Ghost is
all new every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over
on CBS. Welcome back to tonight's edition of Skulls Stories,
presented by three M. Let's get back into our conversation
with Vikings legend Andrew Sindejo.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Andrew, at the beginning of a conversation, you mentioned you're
involved in a company involving the brain. I know you've
been involved in nutrition. Could you elaborate a little bit
about what that company is all about.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, So, while I was playing, you know, in the
most violent sport in the world, we still as players
did not have access to ban substance free, effectively dosed
products that could improve your cognitive health. I was always
kind of the locker room nutritionists to help guys ensure
(13:54):
they weren't taking band supplements banded ingredients. So it was
kind of this running joke and lockroom that all the
supplements had to run through me first. So I was
always kind of the supplement guy, always kind of was
ahead of the curve on new innovative kind of ingredients
and whatnot. And so I needed something while I was
playing that I could help with the kind of repetitive
head trauma the mental part of the game. I mean,
(14:17):
there's so much that goes into it that involves you know,
focused memory, just being able to adapt each week to
new information. You have to be able to make decisions
instantly on the fly under pressure. There's so much that
involves the brain. And that's why I set out to
start brain.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Tree Nutrition, which is just a line.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Of pharmaceutical grade products that address these key areas of
brain health so that you can improve your cognitive health.
So we have everything from products to help focus, memory, neuroprotection,
improve the gut brain connection that help with the stress anxiety.
We have products for sleep, and then we have products
that are more of our functional beverage that is for
(15:00):
or hydration, focus and energy. So really just kind of
addressing these kind of key areas, uh, these foundational areas
of cognitive health to give people effectively those products that
we know are safe. And like I said, we kind
of originally started it for ourselves and our teammates, and
now how has evolved in It's become kind of my
full time career post football. So it's kind of interesting
(15:22):
where I was to make football violent again, but now
I'm making brain health supplements cool again.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Who knows better than you.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and there and with with the brain health and
with the focus and those areas you're talking about. There's
nutrition is part of it, but there's also techniques and
uh practices that can also help with those things. You
guys delve into that area as well, not just the supplements,
but routines and focus.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
And really and you know, we tell people first office
is supplements are there to supplement your diet. They should
not be your entire existence. And there's so many kind
of natural ways that you can improve these key areas
with sleep, proper nutrition, exercise, a lot of different things
that you can do. But at times when those aren't enough,
(16:11):
that's where a supplement comes in. That's where supplements were
or created is to supplement your diet, and so we
always lead with that first on. You know, how are
you sleeping at night? Like what are you doing first
thing in the morning? Are you drinking enough water?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Are you exercising, are you.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Getting enough sunlight? You know, are you doing any type
of like meditation practices are kind of mindful practices. So
there's all these different areas that for sure you can
address these areas, but when those aren't enough, that's where
we can bring in these ingredients that have human clinical
studies proven to be effective to help in these areas.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, a lot more than just football players you're speaking of,
than too, just for the general public that can deal
with improving their lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Absolutely, Yeah, that's I give our products to my own family,
my mom, just to help with you know, certain age
related mental impairments, anyone dealing with any type of like
ADHD symptoms. Really just trying to give people these natural,
more holistic approaches to getting off of the prescription drugs
(17:13):
and getting out of that kind of vortex of prescription drugs,
of taking stuff to make you focus and then you
can't sleep tonight, you have to take a prescription drug
to make you sleep, and now that's giving you more
stress and anxiety. Now you're taking a prescription drug for that,
and so you just kind of get in this cycle
of taking all these prescription drugs, and before you know it,
you have five or six prescription drugs just.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Because you didn't do one thing right.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
It might have just started with just sleeping better, or
exercising or just eating better. So there's a lot of
those areas in America specifically, are all completely sideways. So
we're just on the big, big health movement right now
that's going on in America, trying to change the way
that we live here.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, that's amazing. And I think in this day and age,
with technology and how much it's invaded our lives, people
are constantly distracted. It's it's it's more important now than ever,
is it. Not not just with sports, but my goodness
is with day to day life.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Yeah, there's there's so many inputs coming in nowadays versus
you know, the way that we grew up. It is
definitely exacerbating kind of the issue and making it more
and more difficult every day to just try to like
focus and hone in on one thing because you just
have so many different distractions all around you all the time.
So it's good to kind of check out, get away,
(18:31):
and kind of get back to center.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Andrew, we're in the midst, of course, of the holiday
season right now, and a little birdie told me you
were responsible for a lot of the Christmas decorations within
the Vikings hallways and locker room. Is that true and
how how serious did you take that responsibility?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Well, look, that might have been my greatest contribution for
the Vikings organizations honestly public It wasn't public facing, so
nobody really knew except the people in the organization, you know.
But it was always my thing. I was always a
big Christmas guy, and late in the year like that,
especially in Minnesota, you basically don't see the damn sun, right,
(19:08):
So I was like, how do we kind of at
the end of the year this last stretch kind of
bring some life back into the locker room. So I
started one year and it was a very i would
say elementary job for the way it escalated over years.
But I would go pick like two or three rookies
and I would just send them out some different stories.
I'm like, hey, I need you to go, you know,
(19:28):
get some decor get some the core meet me on Tuesday,
on our off day. So we would usually do it
the first week of December, the first Tuesday off day,
so when everyone would come back in on Wednesday, the
locker room was decorated, and once we got the new facility,
I had a much bigger canvas to be more creative.
(19:49):
The budget had to go up about three x so
that we could cover all the space. But it was
always something I took pride in and just I was
always kind of the Christmas guy. I was the one
that or and as a secret stand as I even started,
I was such a good gift giver that I even
had players from other positions that wanted to do a
gift exchange with me, And.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
So it was always a very expensive Christmas, but you would.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Walk away with equally if not more money and like
gifts than what you purchased. So it was always like
a great way to like bond with other teammates outside
of your position group. And you just now I have
kind of all these different gifts from my years that
now have a special story where I'm like, oh, yeah,
this bag was a gift from like Anthony Barr or
Stefan Diggs or whoever it was, or like this jackets
(20:33):
from Paris and or these shoes are from mcdavier. So
I mean I got gifts from probably ten different guys
each Christmas. But yeah, we always did a really good job.
That was always kind of one of my things that
I when I went to other teams that they didn't
know about me, And so then I would come in
with all this stuff the first week of December and
start decorating the locker room, and they're like, what the
(20:53):
hell is this guy doing.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I'm like, man, you got to.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
Decorate the locker room, like y'all don't do this here.
And so that was kind of always my deal with
the Christmas to court in the locker room. So when
I go up there next week, I might have time
to pop in the facility. And if I don't see
enough to core, I'm gonna have to talk to somebody
about it.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, you might have. You might have to. Now when
it comes to altering the locker room. Did you ever
run into any resistance from Dennis Ryan or is he
like an LF for you that would just, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Help you out.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Thenny was pro de core. You know that guy. I
think he needed it too, because that guy was a
grinder for sure. So but yeah, he was. He was
always okay with it as long as you didn't get
in the way of like him getting back and forth
from you know, the back of the equipment room to
the locker room. He was all good with it. Yeah,
it was just a you know, this time that time
of the year, it's like late in the year, especially
(21:39):
if you're having a good year or if you have
a badger, you kind of need something like that to
kind of cheer you up and think and also just
kind of remind everybody like we're very thankful, very privileged
to be playing this sport. You know, this is our
family during the during the season, and that's kind of
your home is a locker room, that's where you're at
all the time. So it needs to be homing, it
needs to be the core, like it's your home.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Great memories, Andrew, Andrews and Daejo, thank you so much.
It's been great catching up with you. Thank you for
sharing your skull stories and look forward to seeing you
when you get to town. Take care, appreciate your time today.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Absolutely, Thanks again to Andrews and Daejo for joining the show.
Always great to catch up with him when we get
a chance. Just an intense player, hard hitting player. It's
kind of a you just you don't see much. You
don't see guys like him much anymore though, Budda Baker
is kind of that guy, but definitely one of my favorites.
(22:33):
Always love to see guys kind of defy the odds,
whether it's playing in an alternative league or you know,
making like the Robert Criffet story where you just you're
on a couch for a year technically, and then you
get that door open just enough to get your butt
into a training camp, and then you end up becoming
a pro bowler making a team. I mean, it's it's
(22:53):
there are a lot of those guys out there, and
usually those are the guys that play at that level.
They never take a minute of it for granted. So
Vikings ten and two. That's our record after the first
thirteen weeks. And if you remember, this is a team
I think that was projected the pundits, you know myself,
maybe with the exception of everybody I know except for
(23:16):
Pa Right, did not pick this team to be you
know where they are today and another five game winning streak.
Here's the thing, I think the biggest part of all
this is Number one, the production of Sam Darnold. He's
been playing some great football tenth in passing yards, fourth
and passing touchdowns, seventh and QBR rating. He's just been
(23:38):
a steady factor for this offense. And then now all
of a sudden the last couple of weeks, he's got
this comeback thing to him. We looked at this team
and we placed it where we did in the preseason
because of the number of changes, because of the number
of people that we brought in the you know, the unknowns.
I mean Jerry Tillery, all right, a guy who just
kind of bounced around in the league.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
You bring in.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
We knew Anaton Gernard was going to be good, but
in this system, I think he's even better than what
he was down in Houston. Van Ginkle Nobody expected this
kind of production out of Van Ginkle. Nobody expected this
kind of production out of Cashman, right, and the things
that he can do. Ivan Pace continued to get better.
You know, we got old in the secondary pretty quickly,
but they experienced the stuff on gilmour Byron Murphy he's playing.
(24:22):
He's a free agent guy, so he's playing for his contract,
you know, Losing darrisaw It left tackle right, and then
bringing in Cam Robinson. It's like, all of this, what
does that mean? All of it together is a ten
and two team. But you I think when we talked
about this this team before the season started, it was
with that asterisk, right. It's it's like we got an
(24:42):
army of new guys out there. You know, half the
defense almost overturned, and so all these question marks have
to work out for this team to be good, and
they did right, and it did and so you know,
now guys like Jalen redmen are making plays, so have
these names that were just guys it you're you're scratching
(25:03):
your head going who's this and who's that? And so
a lot of credit the FLOORA is being able to
identify the type of talent that fits his system. It's
one of the benefits if your system's a little different.
I remember back in the day with Tony Dungee, and
they didn't need you know, when Tony Dungee would look
at the linebacker position, he didn't need the proverbial six
foot four, two hundred and forty five pounds thumper that
(25:25):
can run. Those are the first round guys. He's like, no,
give me someone who's six foot two twenty who everybody
else in the league says is undersized and can run.
They can play in my system. Allah Eddie McDaniel, perfect example,
five foot eleven, can run, he can hit, but he's
just a lot of teams would just say nope, you know,
we're gonna stay away from because of his size. But
(25:46):
his speed was there, so he the little guys that
could run would fit his system, and he can get
a lot of value out of second and third and
fourth round picks because he didn't have to have the
ideal height, weight and speed. And I think we're seeing
a lot of that on our on our defense with
the with the guys that we haven't don't you don't.
You don't have to be a first round draft pick
(26:06):
to produce on this defense in the system. And you
know my opinion, Flora is saving this franchise a hell
of a lot of money. And then having said all
of that, that's what excites me about who's going to
step up next. And it's going to be fun to
see who decides to be the next man up again
this Sunday down at US Banks Stadium, another big game,
this time against Kirk Cousins in the Atlanta Falcons Sunday
(26:27):
at noon. I think we all had this one circled
when the schedule came out, right. So the TV coverage
is over on Fox nine here in the Twin Cities,
but be sure to check out your local listings for details.
You can also catch Paul Ben and myself yours truly
with the call right here all across the Vikings Radio network.
The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at ten am
(26:48):
on kfa N, so be sure to tune in with
host Mike Mussman and the rest of the crew leading
up to kickoff. So thanks again to Andrewson Dajoe for
joining the show, and thank you fans for tuning in
to another episode of Skull Stories presented by three M,
the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. From Mark Rosen,
I'm Pete Bursch and we'll all see you again next week.
Hey, Vikings fans, been over here. I'm so excited to
(00:02):
be a new Lifetime member, and so are my kids.
They love the tennis, the pickaball the basketball, and of
course the yummy cafe. Check them out at Lifetime dot
life to find a club nearest you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to Schools Stories, presented by three M, the official
science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. Tonight, we're joined by
Vikings legendary safety Andrew Sendejo. Thanks again for tuning into
another episode of school Stories. Tonight's guest was a hard
hitting safety with a nose for the big play. Nowadays,
he's back home in state of Texas, but took a
(00:35):
few minutes to catch up with all of us here
on school Stories. Please enjoy tonight's conversation with former Vikings
safety Andrew Sendejo.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, Andrew, thank you so much. Welcome to the show.
It's great to hear from you again. Of course, the
fans always want to know and get a quick update
on how you're doing these days.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
I am down in Austin, Texas. I've been working full
time on my brain health supplement company, brain Tree Nutrition,
and just going through the phases of life, getting married
here soon in February, and just enjoying all the things
that I couldn't do while I was playing football, So
catching up on a lot of family time, traveling and
(01:18):
things like that.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
So he made that.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
You've made that obviously made the transition. We'll begin at
the beginnings, as they say. But growing up, you grew
up in the greater San Antonio area. What was it
like growing up and being an athlete down in Texas?
I mean, Texas is it's the spot. There are a
lot of options, a lot of a lot of competition.
What was it like for you growing up as a
(01:41):
high school athlete?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
So I grew up a soccer player, but if you
grow up in South Texas, you kind of have no
choice but to play football at some point. And so
around middle school, I was finally able to play football
for the school while I could still play club soccer
after practice. So got into football, and I soon realized
(02:04):
it was the sport for me. It was the only
sport where you were actually allowed to hit other people.
All my previous experiences in soccer and AAU basketball, I
either fouled out or I got red carded. So I
played football and you were actually allowed to hit people,
and they praised you, and I was like, you know
what this is. I think this is the sport for me.
(02:26):
And I grew up at a school where football was
a really big deal, like your kind of typical Friday
night lights type high school, big time five A football,
went to State a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
You were you had a lot of options for college.
You end up going to a Rice University of the
famous home of Tommy Kramer, a longtime Minnesota Viking quarterback.
So what went into your decision to choose Rice. I
know you had up other options, I mean Army among them, Northwestern,
some real academic schools.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
You got there. Yeah, I wasn't a highly tired guy
coming out. I was like a two star recruit.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
Obviously, NFL was not even on my radar at all.
So my thought process was going to a university where
I could get the best degree. I originally chose Rice
because I thought I was gonna get an engineering degree there,
and my ap Cactulus teacher told me, hey, if you
get an engineering degree from Rice, like you are set,
(03:25):
and that was kind of all I needed to hear.
It was close to home, It's like three hours away.
Was still far enough away. It was in Texas, so
just a lot of things that made sense. And I
actually committed to Rice when they were one in ten,
so the program was not where it needed to be,
and it was really kind of special to go there
(03:46):
my first year, true freshman, starting playing, go to a
bowl game for the first time in like fifty years,
and then two years later won a bowl game for
the first time, and however long so in my first
in my four years there was able to kind of
help put Rice back on the map a little bit,
so to speak.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Now, once you got done with Rice and with college,
your transition to the NFL wasn't the normal experience, if
I'm not mistaken. You spent some time, or at least
initially you joined the Sacramento Mountain Lions under the UFL,
and that was that was my guy, Denny Green. I
played here for Denny Green. What was that like? And
what did you think a coach Green? Because he was
(04:29):
one of them he recruited me coming when he was
at Stanford. I was in high school. I just I'm
one of the biggest Denny Green fans you're going to meet,
and hopefully you feel the same way.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yes, It was definitely a great introduction into what it
means to be a pro. So at that time, my
kind of only options.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Were to go play in the CFL or this.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
New league called the UFL, and it had been around
for a year, so they're still figuring some things out.
But the pay was just as good as the CFL.
It was in America. I got to go to California,
and so my agent at the time was like, Hey,
this is kind of the best fit. It's NFL coaches,
NFL systems, these guys are all connected to the NFL.
(05:08):
This is going to be kind of your best path
to get picked up out of that league. And so
I had the privilege of playing with Culpepper as well.
So coach Green was you know, he really early on
in my career, kind of showed me what it was
like to be a pro because guys that were lates
and meetings or you know, we're doing what they were
supposed to were either cut fine and you never saw
(05:29):
them again. So I realized kind of the business side
early on of professional sports, and so that was good
to kind of experience like right out of the gate,
and was very fortunate got to play there, played well
it was only eight game season, so we finished that
season early November and allowed me to have time to
(05:50):
get picked up out of there to the NFL for
the remainder of the twenty ten season. And interestingly enough,
I was going back and forth between Minnesota and Dallas
to sign with out of the UFL, and at the time,
the depth was a better opportunity for me in Dallas
to stick on the team, which ironically I got cut
(06:12):
from there and then I ended up in Minnesota anyway,
so I should have just freaking done out of.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
The gate, you know.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
And then once and then once you got here to Minnesota,
you were part of a you know, a coaching staff
with Zimmer and and just the guys that were around
you and listening to Xavier Rhoads and talking to Harrison Smith.
You guys had a very unique group. It was a
special group. What about that defensive backfield that you played
(06:40):
with here in Minnesota was so special?
Speaker 5 (06:42):
I think a lot of times it's just getting a
lot of reps together and being around each other for
a long time, and your personalities have to click. There's
kind of a lot of things that go into really
gelling as a secondary We you know, the more you
see offenses together and how they ac you in certain plays,
you start to all think the same way, and so
(07:04):
I think that was a big part of it. I
think also, you know, in the meetings. In the dB meetings,
we all sat next to each other, so it was
like me Harrison and Xavier was right on the other side,
So we were kind of always there, always talking to
each other. Even within the meeting where you're kind of
taking in information, you're also like on having a side
discussion on how you're gonna uh like approach certain how
(07:27):
you're going to play certain plays, certain problem areas and
things like that. Also, I just think that we, you know,
as the safety is you're kind of quarterbacking and controlling things,
and I think we just had a really good way
of like getting to guys and communicating with guys and
you know, everybody kind of keeping each other accountable. You know,
(07:47):
some guys like Xavier can kind of get hot headed
at times. I think having guys like Harry and I
we could like kind of calm them down and keep
them in check, was always good and can kind of
like get the best out of him. But I think
as far as like a secondary when you really like
gel together. It's just is like I said, just you
have a lot of reps together, and you've seen so
(08:09):
many plays together that you can almost kind of just
communicate on the field just by looking at each other
and by kind of giving a little head nod of like, hey,
do you see what I'm saying, And then they look
at you back and you both can kind of agree
that you've kind of seen the same thing, and so
it kind of becomes this like Jedi level communication at
a certain point. That's when you know you're really clicking again.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We're talking with Andrews in Dayjo longtime Minnesota Viking, And
in twenty sixteen, speaking of the Vikings, they gave you
a four year contract and the full time starting role.
Was that kind of a validation moment for you? We
recall that to say, man, I mean my long road
to get to this point has honestly just been validated,
all the grinds and the hard work you put through.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, I mean it did valsee a little bit. But
then they also that off season brought in like first
rounds veteran Mike griff who's a ut guy, Austin guys
every now and then down.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
In Texas, but it was kind of like it was
an interesting kind.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Of uh dynamic, I don't know, like move where.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
Yeah, it was like okay, well we're bringing in this
like certified first round Pro Bowl like type player. So
it was like, okay, maybe, so there was still competition
even with the contract, So you know, I was I
was fortunate to stay healthy, play well, and kind of
like earn that spot. And you know, I think the
other part was just each season, uh, played better, had
(09:27):
better numbers to where, you know, kind of later in
that contract, even though there's always competition in the NFL,
you're kind of more of like slotted in that spot
after that and not really like it's not coming down
to the last preseason game before they decide who's going
to be the other starting safety besides Harrison.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
So it did feel good.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Obviously, like you know, being an undrafted guy and like
playing on a minimal one year deal every single year
to get in like a four year deal, it's kind
of the objective financially as a NFL player or any
pro athlete to get kind of that big contract. And
so you know, for me, I just as.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
An undrafted free agent guy that bounced around I was just.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Always happy to be there. I'd play whatever position they
needed me to, special teams, you know, defense, offense, kicker.
I don't care like I just I love the game.
And so I just always played as hard as I could,
regardless of the money. And I would just always think
back to when I played in the UFL, and I
was like, shoot, I used to play for way less
than this, and I would play just as hard. So
(10:24):
like you kind of start to forget about the money
at that point, You're just really just playing because you
love to play.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Well, speaking of an aspect of the game that you loved,
was was the physicality of it? In the hitting?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Known for your make football violent again hats and uh,
you know, other other equips and and things. What h
What do you think of the game, let's say just
today in as a safety? Why is it? Why is
the physicality so important for that position?
Speaker 3 (10:52):
You know?
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I always looked at it like each player has to
kind of have their niche that they're they're good at, right,
And I think for me, I kind of realized like, Okay,
I'm not necessarily going to be this manna man cover
guy that's going to be you know, covering tight ends
and receivers all the time. You know, I had my
fair share of interceptions, but not I. You know, I
(11:13):
wasn't getting like five or six interceptions a season, And
so I knew what I was good at, and I
just played to those strengths. So I knew, Okay, I'm smart.
I can study film like like hell and know what
they're going to do, and I can play hard and
play physical, and so I kind of just made myself
as that kind of enforcer physical role to where you
kind of had this do of like Harrison that you know,
(11:36):
ballhawk and Blitz like physical. Then you have this other
guy that's like he literally doesn't care about his own
like well being and well it will knock himself out
if he has to in order to knock you out,
and that he's gonna if you get the ball, like
you're gonna get hit. And so that's kind of the
way I played the game. But I think I just
the way I grew up where you know, how we
grew up playing ball, that was the way that.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
I was taught.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
And back when I was playing, you know, there was
still a lot more like heavy run game and two
that kind of base their entire offense on the run.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Now it's you know, everything's kind of evolving into this
past heavy game, you know, and so now just you
have to be able to combat that with players that
can cover, and so you know, now the secondaries are
basically all corners in a way. So the game's evolving.
It will continue to do that. It'll eventually, after time,
(12:27):
evolve the other way around to where everyone on the
defense is going to be these kind of small cover
guys and someone's going to come in with a big,
heavy package and run the ball down the throat, and
then they're going to have to start kind of catering
back to that and bringing in bigger like downhill players.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Stick around for more Skulls stories presented by three M
from the field to the roof and everywhere in between.
Three M, the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings,
is here because at Vikings dot com slash skull Science
to learn more. We'll be right back with more from
Andrews and Dajo, but first Unreal is back with their
limited edition Vikings. Drop head to Narl dot com for
(13:03):
more details. Ready to have your spirits lifted than the
laugh out Loud comedy Ghosts is for You. Ghost is
all new every Thursday night at seven thirty Central over
on CBS. Welcome back to tonight's edition of Skulls Stories,
presented by three M. Let's get back into our conversation
with Vikings legend Andrew Sindejo.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Andrew, at the beginning of a conversation, you mentioned you're
involved in a company involving the brain. I know you've
been involved in nutrition. Could you elaborate a little bit
about what that company is all about.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Yeah, So, while I was playing, you know, in the
most violent sport in the world, we still as players
did not have access to ban substance free, effectively dosed
products that could improve your cognitive health. I was always
kind of the locker room nutritionists to help guys ensure
(13:54):
they weren't taking band supplements banded ingredients. So it was
kind of this running joke and lockroom that all the
supplements had to run through me first. So I was
always kind of the supplement guy, always kind of was
ahead of the curve on new innovative kind of ingredients
and whatnot. And so I needed something while I was
playing that I could help with the kind of repetitive
head trauma the mental part of the game. I mean,
(14:17):
there's so much that goes into it that involves you know,
focused memory, just being able to adapt each week to
new information. You have to be able to make decisions
instantly on the fly under pressure. There's so much that
involves the brain. And that's why I set out to
start brain.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Tree Nutrition, which is just a line.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
Of pharmaceutical grade products that address these key areas of
brain health so that you can improve your cognitive health.
So we have everything from products to help focus, memory, neuroprotection,
improve the gut brain connection that help with the stress anxiety.
We have products for sleep, and then we have products
that are more of our functional beverage that is for
(15:00):
or hydration, focus and energy. So really just kind of
addressing these kind of key areas, uh, these foundational areas
of cognitive health to give people effectively those products that
we know are safe. And like I said, we kind
of originally started it for ourselves and our teammates, and
now how has evolved in It's become kind of my
full time career post football. So it's kind of interesting
(15:22):
where I was to make football violent again, but now
I'm making brain health supplements cool again.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Who knows better than you.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and there and with with the brain health and
with the focus and those areas you're talking about. There's
nutrition is part of it, but there's also techniques and
uh practices that can also help with those things. You
guys delve into that area as well, not just the supplements,
but routines and focus.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
And really and you know, we tell people first office
is supplements are there to supplement your diet. They should
not be your entire existence. And there's so many kind
of natural ways that you can improve these key areas
with sleep, proper nutrition, exercise, a lot of different things
that you can do. But at times when those aren't enough,
(16:11):
that's where a supplement comes in. That's where supplements were
or created is to supplement your diet, and so we
always lead with that first on. You know, how are
you sleeping at night? Like what are you doing first
thing in the morning? Are you drinking enough water?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Are you exercising, are you.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Getting enough sunlight? You know, are you doing any type
of like meditation practices are kind of mindful practices. So
there's all these different areas that for sure you can
address these areas, but when those aren't enough, that's where
we can bring in these ingredients that have human clinical
studies proven to be effective to help in these areas.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, a lot more than just football players you're speaking of,
than too, just for the general public that can deal
with improving their lifestyle.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Absolutely, Yeah, that's I give our products to my own family,
my mom, just to help with you know, certain age
related mental impairments, anyone dealing with any type of like
ADHD symptoms. Really just trying to give people these natural,
more holistic approaches to getting off of the prescription drugs
(17:13):
and getting out of that kind of vortex of prescription drugs,
of taking stuff to make you focus and then you
can't sleep tonight, you have to take a prescription drug
to make you sleep, and now that's giving you more
stress and anxiety. Now you're taking a prescription drug for that,
and so you just kind of get in this cycle
of taking all these prescription drugs, and before you know it,
you have five or six prescription drugs just.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Because you didn't do one thing right.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
It might have just started with just sleeping better, or
exercising or just eating better. So there's a lot of
those areas in America specifically, are all completely sideways. So
we're just on the big, big health movement right now
that's going on in America, trying to change the way
that we live here.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah, that's amazing. And I think in this day and age,
with technology and how much it's invaded our lives, people
are constantly distracted. It's it's it's more important now than ever,
is it. Not not just with sports, but my goodness
is with day to day life.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
Yeah, there's there's so many inputs coming in nowadays versus
you know, the way that we grew up. It is
definitely exacerbating kind of the issue and making it more
and more difficult every day to just try to like
focus and hone in on one thing because you just
have so many different distractions all around you all the time.
So it's good to kind of check out, get away,
(18:31):
and kind of get back to center.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Andrew, we're in the midst, of course, of the holiday
season right now, and a little birdie told me you
were responsible for a lot of the Christmas decorations within
the Vikings hallways and locker room. Is that true and
how how serious did you take that responsibility?
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Well, look, that might have been my greatest contribution for
the Vikings organizations honestly public It wasn't public facing, so
nobody really knew except the people in the organization, you know.
But it was always my thing. I was always a
big Christmas guy, and late in the year like that,
especially in Minnesota, you basically don't see the damn sun, right,
(19:08):
So I was like, how do we kind of at
the end of the year this last stretch kind of
bring some life back into the locker room. So I
started one year and it was a very i would
say elementary job for the way it escalated over years.
But I would go pick like two or three rookies
and I would just send them out some different stories.
I'm like, hey, I need you to go, you know,
(19:28):
get some decor get some the core meet me on Tuesday,
on our off day. So we would usually do it
the first week of December, the first Tuesday off day,
so when everyone would come back in on Wednesday, the
locker room was decorated, and once we got the new facility,
I had a much bigger canvas to be more creative.
(19:49):
The budget had to go up about three x so
that we could cover all the space. But it was
always something I took pride in and just I was
always kind of the Christmas guy. I was the one
that or and as a secret stand as I even started,
I was such a good gift giver that I even
had players from other positions that wanted to do a
gift exchange with me, And.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
So it was always a very expensive Christmas, but you would.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Walk away with equally if not more money and like
gifts than what you purchased. So it was always like
a great way to like bond with other teammates outside
of your position group. And you just now I have
kind of all these different gifts from my years that
now have a special story where I'm like, oh, yeah,
this bag was a gift from like Anthony Barr or
Stefan Diggs or whoever it was, or like this jackets
(20:33):
from Paris and or these shoes are from mcdavier. So
I mean I got gifts from probably ten different guys
each Christmas. But yeah, we always did a really good job.
That was always kind of one of my things that
I when I went to other teams that they didn't
know about me, And so then I would come in
with all this stuff the first week of December and
start decorating the locker room, and they're like, what the
(20:53):
hell is this guy doing.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I'm like, man, you got to.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
Decorate the locker room, like y'all don't do this here.
And so that was kind of always my deal with
the Christmas to court in the locker room. So when
I go up there next week, I might have time
to pop in the facility. And if I don't see
enough to core, I'm gonna have to talk to somebody
about it.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, you might have. You might have to. Now when
it comes to altering the locker room. Did you ever
run into any resistance from Dennis Ryan or is he
like an LF for you that would just, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
Help you out.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Thenny was pro de core. You know that guy. I
think he needed it too, because that guy was a
grinder for sure. So but yeah, he was. He was
always okay with it as long as you didn't get
in the way of like him getting back and forth
from you know, the back of the equipment room to
the locker room. He was all good with it. Yeah,
it was just a you know, this time that time
of the year, it's like late in the year, especially
(21:39):
if you're having a good year or if you have
a badger, you kind of need something like that to
kind of cheer you up and think and also just
kind of remind everybody like we're very thankful, very privileged
to be playing this sport. You know, this is our
family during the during the season, and that's kind of
your home is a locker room, that's where you're at
all the time. So it needs to be homing, it
needs to be the core, like it's your home.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Great memories, Andrew, Andrews and Daejo, thank you so much.
It's been great catching up with you. Thank you for
sharing your skull stories and look forward to seeing you
when you get to town. Take care, appreciate your time today.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Absolutely, Thanks again to Andrews and Daejo for joining the show.
Always great to catch up with him when we get
a chance. Just an intense player, hard hitting player. It's
kind of a you just you don't see much. You
don't see guys like him much anymore though, Budda Baker
is kind of that guy, but definitely one of my favorites.
(22:33):
Always love to see guys kind of defy the odds,
whether it's playing in an alternative league or you know,
making like the Robert Criffet story where you just you're
on a couch for a year technically, and then you
get that door open just enough to get your butt
into a training camp, and then you end up becoming
a pro bowler making a team. I mean, it's it's
(22:53):
there are a lot of those guys out there, and
usually those are the guys that play at that level.
They never take a minute of it for granted. So
Vikings ten and two. That's our record after the first
thirteen weeks. And if you remember, this is a team
I think that was projected the pundits, you know myself,
maybe with the exception of everybody I know except for
(23:16):
Pa Right, did not pick this team to be you
know where they are today and another five game winning streak.
Here's the thing, I think the biggest part of all
this is Number one, the production of Sam Darnold. He's
been playing some great football tenth in passing yards, fourth
and passing touchdowns, seventh and QBR rating. He's just been
(23:38):
a steady factor for this offense. And then now all
of a sudden the last couple of weeks, he's got
this comeback thing to him. We looked at this team
and we placed it where we did in the preseason
because of the number of changes, because of the number
of people that we brought in the you know, the unknowns.
I mean Jerry Tillery, all right, a guy who just
kind of bounced around in the league.
Speaker 4 (23:58):
You bring in.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
We knew Anaton Gernard was going to be good, but
in this system, I think he's even better than what
he was down in Houston. Van Ginkle Nobody expected this
kind of production out of Van Ginkle. Nobody expected this
kind of production out of Cashman, right, and the things
that he can do. Ivan Pace continued to get better.
You know, we got old in the secondary pretty quickly,
but they experienced the stuff on gilmour Byron Murphy he's playing.
(24:22):
He's a free agent guy, so he's playing for his contract,
you know, Losing darrisaw It left tackle right, and then
bringing in Cam Robinson. It's like, all of this, what
does that mean? All of it together is a ten
and two team. But you I think when we talked
about this this team before the season started, it was
with that asterisk, right. It's it's like we got an
(24:42):
army of new guys out there. You know, half the
defense almost overturned, and so all these question marks have
to work out for this team to be good, and
they did right, and it did and so you know,
now guys like Jalen redmen are making plays, so have
these names that were just guys it you're you're scratching
(25:03):
your head going who's this and who's that? And so
a lot of credit the FLOORA is being able to
identify the type of talent that fits his system. It's
one of the benefits if your system's a little different.
I remember back in the day with Tony Dungee, and
they didn't need you know, when Tony Dungee would look
at the linebacker position, he didn't need the proverbial six
foot four, two hundred and forty five pounds thumper that
(25:25):
can run. Those are the first round guys. He's like, no,
give me someone who's six foot two twenty who everybody
else in the league says is undersized and can run.
They can play in my system. Allah Eddie McDaniel, perfect example,
five foot eleven, can run, he can hit, but he's
just a lot of teams would just say nope, you know,
we're gonna stay away from because of his size. But
(25:46):
his speed was there, so he the little guys that
could run would fit his system, and he can get
a lot of value out of second and third and
fourth round picks because he didn't have to have the
ideal height, weight and speed. And I think we're seeing
a lot of that on our on our defense with
the with the guys that we haven't don't you don't.
You don't have to be a first round draft pick
(26:06):
to produce on this defense in the system. And you
know my opinion, Flora is saving this franchise a hell
of a lot of money. And then having said all
of that, that's what excites me about who's going to
step up next. And it's going to be fun to
see who decides to be the next man up again
this Sunday down at US Banks Stadium, another big game,
this time against Kirk Cousins in the Atlanta Falcons Sunday
(26:27):
at noon. I think we all had this one circled
when the schedule came out, right. So the TV coverage
is over on Fox nine here in the Twin Cities,
but be sure to check out your local listings for details.
You can also catch Paul Ben and myself yours truly
with the call right here all across the Vikings Radio network.
The Vikings Football Sunday pregame show starts at ten am
(26:48):
on kfa N, so be sure to tune in with
host Mike Mussman and the rest of the crew leading
up to kickoff. So thanks again to Andrewson Dajoe for
joining the show, and thank you fans for tuning in
to another episode of Skull Stories presented by three M,
the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. From Mark Rosen,
I'm Pete Bursch and we'll all see you again next week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Come hang with Amy Poehler. Each week on her podcast, she'll welcome celebrities and fun people to her studio. They'll share stories about their careers, mutual friends, shared enthusiasms, and most importantly, what's been making them laugh. This podcast is not about trying to make you better or giving advice. Amy just wants to have a good time.