October 30, 2025 • 39 mins
On this episode of the Twentyman in the Huddle podcast presented by Copilot+ PC, Tim Twentyman is joined by Colton Pouncy, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kevin Seifert previewing the Detroit Lions' Week 9 matchup vs. the Minnesota Vikings.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jared with five of the play clock, takes the ball back,
looking throwing middle of his car. I'm going around Saint Brown.
He's gone baby ten five end zone touchdown. Detroit Lions
up to Saint Brown's twenty seven yards in the Lions
strike car. It is week nine of the NFL season.
That's crazy. I cannot believe it. But I am Tim
(00:22):
twenty and this is twenty in the Huddle podcast and
this week I am joined by Colton Pouncy does a
great job with the Athletic. Had a great piece in September,
got with all the Lions management about a pack they
made and kind of have stuck to that. Most recently
did a breakdown of Calvin Shepherd and John Morton stuff,
so you can check out all his stuff on The Athletic.
(00:43):
Also does the Lion's Collective podcast. So you got a
lot going on.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, it's been a busy season, but it's always a
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Bye week. Did you get a chance to get away
a little bit? We always talk about the players and
coaches needing a little time, but the beat guys sometimes
need a little reset and rest. Dude, did you get
away at all? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's important to us too. I did get away. I
went to Chicago. I grew up like Chicago suburbs, so
I got to see my family. My parents are out there,
a lot of friends. One of my best friends just
had a baby a month ago, so I got the
right there. So it was a good time, nice and relaxing.
Cubs are white, SOX, I'm a Cubs guy, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
My dad grew up on the North Side, so I'm
a Cobby guy too, so that that makes my heart
feel good that you were a Cubs guy.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Let's look back to Tampa Bay real quick. What jumped
out about that game to you? Positive?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Negative?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Obviously it was a great win, probably more positive, but
what was what did you come out of that game
kind of liking about this this team heading into the.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
By Yeah, I think going into that one, you know
you're looking at the depth chart, especially in the secondary,
and you're like, oh man, this could be a little rough, right,
Like Tampa Bay has some really good receivers, you know,
Mike Evans and Abuka were playing in that one, and
you saw the line secondary with the injuries and Bryan
Branchin suspended and whatnot. So I think going into that
You're just like, Okay, this could be a little bit
of a toss up, you know, maybe a you know,
(02:00):
we see the lines bounce back so often from losses,
but this one just based on the injuries and whatnot,
and secondary you're a little bit more like, Okay, let's
see how it plays out. But to see those guys
out there dominating the way they did, you know, shutting
down the past game, uh the legion of whom as
they're calling it now, which maybe a little bit disrespectable,
but I kind of liked it. I think it fits
the mentality out there.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So I think those guys have embraced that. Let's good too.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
But I mean they got it done, man, and a
lot of people probably doubted, you know, el Baker's gonna
throw for three hundred and whatnot, but they really stepped
up to the plate when when called upon. And that's
when Kelvin Sheppard kind of told us, you know, the
week leading into that game, like you hear this overnight celebrity,
overnight success, all these stories, but really that was just
the night you learned about those guys. This is what
he told us. So you know, all those guys out
(02:46):
out there, Nick white Side you know, Thomas Harper, those
guys that were getting done secondary really stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Next man up, right, And I think that was a
game that that you know, you can say it, but
they lived it. And I think that's so huge for
this team moving forward that they now know that they've
got some guys if needed to and we know how
it went last year at the end of the year
they were needing guys to step up, and that they've
got guys that are experienced now that can do it
and guys they trust. I think that's huge for your
(03:12):
football team.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely. I think that trust goes a long way with
this coaching staff. As long as you can go out
there and execute when called upon, they don't need you
to be a star. They have stars, and we saw
those stars step up in that game. Aiden Hudgson had
twelve pressures and when the pass rush and the coverage
are working together like that, you can have a pretty
good day. So I do think that trust goes a
long way, and those guys definitely earn the trust of
the stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Coming out of the bye week, one thing, first seven
games lines are five and two. What's one thing that's
impressed you about the start with them.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I just think this group is so confident in
who they are. And you know, there's a lot of talk,
you know, coming into the season, like you got a
couple of new coordinators, you know, Frank grag now retired,
like is it going to look different? Are they going
to take a step back? And you know, I think
most of us that cover the team probably didn't believe
that narrative out there, but there was a lot of
that out there. But I just think this group is
so mentally strong, and you can see it because of
(03:59):
just how they've been built over the years. They draft
and developed these guys for a reason. They bring these
guys in because they're mentally tough, and you know, they're
not worried about outside narratives. So you know, a lot
of teams might crumble with some of those expectations or
the loss of you know, so much coaching talent and
one off season. But I think the way these guys
are wired, it's like, well, no, of course we're going
to be just fine because this is what we do.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So I think that's kind of where my mind goes
in a more broad landscape. But you know, I've been
really impressed with Jamier Gibbs the season he's been putting
together so far, and he saw it on that Monday
Night game, two hundred and eighteen yards of scrimmage. He
was awesome. Hutch coming back to form the way he
has probably not surprise to a lot of us, but
there were some questions out there.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You know, you had to see it. You had to
see it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
For sure, and he's been amazing, so uh, just a
lot of the same, you know, this is just the
standard that they've they've kind of showed over the years.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I love that clip of Gibbs laughing as he's going
and how many guys would do that. I would be laughing.
I just and it just shows the kind of mindset
that how these guys love to have fun. But the
confidence too, like he knew he was gone, Like he
was laughing as soon as he hit that angle, he
was gone. I love that about this football team. For me,
it's the depth. You know, we talked about a little
bit off the top. I think they've dealt with some injuries,
(05:10):
you know, early on this season, not to the extent
they did last year. But Monday Night showed the depth
that this football team has and that's so huge. It
caught up with them at the end of last year
and certainly in that playoff loss. I think that's one
thing I take from these first seven games is you've
had different guys step in a lot of different spots
and they've gotten pretty good production out of it. And
(05:32):
I think that's huge for this football team moving forward,
especially after what they went through last year, to know
that they've got some guys that can step in and play,
and this is a deep roster with sixty nine guys
they feel pretty comfortable with. I think that's been huge
through the first seven games. All Right, what's one thing
coming out of the buy you maybe want to see,
you know, a little bit more consistency with something they
(05:53):
need to improve.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, you know, it's hard to nitpick an offense. That's
what third in the league scoring, averaging thirty plus a game.
But there are some instances, and it's been talked about
a lot this week, just third down conversions. That's kind
of been the big story and Dan Campbell talked about
it yesterday. Really third and medium, third and long is
kind of where they struggled. I believe they're seven of
thirty six on third and long, this year, which is
(06:14):
not great, but I'm sure they spent a lot of
time at during the by kind of self scouting and
finding ways to correct it. It might just be one
thing here and there per play you can look at like, oh, man,
if Jared had an extra half second on this row,
that's probably first down or even a touchdown. You know,
little things like that that can really affect everything that
happens on a play if it's just one thing. So
that's probably one thing I'm looking at. And then offensively,
(06:37):
you know, Jameson Williams, I would say getting him the
ball more consistently because he's a talented player and they
paid him and kept him here for a reason. And
I think the little things he does, which is like
you know, stretching the defense and you know, creating those
opportunities for Saint and Sam Laporte over the middle, that's
always going to be a part of this offense as
long as he's out in the field. But just finding
more ways to get him involved in the passing games
probably what I'd be looking at.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, those are two good ones. The third down one
is really interesting to me because they were forty seven
point six percent last year. I think it was third
best in the league. I mean they were converting almost
half the time on third down, Well, Colton, that leads
to more plays, that leads to maybe ten more opportunities
to get Jamison Williams the football. You know what I'm saying.
They're at thirty seven point six percent. I think that's
(07:18):
ring twenty first in the league. That's just not the
standard that we're used to here. So that third down one,
I'm glad you brought that up because that's a huge
one for me. I just think it's gonna make everything
better offensively. They can get that number closer to forty
five percent, I guess where you kind of want to
be your top ten in the league at that point.
I think that's gonna be huge, not only for getting
(07:38):
more plays, getting more guys involved, but just continuing drives.
I think last year they had twenty five three and
out drives on offense the entire year. They've got sixteen
through seven games, and so again, it's it's converting that
third down, continuing that drive. I think that's the one
thing I certainly want to see them prove on offensively.
We'll talk to Jered Goff this week. It'll be interesting
(08:00):
to see kind of what his take is on those
third downs. Do it seems self correctable? At least that's
what Dan Campbell said, So you hope that's the deal
going forward? All right? What concerned you the most about
the Minnesota Vikings. Something tells me maybe number eighteen is
involved in this, or look, when you're scouting this team.
What concerns about a three to four Minnesota team that
(08:22):
is coming off a tough loss and really needs to
kick this thing, you know around, if they're going to
compete in the NFC. Maybe a little desperation even this
early in the season.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, I think you just said it there. I mean
there's a dangerous thing about a desperate team. Yeah, and
when their backs are against the wall. And I think
Kevin O'Connell is a tremendous coach, and you know, there's
a reason the Bikings have been pretty successful under his watch,
and he gets guys to buy in and play for him,
and even when things look rough, you know, they tend
to kind of dig deep and find themselves in those moments.
So I would not overlook this Vikings team in terms
(08:50):
of personnel. I definitely think it starts with justin Jefferson.
He strikes spear into a lot of defensive coordinators. I'm
sure she will give us a line later in the week.
Like I'm losing sleep trying to think about ways the
number eighteen out there, So they're gonna get j McCarthy back.
It sounds like and I liked him a lot coming
out of Michigan. I still believe in him. I know
it's been kind of rough early in his career, the
injury whatnot, but I think he's got a lot of talent,
(09:11):
so I would not overlook the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Lions get the sixth straight win over the Vikings if
they do what Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I think it starts with pressuring a young quarterback like JJ,
and the Vikings have not been great handling pressure. I
think they've allowed the eighth highest pressure rate among teams
this year, and I think the second or third highest
sack rate. So turning those pressures in the sacks, I
think that's gonna be a big thing for this game.
Hutch had twelve pressure in the last game, but no sacks.
I think he's probably gonna be able to peel back
(09:41):
and get after JJ in a game like this, So
if you can create pressure and you know, kind of
fluster young quarterback like JJ, I think you can have
success defensively. Offensively, just sustain those drives, get to the
red zone convert, which they've done a really good job
at this year in the red zone, turning those drives
into touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
To your point about JJ McCarthy too, I think three
interceptions in his first two games and a loss fumble,
you know he's I view him kind of a gun
gun slinger a little bit. He wasn't that at Michigan
because it ran the ball so far. But now he
gets some weapons on the outside and he's got a
chance and obviously one of the great minds offensively in
Kevin O'Connell. But I think he'll put the ball at risk.
(10:16):
At least he showed that those first two weeks. He's
still young. I know it's a second year, but it
will only be his third start, and so I think
that's a good point by you if you can get
after him. Me too, I think a key there. You
look at their defense and they're gonna pressure you. You know,
they lead the league in blitz percentage at forty two percent.
They're gonna get after it. I think the one great
thing is Jared Goffi one twenty eight passer rating against
(10:37):
the Blitz this year Golden pro. I mean, he's been
pretty good. Not they can protect Jared. He's shown, you know,
the willingness in the ability to get the ball out
of his hands into weapons in space. And you put
Jamo and Saint Brown and the port of some of
those guys one on one, I think it's gonna be uh,
pretty good for the Lions. All right. I'm curious you're
(10:58):
opinion about this. The ESPN rankings came out this week
and they it's got the Colts number one, the Lions
number two, Philadelphia three, Buffalo four, Tampa Bay five, Kansas
City six, and Green Bay seven. Is that a little
high for Green Bay? Colton? Do you agree with kind
(11:20):
of the top five? They're Colts, Lions, Philly, Buffalo, Tampa
or does somebody else maybe deserve to kind of be
in that mix.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I think it's about right. I mean, if you're just
looking at records, what are they five to one and one? Now,
I mean, yeah, that's pretty good. It's hard to be
there are a lot of teams with a better record
than that. The tie game is kind of weird to me,
the Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It's tying the Cowboys and losing to Cleveland. Yeah, like
it's a weird. But then they've got some other really
good wins, obviously Detroit being one of those.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
They're pretty I feel like they're pretty in consistent. You
don't know which Green Bay team's gonna show up, where
a lot of those teams, maybe higher on that list,
are more consistent. You can know what you're gonna get
week to week. Chiefs are hitting their stride now. They
look like a great team, So I think for the
most ID agree with that. The Colts. I'm still not convinced.
I need to see a little bit more from the
Colts too, that's the only thing. But it's hard to
find another team to put them above right now.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You look at the NFC, and Dan talked about that
this week is I think there's nine teams that are
at least five hundred or better in the NFC. But
this is the month usually where you start to see
some separation. Detroit Sivy's got road games in Washington and Philly,
gonna have Green Bay on Thanksgiving at the end of
the month. Is this kind of where we see the
(12:28):
team separate themselves in November.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I think so the real teams will rise to the top,
the pretenders will fall to the bottom. I think that's
just how it works when you get to those later
months in the season, and again, depth will be tested,
like injuries are starting to pile up around the league.
So I think the teams that are equipped with the
rosters and the talent and just the belief in themselves.
I guess in a team like the Signs team that
just has so much trust from top to bottom, I
think those teams tend to rise when you get later
(12:52):
in the season. So I do think this is probably
a big month for separation.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
All right, let's finish with this one great division matchup Sunday.
What's what's the matchup you'll be watching the most. What's
the one you're you're eager to see?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, I mean going back to last year, that that
Week eighteen finale, that was a lot of fun between
a Meek Robertson and Justin Jefferson, So those.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Guys high school. Yeah. I had a meet on the
podcast a couple of weeks ago, and he was talking
about like going and doing Nike Camps against Justin Jefferson
and and do an LSU camp against and they go
back along ways and that was one of the more
underrated performances last year. It was awesome. Eighteen and Terry
(13:34):
and Arnold is back. But I would probably think it's
going to be a meek over there, given what he
did last year, and that's going to be a justin Jefferson.
It's very motivated too, right Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I mean again, Vikings backs are against the wall. But
a meek I mean man, he's he's he's a dog
man when that mentality comes out when the lights come on, uh,
he rides to the occasion. So that's a matchup. Definitely
interested in watching well.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It should be a fun matchups on a division rival.
As November breaks and these teams try to separate themselves lines,
we'll be looking for two in a row. Get that
record at six and two. And among the NFC leaders,
he is Colton Poundcy does a great job with the
athletic You can check everything out from him there and
we'll be right back with i'mine Ross Saint Brown. Welcome
(14:18):
back to the twenty Mahaddle podcast. The Man next to Me.
It's a little introduction. He is I'm on Ross Saint Brown,
the All Pro wide receiver, one of the best wide
receivers in the league. I'm on Roth, thanks for taking
the time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You have me.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I always love when you come on once a year here.
First off, happy blated birthday twenty six and you spent
that last week. I thought it was really cool your
first Red Wings game. How was that experience?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It was good, it was fun. It was my first
hockey game ever. So I've heard a lot of stories
about you got to go to hockey game, it's unlike
any other sport. I was like, all right, I'll try it.
So I told I told Ellie, I want to go
to a hockey game this year, right Wings game particularly,
And they set it up. And the first thing I
know is when I got there, was like it was
pretty chilling. And I didn't know it gets that cold
and hockey and so I had a jacking on with luckily,
(15:03):
but it was it was cold inside. They got they
got me hooked up with a jersey and everything and
got to pull the horn watch the game. It was
it was fun.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You get you get a more appreciation for how fast
that game moves when you go and watch it live
firs on TV, don't you.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah? I mean I don't even know they subed like
every like during the game.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Like, yeah, your shift is like forty five sacks because
it's so intense and you're skating so hard. I didn't
know that new appreciation for those guys for sure. All right,
another little birdie told me you were a big Halloween guy.
And since it is Halloween week, two questions? What are
you going as this week? Is it? Are you in Brooklyn?
You get you a couple.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I'm gonna be a werewolf and she's gonna be a
little red riding.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I think it's okay.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah and yeah, and we got a little little team party,
so that should be It should be fun.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
What's the best Halloween costume you ever had?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I would say the one I was most excited about.
I remember I was a kid. It was a power Ranger.
I was you know, I couldn't wait it on. It
was a blue part Ranger. Okay, yeah, I couldn't wait
to get it. I remember I put I got it
at Target. I put it on as soon as we
got out of Target. I was running to the car
and I just slipped and fell out of my face.
But that was one of my favorite costumes in last year.
(16:14):
I got the face paint done and all with Chuck
you I was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
What is it about Halloween that's always been a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I think it's a time to have fun, dress up,
you know, wear something out of the ordinary, and just
you know, celebrate, just have a good time.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
What about those black unis?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
It looks so good to day night.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, that looks nice.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Where you're at team wise five and two. You got
a chance to kind of reset after the by How
important is that bye for you guys, especially where it
landed middle of the week. We talked to players and
coaches all the time in the middle of the year,
I should say, and they say, you want that right
in the middle of the season. You guys have been
unfortunate to have some early season ones. How perfect was
the timing of this and just how refreshed do you
(16:56):
feel it's good to kind of reset the body for
a little bit?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yea, I think we feel great. Like you said, I
feel like the past few years has been a little
earlier in the year, so it's nice to have it
at this point in the season, just because for like
you know, some guys are beat up. Get some time
to rest, recover, get back, get some time away from football,
whether it's with your families, with your friends, whatever it is.
Take your mind off before we get on this you
know next stretch where you got We got like four games,
(17:22):
and we got a Thanksgiving game, then we got Cowboys
right after that, so we got a lot of games
back to back. We got a Christmas game coming up,
so a lot of time that you spend with family.
Usually sometimes we don't get to spend because we have games.
So during this by, that was a perfect time. And
you know, get that all that out the way and
then just really, you know, get back to ball and
and get on this last you know home stretch.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Was it a chill by for you? Did you get away?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah? It was pretty cool. My girl through you know,
it was my birthday last Friday, so my girl threw
me a surprise and me and like twenty of my
friends and you know, their girlfriends and wives and whatnot,
we went to Vegas.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And oh nice.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, we had a blast. So it was fun.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's awesome. All right. I'm gonna know you're seventh right
now in receptions with fifty I think you're ninth in
the NFL in yards, first in touchdowns. Do you feel
like you're having one of your your better seasons? I mean,
statistically you are, and we know where you end up
every year, but it just seems like from from some
of the big catches, the big performances, it seems like
(18:19):
you're on the top of your game right now.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know, I would like to think so. I just
feel like this league there's so many guys, there's so
many good players, so many good receivers, and honestly, it's
like every year there's a feel like there's a couple
receivers that maybe you didn't think of there before that
are you know, in the top five categories and stuff.
So that's something I feel like. This sport is so
(18:42):
amazing because no matter what you've done the year before,
you got to prove it each and every year. And
there's teams that are good the year before that aren't
good you know this year. There's teams that were good
last year that are still good. I mean, there's so
much parody in the NFL that even as a player,
you gotta, you know, make sure you prepare each and
every week throughout the offseason because each and every week.
(19:03):
I mean, guys are teams are game planning. If you
have a good week the week before, they're gonna do everything.
They kin'd of stop you that next week. So it
just gets harder and harder the better you play, and
so you know, you respect the guys that can do
it each and every week. And that's always been my
thing since I've been here, is I want to be consistent.
I want to be able to produce each and every year,
each and every week and help my team win.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
And that's huge you because I think the receiver position
may be more than any other position. You're seeing guys
step in and have an impact early in their careers
at Buko, who you saw a couple of weeks ago,
is a perfect example to your point. If you want
to stay up in the upper echelon of a receiver
that consistently is so huge, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
That's huge? I mean you look at a guy like
Justin Jefferson. He does it. I mean each and every year,
each and every week, he's whether the team's winning or not,
feel like he's going out there and competing and he's
putting up your ards, he's moving the chains, he's scoring touchdowns,
Jamar Chase, Mike Evans. I mean, guys, I've been doing
it for so long. It's that consistency. I think that
(20:01):
really separates them. They do it each and every year,
and so you know, for me, that's something I like to,
you know, think myself at I want to, you know,
continue to be consistent and be there for my teammates
and most importantly win games. I think that's the biggest
thing we've been doing that. We've We've been doing a
pretty good job with that here in Detroit for the
past couple of years. So as long as we're winning, man,
(20:21):
I think everything else is going to take care of itself.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You're in that group though, of guys that you just mentioned.
I hope you know it was funny. I listened to
an interview with Kevin O'Connor the Minnesota Vikings said, coach,
you guys play on Sunday, and he said the exact
same thing. He's He was just like the consistency of
that guy just every week. When you hear that from
outside people, that that's got to make you smile because
that's what you were talking about, right, That's what you
want to be. That guy's one hundred catches. You guys
(20:45):
win football games every year and you're a big part
of that.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
I think, you know, the player can be as consistent
as he wants, and you're gonna respect a player that's,
you know, putting up numbers stats playing well on Sundays.
But I think when you add you know, the team winning,
it's a whole nother factor. I mean, you remember guys
from teams that win and that are playing well, So
that's the biggest thing. I think winning cures everything. Winning
heals everything. And a team that's winning, I mean you're
(21:10):
gonna look at their players and be like, their players
are the other players that aren't winning, teams aren't winning.
So for us, you know, I think our team is
super unselfish. The guys that we have in our locker
room on our team, all we want to do is win.
No matter who's catching the ball, who's scoring the touchdowns.
We want to help, you know, whoever we can to
get open block and I think that's what makes us
(21:30):
so special. And so for us, it's like whatever we
got to do each and every week to win is
what we're gonna try to do.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, the celebration with with with Gibbs the Superman Spider
Man one. How did that one come about? And have
you seen the shirts and some of the stuff. Do
you own a shirt yet? Because I thought it was
the coolest thing. Jeff our photographer, I think, got a
great shot of it. Do you collect those things like
(21:55):
the photos, the shirts, all that kind of fun stuff
that comes from you guys in the fun times you
have once you guys get in the in zone.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, I think so that that celebration actually came from
Jamire was his idea. Okay, he he brought it up
to me like two two three weeks ago. I think
it was maybe Bengals week or maybe even the week before.
But you know, I didn't score those two weeks. Jamier
scored I think one of those weeks, but he ended
up doing He had another celebration of mind that he
wanted to do, so he did that and so whenever
(22:24):
really got off, and I told, you know, I told Jimmy,
I reminded him money, and I said, if I scored,
I'm gonna do the six seven because it was my
six touchdowns. I had six touchdowns and I was my seven.
So I told Jimy, if I scored first I'm gonna
do that. But if I scored second one, we're gonna
do that celebration, I said. And if you score, we're
gonna do it right away. And so Jimmy's let's do it.
And so I scored the first one. I did the
six seven, and then you know, Jamier scored after that,
(22:47):
and I was like, I was running down because I
knew it was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Of course he had to run seventy Yeah, the celebration.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I'm chasing him down. I'm like, here we go. And
so we got the celebration. I knew the picture of
regret it was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's a perfect shot.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and so it actually just came out with my
own shirt too, of a low design too.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Really.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, of that, you know that touchdown we had.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I have where can people get it?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
They can get it on Saint brownshop dot com. It's
a link is in my Instagram bio. But yeah, I
mean I have pictures on my phone. I wouldn'tay I
collect like, you know, memorabilia, but have all the pictures
on my phone. Yeah, celebration in the videos and stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
You guys take that seriously. Yeah, I mean you like it,
which I think.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It makes it fun. I feel like for me as
a kid growing up, I always wanted to celebrate when
I scored. Like I watched the NFL. I see Chad,
I see Deshaun Jackson. I see all these guys celebrating
when they score. And when I was a kid, I
was a pop one or they threw a flag for anything,
you can't celebration. I was like, oh, this is kind
of boring. Got to high school, couldn't you know celebrating,
I was like, it's still boring. College. I feel like
now in college, I celebrate more than they did when
(23:47):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Getting a little better, right, Yeah, But when.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I was in college, it was like, you can't really
celebrate either as a flag. So I told myself, when
I get to the league and I scored, like, I'm
gonna make sure I have fun, Like I always want
to celebrate the end zone and do cool stuff and
funny stuff. And so now that I'm here, I mean,
we go so hard throughout the week. We're hitting each
other during the play, we're taking hits. So when we score,
as the time for eight, one.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Not far and you guys certainly do a couple more.
For you, I'm a ra look. Offensively, you guys are
the third in scoring, your eighth in total offense. But
I talked to a lot of guys on offense, and
you guys collectively feel like there's more left on the table, don't. Yeah,
I mean that you guys haven't even reached your heights.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Third down is an erie. Dan Campbell talked about this week.
You're at thirty seven percent. I think last year around
forty seven. That's just kind of one statistically that that
that stands out. But do you guys feel like there's
still a lot more on the bone offensively?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
So I think there's a lot more I think just
execution wise as an offense, I think we can be,
you know, a lot better. Third down is one of
the we know, one of those points that you know
we got to be better at and we will be.
But I think just in general, I think we've been
taking care of the ball pretty well. But other than that,
you know, third down, red zonef like we've gotten stopping
(24:58):
the reds one a few times and we get there.
We want to be one hundred percent with touchdowns, you know, No.
Three and now it's obviously that's big. Getting that first
first down then just being explosive. I think that's the
biggest thing. We want to be an explosive offense. I
mean those eighteen play drives, they're cool to have every
once in a while, but you'd rather not be out
there for eighteen plays because.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You'd rather be running chasing behind seven seven.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Y everyone's side, especially a line man. So just being explosive,
being you know, executing good communication. No you know, no penalties,
no negative plays, and I think you know, I think
we'll be just wind steered.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Playing at a you know, an all pro at an
MVP caliber level. I mean, second in completion percentage, second
in passer rating. I think he's third in touchdowns. Obviously
had to buy so he's going to be behind a
little bit for some of those guys that have played
eight games. Is that connection between you and him is
is so good and you guys have worked so hard
at it now it seems to be really paying off.
(25:54):
He's having a terrific year. You think he's in that
conversation for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I think he's I mean with the he's and plays,
so he's top in the league in my in my eyes,
the way he you know, his time and his ball placement,
his command the offense, him taking care of the football,
I mean, winning games, just everything that he's done this year,
even last year. Just since he's been here, I feel
(26:18):
like he's only gotten better each and every year. And
I think for us, I mean, he's without him, I
don't know what offense would look like. So we're we're
lucky to have him. He's he's won the best in
this league and as long as he's here. And for us,
I know, you know, I love for him to win
m v P when all those you know, all the
(26:38):
awards that he can. But I know the biggest thing
that he wants to do is when the super Bowl,
and that's I think what we all want to do.
And so that's the biggest thing is we just got
to keep you know, keep winning games and all the rest,
all the rest will come.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Congratulations on the podcast, by the way, yeah, you and
you'll probably really do a good job with that. Who's
been the favorite guest so far this year?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's a good question. You know, we just had we
just had Michael Pittman on yesterday, so that's gonna come
out this week. I would say favorite guest this year.
I love having my dad on every year we do it.
I feel like we do him once a year.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yeah, he's fun. Demo and Jamiir I mean I think
Demo is.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I had Demo on a couple of weeks ago. On
this one, Demo he's games on you.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You haven't, No, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
He's been dodging me.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Really.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, we got to say something.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
We gotta get him on. I love Demo. I mean,
I love Jamiir too, but Demo is just you know,
he cracks me.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He just he's a jokester, the driest humor ever, like
you don't see covid.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I think the podcast great. So you can catch that.
You can catch him catching ball's Sunday against the Minnesota
Vikings at Ford Field. I'm on Ross Saint Brown, keep
this sing rolling. Appreciate you taking the time, Thank you.
Welcome back to the Twin Huddle podcast. I am now
joined by Kevin Seaffert. Does a great job covering the
Minnesota Vikings and the league for ESPN. Kevin's been doing
(28:03):
it at a high, high level for a long long time.
So you need any Minnesota Vikings information, he is your guy, Kevin.
Thanks for joining me. I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Thanks for having Tim.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
All Right, well let's talk about this one first off,
A little bit different situation we've been so used to
last couple of years. These two teams fighting right down
to the end of the year, terrific records, this meaning
the division championship. And this is a Minnesota Vikings team
that sits at three and four coming into this one,
(28:32):
just lost to the Chargers. I believe last week thirty
seven to ten, not their best outing. They said a
three and four. I don't want to say desperation in
week nine, Kevin, but do you get a sense that
this is kind of leaning toward that that must win
With nine teams in the NFC currently at five hundred
or better, yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Think a lot of their games are gonna be must wins.
If you look at their strength of schedule really starting
this week, moving to the end of the year, it's
the most difficult in the NFL according to ESPN's FPI
Football Power Index. And so whether it's playing the Lions twice,
whether it's playing the Packers twice, some of it has
to do with the division. They also play Baltimore with
(29:15):
Lamar Jackson probably coming back, and so the Vikings have
gotten themselves in this position where there's they're gonna be
up against it pretty much every week starting this week,
but it's gonna be the case for the remainder of
the season.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I think, do you think JJ McCarthy can give them
a spark? What did you like about the first two
weeks there with him under center? Kevin O'Connell. Obviously, it
is a guy that that's kind of been the quarterback
whisper the last few years. Gonna get JJ back? Is
that a good thing from Minnesota? What'd you like about
him early in the season.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Well, you know, and people in your area know this
from his time at University of Michigan. I mean, he's
got some spunk to him now. Like that first game,
the opening game of the season for the Vikings on
Monday night and Cago like, he didn't play that great,
The whole team didn't play that great in the first
three quarters, and then he just leads this furious comeback
where he throws two touchdown passes, he runs for a
(30:09):
third off, a read option of all things that really
hasn't been in the Vikings playbook. And we saw that moxie,
We saw why he almost always wins as a starter
going back to high school. I think when the season began,
his teams going back to high school were like sixty
four and three and so like whether and obviously it's
not just because of him, but there's something to be
said when you play over that period of time, your
(30:31):
teams are always winning. And so we absolutely saw that competitiveness,
the ability to kind of raise things to the level
that's necessary. But following week it was it was again
pretty bad, and then he heard his ankle, and so
we really haven't seen a whole lot of him. I mean,
I think he's played ninety five snaps, he's thrown maybe
(30:52):
thirty forty passes, tops didn't play at all last year,
obviously didn't even practice in the regular season because he
was not on IR the whole time, and then he
really hasn't practiced here for most of the past six weeks.
So we really haven't seen a ton of them. But
in terms of the things that I liked, I think
that's that's the number one thing. And I think just
(31:13):
in terms of his competitiveness and the rest of it
is it appears like he is a twenty two year
old trying to play NFL quarterback without a whole lot
of experience in college throwing the ball, and without a
whole lot of practice time, and so he's just he
needs to play and that's that's the bottom line with him.
(31:34):
And so there's going to be some development in real
time going on here for the remainder of the season.
And that's just the position they're in with him.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You know, Kevin looking at some of the statistics league
into this one. You talk about what Kevin or what
JJ McCarthy did have in college that was run game
at Michigan, and they did that a ton. Really uncharacteristic
seeing this Minnesota offense. I think of thirty four yards
rushing last week, the lowest in the league this year.
I think they ranked thirtieth, correct me if I'm wrong
(32:03):
in rushing going in the season. Really uncharacteristic. That's something
with JJ coming back and the inexperience you talked about,
that's got to get better for them, doesn't it. They've
got to support JJ a little bit better with that
run game.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
You would have to hope. So Aaron Jones, who started
the year as their starting tailback, got hurt his hamstring
in the second week and he hasn't been. He just
got back last Thursday, so he missed four games and
so he's now back and that should help. Jordan Mason
actually has been a pretty good addition.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
From San Francisco. I mean, he's.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
A hard nosed runner, you know, a lot of yards
after contact. They've just had They've had a lot of
offensive line issues, a lot of injuries. First and foremost,
Christian Darisol has not always been able to finish games
because of his recovery from that ACL MCL he had
last year. Ryan O'Neill has been in and out of
the lineup because of a sprained MCL. They lost their center,
(32:55):
Ryan Kelly. He's had two concussions already this year and
now he's on IR and they they're using a converted
guard in Blake Brandell at center. And so there hasn't
always been you know, certainly not the ideal situation at
offensive line in some cases just a really leaky one.
And so that's a little bit of the of the
running game issues. And the other part is, you know,
(33:15):
you mentioned Kevin O'Connell earlier, and he has done great
things in the passing game, and that's kind of his
philosophy and you know, I think he would have to
make a significant turn in terms of like just committing
to the run from a play calling perspective, from a
game planning perspective, from a scheme perspective for it to
make a sort of a material difference here. And it's
(33:36):
probably what they're gonna need. I mean, if they're going
to ask JJ McCarthy to do the same thing that
they were asking Carson Wentz to do here in the
past five games, where they asked Sam Darnold to do
last year or Kirk Cousins before that, then that's going
to only add to the level of difficulty that they're
already asking of him.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Ken, what do you think is a key matchup for
Minnesota heading into this game Sunday? They go in Detroit
upset the Lions get back to five hundred if they
do what really well Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Well, it's not dissimilar from some other times and other
opponents against the Lions, But the past few games the
Vikings have been really had a hard time against the run.
Their run defense has just been really bad. Their pass
rush has not been able to get through either, and
so there's been a lot of time for people to
get open, but against the Lions, and this has been
(34:26):
the case in several of their matchups. Like if they're
not able to stop the run against the Lions, which
they haven't been able to do here in the past
few games, then they're going to be in for a
long day. And so I think that's the first matchup
I'll look at is if their interior. You know, they
went out and signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to
be new defensive tackles for them. Those guys have had
(34:47):
kind of mixed results, and they've been using a lot
of younger players to mix in there. A guy named
Jalen Redman has actually been a fine He was in
the XFL a few years ago and now he's here
in the NFL. But for the most part, they've struggled
to to stop teams from running the ball, especially when
they're not ahead. I mean that that's the other part
of their defenses. Last year they led the league and
(35:08):
plays defensively when they have the lead, and there's certain
ways you can play when you have the lead that
you can't win you're trailing or tied, and so they
haven't had that nearly as much either. But the first
thing I'll be looking at is to see if the
Vikings can stop the Lions running game. If they can't
do that, it's hard to imagine that anything else will
will be successful for them.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yeah, because you know, then they get into some situations
where they get teams behind the sticks. They're so good
obviously lead the league with im blitz percentage of forty
two percent. They can get after the quarterback. But in
order to do that, Kevin, we both know you got
to stop the run first so you can get into
those favorable situations. That's what they want to do, right.
They want to get you in second long and third
and long. They want to double a gap blitz look
(35:49):
and they want to come after you. And but they've
got to get to that point, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
And the other part against the Lions at least is
they you know, they when they're in those situations, they
like to try to create you know, whether it's dropping
out of the last second or they're gonna blitz. They're
not gonna blitz Harrison Smith's on the line now, he's
dropping back into a cover two or something. And so
they like to try to confuse the quarterback essentially, and
Jared Goff has not been one who's been susceptible to that.
(36:14):
He's seen it before. He's a veteran guy and a
smart quarterback, as you know, and it definitely works on
some of the younger quarterbacks that you face. But that's
been something that they've also not had as much success
against with the Lion again when they play the Lions
as some other teams. Is that I think Jared Goff
is way above the curve in terms of figuring out
(36:36):
some of those mental games that the Vikings defense plays.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
To your point, one hundred and twenty eight is golf's
passer rating this year when he's blitzed so good point
by you. He's great at identifying it, seeing it and
getting the ball out of his hands. And that young
offensive line in Detroit's playing pretty well to what's maybe
a key matchup we talked about the run game. Is
(37:01):
there maybe an individual matchup?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I know last year that Week eighteen game Meek Robertson
versus Justin Jefferson was such a terrific matchup for Detroit.
They had to get that performance from a Meek and
and they did. Those two will probably see each other
again this week with with DJ Reid not expected to
be back this week for the Lions, is there one
that jumps out to you maybe that that's important?
Speaker 4 (37:26):
You know, I would say, you know, whether you know,
whether you want to say Kelvin Shepard or whoever, like
is sort of coming up with the defensive scheme, you know,
when you have a young quarterback like JJ McCarthy, I mean,
they're they're trying to find ways to give him easy
throws and easy answers against whatever the Lions do. But
the Lions, you know, this is not their first rodeo
(37:46):
against the young quarterback, and they'll have a lot of
things up their sleeve as well. So how much you know,
because JJ hasn't played and like you know, we're looking
at almost seven weeks now, and so he's just in
terms of like getting into the rhythm and timing of
the NFL speed of the game, like all that is
like kind of back.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
To square one.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
And so there are a lot of things that I
could foresee the Lions trying and maybe succeeding at when
they're facing a quarterback with the inexperienced level of JJ McCarthy.
And so from an offensive perspective, you know how much
is McCarthy going to be able to sort of sift
through that and get the vikings to where they need
to be. And not only like mentally, because I do
(38:24):
think he's pretty good. He knows the offense, and I
think he's pretty good at reading defenses, but there just
hasn't been a lot of opportunities for him to quickly
process that into action, and so he's been laid on
some throws. He's been, you know, a little hesitant to
make to make the decision until the receiver pops open,
and sometimes that's too late in terms of the timing
(38:44):
of this offense. So I'll be interested to see, like
the extent to which the Lions try to attack JJ McCarthy,
they just sit back and wait for him to take
the safe plays or will they try to take even
take those away and see if he makes a mistake
looking elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
It should be a fun matchup. Injury wise, Minnesota is
pretty good shape. Anything of concern heading in.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
You know, they're getting healthier. You know, I think they
expect both of those tackles that I talked about, Christian
darasan Brian O'Neil to be able to play the one
The one injury issue that we're still tracking is Andrew
Van Ginkel, who's been a really successful, you know, pass
rusher and just all around defensive player for them last
year and really hasn't played a whole lot this year
because of my neck injury, and he's not on injury reserve,
(39:28):
he's going through practice on a limited basis. That's one
that that may or may not be able to get
to fruition in time, but he's the guy to keep
an eye.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
On this week.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Perfect Kevin, appreciate you, as always do such a great
job covering everything Minnesota, vikings for ESPN and safe travels
up to Detroit. We'll see you on Sunday, my friend,
Hey
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Tim, thank you,
Jared with five of the play clock, takes the ball back,
looking throwing middle of his car. I'm going around Saint Brown.
He's gone baby ten five end zone touchdown. Detroit Lions
up to Saint Brown's twenty seven yards in the Lions
strike car. It is week nine of the NFL season.
That's crazy. I cannot believe it. But I am Tim
(00:22):
twenty and this is twenty in the Huddle podcast and
this week I am joined by Colton Pouncy does a
great job with the Athletic. Had a great piece in September,
got with all the Lions management about a pack they
made and kind of have stuck to that. Most recently
did a breakdown of Calvin Shepherd and John Morton stuff,
so you can check out all his stuff on The Athletic.
(00:43):
Also does the Lion's Collective podcast. So you got a
lot going on.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, it's been a busy season, but it's always a
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Bye week. Did you get a chance to get away
a little bit? We always talk about the players and
coaches needing a little time, but the beat guys sometimes
need a little reset and rest. Dude, did you get
away at all? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's important to us too. I did get away. I
went to Chicago. I grew up like Chicago suburbs, so
I got to see my family. My parents are out there,
a lot of friends. One of my best friends just
had a baby a month ago, so I got the
right there. So it was a good time, nice and relaxing.
Cubs are white, SOX, I'm a Cubs guy, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
My dad grew up on the North Side, so I'm
a Cobby guy too, so that that makes my heart
feel good that you were a Cubs guy.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
All right.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Let's look back to Tampa Bay real quick. What jumped
out about that game to you? Positive?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Negative?
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Obviously it was a great win, probably more positive, but
what was what did you come out of that game
kind of liking about this this team heading into the.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
By Yeah, I think going into that one, you know
you're looking at the depth chart, especially in the secondary,
and you're like, oh man, this could be a little rough, right,
Like Tampa Bay has some really good receivers, you know,
Mike Evans and Abuka were playing in that one, and
you saw the line secondary with the injuries and Bryan
Branchin suspended and whatnot. So I think going into that
You're just like, Okay, this could be a little bit
of a toss up, you know, maybe a you know,
(02:00):
we see the lines bounce back so often from losses,
but this one just based on the injuries and whatnot,
and secondary you're a little bit more like, Okay, let's
see how it plays out. But to see those guys
out there dominating the way they did, you know, shutting
down the past game, uh the legion of whom as
they're calling it now, which maybe a little bit disrespectable,
but I kind of liked it. I think it fits
the mentality out there.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So I think those guys have embraced that. Let's good too.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
But I mean they got it done, man, and a
lot of people probably doubted, you know, el Baker's gonna
throw for three hundred and whatnot, but they really stepped
up to the plate when when called upon. And that's
when Kelvin Sheppard kind of told us, you know, the
week leading into that game, like you hear this overnight celebrity,
overnight success, all these stories, but really that was just
the night you learned about those guys. This is what
he told us. So you know, all those guys out
(02:46):
out there, Nick white Side you know, Thomas Harper, those
guys that were getting done secondary really stood out to me.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Next man up, right, And I think that was a
game that that you know, you can say it, but
they lived it. And I think that's so huge for
this team moving forward that they now know that they've
got some guys if needed to and we know how
it went last year at the end of the year
they were needing guys to step up, and that they've
got guys that are experienced now that can do it
and guys they trust. I think that's huge for your
(03:12):
football team.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely. I think that trust goes a long way with
this coaching staff. As long as you can go out
there and execute when called upon, they don't need you
to be a star. They have stars, and we saw
those stars step up in that game. Aiden Hudgson had
twelve pressures and when the pass rush and the coverage
are working together like that, you can have a pretty
good day. So I do think that trust goes a
long way, and those guys definitely earn the trust of
the stuff.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
All right.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Coming out of the bye week, one thing, first seven
games lines are five and two. What's one thing that's
impressed you about the start with them.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I just think this group is so confident in
who they are. And you know, there's a lot of talk,
you know, coming into the season, like you got a
couple of new coordinators, you know, Frank grag now retired,
like is it going to look different? Are they going
to take a step back? And you know, I think
most of us that cover the team probably didn't believe
that narrative out there, but there was a lot of
that out there. But I just think this group is
so mentally strong, and you can see it because of
(03:59):
just how they've been built over the years. They draft
and developed these guys for a reason. They bring these
guys in because they're mentally tough, and you know, they're
not worried about outside narratives. So you know, a lot
of teams might crumble with some of those expectations or
the loss of you know, so much coaching talent and
one off season. But I think the way these guys
are wired, it's like, well, no, of course we're going
to be just fine because this is what we do.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So I think that's kind of where my mind goes
in a more broad landscape. But you know, I've been
really impressed with Jamier Gibbs the season he's been putting
together so far, and he saw it on that Monday
Night game, two hundred and eighteen yards of scrimmage. He
was awesome. Hutch coming back to form the way he
has probably not surprise to a lot of us, but
there were some questions out there.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
You know, you had to see it. You had to
see it.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
For sure, and he's been amazing, so uh, just a
lot of the same, you know, this is just the
standard that they've they've kind of showed over the years.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I love that clip of Gibbs laughing as he's going
and how many guys would do that. I would be laughing.
I just and it just shows the kind of mindset
that how these guys love to have fun. But the
confidence too, like he knew he was gone, Like he
was laughing as soon as he hit that angle, he
was gone. I love that about this football team. For me,
it's the depth. You know, we talked about a little
bit off the top. I think they've dealt with some injuries,
(05:10):
you know, early on this season, not to the extent
they did last year. But Monday Night showed the depth
that this football team has and that's so huge. It
caught up with them at the end of last year
and certainly in that playoff loss. I think that's one
thing I take from these first seven games is you've
had different guys step in a lot of different spots
and they've gotten pretty good production out of it. And
(05:32):
I think that's huge for this football team moving forward,
especially after what they went through last year, to know
that they've got some guys that can step in and play,
and this is a deep roster with sixty nine guys
they feel pretty comfortable with. I think that's been huge
through the first seven games. All Right, what's one thing
coming out of the buy you maybe want to see,
you know, a little bit more consistency with something they
(05:53):
need to improve.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah, you know, it's hard to nitpick an offense. That's
what third in the league scoring, averaging thirty plus a game.
But there are some instances, and it's been talked about
a lot this week, just third down conversions. That's kind
of been the big story and Dan Campbell talked about
it yesterday. Really third and medium, third and long is
kind of where they struggled. I believe they're seven of
thirty six on third and long, this year, which is
(06:14):
not great, but I'm sure they spent a lot of
time at during the by kind of self scouting and
finding ways to correct it. It might just be one
thing here and there per play you can look at like, oh, man,
if Jared had an extra half second on this row,
that's probably first down or even a touchdown. You know,
little things like that that can really affect everything that
happens on a play if it's just one thing. So
that's probably one thing I'm looking at. And then offensively,
(06:37):
you know, Jameson Williams, I would say getting him the
ball more consistently because he's a talented player and they
paid him and kept him here for a reason. And
I think the little things he does, which is like
you know, stretching the defense and you know, creating those
opportunities for Saint and Sam Laporte over the middle, that's
always going to be a part of this offense as
long as he's out in the field. But just finding
more ways to get him involved in the passing games
probably what I'd be looking at.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, those are two good ones. The third down one
is really interesting to me because they were forty seven
point six percent last year. I think it was third
best in the league. I mean they were converting almost
half the time on third down, Well, Colton, that leads
to more plays, that leads to maybe ten more opportunities
to get Jamison Williams the football. You know what I'm saying.
They're at thirty seven point six percent. I think that's
(07:18):
ring twenty first in the league. That's just not the
standard that we're used to here. So that third down one,
I'm glad you brought that up because that's a huge
one for me. I just think it's gonna make everything
better offensively. They can get that number closer to forty
five percent, I guess where you kind of want to
be your top ten in the league at that point.
I think that's gonna be huge, not only for getting
(07:38):
more plays, getting more guys involved, but just continuing drives.
I think last year they had twenty five three and
out drives on offense the entire year. They've got sixteen
through seven games, and so again, it's it's converting that
third down, continuing that drive. I think that's the one
thing I certainly want to see them prove on offensively.
We'll talk to Jered Goff this week. It'll be interesting
(08:00):
to see kind of what his take is on those
third downs. Do it seems self correctable? At least that's
what Dan Campbell said, So you hope that's the deal
going forward? All right? What concerned you the most about
the Minnesota Vikings. Something tells me maybe number eighteen is
involved in this, or look, when you're scouting this team.
What concerns about a three to four Minnesota team that
(08:22):
is coming off a tough loss and really needs to
kick this thing, you know around, if they're going to
compete in the NFC. Maybe a little desperation even this
early in the season.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, I think you just said it there. I mean
there's a dangerous thing about a desperate team. Yeah, and
when their backs are against the wall. And I think
Kevin O'Connell is a tremendous coach, and you know, there's
a reason the Bikings have been pretty successful under his watch,
and he gets guys to buy in and play for him,
and even when things look rough, you know, they tend
to kind of dig deep and find themselves in those moments.
So I would not overlook this Vikings team in terms
(08:50):
of personnel. I definitely think it starts with justin Jefferson.
He strikes spear into a lot of defensive coordinators. I'm
sure she will give us a line later in the week.
Like I'm losing sleep trying to think about ways the
number eighteen out there, So they're gonna get j McCarthy back.
It sounds like and I liked him a lot coming
out of Michigan. I still believe in him. I know
it's been kind of rough early in his career, the
injury whatnot, but I think he's got a lot of talent,
(09:11):
so I would not overlook the Vikings.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Lions get the sixth straight win over the Vikings if
they do what Sunday night.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I think it starts with pressuring a young quarterback like JJ,
and the Vikings have not been great handling pressure. I
think they've allowed the eighth highest pressure rate among teams
this year, and I think the second or third highest
sack rate. So turning those pressures in the sacks, I
think that's gonna be a big thing for this game.
Hutch had twelve pressure in the last game, but no sacks.
I think he's probably gonna be able to peel back
(09:41):
and get after JJ in a game like this, So
if you can create pressure and you know, kind of
fluster young quarterback like JJ, I think you can have
success defensively. Offensively, just sustain those drives, get to the
red zone convert, which they've done a really good job
at this year in the red zone, turning those drives
into touchdowns.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
To your point about JJ McCarthy too, I think three
interceptions in his first two games and a loss fumble,
you know he's I view him kind of a gun
gun slinger a little bit. He wasn't that at Michigan
because it ran the ball so far. But now he
gets some weapons on the outside and he's got a
chance and obviously one of the great minds offensively in
Kevin O'Connell. But I think he'll put the ball at risk.
(10:16):
At least he showed that those first two weeks. He's
still young. I know it's a second year, but it
will only be his third start, and so I think
that's a good point by you if you can get
after him. Me too, I think a key there. You
look at their defense and they're gonna pressure you. You know,
they lead the league in blitz percentage at forty two percent.
They're gonna get after it. I think the one great
thing is Jared Goffi one twenty eight passer rating against
(10:37):
the Blitz this year Golden pro. I mean, he's been
pretty good. Not they can protect Jared. He's shown, you know,
the willingness in the ability to get the ball out
of his hands into weapons in space. And you put
Jamo and Saint Brown and the port of some of
those guys one on one, I think it's gonna be uh,
pretty good for the Lions. All right. I'm curious you're
(10:58):
opinion about this. The ESPN rankings came out this week
and they it's got the Colts number one, the Lions
number two, Philadelphia three, Buffalo four, Tampa Bay five, Kansas
City six, and Green Bay seven. Is that a little
high for Green Bay? Colton? Do you agree with kind
(11:20):
of the top five? They're Colts, Lions, Philly, Buffalo, Tampa
or does somebody else maybe deserve to kind of be
in that mix.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I think it's about right. I mean, if you're just
looking at records, what are they five to one and one? Now,
I mean, yeah, that's pretty good. It's hard to be
there are a lot of teams with a better record
than that. The tie game is kind of weird to me,
the Cowboys.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
It's tying the Cowboys and losing to Cleveland. Yeah, like
it's a weird. But then they've got some other really
good wins, obviously Detroit being one of those.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
They're pretty I feel like they're pretty in consistent. You
don't know which Green Bay team's gonna show up, where
a lot of those teams, maybe higher on that list,
are more consistent. You can know what you're gonna get
week to week. Chiefs are hitting their stride now. They
look like a great team, So I think for the
most ID agree with that. The Colts. I'm still not convinced.
I need to see a little bit more from the
Colts too, that's the only thing. But it's hard to
find another team to put them above right now.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You look at the NFC, and Dan talked about that
this week is I think there's nine teams that are
at least five hundred or better in the NFC. But
this is the month usually where you start to see
some separation. Detroit Sivy's got road games in Washington and Philly,
gonna have Green Bay on Thanksgiving at the end of
the month. Is this kind of where we see the
(12:28):
team separate themselves in November.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I think so the real teams will rise to the top,
the pretenders will fall to the bottom. I think that's
just how it works when you get to those later
months in the season, and again, depth will be tested,
like injuries are starting to pile up around the league.
So I think the teams that are equipped with the
rosters and the talent and just the belief in themselves.
I guess in a team like the Signs team that
just has so much trust from top to bottom, I
think those teams tend to rise when you get later
(12:52):
in the season. So I do think this is probably
a big month for separation.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
All right, let's finish with this one great division matchup Sunday.
What's what's the matchup you'll be watching the most. What's
the one you're you're eager to see?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, I mean going back to last year, that that
Week eighteen finale, that was a lot of fun between
a Meek Robertson and Justin Jefferson, So those.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Guys high school. Yeah. I had a meet on the
podcast a couple of weeks ago, and he was talking
about like going and doing Nike Camps against Justin Jefferson
and and do an LSU camp against and they go
back along ways and that was one of the more
underrated performances last year. It was awesome. Eighteen and Terry
(13:34):
and Arnold is back. But I would probably think it's
going to be a meek over there, given what he
did last year, and that's going to be a justin Jefferson.
It's very motivated too, right Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I mean again, Vikings backs are against the wall. But
a meek I mean man, he's he's he's a dog
man when that mentality comes out when the lights come on, uh,
he rides to the occasion. So that's a matchup. Definitely
interested in watching well.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
It should be a fun matchups on a division rival.
As November breaks and these teams try to separate themselves lines,
we'll be looking for two in a row. Get that
record at six and two. And among the NFC leaders,
he is Colton Poundcy does a great job with the
athletic You can check everything out from him there and
we'll be right back with i'mine Ross Saint Brown. Welcome
(14:18):
back to the twenty Mahaddle podcast. The Man next to Me.
It's a little introduction. He is I'm on Ross Saint Brown,
the All Pro wide receiver, one of the best wide
receivers in the league. I'm on Roth, thanks for taking
the time. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
You have me.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I always love when you come on once a year here.
First off, happy blated birthday twenty six and you spent
that last week. I thought it was really cool your
first Red Wings game. How was that experience?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It was good, it was fun. It was my first
hockey game ever. So I've heard a lot of stories
about you got to go to hockey game, it's unlike
any other sport. I was like, all right, I'll try it.
So I told I told Ellie, I want to go
to a hockey game this year, right Wings game particularly,
And they set it up. And the first thing I
know is when I got there, was like it was
pretty chilling. And I didn't know it gets that cold
and hockey and so I had a jacking on with luckily,
(15:03):
but it was it was cold inside. They got they
got me hooked up with a jersey and everything and
got to pull the horn watch the game. It was
it was fun.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
You get you get a more appreciation for how fast
that game moves when you go and watch it live
firs on TV, don't you.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yeah? I mean I don't even know they subed like
every like during the game.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Like, yeah, your shift is like forty five sacks because
it's so intense and you're skating so hard. I didn't
know that new appreciation for those guys for sure. All right,
another little birdie told me you were a big Halloween guy.
And since it is Halloween week, two questions? What are
you going as this week? Is it? Are you in Brooklyn?
You get you a couple.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I'm gonna be a werewolf and she's gonna be a
little red riding.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I think it's okay.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah and yeah, and we got a little little team party,
so that should be It should be fun.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
What's the best Halloween costume you ever had?
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I would say the one I was most excited about.
I remember I was a kid. It was a power Ranger.
I was you know, I couldn't wait it on. It
was a blue part Ranger. Okay, yeah, I couldn't wait
to get it. I remember I put I got it
at Target. I put it on as soon as we
got out of Target. I was running to the car
and I just slipped and fell out of my face.
But that was one of my favorite costumes in last year.
(16:14):
I got the face paint done and all with Chuck
you I was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
What is it about Halloween that's always been a thing?
Speaker 3 (16:19):
I think it's a time to have fun, dress up,
you know, wear something out of the ordinary, and just
you know, celebrate, just have a good time.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
What about those black unis?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I love them.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
It looks so good to day night.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, that looks nice.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Where you're at team wise five and two. You got
a chance to kind of reset after the by How
important is that bye for you guys, especially where it
landed middle of the week. We talked to players and
coaches all the time in the middle of the year,
I should say, and they say, you want that right
in the middle of the season. You guys have been
unfortunate to have some early season ones. How perfect was
the timing of this and just how refreshed do you
(16:56):
feel it's good to kind of reset the body for
a little bit?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yea, I think we feel great. Like you said, I
feel like the past few years has been a little
earlier in the year, so it's nice to have it
at this point in the season, just because for like
you know, some guys are beat up. Get some time
to rest, recover, get back, get some time away from football,
whether it's with your families, with your friends, whatever it is.
Take your mind off before we get on this you
know next stretch where you got We got like four games,
(17:22):
and we got a Thanksgiving game, then we got Cowboys
right after that, so we got a lot of games
back to back. We got a Christmas game coming up,
so a lot of time that you spend with family.
Usually sometimes we don't get to spend because we have games.
So during this by, that was a perfect time. And
you know, get that all that out the way and
then just really, you know, get back to ball and
and get on this last you know home stretch.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Was it a chill by for you? Did you get away?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah? It was pretty cool. My girl through you know,
it was my birthday last Friday, so my girl threw
me a surprise and me and like twenty of my
friends and you know, their girlfriends and wives and whatnot,
we went to Vegas.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And oh nice.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, we had a blast. So it was fun.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
That's awesome. All right. I'm gonna know you're seventh right
now in receptions with fifty I think you're ninth in
the NFL in yards, first in touchdowns. Do you feel
like you're having one of your your better seasons? I mean,
statistically you are, and we know where you end up
every year, but it just seems like from from some
of the big catches, the big performances, it seems like
(18:19):
you're on the top of your game right now.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You know, I would like to think so. I just
feel like this league there's so many guys, there's so
many good players, so many good receivers, and honestly, it's
like every year there's a feel like there's a couple
receivers that maybe you didn't think of there before that
are you know, in the top five categories and stuff.
So that's something I feel like. This sport is so
(18:42):
amazing because no matter what you've done the year before,
you got to prove it each and every year. And
there's teams that are good the year before that aren't
good you know this year. There's teams that were good
last year that are still good. I mean, there's so
much parody in the NFL that even as a player,
you gotta, you know, make sure you prepare each and
every week throughout the offseason because each and every week.
(19:03):
I mean, guys are teams are game planning. If you
have a good week the week before, they're gonna do everything.
They kin'd of stop you that next week. So it
just gets harder and harder the better you play, and
so you know, you respect the guys that can do
it each and every week. And that's always been my
thing since I've been here, is I want to be consistent.
I want to be able to produce each and every year,
each and every week and help my team win.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
And that's huge you because I think the receiver position
may be more than any other position. You're seeing guys
step in and have an impact early in their careers
at Buko, who you saw a couple of weeks ago,
is a perfect example to your point. If you want
to stay up in the upper echelon of a receiver
that consistently is so huge, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
That's huge? I mean you look at a guy like
Justin Jefferson. He does it. I mean each and every year,
each and every week, he's whether the team's winning or not,
feel like he's going out there and competing and he's
putting up your ards, he's moving the chains, he's scoring touchdowns,
Jamar Chase, Mike Evans. I mean, guys, I've been doing
it for so long. It's that consistency. I think that
(20:01):
really separates them. They do it each and every year,
and so you know, for me, that's something I like to,
you know, think myself at I want to, you know,
continue to be consistent and be there for my teammates
and most importantly win games. I think that's the biggest
thing we've been doing that. We've We've been doing a
pretty good job with that here in Detroit for the
past couple of years. So as long as we're winning, man,
(20:21):
I think everything else is going to take care of itself.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You're in that group though, of guys that you just mentioned.
I hope you know it was funny. I listened to
an interview with Kevin O'Connor the Minnesota Vikings said, coach,
you guys play on Sunday, and he said the exact
same thing. He's He was just like the consistency of
that guy just every week. When you hear that from
outside people, that that's got to make you smile because
that's what you were talking about, right, That's what you
want to be. That guy's one hundred catches. You guys
(20:45):
win football games every year and you're a big part
of that.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
I think, you know, the player can be as consistent
as he wants, and you're gonna respect a player that's,
you know, putting up numbers stats playing well on Sundays.
But I think when you add you know, the team winning,
it's a whole nother factor. I mean, you remember guys
from teams that win and that are playing well, So
that's the biggest thing. I think winning cures everything. Winning
heals everything. And a team that's winning, I mean you're
(21:10):
gonna look at their players and be like, their players
are the other players that aren't winning, teams aren't winning.
So for us, you know, I think our team is
super unselfish. The guys that we have in our locker
room on our team, all we want to do is win.
No matter who's catching the ball, who's scoring the touchdowns.
We want to help, you know, whoever we can to
get open block and I think that's what makes us
(21:30):
so special. And so for us, it's like whatever we
got to do each and every week to win is
what we're gonna try to do.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, the celebration with with with Gibbs the Superman Spider
Man one. How did that one come about? And have
you seen the shirts and some of the stuff. Do
you own a shirt yet? Because I thought it was
the coolest thing. Jeff our photographer, I think, got a
great shot of it. Do you collect those things like
(21:55):
the photos, the shirts, all that kind of fun stuff
that comes from you guys in the fun times you
have once you guys get in the in zone.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, I think so that that celebration actually came from
Jamire was his idea. Okay, he he brought it up
to me like two two three weeks ago. I think
it was maybe Bengals week or maybe even the week before.
But you know, I didn't score those two weeks. Jamier
scored I think one of those weeks, but he ended
up doing He had another celebration of mind that he
wanted to do, so he did that and so whenever
(22:24):
really got off, and I told, you know, I told Jimmy,
I reminded him money, and I said, if I scored,
I'm gonna do the six seven because it was my
six touchdowns. I had six touchdowns and I was my seven.
So I told Jimy, if I scored first I'm gonna
do that. But if I scored second one, we're gonna
do that celebration, I said. And if you score, we're
gonna do it right away. And so Jimmy's let's do it.
And so I scored the first one. I did the
six seven, and then you know, Jamier scored after that,
(22:47):
and I was like, I was running down because I
knew it was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Of course he had to run seventy Yeah, the celebration.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I'm chasing him down. I'm like, here we go. And
so we got the celebration. I knew the picture of
regret it was.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's a perfect shot.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and so it actually just came out with my
own shirt too, of a low design too.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Really.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, of that, you know that touchdown we had.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So I have where can people get it?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
They can get it on Saint brownshop dot com. It's
a link is in my Instagram bio. But yeah, I
mean I have pictures on my phone. I wouldn'tay I
collect like, you know, memorabilia, but have all the pictures
on my phone. Yeah, celebration in the videos and stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
You guys take that seriously. Yeah, I mean you like it,
which I think.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It makes it fun. I feel like for me as
a kid growing up, I always wanted to celebrate when
I scored. Like I watched the NFL. I see Chad,
I see Deshaun Jackson. I see all these guys celebrating
when they score. And when I was a kid, I
was a pop one or they threw a flag for anything,
you can't celebration. I was like, oh, this is kind
of boring. Got to high school, couldn't you know celebrating,
I was like, it's still boring. College. I feel like
now in college, I celebrate more than they did when
(23:47):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Getting a little better, right, Yeah, But when.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
I was in college, it was like, you can't really
celebrate either as a flag. So I told myself, when
I get to the league and I scored, like, I'm
gonna make sure I have fun, Like I always want
to celebrate the end zone and do cool stuff and
funny stuff. And so now that I'm here, I mean,
we go so hard throughout the week. We're hitting each
other during the play, we're taking hits. So when we score,
as the time for eight, one.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Not far and you guys certainly do a couple more.
For you, I'm a ra look. Offensively, you guys are
the third in scoring, your eighth in total offense. But
I talked to a lot of guys on offense, and
you guys collectively feel like there's more left on the table, don't. Yeah,
I mean that you guys haven't even reached your heights.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I know.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Third down is an erie. Dan Campbell talked about this week.
You're at thirty seven percent. I think last year around
forty seven. That's just kind of one statistically that that
that stands out. But do you guys feel like there's
still a lot more on the bone offensively?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
So I think there's a lot more I think just
execution wise as an offense, I think we can be,
you know, a lot better. Third down is one of
the we know, one of those points that you know
we got to be better at and we will be.
But I think just in general, I think we've been
taking care of the ball pretty well. But other than that,
you know, third down, red zonef like we've gotten stopping
(24:58):
the reds one a few times and we get there.
We want to be one hundred percent with touchdowns, you know, No.
Three and now it's obviously that's big. Getting that first
first down then just being explosive. I think that's the
biggest thing. We want to be an explosive offense. I
mean those eighteen play drives, they're cool to have every
once in a while, but you'd rather not be out
there for eighteen plays because.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
You'd rather be running chasing behind seven seven.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Y everyone's side, especially a line man. So just being explosive,
being you know, executing good communication. No you know, no penalties,
no negative plays, and I think you know, I think
we'll be just wind steered.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Playing at a you know, an all pro at an
MVP caliber level. I mean, second in completion percentage, second
in passer rating. I think he's third in touchdowns. Obviously
had to buy so he's going to be behind a
little bit for some of those guys that have played
eight games. Is that connection between you and him is
is so good and you guys have worked so hard
at it now it seems to be really paying off.
(25:54):
He's having a terrific year. You think he's in that
conversation for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
I think he's I mean with the he's and plays,
so he's top in the league in my in my eyes,
the way he you know, his time and his ball placement,
his command the offense, him taking care of the football,
I mean, winning games, just everything that he's done this year,
even last year. Just since he's been here, I feel
(26:18):
like he's only gotten better each and every year. And
I think for us, I mean, he's without him, I
don't know what offense would look like. So we're we're
lucky to have him. He's he's won the best in
this league and as long as he's here. And for us,
I know, you know, I love for him to win
m v P when all those you know, all the
(26:38):
awards that he can. But I know the biggest thing
that he wants to do is when the super Bowl,
and that's I think what we all want to do.
And so that's the biggest thing is we just got
to keep you know, keep winning games and all the rest,
all the rest will come.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Congratulations on the podcast, by the way, yeah, you and
you'll probably really do a good job with that. Who's
been the favorite guest so far this year?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's a good question. You know, we just had we
just had Michael Pittman on yesterday, so that's gonna come
out this week. I would say favorite guest this year.
I love having my dad on every year we do it.
I feel like we do him once a year.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Yeah, he's fun. Demo and Jamiir I mean I think
Demo is.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I had Demo on a couple of weeks ago. On
this one, Demo he's games on you.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You haven't, No, I haven't.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
He's been dodging me.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Really.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, we got to say something.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
We gotta get him on. I love Demo. I mean,
I love Jamiir too, but Demo is just you know,
he cracks me.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He just he's a jokester, the driest humor ever, like
you don't see covid.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I think the podcast great. So you can catch that.
You can catch him catching ball's Sunday against the Minnesota
Vikings at Ford Field. I'm on Ross Saint Brown, keep
this sing rolling. Appreciate you taking the time, Thank you.
Welcome back to the Twin Huddle podcast. I am now
joined by Kevin Seaffert. Does a great job covering the
Minnesota Vikings and the league for ESPN. Kevin's been doing
(28:03):
it at a high, high level for a long long time.
So you need any Minnesota Vikings information, he is your guy, Kevin.
Thanks for joining me. I appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
Thanks for having Tim.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
All Right, well let's talk about this one first off,
A little bit different situation we've been so used to
last couple of years. These two teams fighting right down
to the end of the year, terrific records, this meaning
the division championship. And this is a Minnesota Vikings team
that sits at three and four coming into this one,
(28:32):
just lost to the Chargers. I believe last week thirty
seven to ten, not their best outing. They said a
three and four. I don't want to say desperation in
week nine, Kevin, but do you get a sense that
this is kind of leaning toward that that must win
With nine teams in the NFC currently at five hundred
or better, yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Think a lot of their games are gonna be must wins.
If you look at their strength of schedule really starting
this week, moving to the end of the year, it's
the most difficult in the NFL according to ESPN's FPI
Football Power Index. And so whether it's playing the Lions twice,
whether it's playing the Packers twice, some of it has
to do with the division. They also play Baltimore with
(29:15):
Lamar Jackson probably coming back, and so the Vikings have
gotten themselves in this position where there's they're gonna be
up against it pretty much every week starting this week,
but it's gonna be the case for the remainder of
the season.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
I think, do you think JJ McCarthy can give them
a spark? What did you like about the first two
weeks there with him under center? Kevin O'Connell. Obviously, it
is a guy that that's kind of been the quarterback
whisper the last few years. Gonna get JJ back? Is
that a good thing from Minnesota? What'd you like about
him early in the season.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Well, you know, and people in your area know this
from his time at University of Michigan. I mean, he's
got some spunk to him now. Like that first game,
the opening game of the season for the Vikings on
Monday night and Cago like, he didn't play that great,
The whole team didn't play that great in the first
three quarters, and then he just leads this furious comeback
where he throws two touchdown passes, he runs for a
(30:09):
third off, a read option of all things that really
hasn't been in the Vikings playbook. And we saw that moxie,
We saw why he almost always wins as a starter
going back to high school. I think when the season began,
his teams going back to high school were like sixty
four and three and so like whether and obviously it's
not just because of him, but there's something to be
said when you play over that period of time, your
(30:31):
teams are always winning. And so we absolutely saw that competitiveness,
the ability to kind of raise things to the level
that's necessary. But following week it was it was again
pretty bad, and then he heard his ankle, and so
we really haven't seen a whole lot of him. I mean,
I think he's played ninety five snaps, he's thrown maybe
(30:52):
thirty forty passes, tops didn't play at all last year,
obviously didn't even practice in the regular season because he
was not on IR the whole time, and then he
really hasn't practiced here for most of the past six weeks.
So we really haven't seen a ton of them. But
in terms of the things that I liked, I think
that's that's the number one thing. And I think just
(31:13):
in terms of his competitiveness and the rest of it
is it appears like he is a twenty two year
old trying to play NFL quarterback without a whole lot
of experience in college throwing the ball, and without a
whole lot of practice time, and so he's just he
needs to play and that's that's the bottom line with him.
(31:34):
And so there's going to be some development in real
time going on here for the remainder of the season.
And that's just the position they're in with him.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
You know, Kevin looking at some of the statistics league
into this one. You talk about what Kevin or what
JJ McCarthy did have in college that was run game
at Michigan, and they did that a ton. Really uncharacteristic
seeing this Minnesota offense. I think of thirty four yards
rushing last week, the lowest in the league this year.
I think they ranked thirtieth, correct me if I'm wrong
(32:03):
in rushing going in the season. Really uncharacteristic. That's something
with JJ coming back and the inexperience you talked about,
that's got to get better for them, doesn't it. They've
got to support JJ a little bit better with that
run game.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
You would have to hope. So Aaron Jones, who started
the year as their starting tailback, got hurt his hamstring
in the second week and he hasn't been. He just
got back last Thursday, so he missed four games and
so he's now back and that should help. Jordan Mason
actually has been a pretty good addition.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
From San Francisco. I mean, he's.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
A hard nosed runner, you know, a lot of yards
after contact. They've just had They've had a lot of
offensive line issues, a lot of injuries. First and foremost,
Christian Darisol has not always been able to finish games
because of his recovery from that ACL MCL he had
last year. Ryan O'Neill has been in and out of
the lineup because of a sprained MCL. They lost their center,
(32:55):
Ryan Kelly. He's had two concussions already this year and
now he's on IR and they they're using a converted
guard in Blake Brandell at center. And so there hasn't
always been you know, certainly not the ideal situation at
offensive line in some cases just a really leaky one.
And so that's a little bit of the of the
running game issues. And the other part is, you know,
(33:15):
you mentioned Kevin O'Connell earlier, and he has done great
things in the passing game, and that's kind of his
philosophy and you know, I think he would have to
make a significant turn in terms of like just committing
to the run from a play calling perspective, from a
game planning perspective, from a scheme perspective for it to
make a sort of a material difference here. And it's
(33:36):
probably what they're gonna need. I mean, if they're going
to ask JJ McCarthy to do the same thing that
they were asking Carson Wentz to do here in the
past five games, where they asked Sam Darnold to do
last year or Kirk Cousins before that, then that's going
to only add to the level of difficulty that they're
already asking of him.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Ken, what do you think is a key matchup for
Minnesota heading into this game Sunday? They go in Detroit
upset the Lions get back to five hundred if they
do what really well Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Well, it's not dissimilar from some other times and other
opponents against the Lions, But the past few games the
Vikings have been really had a hard time against the run.
Their run defense has just been really bad. Their pass
rush has not been able to get through either, and
so there's been a lot of time for people to
get open, but against the Lions, and this has been
(34:26):
the case in several of their matchups. Like if they're
not able to stop the run against the Lions, which
they haven't been able to do here in the past
few games, then they're going to be in for a
long day. And so I think that's the first matchup
I'll look at is if their interior. You know, they
went out and signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave to
be new defensive tackles for them. Those guys have had
(34:47):
kind of mixed results, and they've been using a lot
of younger players to mix in there. A guy named
Jalen Redman has actually been a fine He was in
the XFL a few years ago and now he's here
in the NFL. But for the most part, they've struggled
to to stop teams from running the ball, especially when
they're not ahead. I mean that that's the other part
of their defenses. Last year they led the league and
(35:08):
plays defensively when they have the lead, and there's certain
ways you can play when you have the lead that
you can't win you're trailing or tied, and so they
haven't had that nearly as much either. But the first
thing I'll be looking at is to see if the
Vikings can stop the Lions running game. If they can't
do that, it's hard to imagine that anything else will
will be successful for them.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yeah, because you know, then they get into some situations
where they get teams behind the sticks. They're so good
obviously lead the league with im blitz percentage of forty
two percent. They can get after the quarterback. But in
order to do that, Kevin, we both know you got
to stop the run first so you can get into
those favorable situations. That's what they want to do, right.
They want to get you in second long and third
and long. They want to double a gap blitz look
(35:49):
and they want to come after you. And but they've
got to get to that point, right, Yes.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
And the other part against the Lions at least is
they you know, they when they're in those situations, they
like to try to create you know, whether it's dropping
out of the last second or they're gonna blitz. They're
not gonna blitz Harrison Smith's on the line now, he's
dropping back into a cover two or something. And so
they like to try to confuse the quarterback essentially, and
Jared Goff has not been one who's been susceptible to that.
(36:14):
He's seen it before. He's a veteran guy and a
smart quarterback, as you know, and it definitely works on
some of the younger quarterbacks that you face. But that's
been something that they've also not had as much success
against with the Lion again when they play the Lions
as some other teams. Is that I think Jared Goff
is way above the curve in terms of figuring out
(36:36):
some of those mental games that the Vikings defense plays.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
To your point, one hundred and twenty eight is golf's
passer rating this year when he's blitzed so good point
by you. He's great at identifying it, seeing it and
getting the ball out of his hands. And that young
offensive line in Detroit's playing pretty well to what's maybe
a key matchup we talked about the run game. Is
(37:01):
there maybe an individual matchup?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
You know?
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I know last year that Week eighteen game Meek Robertson
versus Justin Jefferson was such a terrific matchup for Detroit.
They had to get that performance from a Meek and
and they did. Those two will probably see each other
again this week with with DJ Reid not expected to
be back this week for the Lions, is there one
that jumps out to you maybe that that's important?
Speaker 4 (37:26):
You know, I would say, you know, whether you know,
whether you want to say Kelvin Shepard or whoever, like
is sort of coming up with the defensive scheme, you know,
when you have a young quarterback like JJ McCarthy, I mean,
they're they're trying to find ways to give him easy
throws and easy answers against whatever the Lions do. But
the Lions, you know, this is not their first rodeo
(37:46):
against the young quarterback, and they'll have a lot of
things up their sleeve as well. So how much you know,
because JJ hasn't played and like you know, we're looking
at almost seven weeks now, and so he's just in
terms of like getting into the rhythm and timing of
the NFL speed of the game, like all that is
like kind of back.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
To square one.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
And so there are a lot of things that I
could foresee the Lions trying and maybe succeeding at when
they're facing a quarterback with the inexperienced level of JJ McCarthy.
And so from an offensive perspective, you know how much
is McCarthy going to be able to sort of sift
through that and get the vikings to where they need
to be. And not only like mentally, because I do
(38:24):
think he's pretty good. He knows the offense, and I
think he's pretty good at reading defenses, but there just
hasn't been a lot of opportunities for him to quickly
process that into action, and so he's been laid on
some throws. He's been, you know, a little hesitant to
make to make the decision until the receiver pops open,
and sometimes that's too late in terms of the timing
(38:44):
of this offense. So I'll be interested to see, like
the extent to which the Lions try to attack JJ McCarthy,
they just sit back and wait for him to take
the safe plays or will they try to take even
take those away and see if he makes a mistake
looking elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
It should be a fun matchup. Injury wise, Minnesota is
pretty good shape. Anything of concern heading in.
Speaker 4 (39:06):
You know, they're getting healthier. You know, I think they
expect both of those tackles that I talked about, Christian
darasan Brian O'Neil to be able to play the one
The one injury issue that we're still tracking is Andrew
Van Ginkel, who's been a really successful, you know, pass
rusher and just all around defensive player for them last
year and really hasn't played a whole lot this year
because of my neck injury, and he's not on injury reserve,
(39:28):
he's going through practice on a limited basis. That's one
that that may or may not be able to get
to fruition in time, but he's the guy to keep
an eye.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
On this week.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Perfect Kevin, appreciate you, as always do such a great
job covering everything Minnesota, vikings for ESPN and safe travels
up to Detroit. We'll see you on Sunday, my friend,
Hey
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Tim, thank you,
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