December 6, 2025 • 23 mins
10-Year NFL TE Logan Paulsen gives a detailed insight on what to expect from the Minnesota Vikings for tomorrows week 14 matchup with the Washington Commanders. Host: Jason Johnson, Logan Paulsen The views and opinions expressed by our analysts and/or hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Washington Commanders or any of their representative.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the Game Day Live preview show. We're heading
up to Minnesota and JJ McCarthy, I think we just
got to be who we've been to slow him down,
which is really exciting. Terry's back. This offense looks like
it's hitting its stride and let's go beat those boys
up in Minnesota. It all starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Game Day Live Preview podcast. I'm Jess
Guy Jason. I'm sitting here with ten year NFL VET
tight end Logan Paulson and Logan we're pretty good friends.
I'd say that we once shared a piece of cake together.
It was a moment that I definitely remember. You probably don't,
but I had a little piece of cake. I was
eting a bite of it and you're like, that looks
(00:42):
really good. I was like, try a little piece, and
you reached in. This was a couple of years ago,
but I just want people to understand the depths of
our friendship and so excited that you're here to talk
with us about the Minnesota game. We're going to be
on the sidelines in Minnesota watching this game. From there,
you can catch you one big one hundred with Bram
London calling the game. But one of the best smartest
(01:03):
football minds. I know you always teach me something, So
that's what I want to do. I want you to
teach me previewing this game. Here, teach me about the
Vikings what we can expect from them. So let's start
with the defense. Okay, tell me all about this Vikings
defense as a fan watching this game. What do I
need to know about them?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So, Brian Flores is got kind of one of the
more unconventional defensive approaches that I've seen recently. And so,
you know, like Wing Martindale, who used to be the
defensive coach for a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants,
like the pressure a lot, you know, kind of all
out pressure. Flora is in a similar mold, but the
pressure that he brings is a little bit more disciplined.
(01:44):
And so what I mean by that is like, you know,
when Win would bring pressures, it was kind of like, oh,
we're a little bit loose with this run fit, we're
a little bit loose with this coverage because we're kind
of on the pressure to kind of make us right
and find a defensive explosive play. Flores kind of brings
a similar principle, the pressure on first down, they're pressure
on second down. Since they're bye week, they're pressuring fifty
eight percent of the time, which is diabolically high. If
(02:08):
you look at their season average, they're right at forty seven,
which leads the NFL in terms of pressure percentage. Show
since the bye week, they've increased by what ten percent?
So they it's no secret they're gonna blitz. They're gonna
blitz on first down, they're gonna blitz on second down,
they're gonna blitz on third down. And like we talked
about in the film Breakdown, show like the blitz is
to me, are a little bit tighter, And what I
(02:28):
mean by that is like there's not a lot of air.
So you watch the Detroit game, for example, where they
run all this cross dog like they fit those runs
super well from a cross dog, which is a hard
run it with hard blitz in my opinion, to fit
runs from and they run it in the place side
A gap, they run in the weakside A gap, they
run in the backside B gap. And then against Seattle
(02:48):
they run a little bit, you know, kind of more
conventional pressures where they're bringing kind of an overhang on
a blitz and then they're stunting the front on first down,
and then in those stunts they also in those blitz
they also have little stunts within the defensive line. So
the secret to me is they are going to bring
bring pressure all the time, and then the coverage they're
going to play behind it is going to be some
type of I guess match coverage is the best way
(03:12):
to describe it. So match coverage basically meaning like it's
going to look like zone, but there are like man
principles to it. So you know, if we're running an
out and a go by one and two in terms
of receivers, so one being the outside guy, two being
the inside guy the go, the corner is going to
take the go and the inside guy's going to take
(03:32):
the out. But if the if number two runs in
right away then or number one runs in right away,
then the corner's eyes are going to go to number
one and he could take the out potentially. So there's
a bunch of little wrinkles here that it looks like
one thing, but it actually plays like something else. So
they turn the football over, well, they put quarterbacks in bins,
but it really all starts with that pressure up front.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Can I ask you a philosophical question when it comes
of defense with what you're talking about, you say they're
gonna blitz all the time. So my question is, like,
why are they doing that? Why don't other teams do that?
Is it a personnel thing and the blitz helps them?
Or is it like this is just how we want
to live? Like why don't all teams blitz all the time?
And the reason I'm asking that just generally as a
(04:15):
jag that watches the game is when my default is
put pressure on the quarterback, we're not getting there with
four for whatever reason. Then the thought is, well, then blitz.
Is it that they can't win with four? Is it
that they have the blitz in order to get pressure?
What is it about them that they want to blitz
all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, So I think the thing that I take away
when I watch them is that they want to be disruptive.
So that's why they do it on first down, That's
what I do it on second down and third down.
They're trying to create pressure on their quarterback. The problem
when you blitz is it's a simple math. Right, You're
when you're blitzing five or you're blitzing six or there's
six in the rush, I should say, you just have
less guys in coverage. And when there's less guys in coverage,
(04:56):
there's more grass to cover with less people, and it
leads to more explosive play opportunities, which is kind of
traditionally what you think of when you see a defense
like this. However, because they're playing these match principles and
they're coached really well, they do a good job of
kind of covering the hot map quote unquote, or the
areas that you're most likely to throw to with the
(05:18):
people they have in coverage.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, and just for a visual thing off of that,
like the hot would be if you're playing Madden and
you're selecting an offensive play pass play.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's that red line. Yeah, it's basically.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Saying that's your if you need to get the ball quick,
that's where you're potentially going number one. So you're saying,
they cover that up, they know what that will be,
and they try and blitz and take that away at
the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That's a good question, actually, like in terms of them
knowing what it's going to be, they just I think
what they do know is they know the patterns you
like to run, you know what I mean. They know
the patterns of routes you like to run, and they
seem to be able to relate to them really well.
So like on the film Breakdown show, like we talked
about like there's a and I've mentioned this on all
the shows I've done, but I think it's a really
good example of what what they're doing. And so they're
running what I would call a poll concept. So the
(06:04):
tight end goes up and he runs out, and then
the outside guy who's Jackson Smith and Jigbo in the
Seattle game, runs a deep end, so like a dig.
And so it looks like if if you were like logan,
what covers this? Like it's quarters, it's four deep with
two underneath. However, the second the tight end runs up
and goes out, the corner who's in a quarter's position,
(06:24):
so off the ball about eight to ten yards. The
second he sees the tight end go out, he sprints
down to cover the out. It almost ends up playing
like cover two. So Sam Dartold thinks there's a pressure.
He tries to throw this out and instead of it
being wide open because it's quarters, like that's where the
soft spot is he's throwing the tight end into a
kill shot basically, and so like that's the type of
(06:46):
stuff that they're really good at doing.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's this match principle, like the FRED calls it like
a two to one read or like, so instead of
the outside guy reading the guy that's in front of him,
he's going to read the slot player or the guy
on the inside, and it lets them kind of match
up with some of these concepts at a high level.
So like I would assume if two runs vertical and
one runs vertical, it'll just play like quarters. But if
(07:10):
he runs an out, he's going to break on it. Now,
Like in this clip which you can check out on
the film Breakdown Show that I do with you, like
the dudes wide open Jackson Smith and Jigba's wide open
on the dig because the quarter safety hasn't broken on
that yet. So there are holes in there. But again,
the pressure and how they bring their pressure tends to
cover some of that stuff up. And think about it, man,
(07:31):
this defense is really really good. I actually think they're
better than the Broncos defense, who's ranked number one, because
their offense is terrible. It's like twenty ninth in the NFL,
and they're like, for example, Seattle, we saw that offense
when they came here. It's a dynamic, explosive group. But
they held that group to seven points and under one
(07:51):
hundred yards in the first half of that football game. Right,
they had a defensive touchdown. They had two short fields
off of turnovers in that game that led points. So
I know you see twenty six zero, man, they must
be really struggling. I think the offense only accounted for
like what I would classify as like fourteen of those points.
So they are a dynamic, aggressive, physical group that is
(08:14):
really carrying this team, and I think they're going to
present a lot of challenges for the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, the defensive rankings for the Vikings, they're tenth in
yards per game, fifth and passing yards per game, so
they're very high up there. They're twenty second against the
rush and eighteen the inn points. Maybe that is to
what you said, the issues on the offensive side, the
complimentary football not being there for them, And I could
be wrong here, I'm going to speculate. Tell me if
(08:39):
I'm wrong. Twenty second against the rush, when a team
gets up on you, your offense can't what are they.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Going to do. That's kind of the way I to
run the ball.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So it's a lot of attempts against them at some point.
You know, that's what you're defending most of the time.
I think teams are passing against you.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's the way
I read it too. I think you see that number, like, man,
that doesn't really jive. I've seen because they really did
a great job stop in the run. Versus Seattle, they
did a great job stopping it, versus Philly, versus Detroit,
versus the Bears, teams that have run the ball well
over the course of the season, and you're like, where
does this number come from? And all of a sudden
you'll see versus Green Bay they have you know, it's
(09:16):
like thirty carries for ninety yards, and those thirty carries
aren't the most efficient necessarily, but it does accrue a
lot of yards. So I do think that's part of it.
I think that the defense being is held out to
is being held out to dry a little bit by
the offense. And I also think that in conjunction with that,
the game flow, like you're talking about, is a big
element here too, in terms of they're seeing more rush attempts,
(09:38):
the efficiency's going to go down a little bit in
that area.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, all right, Now let's move over to this Vikings
offense that you were talking about is struggling, and I'm
going to read off where they rank. They're twenty ninth
in yards and yards per game, passing yards and passing
yards per game, twenty ninth, not great, twenty six in
rushing yards, twenty fifth in rushing yards per game, and
twenty eighth points and points per game. They only score
(10:02):
fourteen point two points per game.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's that's low.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, that's free.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I'm not getting on that's pretty low.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
No, I think that's right. And when you watch him,
you see some of the issues that they're having, and
so I think you're going to start with the most
important position in the sport, and that's a quarterback spot.
And you know, we did this on the film Breakdown
show too. We talked about on the Command Center, I
talked about it on Take Him Out. I've talked about
this everywhere. I think JJ's doing some good things, but
I think on the whole, his consistency needs to improve,
(10:34):
specifically with his accuracy in certain throwing situations. Like, he's
obviously got a very live arm, very talented, but he
doesn't have a lot of the variety you need to
play quarterback at the NFL level. He hasn't grown into
that yet. And that was something when we did take
it to the draft together that, like we talked about
quite a lot, is he throws a very straight, very
(10:56):
linear ball, no arc, no touch, And I think that's
coming bite him in the butt a little bit here,
because you see a lot of drops on film, You
see a lot of incompletions, and I think a lot
of that stems from not necessarily him not knowing what
to do, in my opinion, but more just not having
the correct throw for certain situations. And I think you
feel that quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, when we did our evaluations on him, I'm trying
to remember exactly what I thought of him coming out
of college, but I think it was mostly the sample
size was really small.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Very very small.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
A lot of running the ball with Michigan when he
was there, he wasn't asked to pass all that much,
but when he did at certain times, and again the
sample size was small, he would make some big time
NFL throws. Now, the issue is he came to the league,
got hurt, small sample size in college Amaki. So he's
the youngest quarterback in the NFL right now. So he's young,
(11:53):
he's still growing. I don't think you expect him to
come out and be like how boonex, Jade and Daniels
even Caleb, Like, he just doesn't have those reps yet.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's crazy to me because I think this year he's
he's the youngest starting quarterback like in the history of
the NFL. It's like, not just for this season young, Yeah,
he like Josh Allen was the youngest when he came
in and started, and now JJ McCarthy. So it's very
very different than like with the expectations like you're talking
about for those other guys. But to me, that's a
big part of why they're struggling offensively. And then I
(12:24):
think the other part of why they're struggling offensively, and
I didn't mention this on the Command Center show, but
is their offensive line's been a little bit banged up,
you know what I mean. And I think we've seen
the effect here in Washington of when the offensive line
is a little unsettled, you know, cosme coming back versus Dallas,
the Jake the Chris Paul Brandon Coleman kind of switched
(12:45):
early in the season at the left guard spot. You know,
alec ready started the season, right, you know, just like
the lack of continuity. And I think with Minnesota you
feel that too, because also when you're watching, you're like, man,
this coverage is pretty good in the back end. There
is a free runner, there's a rush immediately. Like watching
the Green Bay game, I know he gets a lot
of heat, but it was almost untenable at times because
(13:07):
they're running these deep concepts down the field and the
offensive line just can't hold up. So I think maybe
a bigger issue quite honestly, outside the I mean, the
quarterback's the thing, right, that's the storyline, but the offensive
line for them has struggled badly over the last couple
of weeks. And it's not all it's a lot of
it's injury related.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So let me make this a little bit commander's focus
with this question, and then I don't I don't want
to fall into the trap that I personally do a
lot where you play a certain quarterback as a certain
like JJ McCarthy's not playing well, right, so you just say,
all right, we don't have to worry about that he's
going to not play well, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
So what do the.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Commanders do to make sure that JJ McCarthy this isn't
a get right game now, I just want to preference.
This podcast is going to come out the night before
the game. Hundred percent sure he's playing, but all signs
are pointing that way. That's why we're talking about him
so much. But even if it's not him, even if
it's Max Brosmer like who didn't play well as a
(14:10):
defensive coordinator, are you going, all right, we're going to
just do our thing and he's so bad, he's not
going to beat us if we do.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Our thing really well.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Or are you still looking at how they play and
we're going to scheme to stop that?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I mean, does that make sense when I'm asking.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, obviously you're going to scheme to stop what they're doing, right,
You're going to coach your Tampa two to stop route
concepts that they run.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But what I'm yes, But what I'm saying is are
you going in going this is the type of coverage
we have to play against him?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Or is it like if.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We do what we do really well, he's not at
the point yet to stop what we do.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Is it more like we're going to do our thing
really well try and beat us, or is it we're
going to take away something you do.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, I definitely think it's more of the latter there, honestly.
And the reason I would say that is because we
found something defensively. I think over the last couple of
weeks d obviously Denver, where is the defense perfect? No?
But are they kind of managing and eliminating some of
these explosive opportunities. Yes, the run fits have gotten better,
We've gotten a little bit more efficient on first second down.
(15:13):
The quarterbacks we've played haven't been able to hurt us
the same way on third down. That's good. I think
the same formula applies here to what Brosmer or McCarthy
are going to be doing, right, because the thing when
you watch poor quarterbacks, and this is this happened in
the in the Denver game too, is there's times where
people are open and bo Nicks in this case missed
(15:35):
the throw. And so on third and five you missed
the out to Ingram, it's incomplete pass. You gotta punt.
They will give you some so as long as so. Basically,
what dan Quinn's philosophy has been, it's like, we're gonna
make you go on a ten to fifteen play drive.
You're gonna get a penalty, you're gonna get a sack,
you're going to have an incomplete pass, and we're gonna
then capitalize on that opportunity. The thing about Minnesota that
(15:55):
I think is one hundred percent true is they seem
to do that to themselves. They take negative runs, they'll
take a sack. JJ McCarthy specifically, they'll throw an interception,
they'll throw an in complete pass. Now it's second and eleven,
it's second and eight, and we can kind of keep
it all in front of you. If you do get
a third down conversion, great, good for you, high five.
(16:17):
We'll just do those play this same game, kind of
counting on you to make a mistake at some point.
So in some ways, I think this is the perfect
solution because I think people forget this man Like Fred
was talking about this earlier on Command Center, earlier this
week on Commencer, He's like, we should heat him up,
we should presure him. They still have Addison, they still
have justin Jefferson, they still have Hawkinson out there. They
(16:37):
still have Jones, the running back who's one of the
better pass catching backs in the NFL. Like, I don't
want to be messing with that at all. I don't
want to give them any opportunity, any signs of life because,
like I said, JJ McCarthy seems to be able to
identify coverages, identify where the ball should go. Like they
had a game against I think it was against Detroit
or no, it was against Atlanta where Atlanta's playing man coverage.
(16:57):
They got a man beating concept on box face by
Justin Jefferson. Ball is going to the right spot, he
just overthrows it. What if this week he doesn't overthrow
that one and that ends up being an eighty yard
touchdown bomb. Don't want that, right, I'd much rather kind
of play a soft zone, play better on for a
second down and be like, hey man, you're gonna have
to pick us apart ten times as opposed to once.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right right right.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
So it is kind of a mentality thing because I'm
bringing this up because sometimes people myself included, will go
the thought process is we're going to try and we're
going to try and stop you, versus you try and
stop us, and you're saying defensively, it should be for us,
(17:41):
or you think it should be for us, JJ, good
luck trying to stop what.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Rule what we do. And I think it's just it's
just where the offense is at right. They're having a
hard again, like they're having a hard hard time in
pass protection, they're having a hard time creating separation in
the secondary, and teams have And this is maybe one
thing I'd keep an eye on if you're a fan,
is teams have done a good job bracketing or rolling
coverage even in zones to Justin Jefferson because they wanted
to be a primary target of the offense. So I
(18:07):
would probably deploy a little bit of that. And basically
what I've seen is specifically in the Green Bay game,
they kind of did a little bit of this bracket
element on Jetta on Justin Jefferson, and McCarthy was having
a hard time getting through the progression. You know, obviously
Michael Parsons is there, he can't get to the second
read even though he's trying to. So I think that's
something too. I would point is if you look for
(18:29):
some type of wrinkle, it's how do you contain maybe
the best receiver in football, and because if you can, like,
I think it really hampers their offense as well.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Do you think that the home field advantage will have
anything to play here? I think Minnesota, you've played there.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, it's a gorgeous stadium. I think it will. I
think it's a loud environment. It's it's it's covered, which
always makes it more noisy. That crowd's always pretty raucous
and so like on the Game Plan show that comes
out Sunday morning, Dan was talking about how it's so
important that we manage our silent counts. We use our
tools to help us manage that environment. I think that's
(19:05):
one hundred percent up on point. Like, you know it's
going to be tough, you know it's going to be loud, Like,
let's prepare accordingly and make sure we put ourselves in
the best position to be successful.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
All right, So the thesis of winning this game for you,
it sounds like it's play good, disciplined commanders football.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Let them beat themselves.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Specifically on defense. I think that's what I would say
is the thesis on defense for sure. Offensively, to me,
it's a little bit more nuanced. To me, what is
the plan for the pressure they're going to bring bring,
how do we get it communicated and do the plays
we have up have good answers from a protection standpoint
and from a route combination standpoint that let us deal
(19:45):
with what we're expecting from from this Minnesota defense or
a pressure.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
All right, last thing before we get out of here.
Terry McLaurin, what's it like being on the sideline of
that Denver game. What was it like seeing him back
on the field and what did it do to the offense?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I mean, it was really incredible, quite honestly, Like, I mean,
he was in great shape, seemingly, so like that was
something that really surprised me. A lot of times people
coming off an injury, they're a little you know, slug is.
It's not quite as locked in as they need to be.
And that's not their fault. It's just hard to stay
in football shape, it's hard to stay in football focus.
And I felt like he was super locked in. I
felt like his relationship with Marcus Mariota was at the forefront, right.
(20:23):
He just looked they looked dialed in together, right. And
then I think the other thing too, that we've talked
about this whole week is just in this game specifically,
It'll be interesting to see how Minnesota handles this. Is
they chose to travel pats Ertan with Terry, so Patrick
Shortan's able to win on or Terry's able to win
on a slant, He's able to want a comeback. Actually
had a very nice performance versus Patrick Sartan, who is
(20:45):
as advertised in my opinion. But what that does for
the offense is you get trailing Burke's on Riley Moss,
who's able to win for the touchdown. You get Riley
Moss on Deebo. Samuel was able to catch that you know,
fifty yard bomb at the end of the game that
gets you into scoring positions.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Ch Ertz running wild, Zach Ertz.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
On Hufonga was That's something that we wanted to see
all year, Right, is that kind of matchup, that kind
of production from Zach And that's a matchup he should win.
He doesn't get that matchup necessarily if Terry isn't out there,
and so the confidence the quarterback hasn't Terry right, his
ability to win versus man and man coverage, and then
what it does for everybody else, Like there was a
(21:22):
play I think we talked about it with Santana on
Command Center this week, where you know, Debo's running an
out route on the safety and that is a route
that he should win ten out of ten times and
twice on Sunday, you know what I mean, Like that
is something that should be easy, and that's a matchup
that he gets in that situation because Terry's back on
(21:43):
the field. So when I look at the offense, I
think it just makes it way more dynamic. And I
also think it helps the running game because you can't
play the same coverage structures we were seeing from the
Chicago Bears, from the Dallas Cowboys on that skid where
the offense was kind of sputtering. You can't play press
man the same way because Terry's going to.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, it's exciting to finally see kind of the picture
of what this offense could have been coming to flu.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Through fruition, fruition, and.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Once jayde and Daniels gets back, just seeing it all
work together is one of those things where unfortunately we're
waiting until week fourteen, fifteen sixteen or something to finally
see what we were hoping to see all year. That's unfortunate,
but promising for the future and promising for the last
couple of games here on the push towards the towards
the off season.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, that's something that you know, you and I have
talked about off air a little bit. Is I think
it's good. I think it's good to kind of get
this confidence in the team in the locker room, in
the identity, in the direction, and that only comes from
winning and playing competitive football late into the season here.
And unfortunately, like you said, it's happening late. But you
know that quote from Dan Quinn on Hard Knocks, like
(22:54):
we lost, but we're no longer lost. That is exactly
how I'm starting to feel as a fan of this team.
And you know what would make me feel even better
is if they kind of went on a little bit
of a run here. They don't need to win every game, right,
I'm not saying that, but you know, they beat Philadelphia,
or they knock off Chicago or knock off the Cowboys
or what you know, like something like that where it
(23:14):
shows you that we the team that we thought we were,
which is a playoff caliber team. Is that team in
terms of roster construction, we might be a couple pieces
away here and there, got the draft coming up, got
free agency coming up. Will handle all that stuff. But
to me, that's the thing that's exciting about this backstretch
here is this is what we were promised and now
the idea we're going to get to see it. You know,
(23:36):
at some point with Jane Danils at the helmet's get
really exciting.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
All right, Logan, have fun out in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Thanks Brother, appreciation
Today on the Game Day Live preview show. We're heading
up to Minnesota and JJ McCarthy, I think we just
got to be who we've been to slow him down,
which is really exciting. Terry's back. This offense looks like
it's hitting its stride and let's go beat those boys
up in Minnesota. It all starts right now.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Game Day Live Preview podcast. I'm Jess
Guy Jason. I'm sitting here with ten year NFL VET
tight end Logan Paulson and Logan we're pretty good friends.
I'd say that we once shared a piece of cake together.
It was a moment that I definitely remember. You probably don't,
but I had a little piece of cake. I was
eting a bite of it and you're like, that looks
(00:42):
really good. I was like, try a little piece, and
you reached in. This was a couple of years ago,
but I just want people to understand the depths of
our friendship and so excited that you're here to talk
with us about the Minnesota game. We're going to be
on the sidelines in Minnesota watching this game. From there,
you can catch you one big one hundred with Bram
London calling the game. But one of the best smartest
(01:03):
football minds. I know you always teach me something, So
that's what I want to do. I want you to
teach me previewing this game. Here, teach me about the
Vikings what we can expect from them. So let's start
with the defense. Okay, tell me all about this Vikings
defense as a fan watching this game. What do I
need to know about them?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So, Brian Flores is got kind of one of the
more unconventional defensive approaches that I've seen recently. And so,
you know, like Wing Martindale, who used to be the
defensive coach for a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants,
like the pressure a lot, you know, kind of all
out pressure. Flora is in a similar mold, but the
pressure that he brings is a little bit more disciplined.
(01:44):
And so what I mean by that is like, you know,
when Win would bring pressures, it was kind of like, oh,
we're a little bit loose with this run fit, we're
a little bit loose with this coverage because we're kind
of on the pressure to kind of make us right
and find a defensive explosive play. Flores kind of brings
a similar principle, the pressure on first down, they're pressure
on second down. Since they're bye week, they're pressuring fifty
eight percent of the time, which is diabolically high. If
(02:08):
you look at their season average, they're right at forty seven,
which leads the NFL in terms of pressure percentage. Show
since the bye week, they've increased by what ten percent?
So they it's no secret they're gonna blitz. They're gonna
blitz on first down, they're gonna blitz on second down,
they're gonna blitz on third down. And like we talked
about in the film Breakdown, show like the blitz is
to me, are a little bit tighter, And what I
(02:28):
mean by that is like there's not a lot of air.
So you watch the Detroit game, for example, where they
run all this cross dog like they fit those runs
super well from a cross dog, which is a hard
run it with hard blitz in my opinion, to fit
runs from and they run it in the place side
A gap, they run in the weakside A gap, they
run in the backside B gap. And then against Seattle
(02:48):
they run a little bit, you know, kind of more
conventional pressures where they're bringing kind of an overhang on
a blitz and then they're stunting the front on first down,
and then in those stunts they also in those blitz
they also have little stunts within the defensive line. So
the secret to me is they are going to bring
bring pressure all the time, and then the coverage they're
going to play behind it is going to be some
type of I guess match coverage is the best way
(03:12):
to describe it. So match coverage basically meaning like it's
going to look like zone, but there are like man
principles to it. So you know, if we're running an
out and a go by one and two in terms
of receivers, so one being the outside guy, two being
the inside guy the go, the corner is going to
take the go and the inside guy's going to take
(03:32):
the out. But if the if number two runs in
right away then or number one runs in right away,
then the corner's eyes are going to go to number
one and he could take the out potentially. So there's
a bunch of little wrinkles here that it looks like
one thing, but it actually plays like something else. So
they turn the football over, well, they put quarterbacks in bins,
but it really all starts with that pressure up front.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Can I ask you a philosophical question when it comes
of defense with what you're talking about, you say they're
gonna blitz all the time. So my question is, like,
why are they doing that? Why don't other teams do that?
Is it a personnel thing and the blitz helps them?
Or is it like this is just how we want
to live? Like why don't all teams blitz all the time?
And the reason I'm asking that just generally as a
(04:15):
jag that watches the game is when my default is
put pressure on the quarterback, we're not getting there with
four for whatever reason. Then the thought is, well, then blitz.
Is it that they can't win with four? Is it
that they have the blitz in order to get pressure?
What is it about them that they want to blitz
all the time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, So I think the thing that I take away
when I watch them is that they want to be disruptive.
So that's why they do it on first down, That's
what I do it on second down and third down.
They're trying to create pressure on their quarterback. The problem
when you blitz is it's a simple math. Right, You're
when you're blitzing five or you're blitzing six or there's
six in the rush, I should say, you just have
less guys in coverage. And when there's less guys in coverage,
(04:56):
there's more grass to cover with less people, and it
leads to more explosive play opportunities, which is kind of
traditionally what you think of when you see a defense
like this. However, because they're playing these match principles and
they're coached really well, they do a good job of
kind of covering the hot map quote unquote, or the
areas that you're most likely to throw to with the
(05:18):
people they have in coverage.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, and just for a visual thing off of that,
like the hot would be if you're playing Madden and
you're selecting an offensive play pass play.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
It's that red line. Yeah, it's basically.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Saying that's your if you need to get the ball quick,
that's where you're potentially going number one. So you're saying,
they cover that up, they know what that will be,
and they try and blitz and take that away at
the same time.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
That's a good question, actually, like in terms of them
knowing what it's going to be, they just I think
what they do know is they know the patterns you
like to run, you know what I mean. They know
the patterns of routes you like to run, and they
seem to be able to relate to them really well.
So like on the film Breakdown show, like we talked
about like there's a and I've mentioned this on all
the shows I've done, but I think it's a really
good example of what what they're doing. And so they're
running what I would call a poll concept. So the
(06:04):
tight end goes up and he runs out, and then
the outside guy who's Jackson Smith and Jigbo in the
Seattle game, runs a deep end, so like a dig.
And so it looks like if if you were like logan,
what covers this? Like it's quarters, it's four deep with
two underneath. However, the second the tight end runs up
and goes out, the corner who's in a quarter's position,
(06:24):
so off the ball about eight to ten yards. The
second he sees the tight end go out, he sprints
down to cover the out. It almost ends up playing
like cover two. So Sam Dartold thinks there's a pressure.
He tries to throw this out and instead of it
being wide open because it's quarters, like that's where the
soft spot is he's throwing the tight end into a
kill shot basically, and so like that's the type of
(06:46):
stuff that they're really good at doing.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's this match principle, like the FRED calls it like
a two to one read or like, so instead of
the outside guy reading the guy that's in front of him,
he's going to read the slot player or the guy
on the inside, and it lets them kind of match
up with some of these concepts at a high level.
So like I would assume if two runs vertical and
one runs vertical, it'll just play like quarters. But if
(07:10):
he runs an out, he's going to break on it. Now,
Like in this clip which you can check out on
the film Breakdown Show that I do with you, like
the dudes wide open Jackson Smith and Jigba's wide open
on the dig because the quarter safety hasn't broken on
that yet. So there are holes in there. But again,
the pressure and how they bring their pressure tends to
cover some of that stuff up. And think about it, man,
(07:31):
this defense is really really good. I actually think they're
better than the Broncos defense, who's ranked number one, because
their offense is terrible. It's like twenty ninth in the NFL,
and they're like, for example, Seattle, we saw that offense
when they came here. It's a dynamic, explosive group. But
they held that group to seven points and under one
(07:51):
hundred yards in the first half of that football game. Right,
they had a defensive touchdown. They had two short fields
off of turnovers in that game that led points. So
I know you see twenty six zero, man, they must
be really struggling. I think the offense only accounted for
like what I would classify as like fourteen of those points.
So they are a dynamic, aggressive, physical group that is
(08:14):
really carrying this team, and I think they're going to
present a lot of challenges for the Washington Commanders.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah, the defensive rankings for the Vikings, they're tenth in
yards per game, fifth and passing yards per game, so
they're very high up there. They're twenty second against the
rush and eighteen the inn points. Maybe that is to
what you said, the issues on the offensive side, the
complimentary football not being there for them, And I could
be wrong here, I'm going to speculate. Tell me if
(08:39):
I'm wrong. Twenty second against the rush, when a team
gets up on you, your offense can't what are they.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Going to do. That's kind of the way I to
run the ball.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So it's a lot of attempts against them at some point.
You know, that's what you're defending most of the time.
I think teams are passing against you.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's the way
I read it too. I think you see that number, like, man,
that doesn't really jive. I've seen because they really did
a great job stop in the run. Versus Seattle, they
did a great job stopping it, versus Philly, versus Detroit,
versus the Bears, teams that have run the ball well
over the course of the season, and you're like, where
does this number come from? And all of a sudden
you'll see versus Green Bay they have you know, it's
(09:16):
like thirty carries for ninety yards, and those thirty carries
aren't the most efficient necessarily, but it does accrue a
lot of yards. So I do think that's part of it.
I think that the defense being is held out to
is being held out to dry a little bit by
the offense. And I also think that in conjunction with that,
the game flow, like you're talking about, is a big
element here too, in terms of they're seeing more rush attempts,
(09:38):
the efficiency's going to go down a little bit in
that area.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, all right, Now let's move over to this Vikings
offense that you were talking about is struggling, and I'm
going to read off where they rank. They're twenty ninth
in yards and yards per game, passing yards and passing
yards per game, twenty ninth, not great, twenty six in
rushing yards, twenty fifth in rushing yards per game, and
twenty eighth points and points per game. They only score
(10:02):
fourteen point two points per game.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
That's that's low.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah, that's free.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I'm not getting on that's pretty low.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
No, I think that's right. And when you watch him,
you see some of the issues that they're having, and
so I think you're going to start with the most
important position in the sport, and that's a quarterback spot.
And you know, we did this on the film Breakdown
show too. We talked about on the Command Center, I
talked about it on Take Him Out. I've talked about
this everywhere. I think JJ's doing some good things, but
I think on the whole, his consistency needs to improve,
(10:34):
specifically with his accuracy in certain throwing situations. Like, he's
obviously got a very live arm, very talented, but he
doesn't have a lot of the variety you need to
play quarterback at the NFL level. He hasn't grown into
that yet. And that was something when we did take
it to the draft together that, like we talked about
quite a lot, is he throws a very straight, very
(10:56):
linear ball, no arc, no touch, And I think that's
coming bite him in the butt a little bit here,
because you see a lot of drops on film, You
see a lot of incompletions, and I think a lot
of that stems from not necessarily him not knowing what
to do, in my opinion, but more just not having
the correct throw for certain situations. And I think you
feel that quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, when we did our evaluations on him, I'm trying
to remember exactly what I thought of him coming out
of college, but I think it was mostly the sample
size was really small.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Very very small.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
A lot of running the ball with Michigan when he
was there, he wasn't asked to pass all that much,
but when he did at certain times, and again the
sample size was small, he would make some big time
NFL throws. Now, the issue is he came to the league,
got hurt, small sample size in college Amaki. So he's
the youngest quarterback in the NFL right now. So he's young,
(11:53):
he's still growing. I don't think you expect him to
come out and be like how boonex, Jade and Daniels
even Caleb, Like, he just doesn't have those reps yet.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's crazy to me because I think this year he's
he's the youngest starting quarterback like in the history of
the NFL. It's like, not just for this season young, Yeah,
he like Josh Allen was the youngest when he came
in and started, and now JJ McCarthy. So it's very
very different than like with the expectations like you're talking
about for those other guys. But to me, that's a
big part of why they're struggling offensively. And then I
(12:24):
think the other part of why they're struggling offensively, and
I didn't mention this on the Command Center show, but
is their offensive line's been a little bit banged up,
you know what I mean. And I think we've seen
the effect here in Washington of when the offensive line
is a little unsettled, you know, cosme coming back versus Dallas,
the Jake the Chris Paul Brandon Coleman kind of switched
(12:45):
early in the season at the left guard spot. You know,
alec ready started the season, right, you know, just like
the lack of continuity. And I think with Minnesota you
feel that too, because also when you're watching, you're like, man,
this coverage is pretty good in the back end. There
is a free runner, there's a rush immediately. Like watching
the Green Bay game, I know he gets a lot
of heat, but it was almost untenable at times because
(13:07):
they're running these deep concepts down the field and the
offensive line just can't hold up. So I think maybe
a bigger issue quite honestly, outside the I mean, the
quarterback's the thing, right, that's the storyline, but the offensive
line for them has struggled badly over the last couple
of weeks. And it's not all it's a lot of
it's injury related.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So let me make this a little bit commander's focus
with this question, and then I don't I don't want
to fall into the trap that I personally do a
lot where you play a certain quarterback as a certain
like JJ McCarthy's not playing well, right, so you just say,
all right, we don't have to worry about that he's
going to not play well, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (13:48):
So what do the.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Commanders do to make sure that JJ McCarthy this isn't
a get right game now, I just want to preference.
This podcast is going to come out the night before
the game. Hundred percent sure he's playing, but all signs
are pointing that way. That's why we're talking about him
so much. But even if it's not him, even if
it's Max Brosmer like who didn't play well as a
(14:10):
defensive coordinator, are you going, all right, we're going to
just do our thing and he's so bad, he's not
going to beat us if we do.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Our thing really well.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Or are you still looking at how they play and
we're going to scheme to stop that?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I mean, does that make sense when I'm asking.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, obviously you're going to scheme to stop what they're doing, right,
You're going to coach your Tampa two to stop route
concepts that they run.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But what I'm yes, But what I'm saying is are
you going in going this is the type of coverage
we have to play against him?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Or is it like if.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We do what we do really well, he's not at
the point yet to stop what we do.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Is it more like we're going to do our thing
really well try and beat us, or is it we're
going to take away something you do.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, I definitely think it's more of the latter there, honestly.
And the reason I would say that is because we
found something defensively. I think over the last couple of
weeks d obviously Denver, where is the defense perfect? No?
But are they kind of managing and eliminating some of
these explosive opportunities. Yes, the run fits have gotten better,
We've gotten a little bit more efficient on first second down.
(15:13):
The quarterbacks we've played haven't been able to hurt us
the same way on third down. That's good. I think
the same formula applies here to what Brosmer or McCarthy
are going to be doing, right, because the thing when
you watch poor quarterbacks, and this is this happened in
the in the Denver game too, is there's times where
people are open and bo Nicks in this case missed
(15:35):
the throw. And so on third and five you missed
the out to Ingram, it's incomplete pass. You gotta punt.
They will give you some so as long as so. Basically,
what dan Quinn's philosophy has been, it's like, we're gonna
make you go on a ten to fifteen play drive.
You're gonna get a penalty, you're gonna get a sack,
you're going to have an incomplete pass, and we're gonna
then capitalize on that opportunity. The thing about Minnesota that
(15:55):
I think is one hundred percent true is they seem
to do that to themselves. They take negative runs, they'll
take a sack. JJ McCarthy specifically, they'll throw an interception,
they'll throw an in complete pass. Now it's second and eleven,
it's second and eight, and we can kind of keep
it all in front of you. If you do get
a third down conversion, great, good for you, high five.
(16:17):
We'll just do those play this same game, kind of
counting on you to make a mistake at some point.
So in some ways, I think this is the perfect
solution because I think people forget this man Like Fred
was talking about this earlier on Command Center, earlier this
week on Commencer, He's like, we should heat him up,
we should presure him. They still have Addison, they still
have justin Jefferson, they still have Hawkinson out there. They
(16:37):
still have Jones, the running back who's one of the
better pass catching backs in the NFL. Like, I don't
want to be messing with that at all. I don't
want to give them any opportunity, any signs of life because,
like I said, JJ McCarthy seems to be able to
identify coverages, identify where the ball should go. Like they
had a game against I think it was against Detroit
or no, it was against Atlanta where Atlanta's playing man coverage.
(16:57):
They got a man beating concept on box face by
Justin Jefferson. Ball is going to the right spot, he
just overthrows it. What if this week he doesn't overthrow
that one and that ends up being an eighty yard
touchdown bomb. Don't want that, right, I'd much rather kind
of play a soft zone, play better on for a
second down and be like, hey man, you're gonna have
to pick us apart ten times as opposed to once.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right right right.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
So it is kind of a mentality thing because I'm
bringing this up because sometimes people myself included, will go
the thought process is we're going to try and we're
going to try and stop you, versus you try and
stop us, and you're saying defensively, it should be for us,
(17:41):
or you think it should be for us, JJ, good
luck trying to stop what.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Rule what we do. And I think it's just it's
just where the offense is at right. They're having a
hard again, like they're having a hard hard time in
pass protection, they're having a hard time creating separation in
the secondary, and teams have And this is maybe one
thing I'd keep an eye on if you're a fan,
is teams have done a good job bracketing or rolling
coverage even in zones to Justin Jefferson because they wanted
to be a primary target of the offense. So I
(18:07):
would probably deploy a little bit of that. And basically
what I've seen is specifically in the Green Bay game,
they kind of did a little bit of this bracket
element on Jetta on Justin Jefferson, and McCarthy was having
a hard time getting through the progression. You know, obviously
Michael Parsons is there, he can't get to the second
read even though he's trying to. So I think that's
something too. I would point is if you look for
(18:29):
some type of wrinkle, it's how do you contain maybe
the best receiver in football, and because if you can, like,
I think it really hampers their offense as well.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Do you think that the home field advantage will have
anything to play here? I think Minnesota, you've played there.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, it's a gorgeous stadium. I think it will. I
think it's a loud environment. It's it's it's covered, which
always makes it more noisy. That crowd's always pretty raucous
and so like on the Game Plan show that comes
out Sunday morning, Dan was talking about how it's so
important that we manage our silent counts. We use our
tools to help us manage that environment. I think that's
(19:05):
one hundred percent up on point. Like, you know it's
going to be tough, you know it's going to be loud, Like,
let's prepare accordingly and make sure we put ourselves in
the best position to be successful.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
All right, So the thesis of winning this game for you,
it sounds like it's play good, disciplined commanders football.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Let them beat themselves.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Specifically on defense. I think that's what I would say
is the thesis on defense for sure. Offensively, to me,
it's a little bit more nuanced. To me, what is
the plan for the pressure they're going to bring bring,
how do we get it communicated and do the plays
we have up have good answers from a protection standpoint
and from a route combination standpoint that let us deal
(19:45):
with what we're expecting from from this Minnesota defense or
a pressure.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
All right, last thing before we get out of here.
Terry McLaurin, what's it like being on the sideline of
that Denver game. What was it like seeing him back
on the field and what did it do to the offense?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I mean, it was really incredible, quite honestly, Like, I mean,
he was in great shape, seemingly, so like that was
something that really surprised me. A lot of times people
coming off an injury, they're a little you know, slug is.
It's not quite as locked in as they need to be.
And that's not their fault. It's just hard to stay
in football shape, it's hard to stay in football focus.
And I felt like he was super locked in. I
felt like his relationship with Marcus Mariota was at the forefront, right.
(20:23):
He just looked they looked dialed in together, right. And
then I think the other thing too, that we've talked
about this whole week is just in this game specifically,
It'll be interesting to see how Minnesota handles this. Is
they chose to travel pats Ertan with Terry, so Patrick
Shortan's able to win on or Terry's able to win
on a slant, He's able to want a comeback. Actually
had a very nice performance versus Patrick Sartan, who is
(20:45):
as advertised in my opinion. But what that does for
the offense is you get trailing Burke's on Riley Moss,
who's able to win for the touchdown. You get Riley
Moss on Deebo. Samuel was able to catch that you know,
fifty yard bomb at the end of the game that
gets you into scoring positions.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Ch Ertz running wild, Zach Ertz.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
On Hufonga was That's something that we wanted to see
all year, Right, is that kind of matchup, that kind
of production from Zach And that's a matchup he should win.
He doesn't get that matchup necessarily if Terry isn't out there,
and so the confidence the quarterback hasn't Terry right, his
ability to win versus man and man coverage, and then
what it does for everybody else, Like there was a
(21:22):
play I think we talked about it with Santana on
Command Center this week, where you know, Debo's running an
out route on the safety and that is a route
that he should win ten out of ten times and
twice on Sunday, you know what I mean, Like that
is something that should be easy, and that's a matchup
that he gets in that situation because Terry's back on
(21:43):
the field. So when I look at the offense, I
think it just makes it way more dynamic. And I
also think it helps the running game because you can't
play the same coverage structures we were seeing from the
Chicago Bears, from the Dallas Cowboys on that skid where
the offense was kind of sputtering. You can't play press
man the same way because Terry's going to.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, it's exciting to finally see kind of the picture
of what this offense could have been coming to flu.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Through fruition, fruition, and.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Once jayde and Daniels gets back, just seeing it all
work together is one of those things where unfortunately we're
waiting until week fourteen, fifteen sixteen or something to finally
see what we were hoping to see all year. That's unfortunate,
but promising for the future and promising for the last
couple of games here on the push towards the towards
the off season.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah, that's something that you know, you and I have
talked about off air a little bit. Is I think
it's good. I think it's good to kind of get
this confidence in the team in the locker room, in
the identity, in the direction, and that only comes from
winning and playing competitive football late into the season here.
And unfortunately, like you said, it's happening late. But you
know that quote from Dan Quinn on Hard Knocks, like
(22:54):
we lost, but we're no longer lost. That is exactly
how I'm starting to feel as a fan of this team.
And you know what would make me feel even better
is if they kind of went on a little bit
of a run here. They don't need to win every game, right,
I'm not saying that, but you know, they beat Philadelphia,
or they knock off Chicago or knock off the Cowboys
or what you know, like something like that where it
(23:14):
shows you that we the team that we thought we were,
which is a playoff caliber team. Is that team in
terms of roster construction, we might be a couple pieces
away here and there, got the draft coming up, got
free agency coming up. Will handle all that stuff. But
to me, that's the thing that's exciting about this backstretch
here is this is what we were promised and now
the idea we're going to get to see it. You know,
(23:36):
at some point with Jane Danils at the helmet's get
really exciting.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
All right, Logan, have fun out in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Thanks Brother, appreciation
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