Ben Leber/Jonny Athletic - Bumper to Bumper 10/27/25 Hour Three

Ben Leber makes his weekly appearance to review the the Vikings loss in LA, the Carson Wentz news and where they go from here before Jonny Athletic joins for some Vikings discussion, an Anthony Edwards injury update and a preview of Wolves/Nuggets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Johnny Athletic will file a live report from Target Center
in about oh forty minutes or so.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Wolve's taking on.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
The Denver Nuggets tonight game that you can hear on the
TIMBERWLS channel with that game beyond the fan as well.
Tonight it will be Wool's Nuggets. It will be good
showdown days will be as well outstanding. Ben Lieber is
with us via the Connecticot Water Systems hotline, and as

(00:41):
we say hi to Ben, I'm assuming it brought you
by Sierra Nevada that you're well aware of the update
on Carson Wentz. He will undergo surgery to replace a
torn labroom. Alec Lewis liber reminds us that that happened
in London against the Browns. He'd already been dealing with

(01:04):
bruised ribs from the game in Dublin. Surgery was always
going to be a necessity, and now apparently it's become
necessary immediately.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
What's the so? What do we say?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
So obviously his season is over, maybe his time with
the Vikings is over, maybe his career is over.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Who knows? What what do we say to?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
What's the I guess the final verdict on Carson Wentz
coming in here to try to come to the rescue.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Well, I don't know. I guess final verdict is it's
tough because he's putting he was put in a hard spot,
you know, and like he didn't have much time to
learn the playbook, learn the system and be around the guys.
And you know, we've talked about a lot of times
where these quarterbacks are hanging out with the receivers, you know,
having dinner with them, they're going throwing extra routes in

(01:57):
the offseason, and they talk about that chemist. Well, he
didn't have any time to develop that, and so he
was doing the best he can, kind of drinking out
of the fire hose, as they say. And then you
got to deal with a patchwork offensive line where he
probably didn't know from series to series who was going
to be playing in protecting in front of them. So
I mean, I would say, you know, obviously record wise

(02:21):
and statistics wise, it's not it wasn't great, But I
got a lot of respect for the guy to come
in and do what he did and lay his body
on the line. And the reason why I tore up
the shoulders because he's a competitor, you know, he didn't,
he didn't get blindsided, and you know it just happened
that it was a flukey play. No, he's dropping his shoulder,
he's trying to run guys over when he's picking up yardage,

(02:42):
especially on third down. So you know a lot of
respect for what he what he tried to come in
here and do you know what he did come in
here and do, And so you know, hope nothing but
the best for him. And like you said, I don't
know where this is this just another chapter in his
career or is this the end of the book.

Speaker 5 (02:58):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
We haven't talked since the game.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
I don't think I'm still I'm in the camp that
is stunned that he was, that he remained in the game.
I don't understand it.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
And I'm not suggesting you make a change to think
you can win the game, or even to punish Wentce
for not playing particularly well. I just thought it was
the right mercy move. The game was pretty much over
to me. You bring in whoever your backup is in
this case, obviously Brosmer, and you have him hand the
ball off and you throw maybe a few short passes

(03:33):
and you get out of dodge. I was stunned that
he was kept in as long as he was. Were
you surprised at all?

Speaker 4 (03:41):
You know, I was a little bit, But you know,
in hindsight, I probably wasn't thinking about it clearly at
the time. I was just thinking, like same thing as you,
and I see the pain that he's in, you know,
uncharacteristically throwing his helmet, you know, win seeing multiple times.
It's like, man, this guy is really battling through this,
and the game was kind of getting out of hand.

(04:01):
It's just like, okay, mercy rule, get this guy out
of here.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
But then what.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Happens is what if Brosberg goes in there and gets hurt. Well,
now you've got two hurt quarterbacks, and then you, I
don't know, if you have to go to your emergency
Thaird quarterbacks, which obviously is are banged up, you know,
hopefully franchise quarterback, and all of a sudden he's in
the game when he's not expected to get in the game,
and you want to prevent any sort of extra injury
to his ankle. So I don't know. I suppose that

(04:28):
in hindsight, it's like, no, we can't afford to have
two guys get hurt and rely on our emergency quarterback,
and if Carson's able to go out there and just
if it's just a pain tolerance thing where okay, give him,
give him a few moments the pain goes away, can
go out there and compete again. I mean kind of
take the same approach of all right, let's just hand

(04:48):
the ball off a few times, maybe throw some short
passes and get him out there. And I think that's
that was the right call.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
A couple of people have texted that they'd heard that
you had some hope that you know, the Vikings might,
because the trade deadline I think is next week, might
try to make some overtures again to back up for experience,
to add Russell Wilson to the quarterback room. Is that?

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Can you confirm deny.

Speaker 7 (05:15):
That I've never said that.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I feel like, yes he did. Yeah I didn't.

Speaker 4 (05:25):
I mean, obviously, you know, great troll job by you
or Guardsy or somebody quote unquote somebody, But no, I mean, look,
I mean, if they're looking to get a veteran in,
I I guess I wouldn't.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
I wouldn't be mad at them forgetting the veteran in.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
But you know, he's not my guy.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Yeah, no, I didn't think. I didn't think that's what
that was my recollection. By the way, we haven't talked
about this on air Guardsian.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
And I and maybe it's settling down now, but you
saw the the verbal brawl that broke out between Russell
Wilson and Guardsy's favorite coach, the head coach of the
Denver Broncos, formerly a bounty guy from New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
You're gonna make me say his name, you go ahead.
What did you make of that?

Speaker 1 (06:11):
I mean, that got unusually frontal and vicious, didn't it.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Yeah, it kind of did. I mean, you know, Sean,
after the fact, after Russell saw of clapped back at
you know, he tried to take the high road of like,
well that's that's not what I meant.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Then what did you What did you mean?

Speaker 4 (06:31):
Because it did seem like you were taking another jab
but a guy that clearly was not your guy in Denver,
So he can try as he might to kind of
backpedal from this thing. But listen, Sean, you started it,
you know, don't start the fire. I just walk away,
I do believe. I mean, I hate to be on

(06:53):
Russell's side with this one. I'm on Russell's side with this.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, Russell went with the count the counter that he
needed to he needed to get dirty once the door
was opened, right and and the bounty part was the best.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
That's the best.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's that is still to this day his greatest vulnerability
right there.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
So I said, yeah, you gotta get, you get. If
you're gonna make me play dirty, I'll play dirty.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Well, you want to talk about feud, an ongoing feud
right now that is reaching maybe criminal behavior. Have you
paid attention to Ryan Leaf and doctor Chow?

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Oh you know, I'm glad you brought this up. Yes,
this has gotten very juicy.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Oh boy, oh boy.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well can you summarize it for those for our listeners
who have not been paying attention to the back and
forth there?

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Sure so. So doctor David Chow he's now kind of
rebranded himself as well, not only still being the practice
seeing the orthopedic surgeon in San Diego, but he's like
the pro football doc on social media and he just
gives his two cents on all sorts of sports injuries
to happen in real time, you know, whether it's cam
skataboo or maybe even basketball season now is underway he'll

(08:03):
comment on some injuries and just what it looks like,
what it could be, what the timeline is, and all
that stuff. Right, So Chow posted a video about our guy,
JJ McCarthy, and it was the second one, I believe,
the second one that he commented on, saying like, hey,
this is this to me feels like a soft benching.
I think they're hiding behind this ankle injury. I think

(08:25):
that they they don't think that he's ready, and they're
trying to buy as much time as they can because
they're not happy with his performance on the field. That
that's sort of rhetoric and out of nowhere. Ryan Leaf,
who you know, obviously was a draft pick bust by
the San Diego Chargers and knows doctor Chow comes after him,

(08:47):
not anything related to JJ McCarthy and just saying like, hey,
you're the one that's responsible for Junior Seal's death. You
are the one prescribing him all these these meds and
all this other stuff. And it just became like whoa dude,
you like when a full one eighty and you're going
hard at this guy for something that's unrelated to anything

(09:09):
about pine pills or anything. Let's talk about JJ McCarthy
and like what he thought the Vikings were doing, and
they didn't stop there. Chow sent out a video. He
made a video basically just kind of taking a high
road and saying like, hey, you know, this is ridiculous.
I was cleared of any wrongdoing and whatever. And then
Ryan Leaf basically said, I'm going to make it my

(09:29):
life's mission to respond in this way to every post
that you put out there because I want to expose you.
And it's like, holy how dude, Like that's why I'm
like the things that he's saying. If if it's not.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Accurate, Yeah, it's dangerous stuff.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
Yeah, it seems like to me, it's like flanderous stuff
that you can be taken to court for.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because that's you know,
we had I don't know, howny years ago.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
It was somewhere along the way.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
I think we had Ryan Leaf on when he was
kind of on his redemption tour, you know, and he
was talking about.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Having a sober super Bowl, sober super Bowl party, that's
what it was. Yeah, that's exactly a good memory. And
he was excellent to talk to because you know, he
he he was he.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Seemed at that point he was owning a lot of
the stuff from his own life. So I kind of
lost track with him. I track of him, I had not.
I did not know he'd gotten to this level. I
will tell you that one of the more embarrassing predictions
I ever made, and I made a bunch over the decades,
was the year he came out with Manning.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
This was Chaddon Barrero days. I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
I said, watch and see Ryan Leaf will be a
better pro quarterback than Peyton Manning. I'm on record, I
actually said it. How'd that turn out?

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Wow? Hot takes?

Speaker 3 (10:44):
That's about as hot as you get. Well, it was
about and you know what I did.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
I got.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
I got seduced by the gamer thing. You know, Leif's
got that, he's edgy, he's.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Got that extra something.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
The other guy might be a more talented passer, but
Leif's got that. There's just something about I fell hook
line and sinker for that thinking. I wasn't alone at
the time, but man, that that's one of those I'd
rather forget. But you know, you have to own up
to all of your mistakes, right, No, I'm with you.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
I mean, the thing is like that's why. I mean,
I'm glad that you're just having the fun with this,
but it's hard to evaluate quarterbacks. Yeah, because I do
think that gamer mentality, grits, you know, moxie, all that
stuff that is a factor in some of these things.
You know, look at some of the recent criticisms. Like
I was always a fan of Baker Mayfield. Now I

(11:34):
put him probably in the same take that you had
with Ryan Leaf, Like, I just love his fire, his passion.
He is a gamer. It doesn't always look great. It's
kind of an orthodox. Yes, he's shorter than your average quarterback,
but like I like him. To me, he seems like
a winner. You could say the same thing for Ryan Leef.
You know, in a more recent situation, Justin Herbert. Justin

(11:56):
Herbert was criticized when he was coming out of college
because they said he didn't have a leadership.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Quite that's true.

Speaker 4 (12:02):
He's too he's too quiet. He doesn't say the things
that he needs to be said. He doesn't exude a confidence.
He's not Do you you really picture this tall, prototypical
guy with a big arm athleticism Do you see this
guy's actually being your franchise quarterback and a lot of
teams said no, yeah, we know you're right, and I'm like,

(12:23):
well look at him now, you know the guy's a
stud and he made us look foolish on Thursday night.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Well, yeah, we don't need to spend a lot of
time on the game because we're well past that and
it is after a lion's week.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
But what for you?

Speaker 1 (12:36):
I mean, I I just viewed it as kind of
that that old pole I had quote a total system
failure in that game, where there wasn't any one thing,
it was everything that that got seemingly got exposed. So
what was your biggest surprise from the Chargers game Thursday night?

Speaker 2 (12:54):
What shot? What jolted you the most?

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Going back to what we are always talk about fundamental football,
we didn't run the ball. Well, I think we only
had eleven carries, But you know, so there's that, and
I know that the game sort of got out of hand,
but lack of success running the football against the team
a defense that wasn't good at stopping the run, I
believe I can remember the stat was something like they

(13:20):
were twenty eighth in the league and yards per carry
allowed as a defense, it's something like five point three
yards of carry or something like that, so everybody else
could run the football on them. We have both of
our healthy running backs are back in the backfield, you know,
why can't we run the football? And then the same

(13:41):
thing on the other side, getting absolutely owned and dominated
on the line of scrimmage in the run game and
then not being able to affect Justin Herbert when he's
throwing without some sort of pressure drawn up, Like we
they had a banged up offensive line. I get that
Joe Alt was back, but they had a banged up
offensive line. They're dealing with a lot of the same
thing that we were dealing with. And you're telling me

(14:03):
that our guys on paper and a four man rush
can't create more pressure and more chaos. I was really
shocked by it, by both of those things.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
No question.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
So we know the McCarthy era is starting. I mean,
I'm assuming he's going to be healthy enough to play
against Detroit. So what how do you how do you
restart this thing? And really, like you say, the worst time,
I mean, everything went wrong in that game at the
line of scrimmage, right, and you got to get healthy
and figure it out on the fly with the kid

(14:33):
quarterback in Detroit against one of the better teams in
the National Football Conference.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's a lot.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Yeah, it's a lot, but you know what we if
we want to see what this kid has, then he
has to play. He's gonna he's gonna play a game
for It's just like, man, it's a lot for him
to make his very first start in the NFL, you know,
in his hometown on a Monday night against Chicago with
you know, the former first round draft pick as well
at quarterback and and their new fancy head coach. Like, yeah,

(15:02):
it's tough, but it's the honeymoon period is over. You know,
you're you can't rely on you know, the what ifs,
and you know, this is what he what we think
he is like, Eventually, he's got to put your big
boy pants on and go play professional football. And by
doing that, you're gonna be put in tough environments and
tough situations and you just got to deal with it.
And this is as a fan base, this is what

(15:24):
we want. We want to see this ultra competitor that
we have seen through college and what we hear about
in practice. We want to see him do this in
Detroit against the Ravens the next week, going to Seattle
going to Green Bay, like, we want to see all
those moments. It seems like it's kind of unfair, and

(15:45):
it's like, Okay, who do we have that's healthy upfront
to protect him? Be that as it may, this is
a situation that he's got to deal with, and I'm
actually really excited to watch him go out there on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Is the division green Bay wins last night? I think
they've got one. We've got four right now, right, and
we're going to Detroit, so and I don't know who
Green Bay is playing next. Is the division itself slipping away?
Do you think, especially when you lay out the schedule here,
this is starting to get pretty serious.

Speaker 7 (16:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
That doesn't mean you can't get in elsewhere through the playoffs,
but you sort of got to get it restarted pretty quick.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Don't you.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Yeah, you really do?

Speaker 6 (16:23):
You know?

Speaker 4 (16:24):
Am I going to count this team out?

Speaker 2 (16:25):
No?

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Not yet. But let's deal with reality here. The likelihood
of if everything is equal, like we're performing at the
same level as the Packers, doesn't seem that we're playing
at the same level as lines. We'll figure that out
on Sunday. We have a pretty tough schedule still, and

(16:47):
we like I said, we have to go out to
Seattle and we still have the Ravens and who get
the Giants? We have to go down to Dallas and play.
Right now, I think there's still the number one offense
in the league, even though they didn't play like it yesterday.
There's a lot of things stacked up against us, like
is it over No, but it's not looking good and
we got to turn this thing around, not in a

(17:08):
couple of weeks, like we have to turn it around
and look like a much more competitive team that starts
in six days.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
So what from your perspective, what what's the inside word?
What's the what are you hearing regarding Jonathan Allen and
and Hardgrave?

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Right?

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Because this is not to this point, I don't believe
we're not getting out of them anywhere near what you
know we thought they represented with those splashy moves or
what felt like splashy moves. Did we expect too much
the Viking expect too much? Is there still time to
turn that around?

Speaker 3 (17:42):
What do you think?

Speaker 5 (17:45):
Well?

Speaker 4 (17:45):
This is this is just the look. A disclaimer for
everybody listening. I don't get I literally get no information
from anybody with the Vikings. You know, a lot of
my a lot of my quote unquote takes are just
like my own opinions. You know, I haven't talked to
anybody internally about how anybody's playing any of that stuff,
So I honestly don't know how they feel about them,

(18:05):
but I'll tell you how I feel about them. Like
I think Jonathan Allen is a He's not getting enough
credit for his run game defense. I think that he's
very active in the run game. I think he does
a lot of things that don't show up in the
stat books. I think that he's playing as active as
he can. He's he is, he is being more disruptive
than than you think do. I think that he needs

(18:25):
to be more of a presence in the past game
one hundred percent, you know. I I think that he's
got to win some more one on one battles and
and be able to get more vertical and affect the passer.
And I think Hardrave quite honestly has been non existent
in the run game. I actually think he's been a
liability in the run game. You know, two games ago,
I thought he had a really bad, like really bad

(18:47):
first two series that he was in there in the
run game, getting pushed back and you know, oftentimes getting
in the in the lap of the linebackers, not playing
double teams very well. Just seemed like really of sorts.
And then you know, because our defense has not been
able to play with the lead, which will be fascinating
to see if that happens this weekend. But we haven't

(19:08):
seen his best. I mean, his best to me is
a pass down penetrator from the inside. And because we
haven't been in those situations where we can really put
all our weight on our toes and get vertical in
the past game, we haven't seen maybe the best of him.
So unfortunately, hard Grave to me, has not been playing well.

(19:31):
And really it's severely underperformed.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
How much.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Staying with the defense for a second, how often are
we playing going with the three safety?

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Look?

Speaker 4 (19:44):
There there are times where we do it. I mean
we do it a lot.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Is it too much?

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Is what I'm asking?

Speaker 4 (19:50):
Well, I don't think we do it too much. I
mean if we think that Mattellis is like an in
the box linebackers, well then it's not really three safeties.
You know, you know we're getting a Wilson now is
an outsider edge rusher these days. I mean that's kind of.

Speaker 5 (20:03):
A new change.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
The last couple of games. You're getting Mattel's to kind
of line up all over the place, and Theo's been
sort of a deep centerfielder at times as well. And
you know, when Harrison's been in there, he's He's Harrison.
He kind of lines up with the lion of scrimmage
and does his thing. Yeah, I think, you know, I
think there. You know, we're what seven games into the season,

(20:24):
and it does seem like and part of it is injury,
not having ban Ginkle out there and other things that
it does seem like they're still maybe in experimental mode
with some of their personnel groups. And I don't think that.
I think they'd probably wish to be more solidified on
who their personnel groups are at this point of the season.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Are we I mean, is Okuda by the at this
point just been exposed that he is not what we'd
hoped he was going to be when we thought we
were reclaiming him in training camp.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
I don't necessarily think so. I mean, he gave up,
he gave up that touchdown. I get that, but you
know they tried him on the same play to play before.
But with I think with Alan, a bigger bodied receiver,
and then they put Lad McConkey out there and they
match him up. You know, that's a that's a speed
slot receiver that they're like, all right, well, if we

(21:14):
can't get by him with the bigger guy, let's put
a smaller guy at him. And yeah, he didn't do
a very good job of getting his hands out about
the line of scrimmage and he got that immediate separation.
But I don't I don't think that he's played awful.
You know, you gave up a play, all right, that's
gonna happen. I'm definitely more concerned with his concussion issues,
you know, and he left the game with getting evaluated.

(21:36):
I don't know where he's at right now in that protocol.
But you know, playing a physical brand of football that
he plays, you know, when you've got to take care
of your head throughout the rest of the season, I
think it's going to really affect whether or not he's
going to stick his nose in there and get dirty.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
For I think the trade deadline is next I think
I'd say it's a week from tomorrow. I believe I
know it's next week, So we sniffin or would you
like to see us. Is there anything that you know
we trade deadline and baseball there's always talking about hey help,
you know, if you need a little help here, a
little help there.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
Trades are often made. Well, the Twins don't, but you know,
good baseball teams do, or teams that think they're in
the mix. And I keep hearing these predictions that this
is going to be an unusually active trade deadline in
the NFL.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
So you think the Vikings are going to get on that?

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Is anything any place where you think realistically you could
add an interesting piece or is that too much to
even hope for regarding who might be available?

Speaker 5 (22:33):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
I you know, again, let's deal with reality right now,
like should we be buyers or sellers? And I think,
you know, we're probably more in cell mode than we
are by mode, So I think if there's something to
be done, I could actually think it's side put the
If I'm a betting man on this, I'd say that
we're sellers more than buyers.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Oo.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
And you know, I saw the same stuff on social
media like everybody else, with Hawkinson being you know, connected
to some sort of trade. I mean, look, it makes sense.
I'm like all right. If they decide to do it,
I'm like, Okay, well, what are we going to get
in for compensation? I believe that we are twenty six
thirty six million over the cap next year. I know

(23:14):
that his contract plays a big part of that. I
don't think it's gonna be hard for the team to
get under the cap. But if they can make an
in season move as opposed to an off season move,
and they can just kind of take care of that
one contract right now plus get compensation draft wise, I
don't see why they don't explore that. So yeah, I

(23:35):
definitely think that if anything happens, will probably be sellers
as opposed to buyers.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Buyers as in the concession that we're really not you know,
in it this year or more. Well, no, this is
a particular move that we're not as high on as
we once were. Plus we are in a financial situation
where if we can get ahead of it and get
something back, we'll do it and not necessarily kill our
chance is to get back into the playoff chase.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
I think it's all of it, you know. I think
you got to put it all in the pot and
figure out what you're cooking with. And yeah, right right,
as of right now, what do you realistically expect what
our schedule going for? Yeah, and a quarterback that's played
eight quarters. I mean, I don't think that we can
have delusions of grandeur here. We have to be realistic
about what we're facing. And do you know, have crazier

(24:26):
things happened, Absolutely, But given all the injury stuff that
we have going on, given the fact that have a
quarterback that we still don't know what we have out
of him, we get a defense that right now that
can't figure it out, and we're giving up a ton
of points in a ton of yards, especially late. All
of that factors in. And yes, you hear you know
Quacy talk about a two year plan all the time,

(24:48):
like every year, every time they make a decision in
the off season or whatnot, they're like, listen, we we
have a two year plan. We're always kind of readjusting
our two year plan. And if you are looking at
out ahead of time into twenty twenty s beyond, well,
I think the financial part of it is definitely a
piece of the puzzle.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Do you have a hotsplash player of the game for
the Packers Steelers game?

Speaker 4 (25:09):
Yeah, it's not going to be very surprising. I mean, shoot,
I freaking sat down and created a video about the
guy the other day. I mean, Jalen Redman is pop
Splash player.

Speaker 6 (25:20):
Of the game.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
You know, he's been my player of the game several times.
I feel like it's either between he and Grenard or
maybe an offensive lineman. But you know, the guys having
a special year, and I want everybody to appreciate how
well he's playing, given his story, given where he's come from,
given where he's got to battle through, depth chart stuff
and labels and all this other stuff. He's our best

(25:42):
in tier defensive lineman, hands down. He just he's good
against the run. He's twitchy, he has great fundamental handwork.
He's very quick to disengage. He can play with separation
even though he doesn't look like a very tall guy,
especially in this game against the Chargers. I mean so
many times is where he would hit and create separation

(26:02):
with his arm length, look diagnosed with the ball carriers
and get off and go try to make a play.
I just think that everything that he's doing is fantastic,
and you know he's still developing, he is still getting better.
So sreak. The sky's the limit. For this guy.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Thank you, Ben Labor, good luck in the Motor City.
Thank you, Yeah, thanks man, appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
Thanks, talk to you next Monday.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
It's a deal. Nacho liber helping us out as only
he can do. By the way, Larry Mondello guy has
checked in.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
Is that right? Lieber said he doesn't get info from
anyone with the vikings.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
He comes up with his takes on his own.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
But I've been listening to the fan a long time,
and I believe he's stealing his takes from Mark Rosen.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
From Mark Rosen, you say, let's get a waste some
money for a final time tonight to fan and two
men and a junk truck want to give you a

(27:05):
shot twin bonus bucks. That is our national cast contest.
And the final keyword is bills. Go to KFA dot
comment through the keyword bills. You see where the Packers
play next week. They're hosting Carolina. Yeah, Goodell's They're gonna
be six to one and one.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, it's over for the division.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
It is.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
Well, maybe Lever's right, maybe we're going to be sellers.
I I can finesse my way, or I can lie
to myself enough into thinking that even if I traded Hockinson,
I don't want to give up on this season. He
it doesn't feel like he's a very big factor in
what we're doing right now?

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Does it not really for the money? And again, is
it is it?

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Is it a.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Dangerous time to make that evaluation because can you argue
that because of the unsettled nature of the quarterback position,
it's more about that than it is that Hockinson doesn't
quite have as much left in him as you might think.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
So, I don't know. That is an interesting name that's
come up. By the way, there was he did an
excellent job on talking points Friday, and I did not
get I got to all but one of them. This
is one that we called the highly touted young defensive
star who apparently isn't.

Speaker 6 (28:29):
Herbert goes under center, that all's the tailback, three receiving
options right, Herbert's looking to pass Clows over the middle
of Maconkeye is uncovered. He crought it at about the
twenty yard line flag on the play, lad mcconkee is
able to roll ahead of the seventeen unofficially a gain
of fifteen yards pending penalty. And we'll see what Cleete
Blakeman has to say.

Speaker 7 (28:49):
Yeah, it's either going to be holding or roughing the
pass or one of the two.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
Let's see personal.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
Foul, rough in the pass, le defense, swimming NY two
goes half a different show goal lines from the in
the past.

Speaker 7 (29:00):
First, that nothing, that's not number fifteen actually dash Turner. Yeah,
that was kind of That was just stupid because Turner
kind of launched himself. He left, he left his feet
instead of running through and trying to get a hit
on him. Yeah, he launches himself with helmet first, and
then it's justin Herbert right in the face mask. So
that was that was kind of a no brainer on

(29:22):
on the officials part.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Holy cal perfectly described by Peter Bursich. I wanted him
kicked out of the game, and I'm told that there
is that discretion.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
I don't know how often it happens.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
That was about again, it's there's plenty of cheap shots
in this league. I get that, but that to me
was about as cheap as you get and stupid. As
Bursuch said, you know the old run through the play,
but what's the what do you what exactly? It said,
it looks like at play where you're just simply trying
to injure the other team's quarterback, and Dallas Turner should

(29:56):
be actually concerned with other aspects right now than that.
Don't you think making a name for himself this is
not the way to do it well.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
The other thing I would say is waiting until the
ball is snap to jump across the line of scrimmage,
because he had at least one yes, it's not two,
and I thought about even just throwing those in there,
because those were almost to me as annoying the times
where he just jumped into the neutral zone before anything
was happening. And I know what happened at least once.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
I think it happened twice, and.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
I'm at least I don't know if they accepted the
penalties on either occasion, but just the fact that it's
a free play because he's up at the top of
the screen just going before the snap, it's a penalty
and it just shows you that you're just not locked in,
you're not ready, you're not playing.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's just your game is not translated to a professional level,
that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
Did you let me see the area code on this one?
Do you have a three to two zero burner phone?
This is rather not answering. It sounds like it's you
setting aside the cruelty of it. How do you justify
putting a player with a torn labrum, dislocation and fracture
on the field multiple weeks in a row. Beyond and
in humane, it's just bad football. How are you supposed

(31:03):
to win games when you're playing someone that hurt? We
are trying to win right. That sounds like you saying
Brozemer should have been should have played during this stretch earlier.
I mean, he's pretending it's about protecting the safety of
the play while she's not. He's also admitting you are
still trying to win the win the game because we

(31:24):
had also a guestling. Carson Wentz's injury was a shoulder
dislocation that tore his labrum and fractured the socket. The
source confirmed surgery was inevitable to repair it so he
could continue his career. Do you think any of these
texts or tweets are getting to kirk Herbstreet like, do
you think he feels bad at all? I love Kirk Hurstree,

(31:46):
You know it hurt me to hear Kirk Hurstreet saying yeah,
he made the guys dying, Kirk, and now you're reading
these things, it's like, it's okay that he's crying. Now
again it's not his throwing shoulder, but that in football,
when you're the quarterback on thematic the hits you're taking
and he's landing on the shoulder and they're driving the
bad shoulder into the ground, it's a distinction without a difference.

(32:09):
And it'll I still, you know, I get you know,
because Lieber said, well, the concern maybe was you don't
want to get another guy hurt. I don't think you
can think that way all honesty.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
That's a risk in a real world sense.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
But if you have a guy in that kind of
shape and what's now being described, maybe part of the
problem is up until now it's been injured shoulder. Then
we get to the nitty gritty with the announcement he's
having surgery. I don't think it had been previously reported
as a torn labor and publicly had.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
It, I don't think so, we probably would have known
that suggested that it was something really bad. And the
brace this last week I think was more elaborate than
the one the previous agree, because I think it was
just like a tape that week looked like Athletico, it
looked like electrical tape around his arm.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Then last week it was like it was a contraption.

Speaker 3 (32:59):
Right, But again, I hope somebody eventually gets to the
bottom of that sort of player abuse, because that's what
it comes off as it really does. It's like, what
do you And you could even make.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
The argument that well, regardless of whether the guy you
have behind him is a rookie or not. I mean,
he's presumably he's healthy enough where maybe you give him
a shot, it can't go any worse than it's going
right now, you can even make that argument. But I'll
say again, I just on a humanity level, just a
mercy rule thing. I'm still I still need somebody to

(33:34):
get to the bottom of how you can possibly justify
continuing to play a guy with what, as it turns out,
has that many very significant injuries to his shoulder, not
even talking about the pain associated with.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
These significant injuries. And I'm trying to think he'll meet
to media Wednesday, right, KOC, Yeah, he's those questions have
to be asked because we were all thinking it. I
had people coming up to me at Grays and saying,
why do you think they're keeping him in there. It
looks like he's just dead. He can't do anything, he's
obviously in pain. It brought me back to either twenty

(34:12):
thirteen or twenty fourteen, the last time the Gophers beat
Michigan for the jug and Ann Arbor and Brady Hoak
was the coach. They had a quarterback who I can't
remember the injury, but it was clear he was incapacitated.
It was either concussion or leg I don't remember specifically,
but the Michigan fans were booing Brady Hoke and Michigan
because this kid was still in the huddle, like he

(34:33):
kept going back to the huddle. He couldn't move, he
couldn't throw. It was awful. Yeah, and all of us
are like, this is crazy. His own the home fans
are booing the coach because they're leaving this guy out
there essentially to die. And that's what I felt like
on Thursday. And now we're getting confirmation of it wasn't
the her Street quotes, and he's just got it. He

(34:54):
needs to do a better job. Week seven of the NFL,
where teams are separating, not you know, of not showing
quite as much of that agony that he's living in
that that as somebody said, where's the quote Torn Laborman
cracked bone socket?

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Come on, he's gotta suck it up.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Yeah, how long are you gonna milk it? JJ is
still hobbling on a on a little ankle tweak from
nine months ago and hopping around just behind him, apparently
not ready to go. Yeah, that's what a mess. Well again,
not even November. Here's the saving grace. I think if
you're if you're a if you're a mcbobo, the.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Saving grace is one way or another. Now there's no
longer any delay. We're gonna see the kid play and
we're probably not We're gonna have to. I mean, it's
gonna be. Is it not fair to say, as of today,
given the schedule, and we laid out the schedule early
in the season, why you need it have a better
record after five games than three and two that given

(36:04):
the schedule, the Vikings for me are a long shot
to make the postseason. That doesn't mean it can't happen.
I'm not saying they're dead, but it's a long shot.
So you reach a point where maybe then you can
calm down and say, now it's gonna be easier for
the kid to play him, obviously, and to live with
the mistakes and to think that, yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
All right, it's it's hard knocks. It's gonna be tough.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
But that's how we're gonna That's how he becomes Drake
May in twenty twenty six. Right, he plays bad in
a few games, makes a few mistakes, but he's out there,
he's getting reps. Most importantly for him right now is
he's got to stay healthy.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
I cause I don't know if you know, we think
there are prop bets on everything.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
We think they're odds on everything. Are their odds right now?
If I if you go went to Vegas or to
Bowdog or whoever, could you get where there will there
be odds posted on the likelihood of Max Brosmer starting
a game for the Vikings this season.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Probably not, they don't do it that way.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Probably not, but somebody might think, I think you might
end up getting your wish at this point. I think so,
just because unless they unless they make the move to
pick up Leebers guy from the Giants or bring back
Kirk Cousins who played very well.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
Yes, but then somebody said, and it's true, they put
he's he's not a shotgun quarterback. And they they were
on almost all their stuff in the show, and that
made it mattered, right, because I saw their defense didn't
look very good. I saw there was a bad fumble
that wasn't his fault. I don't know how, So I
didn't watch all of that game, but I don't think
he did anything where you're gonna go, WHOA, somebody's gonna

(37:46):
want to grab him before the deadline.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
Do you think they didn't see anything? They got killed, right,
team that killed us got killed at home by Miami,
I know. And the video circulating is Kirk checking into
a different play on fourth and seven and then throwing
it short at the sticks actually when they're getting down,
when they're down by like fifty. But it's just vintage,
changing the play, doing all these things, and then's still

(38:08):
throwing it two yards short. And that's my guy. That's
Kirk coo change go to forty two, right. I will
weave Johnny Athletic at five thirty.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
God, that's right. We got Johnny Athletics. So I don't
want to. I'm already cutting into his time. Yes, we'll
make it up to him. We'll definitely make it up
to him and get a live report from Target Center
on the Anthony Edwards injury situation, the Wolves start to
the season, and where he is regarding his favorite football team,
the Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
It's John Krasinski.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
It's five.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Tony, Donny ahead. I didn't he talking about that right now?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
RBC Wealth Management, the sponsor of the Johnny Athletics segment.
He joins us via the Connectico Water Systems hotline. Are
you positioned currently in front of the Target Center cage?

Speaker 5 (39:01):
I'm not in front of the cage, unfortunately, I'm deep
in the bowels of Target Center where there was a
little bit of peace and quiet to communicate. So yeah,
but I'm ready for war tonight for sure.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Larry mondelo Guy checks in.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
This is a carryover from our discussion on this show
in the last segment Johnny having to do with the
uncivilized decision of Kevin O'Connell to keep Carson Wentz in
the game the other night. Here's what larry mondelo Guy,
here's how he puts it. The way koc kept Wentz
in there. Despite the beating, you'd have thought Zimmer was

(39:33):
still the coach and his only other option a quarterback.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Was Kellen Mond just about just about captures it?

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Does it not?

Speaker 2 (39:42):
It does?

Speaker 5 (39:42):
I was waiting for someone to ask him postgame about
you know, why didn't she go to Brosmer and say,
because I've seen him play or I've seen him.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
In practice and just see him every day. That's it.

Speaker 5 (39:53):
Yeah, that's right, that's what it is. Yeah. So yeah,
I don't know, but yeah, I mean, I'll admit I
was watching the game and saying, man, you got to
get this guy out of here. I mean, he's clearly,
you know, an incredible amount of pain. Nothing was working
for him. I don't know all everything that led into
the decision. I'm sure that Wentz was lobbying to stay
in the game, but he took a beaten and it

(40:14):
was that was hard to watch, for sure.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
It was brutal to watch, and and and and now
we you know, especially now that we know more of
the details, a shoulder dislocation that tore his laborum and
fractured the socket.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
I honestly, I someone one of.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
You, and I know you know you're not covering the
team every day, but somebody Alec lewis our guys. Seffert
will be with us tomorrow. Guestling. Somebody needs to get
to the bottom of the mystery of how you keep
playing him. I I in all seriousnes I I thought
it was one of the crueler, more inhumane situations I

(40:53):
can recall in a while, and it made no sense
within the realm of the game.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Was lost. So right, you know the game's over at
that point, So bring in whoever you have to bring in.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
Obviously, Guardi's guy, have him hand off a bunch and
you know, do a couple of short passes and get
on the plane and get the red Eye back, you know,
from Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 (41:16):
Yeah, And I mean I heard Ben Lieber talking, you know,
a segment earlier about well, you know what, if Rosmer
gets hurt, then you got to throw McCarthy out there.
I don't. I mean, I just don't think you can
plan for someone else getting hurt like that, especially when
the guy's in as much pain as he clearly was.
I mean, I've certainly covered that league and the NBA
a long time, and a lot of you know, you

(41:37):
talk to athletes about just what's the most painful injuries
you endure, and torn laborum like that is incredibly painful,
let alone when you're taking you know, hits to it,
and you're getting tackled and all those things, and so
I do think that the right thing was to take
him out and put Rose More in and just you know, yeah,
try to get out of there. Just give the young

(41:59):
kid a little chance to throw it around and see
what happens. The game was lost, nothing was to be
gained from it at all, other than maybe trying to
honor Carson Wentz's wishes if that's individule. Gosh, he was
pitching a fit on the sideline. I mean, he was
just you got to save him from himself at that point.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
By two independent sources have confirmed the Bumper to Bumper
program that you John Athletic has re signed with the
Athletic and we are demanding the terms of the new deal.

Speaker 5 (42:35):
Demanding it, well, you're going to have to do some
reporting on that. You're you are a dogged investigator, and
so you will. I'll leave you leave it up to
you to find the terms. But I can confirm, yes
that I have resigned a multi year deal and very
thankful for the Athletic and for all the support that

(42:57):
I've had, and certainly on this show as well, to
help raise the profile and keep me relevant and so yeah,
but really excited about being here. We've been here through
it all these last eight years, building this thing up
with Russo and Alec and Dan and Aaron and everyone
and Joe and so I love it here and just
happy to keep going.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah, that's good news. Congratulations, boy.

Speaker 5 (43:20):
This is a big, big package.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
That's it. We're going to find out what the package is,
sooner or later, we're going to we are going to
get to the bottom of the size of the package.
So I'm going to say all I want to know,
do you finally have enough juice to get us a
hat or something or not yet?

Speaker 2 (43:37):
One hat?

Speaker 3 (43:38):
One?

Speaker 2 (43:40):
Yeah, one promo.

Speaker 5 (43:43):
I used all of my juice and leverage to just
get this deal done. So I think I've I'm the
equity of gone. Now say yeah, I don't know if
they're going to be able to help you out there.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
You know, I want to get to some wool stuff.
But because there's obviously injury news there too. But six
one two guy raises a point that I briefly discussed.
Was it Friday or Sunday? I don't know which. I'm
gobsmacked by it, but I'll run it by you and
see if you think this person might be onto something.
Because this is I think a theory that's well has

(44:17):
great momentum on gopher Hole Dan. No idea of Prosmer
is any good. But it's clear their egos here quazy
KOs JJ in play that mean that he will not play.
How else do you explain playing Wentz when injured and
so inept Wentz is no threat to JJ, but Brozmer
possibly being more successful must be a huge threat to

(44:38):
the triumph rate. Now I find that preposterous. But there
are people, there are gopher roops maybe guards you among them,
who actually believe that was the main reason Kaos was
afraid to put Brozemer out there your thoughts.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
So this is like maybe the Rock party situation incis
go with free lance, or like the Cousins and Griss
RG three thing. So it wouldn't be the first time,
is what I would say. It would not be the
first time that something like that may have come into play.
I do not believe that is the case. I certainly
can't say that with any certainty. But I know that

(45:19):
they love JJ McCarthy, that they want to give him
the chance, and all those things I don't think that
they're afraid that Brozemer would come in on enough stage
him and then you'd have a real quarterback controversy on
your hands. But at this point, Dan, with the way
things are going, you need something good to happen here.
So I would argue that that would be a good
problem to have if indeed that did happen and Brozemer
came in and just lit the thing up.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
There you go, all right.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Earlier in the program, first segment, I laid out, you
know just how horrific empathetic the weekend, the sports weekend
has been extended weekend going back to Thursday night. That
involves obviously the Vikings, It involves go for Football. It
involved Wolves, I guess, until they at least won in
unconvincing fashion last night against the Pacers. It includes the

(46:07):
Wild and includes Golden Gopher men's hockey. You kind of
go down the list, right, it's endless at this point.
How cataclysmic the last several days have been. But on
the morose meter, which of those teams worry you the
most in terms of a lack of recovery opportunity? Is
there a team? And probably because I know you love hockey.

(46:30):
Maybe leave Gopher hockey out of it if you eliminate
them on the morose meter. Which team do you think
we should be most worried about it It prehps In
having not all that much ability to bounce back in
a major way.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Yeah, I'm actually probably most worried about the Viking fan
because the Wild it seems like every year have some
sort of swoon at some point either beginning middle of
the season and you're like, these guys can't win a
game ever, and then they find their way to some
big surge and they at least get to the playoffs.
They don't win in the playoffs, but at least they

(47:04):
get there and they have a have a decent year,
And so you look at that. The Wolves, I think
will be fine. You know, the Edwards injury is difficult,
but they you know, they have pedigree and I believe
that they're going to be okay and over the long haul.
The Vikings right now, you just you're trying to look

(47:25):
at what do they have going for them, and there's
not a whole lot. The defense has been woefully underwhelming.
You have all these injuries on the offensive line that
their assaucing is weird. You don't know what you're going
to get at the quarterback spot. Basically all you have
is Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, and if they don't
have a quarterback to throw to them or an offensive

(47:47):
line to protect long enough for them to get routes
down the field, it's just going to be really difficult.
And so of all of the teams, they are the
ones that look like they have the most issues that
are going to be harder for them to solve within
the season at this point. And that's a surprise to me, Dan,
because I just did not see it unfolding the way
that it has, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

(48:09):
That's been incredibly disappointing.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Anthony Edwards, we're talking at a muscle pull two weeks,
maybe longer. Is it the kind where this is one
of those issues where it could linger a little bit?

Speaker 3 (48:21):
What do we think?

Speaker 5 (48:23):
Yeah, you never know with hamstring, soft tissue stuff like this.
From what I've been told and people I've talked to,
you know, around Anthony, around the team, there doesn't seem
to be a lot of concern that this is an
extended absence. He's going to be reevaluated in a week.
Everyone that I talked to thinks about two weeks is
what he'll miss. The eight games. That's you know, it's

(48:43):
a good chunk of time. But you certainly there are
times where you have a hamstring that keeps you out
a month or longer, and as of right now, there
does not seem to be that concern. I think that
was the one of the reasons that they pulled him
early from the game and just didn't take any chances
with it. I think it's you know, basically a Grade one,

(49:03):
one of the more on the milder side of things,
and and so there's real optimism that in a couple
of weeks he'll be back and good to go. But
you know, we'll see, just because this is the first
time he's had one of these kind of soft tissue injuries.
So he's a really fast heeler, but we'll see how
his body responds to that versus you know, a back
or an ankle or a knything like you've had in

(49:24):
the past that's usually only kept him out a game
or something like that.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
So how does this change the lineup starting tonight?

Speaker 5 (49:30):
Yeah, we'll find out from Chris Binch a little bit
later about what exactly he plans to do, But I
do think that it obviously puts a lot of pressure
on the team, especially in a game against the Nuggets.
You know, they the Wolves that had so much success
against Denver over the last several years, and most of
it is because the Nuggets just can't guard Anthony Edwards.
There's just no one on that team that is equipped
to do it. And now you take him out, and

(49:52):
it really does kind of change the dynamics entirely. So
I think you're going to see a heavy, heavy dose
of Julie Randall, which we saw last night against the
Pacers and he played really well. But I also think
you're gonna need to see more from Karen Shannon Junior
as kind of another wing scorer, aggressive, going looking for

(50:14):
his own shot, creating things for himself. I think that's
gonna be something that you mix in more than what
we've seen the first couple of games, and then you know,
you may see more Bones Island Rob william Is available type,
but Chris Finch really seems to like Bones more than
he does Rob Dillingham at this point, and so we'll
see if that kind of kind of energizes the offense

(50:37):
a little bit because they do like what he's shown
from a spark plug type of a role, and I
think they're gonna probably give him a few more shots,
a few more opportunities, but it's gonna have to be
by committee. No one's going to replace Anthony Edwards on
their own, but they have a couple of guys that
are gonna get a chance now that thirty seven minutes
and twenty shots are eat up on a nightly basis.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
Here Joker, I was talking about this with Guards the
earlier and then he had to rudely interrupt me because
of the breaking Carson Wentz news regarding the fact that
he's having season ending surgery, maybe career ending. Who knows.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
Joker has one hundred and sixty six regular season triple doubles.
That's I think, third behind your guy Westbrook and Oscar Robertson.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
So pretty good company.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
That's pretty good company. And I don't think he's close
to retiring. I gotta believe he's gonna he's gonna pass
him both by next season, don't you think?

Speaker 7 (51:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (51:39):
For sure?

Speaker 5 (51:40):
I mean I really think, I mean he is barelying
towed if he isn't already there, Dan, he's a top
ten player of all time. Yeah, I mean that's just
what he's done. He's won a championship, he's won three
MVP's every single night. He is an absolute nightmare to
deal with. He's not as bad defensively as people try
to make him out to be, and he's been fine there.

(52:01):
But just like from a pure basketball aesthetics standpoint, there's
no greater show than watching nikolaochis just you know, throw
passes over his head to someone who was covered in
the corner that no one saw coming except for him.
He makes every shot that he takes from three. He's
incredibly efficient. He's just a wide body and he lumbers

(52:26):
up and down the course, but he's always in the
right spots. He legitimately is you know, we're watching the
everyone that's there here tonight we'll see. I believe when
it's all said and done, he's going to be a
top ten player of all time. If he's not there
already that he's that amazing, not crazy at all.

Speaker 6 (52:41):
I like this.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
I think Denver did improve the players around him. What
stands out to you? Where are do you agree they're better?
And where specifically, do you think it's it's most likely
to show up.

Speaker 5 (52:54):
Yeah, they're They're better in the two areas that they
really needed to get better. One is there is a
little bit more shoeoting around him. Cam Johnson's a little
more reliable. Michael Porter Junior, the guy he replaced, was
really streaky, and so Johnson is just a steadier presence there,
both as a shooter and then as a defender, and
so I think his discipline and his precision are a

(53:16):
big upgrade over Michael Porter Junior. And then they're also deeper.
They have Jonas Valan Schunis coming off the bench as
a nice stop gap center for Jokic, so that the
thing just does not fall off a cliff when he
comes out of a game and he doesn't have to
play forty two minutes a night in the regular season.
Michael Malone essentially got fired in part because he would

(53:37):
not play his bench guys, partly because they weren't very good.
And you get Valanchotnis, you get Bruce Brown in there,
Christian Brown's becoming a nice player, So they're just a
little bit more well rounded around Joker, and Jamal Murray's
playing better now than he has in the last couple
of years. We'll see how that holds up. But he's
another guy who really was subpar for the last couple

(53:59):
of years and now is kind of resuming that that
kind of playmaker, big shot taker type of a player
that he was that in their championship run. And those
are all major factors for why Denver is rightfully positioned,
as you know, probably the biggest challenger to Oklahoma City
right now, at least in the betting nods and all
of those things. And I think that's fair right now

(54:21):
because they're just really good.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Tim Harway. Do they have Tim Harway Junior as well?

Speaker 4 (54:25):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 5 (54:26):
Hardaway is another one another or off the bench to
give them some offense so that you know, when when
Joker has to sit, that things just do not completely
collapse on them, which is what was happening the last
essentially two years.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
Are you beginning is it too early to conclude that
the whole point guard you know, dilemma with this team
is going to be a work in progress for a
long time, that this is not going to be resolved overnight.
Wherever it ends up, that it's likely to be the
head coach experimenting and trying a lot of different things.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
What do you what do you make of it to
this point, Yes, it hasn't been good so far. Just
to be frank, Dan, Mike Conley does not look very
good right now. Now you know, he looked the same
last year at this time and found his form, So
we'll see how that goes, how he progresses. But he's
looked slow, and he's turning the ball over, which he

(55:24):
never does, and he's not playing as well defensively, and
that's the problem. Dante DiVincenzo has turned the ball over
a lot, you know, as as the guard right next
to Anthony Edwards. It's to the point where Finch has
not been able to trust Rob Dillinghams, so you don't
even play him, and you play in Boonen Tyland, who's
been okay but certainly not what you want in that spot.

(55:47):
And so I am really going to be interested over
these next two weeks stand without ant in there how
they go about it, because I really thought that the
pathway to success with this roster was to have it
be Edwards and DiVincenzo and just have Edwards really control
a lot of the playmaking and the ball have the
ball in his hands a lot, and it worked in Portland,

(56:09):
and and I think that was going to be the way.
And and Chris Pinch was just gonna have to settle
into something that he's not really a huge fan of
doing just because of the roster. But now without ants,
they're going to be forced to do things a whole
different way. And so I would like to see Rob
Dillingham get some run. I would like to see, you know,
some kind of opportunities there for him and just see

(56:31):
what he has. Maybe he's not ready at all, but
but they're going to need some more production and much
fewer turnovers from the group that is handling the ball
than we've seen in these first, you know, three games
so far. It's been really ugly in that respect.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Is Johnny Athletic more excited about the return of the
trees or the premiere of the so called theater lighting
at the Target Center?

Speaker 5 (56:59):
Dan, I've been I've been anticipating this all day how
you would respond to it, and and I just kind
of pictured in my head to say, Hey, we're happy
for you. Can you just play some defense? And said,
honest to God, enough about enough about the lights. But
I you know it's trivial. It's all that I will say.
The lights are cool. You walk into the building and

(57:20):
that's the first thing that you notice. It makes it
feel like an event. They you know, they spent the
money on it. It was the new ownership idea. I
was wondering how it would look. But the players absolutely
love it. And you know, I've seen the tree uniform support.
They're really nice. I like them. This The lighting is
brand new at Target Center, and it does change the

(57:42):
vibe in the building pretty significantly in my opinion. So
I really liked it. I thought it was really effective,
and you know, I'm glad it's going to be that
way going forward because it just it just makes a
mundane game on a Wednesday night or whatever. It turns
it into something a little bit different and it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Well, you know, the place I most closely associate with
that look was the old Forum in Inglewood in LA.
The Lakers did it forever, and I thought it was
a very effective a style. I think the Knicks perhaps
do something similar. What's weird is and I wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
But when I watched on TV, I thought it looked
more light up into the stands that I remembered it.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
In La or New York.

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Now maybe that was an illusion, or maybe you have
to have certain lighting because you have to have the
court lit. So I thought I had expected on TV
for it to be more obvious that the theater part.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
But you definitely notice it when you're in the building.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
Yeah, you feel it in the building, And you're right.
I think it's like there were some people as I heard,
you know, the plans unfolding, that were like, Hey, are
we going to be able to you know, see the
steps as we walk up them to find ours and stuff?
Is it going to be that dark? No, No, it's
not that dark.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
But the.

Speaker 5 (58:59):
Muted lighting around the stand and then it just makes
it feel like the court is center stage light on
it and it really does pop off of there, and
so it looks and feels different. You'll just have to
You'll just have to make the trip down. Maybe tonight, Dan,
if a thirty game, you have plenty of time, come

(59:20):
on that a wine cooler.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
Rivalry, that might be the answer.

Speaker 5 (59:25):
Well, well yeah, soak it up. We'll get a spot
for you here.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
So we don't know yet who's starting tonight. Finchy will
Uh has not revealed.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
No, he has not, and and it will be interesting
to me Dan, because he loves Mike Conley. He wants
you know, he he in times of trial, he leans
on him. So would it be commonly with Evincenzo? Or
do you go bones you just for a little bit
more juice and energy? Or is it Aaron Shannon Junior?
Are you a little more size? He has several different

(59:56):
ways to go.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Is available?

Speaker 5 (59:59):
I mean he could be available tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Yeah, he is available tonight. Yeah, I'm kind of with you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
But I mean I don't think that's the way Finchy thinks.
I mean he's a big believer, I guess, and you
got to earn the minutes. And he may not be
happy with him. I almost wish. I almost think that
it's never a blessing to lose Anthony Edwards. There's almost
a part of me that says, well, now you got
an opening that you didn't other. Just throw him out there,
throw him out there for twenty five minutes and and
and you know, don't lose your mind if he commits

(01:00:26):
three turnovers. Almost a little bit like JJ, let him
play through some stuff. Maybe I'm expecting and hoping for
too much because the team's got got to you know,
a season and expectations to worry about. But to me,
this is almost like a bonus opportunity to throw that
into the mix, simply because of the the Edwards injury
where you say, you know what, screw it, let's just

(01:00:46):
throw him out there.

Speaker 5 (01:00:48):
Yeah. I agree then, because especially right now, you can say, like,
let's be honest, do we expect that Timberrules to beat
the Denver Nuggets tonight, the second night of a back
to back with no Anthony Edwards. No, So you don't
have necessarily the same pressure to try to win that
you do otherwise, and that may, you know, contribute to
the decision to keep dealing him out of the rotation.

(01:01:10):
Throw him out there. Maybe he gets hot, maybe he
makes you know, a couple of shots and he can
pass the ball out right, and maybe just energizes everything,
or maybe it goes really poorly, but at least you
give him a chance, and at least you just let
you get kind of give him something to chew on
a little bit going forward, and maybe you say, maybe
he really struggles and you can say, hey, look, this

(01:01:31):
is what we're dealing with, and this is one of
the reasons he's not playing, but you at least get
some evidence out there on the court. I think it
would be helpful for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Johnny, we appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Have fun tonight, and don't now again, don't trip on
the stairs because where the media sits it's probably also
pretty dark.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
And it's dark. I couldn't even see those guys last night.
I mean, you gotta be careful.

Speaker 5 (01:01:51):
It is a little dark. I got I got this
trusty flashlight on my phone which will get me where
I need to go. So did you ever come to
be I'm gonna watch shread lightly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Did you ever cover a game at the four for them?

Speaker 5 (01:02:01):
I never did know it was Staples. So by the
time I.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Got around, what was interesting there was, you know, back
in those days, they had the media in pretty good seats.
It was up a little higher, but it was lower level,
but up a number of stairs, and it was dark
and to the point where you're then at each spot
in the rows of media seats you had these almost
little old fashioned you know, like desk lamp lights from

(01:02:28):
like nineteen right right, really nineteen thirties, and so even
there it looked they made an effort to okay, we
still want the dark look. You know, it was a
very noirsh kind of a look. But I do remember
tripping one or two times on the stairs going up, man,
because they they were serious about keeping it pretty dark.
They didn't they did not worry about lawsuits back in

(01:02:48):
those days.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
Apparently, no, no, Jerry Buss would just carry you off
in the desert you needed it. But man, I would
have tripped over everything to get there and see and
watch those games with showtime'sing that building going crazy. Man,
what an experience.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Thanks as always, We appreciate the time. Congratulations on the
contract extension and we'll.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Talk next week.

Speaker 5 (01:03:11):
Great, thanks, dam appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Johnny Athletic with big news his second, I think maybe
third contract with the Athletics long term.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
You know what I forgot. The guardsy, guardsy ask him
what his buyout is?

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Do we know what is on his new contract, what
the buyout might be, because again, maybe another media outlet
comes along and says we want to buy his butt out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
How costly will it be to buy him out?

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
That's the question, he says, a little less than Brian Kelly,
not a lot less, not much, a little less, a
little less.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
Top of the hour pause back in just a minute.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
This football season, Belt Bank is giving one kfan listener
each week one thousand dollars to pay it forward to
a charity of their choice. Just head over to KFA
dot com keyword contest to learn more and enter KFA
dot com keyword con tests.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Clayton writes that the guy Johnny ran out of town
had a single double last night, Luca Garza two points,
two boards and one assist.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Is he playing much for the Celtics.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
I have not watched.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
That would indicate maybe not so much.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Not sure. I think they're winless early again. I think
they've only played maybe two games. Maybe they routed the coaches,
routed the media in a scrimmage like two weeks ago, publicized.
Oh yeah, it was like was the final score like
fifty eight to two?

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Literally, I think it was fifty seven to four.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
It was fifty seven four. I thought they only scored
one basket. Maybe it was whatever it was, it was
a it was a route. They apparently wanted to make
their make their point, and they did. I'm not sure
what the point of that is. And that was without
I don't even think Scalabrini participated in it. Cassell didn't either,
Is that right? Cassell's part of that staff. Is it
because he was bored with it or because he just

(01:05:10):
wasn't interested or I think he's.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Still nursing his Western Conference Finals injury from two thousand
and four.

Speaker 2 (01:05:16):
So if I can, I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
Distill the fear and loathing the morose meter regarding which
teams who have had just miserable extended weekends we should
be most concerned about moving forward as being perhaps incapable
of getting out of the morass of their morosity.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
There seemed to be a growing sentiment that the Vikings
might be that team.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
And I mean, I think the assumption is you look
at the Gopher football schedule and you say, well, they're
going to win.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
I mean, they got some inviting games. Head is the
Wisconsin game here or there? It's here?

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Tier.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
Does anybody know how why Wisconsin seemed to play Oregon
tough for a half They've had they have a good defense, Okay,
there's defense. They just can't score. Tried their best all
season long. I've watched a lot of them, and they've
hung around a long time against a lot of different teams.
They just can't do anything. Offensively. They've been in and

(01:06:26):
out of quarterback issues, injuries. They just can't do anything
on offense, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
So you look at the Gopher schedule the rest of
the way, you know it, well, it's, uh, we're hosting
Michigan State Saturday at two thirty. Then we got to
go to Oregon after a bye, right, and that's not
going to be easy. But then you have two more
certainly winnable games afterwards. You're at Northwestern. Northwestern's plucky. That's
not an automatic win. They hung with Nebraska Saturday. It's winnable,

(01:06:54):
that's it Wrigley, and then you're hosting Wisconsin. So I
think on this on the base of the schedule alone,
as disappointing as the no show was at Iowa City,
you go, you're not going to fall off the end
of a table. You're gonna probably end up with the
requisite you have a chance to still end up with
eight victories. Then comparatively speaking, you look and it's really,
in the case of the Wolves, it's way too early

(01:07:16):
to go into too much of a panic mode. Even
if it's not helpful that Anthony Edwards is out for
a couple of weeks and the defense does not look
all that committed at least thus far. Case of the
Wild may be a little more concerning because they've played
more games. They just came off of five game homes
a road trip in which they garnered three points out
of a possible ten. How many games have we put

(01:07:37):
on this homestand since we got back two and we
got a point, we lost one game, we got one
point out of a possible four.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
So far there, right, so it ain't looking good.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
And we already have a captain's meeting with Bill Gann,
which is a little scary, a couple of phone calls,
a couple of phone calls with the head coach and
some other players.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Presumably we're gonna get healthier there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:58):
Then, in the case of the Vikings, I think it's
what has happened in the last two weeks. We've gotten
throttled by two legitimate teams in a row, right Philly.
Now we only lost by six, but it was a
home game and Philly seemed to be in control. And
then we go to La and we get just destroyed
by I think at Jim Harbaugh, who definitely liked what

(01:08:21):
he did in this game for sure, to knock off
the team he might have coached the Vikings by twenty seven,
and then you say, well, what do we got coming up? Well,
we got at Detroit this coming Sunday. At Detroit. I'm
not going to say you can't win, but that's going

(01:08:41):
to be a challenge. Then you've got Baltimore here, and
by then it's very likely that their core number one
quarterback will be back. Right then you do have the
Bears here, but then you got to go to Green
Bay and Seattle back to back after that. So I
think for some people the morose meter is higher for

(01:09:01):
the Vikings a because it did look like a total
systems failure against the Chargers, where you have a feeling
that either our defensive personnel isn't up to snuff, or
maybe there are offensive coaches and quarterbacks at least the
good ones who've kind of figured out how to handle
the b flow madness and insanity, and you know, everything

(01:09:23):
looks like it's disguised and you don't know what's coming,
et cetera. It's that it's you're now asking a rookie,
well second year quarterback who might as well be a
rookie who's played as little as he has. You're throwing
him into the middle of mix at a point where
you still have an unsettled offensive line, right, that's still unsettled, yep.
And you have a schedule where you say, well, I mean,

(01:09:46):
look at the teams again. Now, Baltimore's records not very good,
but I think most people still view them as dangerous.
If Lamar Jackson is playing correct, at the least should
and then you've got you've got maybe the Bears are
are you know, a relatively easy one on the sixteenth
of November, But then you got the two game road
trip Green Bay in Seattle. So let's let's let's play

(01:10:09):
this out. We're not favored against the Lions, no, So
if we lose that game or what three and five?

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Yep, Baltimore, will we be favored?

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Probably not.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
We might be no, you know what, we weren't originally.
You're right, But I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
And especially if we lose this week and we're coming
home and JJ doesn't play well on Lamar's back, I
would think the Ravens will be favored. I'm gonna I'm
gonna give us that game. So let's say we split
the next two.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Then we're at four and five, right, we beat the
Bears five and five, then at green Bay, loss at Seattle,
and we're then we're sitting twelve games in at five
and seven. Yeah, and that's where you start going, where
is this really? You're you're you're you're out of the
division race, probably already. But then you start looking at
the team stacking up just in the conference, and you go, well,

(01:10:52):
where are we going with this thing?

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
You've got Washington here, then you're at Dallas, then you're
at New York Giants. Although even the Giant I don't
think her as awful as it looks like they got
a quarterback who might you know, give them a little
juice at least. And then you finish with home games
against Detroit and Green Bay. So I did mention on
Sunday we should break soon, by the way, Oh good
point the quarterback, you can argue, even if you have

(01:11:16):
other problems and it's a total system failure. That is
the one position where if you get something captured, something
positive going, where you go, whoa, we're seeing what they
like about this guy? You can suddenly feel like everything
else looks better too. Right, It is a position of
high influence. But is that even fair to that player
and is that asking for a two month sure rap is.

Speaker 3 (01:11:38):
Brought to you by American Pressure commercial grade pressure washers
since nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
It's the Bumper to Bumper Show rap.

Speaker 1 (01:11:48):
The sun is setting over Hurricane Melissa with wins of
one hundred and seventy five miles per hour. It turns
north and moves over Jamaica tomorrow. Catastrophic, life threatening flash
flooding and numerous landslides are expected to tomorrow. The eyewall's
destructive wins may cause total structural failure, particularly in higher elevations,

(01:12:11):
leading to widespread infrastructural damage, prolonged power and communication outages,
and isolated communities. That's from your weather guy, James Span
who is a MS certified is online a lot that one.
They're watching very closely. It looks like it is, indeed, yeah,
gonna be messy, a very messy situation. So we hope

(01:12:34):
the folks in Jamaica are able to deal with that.
I'm already seen some stuff on the fringes there indicating
that it could be a fairly rough ride. I want
to thank our special guest today that includes Adam Thielen.
At three point thirty Ben Lieber at four forty seven
and Johnny Athletic at about five thirty five or so.

(01:12:55):
Vikings Rewind is going to wrap follow us tonight and
then it is Wolves basketball, second night of a back
to back. Man softly early in the season for me
to buy that as an excuse if you lose, more
likely we're not at full strength.

Speaker 2 (01:13:09):
I think the Nuggets are pretty much.

Speaker 3 (01:13:11):
Yeah, they are a better They have better pieces around
one of the best players in basketball, if not the
best player in basketball in Joker. So it will not
be easy tonight. It will be I will be.

Speaker 1 (01:13:23):
Curious to see what his You know, the rotations are
by Chris finch our guy Finchy.

Speaker 3 (01:13:30):
So that's still the weekend though, if you had tickets
when the schedule came out, Yeah, for sure. The thirties
are tough. We know why they happened TV right tonight
in the Lakers too, and Luca exactly Skinny Luca and
now ants out and ants out to Yeah, you're right
that game, that's not what you signed up for.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
No, what we did sign up for will sign up
for is Louis scheduled to join.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Us tomorrow in studio again.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
Oh is that right?

Speaker 1 (01:13:53):
I think yeah, and Kevin Seffert will join I hope
in studio, but he will. There'll be plenty of good
Viking spodder to get to, including the fallout to the
Carson Wentz news apparently now official surgery, and of course
he is shut down for the rest of the twenty
twenty five seasons. So I want to find out if
we're going to go out and get another veteran quarterback,

(01:14:15):
and could it be Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
He's available. Giants are bored with him at this point.

Speaker 3 (01:14:20):
No truth to the rumor that when Koc found out
about the surgery he said, but he can play Sunday, right,
We didn't hear that is Brosemor officially the backup or
not why he was on Thursday. Okay, yeah, but now
it's for real. Now things are about to get real.
Let them see the field man. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
Thanks for watching, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
For listening, and enjoy Wolve's action tonight. After a quick
look at what we like to call Vikings rewind, we'll
talk to you tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:14:45):
Three