October 14, 2025 • 46 mins
Dan Barreiro opens the show explaining why we are making "the power of completions" our unofficial phrase of the Vikings season as it relates to JJ McCarthy and Carson Wentz before Kevin Seifert makes his weekly appearance to talk Vikings and NFL.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is You're the power of completions compels you Leader
fan Fan Radio Network, I have no idea and k
f A N dot com. Two minutes eight seconds past
the hour of three o'clock Central daylight time, we welcome you
(00:22):
back to a Tuesday edition of the Bumper to Bumper program.
It's a generally a three and a half hour tour.
Are we three and a half today? I assume yes,
no reason we're gonna get off early today. It should
be Yeah, makes some sense to me. We are delighted
her along for the ride today. Guardsie is the producer
of the program. My name is Dan Barrero, the former
(00:43):
ing Stained Wretch newspaper of the Twin Cities. So we
will go the distance to day till six thirty outstanding
guests that we hope will compel you to continue to
listen to the broadcast today, and that will include Kevin
Seaffert at the bottom of the hour. Sadly not in studio,
guards he tells me, but at least we get him.
Nacho liber not in studio at four forty seven today,
(01:08):
and definitely not in studio given its forty seven degrees
in raining. Luigi will be chatting with us from shall
we say, far more tropical climbs. Let me ask you
a question I think I've asked Luigi before, because I
know you've spent well, I mean, I've obviously, over the
decades spent time in Florida. But I think you're vacationing.
(01:30):
You've spent more time in Florida than I have. I think,
Am I wrong? We've been there quite a bit. Okay,
So is is it true that if you pick let's
just say mid October on to March, that you will
not have to deal with the withering do points, humidity,
(01:55):
and moisteness that you most assuredly do in a Florida summer?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
How different? How much?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
How far down does the due point go in the
state of Florida when we get to the fall months,
the winter months, et cetera. I mean you recall it
gets pretty comfortable. Okay, yeah, it gets pretty comfortable to
be hot from a temperature standpoint, yes, but nowhere near
as steaming exactly, because the summer Florida is unbearable as
(02:22):
far as I'm concerned now. Today, for example, and where
Louis is West Palm, it's eighty four degrees with a
due point of sixty six. So it's pretty summary. It's
pretty Minnesota summary. Eighty four degrees with a due point
of sixty six. Right now, we'll do it. That's a
pretty high due point.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, so you're saying, yeah, which makes sense. That's what
I'm saying. So today is for example, Yeah, I guess
it may depend. Maybe you got to get to November
or December. Yeah, I'm just kind of curious about that.
I know we have Florida transplants who listen to the program,
and we can certainly talk to Luigi about that, among
other things. At five thirty plenty of tennis tournaments in July,
and oh that must be.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That was messy.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That was mess I mean you got to, like, I
assume you're just dripping like a faucet the second you
walk out there. Yeah. Yeah, I liked it. Though oddly
I liked it. Well, some people love it. Yeah, I
didn't mind it. Some people love humidity. I mean, there's
no there's not any questions. Shreveport, Louisiana. Same thing gets
a little sticky, but you do what you gotta do.
I think we have I think we may have located
(03:26):
the Vikings mantra.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
For the rest of this season for the bumper to
bumper program? Is that right? The power of completions? Excuse me?
Do you know the quote I'm talking about? I think
I do. There's been a lot of quotes recently.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
True, there's a bunch it's it's it's perfect and it
comes from, of course Koc who else, the quarterback whisperer,
the man who's job this week is to decide, because
you know he'll make this call.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No one else is going to make this call.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
He will decide who will start a quarterback when the
Vikings host the Philadelphia Eagles high noon on Sunday. Right
here in the fan ten o'clock pregame sermons nine go
for football Sunday, eight am.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Correct, you got it.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of the things JJ took away from watching Carson
Wentz play was the power of completions, the power of
completions that don't always go to the first or second progression.
(04:42):
Might be tej helping out on a protection and it's
a critical twelve yard game when all we did was
really check.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The ball down.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Or it's being surgical with your accuracy when number one
is open, and you do that by getting to that
lower body foundation and playing with great bats elens and rhythm.
This was the quarterback play one on one quote which
I think came Was it from yesterday or the day before?
I don't remember, or maybe this is a combination of
several koc witticisms. The power of completions compels you JJ
(05:16):
McCarthy to learn when discretion is the better form of value.
Now that doesn't mean we want you to become a
check down Charlie, right, that can be We saw that
with the Christian Ponder. Did we not oh my gosh,
yah check down Charlie because you felt like he did
it too often and too quickly. But in fact, during
(05:39):
the break, I think you'll easily be able to find this.
I've had the book in the movie The Exorcist on
the brain lately, as I mentioned yesterday. I just in fact,
they finished it last night, the book rereading the book
for the first time in a while, and online you
can find you may not want to watch it because
you all I'm interested is the audio knowing you you
(06:03):
you You do not have a good feeling on any
horror film, so it might the the the accompanying film
part might be jarring to you. So if don't look
at it if I, because I do not want to
be responsible. Well, how am I going to know if well?
Because if you google in, you're sending me right into
the trenches. If you google in the power of Christ
(06:26):
compels you exorcist, it'll come up. It's one of the
most gut wrenching scenes in the film. In fact, they
don't even use that same language in the book. And
it's when both priests who are performing the exorcism of
the girl who is possessed in this film, this youngster
possessed in the movie Georgetown. They're trying basically, she has levitated.
(06:53):
The entire bed is up at the ceiling. She's in it,
but she's levitating because she's the devil.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Levitated the thing to the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They're trying to bring the damn thing down, is what
they're trying to do. So what they keep saying over
and over and over again is the power of Christ
compels you. So for us, it's going to be the
power of completions compels you. JJ McCarthy to learn exactly
what Chaos claims.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
He wants.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now, what's interesting about this is has choc have had
has he had to have been convinced because chaos historically
has been a what a Zingerman eight yards activated the
top activating activations exactly. So maybe this is as much
(07:48):
for himself as it is for anybody else.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The I mean, I've never heard the term before.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The power of completions, because again, the whole point of
it is at least the way he says it might be.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Third progression.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Might be a five year pass might be a play
where there's a greater chance for well, first of all,
if you catch it yep, to then get twelve extra
yards after the play. That's where it could end up
being a big play. The pass itself may not travel
that far, but the receiver or running back or tight
end who grabs it takes it the rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, this is a really bad day for you to
bring this up with me. Why because I had because
today's actually a Wednesday for Gopher football because they have
a game on Friday. Yes, I had some pregame things
that I had to do that I usually do on Wednesday,
but today's Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But it's a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
But I spoke to somebody and we were speaking about
Drake Lindsay, and inevitably, the conversation about Max Brozmer came up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, and what you just.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Read that quote right there about even if it's a
protection route that we're not even supposed to throw, you
can get it to that guy and just live to
see another.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Day, especially if it's accurate, which he is.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That came up today talking about Brosmer. A guy told
me it were you aroused. I'm still aroused. Yeah, And
he said there was a catch last year Lemecky Brockington
caught a pass that they hadn't thrown in like six years.
But Brozmer saw it and wanted the completion because it
was there.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It was there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The power of completions compel you, and because they were
all conditioned that everybody's hot and you're always open, the
ball just got there. This individual was in awe of
what he saw. So I agree with you that this
is sometimes you just got to take what the defense
gives you and be available.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
To all options.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And maybe this is his way of also encouraging Carson
Wentz keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I'm not going to be offended if you do it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I you know, we've talked about the the way this
head coach as an offensive mine has evolved, and this offseason.
The the the big change was going to be we're
going to run the ball. We're not gonna be afraid
to run the ball. And now we've got two running backs,
and it's gonna be we're gonna be more of a
power team at times. We're gonna learn to win different ways.
I don't know if we've seen it consistently. We've seen
(10:05):
stretches of it. But this, you could say, is another
act of the evolving is changing to I can live
with that too, even though I like to be the guy,
you know, Lucy Goosey, Air Coriel, the whole bit.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Maybe in this case, he too.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Has convinced himself that the power of completions compels him
to not get agitated or breakout in hives, if indeed
that's what he sees his quarterback do. Especially, one could
say when your offensive line has been compromised, I think
that's a big part of it as well, that yeah,
it has to. You may not want to acknowledge that,
(10:43):
but at some point you sort of have to. Maybe
you get to a better place later where you can
open some things up, so you try to find the
SoundBite during the break.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
The power of completions compels you anyway, the fan of
two men in a junk truck want to give you
a shot to win bonus bucks with our newational cash contest.
And the keyword for the three o'clock hour is bank.
Go to KFE dot com and enter the keyword bank.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Compels you, compels you, compels you? Traumatic?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Father, I think Damien Carris was one of the priests
and the the the like accomplished seasoned exorcists, because father
Carris was he'd never done an exorcism before he was
a kid. He's JJ McCarthy of exorcisms of exorcists. I
guess you could say, but the old guy, he was
on a very early stage of his exorcist journey. Is
(11:54):
that fair to say? That's yes, he was zero and
zero in his first exorcisms. You could say, Meanwhile, the
other guy, father Marin, I mean, he'd been around the world.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
He had done if if.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
If if priests wore helmets and each star in the
helmet represented one exorcism, he'd have no more room left
on He was like he was considered like the cram
del at crem Although it frankly ends badly for him.
I hope that's not giving away too much. If I
didn't do really do a spoiler alert there. But that's it.
I think we I think we adopted in this case
(12:36):
the father of I should say, the power of completions
compels you, because that's the mantra offered up by the
head coach. He's I think he likes this one. I
don't know if he's gonna repeat it very often, but
it's he does find ways to to to attempt to
capture things that are you moving or make you roll
(13:01):
your eyes one of the others, sometimes both.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Right, Yes, it's fair depending on the mood you're in.
That's exactly the situation of the team.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You are, correct. So we'll see if we get anywhere
with it. Lots of techs coming in. A bunch of
techs coming in, including from Todd modern quarterbacks who get
the ball out of their hands the fastest after the
ball is snapped Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The power of completions compels you. That's it.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I mean, you can make a really, really good living it.
And again, the passes will not look always that spectacular
because they're four yards or nine yards just slipping it
out of your hand and just you know, throwing it
right left up the middle, but keeps drives going, keeps
(13:55):
the ball out of the other team's hands. And especially
if you have a surehanded receivers and you have an
accurate quarterback who can make those kinds of throws, can
pull the string on it, so you're not throwing the ball,
you know, one hundred and fifty miles an hour, because
that doesn't usually work on the short passes very well.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, what else do we have here? Several? I don't
think Falness will like this three goal lead.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
The wild Blue Chicken wing greed is the new tap boo.
The power of crypt let me start right and he
blew the line. Take two, three goal lead. The wild
Blue Chicken wing greed is the new taboo. The power
of Christ compels you wasn't five? That's not too bad?
(14:50):
Wild got to dub though. Walstad was a wall A.
Three goal leads the most dangerous lead in hockey, apparently
more dangerous than two?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Is it possible we could just use him as our
shootout shootout goalie? I think can you do that?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Or?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Is that sitting?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
No, he's not, he's he's not warmed up enough. If
he hadn't played in the game, shootout goalie and overtime
goalie he had to defend off, Yeah, that's possible. And
his reaction after the final shootout. You never see goalies
really celebrate like a goal scorer.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
No, he did. It was awesome, Yes he did.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It was so then it becomes everyone's annoyed that they
give up the lead. But then as that was going
on the overtime and I was thinking it too, might
be the best thing for him, have to come up
in a big spot like that. Maybe this will give
him some confidence he needs it. Obviously, we've talked about
his goaltending journey and how many times has Garrett said
he can't screw up goaltenders.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
You suggests the same thing goaltender controversy.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'm not, but it was a very positive development in
his goaltending journey. I thought, because he came up big
time and that I would imagine can only help a
guy's confidence.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It was great. Uh, Kyle from Isanti right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So I'm imagining Josh McCown and koc exercising McCarthy with
a playbook and a football and maybe splashing a little
gatorade on him. Let the power of completion compels you,
compel you, because indeed, in the movie The Exorcist, there
is great effort to sprinkle holy water on the girl.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
However, part of the.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Reason originally it didn't look like the church was going
to sign off on the exorcism was the first time
Father Karas visited her, he brought with him water, you know,
like a like a holy water vial, but it really
wasn't blessed. It wasn't really really holy water. To see
(16:43):
her reaction, and she acted like it burned. So at
that point he's gone, well, that's this this this water
isn't blessed, so it shouldn't affect her that way, if
indeed she's representing the devil.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
More on that later, Wentz has to start the next three.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
If you lose them all, then it's McCarthy rest of
the season, even if it's not Wentz's play that loses
the games.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That's an interesting thought. What else do we got going
here with?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I propose I propose we lend McCarthy to Sfo and
Shanahan for internship. The rest of the season worked well
for Darnold, Well, yeah, but we got our own quarterback whispered.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Don't we we're supposed to, so we don't. We're not
supposed to need that.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Eighty eight degrees two point sixty one in Cape Coral,
Florida right now, Dan, this is Adam checking in from
Dallas from November until April, Florida is about as good
as it gets. If you like sunshine, eighty degree day temps,
and cool nights. That's he's actually well, he says Adam
and Dallas, But then he says Adam and Tampa.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So maybe he's got homes both places. I don't know.
If you have the means lucky. That's good for him.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And a number of other people have pretty much said
the same thing, unrelated. We'll save it. I'll save it
because it's a non sequitor, has nothing to do. Ulyssa
has never stopped us before. Great Now Dan is trying
to force a goaltender controversy down our throats, like he's
doing with this quarterback controversy. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm
just curious. That's what you seem to be describing. You
(18:21):
seem to be getting awfully excited about valstat It was
a nice moment. It was a very nice moment. How
did we blow the lead and regulate. I didn't see
that part, I'll be honest. They scored in the final
minute too, with like forty four seconds left.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so I didn't see that part.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I just kind of watched the wild and then it
was bedtime for the kids, and then I came back
and it was OT So I watched that in the shootout,
and he was great.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Power of completions.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Dan, That's exactly what the Packers did with Love for
his first two years, gained experience and confidences. Sadly, they
may have another great quarterback for ten more years, not
going to guardsy. You're still down on him. I think
he's still I'm not ready to anoint him as as
good as Farvar Rodgers, but I think you've got to
roll with him Love.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah. Yeah, well they do have to. Yeah, that's made right.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
But I'm saying I think he's I think he's been
a little better than you think. I think there's resentment
on your part that they're ahead of us again with
another guy. That's what bugs you as a guy who
grew up on the Vikings. They've had like three guys
that they've been able to go out life. Yeah, absolutely, Dan,
I think you're under something. What about Possibly the most
(19:30):
important benefit of U is if your quarterback gets rid
of the ball quickly, your offensive line isn't lockdown for
two hundred thirty four seconds trying to protect him and
getting hurt. If the offensive this must be dictated the
offensive line, he only has to block for less than
two seconds, they're going to stay healthier. Yeah, that's all true,
and in fact, was it the guestling. I think I
read this quote from the Guestling piece today and that
(19:54):
that's part of he had all the stats we've We've
quoted several of these stats before. Yes, it's true that
JJ didn't have a lot of help from his offensive line.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
He did not have Darisaw. We get that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
But he also the notion that all the sacks were
because of he didn't have a chance. He was holding
onto the ball more than like any quarterback in the
National Football League. And so that's part of why the
power of completions should compel him to get rid of
the ball. But you still have to do it. You
can't do it in a ponder way, right, You got
to do it with in a systematic fashion that makes
(20:28):
you think you're doing it on purpose. Not just by accident,
right that, it's part of a plan. So even there,
you have to show composure, right you do. You absolutely
have to know where you're going, know where you're going.
Ye who's you know? Who might be open depending on
what defense you see in front of you. And how
about the monsters of the Midway. How about the Chicago
(20:49):
Bears primed to blow another game in which they had
every opportunity not only to win, but to dominate Washington.
They were giving it away over and over again, and
then they got a gift. They got a fumble with
four minutes to go, as the Washington is going to
run out the clock and they go right down the field.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I told you yesterday.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
They win that game, they're going to be four and two,
they host the Saints. This is a even This is
gonna end up being an even more dangerous division than
we thought. We'll see what Seaffert's reaction is to NFC
North activity to this point at the quarterpole, so to speak,
or beyond, and we'll catch up on his latest I
guess uh instinct regarding who's going to start at quarterback
(21:33):
for the Purple. You got questions for Seaferts six four
six eight six that's the Bradshawn Bryant caffe in text
(21:57):
schiz Them, McCarry is Exorcism, Wolves and five that's Trum,
the infamous flim flam and.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
In Saint Paul.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
McCarthy needs to touch every blade of grass, Fallness, got wild, Sass,
Bring Ass, Wolves and five.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Very disappointing to find out.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
That Kevin Seaford would not be in studio today, but
it's hard to whine too much about it because he
has been pretty resolute and trying to get here when
he could. In this case, I think family duty prevailed.
He's a father first. And although I'm not sure what
you're going to be watching because it looks like pretty
miserab although are there would these be considered prime old
(22:50):
fashioned throwback football conditions that you're waiting on.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
It is awfully rainy and cold, and I don't know.
I think, to me, football condition goes over the rain.
It's either really sunny and calm, or it's snowing and freezing.
But this wet, nasty, gray rain is not anybody's idea
of a good time. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
By the way, before we get to some Viking stuff,
I have to ask you. I was just looking at
a headline online, well actually on ESPN, regarding a subject
that Guardian and I explored briefly yesterday. Mike Tomlin is
the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he went
frontal with his bitterness after the Browns decided to trade
(23:38):
the Methusla quarterback they have whose name I can never remember.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Joe Flaco Flacco. Let me tell you know will remember
the name.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I'll just go with Joe Cool, because that's what some
people used to call him back when he seemed cool
as a quarterback two in season to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tomlin went off on it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Unusual. Is it not for coach to be.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Even if it's a within the division kind of a move,
to be that frontal about whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
His unhappiness was there.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Extremely and it kind of came out of nowhere. I
think it was just a basic question about how Flacco
was fitting in with the Bengals and that, and Mike
Tomlin came out and and said he Andrew Berry, who's
the general manager of the Browns, must be smarter than
everybody else. And so you very rarely hear anything other
than very vay little criticism towards another team, And my
(24:33):
only assumption there is that Mike Tomlin was was bitter,
not just was basically bitter that the Browns potentially altered
the future, the short term future of the AFC North
by giving the Bengals, who seemed to be totally out
of luck at quarterback, a lifeline. Uh and for not
(24:55):
for not really a big price. I think that there
was a pick swap there. And so there's a lot
of teams that I think probably behind the scenes, would have,
you know, would be bitter about it, but very rare
for anyone to do it. But Mike Tommins, certainly at
the NFL's most tenured coach, has the cachet to do it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
His cousin's going to get traded before the deadline. The
name keeps coming up when people are putting together the lists,
but I don't know if it's because, well, it's an
obvious name to put on the list, or because people
actually think there is a way that something like that
could happen.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I mean, it depends on how desperate the team is,
and that's always been the Falcons position. They did not
have any interest, and I think they proved, you know,
they weren't just bluffing there that they really didn't have
much interest in trading Kirk Cousins for just to get
his just to you know, sort of get him out
of the building, because there's probably some ill will there,
like they're going to want somebody to take on the
(25:54):
salary or give them a whole bunch of draft picks
and or players in return in order to make that deal.
So I you know, you see a team like the
Bengals trade for Joe Flacco at a much lower cost
in terms of assets and salary than you did than
you would for Kirk Cousins. But if somebody is really
(26:16):
desperate and there's another injury between now and the trading deadline,
it's certainly possible. But it's gonna take a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
If you had to place a wager in Vegas or
any place illegal as well on who starts for the
Vikings on Sunday against the Eagles, where are you placing
that wager?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
If he had to today.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
If I had to today, I would say it's a
safer bet to say Carson Wentz. I do believe that
the head coach has left himself enough wiggle room that
if JJ McCarthy blows everybody away and practice this week
that it could happen, But it's going to take that
type of week for JJ to get back in the
(26:58):
lineup as quickly. I think they want to see him
him go through a full week of full reps in
the starter role and to upon their review to be
demonstrating no issues relating to the ankle or to any
rust on the mechanical and fundamental issues that they've been
talking about. And that's a lot to do in the
(27:20):
course of really two or three days.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Texter writes this, this is from Chris. Only the Vikings
can have a quarterback controversy that involves a guy that's
not ready and a guy that's washed up.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
There is no good choice. Is that too harsh?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Well, I guess no one's bringing up the third option there.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Well, Guards, you will just give him time?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah, Now, I don't ye know. I wouldn't say. I
wouldn't put Carson Wentz in the wash category. I would
just put him in the way we've talked about him
in previous weeks is that he's played well as a backup,
and over time, backups tend to ebb and flow. Generally speaking,
he's shown more or proficiency in the offense in his
(28:02):
third start than he did in the first, and so
that's something to take into account to I keep going
back to it, but I thought it was really interesting
how he kind of referenced, Hey, you know, I'm still
learning how to throw at Justin Jefferson. There's a lot
of passes that you wouldn't throw to anybody else, but
to him you can and it works out. And so
as we saw in that final drive against the Browns,
(28:24):
and so I think there's still room for growth there.
I don't think that you can necessarily say he's the
guy that's going to lead them to a long playoff run,
at least right now. But I don't think that he's
washed either.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Okay, so a little too certain for that for you. Okay,
that's fair. I'll accept that answer. Here's another textas come
in directly for you. This is from Carl Lake elmol add.
Brian Flores's response today on Harrison Smith's stapcounts to the
long list of odd injury responses this season. Seffert is
(28:58):
this year different in terms of injury clarity the years past,
because it seems bizarre this year between the darrisaw stuff
Harrison and JJ.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well on the Harrison Smith saying that the response to
I didn't take the response that Brian Flores gave on
Harrison Smith today told me that from a football standpoint,
they feel like they're in their best lineup with THEO
Jackson and Josh Mattela playing every down and then Harrison
Smith playing in the nickel. When we follow up on
(29:33):
that and said, you know what's changed here, Florest said
that he still feels like, you know, they're working their
way back. But like I like Harrison Smith really, you know,
he's been a full participant in practice. Like I suppose
it's possible that there's still some lingering conditioning issues from
having missing missed training camp, but we're definitely moving past
(29:56):
the explanation that the the injury explanation, the personal health
issue explanation that applied prior to the buy than where
we are now. If this if on Sunday after the
buye against the Eagles here, if Harrison Smith is playing
you know, just the dime or the nickel or you know,
(30:18):
a third or you know, forty percent of the snaps,
then I think we have to assume that as of
now at least he's not their first option at either
of those safety positions. It doesn't mean he doesn't have
an important role with the team. But I don't know
where else we can look for an explanation other than
(30:39):
they've made a little bit more of a football decision
as opposed to purely a health decision.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Well, but I mean, that's that's interesting, right.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I think it was fair to say that's the first
time that's been clarified to that degree.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yeah, and he you know, in the follow up, he
did reference still coming back from stuff. But I guess
the large your point is that that when he was
asked if if Harrison Smith is going to keep ramping up,
is going to ramp up into a full time role,
he didn't say that he was. He said that, you know,
it's that Theo Jackson and Josh Mattelis are playing well,
(31:15):
and that it's going to be more of a game plan,
you know, situation as far as answering that question what's
best for that particular week and what's the you know,
what's best for the team. And he said it's possible
that they'll look to get him in a little more.
But like just the overall tone was felt to me
(31:36):
like more about football and less about health.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
We've been having some fun with one of the richer
KOC quotes regarding the quarterback situation, or maybe not so
much that, but style of play. And I'm sure you've
seen it. You might have been there for it. I
don't know. And this goes back to him to the
(32:01):
head coach, suggesting that I think this was Monday where
he suggested that look as he has sat, JJ has
absorbed a number of perhaps compelling lessons from the veteran
Wentz starting at QB.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Here's the quote.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
One of the things he took away from watching Carson
play was the power of completions that don't always go
to the first or second progression. So we've kind of
figured that ended up cut out of being the mantra
of the year, that the power of completions compels JJ
to not be afraid to take small chunks of yardage,
not be afraid to check down. That's even a term
(32:42):
that I think the head coach uses in this particular quote,
although I mentioned maybe it's an education for the head
coach himself as a guy who just tended to want
to zing the ball. So are we going into this
new phase where whoever is a quarterback, all we care
about is the power of completions, not so much that
(33:03):
it's got to be twenty, you know, twenty nine yards
downfield to JJ.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
You know that he actually has been pretty consistent with that.
I don't think he's used the phrase power of completions,
but he's I can remember him over over previous years
talking about how important he thinks any completion is and
the damage it does to a defense, and that even
if it's just two or three yards, you know, minimal
chunks down the field, that over time, those take a
(33:31):
toll on defenses, and they move the ball in the
right direction, and they're important. And he doesn't want, you know,
big game hunting to completely ignore the value of just
finding a place to move the ball forward through the air.
And so he's been very I think that's one of
his central mantras and always has been in terms of
(33:54):
the passing game. And I know, you know, there's a
perception and a lot of it's fueled by reality of
his desire to get big chunks down the field, and
that's not a bad thing. But he also has been
pretty consistent, and it's something I've heard him preach over
and over again over the years. It's like, just find
a way to get eight completion, you know, a completion,
(34:16):
go through the progressions that the plays are built that
if you don't see the first one, the second one
will be coming open. If the second one isn't coming open,
then the third one is time to come open. And
so they're going to be there. Just find the one
that's there and throw. And so I think, to me,
what that him bringing that up means that he probably
(34:37):
didn't think McCarthy was totally on track doing that all
the time, and I think the completion percentage would tell
you that's the case. And just seeing Carson Wentz kind
of more, you know, efficiently following that, especially against the Browns,
some against the Steelers and Bengals as well of just
(34:57):
finding ways to complete the pass, make up something of
a positive of it and go to the next play.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Back in the Christian Ponder days, I was certainly in
the group that mocked his I felt almost obsession with
checking the ball down to the point where we referred
to him one of his nicknames was checked down Charlie.
And somebody pointed out, well, the problem when Ponder's case
was he had no choice. He had one of the
weakest arms in the history of the game.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Is that true? Is that your recollection of it? Did
he was?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
He?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Did he have a noodle for an arm?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I don't. I don't know that I recall it being
a noodle. It wasn't a Sam Darnold, you know, Carson
Wentz seventy five yards in the air kind of thing.
But I also I'm trying to remember who would have
been his downfield receivers.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
In those days.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I don't know that they had a great list of them.
Those were That was prior to Diggs, I think maybe,
and prior to Adam Feeling. Maybe I'm getting my era
is wrong. So but I don't know that arms strength
was the number one thing there. But he certainly wasn't
one of the strongest arm quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Do you buy the theory that if Wentz starts plays
at least creditably to better than that, you know, in
other words, the the the the basement would be creditibly
but at least that good and maybe better, and the
Vikings beat the Eagles, that there's no question that he
(36:28):
would start against the Chargers. And then at that point
there then after you come off that game, you got
extra time. Maybe then at that point you take another
fresh look. Do you buy that premise? If Wentz he's
reasonably where and they.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Win, I think they have probably two more games of
wiggle room here before they really have to address I
agree the depth chart question. I guess you can. I
think I mean again, maybe McCarthy blows everybody out of
the water and it gets answered this week and he plays.
But in the in the event that it does not,
and Carson Wentz plays this week, and barring complete disaster,
(37:04):
you can easily get him to that Thursday game and say,
look like we only have one practice between the Eagles
game and the Chargers game. It's it's not enough time
to affect this change. You know, I think everybody would
buy that. But then the following week, which I think
is the Lions, if if it's still wins, then you
basically have to accept that. You know, he's the starter
(37:26):
and JJ is the backup or a backup, and and
you go from there. But I think they're probably a
couple of weeks out from having to even if they
don't say it, even having to demonstrate.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Guardie reminds us that the word now from the Vikings
is that both quarterbacks will be made available tomorrow. Earlier
today I heard the Paul Allen project with KOC for
Ex's and O's and he said it's unlikely that he's
going to pull the old we're not going to make
an annow until Saturday or Sunday, that he will probably
(38:03):
declare before then. What do you make of that decision
for tomorrow? Is that just playing the thing out a
little bit more, or is do you think it is
any chance they really might try to create suspense all week?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I don't think. What I took from his answer was
that they're not going to like literally say, we'll let
you know in ninety minutes before the game who the
starter is very possible to go at least until Friday.
And even if it goes to Friday, not out of the
question that they wouldn't announce it. They're certainly not obligated to,
and you know, there might be some advantage to it.
(38:39):
But I think that functionally they'll have an idea here
in the next forty eight hours, I would think for sure,
and when they announce it, I guess it's just it's
a little bit of logistics and semantics, both of those
guys talking tomorrow. I mean they you know, you can't
hold people back from talking to the media just because
(39:00):
there's a compet you know, there's a there's a I
won't say competition, but there's a question as to who's
going to be the starter. I mean, all players are
supposed to be made available to the media, So I
take that as just the Vikings facilitating the fact that
they're obligated to talk and everybody's gonna want to talk
to them, so they're going to organize that had one
I guess if one of the players had been at
the podium and the other hadn't, I suppose you could
(39:23):
maybe read something into that, But I guess it doesn't
sound like that's what's going to be the case.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Do you buy the notion that the Vikings have sort of, well,
blunder is the not the right turn, but lucked their
way into finding Brandell's best position might be a position
where they need immediate help at center. What do we
make ofout those comments?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Today, you know, we asked West Phillips, the offensive coordinator,
what how he thinks about brandal like Brandell after it
started making his first ever start at center. You know,
do they just view him as a guy who can
play it or somebody that they might want to use
because Ryan Kelly's on injury reserve, the starter and Michael
Jurgens is working his way back. Should be practice yesterday,
(40:09):
should be in practice this week. But they would have
to make a decision, you know, do you want to
play Jurgons or do you want to play Brandal And
we what Phelps said is that you know, we might
have found out here that that that center might be
the best of his of the five positions for him,
and so that you know that that would give them
I mean that indicates to me that they're at least
(40:30):
strongly considering keeping Brandle at that spot. And you say,
you always want to have your best five offensive linemen
on the field, and I do think that he's one
of their top five guys, and if he can play center,
that probably were the best case scenario. And he certainly
showed that he could the other week. So they didn't
come right out and say it, but it certainly would
(40:50):
make some sense if that's what they end up doing here,
at least in the short term.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I think we're giving up so far this year one
hundred and thirty two yards a game on the ground.
I think the Eagles have a pretty good runner who's
been struggling, at least by the standards, the lofty standards
he had established. So the assumption I have to believe
is the Eagles are going to challenge the Vikings to
prove that they can, you know, handle the running game.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
That would be very smart on their part and probably
a good idea and a good place to start, at
least in a road game against against the Vikings. And
I think that the Vikings are well aware of where
their deficiencies are, and Brian Florest seem to indicate they
spent a lot of time this week or during the
bye week kind of ripping that apart and looking at
everything they're doing. And I do think assuming we're on
(41:40):
track to see Blake Cashman on the field here quickly,
you know, after he was had his practice window open,
that that would help them from a tackling perspective and
also kind of getting everybody else in the positions that
they are best in. And so I think there's a
little bit of help there. But I definitely think the Eagles,
you know, it's an brainer for them to at least
(42:01):
test that out.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I'm looking at the nation the current National Football League standings.
In the NFC North, there is not a single team
below five hundred. The Packers are in first place technically
at three to one and one. That's a seven hundred
winning percentage. The Lions, after getting spanked in Kansas City
(42:23):
on National TV, have dropped to four and two. The
Vikings are three and two, and the Bears, who did
find a way to not screw it up last night,
also are sitting at three and two. So I think
I asked, was it Johnny? I asked somebody else this.
I don't think I asked you this recently. The current
(42:44):
state of the division from a standing standpoint, win loss
record standpoint, does it in any way feel different than
you felt about the division and these teams before the
season began. No.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I thought it would be competitive. I thought all the
teams would be I don't think there'd be any bad teams,
and I think we're finding we found that out to
be the case for sure. It's not like the a
S East where you have a Jets team that hasn't
won or something along the line, or the Dolphins who
seem to be crashing out. I mean, this is four
competitive teams, four teams that, if there were in other divisions,
would probably be, you know, just percentage wise likelier to
(43:20):
make the playoffs than they are in this division because
they can't all you know, I guess in theory they
in reality, they're all four not going to make the playoffs.
But in terms of whether there's one team that's going
to run away with it, you know, I thought initially
it looked like the Packers. I thought the Lions would
have some a harder time starting off with their new
(43:43):
coordinator situation. And they, you know, even though they did
lose to the Chiefs the other night, they've they've gotten
off to a pretty decent start. So I haven't. It
doesn't look like there's, at least right now, there's a
team good enough to run away with it. But it
also doesn't look like there's a doormat in it either.
So in the overall scheme of things of it being
a very competitive division, I think it's shaping.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Up to be what we thought is a three and
two record to five games good enough, given at least
on paper, what the rest of this schedule seems to offer.
In terms of the vikings, challenges the rest of the way.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
I guess it depends on whether you're of the mind
set that some of these teams don't look as good
as once thought, or if you take a larger look
and say, well, how good are those teams compared to
the rest of the league. You know, our ESPN analytics
model has this the rest of the Vikings schedule as
the hardest in the league, the number one most difficult
(44:42):
record the rest of the way. It has them favored
to only win two of their remaining the twelve games. Ye,
and so that's about as hard as it gets. And
so whether you know, even if they were five and
zero at this time and facing a that difficult of
a schedule, it would be a tough one. So I
(45:04):
think the Vikings frankly have their work cutout for him.
It's way too early in the season to feel like
we know for sure who's the good teams and who's
the bad teams. But based on the information we have now,
they very much have their work cut out for them.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Did I also see one of the other nuggets you
had along with that one that the Vikings at least
as of now, are favored in only two of their
remaining twelve games.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yep, that's the that's the version of the esp analytics.
It's the Bears game. And this I looked at this
before last night. I don't know if last night really
changed anything. But they're favored to beat the Bears in
that game. That would be here in their favor to
beat the Giants in week sixteen. And that's it. And
again that's analytics, that's projections, that's limited information. It's not
(45:52):
saying it's against the rules for them to win more
of those games. But that's the way, at least one
model of seeing it.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, good luck on on on today's game, the football
game you're about to attend, and we will I hope
chat even perhaps in studio as soon as next week.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
That sounds good, Dan, thank you, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Kevin seaf ESPN dot com kind enough to join us
via the Connectico Water Systems hotline. Ben Lieber will join
in about forty five or so minutes. A little more
than that, Luigi will join for more tropical climbs at
five thirty as well. Keep the as I should I
should I mentioned earlier, keep the texts coming lots more
(46:35):
to get to I even I'll ask the audience if
they can help us out booking a guest who might
be just walking around downtown Minneapolis today.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
We'll get to that in a minute
This is You're the power of completions compels you Leader
fan Fan Radio Network, I have no idea and k
f A N dot com. Two minutes eight seconds past
the hour of three o'clock Central daylight time, we welcome you
(00:22):
back to a Tuesday edition of the Bumper to Bumper program.
It's a generally a three and a half hour tour.
Are we three and a half today? I assume yes,
no reason we're gonna get off early today. It should
be Yeah, makes some sense to me. We are delighted
her along for the ride today. Guardsie is the producer
of the program. My name is Dan Barrero, the former
(00:43):
ing Stained Wretch newspaper of the Twin Cities. So we
will go the distance to day till six thirty outstanding
guests that we hope will compel you to continue to
listen to the broadcast today, and that will include Kevin
Seaffert at the bottom of the hour. Sadly not in studio,
guards he tells me, but at least we get him.
Nacho liber not in studio at four forty seven today,
(01:08):
and definitely not in studio given its forty seven degrees
in raining. Luigi will be chatting with us from shall
we say, far more tropical climbs. Let me ask you
a question I think I've asked Luigi before, because I
know you've spent well, I mean, I've obviously, over the
decades spent time in Florida. But I think you're vacationing.
(01:30):
You've spent more time in Florida than I have. I think,
Am I wrong? We've been there quite a bit. Okay,
So is is it true that if you pick let's
just say mid October on to March, that you will
not have to deal with the withering do points, humidity,
(01:55):
and moisteness that you most assuredly do in a Florida summer?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
How different? How much?
Speaker 1 (02:01):
How far down does the due point go in the
state of Florida when we get to the fall months,
the winter months, et cetera. I mean you recall it
gets pretty comfortable. Okay, yeah, it gets pretty comfortable to
be hot from a temperature standpoint, yes, but nowhere near
as steaming exactly, because the summer Florida is unbearable as
(02:22):
far as I'm concerned now. Today, for example, and where
Louis is West Palm, it's eighty four degrees with a
due point of sixty six. So it's pretty summary. It's
pretty Minnesota summary. Eighty four degrees with a due point
of sixty six. Right now, we'll do it. That's a
pretty high due point.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Yeah, so you're saying, yeah, which makes sense. That's what
I'm saying. So today is for example, Yeah, I guess
it may depend. Maybe you got to get to November
or December. Yeah, I'm just kind of curious about that.
I know we have Florida transplants who listen to the program,
and we can certainly talk to Luigi about that, among
other things. At five thirty plenty of tennis tournaments in July,
and oh that must be.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That was messy.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That was mess I mean you got to, like, I
assume you're just dripping like a faucet the second you
walk out there. Yeah. Yeah, I liked it. Though oddly
I liked it. Well, some people love it. Yeah, I
didn't mind it. Some people love humidity. I mean, there's
no there's not any questions. Shreveport, Louisiana. Same thing gets
a little sticky, but you do what you gotta do.
I think we have I think we may have located
(03:26):
the Vikings mantra.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
For the rest of this season for the bumper to
bumper program? Is that right? The power of completions? Excuse me?
Do you know the quote I'm talking about? I think
I do. There's been a lot of quotes recently.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
True, there's a bunch it's it's it's perfect and it
comes from, of course Koc who else, the quarterback whisperer,
the man who's job this week is to decide, because
you know he'll make this call.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No one else is going to make this call.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
He will decide who will start a quarterback when the
Vikings host the Philadelphia Eagles high noon on Sunday. Right
here in the fan ten o'clock pregame sermons nine go
for football Sunday, eight am.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Correct, you got it.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
One of the things JJ took away from watching Carson
Wentz play was the power of completions, the power of
completions that don't always go to the first or second progression.
(04:42):
Might be tej helping out on a protection and it's
a critical twelve yard game when all we did was
really check.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
The ball down.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Or it's being surgical with your accuracy when number one
is open, and you do that by getting to that
lower body foundation and playing with great bats elens and rhythm.
This was the quarterback play one on one quote which
I think came Was it from yesterday or the day before?
I don't remember, or maybe this is a combination of
several koc witticisms. The power of completions compels you JJ
(05:16):
McCarthy to learn when discretion is the better form of value.
Now that doesn't mean we want you to become a
check down Charlie, right, that can be We saw that
with the Christian Ponder. Did we not oh my gosh,
yah check down Charlie because you felt like he did
it too often and too quickly. But in fact, during
(05:39):
the break, I think you'll easily be able to find this.
I've had the book in the movie The Exorcist on
the brain lately, as I mentioned yesterday. I just in fact,
they finished it last night, the book rereading the book
for the first time in a while, and online you
can find you may not want to watch it because
you all I'm interested is the audio knowing you you
(06:03):
you You do not have a good feeling on any
horror film, so it might the the the accompanying film
part might be jarring to you. So if don't look
at it if I, because I do not want to
be responsible. Well, how am I going to know if well?
Because if you google in, you're sending me right into
the trenches. If you google in the power of Christ
(06:26):
compels you exorcist, it'll come up. It's one of the
most gut wrenching scenes in the film. In fact, they
don't even use that same language in the book. And
it's when both priests who are performing the exorcism of
the girl who is possessed in this film, this youngster
possessed in the movie Georgetown. They're trying basically, she has levitated.
(06:53):
The entire bed is up at the ceiling. She's in it,
but she's levitating because she's the devil.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Levitated the thing to the ceiling.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
They're trying to bring the damn thing down, is what
they're trying to do. So what they keep saying over
and over and over again is the power of Christ
compels you. So for us, it's going to be the
power of completions compels you. JJ McCarthy to learn exactly
what Chaos claims.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
He wants.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now, what's interesting about this is has choc have had
has he had to have been convinced because chaos historically
has been a what a Zingerman eight yards activated the
top activating activations exactly. So maybe this is as much
(07:48):
for himself as it is for anybody else.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The I mean, I've never heard the term before.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The power of completions, because again, the whole point of
it is at least the way he says it might be.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Third progression.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Might be a five year pass might be a play
where there's a greater chance for well, first of all,
if you catch it yep, to then get twelve extra
yards after the play. That's where it could end up
being a big play. The pass itself may not travel
that far, but the receiver or running back or tight
end who grabs it takes it the rest of the way.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, this is a really bad day for you to
bring this up with me. Why because I had because
today's actually a Wednesday for Gopher football because they have
a game on Friday. Yes, I had some pregame things
that I had to do that I usually do on Wednesday,
but today's Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
But it's a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
But I spoke to somebody and we were speaking about
Drake Lindsay, and inevitably, the conversation about Max Brozmer came up.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, and what you just.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Read that quote right there about even if it's a
protection route that we're not even supposed to throw, you
can get it to that guy and just live to
see another.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Day, especially if it's accurate, which he is.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
That came up today talking about Brosmer. A guy told
me it were you aroused. I'm still aroused. Yeah, And
he said there was a catch last year Lemecky Brockington
caught a pass that they hadn't thrown in like six years.
But Brozmer saw it and wanted the completion because it
was there.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
It was there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
The power of completions compel you, and because they were
all conditioned that everybody's hot and you're always open, the
ball just got there. This individual was in awe of
what he saw. So I agree with you that this
is sometimes you just got to take what the defense
gives you and be available.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
To all options.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And maybe this is his way of also encouraging Carson
Wentz keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I'm not going to be offended if you do it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I you know, we've talked about the the way this
head coach as an offensive mine has evolved, and this offseason.
The the the big change was going to be we're
going to run the ball. We're not gonna be afraid
to run the ball. And now we've got two running backs,
and it's gonna be we're gonna be more of a
power team at times. We're gonna learn to win different ways.
I don't know if we've seen it consistently. We've seen
(10:05):
stretches of it. But this, you could say, is another
act of the evolving is changing to I can live
with that too, even though I like to be the guy,
you know, Lucy Goosey, Air Coriel, the whole bit.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Maybe in this case, he too.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Has convinced himself that the power of completions compels him
to not get agitated or breakout in hives, if indeed
that's what he sees his quarterback do. Especially, one could
say when your offensive line has been compromised, I think
that's a big part of it as well, that yeah,
it has to. You may not want to acknowledge that,
(10:43):
but at some point you sort of have to. Maybe
you get to a better place later where you can
open some things up, so you try to find the
SoundBite during the break.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
The power of completions compels you anyway, the fan of
two men in a junk truck want to give you
a shot to win bonus bucks with our newational cash contest.
And the keyword for the three o'clock hour is bank.
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Speaker 2 (11:14):
Compels you, compels you, compels you? Traumatic?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Father, I think Damien Carris was one of the priests
and the the the like accomplished seasoned exorcists, because father
Carris was he'd never done an exorcism before he was
a kid. He's JJ McCarthy of exorcisms of exorcists. I
guess you could say, but the old guy, he was
on a very early stage of his exorcist journey. Is
(11:54):
that fair to say? That's yes, he was zero and
zero in his first exorcisms. You could say, Meanwhile, the
other guy, father Marin, I mean, he'd been around the world.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
He had done if if.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
If if priests wore helmets and each star in the
helmet represented one exorcism, he'd have no more room left
on He was like he was considered like the cram
del at crem Although it frankly ends badly for him.
I hope that's not giving away too much. If I
didn't do really do a spoiler alert there. But that's it.
I think we I think we adopted in this case
(12:36):
the father of I should say, the power of completions
compels you, because that's the mantra offered up by the
head coach. He's I think he likes this one. I
don't know if he's gonna repeat it very often, but
it's he does find ways to to to attempt to
capture things that are you moving or make you roll
(13:01):
your eyes one of the others, sometimes both.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Right, Yes, it's fair depending on the mood you're in.
That's exactly the situation of the team.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
You are, correct. So we'll see if we get anywhere
with it. Lots of techs coming in. A bunch of
techs coming in, including from Todd modern quarterbacks who get
the ball out of their hands the fastest after the
ball is snapped Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
The power of completions compels you. That's it.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I mean, you can make a really, really good living it.
And again, the passes will not look always that spectacular
because they're four yards or nine yards just slipping it
out of your hand and just you know, throwing it
right left up the middle, but keeps drives going, keeps
(13:55):
the ball out of the other team's hands. And especially
if you have a surehanded receivers and you have an
accurate quarterback who can make those kinds of throws, can
pull the string on it, so you're not throwing the ball,
you know, one hundred and fifty miles an hour, because
that doesn't usually work on the short passes very well.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, what else do we have here? Several? I don't
think Falness will like this three goal lead.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
The wild Blue Chicken wing greed is the new tap boo.
The power of crypt let me start right and he
blew the line. Take two, three goal lead. The wild
Blue Chicken wing greed is the new taboo. The power
of Christ compels you wasn't five? That's not too bad?
(14:50):
Wild got to dub though. Walstad was a wall A.
Three goal leads the most dangerous lead in hockey, apparently
more dangerous than two?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Is it possible we could just use him as our
shootout shootout goalie? I think can you do that?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Or?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Is that sitting?
Speaker 1 (15:06):
No, he's not, he's he's not warmed up enough. If
he hadn't played in the game, shootout goalie and overtime
goalie he had to defend off, Yeah, that's possible. And
his reaction after the final shootout. You never see goalies
really celebrate like a goal scorer.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
No, he did. It was awesome, Yes he did.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It was so then it becomes everyone's annoyed that they
give up the lead. But then as that was going
on the overtime and I was thinking it too, might
be the best thing for him, have to come up
in a big spot like that. Maybe this will give
him some confidence he needs it. Obviously, we've talked about
his goaltending journey and how many times has Garrett said
he can't screw up goaltenders.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
You suggests the same thing goaltender controversy.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I'm not, but it was a very positive development in
his goaltending journey. I thought, because he came up big
time and that I would imagine can only help a
guy's confidence.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It was great. Uh, Kyle from Isanti right.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
So I'm imagining Josh McCown and koc exercising McCarthy with
a playbook and a football and maybe splashing a little
gatorade on him. Let the power of completion compels you,
compel you, because indeed, in the movie The Exorcist, there
is great effort to sprinkle holy water on the girl.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
However, part of the.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Reason originally it didn't look like the church was going
to sign off on the exorcism was the first time
Father Karas visited her, he brought with him water, you know,
like a like a holy water vial, but it really
wasn't blessed. It wasn't really really holy water. To see
(16:43):
her reaction, and she acted like it burned. So at
that point he's gone, well, that's this this this water
isn't blessed, so it shouldn't affect her that way, if
indeed she's representing the devil.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
More on that later, Wentz has to start the next three.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
If you lose them all, then it's McCarthy rest of
the season, even if it's not Wentz's play that loses
the games.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That's an interesting thought. What else do we got going
here with?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
I propose I propose we lend McCarthy to Sfo and
Shanahan for internship. The rest of the season worked well
for Darnold, Well, yeah, but we got our own quarterback whispered.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Don't we we're supposed to, so we don't. We're not
supposed to need that.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Eighty eight degrees two point sixty one in Cape Coral,
Florida right now, Dan, this is Adam checking in from
Dallas from November until April, Florida is about as good
as it gets. If you like sunshine, eighty degree day temps,
and cool nights. That's he's actually well, he says Adam
and Dallas, But then he says Adam and Tampa.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So maybe he's got homes both places. I don't know.
If you have the means lucky. That's good for him.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And a number of other people have pretty much said
the same thing, unrelated. We'll save it. I'll save it
because it's a non sequitor, has nothing to do. Ulyssa
has never stopped us before. Great Now Dan is trying
to force a goaltender controversy down our throats, like he's
doing with this quarterback controversy. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm
just curious. That's what you seem to be describing. You
(18:21):
seem to be getting awfully excited about valstat It was
a nice moment. It was a very nice moment. How
did we blow the lead and regulate. I didn't see
that part, I'll be honest. They scored in the final
minute too, with like forty four seconds left.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, so I didn't see that part.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I just kind of watched the wild and then it
was bedtime for the kids, and then I came back
and it was OT So I watched that in the shootout,
and he was great.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Power of completions.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Dan, That's exactly what the Packers did with Love for
his first two years, gained experience and confidences. Sadly, they
may have another great quarterback for ten more years, not
going to guardsy. You're still down on him. I think
he's still I'm not ready to anoint him as as
good as Farvar Rodgers, but I think you've got to
roll with him Love.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah. Yeah, well they do have to. Yeah, that's made right.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
But I'm saying I think he's I think he's been
a little better than you think. I think there's resentment
on your part that they're ahead of us again with
another guy. That's what bugs you as a guy who
grew up on the Vikings. They've had like three guys
that they've been able to go out life. Yeah, absolutely, Dan,
I think you're under something. What about Possibly the most
(19:30):
important benefit of U is if your quarterback gets rid
of the ball quickly, your offensive line isn't lockdown for
two hundred thirty four seconds trying to protect him and
getting hurt. If the offensive this must be dictated the
offensive line, he only has to block for less than
two seconds, they're going to stay healthier. Yeah, that's all true,
and in fact, was it the guestling. I think I
read this quote from the Guestling piece today and that
(19:54):
that's part of he had all the stats we've We've
quoted several of these stats before. Yes, it's true that
JJ didn't have a lot of help from his offensive line.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
He did not have Darisaw. We get that.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
But he also the notion that all the sacks were
because of he didn't have a chance. He was holding
onto the ball more than like any quarterback in the
National Football League. And so that's part of why the
power of completions should compel him to get rid of
the ball. But you still have to do it. You
can't do it in a ponder way, right, You got
to do it with in a systematic fashion that makes
(20:28):
you think you're doing it on purpose. Not just by accident,
right that, it's part of a plan. So even there,
you have to show composure, right you do. You absolutely
have to know where you're going, know where you're going.
Ye who's you know? Who might be open depending on
what defense you see in front of you. And how
about the monsters of the Midway. How about the Chicago
(20:49):
Bears primed to blow another game in which they had
every opportunity not only to win, but to dominate Washington.
They were giving it away over and over again, and
then they got a gift. They got a fumble with
four minutes to go, as the Washington is going to
run out the clock and they go right down the field.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I told you yesterday.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
They win that game, they're going to be four and two,
they host the Saints. This is a even This is
gonna end up being an even more dangerous division than
we thought. We'll see what Seaffert's reaction is to NFC
North activity to this point at the quarterpole, so to speak,
or beyond, and we'll catch up on his latest I
guess uh instinct regarding who's going to start at quarterback
(21:33):
for the Purple. You got questions for Seaferts six four
six eight six that's the Bradshawn Bryant caffe in text
(21:57):
schiz Them, McCarry is Exorcism, Wolves and five that's Trum,
the infamous flim flam and.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
In Saint Paul.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
McCarthy needs to touch every blade of grass, Fallness, got wild, Sass,
Bring Ass, Wolves and five.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Very disappointing to find out.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
That Kevin Seaford would not be in studio today, but
it's hard to whine too much about it because he
has been pretty resolute and trying to get here when
he could. In this case, I think family duty prevailed.
He's a father first. And although I'm not sure what
you're going to be watching because it looks like pretty
miserab although are there would these be considered prime old
(22:50):
fashioned throwback football conditions that you're waiting on.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
It is awfully rainy and cold, and I don't know.
I think, to me, football condition goes over the rain.
It's either really sunny and calm, or it's snowing and freezing.
But this wet, nasty, gray rain is not anybody's idea
of a good time. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
By the way, before we get to some Viking stuff,
I have to ask you. I was just looking at
a headline online, well actually on ESPN, regarding a subject
that Guardian and I explored briefly yesterday. Mike Tomlin is
the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he went
frontal with his bitterness after the Browns decided to trade
(23:38):
the Methusla quarterback they have whose name I can never remember.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Joe Flaco Flacco. Let me tell you know will remember
the name.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I'll just go with Joe Cool, because that's what some
people used to call him back when he seemed cool
as a quarterback two in season to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tomlin went off on it.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Unusual. Is it not for coach to be.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Even if it's a within the division kind of a move,
to be that frontal about whatever.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
His unhappiness was there.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Extremely and it kind of came out of nowhere. I
think it was just a basic question about how Flacco
was fitting in with the Bengals and that, and Mike
Tomlin came out and and said he Andrew Berry, who's
the general manager of the Browns, must be smarter than
everybody else. And so you very rarely hear anything other
than very vay little criticism towards another team, And my
(24:33):
only assumption there is that Mike Tomlin was was bitter,
not just was basically bitter that the Browns potentially altered
the future, the short term future of the AFC North
by giving the Bengals, who seemed to be totally out
of luck at quarterback, a lifeline. Uh and for not
(24:55):
for not really a big price. I think that there
was a pick swap there. And so there's a lot
of teams that I think probably behind the scenes, would have,
you know, would be bitter about it, but very rare
for anyone to do it. But Mike Tommins, certainly at
the NFL's most tenured coach, has the cachet to do it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
His cousin's going to get traded before the deadline. The
name keeps coming up when people are putting together the lists,
but I don't know if it's because, well, it's an
obvious name to put on the list, or because people
actually think there is a way that something like that
could happen.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
I mean, it depends on how desperate the team is,
and that's always been the Falcons position. They did not
have any interest, and I think they proved, you know,
they weren't just bluffing there that they really didn't have
much interest in trading Kirk Cousins for just to get
his just to you know, sort of get him out
of the building, because there's probably some ill will there,
like they're going to want somebody to take on the
(25:54):
salary or give them a whole bunch of draft picks
and or players in return in order to make that deal.
So I you know, you see a team like the
Bengals trade for Joe Flacco at a much lower cost
in terms of assets and salary than you did than
you would for Kirk Cousins. But if somebody is really
(26:16):
desperate and there's another injury between now and the trading deadline,
it's certainly possible. But it's gonna take a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
If you had to place a wager in Vegas or
any place illegal as well on who starts for the
Vikings on Sunday against the Eagles, where are you placing
that wager?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
If he had to today.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
If I had to today, I would say it's a
safer bet to say Carson Wentz. I do believe that
the head coach has left himself enough wiggle room that
if JJ McCarthy blows everybody away and practice this week
that it could happen, But it's going to take that
type of week for JJ to get back in the
(26:58):
lineup as quickly. I think they want to see him
him go through a full week of full reps in
the starter role and to upon their review to be
demonstrating no issues relating to the ankle or to any
rust on the mechanical and fundamental issues that they've been
talking about. And that's a lot to do in the
(27:20):
course of really two or three days.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Texter writes this, this is from Chris. Only the Vikings
can have a quarterback controversy that involves a guy that's
not ready and a guy that's washed up.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
There is no good choice. Is that too harsh?
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Well, I guess no one's bringing up the third option there.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Well, Guards, you will just give him time?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah, Now, I don't ye know. I wouldn't say. I
wouldn't put Carson Wentz in the wash category. I would
just put him in the way we've talked about him
in previous weeks is that he's played well as a backup,
and over time, backups tend to ebb and flow. Generally speaking,
he's shown more or proficiency in the offense in his
(28:02):
third start than he did in the first, and so
that's something to take into account to I keep going
back to it, but I thought it was really interesting
how he kind of referenced, Hey, you know, I'm still
learning how to throw at Justin Jefferson. There's a lot
of passes that you wouldn't throw to anybody else, but
to him you can and it works out. And so
as we saw in that final drive against the Browns,
(28:24):
and so I think there's still room for growth there.
I don't think that you can necessarily say he's the
guy that's going to lead them to a long playoff run,
at least right now. But I don't think that he's
washed either.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Okay, so a little too certain for that for you. Okay,
that's fair. I'll accept that answer. Here's another textas come
in directly for you. This is from Carl Lake elmol add.
Brian Flores's response today on Harrison Smith's stapcounts to the
long list of odd injury responses this season. Seffert is
(28:58):
this year different in terms of injury clarity the years past,
because it seems bizarre this year between the darrisaw stuff
Harrison and JJ.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Well on the Harrison Smith saying that the response to
I didn't take the response that Brian Flores gave on
Harrison Smith today told me that from a football standpoint,
they feel like they're in their best lineup with THEO
Jackson and Josh Mattela playing every down and then Harrison
Smith playing in the nickel. When we follow up on
(29:33):
that and said, you know what's changed here, Florest said
that he still feels like, you know, they're working their
way back. But like I like Harrison Smith really, you know,
he's been a full participant in practice. Like I suppose
it's possible that there's still some lingering conditioning issues from
having missing missed training camp, but we're definitely moving past
(29:56):
the explanation that the the injury explanation, the personal health
issue explanation that applied prior to the buy than where
we are now. If this if on Sunday after the
buye against the Eagles here, if Harrison Smith is playing
you know, just the dime or the nickel or you know,
(30:18):
a third or you know, forty percent of the snaps,
then I think we have to assume that as of
now at least he's not their first option at either
of those safety positions. It doesn't mean he doesn't have
an important role with the team. But I don't know
where else we can look for an explanation other than
(30:39):
they've made a little bit more of a football decision
as opposed to purely a health decision.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Well, but I mean, that's that's interesting, right.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I think it was fair to say that's the first
time that's been clarified to that degree.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yeah, and he you know, in the follow up, he
did reference still coming back from stuff. But I guess
the large your point is that that when he was
asked if if Harrison Smith is going to keep ramping up,
is going to ramp up into a full time role,
he didn't say that he was. He said that, you know,
it's that Theo Jackson and Josh Mattelis are playing well,
(31:15):
and that it's going to be more of a game plan,
you know, situation as far as answering that question what's
best for that particular week and what's the you know,
what's best for the team. And he said it's possible
that they'll look to get him in a little more.
But like just the overall tone was felt to me
(31:36):
like more about football and less about health.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
We've been having some fun with one of the richer
KOC quotes regarding the quarterback situation, or maybe not so
much that, but style of play. And I'm sure you've
seen it. You might have been there for it. I
don't know. And this goes back to him to the
(32:01):
head coach, suggesting that I think this was Monday where
he suggested that look as he has sat, JJ has
absorbed a number of perhaps compelling lessons from the veteran
Wentz starting at QB.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Here's the quote.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
One of the things he took away from watching Carson
play was the power of completions that don't always go
to the first or second progression. So we've kind of
figured that ended up cut out of being the mantra
of the year, that the power of completions compels JJ
to not be afraid to take small chunks of yardage,
not be afraid to check down. That's even a term
(32:42):
that I think the head coach uses in this particular quote,
although I mentioned maybe it's an education for the head
coach himself as a guy who just tended to want
to zing the ball. So are we going into this
new phase where whoever is a quarterback, all we care
about is the power of completions, not so much that
(33:03):
it's got to be twenty, you know, twenty nine yards
downfield to JJ.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
You know that he actually has been pretty consistent with that.
I don't think he's used the phrase power of completions,
but he's I can remember him over over previous years
talking about how important he thinks any completion is and
the damage it does to a defense, and that even
if it's just two or three yards, you know, minimal
chunks down the field, that over time, those take a
(33:31):
toll on defenses, and they move the ball in the
right direction, and they're important. And he doesn't want, you know,
big game hunting to completely ignore the value of just
finding a place to move the ball forward through the air.
And so he's been very I think that's one of
his central mantras and always has been in terms of
(33:54):
the passing game. And I know, you know, there's a
perception and a lot of it's fueled by reality of
his desire to get big chunks down the field, and
that's not a bad thing. But he also has been
pretty consistent, and it's something I've heard him preach over
and over again over the years. It's like, just find
a way to get eight completion, you know, a completion,
(34:16):
go through the progressions that the plays are built that
if you don't see the first one, the second one
will be coming open. If the second one isn't coming open,
then the third one is time to come open. And
so they're going to be there. Just find the one
that's there and throw. And so I think, to me,
what that him bringing that up means that he probably
(34:37):
didn't think McCarthy was totally on track doing that all
the time, and I think the completion percentage would tell
you that's the case. And just seeing Carson Wentz kind
of more, you know, efficiently following that, especially against the Browns,
some against the Steelers and Bengals as well of just
(34:57):
finding ways to complete the pass, make up something of
a positive of it and go to the next play.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Back in the Christian Ponder days, I was certainly in
the group that mocked his I felt almost obsession with
checking the ball down to the point where we referred
to him one of his nicknames was checked down Charlie.
And somebody pointed out, well, the problem when Ponder's case
was he had no choice. He had one of the
weakest arms in the history of the game.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Is that true? Is that your recollection of it? Did
he was?
Speaker 1 (35:27):
He?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Did he have a noodle for an arm?
Speaker 3 (35:29):
I don't. I don't know that I recall it being
a noodle. It wasn't a Sam Darnold, you know, Carson
Wentz seventy five yards in the air kind of thing.
But I also I'm trying to remember who would have
been his downfield receivers.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
In those days.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I don't know that they had a great list of them.
Those were That was prior to Diggs, I think maybe,
and prior to Adam Feeling. Maybe I'm getting my era
is wrong. So but I don't know that arms strength
was the number one thing there. But he certainly wasn't
one of the strongest arm quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Do you buy the theory that if Wentz starts plays
at least creditably to better than that, you know, in
other words, the the the the basement would be creditibly
but at least that good and maybe better, and the
Vikings beat the Eagles, that there's no question that he
(36:28):
would start against the Chargers. And then at that point
there then after you come off that game, you got
extra time. Maybe then at that point you take another
fresh look. Do you buy that premise? If Wentz he's
reasonably where and they.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
Win, I think they have probably two more games of
wiggle room here before they really have to address I
agree the depth chart question. I guess you can. I
think I mean again, maybe McCarthy blows everybody out of
the water and it gets answered this week and he plays.
But in the in the event that it does not,
and Carson Wentz plays this week, and barring complete disaster,
(37:04):
you can easily get him to that Thursday game and say,
look like we only have one practice between the Eagles
game and the Chargers game. It's it's not enough time
to affect this change. You know, I think everybody would
buy that. But then the following week, which I think
is the Lions, if if it's still wins, then you
basically have to accept that. You know, he's the starter
(37:26):
and JJ is the backup or a backup, and and
you go from there. But I think they're probably a
couple of weeks out from having to even if they
don't say it, even having to demonstrate.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Guardie reminds us that the word now from the Vikings
is that both quarterbacks will be made available tomorrow. Earlier
today I heard the Paul Allen project with KOC for
Ex's and O's and he said it's unlikely that he's
going to pull the old we're not going to make
an annow until Saturday or Sunday, that he will probably
(38:03):
declare before then. What do you make of that decision
for tomorrow? Is that just playing the thing out a
little bit more, or is do you think it is
any chance they really might try to create suspense all week?
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I don't think. What I took from his answer was
that they're not going to like literally say, we'll let
you know in ninety minutes before the game who the
starter is very possible to go at least until Friday.
And even if it goes to Friday, not out of the
question that they wouldn't announce it. They're certainly not obligated to,
and you know, there might be some advantage to it.
(38:39):
But I think that functionally they'll have an idea here
in the next forty eight hours, I would think for sure,
and when they announce it, I guess it's just it's
a little bit of logistics and semantics, both of those
guys talking tomorrow. I mean they you know, you can't
hold people back from talking to the media just because
(39:00):
there's a compet you know, there's a there's a I
won't say competition, but there's a question as to who's
going to be the starter. I mean, all players are
supposed to be made available to the media, So I
take that as just the Vikings facilitating the fact that
they're obligated to talk and everybody's gonna want to talk
to them, so they're going to organize that had one
I guess if one of the players had been at
the podium and the other hadn't, I suppose you could
(39:23):
maybe read something into that, But I guess it doesn't
sound like that's what's going to be the case.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Do you buy the notion that the Vikings have sort of, well,
blunder is the not the right turn, but lucked their
way into finding Brandell's best position might be a position
where they need immediate help at center. What do we
make ofout those comments?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Today, you know, we asked West Phillips, the offensive coordinator,
what how he thinks about brandal like Brandell after it
started making his first ever start at center. You know,
do they just view him as a guy who can
play it or somebody that they might want to use
because Ryan Kelly's on injury reserve, the starter and Michael
Jurgens is working his way back. Should be practice yesterday,
(40:09):
should be in practice this week. But they would have
to make a decision, you know, do you want to
play Jurgons or do you want to play Brandal And
we what Phelps said is that you know, we might
have found out here that that that center might be
the best of his of the five positions for him,
and so that you know that that would give them
I mean that indicates to me that they're at least
(40:30):
strongly considering keeping Brandle at that spot. And you say,
you always want to have your best five offensive linemen
on the field, and I do think that he's one
of their top five guys, and if he can play center,
that probably were the best case scenario. And he certainly
showed that he could the other week. So they didn't
come right out and say it, but it certainly would
(40:50):
make some sense if that's what they end up doing here,
at least in the short term.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
I think we're giving up so far this year one
hundred and thirty two yards a game on the ground.
I think the Eagles have a pretty good runner who's
been struggling, at least by the standards, the lofty standards
he had established. So the assumption I have to believe
is the Eagles are going to challenge the Vikings to
prove that they can, you know, handle the running game.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
That would be very smart on their part and probably
a good idea and a good place to start, at
least in a road game against against the Vikings. And
I think that the Vikings are well aware of where
their deficiencies are, and Brian Florest seem to indicate they
spent a lot of time this week or during the
bye week kind of ripping that apart and looking at
everything they're doing. And I do think assuming we're on
(41:40):
track to see Blake Cashman on the field here quickly,
you know, after he was had his practice window open,
that that would help them from a tackling perspective and
also kind of getting everybody else in the positions that
they are best in. And so I think there's a
little bit of help there. But I definitely think the Eagles,
you know, it's an brainer for them to at least
(42:01):
test that out.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
I'm looking at the nation the current National Football League standings.
In the NFC North, there is not a single team
below five hundred. The Packers are in first place technically
at three to one and one. That's a seven hundred
winning percentage. The Lions, after getting spanked in Kansas City
(42:23):
on National TV, have dropped to four and two. The
Vikings are three and two, and the Bears, who did
find a way to not screw it up last night,
also are sitting at three and two. So I think
I asked, was it Johnny? I asked somebody else this.
I don't think I asked you this recently. The current
(42:44):
state of the division from a standing standpoint, win loss
record standpoint, does it in any way feel different than
you felt about the division and these teams before the
season began. No.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I thought it would be competitive. I thought all the
teams would be I don't think there'd be any bad teams,
and I think we're finding we found that out to
be the case for sure. It's not like the a
S East where you have a Jets team that hasn't
won or something along the line, or the Dolphins who
seem to be crashing out. I mean, this is four
competitive teams, four teams that, if there were in other divisions,
would probably be, you know, just percentage wise likelier to
(43:20):
make the playoffs than they are in this division because
they can't all you know, I guess in theory they
in reality, they're all four not going to make the playoffs.
But in terms of whether there's one team that's going
to run away with it, you know, I thought initially
it looked like the Packers. I thought the Lions would
have some a harder time starting off with their new
(43:43):
coordinator situation. And they, you know, even though they did
lose to the Chiefs the other night, they've they've gotten
off to a pretty decent start. So I haven't. It
doesn't look like there's, at least right now, there's a
team good enough to run away with it. But it
also doesn't look like there's a doormat in it either.
So in the overall scheme of things of it being
a very competitive division, I think it's shaping.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Up to be what we thought is a three and
two record to five games good enough, given at least
on paper, what the rest of this schedule seems to offer.
In terms of the vikings, challenges the rest of the way.
Speaker 3 (44:20):
I guess it depends on whether you're of the mind
set that some of these teams don't look as good
as once thought, or if you take a larger look
and say, well, how good are those teams compared to
the rest of the league. You know, our ESPN analytics
model has this the rest of the Vikings schedule as
the hardest in the league, the number one most difficult
(44:42):
record the rest of the way. It has them favored
to only win two of their remaining the twelve games. Ye,
and so that's about as hard as it gets. And
so whether you know, even if they were five and
zero at this time and facing a that difficult of
a schedule, it would be a tough one. So I
(45:04):
think the Vikings frankly have their work cutout for him.
It's way too early in the season to feel like
we know for sure who's the good teams and who's
the bad teams. But based on the information we have now,
they very much have their work cut out for them.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Did I also see one of the other nuggets you
had along with that one that the Vikings at least
as of now, are favored in only two of their
remaining twelve games.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yep, that's the that's the version of the esp analytics.
It's the Bears game. And this I looked at this
before last night. I don't know if last night really
changed anything. But they're favored to beat the Bears in
that game. That would be here in their favor to
beat the Giants in week sixteen. And that's it. And
again that's analytics, that's projections, that's limited information. It's not
(45:52):
saying it's against the rules for them to win more
of those games. But that's the way, at least one
model of seeing it.
Speaker 2 (45:57):
Interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
Well, good luck on on on today's game, the football
game you're about to attend, and we will I hope
chat even perhaps in studio as soon as next week.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
That sounds good, Dan, thank you, thanks man.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
Kevin seaf ESPN dot com kind enough to join us
via the Connectico Water Systems hotline. Ben Lieber will join
in about forty five or so minutes. A little more
than that, Luigi will join for more tropical climbs at
five thirty as well. Keep the as I should I
should I mentioned earlier, keep the texts coming lots more
(46:35):
to get to I even I'll ask the audience if
they can help us out booking a guest who might
be just walking around downtown Minneapolis today.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
We'll get to that in a minute
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