December 8, 2025 • 47 mins
Dan Barreiro opens the show discussing the Vikings dominant win over Washington and wondering why the offensive approach we saw yesterday wasn't what we saw earlier in the year. Jonny Athletic makes his weekly appearance with his thoughts on the Vikings as well as the Wolves surge the past few weeks.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Slumpy. This is your all we do is win in
shutout fashion. Later fan Fan Radio Network and k fa
N dot Com. Two minutes and thirty five seconds past
(00:23):
the hour three o'clock Central Standard time. It is a
Monday Day after edition of the Bumper to Bumper program
on a rather wintry Monday afternoon here in the Twin
Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. My name is Dan Barrero,
the host of the program for RINKS, Saint rich newspaper,
the Twin Cities Guardsy is the producer of the program Sidekick,
(00:44):
and six or seven other jobs at last count as well.
We're delighted that you are along for today's ride that
I believe is going the distance today? Is that correct?
Six thirty? That is my understanding. That could change every
once in a while you find out later it's actually
six fifteen.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I just look over my left and until late night
wild game tonight again. So it looks like we are
going the distance.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But the Wolves Wolves are on the app on the
Timberwolves channel via the iHeartRadio app. You tell me rematch,
oh yeah, against the Phoenix Suns. We owe the one
right you could you could you could say that we
blew a lead in that one, didn't we Yes, that
was the eight point leader. Now is that as much
of a lead as your goal to go for women's
(01:25):
basketball team bleue? That's it's not as much. That's calamitous.
I mean, that's got to be cant or calamity you
were there for. We will talk about it later, Yes,
sir as well, I almost still don't believe it. You
and me both, yea, you and me both. Yeah, I'm
sure it was not a lot of fun. In any case,
Viking's talking points will be part of the conversation today.
In addition, the Monday regulars well, I guess well Adam
(01:50):
Feeling is no longer a Monday regular. However, Guardie tells
me Blake Cashman is going to join the show at
about is it five to fifteen? Five to fifteen after
Ben leeber So five fifteen? Cashman? Does he know the history?
Is somebody told him? Or is he secure enough in
his I think he's secure enough in his position that
he doesn't think we could that the bumper of bumper
(02:11):
Jinks could somehow derail his career. I still feel bad
for Levi Drake Rodriguez. That's the worst one.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, where he comes on and inactive within hours.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
He's same cricket his neck you apparently, and I'm still
feeling it. Feeling also today John Athletic, he is a
Monday regular and he will join three thirty. Is that correct? Correct?
Three thirty? This evening, uh lots to get to eventually
we will hook up with the Brat Shawn Bryan Caffan
a text line as well, which is as always six
(02:42):
four six eight six. In the history of the National
Football League, how many times has a team gotten shut
out one week and shut out its opponent the next week? Well,
(03:03):
I know one other time for sure, right, because it
happened in like the nineties, I think, is that right?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I thought that's what I heard today, Okay, But I
don't know how many got to be fairly rare.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I think back in the old days when there weren't
as many points scored, maybe not so much where you
you know, routinely might be losing a game ten to
nothing in the snow or whatever, before offenses were offensive.
But it was about as dramatic a reversal as one
could get. What did we lose by twenty six nothing?
(03:34):
I think we lost twenty six oh it sounds right.
That was to Seattle right yes, on the road, on
the road, and then we come back home and we
end up winning thirty one zerl And what's funny about
it is that we get we decided to take the ball.
We want our offense out there, we want to believe
in JJ and we march right down the field and
(03:57):
Washington gets the ball and they march right down the field,
and you're starting to think, right there, right there, I'm
thinking shootout. We might end up with a shootout here.
I don't think Washington ever got close again, right, very little.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They got kind of closed before the Van Ginkold pick.
I think it was a fourth down. It was kind
of close.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, not red zone that red zone close though, And
it was not a ballgame from that point forward. I
everybody's trying to well in the short term. It it
did exactly what the Vikings needed it to do, right.
It took a little of the pressure off, eased the pain,
(04:37):
reminded the Vikings that they are capable of winning a
ball game, because it's been a while since we'd won one,
been a while since we won a home game. But
I can't, for the life of me understand and I'm
not saying the players are doing this, but how do
(04:59):
we that quickly? I guess what I'm stumbling through and
stammering through is it doesn't take much for some of
us to almost get haughty again. And you wonder where
that comes from, Like are we so lost in the
(05:21):
moment each week, good or bad, that we forget the
bigger picture? Example, the Vikings website. I don't know if
you saw it, they noticed apparently that the ESPN panel, Oh,
(05:42):
I'm not making this up unless I hallucinated, which I
guess means I would be making it up. They noticed
that literally, I think it was literally every panelist that
they cited picked Washington, and the headline was something to
the effect of predictions are hard. And I'm thinking to myself, look,
(06:08):
I know that's the bit with media sites. Now that's
your job a little bit, and it's a six year
old social media person exactly it. But shouldn't that be
vetted by some by one adult to say, do we
really want to do this? Do we really want? Because that,
to me is what takes away from what should be
a victory that you don't have to apologize for, and
(06:30):
which a lot of things went well, especially offensively, because
the head coach, first of all, finally did what we
asked them to do in September. More on that later,
But are you really with a straight face. I'm looking
at it, and I'm surprised that there might not. Look
there were a couple things that might be leading people
(06:51):
to the opinion that Washington was going to win. I
picked the Vikings. You picked the Vikings, the first pick
I've gotten right in about a month. Sort of like
the Vikings. But in all honesty, they just came off
one of their worst games. Maybe they're they're literally their
worst offensive game ever according to some of the analytics. Okay,
(07:11):
they're coming back home to play a washingt team. It's
not very good, but they're getting their quarterback back who's
been good, although not as good this year as he
was last year. And so you're who knows, you got
to pick a game and you're actually gonna act outraged
or stunned or try to stick the needle in that.
Predictions are hard. After the Vikings have put their fans,
(07:36):
the organization itself through this season, going into that game,
it's like, why, it's it's just it's so unnecessary. But
I guess again, we do. We are prisoner in football
more than any other sport, for good and for ill.
I think we are no matter even if in the
(07:57):
back of my mind, our minds, we know what has
come the weeks before, what might come later, we just
get captivated and captured by the natural high of man.
Everything that went wrong last week went right this week.
No stupid penalties are few, no stupid turnovers right, getting takeaways,
(08:25):
the court down stops, court down stops. You're right, the
quarterback looking laser focused, playing like an adult quarterback, which
was true. It's undeniable, but really we there's got to
be somebody that goes, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no,
We're not We're not going there. Maybe if if we've
won five in a row and week six we do that,
(08:46):
but not you beat a team that came into the
game with a worse record than yours. I looked it
up today. I think I did the math right. We've
beaten two teams at home this year. The combined record
is seven to nineteen. You know, I mean again, you
don't apologize for for your wins, but it's just come on,
were that were that haughty?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Again?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So I hope. I'm sure the team isn't. I'm hoping
that that's the case. The players and the coaches. I
just have to you know, you know what they should
have said. What's that either thank you or I'm sorry.
It's thank you for even bothering to pick our game.
That's very because it's four and eight versus three and nine,
and I'm guessing that's about as much thought as all
(09:28):
those people put into it, right, because we know how
these things work. Eight seconds.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They're looking for clicks, they need clicks. Hey, remember you
got to get your picks in by Thursday. Get them
in so we can post it. Or I'm sorry that
you had to waste the eight seconds to pick our
meaningless game because neither team is going anywhere at this
point in the season.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Shouldn't thank you or I'm sorry. Predictions are harder, like
in the NFC title game. Maybe you say, you know,
that's a big one that you say for a big occasion,
not beating Now you tell me, I don't know how
much of it you watched.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The Vikes w solid it eventually, Okay, yeah, well I
Washington did not want to be there.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Ramball has a piece today where he says for the
people who want the Vikings to tank, they get snarky
about it and they get disappointed. But the truth matter
is players play to win and players want to try. Well,
I will tell you I watched that game pretty closely,
and I don't think after about a quarter and a half,
(10:28):
Washington was interested in participating at all. I don't that
was that was a as pig like a non performance.
Once that we got past that first drive, Yep, to me,
they were not They had zero interest in being there
at all. Now, again, that's not the Vikings fault, but
(10:49):
I'll give most players the benefit of the doubt on
we because I don't think most players are interested in
going down a tanking road. And I'm not even saying
Washington was tanking for the for the purposes of a
draft of higher draft choice. It just looked to me
like they were checked out. They said, well, what's our
record again? And we we we we didn't score on
that first nice drive. Uh hell, what's what's the difference
(11:11):
at this point? The tackling was to now, they're not
a very good defensive team that defensively, that's true too.
I also want to talk about the we've got good
Vikings talking points. I do also want to talk about
the speech, and I may be asking the wrong person
because you live in this world and you you know
with PJ. PJ loves the speech and a lot of times,
(11:34):
actually I don't know how often the Gophers released what
he says to the team after the game as often
if they If he does, they do it as often
as the twin the Vikings do. But I want to
get back to that subject as well, because to me,
it's all part of the same deal. So uh, I
hope we're not as haughty as that. You know, we're
gonna stick the needle in all those doubters. How could
(11:57):
you possibly have doubted the Minnesota Vikings twelve games into
this season? You know why predictions are hard. Tim writs that,
(12:20):
according to our guy Peter Bursich on Fox nine last night,
this is the first time ever that an NFL team
was shut out by twenty five or more one week,
then shut out their opponent by twenty five or more
than next I could see that. Yeah, that's a bit, Yeah,
that's more specific, but that makes sense because it isn't
just you know, the shutout reversal, it's by how many points.
(12:45):
The last time an NFL team was shut out then
pitched a shut out the next week was the ninety
three Broncos. He says, Now, I don't know, you might
have different information there. Let's get to the first Vikings
talking point before I mentioned the speech after the game.
I call this the drive. Even though it's the shorter
of the first two, I still think because it came first,
(13:10):
it did set everything else up. So I'm gonna call
it the draw.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
In a second and seven for the four and eight
Minnesota Vikings from their own forty two empty backfield, five
receivers against a three man rush. McCarthy, he'll throw short
to Ben Simms. Ben Simms with his first catch wearing
the colors. That's a game of nine yards pete and
the Vikings first down, yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Getting the ball out to midfield. So Vikings win the
toss and elect to take the football. So that's cats.
I think that's Kevin McCarthy or coach O'Connell trying to
put his faith into Kevin and the JJ McCarthy and say, hey,
you know we.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Can move this football.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
We need to get out fast, score some points.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So here we go.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Three for the Vikings as McCarthy goes out of the
shot gun we're scoreless. He'll throw lapcock down pitching catch TJ.
Hockinson in front of the Washington bench, thirty five shoved
down a bounce at the thirty two nine.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yard game first down.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Ten from the Washington thirty two McCarthy shotgun. Two receivers right,
one left, and it's going to be Jalen Naylor on
an end a round speech to the twenty five far side.
He's encountered at the twenty four and he'll be stopped
after a gain of nine yards. Speedy Jalen Naylor with
a nine yard run.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Second and one McCarthy empty backfield.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Three receivers right to left, first down from the Commander's
eighteen to four man rush JJ to the.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Zund touchdown fold Hey ten.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yard touchdown to Josh Oliver and the Minnesota Vikings have
taken US six zero lead.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's just playing three deep.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Zone coverage by the Commanders and it was a skinny
post on the back side. So what a great route
by Josh Oliver in his the third touchdown of the season.
So Josh Oliver has become a pretty good threat, especially
in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Will Reikert for the field ultra and make that the
extra point dry. He is nineteen of nineteen this year,
fifty seven and fifty seven in his career. Ryan Wright holds,
Andrew de Paula snaps snap spot.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Extra point is.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Good, and the Vikings win the toss and they take
the ball and they snapped that touchdown the three at
eight quarters in about four minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well done there. It is seven plays, sixty one yards,
three minutes and fifty seven seconds. And obviously the next
drive went on forever. I think the longest drive they
were sitting on the TV broadcast since the turn of
the century, right, I'll I'll take them at their word
(15:52):
for that. I don't know, but I actually thought, this
is what set everything else up and what struck me
about the approach on this drive. It wasn't merely running
a decent amount, which between the two drives, the Vikings
ran a lot, especially on first down, with some success too.
It was ball hike to the QB. It's out of
(16:15):
his hands in no time. It's out of his hands
even quicker. The next time, it's out of his hands
even quicker the time after that. Boom boom, boom, boom,
now again, eventually teams force you to adjust, and then
it might be a little harder to hold onto the
ball or to get rid of the ball all that quickly.
But if you followed that drive, which was though you
(16:40):
didn't include it because it wasn't particularly memorable, it started
with a three yard run, then it was a nine
yard pass, then a seven yard run by Jones, then
a ten yard pass to Hockinson, then a nine yard pass,
then a five yard run, then an eighteen yard touchdown pass.
Everything was quick, decisive, in and out of the quarterback's
(17:00):
hands quickly. And I'm saying to myself, where was that
drive in September? We're aligned where we are aligned? Where?
And again, I know circumstances change and opponents and all
that sort of thing, but I just it's not because
it's the individual plays aren't as pretty, but they're effective.
(17:24):
And for a new quarterback, to me, I'll say, from
the beginning, no matter what you think he's capable of becoming,
I still think you the cliche. It's one of the
oldest cliches in all of sports. Give a young player
a chance to succeed, give them some success points where
then he's feeling better about himself, and to me, that's
(17:46):
what that drive represented. It was well thought out, it
was well planned, and it was just crisp right. Everything
about it was in and out of the huddle fast,
get the ball out of the hands of the quarterback
or hand the ball off. Let's just keep moving. I
mean we we said the first pass was to a
tight end. That that I think he's caught like four
balls in twelve years.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I didn't know who he was. They know, I had
no idea who was either. But guess what it kept
It kept the change moving, or it kept it put
you in position where you had We had no we
had no third and longs. In fact, I don't even
know how many third downs we had that drive. We
had zero drives.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, late. I mean I think the next drive. We
did have a bunch of successful third downs, yes, four,
but most of them. I mean, here are the third
downs in the nineteen play drive. Third and six, third
and third and nine is more than you'd like. I
guess you get away with it. Third and eight that's
still not great. And there was a third and twelve,
(18:44):
so we did a little bit. But the JJ screen
kind of passed that's it. That's correct. How did we
get a how do we get a first down on that?
On third, third and twelve? And it said was there?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Was that?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
It?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Was there a penalty on that play? No, it went
for thirteen yards, it went for thirty. Yeah, you're right,
it went for thirteen. That's exactly a thirteen year past.
So the idea here again is I hope the lesson
is learned. Now it's gonna be harder. Maybe it's not
gonna be harder next week? Is Dallas like Washington's a
bad defensive team. The differences, you're on the road, it's louder.
They're playing for a playoff berth. They're desperate. Washington is
(19:21):
desperate to end the season. I think at this point
you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Say the thought you had was the exact thought I had.
Wouldn't it have been nice to have this be one
of the first building blocks of the season. Yes, yes,
And because it was pretty obvious and I think it was.
It was Drew Brees right and to me and they
were saying, especially early, JJ was just kind of getting
the first look and going they were making it simple
(19:43):
to use the basketball analogy. He saw a couple go
through the basket right his first couple of shots, you
see him go through, and everything smoother and easier after that.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Opponent, of course matters.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You said it last week, if not now when, Yeah,
for the offense to do something, given how dreadful Washington's
defense has been. But that's how you bring a young
quarterback along, not base balanced brozemerd Bahamas body posture, feet
and eyes. Just let's get a couple of things going
here and then we'll add to it if we need to.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Can always adds.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It doesn't make any sense that they did it in
reverse because that it was just nice and clean. And
of course it's got to get better. Everybody knows that.
But it was a great place to start yesterday. And
beyond that's it. That's what you're looking for, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm I've been described occasionally as a cynic, and I
guess I can be at times and sometimes I just
can't help seeing what I see. And so the speech
that was was sent out from the from the post game,
you know, the message that was delivered by the head coach.
(20:47):
I'll be honest, I've reached a point where I wish
none of those would be released any longer because I
think they have become, in my opinion, way too performative.
And the one last night was basically, you know what,
you guys could have quit. You guys could have walked
(21:08):
away and not you know, but we know what you did.
You dug deep. It's like what else? I mean? I
actually and this is probably why I wouldn't be any
more successful than Mike Zimmer with this generation of kids
in terms of coaching. But I'd actually prefer the Zimmer approach,
which would be more like, you're damn right, you kept playing.
That's our job. We're obligated to keep playing. I'm not
(21:29):
gonna I'm not gonna pat you on the back for
content for not for like with five games to go quitting.
So I guess I don't understand why that message resonates
with with anybody. I mean, isn't that consider us? For example,
if we when we have two or three or four
bad rating periods in a row, excuse me, then are
(21:54):
we supposed to just hang our heads and just say
the hell with it? Or do we are? Are we
supposed to do what we have to do, which is
you just got to you gotta keep going. Because they're
still paying you, So we have to plow ahead and
continue to work and not necessarily expect to be patted
on the back. You know, you could have quit after
the fourth consecutive bad ratings book. You could have said
(22:14):
you're done, I'm done with this. But you know what
you did. You came in that next quarter and you
tried to put together a decent program. And by god,
we appreciate that when that's their job, is not.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It is, Yes, you're right, you would not do great
with this generation of players.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
The I understand the koc speech and I get what
he was doing, and because I think everybody does that
in their jobs to a certain degree, and says, you know,
if the if the college graduate, you know, on graduation day,
if they said you were going to have this job,
and you'd be happy about it. Everybody's got to find
ways to motivate themselves as they get older, right, true,
(22:51):
I understand it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
However, when you're pulling it out in early December, it
means you're in trouble. It means the season has gone awry.
If that's which is fine, but that's that's what you
have to do to get because you don't have anything else.
You have to go back to the aren't we lucky
to play this game?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Card? That means your season has been not good? I
would say the I know he can't look at it
this way, but I can't the opponent. I don't think
you you waste it on a three to nine opponent
whose quarterback got lot not wasn't particularly good when he
played after their first drive. Anyway, he didn't look that
interested to me, and they did a great job putting
heat on him. More on that later with Blake Cashman.
(23:32):
But also I think if you're gonna pound your fist
about man, we stood tall, that's not the game I
would pick. Maybe after Dallas next week because it's a
road game. Or if you get on a little bit
of a run and you come back home and you
do it against then we have Green Band Detroit back
to back. We do at the end, ye, yes, okay
(23:53):
to me, that makes more sense. But I'm I'm supposed
to be aroused by the fact that you you pummeled
the Washington football team in the middle of a season
in which they were even had a worse record than
you on and that you did and that proves that
you guys are not quitting. You guys are continuing out there.
You're committed to this thing and you're gonna make it work.
(24:14):
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
We'll see what our next guest, Johnny Athletic thinks. Don't
forget we got Ben Lieber coming up at four forty seven,
who apparently predicted in a conversation with Mark Craig the
outcome right before game time. So we'll get to some
of that with liber and and then as I mentioned,
Cashman is a scheduled for five fifteen. A lot of
good vikings, talking points, many more to get to Johnny.
(24:46):
Johnny now the CEE Wealth Management is the fine sponsor
of the Johnny Athletics segments on this program. Amazingly, some
texts have already come in. One is directed at you. Uh,
(25:08):
the timing by the way of your visit. I mean,
there's nothing conspiratorial about it. You're off and on Monday,
but it is it's convenient for you because the hockey
team was on an unconscious role. But now in the
last couple of games they're back in a tail spin.
So you never have to be like brought to justice
(25:30):
for your inability to to praise and appreciate what the
hockey team was doing because they're no longer doing it.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Wait, wait, it's they have the playoffs started already. Clayton
from you you want that? You want that from me? Dan,
I'm just giving you what you want.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's probably true, Clayton from Rochester, Dan. How many times
did Johnny say, oh boy, that's a nice path while
watching your guy Fernando Mendoza. So much for five in
a row for Fernando. Now you were I think working?
Were you not a Wolves game the night of Saturday
night Indiana, Ohio State? Did you end up seeing any
(26:16):
or all of that game? You sent me a nice
text of congratulations as if I had anything to do
with it. But did you get to see any of it?
Or were you too bad? Did you just hear about it?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
No, so I watched bits and pieces of it with
the game going on.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
But also, you know, Mike Conley is.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
A is a Buckeye and after the game, after the game,
a lot of conversation with Mike about it.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Then went back and.
Speaker 6 (26:42):
Kind of looked at some of the highlights and stuff.
So didn't see a whole lot of it as it
was playing out to a few things here and there,
but then watched back afterwards incredible, Like you know, I was.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I was legit happy for you as a Hoosier, you know.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Thinking about how hopeless it must have felt forever and
ever and then to climb the mountain like this. It's
it's got to be one of the more unlikely stories ever.
And that's those are always the most fun, is the
ones you don't see coming. It was really really cool.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, leaving aside that that's where I went to school,
it's it's it's got to be. There are people who
believe it's the number one college football story the last
twenty five years. I don't compare all that many, but
when you factor in the history, it's right up there.
There's very few. There have been very few like it
when we're talking about this kind of reversal. But I
(27:32):
don't want to turn this into who's your hotline anymore
than we already have. Let me ask you a question
on the before we get to the game itself, and
I want to try to get some wool stuff in
today too. The question of when a decent part or
(27:53):
maybe too big of a part of what a team does,
or what a team release is to the public arts
becoming formulaic and performative. The example I gave earlier was,
you know the head coaches. All head coaches do or
tend to gave a speech after the game, and that speech,
(28:14):
for the first time in several weeks, because it was
a victory this week.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Was.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
One one might expect from Kevin O'Connell. We hung in there,
you didn't quit, you kept going, You didn't you could
have gone. I'm paraphrasing. I don't have the exact quotes,
and I admonished it a little bit because I'm thinking
that's one I would save for beating a better opponent
or or you know, in a more important game. But
(28:42):
my issue is because a couple of people who said
they played for teams said, hey, man, if you're a
if you if you're a member of that team, you
need something from the coach after a game. My argument
isn't with that. My argument is with why is it
that it has to be released to everybody else? Because
I think it comes off then rather performative, that that's
you're trying to make some kind of a pr point
(29:03):
as opposed to what makes sense in the locker room.
Coaches say stuff that I might not relate to, but
it's not for me. What do you think?
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Yeah, I will say that that has been a pretty
new phenomenon, even for the content saturated NFL, is that
it seems like in the last I would even say,
only two years or so, it.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Just seems like every team now.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Blasts out the victory speech from the coach because every
team wants to show how excited they are and how
united they are in all of those things. And it's
just another way of trying to show the fans what's
behind the curtain a little bit and probably a little propaganda,
(29:52):
because your team is never higher, is never feeling better
about itself than after a win on Sunday or Monday.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Or Saturday or whenever they play.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
So I'm with you in terms of under you know,
is there nothing sacred anymore?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
But I don't think there is. I just think that
anything that is.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
Consumable is going to be consumed and and I mean,
if you want to be really authentic about it, put
out the losing speeches.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Too, exactly. And that's how do you how do.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
You stay together when you're in the tailspin. But uh,
that's not going to happen. That's just unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, that's where I'm more like. That's and I admitted
this to GUARDSI I'm like Zim, and that means I
probably can't relate to any of the kids who play
sports right now. I would actually rather have Zim say, well,
I'm not going to thank you for playing hard. That's
your job. That's what you're supposed to be doing for
God's sake. And they it was against a team that
quit about halfway through the second quarter. So yeah, I
(30:48):
would hope that we would at least do we're supposed
to be professional, but that probably doesn't have a message,
probably doesn't play as well well.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
One thing I will say on that Dan quickly is
just like I do think that Donald's message there does speak.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
To the depths they were in.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
Yeah, previously, I think that everyone was pretty darn worried
about where it was going after the Seattle game, and
so even if you beat up on a really bad opponent,
well you've been a really bad opponent for a while now.
And so that's that's what I took from it, is, Hey,
here's a coach that finally has some positivity and maybe
(31:25):
would have was probably a little more worried than even
he was letting on about it.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
This text came in not necessarily for you, but worthy
of discussion. I missed the top of the show. Apologies
if you mentioned this. But Jefferson fifteen yards, what in
the hell's going on? He's gonna want out as he should.
Why does Kevin have to say we're going to find
ways to get him the ball? It shouldn't be hard.
Coach of the year. That's from Purple kool Aid is
tasteless guy. And you know, I'm torn on this one
(31:51):
because again, I you know, it was highlighted several times.
The problem you have is the amount of attention and coverage.
Once again, it feels like Washington said, we're gonna double
and triple team him everywhere. We don't even care if
you burn us elsewhere. That's what we're going to do.
We're gonna take our chances. And I don't know what
(32:12):
you do with that. I mean, you know, we went
through the Randy ratio a long time ago and Tys
got ripped for calling it that. And that's too obvious
and what are you trying to say? And you're giving
people the game plan, even though I thought, well, everybody
knows you're trying to get the ball to Moss, So
I don't know what the answer is. I think that
you know, JJ's got to be smart. Jefferson has to
(32:33):
be smart enough to know after a game like that,
you can't complain. You're gonna look silly if you complain.
But obviously you have to try to find a way
to get your best player of the ball more often.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, you do.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
And it, honestly, Dan, it feels a lot like what
we're seeing at Target Center these days with the Wolves
and Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I mean you're.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Seeing opposing defenses absolutely load up on and just saying,
if we're going to lose this game, it's not gonna.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Be Anthony Edwards that beats us.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
And that is frustrating for him to go through like
he does not like that, and so he has to
try and be the good soldier and make the smart
play and get off the ball and get the ball moving.
And it has been working lately, they've won five in
a row and all that, but it doesn't make it
sometimes easier for young superstar players.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
To handle it. Now, Yes, I believe that justin Jefferson can.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
Come out of a game like Sunday when they win
thirty one to nothing and everything goes great, feeling a
little bit better about the situation than Seattle when they
get absolutely blown out and worked.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But for this thing to go.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Forward and be sustainable against good teams, of course, they're
going to have to be able to get Justin Jefferson
more involved and get him to be a playmaker and
an impact player, because that makes things easier on ed
everyone from Addison to Mason, to JJ McCarthy to everyone
(34:04):
when he is a force. And so they're going to
have to find ways to get defenses out of that,
you know, double and triple blanket coverage by hurting them
with other players, and then maybe that really does open
the door for Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
But it, yeah, it's been stark how.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
Deliberate defenses have been in saying we are taking eighteen
out and you're gonna have to find another way to
beat us. In credits to the Vikings, they did it
against a bad Commanders team. Now they're gonna have to
do it against the better Cowboys team.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
They offensively, especially ruthlessly, and I thought very surgically, took
out a bad defense. And yeah, when I say surgically,
I mean, as you well know, as we talked about
earlier in the show, might be a seven yard pass,
balls out of the hands quick, not a lot to
(34:58):
think about, not much of an opportunity for Washington to
do anything about it, and also running the ball a lot.
The question to me on the table, and it worked
exactly to me the kind of philosophy that he should
have started the season with Koc, with the with the quarterback,
and then moved from there. But that's not the question now.
(35:20):
The question on the table that I want to ask
you is does Chaoc have it in him to stick
with this approach not just one week, but maybe for
the next four you know where, And maybe you add
a few things here or there. But I'm still not
convinced that he is able to sort of completely reinvent
(35:42):
the wheel in terms of this is not the same
who said this yesterday, I don't remember who. This is
not the same offense that we saw under Koc, certainly
under Kirk Cousins when it was going as you know,
as well as it was, and even a couple of
other examples. This is a very different kind of does
he have the discipline to stick with it.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah, I don't know, honestly, Dan.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
We will see, because this does go against everything in
his coaching DNA like he does. He wants to throw
the ball deep, he wants to do exotic formations and
prestap motions and and have the quarterback really surveying and
making adjustments and and all of those things.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
But it doesn't cater to what JJ McCarthy needs right now.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
Maybe down the line he will get to a point
where he is capable of handling all of that responsibility,
but what was made clear earlier this season was that
he was not ready for that. And one thing that
keeps ringing in my head Dan about Kevin O'Connell and
what he has said.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
In the past, very openly and honestly, is.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Most often is the case that organizations fail young quarterbacks
more than young quarterbacks fail organizations. And so if he
really believes that, and if he really is going to
stick to that mantra and give JJ McCarthy the best
chance to succeed, he is going to stick with what
(37:15):
they have done, what they did this week and what
and just kind of spoon feed it to him, and
you hope that maybe week after week, you can add
a little bit more and a little bit more and
a little bit more. But it is clear right now
that if you give him the whole plate, he's not
going to.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Be ready for that. He cannot handle it.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
And so the best thing for this young quarterback is
to do it piecemeal and to slim things down and
to make it easier and then build from there. And
that's that is just what is required of Kevin O'Connell
right now. So if he doesn't do it and and
they revert to what we've seen from McCarthy in the past,
then that's that's not O'Connell as much as it's on
(37:55):
McCarthy right now.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
It's okay also to use your other tools. I mean
to me, that's also what was in Caden. Again, it's
a bad defense that was not all that interested in
playing yesterday. So you're not getting the final verdict by
any means, but that's the opponent that they were the
ones in the in the arena, you know, yesterday, So
you got to play who's there, and you know, again,
(38:16):
you've got some running back options, you've got some receiver options.
Even if it's not going well for Jefferson, and don't
be afraid to use them. That to me is a big,
a big part of this. All of that I think
works towards creating excellence for the QB, right, I just
I think and you'd like to think that for him.
(38:37):
And again, I don't know if they simplified the playbook.
I just felt like his decision making was quicker. Now
there are a couple of plays where it wasn't the
first read, but even the second read it was bop
out pretty quick, you know, on almost every play. And
so whatever, whether it's the play call or whatever, however
the head coach is encouraging him in that regard. I
(39:01):
stick with that for a while.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
And And like you said, not just the play calling,
not just the Maybe they're maybe the pre SAP adjustments
world fewer and you weren't putting as much on JJ's
plate that way, but guess but you're.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Also running the ball a lot.
Speaker 6 (39:19):
It's a featured part of the offense and not just
something you do kind of out of spite or just begrudgingly.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
But it is a central part of the game plan.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
And to your point about bad defense, you're right, it
was a bad defense. So We can't make grand conclusions
that JJ McCarthy is definitely back and that everything is
going to be great. But what they did was they
dominated a bad defense. This was not a nail bier.
This was not something that was The outcome was in
doubt going down the stretch to a point where Kot
(39:53):
could look at it and be like, you know what,
I'm not really sure if this approach was indicative of
of something that we need to do or if it
was just the opponent. They they from start to finish
controlled that game in a way they have not been
able to control it, and so you at least have
to look at that and say it is worth exploring
(40:15):
further and keep going. We'll see what happens when the
when the opponent steps up, including this week, but you
at least have some sort of a blueprint to work
out of.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Right now, we've got a few minutes that to talk Wolves,
and eventually the Viking season will be over and then
we'll be able to, you know, go more in depth
into your favorite club. But if you could, if you
could pick an over arching story right now for people
who maybe haven't paid as close attention to the Wolves
as they ordinarily would because they're distracted by football, by
(40:46):
other things. What what what do you think folks should
be paying attention to? What? What is Johnny Athletic paying
attention to regarding his favorite basketball team.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, you know, it's been up and down so far.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
You know, there's some it's been some close games that
they've struggled to close and things of that nature. But
if you're looking for one enduring theme right now, I
really think Dan it's the rise of Jade McDaniels. It's
what he has become as an offensive weapon in addition
to what he is doing defensively. But he's shooting forty
(41:19):
eight percent from three. Is that sustainable? Probably not, But
you watch the way he's getting his shots. You watch
how confidently he's shooting them. That's a huge thing. But
it's more than just the threes. It is he is
creating off the dribble. He is creating his own offense.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
He is scoring.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Efficiently on high degree of difficulty shots. Yeah, and he's
making it look easy. And he's emerged as a clear
cut two B or three option that you know. Now
that he's established, you say, if that is the pecking
order of Edwards, Randall and Jade McDaniels as a real
difference maker. That makes this team a lot harder to
(41:58):
deal with, especially in the play, And so that's a
really really encouraging thing so far.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, there's no question about that. Are we running well,
we're not a team really that runs a lot of plays,
I don't think. But are we running more action for him?
I mean, you know, because there's always that thing where
with him it was well he'll get what's left over.
He'll just you know, get grab whether it's grabbing a
rebound or finding himself open in the corner, whatever the
case may be. We'lln't really run much for him. Are
(42:25):
we running anything more for him now that he is
clearly showing a greater offensive aptitude.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
Chris Finch has said that he is calling Jaden's number
more often because he knows that he has to do
that to get him in Jade McDaniel's involved. Yep, Finch,
he is not a guy who wants to be a
puppet master orchestrator that way. He wants the offense to flow.
But when you have ICEO heavy guys like Edwards and Randall, Uh,
(42:54):
it's very easy for McDaniels to sort of be stuck
in the corner not really movie and then that doesn't
do anybody any good. And so Finch has had to
be more deliberate about hauling plays, about orchestrating things and
getting the ball in Jade McDaniel's hands. And you're also
seeing the rotations tweak just a little bit dan to
(43:16):
where mcgannon's seen a little bit more time with the
second unit, where.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
He is maybe only with Randall and not with Edwards, and.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
So there's more opportunities for him to have the ball
in his hands and go with it and then and
and and.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Be more of a scoring option.
Speaker 6 (43:31):
And so there's been a few tweaks that way to
try and get McDaniels into the double digit shot attempts
every single game, because he's earning that with the efficiency
that he's shown.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Did you get insight? Did you get a Wally ducky night?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I did? I did.
Speaker 6 (43:50):
Alarmingly pink lifts then looks like maybe but there, Yeah,
I don't know what that.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
I'm not sure what.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
That I was in at ten, So yeah, I got
a Wally Duck. They were good to help the bricking
for chicken when we were squeaking.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
The Wally Ducks. Yeah, sure, because we.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Got that on Saturday too, and then they went on
like a nine to oh run after the we got
the chicken, everybody went crazy and then the Clippers I
think tied the game back up.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
But it was great, epic the.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
While he was there, he was wearing the jersey, right,
so it was good.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
He got interviewed during the broadcast. I I, you know,
I wasn't so married to my Hoosiers that I never
switched over. I saw a decent amount of it, and
I did see. I did see Wally does does so
does the duck when you squeeze it? Does it make
a noise? It does? Okay, that's the point. That's part
of the deal.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Yep it squeaked.
Speaker 6 (44:41):
Yeah, so it's it's a fully functional bathroom duck.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So they obviously that's good to know.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
When did this duck phenomenon start? This is the new
bottlehead sort of?
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Or is this considered well, this is like version two
of the Wally Duck, right, Johnny, Okay did it way
back then?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
It was like a remix And I.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Want to say they.
Speaker 6 (45:05):
I think they did a KG one too, and if
you remember Dan, I don't know if you remember this,
our guys to go to you know, when he was
on the beach way back in the day, like the
strip was starting to do some videos and.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Incorporating that, and he did one from his bathtub.
Speaker 6 (45:21):
He did he had a rubber ducky kind of floating
in the bathtub and and it was a legendary moment on.
Speaker 7 (45:26):
The Wolve's beat for the Goully. The bubble bath was
was was strategically placed. But we got duck there too,
not a wally duck, not a kg duck, but just
a regular rubber ducky And that may have started the
whole phenomenon, the concept.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Of a duck though, what what? What's the inspiration there?
Do we know that's the you know that one?
Speaker 3 (45:45):
I don't know. I got to ask around a little.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Bit, some investigative reporting, for God's sake, get on the
get on this story, will it.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
I'm not sure what, Yeah, not sure where what? But
apparently now ducks are really popular and jeeps. If you
drive a jeep you have a bunch of ducks on
the dashboard for some reason.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
I don't know why.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
I don't know what that is all about either, And
but but yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
So cities the ducks. The ducks are here to stay.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Well getting text. Cities around the world have duck boutiques.
That's a thing. Duck boutiques.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Oh okay, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
I'll take you out to take him at his word.
All right, We appreciate the time as always, Johnny, we'll
chat next week. Thank you, all right. Thanks Dan RBC
Wealth Management, the fine sponsor of the Johnny Athletics segments
on the Bumper to Bumper program. We got Ben Lieber
late in the four o'clock hour, and we got Blake
Cashman about five point fifteen. We think as well, we
(46:43):
doted devote a lot of attention to the offense. Obviously
the defense played extremely well. This well, let's come back
and talk about a little bit, because it very much
looked to me like this was one of those occasions
where Washington had no idea how to handle the very
Blitz's none. I mean, they looked utterly and completely unprepared
(47:04):
for the b flow approach, and it pretty much showed
largely from start to finish. We'll get into some more
Vikings talking points as well. There's a lot to get
to on the Bowl of Controversies. Involving who's in and
who's out. I might want to run that by Guardzie
as well. So very full program the rest of the way,
don't go
Slumpy. This is your all we do is win in
shutout fashion. Later fan Fan Radio Network and k fa
N dot Com. Two minutes and thirty five seconds past
(00:23):
the hour three o'clock Central Standard time. It is a
Monday Day after edition of the Bumper to Bumper program
on a rather wintry Monday afternoon here in the Twin
Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. My name is Dan Barrero,
the host of the program for RINKS, Saint rich newspaper,
the Twin Cities Guardsy is the producer of the program Sidekick,
(00:44):
and six or seven other jobs at last count as well.
We're delighted that you are along for today's ride that
I believe is going the distance today? Is that correct?
Six thirty? That is my understanding. That could change every
once in a while you find out later it's actually
six fifteen.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I just look over my left and until late night
wild game tonight again. So it looks like we are
going the distance.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
But the Wolves Wolves are on the app on the
Timberwolves channel via the iHeartRadio app. You tell me rematch,
oh yeah, against the Phoenix Suns. We owe the one
right you could you could you could say that we
blew a lead in that one, didn't we Yes, that
was the eight point leader. Now is that as much
of a lead as your goal to go for women's
(01:25):
basketball team bleue? That's it's not as much. That's calamitous.
I mean, that's got to be cant or calamity you
were there for. We will talk about it later, Yes,
sir as well, I almost still don't believe it. You
and me both, yea, you and me both. Yeah, I'm
sure it was not a lot of fun. In any case,
Viking's talking points will be part of the conversation today.
In addition, the Monday regulars well, I guess well Adam
(01:50):
Feeling is no longer a Monday regular. However, Guardie tells
me Blake Cashman is going to join the show at
about is it five to fifteen? Five to fifteen after
Ben leeber So five fifteen? Cashman? Does he know the history?
Is somebody told him? Or is he secure enough in
his I think he's secure enough in his position that
he doesn't think we could that the bumper of bumper
(02:11):
Jinks could somehow derail his career. I still feel bad
for Levi Drake Rodriguez. That's the worst one.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, where he comes on and inactive within hours.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
He's same cricket his neck you apparently, and I'm still
feeling it. Feeling also today John Athletic, he is a
Monday regular and he will join three thirty. Is that correct? Correct?
Three thirty? This evening, uh lots to get to eventually
we will hook up with the Brat Shawn Bryan Caffan
a text line as well, which is as always six
(02:42):
four six eight six. In the history of the National
Football League, how many times has a team gotten shut
out one week and shut out its opponent the next week? Well,
(03:03):
I know one other time for sure, right, because it
happened in like the nineties, I think, is that right?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I thought that's what I heard today, Okay, But I
don't know how many got to be fairly rare.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I think back in the old days when there weren't
as many points scored, maybe not so much where you
you know, routinely might be losing a game ten to
nothing in the snow or whatever, before offenses were offensive.
But it was about as dramatic a reversal as one
could get. What did we lose by twenty six nothing?
(03:34):
I think we lost twenty six oh it sounds right.
That was to Seattle right yes, on the road, on
the road, and then we come back home and we
end up winning thirty one zerl And what's funny about
it is that we get we decided to take the ball.
We want our offense out there, we want to believe
in JJ and we march right down the field and
(03:57):
Washington gets the ball and they march right down the field,
and you're starting to think, right there, right there, I'm
thinking shootout. We might end up with a shootout here.
I don't think Washington ever got close again, right, very little.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
They got kind of closed before the Van Ginkold pick.
I think it was a fourth down. It was kind
of close.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, not red zone that red zone close though, And
it was not a ballgame from that point forward. I
everybody's trying to well in the short term. It it
did exactly what the Vikings needed it to do, right.
It took a little of the pressure off, eased the pain,
(04:37):
reminded the Vikings that they are capable of winning a
ball game, because it's been a while since we'd won one,
been a while since we won a home game. But
I can't, for the life of me understand and I'm
not saying the players are doing this, but how do
(04:59):
we that quickly? I guess what I'm stumbling through and
stammering through is it doesn't take much for some of
us to almost get haughty again. And you wonder where
that comes from, Like are we so lost in the
(05:21):
moment each week, good or bad, that we forget the
bigger picture? Example, the Vikings website. I don't know if
you saw it, they noticed apparently that the ESPN panel, Oh,
(05:42):
I'm not making this up unless I hallucinated, which I
guess means I would be making it up. They noticed
that literally, I think it was literally every panelist that
they cited picked Washington, and the headline was something to
the effect of predictions are hard. And I'm thinking to myself, look,
(06:08):
I know that's the bit with media sites. Now that's
your job a little bit, and it's a six year
old social media person exactly it. But shouldn't that be
vetted by some by one adult to say, do we
really want to do this? Do we really want? Because that,
to me is what takes away from what should be
a victory that you don't have to apologize for, and
(06:30):
which a lot of things went well, especially offensively, because
the head coach, first of all, finally did what we
asked them to do in September. More on that later,
But are you really with a straight face. I'm looking
at it, and I'm surprised that there might not. Look
there were a couple things that might be leading people
(06:51):
to the opinion that Washington was going to win. I
picked the Vikings. You picked the Vikings, the first pick
I've gotten right in about a month. Sort of like
the Vikings. But in all honesty, they just came off
one of their worst games. Maybe they're they're literally their
worst offensive game ever according to some of the analytics. Okay,
(07:11):
they're coming back home to play a washingt team. It's
not very good, but they're getting their quarterback back who's
been good, although not as good this year as he
was last year. And so you're who knows, you got
to pick a game and you're actually gonna act outraged
or stunned or try to stick the needle in that.
Predictions are hard. After the Vikings have put their fans,
(07:36):
the organization itself through this season, going into that game,
it's like, why, it's it's just it's so unnecessary. But
I guess again, we do. We are prisoner in football
more than any other sport, for good and for ill.
I think we are no matter even if in the
(07:57):
back of my mind, our minds, we know what has
come the weeks before, what might come later, we just
get captivated and captured by the natural high of man.
Everything that went wrong last week went right this week.
No stupid penalties are few, no stupid turnovers right, getting takeaways,
(08:25):
the court down stops, court down stops. You're right, the
quarterback looking laser focused, playing like an adult quarterback, which
was true. It's undeniable, but really we there's got to
be somebody that goes, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no,
We're not We're not going there. Maybe if if we've
won five in a row and week six we do that,
(08:46):
but not you beat a team that came into the
game with a worse record than yours. I looked it
up today. I think I did the math right. We've
beaten two teams at home this year. The combined record
is seven to nineteen. You know, I mean again, you
don't apologize for for your wins, but it's just come on,
were that were that haughty?
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Again?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So I hope. I'm sure the team isn't. I'm hoping
that that's the case. The players and the coaches. I
just have to you know, you know what they should
have said. What's that either thank you or I'm sorry.
It's thank you for even bothering to pick our game.
That's very because it's four and eight versus three and nine,
and I'm guessing that's about as much thought as all
(09:28):
those people put into it, right, because we know how
these things work. Eight seconds.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
They're looking for clicks, they need clicks. Hey, remember you
got to get your picks in by Thursday. Get them
in so we can post it. Or I'm sorry that
you had to waste the eight seconds to pick our
meaningless game because neither team is going anywhere at this
point in the season.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Shouldn't thank you or I'm sorry. Predictions are harder, like
in the NFC title game. Maybe you say, you know,
that's a big one that you say for a big occasion,
not beating Now you tell me, I don't know how
much of it you watched.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
The Vikes w solid it eventually, Okay, yeah, well I
Washington did not want to be there.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Ramball has a piece today where he says for the
people who want the Vikings to tank, they get snarky
about it and they get disappointed. But the truth matter
is players play to win and players want to try. Well,
I will tell you I watched that game pretty closely,
and I don't think after about a quarter and a half,
(10:28):
Washington was interested in participating at all. I don't that
was that was a as pig like a non performance.
Once that we got past that first drive, Yep, to me,
they were not They had zero interest in being there
at all. Now, again, that's not the Vikings fault, but
(10:49):
I'll give most players the benefit of the doubt on
we because I don't think most players are interested in
going down a tanking road. And I'm not even saying
Washington was tanking for the for the purposes of a
draft of higher draft choice. It just looked to me
like they were checked out. They said, well, what's our
record again? And we we we we didn't score on
that first nice drive. Uh hell, what's what's the difference
(11:11):
at this point? The tackling was to now, they're not
a very good defensive team that defensively, that's true too.
I also want to talk about the we've got good
Vikings talking points. I do also want to talk about
the speech, and I may be asking the wrong person
because you live in this world and you you know
with PJ. PJ loves the speech and a lot of times,
(11:34):
actually I don't know how often the Gophers released what
he says to the team after the game as often
if they If he does, they do it as often
as the twin the Vikings do. But I want to
get back to that subject as well, because to me,
it's all part of the same deal. So uh, I
hope we're not as haughty as that. You know, we're
gonna stick the needle in all those doubters. How could
(11:57):
you possibly have doubted the Minnesota Vikings twelve games into
this season? You know why predictions are hard. Tim writs that,
(12:20):
according to our guy Peter Bursich on Fox nine last night,
this is the first time ever that an NFL team
was shut out by twenty five or more one week,
then shut out their opponent by twenty five or more
than next I could see that. Yeah, that's a bit, Yeah,
that's more specific, but that makes sense because it isn't
just you know, the shutout reversal, it's by how many points.
(12:45):
The last time an NFL team was shut out then
pitched a shut out the next week was the ninety
three Broncos. He says, Now, I don't know, you might
have different information there. Let's get to the first Vikings
talking point before I mentioned the speech after the game.
I call this the drive. Even though it's the shorter
of the first two, I still think because it came first,
(13:10):
it did set everything else up. So I'm gonna call
it the draw.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
In a second and seven for the four and eight
Minnesota Vikings from their own forty two empty backfield, five
receivers against a three man rush. McCarthy, he'll throw short
to Ben Simms. Ben Simms with his first catch wearing
the colors. That's a game of nine yards pete and
the Vikings first down, yeah, and.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Getting the ball out to midfield. So Vikings win the
toss and elect to take the football. So that's cats.
I think that's Kevin McCarthy or coach O'Connell trying to
put his faith into Kevin and the JJ McCarthy and say, hey,
you know we.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Can move this football.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
We need to get out fast, score some points.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So here we go.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Three for the Vikings as McCarthy goes out of the
shot gun we're scoreless. He'll throw lapcock down pitching catch TJ.
Hockinson in front of the Washington bench, thirty five shoved
down a bounce at the thirty two nine.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yard game first down.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Ten from the Washington thirty two McCarthy shotgun. Two receivers right,
one left, and it's going to be Jalen Naylor on
an end a round speech to the twenty five far side.
He's encountered at the twenty four and he'll be stopped
after a gain of nine yards. Speedy Jalen Naylor with
a nine yard run.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Second and one McCarthy empty backfield.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Three receivers right to left, first down from the Commander's
eighteen to four man rush JJ to the.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Zund touchdown fold Hey ten.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yard touchdown to Josh Oliver and the Minnesota Vikings have
taken US six zero lead.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's just playing three deep.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Zone coverage by the Commanders and it was a skinny
post on the back side. So what a great route
by Josh Oliver in his the third touchdown of the season.
So Josh Oliver has become a pretty good threat, especially
in the red zone.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Will Reikert for the field ultra and make that the
extra point dry. He is nineteen of nineteen this year,
fifty seven and fifty seven in his career. Ryan Wright holds,
Andrew de Paula snaps snap spot.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Extra point is.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Good, and the Vikings win the toss and they take
the ball and they snapped that touchdown the three at
eight quarters in about four minutes.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Well done there. It is seven plays, sixty one yards,
three minutes and fifty seven seconds. And obviously the next
drive went on forever. I think the longest drive they
were sitting on the TV broadcast since the turn of
the century, right, I'll I'll take them at their word
(15:52):
for that. I don't know, but I actually thought, this
is what set everything else up and what struck me
about the approach on this drive. It wasn't merely running
a decent amount, which between the two drives, the Vikings
ran a lot, especially on first down, with some success too.
It was ball hike to the QB. It's out of
(16:15):
his hands in no time. It's out of his hands
even quicker. The next time, it's out of his hands
even quicker the time after that. Boom boom, boom, boom,
now again, eventually teams force you to adjust, and then
it might be a little harder to hold onto the
ball or to get rid of the ball all that quickly.
But if you followed that drive, which was though you
(16:40):
didn't include it because it wasn't particularly memorable, it started
with a three yard run, then it was a nine
yard pass, then a seven yard run by Jones, then
a ten yard pass to Hockinson, then a nine yard pass,
then a five yard run, then an eighteen yard touchdown pass.
Everything was quick, decisive, in and out of the quarterback's
(17:00):
hands quickly. And I'm saying to myself, where was that
drive in September? We're aligned where we are aligned? Where?
And again, I know circumstances change and opponents and all
that sort of thing, but I just it's not because
it's the individual plays aren't as pretty, but they're effective.
(17:24):
And for a new quarterback, to me, I'll say, from
the beginning, no matter what you think he's capable of becoming,
I still think you the cliche. It's one of the
oldest cliches in all of sports. Give a young player
a chance to succeed, give them some success points where
then he's feeling better about himself, and to me, that's
(17:46):
what that drive represented. It was well thought out, it
was well planned, and it was just crisp right. Everything
about it was in and out of the huddle fast,
get the ball out of the hands of the quarterback
or hand the ball off. Let's just keep moving. I
mean we we said the first pass was to a
tight end. That that I think he's caught like four
balls in twelve years.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I didn't know who he was. They know, I had
no idea who was either. But guess what it kept
It kept the change moving, or it kept it put
you in position where you had We had no we
had no third and longs. In fact, I don't even
know how many third downs we had that drive. We
had zero drives.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, late. I mean I think the next drive. We
did have a bunch of successful third downs, yes, four,
but most of them. I mean, here are the third
downs in the nineteen play drive. Third and six, third
and third and nine is more than you'd like. I
guess you get away with it. Third and eight that's
still not great. And there was a third and twelve,
(18:44):
so we did a little bit. But the JJ screen
kind of passed that's it. That's correct. How did we
get a how do we get a first down on that?
On third, third and twelve? And it said was there?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Was that?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
It?
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Was there a penalty on that play? No, it went
for thirteen yards, it went for thirty. Yeah, you're right,
it went for thirteen. That's exactly a thirteen year past.
So the idea here again is I hope the lesson
is learned. Now it's gonna be harder. Maybe it's not
gonna be harder next week? Is Dallas like Washington's a
bad defensive team. The differences, you're on the road, it's louder.
They're playing for a playoff berth. They're desperate. Washington is
(19:21):
desperate to end the season. I think at this point
you're gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Say the thought you had was the exact thought I had.
Wouldn't it have been nice to have this be one
of the first building blocks of the season. Yes, yes,
And because it was pretty obvious and I think it was.
It was Drew Brees right and to me and they
were saying, especially early, JJ was just kind of getting
the first look and going they were making it simple
(19:43):
to use the basketball analogy. He saw a couple go
through the basket right his first couple of shots, you
see him go through, and everything smoother and easier after that.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Opponent, of course matters.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You said it last week, if not now when, Yeah,
for the offense to do something, given how dreadful Washington's
defense has been. But that's how you bring a young
quarterback along, not base balanced brozemerd Bahamas body posture, feet
and eyes. Just let's get a couple of things going
here and then we'll add to it if we need to.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Can always adds.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It doesn't make any sense that they did it in
reverse because that it was just nice and clean. And
of course it's got to get better. Everybody knows that.
But it was a great place to start yesterday. And
beyond that's it. That's what you're looking for, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
I'm I've been described occasionally as a cynic, and I
guess I can be at times and sometimes I just
can't help seeing what I see. And so the speech
that was was sent out from the from the post game,
you know, the message that was delivered by the head coach.
(20:47):
I'll be honest, I've reached a point where I wish
none of those would be released any longer because I
think they have become, in my opinion, way too performative.
And the one last night was basically, you know what,
you guys could have quit. You guys could have walked
(21:08):
away and not you know, but we know what you did.
You dug deep. It's like what else? I mean? I
actually and this is probably why I wouldn't be any
more successful than Mike Zimmer with this generation of kids
in terms of coaching. But I'd actually prefer the Zimmer approach,
which would be more like, you're damn right, you kept playing.
That's our job. We're obligated to keep playing. I'm not
(21:29):
gonna I'm not gonna pat you on the back for
content for not for like with five games to go quitting.
So I guess I don't understand why that message resonates
with with anybody. I mean, isn't that consider us? For example,
if we when we have two or three or four
bad rating periods in a row, excuse me, then are
(21:54):
we supposed to just hang our heads and just say
the hell with it? Or do we are? Are we
supposed to do what we have to do, which is
you just got to you gotta keep going. Because they're
still paying you, So we have to plow ahead and
continue to work and not necessarily expect to be patted
on the back. You know, you could have quit after
the fourth consecutive bad ratings book. You could have said
(22:14):
you're done, I'm done with this. But you know what
you did. You came in that next quarter and you
tried to put together a decent program. And by god,
we appreciate that when that's their job, is not.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It is, Yes, you're right, you would not do great
with this generation of players.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You're right.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
The I understand the koc speech and I get what
he was doing, and because I think everybody does that
in their jobs to a certain degree, and says, you know,
if the if the college graduate, you know, on graduation day,
if they said you were going to have this job,
and you'd be happy about it. Everybody's got to find
ways to motivate themselves as they get older, right, true,
(22:51):
I understand it.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
However, when you're pulling it out in early December, it
means you're in trouble. It means the season has gone awry.
If that's which is fine, but that's that's what you
have to do to get because you don't have anything else.
You have to go back to the aren't we lucky
to play this game?
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Card? That means your season has been not good? I
would say the I know he can't look at it
this way, but I can't the opponent. I don't think
you you waste it on a three to nine opponent
whose quarterback got lot not wasn't particularly good when he
played after their first drive. Anyway, he didn't look that
interested to me, and they did a great job putting
heat on him. More on that later with Blake Cashman.
(23:32):
But also I think if you're gonna pound your fist
about man, we stood tall, that's not the game I
would pick. Maybe after Dallas next week because it's a
road game. Or if you get on a little bit
of a run and you come back home and you
do it against then we have Green Band Detroit back
to back. We do at the end, ye, yes, okay
(23:53):
to me, that makes more sense. But I'm I'm supposed
to be aroused by the fact that you you pummeled
the Washington football team in the middle of a season
in which they were even had a worse record than
you on and that you did and that proves that
you guys are not quitting. You guys are continuing out there.
You're committed to this thing and you're gonna make it work.
(24:14):
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
We'll see what our next guest, Johnny Athletic thinks. Don't
forget we got Ben Lieber coming up at four forty seven,
who apparently predicted in a conversation with Mark Craig the
outcome right before game time. So we'll get to some
of that with liber and and then as I mentioned,
Cashman is a scheduled for five fifteen. A lot of
good vikings, talking points, many more to get to Johnny.
(24:46):
Johnny now the CEE Wealth Management is the fine sponsor
of the Johnny Athletics segments on this program. Amazingly, some
texts have already come in. One is directed at you. Uh,
(25:08):
the timing by the way of your visit. I mean,
there's nothing conspiratorial about it. You're off and on Monday,
but it is it's convenient for you because the hockey
team was on an unconscious role. But now in the
last couple of games they're back in a tail spin.
So you never have to be like brought to justice
(25:30):
for your inability to to praise and appreciate what the
hockey team was doing because they're no longer doing it.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Wait, wait, it's they have the playoffs started already. Clayton
from you you want that? You want that from me? Dan,
I'm just giving you what you want.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's probably true, Clayton from Rochester, Dan. How many times
did Johnny say, oh boy, that's a nice path while
watching your guy Fernando Mendoza. So much for five in
a row for Fernando. Now you were I think working?
Were you not a Wolves game the night of Saturday
night Indiana, Ohio State? Did you end up seeing any
(26:16):
or all of that game? You sent me a nice
text of congratulations as if I had anything to do
with it. But did you get to see any of it?
Or were you too bad? Did you just hear about it?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (26:27):
No, so I watched bits and pieces of it with
the game going on.
Speaker 3 (26:32):
But also, you know, Mike Conley is.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
A is a Buckeye and after the game, after the game,
a lot of conversation with Mike about it.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Then went back and.
Speaker 6 (26:42):
Kind of looked at some of the highlights and stuff.
So didn't see a whole lot of it as it
was playing out to a few things here and there,
but then watched back afterwards incredible, Like you know, I was.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
I was legit happy for you as a Hoosier, you know.
Speaker 6 (26:56):
Thinking about how hopeless it must have felt forever and
ever and then to climb the mountain like this. It's
it's got to be one of the more unlikely stories ever.
And that's those are always the most fun, is the
ones you don't see coming. It was really really cool.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, leaving aside that that's where I went to school,
it's it's it's got to be. There are people who
believe it's the number one college football story the last
twenty five years. I don't compare all that many, but
when you factor in the history, it's right up there.
There's very few. There have been very few like it
when we're talking about this kind of reversal. But I
(27:32):
don't want to turn this into who's your hotline anymore
than we already have. Let me ask you a question
on the before we get to the game itself, and
I want to try to get some wool stuff in
today too. The question of when a decent part or
(27:53):
maybe too big of a part of what a team does,
or what a team release is to the public arts
becoming formulaic and performative. The example I gave earlier was,
you know the head coaches. All head coaches do or
tend to gave a speech after the game, and that speech,
(28:14):
for the first time in several weeks, because it was
a victory this week.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Was.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
One one might expect from Kevin O'Connell. We hung in there,
you didn't quit, you kept going, You didn't you could
have gone. I'm paraphrasing. I don't have the exact quotes,
and I admonished it a little bit because I'm thinking
that's one I would save for beating a better opponent
or or you know, in a more important game. But
(28:42):
my issue is because a couple of people who said
they played for teams said, hey, man, if you're a
if you if you're a member of that team, you
need something from the coach after a game. My argument
isn't with that. My argument is with why is it
that it has to be released to everybody else? Because
I think it comes off then rather performative, that that's
you're trying to make some kind of a pr point
(29:03):
as opposed to what makes sense in the locker room.
Coaches say stuff that I might not relate to, but
it's not for me. What do you think?
Speaker 6 (29:11):
Yeah, I will say that that has been a pretty
new phenomenon, even for the content saturated NFL, is that
it seems like in the last I would even say,
only two years or so, it.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Just seems like every team now.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Blasts out the victory speech from the coach because every
team wants to show how excited they are and how
united they are in all of those things. And it's
just another way of trying to show the fans what's
behind the curtain a little bit and probably a little propaganda,
(29:52):
because your team is never higher, is never feeling better
about itself than after a win on Sunday or Monday.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Or Saturday or whenever they play.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
So I'm with you in terms of under you know,
is there nothing sacred anymore?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
But I don't think there is. I just think that
anything that is.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
Consumable is going to be consumed and and I mean,
if you want to be really authentic about it, put
out the losing speeches.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Too, exactly. And that's how do you how do.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
You stay together when you're in the tailspin. But uh,
that's not going to happen. That's just unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, that's where I'm more like. That's and I admitted
this to GUARDSI I'm like Zim, and that means I
probably can't relate to any of the kids who play
sports right now. I would actually rather have Zim say, well,
I'm not going to thank you for playing hard. That's
your job. That's what you're supposed to be doing for
God's sake. And they it was against a team that
quit about halfway through the second quarter. So yeah, I
(30:48):
would hope that we would at least do we're supposed
to be professional, but that probably doesn't have a message,
probably doesn't play as well well.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
One thing I will say on that Dan quickly is
just like I do think that Donald's message there does speak.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
To the depths they were in.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
Yeah, previously, I think that everyone was pretty darn worried
about where it was going after the Seattle game, and
so even if you beat up on a really bad opponent,
well you've been a really bad opponent for a while now.
And so that's that's what I took from it, is, Hey,
here's a coach that finally has some positivity and maybe
(31:25):
would have was probably a little more worried than even
he was letting on about it.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
This text came in not necessarily for you, but worthy
of discussion. I missed the top of the show. Apologies
if you mentioned this. But Jefferson fifteen yards, what in
the hell's going on? He's gonna want out as he should.
Why does Kevin have to say we're going to find
ways to get him the ball? It shouldn't be hard.
Coach of the year. That's from Purple kool Aid is
tasteless guy. And you know, I'm torn on this one
(31:51):
because again, I you know, it was highlighted several times.
The problem you have is the amount of attention and coverage.
Once again, it feels like Washington said, we're gonna double
and triple team him everywhere. We don't even care if
you burn us elsewhere. That's what we're going to do.
We're gonna take our chances. And I don't know what
(32:12):
you do with that. I mean, you know, we went
through the Randy ratio a long time ago and Tys
got ripped for calling it that. And that's too obvious
and what are you trying to say? And you're giving
people the game plan, even though I thought, well, everybody
knows you're trying to get the ball to Moss, So
I don't know what the answer is. I think that
you know, JJ's got to be smart. Jefferson has to
(32:33):
be smart enough to know after a game like that,
you can't complain. You're gonna look silly if you complain.
But obviously you have to try to find a way
to get your best player of the ball more often.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, you do.
Speaker 6 (32:46):
And it, honestly, Dan, it feels a lot like what
we're seeing at Target Center these days with the Wolves
and Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
I mean you're.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Seeing opposing defenses absolutely load up on and just saying,
if we're going to lose this game, it's not gonna.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Be Anthony Edwards that beats us.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
And that is frustrating for him to go through like
he does not like that, and so he has to
try and be the good soldier and make the smart
play and get off the ball and get the ball moving.
And it has been working lately, they've won five in
a row and all that, but it doesn't make it
sometimes easier for young superstar players.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
To handle it. Now, Yes, I believe that justin Jefferson can.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
Come out of a game like Sunday when they win
thirty one to nothing and everything goes great, feeling a
little bit better about the situation than Seattle when they
get absolutely blown out and worked.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
But for this thing to go.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Forward and be sustainable against good teams, of course, they're
going to have to be able to get Justin Jefferson
more involved and get him to be a playmaker and
an impact player, because that makes things easier on ed
everyone from Addison to Mason, to JJ McCarthy to everyone
(34:04):
when he is a force. And so they're going to
have to find ways to get defenses out of that,
you know, double and triple blanket coverage by hurting them
with other players, and then maybe that really does open
the door for Jefferson.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
But it, yeah, it's been stark how.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
Deliberate defenses have been in saying we are taking eighteen
out and you're gonna have to find another way to
beat us. In credits to the Vikings, they did it
against a bad Commanders team. Now they're gonna have to
do it against the better Cowboys team.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
They offensively, especially ruthlessly, and I thought very surgically, took
out a bad defense. And yeah, when I say surgically,
I mean, as you well know, as we talked about
earlier in the show, might be a seven yard pass,
balls out of the hands quick, not a lot to
(34:58):
think about, not much of an opportunity for Washington to
do anything about it, and also running the ball a lot.
The question to me on the table, and it worked
exactly to me the kind of philosophy that he should
have started the season with Koc, with the with the quarterback,
and then moved from there. But that's not the question now.
(35:20):
The question on the table that I want to ask
you is does Chaoc have it in him to stick
with this approach not just one week, but maybe for
the next four you know where, And maybe you add
a few things here or there. But I'm still not
convinced that he is able to sort of completely reinvent
(35:42):
the wheel in terms of this is not the same
who said this yesterday, I don't remember who. This is
not the same offense that we saw under Koc, certainly
under Kirk Cousins when it was going as you know,
as well as it was, and even a couple of
other examples. This is a very different kind of does
he have the discipline to stick with it.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Yeah, I don't know, honestly, Dan.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
We will see, because this does go against everything in
his coaching DNA like he does. He wants to throw
the ball deep, he wants to do exotic formations and
prestap motions and and have the quarterback really surveying and
making adjustments and and all of those things.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
But it doesn't cater to what JJ McCarthy needs right now.
Speaker 6 (36:31):
Maybe down the line he will get to a point
where he is capable of handling all of that responsibility,
but what was made clear earlier this season was that
he was not ready for that. And one thing that
keeps ringing in my head Dan about Kevin O'Connell and
what he has said.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
In the past, very openly and honestly, is.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Most often is the case that organizations fail young quarterbacks
more than young quarterbacks fail organizations. And so if he
really believes that, and if he really is going to
stick to that mantra and give JJ McCarthy the best
chance to succeed, he is going to stick with what
(37:15):
they have done, what they did this week and what
and just kind of spoon feed it to him, and
you hope that maybe week after week, you can add
a little bit more and a little bit more and
a little bit more. But it is clear right now
that if you give him the whole plate, he's not
going to.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Be ready for that. He cannot handle it.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
And so the best thing for this young quarterback is
to do it piecemeal and to slim things down and
to make it easier and then build from there. And
that's that is just what is required of Kevin O'Connell
right now. So if he doesn't do it and and
they revert to what we've seen from McCarthy in the past,
then that's that's not O'Connell as much as it's on
(37:55):
McCarthy right now.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
It's okay also to use your other tools. I mean
to me, that's also what was in Caden. Again, it's
a bad defense that was not all that interested in
playing yesterday. So you're not getting the final verdict by
any means, but that's the opponent that they were the
ones in the in the arena, you know, yesterday, So
you got to play who's there, and you know, again,
(38:16):
you've got some running back options, you've got some receiver options.
Even if it's not going well for Jefferson, and don't
be afraid to use them. That to me is a big,
a big part of this. All of that I think
works towards creating excellence for the QB, right, I just
I think and you'd like to think that for him.
(38:37):
And again, I don't know if they simplified the playbook.
I just felt like his decision making was quicker. Now
there are a couple of plays where it wasn't the
first read, but even the second read it was bop
out pretty quick, you know, on almost every play. And
so whatever, whether it's the play call or whatever, however
the head coach is encouraging him in that regard. I
(39:01):
stick with that for a while.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
And And like you said, not just the play calling,
not just the Maybe they're maybe the pre SAP adjustments
world fewer and you weren't putting as much on JJ's
plate that way, but guess but you're.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Also running the ball a lot.
Speaker 6 (39:19):
It's a featured part of the offense and not just
something you do kind of out of spite or just begrudgingly.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
But it is a central part of the game plan.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
And to your point about bad defense, you're right, it
was a bad defense. So We can't make grand conclusions
that JJ McCarthy is definitely back and that everything is
going to be great. But what they did was they
dominated a bad defense. This was not a nail bier.
This was not something that was The outcome was in
doubt going down the stretch to a point where Kot
(39:53):
could look at it and be like, you know what,
I'm not really sure if this approach was indicative of
of something that we need to do or if it
was just the opponent. They they from start to finish
controlled that game in a way they have not been
able to control it, and so you at least have
to look at that and say it is worth exploring
(40:15):
further and keep going. We'll see what happens when the
when the opponent steps up, including this week, but you
at least have some sort of a blueprint to work
out of.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Right now, we've got a few minutes that to talk Wolves,
and eventually the Viking season will be over and then
we'll be able to, you know, go more in depth
into your favorite club. But if you could, if you
could pick an over arching story right now for people
who maybe haven't paid as close attention to the Wolves
as they ordinarily would because they're distracted by football, by
(40:46):
other things. What what what do you think folks should
be paying attention to? What? What is Johnny Athletic paying
attention to regarding his favorite basketball team.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
Yeah, you know, it's been up and down so far.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
You know, there's some it's been some close games that
they've struggled to close and things of that nature. But
if you're looking for one enduring theme right now, I
really think Dan it's the rise of Jade McDaniels. It's
what he has become as an offensive weapon in addition
to what he is doing defensively. But he's shooting forty
(41:19):
eight percent from three. Is that sustainable? Probably not, But
you watch the way he's getting his shots. You watch
how confidently he's shooting them. That's a huge thing. But
it's more than just the threes. It is he is
creating off the dribble. He is creating his own offense.
Speaker 3 (41:34):
He is scoring.
Speaker 6 (41:35):
Efficiently on high degree of difficulty shots. Yeah, and he's
making it look easy. And he's emerged as a clear
cut two B or three option that you know. Now
that he's established, you say, if that is the pecking
order of Edwards, Randall and Jade McDaniels as a real
difference maker. That makes this team a lot harder to
(41:58):
deal with, especially in the play, And so that's a
really really encouraging thing so far.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, there's no question about that. Are we running well,
we're not a team really that runs a lot of plays,
I don't think. But are we running more action for him?
I mean, you know, because there's always that thing where
with him it was well he'll get what's left over.
He'll just you know, get grab whether it's grabbing a
rebound or finding himself open in the corner, whatever the
case may be. We'lln't really run much for him. Are
(42:25):
we running anything more for him now that he is
clearly showing a greater offensive aptitude.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
Chris Finch has said that he is calling Jaden's number
more often because he knows that he has to do
that to get him in Jade McDaniel's involved. Yep, Finch,
he is not a guy who wants to be a
puppet master orchestrator that way. He wants the offense to flow.
But when you have ICEO heavy guys like Edwards and Randall, Uh,
(42:54):
it's very easy for McDaniels to sort of be stuck
in the corner not really movie and then that doesn't
do anybody any good. And so Finch has had to
be more deliberate about hauling plays, about orchestrating things and
getting the ball in Jade McDaniel's hands. And you're also
seeing the rotations tweak just a little bit dan to
(43:16):
where mcgannon's seen a little bit more time with the
second unit, where.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
He is maybe only with Randall and not with Edwards, and.
Speaker 6 (43:24):
So there's more opportunities for him to have the ball
in his hands and go with it and then and
and and.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
Be more of a scoring option.
Speaker 6 (43:31):
And so there's been a few tweaks that way to
try and get McDaniels into the double digit shot attempts
every single game, because he's earning that with the efficiency
that he's shown.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Did you get insight? Did you get a Wally ducky night?
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I did? I did.
Speaker 6 (43:50):
Alarmingly pink lifts then looks like maybe but there, Yeah,
I don't know what that.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
I'm not sure what.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
That I was in at ten, So yeah, I got
a Wally Duck. They were good to help the bricking
for chicken when we were squeaking.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
The Wally Ducks. Yeah, sure, because we.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
Got that on Saturday too, and then they went on
like a nine to oh run after the we got
the chicken, everybody went crazy and then the Clippers I
think tied the game back up.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
But it was great, epic the.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
While he was there, he was wearing the jersey, right,
so it was good.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
He got interviewed during the broadcast. I I, you know,
I wasn't so married to my Hoosiers that I never
switched over. I saw a decent amount of it, and
I did see. I did see Wally does does so
does the duck when you squeeze it? Does it make
a noise? It does? Okay, that's the point. That's part
of the deal.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Yep it squeaked.
Speaker 6 (44:41):
Yeah, so it's it's a fully functional bathroom duck.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
So they obviously that's good to know.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
When did this duck phenomenon start? This is the new
bottlehead sort of?
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Or is this considered well, this is like version two
of the Wally Duck, right, Johnny, Okay did it way
back then?
Speaker 1 (45:01):
It was like a remix And I.
Speaker 3 (45:04):
Want to say they.
Speaker 6 (45:05):
I think they did a KG one too, and if
you remember Dan, I don't know if you remember this,
our guys to go to you know, when he was
on the beach way back in the day, like the
strip was starting to do some videos and.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Incorporating that, and he did one from his bathtub.
Speaker 6 (45:21):
He did he had a rubber ducky kind of floating
in the bathtub and and it was a legendary moment on.
Speaker 7 (45:26):
The Wolve's beat for the Goully. The bubble bath was
was was strategically placed. But we got duck there too,
not a wally duck, not a kg duck, but just
a regular rubber ducky And that may have started the
whole phenomenon, the concept.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Of a duck though, what what? What's the inspiration there?
Do we know that's the you know that one?
Speaker 3 (45:45):
I don't know. I got to ask around a little.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Bit, some investigative reporting, for God's sake, get on the
get on this story, will it.
Speaker 6 (45:54):
I'm not sure what, Yeah, not sure where what? But
apparently now ducks are really popular and jeeps. If you
drive a jeep you have a bunch of ducks on
the dashboard for some reason.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
I don't know why.
Speaker 6 (46:05):
I don't know what that is all about either, And
but but yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
So cities the ducks. The ducks are here to stay.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
Well getting text. Cities around the world have duck boutiques.
That's a thing. Duck boutiques.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Oh okay, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
I'll take you out to take him at his word.
All right, We appreciate the time as always, Johnny, we'll
chat next week. Thank you, all right. Thanks Dan RBC
Wealth Management, the fine sponsor of the Johnny Athletics segments
on the Bumper to Bumper program. We got Ben Lieber
late in the four o'clock hour, and we got Blake
Cashman about five point fifteen. We think as well, we
(46:43):
doted devote a lot of attention to the offense. Obviously
the defense played extremely well. This well, let's come back
and talk about a little bit, because it very much
looked to me like this was one of those occasions
where Washington had no idea how to handle the very
Blitz's none. I mean, they looked utterly and completely unprepared
(47:04):
for the b flow approach, and it pretty much showed
largely from start to finish. We'll get into some more
Vikings talking points as well. There's a lot to get
to on the Bowl of Controversies. Involving who's in and
who's out. I might want to run that by Guardzie
as well. So very full program the rest of the way,
don't go
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