October 16, 2025 • 34 mins
Welcome back to The Vikings Tailgate - Presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings and Cy are back for some home cooking at U.S. Bank Stadium this Sunday at noon and we’ve got the "Birds" flying in the door. Our old friend and Philadelphia apologist, Blake Wexler, joins to try to make sense of the 2025 Eagles season so far. Blake is trying to stay calm during the last 2 losses, loves Howie Roseman's mentality, justifies booing Santa Claus, and explains why "Big Dom" is the calming influence all Eagles fans need. All of this and more is in Episode 59 of The Vikings Tailgate - Presented by Ticketmaster - The official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Come join us at Vikings Country with a special Vikings
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(00:22):
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get those touchdowns celebrations ready and score your tickets today
at ticketmaster dot com. Slash Vikings the cricket Rocket at
for better Mare, Come Van, I'm here. Hey, everybody, Welcome
(00:51):
to another episode of the Vikings Tailgate, brought to you
by Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings.
It's me your host, Cy Amansen, and Week seven, your
favorite team is coming off of bye. We're gonna take
on a team that I was very nervous about a
few weeks ago, and then I got less nervous about.
And even though I should have gotten more less nervous,
(01:15):
the nervousness has increased. I don't like playing teams with
back to back losses that are good, and that is
what is happening this week as we take on the
Philadelphia Eagles. Now, normally on the show, the great Chad
Daniels joins me, but there are gonna be a few
exceptions this year, a few moments where he gets the
week off, and this is one of those moments because
(01:37):
we have a long time tailgate guest, longtime Philadelphia Eagles fan,
Blake Wexler, who's worked for the organization, fantastic comedian, joining
us to break down all things Eagles. Blake, I appreciate
your time first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Of course, and I am a fantastic comedian And what
else do you have to say that's nice?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And secondly, I want to ask this as you and
I who care a lot about each other, but also
in this tight universe where our teams are about to play,
it doesn't always go great from a private dialogue standpoint.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I want to ask this in a way that's what
did the kids say? They call it triggering. I want
to ask this in a way that doesn't trigger you
and your Philly brain good luck, because I think it's
an important question. The Eagles are one of the more
interesting roller coaster teams in the history of professional sports.
They draft a quarterback, they go on a crazy run
(02:38):
to start a season, he gets injured, They win a
Super Bowl with the backup and a new coach and
Doug Peterson. Quickly thereafter, that young rookie quarterback that everybody
thought was the future of the league is gone and
the head coach is gone, and then they start over.
And then you've got this new team that seems to
build into a juggernaut, and then down the stretch they
(02:59):
collapse a couple years ago, just like, oh no, everybody's
not gonna be here anymore, like old school Major league
movie reference, like let's pave the parking, let's turn it
into a parking lot. That's what it felt like after
that Buccaneers loss. Then somehow they keep everybody. The next year,
they're a juggernaut all the way to a Super Bowl title.
(03:20):
Then they start this season and you go, well, this
is clearly the best team in football. And then they
lose these last two in a way that is almost
not even recognizable and is someone whose job it is
to discuss the upcoming matchup, even though that's in a
humorous way. I don't know what's happening, Blake, What is
your team? What's happening here? Should I? Should I go? Oh? No,
(03:45):
one of the best teams in the league has lost twice,
and they very rarely lose three times in a row.
We've got our work cut out? Or am I looking
at that moment in a grade school project where the
lava has just started to bubble over the homemade volcano?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Buddy, I don't know what you're talking about, but I
will say that you know exactly, So it's funny. We
had a similar conversation earlier in the season about like,
what is this team? And this is before we lost
the two games and when we were winning. So we
rattled off four wins in a row to start the season,
(04:24):
lost the last two too, probably the two worst teams
out of all those teams that we've played, for sure,
And I was not nervous by the way that has changed.
But when you talk to me about that when we
were four and oh, I'm like, you know what, we
did barely squeak by a bunch of games last season
(04:46):
in the Super Bowl. The games were close. There were
certain games that could have gone either way. Even going
back to that snow game against the Rams and the
playoffs where people forget Matthew Stafford was marching down the
field in the fourth quarter and if it wasn't for
that Jalen Carter sack, they they probably they could have
pulled that game out.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So now I'm like, well, this is just how we
win super Bowls. I'm calm, there's nothing to freak out here.
We're gonna just win the Super Bowl for now, one
and now. And then I went to the Giants game
that we got and it wasn't oh a coin flip.
You know, we got destroyed in that game, wall to
wall destroyed. So to answer your question.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Point yeah, where where a guy took his shirt off
on the postgame show confidently knowing the rest of the
world wouldn't go why is he doing that? We all
went like, well, we watched the game, take your shirt off?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeh, why is your shirt ever on? I guess it's
if you're gonna play like that, no shirt, no problem.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And you know, even you might as well, if you're
gonna play like that against the Eagles in prime time,
forget your pads at home. It's a quicker path to
being shirtless on National TV.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, if you're gonna play like that against the Eagles,
no need for cleats. Flip flops, flip flop your way
up and down the field. I like the sound of it,
and it is so anyway, Here's what I think is
going on, because I've been thinking about this a lot.
We have like a mini buy as they call it,
because we played Thursday night, so we'll have.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Which I hate that, by the way. I think that's
the right thing to do competitively. But when I realized
you guys played on Thursday off of our bi No,
I want you to play on I want you to
play on Monday, but I want you to play on Sunday.
I want you to have the short week. I don't.
I don't want your mini by. Is that a thing
the league is doing. It's fair, it seems more fair,
(06:28):
But I want unfairness against you, Blake.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And when I came up with the term mini by,
I was I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. But
I stand by it because I think, you know, if
it was up to me, the Eagles would play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
and then I take off Saturday. Then we would play Sunday.
So I think what's going on with the team after
thinking about it during our mini bye, is that we
(06:54):
have our offensive line, for the first time in years,
is not playing like the greatest offensive line of all time,
and we're calling plays and expecting these plays to work
as if they are still the best offensive line of
all time. And I believe they're really banged up? Are
(07:16):
centered Jurgens? Cam Jurgens, who made the Pro Bowl last year,
is a great young center. He had back surgery a
few weeks before training camp started.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Backs.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I don't know, society if you've ever had back issues,
but back, from my understanding, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
How dare I? Also? I have such back issues.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
If I drop coins on the ground, I'm like, well,
there go my coins, and you know how much I love.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
My Somebody else will find them.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, someone else will find them. It'll be lucky to them.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
And can I tell you something really quick?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Help me?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Cause you and other friend of the program Zach Martine,
also fantastic comedian Detroit Lions fan. It has been so
exhausting for me the last few years to listen to
you both claim to have the greatest offensive line of
all time, Like, and you say it in the way
(08:08):
that when I know he thinks you're wrong, you think
he's wrong, I think both of you are wrong. You
do it. You do it in the way that like
twenty four hour slanted news media, like you know how
sometimes those entities will say an original fact as though
it's inarguable before they say the thing afterwards that is arguable.
(08:32):
So clearly it is the greatest offensive line in the
history of professional football. And it's just not that this year.
You're like, so now I have to argue with you
about whether or not this current version is the greatest,
and I just have to accept the thing. And you
guys both do that. It's like it's like you went
to twenty four hour news college to come on this show.
It drives me crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, I was the valid victorian of twenty four hour
News College and I and I have that diploma displayed
prominently in my home. But it is You're so right.
It is also not a of all Even saying the
greatest wide receiver of all time is controversial, but there's
no like qualitative quantitative stats from an offensive line. It's
like saying I have the greenest lawn of all time.
(09:11):
It's like you can't quantify a color, you know, and
so it is subjective. But anyway, let's say a fantastic
offensive line.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You guys had a very good offensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Fantastic, fantastic offensive line.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Swift's future brother in law.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Sure sure, sure, sure sure, and that is that's that's
how we refer to him as well. But he was
replaced by Jurgens, who has been injured. Landon Dickerson has
made a Pro Bowl every year he's been in the
league as a guard. He's been banged up, and you know,
Lane Johnson's still amazing, but he's in his late thirties now,
and you look at the running numbers. Saquon Barkley isn't
(09:48):
putting up those numbers, And I don't think they have
an identity on offense where we have a first year
play caller as well and Kevin Patulo as our offensive coordinator,
and that's not going well. So that's what I think
is happening right now. And I don't know if there
was a fix to that, other than you hope, in
the hardest sport on a human body that exists, that
these guys will just get healthy during the season.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson. Those are two separate but
also together all time names like that. When they do that,
I'm from here, this college thing in the pregame going
from cause do they do? They go one right after
another Sequentially they're both on either side of the center right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So it would be Landon then center than right guard
then Lane. So I'm just pitching that we move Lane
over so Landon and Lane can go right next to
one another. All time football names. There are very few
times in football that you can go, oh, that's a
big reason they won the thing, like Reggie White on
(10:51):
the Packers. You're like, it looks different with Reggie White.
And football is a sum of its parts, and just
because one part is an incredible part doesn't mean you
didn't need all of the parts. But the Saquon Barkley Edition,
I was trying to think back in my brain what
other ex like, where do we get close to that
(11:12):
in football that has such a large roster, Like the
only thing that's close to it is you know, maybe
going back to the Reggie White thing. Had Randy Moss
won it with the Patriots that year but they lost
the super right that was a sizeable difference. I think
if the Packers were to win the Super Bowl this year,
the Micah Parsons thing could pan out that way. But
it's just so interesting to me. And this is the
(11:35):
last question I'll ask you before we go to break
on it. The thing that's so interesting is you have
all these pieces that are still there.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And your line might be banged up. But even though
all this stuff is bubbling, I don't know how stuff
never bubbles over or bubbles out in this way. AJ
Brown is tweeting stuff. And the crazy thing is two
weeks from now, and this is what's so fascinating about
your organization. Two weeks from now, you might just go
it's all sucked back in and it all looks normal
(12:04):
and everybody's happy, and you're the best team in the NFL.
And I don't know what sort of leadership structure from
you know, the top, all the way down to people
I've never heard of, exists. But that ability to wrangle,
that's what makes me nervous about this game. Is all
of a sudden, they can just go, oh, were the
Eagles from the Super Bowl last year?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I agree with you, and I would never be that
optimistic as an Eagles fan period and even right now,
it's difficult to do it, but I've seen them do
this before. Where you know that year that we started
ten and one and then went one in six, one
in seven through the playoffs, like like you mentioned, we
lost to the Bucks at the end of the year.
But in no world did I think that we, the
(12:45):
whole team would return after that, especially the coach. And
you have these combustible personalities and these combustible persons. You
have the coach of the team might be one of
the most combustible personalities in the entire league. So that's
the coach. Then you do have aj Brown who's reading
a book on the sideline during the game.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I love it. It's my favorite thing. And also, by
the way.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Jealous, I'm jealous. I like as somebody who lived through
the Tice Randy Moss, Dante Culpepper era, let's shake it up.
I love like you. Never you didn't watch the Michael
Jordan Bowles documentary and go man, there's no no big
personalities here.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
No Dennis Rodman, a real housecat of a human being.
No personality to that guy whatsoever. And also, by the way,
side note infamous reading City Philadelphia caused that book inter
Excellence to go number one on Amazon right after that.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So that's the other thing that always happens your city.
By like, there could be a guy on the sideline
who just for whatever reason has a salted nut roll.
He's like, there was a kicker, the snicker kicker for
the Vikings. His name was Mitch Berger.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And talking about what are you saying right now.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I'm saying, I'm saying normal stuff. We used to have
an you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Have a candy player, No, tell me about your candy player.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
By all mean we.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Used to have a punter who would punt and then
he would go to the sideline and he'd take out
of one of his extra shoes that was just sitting
over on the sideline, which I guess I never really
thought about that part. But he would take you had
have an extra shoe, you would take a Snickers out
and he would take a bite. He would eat a
Snickers during the during the game. People would call him
the snicker kicker.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So I'm not here to say that. But here's the thing.
Snickers didn't break the charts like I don't. And so
what I'm saying is like a worse candy, although I
love it the salted nut roll. If AJ Brown or
Jalen hurts ate a saulted nut roll on the sideline,
just like they just pulled it off the bench and
ate it. Whatever company publicly trades the salted nut roll,
(14:53):
you want to be on that information early because it's
going through the roof. You won't be able to get
salted nut rolls in gas stations. And Philadelphia, you guys
support the activities in a way that is mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It's fanatical, it's maniacal. There's some company in China that
made dog masks, really really weird dog masks. During the
twenty seventeen twenty eighteen Super Bowl run, we called ourselves
the underdogs. Chris Long and Lane Johnson put on these
dog masks. This company in China has no idea what's
(15:28):
going on in Philadelphia. All of a sudden, they get
hundreds of thousands of dogs. They sell out their whole company.
They have no more masks, they have no more company
because every stock of this weird thing was being bought
in a place called Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So you have these
and it goes back to Big Dom to answer your
question where Big Dom is one of these like Mickey
(15:51):
Mouse cartoon characters coming out of Philadelphia and to the
point where he got suspended for shoving a player for
shoving a forty nine er. But a couple of years ago,
Big Free Big Dom t shirts were distributed throughout Philadelphia
like they were pamphlets during the French Revolution. It was unbelievable.
(16:11):
And now this guy Big Dom were before. Now there's
a spotlight on him, but he's part of this consistency
in the organization where he's a guy who helps quell
these you know, this turmoil, and you also have an
owner who's a very stable owner, and you have a
GM who is basically the GM for life. Now you know,
the guys won two Super Bowls, the only two Super
(16:33):
Bowls that that team has ever seen. So you have
this stability that I think is a very strong safety net.
Now NFL players can cause any safety net to dissipate,
But I do think Philadelphia is very lucky and that
they have that safety net.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Like I love our GM. I think we have a
fantastic front office, a fantastic GM. But you know, in
that same way where I find myself jealous or I
found myself jealous of those who had theo Epstein Right.
He brings a title to a long suffering group. I
just don't think he gets talked about enough. He broke
(17:11):
two curses, who did yeah, And so you guys, as
a long suffering organization to have this guy come in,
I think you're right. I think he's waited through coaches
and won multiple titles in multiple different ways. And I
guess I didn't even understand the ascension of him where
it's like, this is a guy who was an unpaid
(17:34):
intern at twenty four and a decade later he becomes
the GM right and seems to not only consistently hit
on moves. They never feel overly risky at the time,
and they certainly don't feel risky in hindsight. So he
consistently hits on deals right and decisions that he makes well. Also,
(17:57):
to your point, no matter what's going on, when the
seasons are volatile or anything like that, it never feels
like an overflow, especially in a city. Again, this is
what I was getting to earlier when I was talking
about it, like the emotions of the fans in your
city are different than other places. So the fact that
everything is kept under a fever pitch in a place
(18:18):
where people react the way they react. It's wild. I
just think that dude is at this different level that's
kind of hard to even conceptualize.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, you're right, And his ascension is really interesting because
he was never he never played football really at any level,
and he would send blind emails to Joe Banner, who
is long term NFL executive, and to a bunch of
other people. And then he got in as an intern
and obviously now rose up to become GM. And not
only did he become GM in twenty sixteen, chip Kelly
(18:51):
took that title away from him. So chip Kelly was like, yo,
either I'm your coach and your GM or you don't
get me at all. So they demoted Howie Roseman. Howie
Roseman then comes back to take the team over after
chip Kelly was fired, and then you know the rest
is history, won two Super Bowls. So he's a guy
who is And this is an interesting thing. So with
(19:13):
Philadelphia we get obviously do well well much do crap
for booing our own teams, that sort of thing, But
it is the same thing.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Where as much.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
As Santa Claus, any person that really stands for joy,
like you shouldn't just leave it at your own team.
I mean you throw, Yeah, I understand what you're saying,
but I just think.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The Santa Claus think he was not in a good outfit.
That was the whole thing. It wasn't booing the institution
of Santa Claus. There was some Santa Claus who put
no effort. He looked like garbage. He might as well
have been wearing a bathrobe and a sleep hat out
into So that's that was the problem. That's why he
was booed, was because he wasn't a good Santa Claus.
We have standards for our Santas and he did not
(19:58):
reach that Santa Stama. So anyway, and sorry, you got
me all frazzled.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Very normal, very normal reaction.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So as much anger as us as a fan base
will show to teams, players, et cetera, it's how much
love we show as well. And it's the same thing
where I mean, it's like we just talked about buying
the masks, the weird masks, the weird book, all that stuff.
So Howie Roseman, a front office general manager, might be
(20:29):
the easiest person to direct anger at as a fan
because they're not playing, they're not in a jersey, they're
not even a coach. They're just a guy at a
desk in the view of fans. So Howie was a
guy who I think, you know, received a lot of
negative attention. But now that he has won these Super
(20:50):
Bowls and done it in a way where he seems
like he's ahead of the curve on a lot of
different things in the NFL where he tries to find
these inconsistencies or the these market inefficiencies. So that was
the Saquon Barkley signing where no one was paying running backs.
Running backs were a devalued position, and they's like, listen,
(21:11):
if we use this running back, and in what world
is Saquon Barkley the way we're about to use him
going to be less valuable than any wide receiver out
of the top two three. So pay this guy. He
still won't cost as much as a traditional premier position.
And he does stuff like that. The way he's drafting now,
his trades, the way he stockpiles picks, he almost reminds
(21:34):
me a little bit of a basketball GM where trades,
obviously in the NFL aren't nearly as prevalent as they
are in other leagues. So now you have a guy
who is making trades and that's the weird thing right
now where our team does have a lot of holes,
and I think we have confidence in Howie Roseman that
he will somehow create a trade to get a viable cornerback.
(21:57):
And Zadarius Smith, who became i'm a starter defensive end
for us, just retired, so now we don't even have
that guy anymore. So in our minds we think that
how we will be able to pull a rabbit out
of the hat and create an opportunity and start plugging
these holes because he has done that over and over again,
so we do really appreciate him. And I don't take
(22:19):
that dude for granted because it is a rare thing
it's sports to have.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It's a weird place to you know. I like to
compare fan bases a lot on this show and their mentalities,
and they'll I think we can both agree that there
should be or there are very few similarities between the
mentality of your fan base and the mentality of my
fan base. I would say my fan base. You know,
(22:44):
I think that they both. My number one description would
start with a P, like I think we're a bit pessimistic,
and I think you're a bit psychotic. So like, but yep,
the Lions, the Egos before they won their titles, the Vikings,
the Browns, the Bengals, these long these organizations that have
(23:06):
been around for a long period of time. And to
your point and tell them hadn't won a title or
hadn't won a title in a long time. The way
the fans react to that, it's just so fascinating to
me that a guy could have done such a good
job in such a volatile city. Like you're, I love
you. You're an insane person when it comes to.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
You, and I'm the best one, yes, And you're.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's what I was just gonna say. You are. You
are probably the most calm carrying, an empathetic person I've
met from Philadelphia. And when it comes to the Egles,
you're psychotic, like you're off your rocker. So to see
you be in this place where you're like, I'm actually
I think it's gonna be all right. That's it just
(23:52):
speaks volumes to how the phenomenal amount of credibility a
person is capable of creating with some success.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
One of the things I love talking to you about
with sports is that we can we can give each
other that perspective of like in my mind, I'm like
I am, I'm docile. I'm you know, like like a
like a philosopher level thinker when it comes to this,
you know, chill cool. But I'm not like I You know,
I have my wife thought.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
In your mind, that's what's in your mind. That's really
in your mind.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
It is really in my mind. Thanks for asking, and no,
thanks for asking. It is really in my mind, and yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Know it is.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
But I do also have this thing that my wife
bought me called a damn It doll, where it's an
Eagles voodoo doll that I can smash on the floor
or on the wall or on the couch when things
aren't going my way.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
So I.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Like your wife and am rooting for your relationship on
a level that thank you. I don't want to dive
in to the psychology behind her having to buy you
a damn It doll because I think that might just
lead to me poking holes that are unfillable. That's what
I'm concerned about with that piece of information. So let's
just leave the dam and doll over there where you
(25:08):
have it.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And I have it. I know it is. I know
it is that I do. I keep it in its case.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And absolutely, why wouldn't have a case.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Has a case?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Just you know it doesn't it doesn't get out and
but no, you're right, and there is something.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I've made a big, all joking aside effort to Philadelphia
sports fans. If you turn on like the if you
turn on their sports talk radio, which I do not recommend,
but if you find yourself wanting to try something insane,
turn that on during the drive time hour and it's
(25:42):
as if we've never won a game for ever. The
fan base is in full panic. And for the perspective thing,
this is the best I will ever have it as
a sports fan period. It's the best I'll ever have it.
Jalen Hurts is so fun to cheer for. He's a
fantastic guy. I took us to one Super Bowl one
another Super Bowl. Siriani is the most entertaining, funny coach.
(26:06):
He's nuts, He's Philadelphia. We are the coach of the
Philadelphia Eagles. Is the city of Philadelphia in a guy.
It's so much fun to cheer for this team. So
we're foreign too. Will they turn it around. There's reasons
to expect that they will, there's reasons to expect that
they won't as in the last two games that we played.
But I do feel like in these zones it's so
(26:30):
important because again, like look at the Patriots, you know,
I mean, now, who knows, Drake may might be turning
them around. But I'm making a big, big point to
appreciate how good.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
This Sune's crazy. You just compared yourself to the greatest
dynasty in professional sports history outside of maybe who we
beat the beat of the So I understand where he's going. Yeah,
So let me then ask you the important question. M M.
Going back to my original talking point and my original
concern you who You're not in the same worry place
(27:01):
that you've always been in. You've got a bit of confidence,
which means I can actually ask you this question and
not just get a pessimistic, garbage answer, you know, some
whony like we'll never make it. Uh what in my like,
like I said, you don't like playing great teams after
well coached, talented teams, after big letdowns, and you're coming
(27:25):
off of you know, back to back letdowns and an
embarrassing performance against like getting routed on national TV by
a division opponent and a rookie quarterback. So do you
think it is more likely this week right now that
we get the pull it together here we go look
like the championship team, or do we get the teeterie
(27:48):
we gotta see. We don't know how to get out
of this. It's gonna take like do we go further
down the last two games or do we jump out
of it quickly? If you had to pick what's more
likely this week?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The issues that I outlined will not be solved in
this week. So the play calling could potentially be solved.
And is that going to be incrementally better because of
how good the talent is on offense. So even with
a banged up offensive line, still have aj Brown not
throwing him the ball too much this season, Still have
(28:21):
DeVante Smith, who's as good a number two as you
can have in the entire league. You know he would
be the number one for almost any other team. You
have Saquon Barkley, you have Dallas Goddard who's healthy, and
you have Jalen Hurts. So can we alter the play
calling enough? And I think that honestly can right the
entire or most of the ship if you alter the
(28:42):
play calling to what you have to the personnel, and
so maybe it's not There was no way Sequon Barkley
was going to run for two thousand yards again this year.
But he shouldn't be running for two hundred yards, you know,
So can we change that play calling? We're not going
to be healthier and not where the guys who are
banged up are still going to be banged up. The
(29:03):
guys on the injured list are still going to be injured.
But I think if you if during this time they
had the ability to be like, yo, our offense is predictable,
let's change X y Z, that is a reason for
me to be like, Okay, now we can score. The
defense is going to be fine. It's now we can score,
and we have one of the most talented offenses in
(29:26):
the league. They haven't played that way this year, But
is this the week they're going to start playing that way?
If so, this is going to be a really big
bounce back game. If not, good, lord is the is
the conversations going to devolve into a layer of hell
that I can't even describe.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, just in your personal friend groups and in my head,
the conversations. Yeah, I mean, I'll be very curious. You know,
the Vikings are getting a lot of people back, but
that takes a minute to get rhythm. You're coming out
like you know, the Vikings defense have been how it
has been over the last year and a half, so
good under Flores that everything about me says this will
(30:06):
be a defensive battle, a lower scoring game. But this
is the closest we're gonna be to having most of
the pieces together, you know, And I don't think it'll
be the moment where we have them all. But you
do have Jordan Addison back, right you you you are
supposed to get your other offensive linemen back who're coming back.
(30:27):
We still don't have Aaron Jones, but we're getting closer.
So the offense with that rest and with that break,
I think still has the potential. They there's especially with
the way Kevin O'Connell likes to take chunk shots and
get down the field. There's and what you were saying about,
you know, in need of a cornerback. My hope is
(30:47):
that it stays kind of low scoring and then bang bang,
we put some distance and it gets really hard for
you guys. But I'm gonna make you do a prediction,
and we do it differently here. Now the predict are different.
You got to do it. This is what we do
with Chad. You got to do a score prediction, a
player performance prediction, and then a prediction about you personally
(31:10):
during the game. Like I will show you how it works.
Are you ready? I think, like I said a little,
defenses are going to be very involved. I think the
Eagles will probably score twelve thirteen vikings about one hundred
and twenty seven. I anticipate this being Jalen Naylor's going
to get loose a couple times. I think Jalen Naylor's
(31:32):
going to get down the field, maybe on a deep touchdown.
I think you're going to see a shot down the
field to him. And for a personal prediction, I think
we have a very volatile text thread on Sundays, and
I predict you will read the tea leaves early and
excuse yourself from the text thread and respond to how
(31:56):
everything happened because you are in a thread with our
in our person group thread, it is three Viking fans,
the most spoiled Steeler fan to ever walk the earth.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
It feels we don't have enough time.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I get this guy complaining his way up and down
a successful season so far, three Viking fans, A cry babies,
you know, heavy duty whiny, you know, spoiled Steelers fan,
almost to the point where you think he's a Packers fan.
But uh, and then you have you, and you often
(32:29):
when things really get going, you excuse yourself. So my
personal prediction is I will be very active in the
group message, and you will be. You will excuse yourself
early and we won't get to communicate much during the game.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I was going, so I'll start in reverse. My honestly,
my position is that we won't talk for eight days.
And I have already muted that group chats, so that
group chats muted, I don't see notifications on that, so yeah,
I will not see any of that. I might just
get a new phone and or maybe just another, maybe
(33:04):
a third phone, and then I will say player prediction.
I will go with Kieley Ringo will give up three touchdowns?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You got a guy and your team named Keeley Ringo?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Big time sounds like sounds.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Like a cartoon bear on a children's animated show Who's
in a Band?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
You go to a rest stop in the middle of
nowhere that you see a Kiley Ringo playing with his
band of and then score. I'm gonna say twenty eight
twenty one Eagles, and then we will have blocked I
would say seven or eight of your field goals actually
during the course of that game. So that's my that's
(33:50):
my that's my prediction. Who is starting it? Is it
JJ or is it Wenz?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Do you know yet? Who's starting? This is not a
good question.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Where we have no I can defer to our producer
Jay here, but I believe in this moment of recording,
we do not have a defined decision. Great, so why
don't you just sit back and wait for it? Not
announced yet? Said Jay as of recording not announced yet.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Well, I'll just we'll prepare for both then, Blake.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I care about you. Thanks for joining the show. We
really appreciate it. And thank you to everyone for listening
here on our podcast feed. We really appreciate it. While
you're here, leave a review, you know, click the stars,
all five of them, and say something nice. It really
helps us out. Finally, a huge shout out to Ticketmaster,
the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping
make this show happen.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Enjoy the game.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Everybody
Come join us at Vikings Country with a special Vikings
guest on Tuesday, October twenty first, at five thirty at
Mama G's in Maple Grove, presented by Miller Lite. Score
prizes including tickets in the Miller Lite Lounge at US
Bank Stadium. Details and full schedule at Vikings dot com.
Slash Vikings Country. As the official ticket marketplace of the
(00:22):
Minnesota Vikings and the NFL, Ticketmaster is the safest and
most convenient marketplace to score fully verified Viking tickets. So
get those touchdowns celebrations ready and score your tickets today
at ticketmaster dot com. Slash Vikings the cricket Rocket at
for better Mare, Come Van, I'm here. Hey, everybody, Welcome
(00:51):
to another episode of the Vikings Tailgate, brought to you
by Ticketmaster, the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings.
It's me your host, Cy Amansen, and Week seven, your
favorite team is coming off of bye. We're gonna take
on a team that I was very nervous about a
few weeks ago, and then I got less nervous about.
And even though I should have gotten more less nervous,
(01:15):
the nervousness has increased. I don't like playing teams with
back to back losses that are good, and that is
what is happening this week as we take on the
Philadelphia Eagles. Now, normally on the show, the great Chad
Daniels joins me, but there are gonna be a few
exceptions this year, a few moments where he gets the
week off, and this is one of those moments because
(01:37):
we have a long time tailgate guest, longtime Philadelphia Eagles fan,
Blake Wexler, who's worked for the organization, fantastic comedian, joining
us to break down all things Eagles. Blake, I appreciate
your time first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Of course, and I am a fantastic comedian And what
else do you have to say that's nice?
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And secondly, I want to ask this as you and
I who care a lot about each other, but also
in this tight universe where our teams are about to play,
it doesn't always go great from a private dialogue standpoint.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
I want to ask this in a way that's what
did the kids say? They call it triggering. I want
to ask this in a way that doesn't trigger you
and your Philly brain good luck, because I think it's
an important question. The Eagles are one of the more
interesting roller coaster teams in the history of professional sports.
They draft a quarterback, they go on a crazy run
(02:38):
to start a season, he gets injured, They win a
Super Bowl with the backup and a new coach and
Doug Peterson. Quickly thereafter, that young rookie quarterback that everybody
thought was the future of the league is gone and
the head coach is gone, and then they start over.
And then you've got this new team that seems to
build into a juggernaut, and then down the stretch they
(02:59):
collapse a couple years ago, just like, oh no, everybody's
not gonna be here anymore, like old school Major league
movie reference, like let's pave the parking, let's turn it
into a parking lot. That's what it felt like after
that Buccaneers loss. Then somehow they keep everybody. The next year,
they're a juggernaut all the way to a Super Bowl title.
(03:20):
Then they start this season and you go, well, this
is clearly the best team in football. And then they
lose these last two in a way that is almost
not even recognizable and is someone whose job it is
to discuss the upcoming matchup, even though that's in a
humorous way. I don't know what's happening, Blake, What is
your team? What's happening here? Should I? Should I go? Oh? No,
(03:45):
one of the best teams in the league has lost twice,
and they very rarely lose three times in a row.
We've got our work cut out? Or am I looking
at that moment in a grade school project where the
lava has just started to bubble over the homemade volcano?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Buddy, I don't know what you're talking about, but I
will say that you know exactly, So it's funny. We
had a similar conversation earlier in the season about like,
what is this team? And this is before we lost
the two games and when we were winning. So we
rattled off four wins in a row to start the season,
(04:24):
lost the last two too, probably the two worst teams
out of all those teams that we've played, for sure,
And I was not nervous by the way that has changed.
But when you talk to me about that when we
were four and oh, I'm like, you know what, we
did barely squeak by a bunch of games last season
(04:46):
in the Super Bowl. The games were close. There were
certain games that could have gone either way. Even going
back to that snow game against the Rams and the
playoffs where people forget Matthew Stafford was marching down the
field in the fourth quarter and if it wasn't for
that Jalen Carter sack, they they probably they could have
pulled that game out.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
So now I'm like, well, this is just how we
win super Bowls. I'm calm, there's nothing to freak out here.
We're gonna just win the Super Bowl for now, one
and now. And then I went to the Giants game
that we got and it wasn't oh a coin flip.
You know, we got destroyed in that game, wall to
wall destroyed. So to answer your question.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Point yeah, where where a guy took his shirt off
on the postgame show confidently knowing the rest of the
world wouldn't go why is he doing that? We all
went like, well, we watched the game, take your shirt off?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeh, why is your shirt ever on? I guess it's
if you're gonna play like that, no shirt, no problem.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And you know, even you might as well, if you're
gonna play like that against the Eagles in prime time,
forget your pads at home. It's a quicker path to
being shirtless on National TV.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, if you're gonna play like that against the Eagles,
no need for cleats. Flip flops, flip flop your way
up and down the field. I like the sound of it,
and it is so anyway, Here's what I think is
going on, because I've been thinking about this a lot.
We have like a mini buy as they call it,
because we played Thursday night, so we'll have.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Which I hate that, by the way. I think that's
the right thing to do competitively. But when I realized
you guys played on Thursday off of our bi No,
I want you to play on I want you to
play on Monday, but I want you to play on Sunday.
I want you to have the short week. I don't.
I don't want your mini by. Is that a thing
the league is doing. It's fair, it seems more fair,
(06:28):
But I want unfairness against you, Blake.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And when I came up with the term mini by,
I was I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. But
I stand by it because I think, you know, if
it was up to me, the Eagles would play Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
and then I take off Saturday. Then we would play Sunday.
So I think what's going on with the team after
thinking about it during our mini bye, is that we
(06:54):
have our offensive line, for the first time in years,
is not playing like the greatest offensive line of all time,
and we're calling plays and expecting these plays to work
as if they are still the best offensive line of
all time. And I believe they're really banged up? Are
(07:16):
centered Jurgens? Cam Jurgens, who made the Pro Bowl last year,
is a great young center. He had back surgery a
few weeks before training camp started.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Backs.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I don't know, society if you've ever had back issues,
but back, from my understanding, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
How dare I? Also? I have such back issues.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
If I drop coins on the ground, I'm like, well,
there go my coins, and you know how much I love.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
My Somebody else will find them.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Yeah, someone else will find them. It'll be lucky to them.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
And can I tell you something really quick?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Help me?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Cause you and other friend of the program Zach Martine,
also fantastic comedian Detroit Lions fan. It has been so
exhausting for me the last few years to listen to
you both claim to have the greatest offensive line of
all time, Like, and you say it in the way
(08:08):
that when I know he thinks you're wrong, you think
he's wrong, I think both of you are wrong. You
do it. You do it in the way that like
twenty four hour slanted news media, like you know how
sometimes those entities will say an original fact as though
it's inarguable before they say the thing afterwards that is arguable.
(08:32):
So clearly it is the greatest offensive line in the
history of professional football. And it's just not that this year.
You're like, so now I have to argue with you
about whether or not this current version is the greatest,
and I just have to accept the thing. And you
guys both do that. It's like it's like you went
to twenty four hour news college to come on this show.
It drives me crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well, I was the valid victorian of twenty four hour
News College and I and I have that diploma displayed
prominently in my home. But it is You're so right.
It is also not a of all Even saying the
greatest wide receiver of all time is controversial, but there's
no like qualitative quantitative stats from an offensive line. It's
like saying I have the greenest lawn of all time.
(09:11):
It's like you can't quantify a color, you know, and
so it is subjective. But anyway, let's say a fantastic
offensive line.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
You guys had a very good offensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
Fantastic, fantastic offensive line.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Swift's future brother in law.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Sure sure, sure, sure sure, and that is that's that's
how we refer to him as well. But he was
replaced by Jurgens, who has been injured. Landon Dickerson has
made a Pro Bowl every year he's been in the
league as a guard. He's been banged up, and you know,
Lane Johnson's still amazing, but he's in his late thirties now,
and you look at the running numbers. Saquon Barkley isn't
(09:48):
putting up those numbers, And I don't think they have
an identity on offense where we have a first year
play caller as well and Kevin Patulo as our offensive coordinator,
and that's not going well. So that's what I think
is happening right now. And I don't know if there
was a fix to that, other than you hope, in
the hardest sport on a human body that exists, that
these guys will just get healthy during the season.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Landon Dickerson and Lane Johnson. Those are two separate but
also together all time names like that. When they do that,
I'm from here, this college thing in the pregame going
from cause do they do? They go one right after
another Sequentially they're both on either side of the center right.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
So it would be Landon then center than right guard
then Lane. So I'm just pitching that we move Lane
over so Landon and Lane can go right next to
one another. All time football names. There are very few
times in football that you can go, oh, that's a
big reason they won the thing, like Reggie White on
(10:51):
the Packers. You're like, it looks different with Reggie White.
And football is a sum of its parts, and just
because one part is an incredible part doesn't mean you
didn't need all of the parts. But the Saquon Barkley Edition,
I was trying to think back in my brain what
other ex like, where do we get close to that
(11:12):
in football that has such a large roster, Like the
only thing that's close to it is you know, maybe
going back to the Reggie White thing. Had Randy Moss
won it with the Patriots that year but they lost
the super right that was a sizeable difference. I think
if the Packers were to win the Super Bowl this year,
the Micah Parsons thing could pan out that way. But
it's just so interesting to me. And this is the
(11:35):
last question I'll ask you before we go to break
on it. The thing that's so interesting is you have
all these pieces that are still there.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And your line might be banged up. But even though
all this stuff is bubbling, I don't know how stuff
never bubbles over or bubbles out in this way. AJ
Brown is tweeting stuff. And the crazy thing is two
weeks from now, and this is what's so fascinating about
your organization. Two weeks from now, you might just go
it's all sucked back in and it all looks normal
(12:04):
and everybody's happy, and you're the best team in the NFL.
And I don't know what sort of leadership structure from
you know, the top, all the way down to people
I've never heard of, exists. But that ability to wrangle,
that's what makes me nervous about this game. Is all
of a sudden, they can just go, oh, were the
Eagles from the Super Bowl last year?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I agree with you, and I would never be that
optimistic as an Eagles fan period and even right now,
it's difficult to do it, but I've seen them do
this before. Where you know that year that we started
ten and one and then went one in six, one
in seven through the playoffs, like like you mentioned, we
lost to the Bucks at the end of the year.
But in no world did I think that we, the
(12:45):
whole team would return after that, especially the coach. And
you have these combustible personalities and these combustible persons. You
have the coach of the team might be one of
the most combustible personalities in the entire league. So that's
the coach. Then you do have aj Brown who's reading
a book on the sideline during the game.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
I love it. It's my favorite thing. And also, by
the way.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Jealous, I'm jealous. I like as somebody who lived through
the Tice Randy Moss, Dante Culpepper era, let's shake it up.
I love like you. Never you didn't watch the Michael
Jordan Bowles documentary and go man, there's no no big
personalities here.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
No Dennis Rodman, a real housecat of a human being.
No personality to that guy whatsoever. And also, by the way,
side note infamous reading City Philadelphia caused that book inter
Excellence to go number one on Amazon right after that.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So that's the other thing that always happens your city.
By like, there could be a guy on the sideline
who just for whatever reason has a salted nut roll.
He's like, there was a kicker, the snicker kicker for
the Vikings. His name was Mitch Berger.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
And talking about what are you saying right now.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I'm saying, I'm saying normal stuff. We used to have
an you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Have a candy player, No, tell me about your candy player.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
By all mean we.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Used to have a punter who would punt and then
he would go to the sideline and he'd take out
of one of his extra shoes that was just sitting
over on the sideline, which I guess I never really
thought about that part. But he would take you had
have an extra shoe, you would take a Snickers out
and he would take a bite. He would eat a
Snickers during the during the game. People would call him
the snicker kicker.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
So I'm not here to say that. But here's the thing.
Snickers didn't break the charts like I don't. And so
what I'm saying is like a worse candy, although I
love it the salted nut roll. If AJ Brown or
Jalen hurts ate a saulted nut roll on the sideline,
just like they just pulled it off the bench and
ate it. Whatever company publicly trades the salted nut roll,
(14:53):
you want to be on that information early because it's
going through the roof. You won't be able to get
salted nut rolls in gas stations. And Philadelphia, you guys
support the activities in a way that is mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It's fanatical, it's maniacal. There's some company in China that
made dog masks, really really weird dog masks. During the
twenty seventeen twenty eighteen Super Bowl run, we called ourselves
the underdogs. Chris Long and Lane Johnson put on these
dog masks. This company in China has no idea what's
(15:28):
going on in Philadelphia. All of a sudden, they get
hundreds of thousands of dogs. They sell out their whole company.
They have no more masks, they have no more company
because every stock of this weird thing was being bought
in a place called Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So you have these
and it goes back to Big Dom to answer your
question where Big Dom is one of these like Mickey
(15:51):
Mouse cartoon characters coming out of Philadelphia and to the
point where he got suspended for shoving a player for
shoving a forty nine er. But a couple of years ago,
Big Free Big Dom t shirts were distributed throughout Philadelphia
like they were pamphlets during the French Revolution. It was unbelievable.
(16:11):
And now this guy Big Dom were before. Now there's
a spotlight on him, but he's part of this consistency
in the organization where he's a guy who helps quell
these you know, this turmoil, and you also have an
owner who's a very stable owner, and you have a
GM who is basically the GM for life. Now you know,
the guys won two Super Bowls, the only two Super
(16:33):
Bowls that that team has ever seen. So you have
this stability that I think is a very strong safety net.
Now NFL players can cause any safety net to dissipate,
But I do think Philadelphia is very lucky and that
they have that safety net.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Like I love our GM. I think we have a
fantastic front office, a fantastic GM. But you know, in
that same way where I find myself jealous or I
found myself jealous of those who had theo Epstein Right.
He brings a title to a long suffering group. I
just don't think he gets talked about enough. He broke
(17:11):
two curses, who did yeah, And so you guys, as
a long suffering organization to have this guy come in,
I think you're right. I think he's waited through coaches
and won multiple titles in multiple different ways. And I
guess I didn't even understand the ascension of him where
it's like, this is a guy who was an unpaid
(17:34):
intern at twenty four and a decade later he becomes
the GM right and seems to not only consistently hit
on moves. They never feel overly risky at the time,
and they certainly don't feel risky in hindsight. So he
consistently hits on deals right and decisions that he makes well. Also,
(17:57):
to your point, no matter what's going on, when the
seasons are volatile or anything like that, it never feels
like an overflow, especially in a city. Again, this is
what I was getting to earlier when I was talking
about it, like the emotions of the fans in your
city are different than other places. So the fact that
everything is kept under a fever pitch in a place
(18:18):
where people react the way they react. It's wild. I
just think that dude is at this different level that's
kind of hard to even conceptualize.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yeah, you're right, And his ascension is really interesting because
he was never he never played football really at any level,
and he would send blind emails to Joe Banner, who
is long term NFL executive, and to a bunch of
other people. And then he got in as an intern
and obviously now rose up to become GM. And not
only did he become GM in twenty sixteen, chip Kelly
(18:51):
took that title away from him. So chip Kelly was like, yo,
either I'm your coach and your GM or you don't
get me at all. So they demoted Howie Roseman. Howie
Roseman then comes back to take the team over after
chip Kelly was fired, and then you know the rest
is history, won two Super Bowls. So he's a guy
who is And this is an interesting thing. So with
(19:13):
Philadelphia we get obviously do well well much do crap
for booing our own teams, that sort of thing, But
it is the same thing.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Where as much.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
As Santa Claus, any person that really stands for joy,
like you shouldn't just leave it at your own team.
I mean you throw, Yeah, I understand what you're saying,
but I just think.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The Santa Claus think he was not in a good outfit.
That was the whole thing. It wasn't booing the institution
of Santa Claus. There was some Santa Claus who put
no effort. He looked like garbage. He might as well
have been wearing a bathrobe and a sleep hat out
into So that's that was the problem. That's why he
was booed, was because he wasn't a good Santa Claus.
We have standards for our Santas and he did not
(19:58):
reach that Santa Stama. So anyway, and sorry, you got
me all frazzled.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Very normal, very normal reaction.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So as much anger as us as a fan base
will show to teams, players, et cetera, it's how much
love we show as well. And it's the same thing
where I mean, it's like we just talked about buying
the masks, the weird masks, the weird book, all that stuff.
So Howie Roseman, a front office general manager, might be
(20:29):
the easiest person to direct anger at as a fan
because they're not playing, they're not in a jersey, they're
not even a coach. They're just a guy at a
desk in the view of fans. So Howie was a
guy who I think, you know, received a lot of
negative attention. But now that he has won these Super
(20:50):
Bowls and done it in a way where he seems
like he's ahead of the curve on a lot of
different things in the NFL where he tries to find
these inconsistencies or the these market inefficiencies. So that was
the Saquon Barkley signing where no one was paying running backs.
Running backs were a devalued position, and they's like, listen,
(21:11):
if we use this running back, and in what world
is Saquon Barkley the way we're about to use him
going to be less valuable than any wide receiver out
of the top two three. So pay this guy. He
still won't cost as much as a traditional premier position.
And he does stuff like that. The way he's drafting now,
his trades, the way he stockpiles picks, he almost reminds
(21:34):
me a little bit of a basketball GM where trades,
obviously in the NFL aren't nearly as prevalent as they
are in other leagues. So now you have a guy
who is making trades and that's the weird thing right
now where our team does have a lot of holes,
and I think we have confidence in Howie Roseman that
he will somehow create a trade to get a viable cornerback.
(21:57):
And Zadarius Smith, who became i'm a starter defensive end
for us, just retired, so now we don't even have
that guy anymore. So in our minds we think that
how we will be able to pull a rabbit out
of the hat and create an opportunity and start plugging
these holes because he has done that over and over again,
so we do really appreciate him. And I don't take
(22:19):
that dude for granted because it is a rare thing
it's sports to have.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It's a weird place to you know. I like to
compare fan bases a lot on this show and their mentalities,
and they'll I think we can both agree that there
should be or there are very few similarities between the
mentality of your fan base and the mentality of my
fan base. I would say my fan base. You know,
(22:44):
I think that they both. My number one description would
start with a P, like I think we're a bit pessimistic,
and I think you're a bit psychotic. So like, but yep,
the Lions, the Egos before they won their titles, the Vikings,
the Browns, the Bengals, these long these organizations that have
(23:06):
been around for a long period of time. And to
your point and tell them hadn't won a title or
hadn't won a title in a long time. The way
the fans react to that, it's just so fascinating to
me that a guy could have done such a good
job in such a volatile city. Like you're, I love
you. You're an insane person when it comes to.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
You, and I'm the best one, yes, And you're.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
That's what I was just gonna say. You are. You
are probably the most calm carrying, an empathetic person I've
met from Philadelphia. And when it comes to the Egles,
you're psychotic, like you're off your rocker. So to see
you be in this place where you're like, I'm actually
I think it's gonna be all right. That's it just
(23:52):
speaks volumes to how the phenomenal amount of credibility a
person is capable of creating with some success.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
One of the things I love talking to you about
with sports is that we can we can give each
other that perspective of like in my mind, I'm like
I am, I'm docile. I'm you know, like like a
like a philosopher level thinker when it comes to this,
you know, chill cool. But I'm not like I You know,
I have my wife thought.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
In your mind, that's what's in your mind. That's really
in your mind.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
It is really in my mind. Thanks for asking, and no,
thanks for asking. It is really in my mind, and yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Know it is.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
But I do also have this thing that my wife
bought me called a damn It doll, where it's an
Eagles voodoo doll that I can smash on the floor
or on the wall or on the couch when things
aren't going my way.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
So I.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Like your wife and am rooting for your relationship on
a level that thank you. I don't want to dive
in to the psychology behind her having to buy you
a damn It doll because I think that might just
lead to me poking holes that are unfillable. That's what
I'm concerned about with that piece of information. So let's
just leave the dam and doll over there where you
(25:08):
have it.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And I have it. I know it is. I know
it is that I do. I keep it in its case.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
And absolutely, why wouldn't have a case.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Has a case?
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Just you know it doesn't it doesn't get out and
but no, you're right, and there is something.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I've made a big, all joking aside effort to Philadelphia
sports fans. If you turn on like the if you
turn on their sports talk radio, which I do not recommend,
but if you find yourself wanting to try something insane,
turn that on during the drive time hour and it's
(25:42):
as if we've never won a game for ever. The
fan base is in full panic. And for the perspective thing,
this is the best I will ever have it as
a sports fan period. It's the best I'll ever have it.
Jalen Hurts is so fun to cheer for. He's a
fantastic guy. I took us to one Super Bowl one
another Super Bowl. Siriani is the most entertaining, funny coach.
(26:06):
He's nuts, He's Philadelphia. We are the coach of the
Philadelphia Eagles. Is the city of Philadelphia in a guy.
It's so much fun to cheer for this team. So
we're foreign too. Will they turn it around. There's reasons
to expect that they will, there's reasons to expect that
they won't as in the last two games that we played.
But I do feel like in these zones it's so
(26:30):
important because again, like look at the Patriots, you know,
I mean, now, who knows, Drake may might be turning
them around. But I'm making a big, big point to
appreciate how good.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
This Sune's crazy. You just compared yourself to the greatest
dynasty in professional sports history outside of maybe who we
beat the beat of the So I understand where he's going. Yeah,
So let me then ask you the important question. M M.
Going back to my original talking point and my original
concern you who You're not in the same worry place
(27:01):
that you've always been in. You've got a bit of confidence,
which means I can actually ask you this question and
not just get a pessimistic, garbage answer, you know, some
whony like we'll never make it. Uh what in my like,
like I said, you don't like playing great teams after
well coached, talented teams, after big letdowns, and you're coming
(27:25):
off of you know, back to back letdowns and an
embarrassing performance against like getting routed on national TV by
a division opponent and a rookie quarterback. So do you
think it is more likely this week right now that
we get the pull it together here we go look
like the championship team, or do we get the teeterie
(27:48):
we gotta see. We don't know how to get out
of this. It's gonna take like do we go further
down the last two games or do we jump out
of it quickly? If you had to pick what's more
likely this week?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The issues that I outlined will not be solved in
this week. So the play calling could potentially be solved.
And is that going to be incrementally better because of
how good the talent is on offense. So even with
a banged up offensive line, still have aj Brown not
throwing him the ball too much this season, Still have
(28:21):
DeVante Smith, who's as good a number two as you
can have in the entire league. You know he would
be the number one for almost any other team. You
have Saquon Barkley, you have Dallas Goddard who's healthy, and
you have Jalen Hurts. So can we alter the play
calling enough? And I think that honestly can right the
entire or most of the ship if you alter the
(28:42):
play calling to what you have to the personnel, and
so maybe it's not There was no way Sequon Barkley
was going to run for two thousand yards again this year.
But he shouldn't be running for two hundred yards, you know,
So can we change that play calling? We're not going
to be healthier and not where the guys who are
banged up are still going to be banged up. The
(29:03):
guys on the injured list are still going to be injured.
But I think if you if during this time they
had the ability to be like, yo, our offense is predictable,
let's change X y Z, that is a reason for
me to be like, Okay, now we can score. The
defense is going to be fine. It's now we can score,
and we have one of the most talented offenses in
(29:26):
the league. They haven't played that way this year, But
is this the week they're going to start playing that way?
If so, this is going to be a really big
bounce back game. If not, good, lord is the is
the conversations going to devolve into a layer of hell
that I can't even describe.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Yeah, just in your personal friend groups and in my head,
the conversations. Yeah, I mean, I'll be very curious. You know,
the Vikings are getting a lot of people back, but
that takes a minute to get rhythm. You're coming out
like you know, the Vikings defense have been how it
has been over the last year and a half, so
good under Flores that everything about me says this will
(30:06):
be a defensive battle, a lower scoring game. But this
is the closest we're gonna be to having most of
the pieces together, you know, And I don't think it'll
be the moment where we have them all. But you
do have Jordan Addison back, right you you you are
supposed to get your other offensive linemen back who're coming back.
(30:27):
We still don't have Aaron Jones, but we're getting closer.
So the offense with that rest and with that break,
I think still has the potential. They there's especially with
the way Kevin O'Connell likes to take chunk shots and
get down the field. There's and what you were saying about,
you know, in need of a cornerback. My hope is
(30:47):
that it stays kind of low scoring and then bang bang,
we put some distance and it gets really hard for
you guys. But I'm gonna make you do a prediction,
and we do it differently here. Now the predict are different.
You got to do it. This is what we do
with Chad. You got to do a score prediction, a
player performance prediction, and then a prediction about you personally
(31:10):
during the game. Like I will show you how it works.
Are you ready? I think, like I said a little,
defenses are going to be very involved. I think the
Eagles will probably score twelve thirteen vikings about one hundred
and twenty seven. I anticipate this being Jalen Naylor's going
to get loose a couple times. I think Jalen Naylor's
(31:32):
going to get down the field, maybe on a deep touchdown.
I think you're going to see a shot down the
field to him. And for a personal prediction, I think
we have a very volatile text thread on Sundays, and
I predict you will read the tea leaves early and
excuse yourself from the text thread and respond to how
(31:56):
everything happened because you are in a thread with our
in our person group thread, it is three Viking fans,
the most spoiled Steeler fan to ever walk the earth.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
It feels we don't have enough time.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I get this guy complaining his way up and down
a successful season so far, three Viking fans, A cry babies,
you know, heavy duty whiny, you know, spoiled Steelers fan,
almost to the point where you think he's a Packers fan.
But uh, and then you have you, and you often
(32:29):
when things really get going, you excuse yourself. So my
personal prediction is I will be very active in the
group message, and you will be. You will excuse yourself
early and we won't get to communicate much during the game.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I was going, so I'll start in reverse. My honestly,
my position is that we won't talk for eight days.
And I have already muted that group chats, so that
group chats muted, I don't see notifications on that, so yeah,
I will not see any of that. I might just
get a new phone and or maybe just another, maybe
(33:04):
a third phone, and then I will say player prediction.
I will go with Kieley Ringo will give up three touchdowns?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
You got a guy and your team named Keeley Ringo?
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Big time sounds like sounds.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Like a cartoon bear on a children's animated show Who's
in a Band?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
You go to a rest stop in the middle of
nowhere that you see a Kiley Ringo playing with his
band of and then score. I'm gonna say twenty eight
twenty one Eagles, and then we will have blocked I
would say seven or eight of your field goals actually
during the course of that game. So that's my that's
(33:50):
my that's my prediction. Who is starting it? Is it
JJ or is it Wenz?
Speaker 3 (33:53):
Do you know yet? Who's starting? This is not a
good question.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Where we have no I can defer to our producer
Jay here, but I believe in this moment of recording,
we do not have a defined decision. Great, so why
don't you just sit back and wait for it? Not
announced yet? Said Jay as of recording not announced yet.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Well, I'll just we'll prepare for both then, Blake.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I care about you. Thanks for joining the show. We
really appreciate it. And thank you to everyone for listening
here on our podcast feed. We really appreciate it. While
you're here, leave a review, you know, click the stars,
all five of them, and say something nice. It really
helps us out. Finally, a huge shout out to Ticketmaster,
the official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping
make this show happen.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Enjoy the game.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Everybody
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